This is a set of notes/essay which was written after studying Carol Ann Duffy's 'The Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form Team' regarding the question "Discuss the way that Duffy explores the journey from adolescence to adulthood, and how the persona feels about the journey."
The Captain of the 1964 Top of the form Team.
"Discuss the way that Duffy explores the journey from adolescence to adulthood, and
how the persona feels about the journey."
Throughout the poem, the persona reflects with nostalgia as he remembers prominent
memories from his childhood and school life. This displays feelings that he as an adult feels
slightly let down by what he has and the realisation what he has missed out on in his life
floods him as he reminisces his easy and popular school life. Duffy interestingly reminisces
these memories with a ‘rose tinted glass’ effect throughout alongside many 1960’s cultural
references, including the synopsis of the BBC programme ‘Top of the Form,’ which ran
during the 60’s and may have been Duffy’s inspiration for the poem.
Firstly, the personification of the persona’s sleeve in stanza 2, ‘the white sleeve of my shirt
saluted again and again,’ portrays the image of him putting his hand up in school which
suggests that as a child he was smart and had lots of potential for the future. This could
create a sense of regret as we see at the end of the poem he is looking back to work out
how he managed to get to his ‘boring’ life with his ‘stale wife’ when he was so full of potential
and opportunities when he was younger.
Duffy uses lots of short sentences, which not only portrays how fast the persona is
reminiscing and remembering past memories, but also how quickly time has moved on from
his adolescence to adulthood. The use of the enjambment in stanza 1, ‘gargling…with
Vimto,’ demonstrates this as it shows that that there isn’t a break in his thoughts because
they are bubbling out of him, making the thoughts messy and not controlled.
Duffy’s use of the phrase ‘my lips numb as a two-hour snog,’ show that the persona
remembers sexual experiences from when he was a teenager, this may convey feelings that
he had a better sex life with the ‘convent girls’ compared to his life now with his ‘stale wife.’
Which shows that his journey to adulthood wasn’t fulfilling his personal needs either.
The use of the phrase, ‘no snags’ could suggest that the persona not only eased through
school due to his academic achievements, but also depicts that he had a smooth childhood.
Although, it could be seen as ironic because ‘no snags’ refers to not getting caught in
something although Duffy makes it clear that the persona is caught up in his own childhood,
contradicts the phrase as she tells us that the persona’s journey to adulthood was not
smooth and probably did have lots of snags.
To create the feeling that the persona’s journey of learning continues and develops, Duffy’s
uses enjambment at the end of stanza 2 ‘…dominum/Dave…’ The added effect of the
alliteration, creates a feeling of urgency as the persona is reminiscing on his journey to
adulthood and how it may suggest that it was messy and busy.
The listing in stanza 3, ‘The blazer. The badge. The tie.’ shows that the persona remembers
insignificant details from his childhood, although it feels like the persona wants to make them
significant. This may suggest that his life as a teenager was close to perfect, so he wants to
hold and remember small details, that link to that time in his life because he wants to hold on
to it for long enough as he would rather do that instead of facing the reality and journey of
growing up.
Next, Duffy displays the persona’s feelings of desperation for his adolescence through the
use of the imperative ‘I want it back.’ The use of describing his past as ‘it’ changes the tone
from hopeful excitement to regret and conveys feelings that the persona isn’t happy with
their life now and are just desperate for the life they used to live and that they never got over
the concept of growing up. Also, the use of describing himself as ‘the captain. The one with
all of the answers,’ adds to the feelings of desperation. The use of the definitive article ‘the’
makes the persona want to have the exact life he used to live not change his current life to
make it any better.
Lastly, the use of the word ‘nodbody’ is effective as Duffy has put it in it’s own sentence
creating the feeling that due to the word standing alone, the persona is also alone, as he has
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