National 5 Set Texts

‘Lucozade’

Title

Before you look at the poem, bullet point the title’s connotations. (What do you think it will be about? What do you think the key theme/message will be?)

• Refers to the literal bottle (one of the traditional symbols of sickness)

• Also a sense that the daughter’s actions are the real revitalising energy boost that the Mother needs.

• The idea of Lucozade as a childhood memory associated with being ill (‘orange nostalgia’) is also explored, and there is a clear sense that in the final line, that the daughter’s final act for her Mother might be a memory in the making – a moment looked back on nostalgically in the future of giving

Critical Reading: Textual Analysis (45 minutes)

Read ‘Lucozade’ and then answer the following questions.

1. The poet refers twice to ‘Lucozade’ as “orange nostalgia.” What does she mean by this? 2

2. Briefly describe the mother’s mood in lines 1-12 (first 3 stanzas.) 2

3. Explain fully how the poet contrasts “grapes” with the “luxury” the mother asks for. 4

4. Describe the speaker’s mood in lines 21-29 (stanzas 6+7) and explain in detail how it is conveyed. 4

5. Relationships between generations is a common theme in Jackie Kay’s poetry. Choose another poem by her which explores this theme and explain how she does so. 8

Textual Analysis Mark Scheme

1. The poet refers twice to ‘Lucozade’ as “orange nostalgia.” What does she mean by this? 2

Possible answers include:

• Refers to the colour of the drink – orange a bright vivid colour, striking, important (Literal Significance)

• It is something associated with childhood/happier times – something from the past that can only be looked back on with fondness in present, not relived. (Metaphorical Significance)

2. Briefly describe the mother’s mood in lines 1-12 (first 3 stanzas.) 2

• Any 2 of the following, not necessarily with textual support, for 1 mark each; or any one of the following with clear textual support (which must be explained – no mark just for quoting):

• negative: ‘they only wilt and die,’ ‘don’t bring…’

• passive: ‘nods off,’ ‘fades’

• dismissive: ‘Orange nostalgia, that’s what that is’

• tired of hospital experience: ‘whole day was a blur,’ ‘a swarm of eyes’

• distrusting: ‘Those doctors with their white lies’

• scornful/cutting: ‘Did you think you could cheer me up with a Woman’s Own?’

3. Explain fully how the poet contrasts “grapes” with the “luxury” the mother asks for. 4

Possible answers include:

‘grapes have no imagination, they’re just green’ – shows she has no interest in them, because they are featureless, dull, have nothing to appeal to her. Ordinary, predictable thing brought to people who are ill, no meaning/care

whereas

‘the big brandy, the generous gin, the Bloody Mary, the biscuit tin, the chocolate gingers, the dirty big meringue?’ – seem livelier, more appealing because of their association with sharp taste, colour, excess, things she would enjoy (suggests her character/personality – excitement of youth).

Appropriate comment could also be made on alliteration, the list structure and the self-indulgent glee of ‘dirty great meringue’

4. Describe the speaker’s mood in lines 21-29 (stanzas 6+7) and explain in detail how it is conveyed. 4

Answers should define clearly at least one mood and support it with close reference to the poem.

Possible answers include:

mood:

• happy, upbeat, optimistic, positive, reassured…. (1 mark)

references: (one mark for each explanation from the text)

• ‘clear her cupboard’ – hint of new start, getting rid of the unwanted

• ‘bags full’ – sense of a job well done

• ‘wave with her flowers’ – cheerful gesture

• ‘My mother… waves back’ – gesture is reciprocated, sense of connection

• ‘face is light and radiant’ – she can see brightness, almost angelic light

• ‘sheets billow and whirl’ – sense of freshness, unrestrained movement

• ‘She is beautiful’ – a straightforward statement of affection

• ‘the empty table is divine’ – by clearing away all the unwanted things, she has made a simple table seem somehow holy

• ‘singing an old song’ – implying contentedness and connection with her mother.

5. Relationships between generations is a common theme in Jackie Kay’s poetry. Choose another poem by her which explores this theme and explain how she does so. 8

Answers should focus on a suitable poem and on the way a relationship between generations is presented and explored in it. Any of the poems on the set list would be suitable.

