My father thought it bloody queer,

1

• My father thought it bloody queer,
• the day I rolled home with a ring of silver in my
  ear
• half hidden by a mop of hair. Youve lost your
  head.
• If thats how easily youre led
• You shouldve had it through your nose instead.

Starting with these words shows focus is on
relationship with father and his reaction, not
just the event of the piercing.
2

• My father thought it bloody queer,
• the day I rolled home with a ring of silver in my
  ear
• half hidden by a mop of hair. Youve lost your
  head.
• If thats how easily youre led
• You shouldve had it through your nose instead.

Shows fathers down-to-earth attitude. Double
meaning.
3

• My father thought it bloody queer,
• the day I rolled home with a ring of silver in my
  ear
• half hidden by a mop of hair. Youve lost your
  head.
• If thats how easily youre led
• You shouldve had it through your nose instead.

What is he comparing his son to?
4

• And even then I hadnt had the nerve to numb
• the lobe with ice, then drive a needle through
  the skin,
• then wear a safety- pin. It took a jewellers gun
• to pierce the flesh, and then a friend
• to thread a sleeper in, and where it slept
• the hole became a sore, became a wound, and wept.

Contrasts his feeble approach with that of others
who pierced their own ears. Makes fun of himself.
Is he also ashamed of his cowardice? Its not a
very successful teenage rebellion
5

• And even then I hadnt had the nerve to numb
• the lobe with ice, then drive a needle through
  the skin,
• then wear a safety- pin. It took a jewellers gun
• to pierce the flesh, and then a friend
• to thread a sleeper in, and where it slept
• the hole became a sore, became a wound, and wept.

What do these words imply?
6
He couldnt admit the mistake he had made at the
time. Why?

• At twenty-nine, it comes as no surprise to hear
• my own voice breaking like a tear, released like
  water,
• cried from way back in the spiral of the ear. If
  I were you,
• Id take it out and leave it out next year.

This is his voice but it sounds like what his
father might have said. Has he come to share his
fathers values? Is removing the earring a sign
of maturity? Or a sign that he is now ready to
conform?
7
Themes

• Son trying to be independent, father disapproving
• Humorous tone and rhymes, but shows pain in
  remembering his adolescence
• Could be a trivial subject, but shows how his
  attempt at rebellion was not very successful

8
Structure

• 3 part structure first 2 stanzas show what
  happened in the past, last stanza brings poet up
  to date with what the event means to the poet
  when he is 29
• Conversational style, with very frequent
  irregular rhymes, which emphasize key words
  queer/ear, hear/year

9
Comparisons

• Relationship between parent/child figures
• Mother, any distance, On My First
• Sonne, Kid.
• People whose actions do not please others My
  Last Duchess.