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Learn More. "The Telephone Call" appears in Fleur Adcock's collection The Incident Book (1986). It describes a mysterious phone call from "Universal Lotteries," an organization claiming that the speaker has won their grand prize. When the callers finally admit the speaker hasn't won any money, they claim the true "prize" was the memorable ...
Go on, tell us about it.’. revolving like a flying saucer.’. ‘ That’s unusual ’ they said. ‘Go on.’. I said ‘I’m finding it hard to talk. My throat’s gone dry, my nose is ...
The Telephone Call is a six-stanza poem composed by Fleur Adcock. The first stanza opens with a mysterious phone call to the speaker from the “Universal Lotteries” as claimed by the caller. The identity of the callers is not revealed but they are likely to be the officials of the “Universal Lotteries.”. The identity of the speaker and ...
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‘The Telephone Call’by Fleur Adcock is a short and witty telephonic conversation. The poet got a call from “Universal Lotteries” and they told the poet she was one of the lucky winners. She was going to be a millionaire or multi-millionaire within no time. Naturally, she was elated. Moreover, they told the poet of “giving way to” her “emotion”. Aft...
‘The Telephone Call’ by Fleur Adcock consists of six stanzas each having 8 lines. It is a free verse poem and there isn’t any rhyme scheme. The poem flows with the repartee of the poet and the lottery company. Moreover, the poem doesn’t contain any specific meter scheme. This conversational poem has mixed iambic-trochaic feet. The rising and fallin...
‘The Telephone Call’ by Fleur Adcock has several interrogations and lines of the poem get connected by the use of enjambment. There is sarcasm as well as irony in this poem. As an example, “Or, actually, with more than a million –” contains sarcasm. In the following lines, the poet uses irony. There are three instances where the poet uses ellipsis....
Stanza One
‘The Telephone Call’ by Fleur Adcock introduces the subject matterin the first four lines of the poem. The poet received a call from the “Universal Lotteries” as she won the top prize in the “Ultra-super Global Special” lucky draw. In the last four lines, they asked the poet what she would do with a million or more than a million pounds. After saying that, they sarcastically added, “not that it makes a lot of difference/ once you’re a millionaire.” Thereafter they laughed. So, from this secti...
Stanza Two
‘The Telephone Call’ by Fleur Adcock starts to unwrap the major themes of the poem from the second stanza. The theme of appearance vs reality is present in the first few lines of the poem. There is a feud in the poet’s mind about reality and the illusionof getting a million pounds. The news somehow entered her subconscious mind and awakened the nagging and angry child called greed dossing in her heart. She lost her senses and felt like her brain had floated off through the window. To present...
Stanza Three
In the third stanza of ‘The Telephone Call’, the base emotions in the poet’s start to dominate her rational mind. She found it hard to express anything. Her throat went dry for the burning greed of her heart. The apparent truth made her so vulnerable that she even became emotional. This section presents the theme of turbulent human emotions. Thereafter, the person from the company knocked her defense of self-control down and urged her to give way to her emotions. They wanted to take her to th...
‘The Telephone Call’ by Fleur Adcock is a postmodern poem that depicts how a phone call plays with human emotions. The person from the lottery company was just a catalyst. And, greed in the poet’s heart, in reality, played with her senses. Moreover, through this poem, Adcock presents human fascination with luck. That’s why they buy lottery tickets ...
Like ‘The Telephone Call’ by Fleur Adcock(one of the most important poets of the 21st century), here is a list of a few poems that talk about human emotions. 1. Hello Lustby Anita Nair– It’s a poem bout lust and human emotions. 2. What Are Yearsby Marianne Moore– This poem speaks on the nature of emotions that make life special. 3. Telephone Conver...
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Apr 10, 2023 · The telephone is something of a motif in Fleur Adcock’s poems. In For Heidi with Blue Hair, a phone call connects a strict headmaster, who sends Heidi home from school for dying her hair an unnatural colour, and Heidi’s angry father who argues the case for freedom of expression.
Aug 24, 2022 · The Telephone Call | Summary & Analysis. The poem deals with a phone call that the speaker receives claiming that the speaker has won a lottery of one million, delving into the speaker’s emotions which are laid bare we see their excitement and happiness before it all comes crumbling down in the last stanza when it is revealed that the company ...
The Telephone Call. They asked me 'Are you sitting down? Right? This is Universal Lotteries,' they said. 'You've won the top prize, the Ultra-super Global Special. What would you do with a million pounds? Or, actually, with more than a million— not that it makes a lot of difference once you're a millionaire.' And they laughed.
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