Marks are allocated as follows:

8-7 marks

Identify and comment on 3 or 4 aspects of the way the relationship between generations is presented/explored in the chosen poem with quotations and/or specific reference to support the answer.

6-5 marks

Identify and comment on 2 or 3 aspects of the way the relationship between generations is presented/explored in the chosen poem with quotations and/or specific reference to support the answer.

4-3 marks

Identify and comment on 1 or 2 aspects of the way the relationship between generations is presented/explored in the chosen poem with quotations and/or specific reference to support the answer.

2-1 marks

A generalised acknowledgement that the chosen poem explores a relationship between generations, with some generalised reference to the text.

Exemplar answer

In ‘Divorce,’ Kay explores how the failure to understand one another, due to the gap in years, causes intense emotions, such as, anger and frustration. The daughter wishes to divorce her parents as she feels unappreciated and unloved as her mother has ‘never, ever said a kind word’ to her or shown gratitude for ‘all the tedious chores she has done.’ Similarly, she believes her father seeks to wind her up and mock her by making fun of her going off ‘in [a] cream puff.’

Kay cleverly structures the poem to reflect the barriers and division between the generations by splitting the poem into 2 distinct stanzas, thus, symbolising the vast gulf and distance between the daughter and her parents who can not find a way to communicate with one another. There are a lot of misunderstandings as the speaker fails to realise that her dad is trying to lift her spirits and get her out of her bad mood by joking with her but he also fails to realise that by calling her ‘Lady Muck,’ he is just infuriating her further. The speaker feels disappointed by her parents’ shortcomings and contrasts their attitude with those of loving parents who ‘speak in the soft murmur of rivers.’ Kay uses grandiose imagery here to show how unrealistic the daughter’s views of parenting are, and obviously, there is no way they can live up to her high expectations or do anything other than disappoint her.

Analysis

• Highlight and identify the key poetic techniques used (word choice, imagery, repetition, tone etc.)

Using textual evidence, take notes on the following areas:

• How speaker’s fears are conveyed

• Mother’s personality

• Speaker’s personality

• Change in mood from fear to acceptance

My mum is on a high bed next to sad chrysanthemums.‘Don’t bring flowers, they only wilt and die.’I am scared my mum is going to dieOn the bed next to the sad chrysanthemums.

• Opens with simple confessional tone reflecting speaker’s young age (‘my mum’) and her fear to see her in hospital. Colloquialism of ‘mum’ – gives immediate entry for reader into her world through recognition of a shared relationship.

• ‘High bed’ Image of a pedestal/altar? – implies respect. Suggests her importance to speaker or perhaps symbolises distance/separation between them

• Transferred epithet/repetition: sadness transferred onto flowers (child-like.) (repeated suggests how much her sadness is affecting her.) Suggests how intense/powerful these emotions are as they transfer outwardly from the speaker and taint the surroundings.

• Simple circular/symmetrical structure of stanza (opening/closing with chrysanthemums) reflects speaker’s worries/overwhelming sadness.

• Symbolism - ‘they only wilt and die’ – symbolises her fear that her mother is fading/deteriorating/losing vitality/strength and the end is inevitable. Next line links mother’s future to the flowers’.

• Also suggests the mother is quite assertive/ forthright/ ungrateful/ pessimistic or perhaps sensible/practical/pragmatic.

• ‘I am scared…’ Compelling directness of statement creates sense of intimacy with reader as speaker is telling us their inner-most fears.

• Stereotypical ‘hospital flowers’- mother rejects the stereotypical trappings of illness. Suggests independence/defiance of her illness.

• Sense of speaker’s detachment/loneliness/helplessness? – that mother might die ‘next to the sad chrysanthemums,’ rather, than surrounded by loved ones.

She nods off and her eyes go back in her head.Next to her bed is a bottle of Lucozade.‘Orange nostalgia, that’s what that is,’ she says.‘Don’t bring Lucozade either,’ then fades.

• Word choice – suggests losing consciousness/strength. ‘Fades’ = continues idea of a light going out/loss of vitality

• Sadness that the only company she has is a bottle of Lucozade – no other visitors around her except the speaker. Suggests she is isolated/alienated from rest of family.

