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Discourse structure and point of view
Our answer for task C
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Addresser 1
(Roger McGough)
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Message
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Addressee 1
(Reader)
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Addresser 2
(Male Lover)
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Message
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Addressee 2 (previous discourse)
(Himself)
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As with a dramatic text, here McGough presents us with two
characters. In this case, though, as we noted when we examined the poem
in detail, the male lover does not speak, but appears to be thinking.
So even though he appears to be thinking those thoughts 'towards' the
young woman in a 'direct address' style, he is not really communicating
with her, but thinking to himself. Nonetheless, because we know she is
present in the scene, we take her viewpoint into account, rather like
overhearers in plays, even though she is never actually represented as
speaking or thinking in the poem. So, for example, we can sympathise with
her unhappiness as the man imagines her running home at the end of the
poem and imagine her reaction if she could hear what he is thinking about
her.
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