What the poem '6 O'Clock News' is about...

  

  

Strangely, this is a really easy poem to understand!!!

  

Here is the question: have you ever 'looked down on' someone who didn't 'talk proper'?

Have you ever treated the words of someone who 'talked posh' with more respect than someone else who didn't speak with the 'right' accent?

  

Well, this is a reply to THAT kind of attitude by someone who doesn't 'talk proper'!

 

It's the kind of short, aggressive reply that you or I might give to someone who dismissed what we had to say simply because of the way we said it ...

  

Links

Main Sources

BBC Bitesize - simple explanation

Andrew Moore's REALLY clear and detailed explanation

  

Other websites

Mike Ferguson - brief comment

  

brill BBC podcast (text version)  

  

 

 

  

 

First, we need to make some Brief Notes:

 

What does the BBC Bitesize webpage say about the meaning of the poem?

  

What does Andrew Moore say about the meaning of the poem?

  

(if you wish, here is space for other notes/ideas from other websites)

  

  

  

Now you can note your own Ideas about the Meaning of Six O'Clock News....

 

You will understand this poem best if you look at the poem as a whole.  

It is written as a statement by a BBC newsreader, reading from an autocue.

 

Start by writing out what it is saying on the surface in your own words in 'standard English':

Mouseover here to see the text of the poem   

 

    

Thus, on the surface, the 'newsreader' is saying that the news has to be read in a 'posh' voice because nobody would believe it if it was read by someone with an accent 'lik wanna yoo scruffs'.

  

Does Tom Leonard really believe that???  

Of course not - in fact, he believes exactly the opposite!

   

Look at the heavy dialect in which Tom Leonard writes the poem.

On the surface he is saying that the news needs to be read in 'received pronunication' - but he is 'reading' it in a strong Scottish accent!!!

So what is the REAL message of the poem?

Mouseover here to see the text of the poem   

  

(REMEMBER - in these notes, you MUST support your ideas by referring to the text.)

  

     

     

Finally, let's make some notes about the Themes of 'Six O'Clock News'.

  

Two possible themes that you might see in the poem include:

•   Identity

•   Language.

  

Now you need to explain HOW each theme is used in the poem...

You don't need to go into lots of detail, but give a definition of what the theme means, and explain how it is shown in the poem.

  

(REMEMBER - in these notes, you MUST support your ideas by referring to the text.)

  

Mouseover here to see the text of the poem   

Identity

     

Language

     

     

  

Your name:

      

Your form:

  

 

    


     this is thi
     six a clock
     news thi
     man said n
5   thi reason
     a talk wia

     BBC accent
     iz coz yi

     widney wahnt

10 mi ti talk
     aboot thi
     trooth wia
     voice lik

     wanna yoo

15 scruff. if

     a toktaboot
      thi trooth
     lik wanna yoo
     scruff yi

20 widny thingk
     it wuz troo.
     jist wanna yoo
     scruff tokn.
     thirza right
25 way ti spell
     ana right way
     to tok it. this
     is me tokn yir
     right way a
30 spellin. this
     is ma trooth.
     yooz doant no
     thi trooth
     yirsellz cawz
35 yi canny talk
     right. this is
     the six a clock
     nyooz. belt up.  

Themes

Possible themes you might be asked about include:

•  Identity

•  Feelings about people

•  Feelings about places

•  Language and dialect, how people talk.

•  Other cultures, customs and traditions - way of life spiritually and materially.

•  Beliefs and rituals

•  Different attitudes and values

•  Living between two cultures

•  Travel and migration

•  Feelings about change

•  Poverty (e.g. contrasting the developed western world with developing countries).

•  Protest and politics