• She is quite assertive/domineering/bossy/opinionated: ‘Don’t bring Lucozade’ which could explain why she now only has her child with her.

• ‘Lucozade / Orange nostalgia’ – metaphor. Mother rejects nostalgia/another stereotypical marker of illness – wants her experience to be unique, not stereotypical/clichéd (again suggests her independence/feistiness/strong/determined character.)

• May also wish to reject the past as it doesn’t give her comfort or make her happy to think of it. Could also suggests she is unburdened by the past/doesn’t need to reminisce/looks only at the present.

‘The whole day was a blur, a swarm of eyes.Those doctors with their white lies.Did you think you could cheer me up with a Woman’s Own?Don’t bring magazines, too much about size.’

• Direct speech – all mother’s views/opinions. Evokes sadness from reader as we see how distressing/worrying experience is for her.

• ‘blur’ – word choice – indistinct, unclear, senses impaired/fading. Suggests a lot going on around her – disorientating/frightening – she can’t make sense of it/nothing is making sense/clear.

• ‘a swarm of eyes’ – metaphor – feeling objectified, stared at. Irritation. Passivity. Intimidating: eyes are all around her. Feels dazed, confused, exposed.

• Conveys sense of detachment: doesn’t see faces, just eyes which suggests she has seen so many doctors, she can’t recognise/distinguish between them.

‘white lies’ – recalls white coats. Idea of doctors dealing in half truths / medical euphemism (again reflects mother’s rejection of traditional approach to illness/death.) Suggests she is frustrated with the inadequacy of what they are telling her. Dismissive tone - ‘those doctors’ suggests an air of superiority.

Rhetorical Question. Magazine (another traditional symbol of hospital illness) cannot bring happiness. Rude/ungrateful towards speaker who is trying to do what they can to alleviate mother’s suffering. Kay evokes sympathy/pity for speaker who is being treated so disdainfully by haughty mother.

‘too much about size’ - Magazines obsessed with dieting and being slim mother gaunt/emaciated through illness? Or, bored by focus on petty/mundane (weight) when she is entirely consumed dealing with health/death?

End Rhyme – ‘size’ with ‘eyes’ and ‘lies.’ Reflects monotony/routine/’blur’ of hospital life?

My mum wakes up, groggy and low.‘What I want to know,’ she says, ‘is this:where’s the big brandy, the generous gin, the Bloody Mary,the biscuit tin, the chocolate gingers, the dirty big meringue?’

• Speaker’s devotion – sits patiently as mother sleeps. Still there when mother wakes up. Straight away, mother launches into a tirade of criticism/disappointment towards her child – no sense of gratefulness/appreciation.

• Or, could it be she is joking/trying to ease speaker’s fears/showing her love of life? (does this fit with use of ‘low’ in previous line though? – trying to lift her spirits as she’s feeling down?)

• ‘Groggy’ – ironic link to alcohol mother asks for. Already groggy from illness/medicine?

• Colon – marks turning point in poem from negatives to positives, from passivity to action, from acceptance to rejection

• Alliteration of ‘b’ and ‘g’ sounds• Internal rhyme of ‘gin’ and ‘tin’• List of several luxuries• Repetition of ‘the’

• All techniques serve to emphasise the grandiose indulgence, recklessness, extravagance, naughtiness and life-affirming nature of the request. Shows mother’s spirit/joie de vivre/humour.

I am sixteen; I’ve never tasted a Bloody Mary.‘Tell your father to bring a luxury,’ says she.‘Grapes have no imagination, they’re just green.Tell him: stop the neighbours coming.’

Opening of stanza emphasises speaker’s youth/inexperience of life. Contrasts with mother’s age/experience. Sense that mother’s views/perspective is bewildering to speaker.

Feels guilty/frustrated – tries to justify her ineptitude/failure in providing what mother wants: ‘I am sixteen’ and thus, how could she know what to do/what to bring/how to act? She brings the stereotypical hospital gifts because of this.

Mother’s bossiness/strictness – ‘Tell him’ – she very much wants to be in control. Perhaps needs to do this as she feels she has no control over the situation she is in (link to doctors not telling her what she wants in stanza 3.)

