Good day everyone

I trust that you are all healthy and working hard. We really miss you and cannot wait
for you to return to school.
I want you to study the poem Excuses, excuses by Wilfred Owen. You have two
days to study the notes and analyse the poem in the POETRY SECTION of your
book. You may print the notes and question into your book and then use the slides
on the analysis of the poem to make hand-written notes on the page that with the
poem.
Once you have analysed the poem, you must answer the questions on the poem.

Please use the following headings and date in your book:

Reading and viewing 8 June 2020

Excuses, excuses

I’ll talk to you soon. Keep safe and stay positive!

Excuses, Excuses - Gareth Owen
1 Late again, Blenkinsopp?
What’s the excuse this time?
Not my fault, sit.
Whose fault is it then?
5 Grandma’s, sir.
Grandma’s? What did she do?
She died, sir.
Died?
She’s seriously dead all right, sir.
10 That makes four grandmothers this term, Blenkinsopp.
And all on P.E. days.
I know. It’s very upsetting, sir.
How many grandmothers have you got, Blenkinsopp?
Grandmothers, sir? None, sir.
15 You said you had four.
All dead, sir.
And what about yesterday, Blenkinsopp?
What about yesterday, sir?
You were absent yesterday.
20 That was the dentist, sir.
The dentist died?
No, sir. My teeth, sir.
You missed the maths test, Blenkinsopp!
I’d been looking forward to it, sir.
25 Right, line up for P.E.
Can’t sir.
No such words as ‘can’t’, Blenkinsopp.
No kit, sir.
Where is it?
30 Home, sir.
What’s it doing at home?
Not ironed, sir.
Couldn’t you iron it?
Can’t sir.
35 Why not?
Bad hand, sir.
Who usually does it?
Grandma, sir.
Why couldn’t she do it?
40 Dead, sir.
Excuses, excuses – Gareth Owen

SUMMARY
The poem is a humorous dialogue (two people talking) between a teacher and a
student. The teacher asks the student about three things: being late, not attending
class for a test and why he cannot participate in a physical education (PE / gym) class.
For every question the teacher asks, the student has an untrue answer.

First the boy says his grandmother has died – but he has already used that excuse
three other times in the same month. Then he says he had to go to the dentist, and he
was sorry to miss the math test – which is clearly not true. Lastly, the boy says that he
cannot do PE because his gym clothes have not been ironed and he has a sore hand
– and it was always his dead granny’s job to iron them! This is a circular argument.
The clothes cannot be ironed because his grandmother is dead - if we believe that
excuse. He has avoided doing the things that he dislikes at school.

The dialogue is supposed to be funny, but it does highlight that students often feel
that some classes are a waste of time. It also looks at the frustration that adults and
teenagers can feel with one another.

ERA
This poem was written in the late twentieth century, when poets have felt more
freedom to challenge traditional ways of writing poetry, and experiment with different
kinds of poetry. This technique is useful here because it mimics (copies) what the
student is doing – experimenting with seeing how much he can get away with. He is
challenging the school system and the teacher’s authority (power), but also trying not
to get into trouble.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Gareth Owen was an English poet, novelist, and actor, who lived between 1936
and 2002. This poem could easily be performed on stage because it is a dialogue.
Owen is best known for his poetry and novels for children. Most of his work is
humorous (funny) but it also deals with the problems children face in their daily
lives.

TYPE OF POEM

This is a narrative poem as well as a dialogue. It tells the story of a teacher and
student in mild conflict (argument), using only their direct speech (the words they
say).
 CHARACTERISTICS

Because it is a dialogue, this poem has a conversational, free-verse form. It is intended

to be funny. The exchange is between an unnamed teacher and a student (surnamed
Blenkinsopp). Although we are not told directly who is speaking, we can clearly identify
two different characters by what they say to each other. The teacher asks the
questions and uses the boy’s surname. The student comes up with answers. The
poem uses lots of hyperbole (exaggeration), sarcasm (saying the opposite of what you
really think) and understatement (making light of something serious) to make it funny.
The short sentences make the poem stop and start a lot, so there is no smooth rhythm.

CONCEPTUAL VOCABULARY

WORD BASIC DEFINITION

absent Absent means away. The student has not been in class.

There are two meanings of ‘dialogue’. The first meaning of dialogue is the spoken
words between two speakers, taking turns when they talk to each other. This is

dialogue the meaning we see in the poem.

The second meaning (a dialogue) is the direct speech of two characters in a play.
If this poem were performed on stage, we could say it is a dialogue

Kit refers to special clothes or equipment. The teacher means the clothes that the
kit
student needs to do gym / PE at school – not his uniform.

PE is the abbreviation of Physical Education – gym class or exercise class

PE
during the school day.

When you are upset you are sad, anxious or you feel like crying. The teacher is
suspicious (thinks that the student is doing something wrong) because he says
upsetting he is upset that his grandmother has died. When someone close to you dies,
you should be grieving or in mourning – feeling more extreme emotions than just
‘upset’.

SPEAKER

The speakers in the poem are a teacher and a student. The poet communicates directly
through them in the words they speak (dialogue).
VOICE

The tone of voice of the poem is in two parts: the teacher’s tone of voice is frustrated,
angry and aggressive. The student’s tone of voice is a mixture of calm, sarcasm /
mockery, and sly rudeness. We understand that he does not really care if the teacher
believes his excuses.

ADDRESSEE

The teacher is addressing the student and the student is addressing the teacher. We, the
reader, are like part of the audience in a theatre, observing (watching) a drama between
two people.