‘Grapes have no imagination’ - personification / transferred epithet. Again, builds on her (implied) criticism of visitors/father who bring such stereotypical markers of illness to hospital

Ambiguous request not to see neighbours – Too ill/close to death to receive visitors? Or simply sick of the ‘swarm of eyes’ and wants to spend final days on her own terms? (Another rejection of expected hospital etiquette.)

I clear her cupboard in Ward 10B, Stobhill Hospital.I leave, bags full, Lucozade, grapes, oranges,sad chrysanthemums under my arms,weighted down. I turn around, wave her flowers.

Foreshadows/symbolises mother’s death is imminent – emptiness, closure, finality of gesture – removing all her belongings just like she will do when mother dies. (link to ‘I turn around’ – symbolises separation; going in to different directions (one towards life; one, away from it.)

Precise, factual info and matter of fact tone - is she trying to distance/distract herself from what she is doing? Coping mechanism? (link to detached waving of flowers at mother; can’t bear to wave to her mother herself? Can’t say goodbye etc.)

‘bags full’ / ‘under my arms’ / ‘weighted down’ – metaphorically heavy with sadness/emotion/grief (evokes sympathy – shouldn’t be doing this; father should. Suggests her maturity/how much mother relies on her/closeness/bond between them.)

Objects removed are the stereotypical markers of illness/death: Lucozade, grapes, oranges, flowers. Sense of unburdening the mother /freeing her: by removing objects, maybe mother can convince herself she is fine as there are none of the stereotypical indicators of illness around her.

My mother, on her high hospital bed, waves back.Her face is light and radiant, dandelion hours.Her sheets billow and whirl. She is beautiful.Next to her the empty table is divine.

• Stanza break separates speaker’s wave and the mother’s response - imitates distance between the two.

• Mother (note use of mother instead of mum. Respect/pride?) waving back suggesting that energy has returned + she has been revived? Or, could it be last summoning of energy to say goodbye?

• Through a rejection of the expected role of victim/invalid and its trappings, her face is now ‘light and radiant’ – she is happy/content/at peace/unburdened.

• Repetition of ‘high hospital bed’ from first line – transcendental – lifts her above Earth – symbolises proximity to death (link to beautiful, divine.)

• Personification of sheets – almost like even they are aware it’s goodbye; sheets blow around her foreshadowing her departure? Angelic connotations?

• ‘Dandelion hours’ – metaphor symbolises sense of lightness and beauty, but also delicate fragility. Little time remaining / easily blown away. Speaker realises this? (link to revelation: ‘She is beautiful.’)

• ‘empty table is divine’ – Continues image of heaven/angelic transcendence (cf. negative tone of death in first stanza) Speaker seems less scared/upset now too. Acceptance?

I carry the orange nostalgia home singing an old song.

‘I carry’ – daughter has unburdened her mother (removing objects and metaphorically removing her anxieties.) Instrumental in removing the sadness.

‘orange nostalgia’ – repeated from earlier – this time given a positive tone. Carrying the objects (including the Lucozade away) has metaphorically revitalised the mother on her death bed, in a way the Lucozade could never literally achieve.

‘singing an old song’ – joyful, happy connotations. Symbolises speaker’s acceptance of situation in contrast with fear at the start.

StructureSymmetrical: balanced around the colon in line 14. This marks the move from the depiction of a stereotypical hospital death-bed, to a redefinition (on the Mother’s own terms) of how she will face death. The poem serves as a reflection on the speaker’s changing attitude towards her mother’s death.Summary

• While the poem could be read more generally about illness (the daughter’s actions literally bring energy and vitality back to the mother) - it is hard to read the penultimate stanza, with its heavenly connotations, this way.

• A literal reading would also grossly simplify and obscure the poem’s complex themes of how embracing life can be the best response to death, and how death itself is coloured only by our attitudes towards it.)

• There is also a shift in the speaker’s perspective and tone between the poem’s opening and ending. This appears to be caused by her ability to perform the cleansing ritual of removing all the symbols of sickness from the Mother’s bedside.