THEMES

Theme 1
Conflict and power
Conflict is a fight or struggle between two people.

The teacher officially has more power over the student because the teacher is
older, and because he is an authority figure.

But the student has more real power because he stays calm while the teacher
gets angry and frustrated. The student also avoids getting into trouble for being
late, lying and leaving school to visit the dentist. In the conflict between the two,
the student has won.

► Evidence of theme in text

Because the teacher cannot find a way to prove that the boy is lying, he looks
weaker than the student. The student avoids responsibility (fault or blame) by
saying things such as, ‘Not my fault, sir’. The teacher finds it difficult to argue
with him even though the excuses are flimsy (weak) and half-hearted.

The sarcasm the student uses (‘I’ve been looking forward to it, sir’) also
undermines the teacher – he is laughing at the teacher. This gives the student a
sense of power: he is challenging a person in authority. When the boy answers
the teacher’s question with a question (‘What about yesterday, sir?’) it confuses
the issue. The teacher does not carry on the argument.

Also, the student always calls the teacher ‘sir’ even though we can see he is
mocking the teacher. We usually say ‘sir’ as a respectful way to address an older
man. However, he uses a sarcastic tone. He does not really respect the teacher.
Theme 2
Independence and conformity
If you are independent you think critically about things, and you behave
according to your own rules. If you are conformist, you follow social rules about
how to behave, and you do what everybody else does without questioning
things.

In the poem, the teacher wants the student to conform to school rules and
attend classes. The student wants his freedom. He is lazy and does not want to
write tests or attend PE class. He has used his intelligence and judgement to
outsmart the teacher. The student is a non-conformist. The teacher’s job is to
get students to conform.

► Evidence of theme in text

The teacher wants the student to follow the same rules as the other students (to
conform).

The whole way through the poem the student outwits (is smarter than) the
teacher. The student makes just enough effort not to get kicked out of class,
but he is an independent thinker, and a non-conformist (someone who likes
to do things differently).

He is not completely rude, but he does use sarcasm in his responses. He says
‘sir’ repeatedly, but he offers ridiculous and unbelievable excuses that tell us that
he does not really care what the teacher thinks. The excuses are that his
grandmother has died (again!) when a person can only die once. The next
excuse is that he was looking forward to writing his math test, but he had to go to
the dentist. (No one enjoys a test!) The final excuse is that his grandmother (who
has supposedly just died) did not iron his gym clothes. It is clearly not true. The
student refuses to conform and behave like the other students do.

DICTION / FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

SARCASM
Sarcasm is when someone says the opposite of what they really mean.
Sometimes sarcasm is meant to be funny. Other times, sarcasm is used to be
hurtful or mocking (making fun of
something). When the learners in the poem says, ‘I’d been looking forward to it, sir.’
The student does not mean what he says. He really means he was not looking forward
to the math test.
That is why he chose to go to the dentist instead. He speaks like this so he can
mock (laugh at) his teacher but not openly or directly.
UNDERSTATEMENT
This device makes a situation seem less serious or important than it really is.
We usually use understatement to make jokes, or to seem as if we are more
casual and cooler than we really feel. When the speaker says, ‘I know. It’s very
upsetting, sir’ this is an understatement.
The student pretends that Grandma’s dying on PE days is upsetting. He is faking
seriousness, when in fact he does not care at all. ‘Very upsetting’ tells us that he is
not upset at all. Someone whose grandmother had really died, would look
heartbroken and terribly upset. His grandmothers are probably alive and well. He
just wants to avoid PE!

HYPERBOLE
Hyperbole is when someone exaggerates or over-states a situation. This
device is the opposite of understatement. The line ‘She’s seriously dead all
right, sir’ is a hyperbole. This line is hyperbole because someone can only
either be dead or alive (you cannot be any more dead than just being dead!).
To say someone is seriously dead is to over-state the truth of the grandma’s
death. Instead of believing the student, we question his statement. This
hyperbole is supposed to be funny.

REPETITION:

Repetition is when the same words are used over and over, usually to emphasize
something.

a. ‘sir’: The student keeps saying ‘sir’, which is usually used to show respect.
The teacher is officially more powerful, but unofficially the student is more
powerful. This is because the student uses the word without its usual
meaning or worth. ‘Sir’ loses its power because
it has been over-used. We understand that he is just using it to pretend to
respect the teacher, so he can avoid trouble.

b. ‘Blenkinsopp’: The teacher repeatedly calls the student by his surname, to

show who is more powerful. The student must call the teacher ‘sir’. The name
sounds a bit upper-class, rich, or silly – a stereotype (untrue judgement) of a
person often mocked in comedy. The repetition of the surname is supposed to
add humour to the poem.
Questions:
1. In line two the teacher asks, ‘What’s the excuse this time?’
Which words tell us that Blenkinsopp often makes excuses? (1)

2. What is unusual about the statement in line 10:

That makes four grandmothers this term, Blenkinsopp.? (1)

3. What is P.E. (line 11)? (1)

4. List two of the excuses Blenkinsopp uses. (2)

5. Do you think that structuring this poem as a series of questions and

answers is effective? Give a reason for your answer. (3)

6. Use the table below to match the lines with the literary feature that you
think best fits the specific line: (3)

6.1 That makes four grandmothers this term, A sarcasm

Blenkinsopp. And all on P.E. days
6.2 I know, it’s very upsetting, sir. B understatement
6.3 I’d been looking forward to it, sir. C falsehood

7. Comment on any one part of the poem that you found funny. Explain
the humour that Owen used. (2)

8. How would you have handled the situation if you had been the teacher? (2)

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