The Class Game (Edexcel GCSE English Literature)

Each poetry anthology in the GCSE contains 15 poems, and in the poetry question in the exam you will be given one poem on the paper – printed in full – and asked to compare this given poem to one other from the anthology. As this is a “closed book” exam, you will not have access to the other poems, so you will have to know them very well from memory. Fifteen poems is a lot to learn. However, understanding four things about each poem will enable you to produce a top-mark response:

• The meaning of the poem and the story it tells 
• The ideas and messages the poet wanted to convey
• How the poet uses poetic techniques to convey their ideas and messages
• How these ideas compare and contrast with the ideas and themes of other poems in the anthology

Below is a guide to Mary Casey’s 'The Class Game', from the Conflict anthology. It includes:

• Overview: a breakdown of the poem, including its possible meanings and interpretations
• Writer’s methods: an exploration of the poet’s techniques and methods
• Context: an exploration of the context of the poem, relevant to its themes
• What to compare it to: ideas about which poems to compare it to in the exam

The poem has been taken from Pearson Edexcel’s poetry anthology, the full version of which can be found here.

In order to answer an essay question on any poem, it is essential that you understand what it is about. This section includes:

• The poem in a nutshell
• An explanation of the poem, line-by-line
• A commentary of each of these lines, outlining Casey's intention and message

'The Class Game' in a nutshell

'The Class Game' is a dramatic monologue addressed to an imagined middle-class listener. Casey’s title suggests that class differences are just a game; however, it’s a game that benefits people who see themselves as superior to the working class. Therefore, the poem challenges middle-class prejudice against the working class. The speaker compares her working-class identity with people who identify as middle class and gives examples illustrating her working-class background. These examples include the way she speaks, what she calls things, where she lives and her family’s occupations. The poem uses humour as well as criticism to convey the speaker’s anger and frustration, and ends with an assertion of her pride in her working-class heritage. 

'The Class Game' breakdown

Lines 1–8

“How can you tell what class I’m from? 

I can talk posh like some 

With an ’Olly in me mouth 

Down me nose, wear an ’at not a scarf 

With me second-hand clothes. 

So why do you always wince when you hear 

Me say ‘Tara’ to me ‘Ma’ instead of ‘Bye Mummy 

dear’?”

Explanation

• The speaker asks how the listener (or reader) can tell what class she’s from: 
• This immediately introduces the theme of class as the poem’s focus
• The rhetorical question is repeated three times in the poem and works as a refrain, introducing examples of differences between working-class and middle-class people
• The speaker can behave like a middle-class person if she wants to:
• For instance, she can speak with a middle-class accent if she chooses: 
• An “’Olly” is a marble, a small, glass ball, and speaking with one in your mouth would produce an accent that the speaker associates with being “posh”
• She can have an attitude of superiority towards other people
• She can dress like a middle-class person, with a hat instead of a scarf
• Her “second-hand clothes” reinforce her less affluent, working-class status
• The speaker’s next rhetorical question suggests that her working-class accent and dialect make middle-class listeners “wince” (screw up their faces) in discomfort 
• She gives examples, juxtaposing them with how a middle-class person would speak:
• She says “Tara” instead of “’Bye” and calls her mother “Ma” instead of “Mummy dear”
• The use of diction in “Tara” and “me ‘Ma’” identifies the speaker as a working-class Liverpudlian

Casey's intention

• The poem opens confidently with a challenge to the listener/reader about their class prejudices:
• The personal pronoun “you” is direct and challenging
• It sets up an confrontational tone that characterises the class conflict addressed by the speaker
• The speaker conveys her working-class background in her diction throughout the poem: 
• For example, by using “me” instead of “my”
• When the speaker claims that she could dress and speak like a middle-class person, she is implying that she chooses not to:
• Casey is also illustrating how people use self-presentation to play “the class game”
• The second rhetorical question challenges the attitudes of people who look down on working-class accents or diction:
• Juxtaposing “me ‘Ma’” with “Mummy dear” emphasises these class differences in a humorous way 
• This suggests that all middle-class people speak with posh accents, say “Mummy dear” and wear hats
• Casey is humorously reflecting the judgemental attitudes she is challenging back onto those who hold them

Lines 8–13

“How can you tell what class I’m from? 

’Cos we live in a corpy, not like some 

In a pretty little semi, out Wirral way 

And commute into Liverpool by train each day? 

Or did I drop my unemployment card 

Sitting on your patio (We have a yard)?” 

Explanation

• The speaker repeats her challenging refrain, and offers more comparisons of working-class and middle-class stereotypes:
• These comparisons reflect middle-class prejudices about working-class people
• She lives in a “corpy” (a council house), rather than “a pretty little semi” (semi-detached house) in Wirral (a middle-class borough of Liverpool)
• The speaker’s rhetorical question about dropping her unemployment card refers to middle-class prejudice about working-class people being out of work
• The juxtaposition of “patio” and “yard” emphasises differences in diction, rather than real differences, because both words mean the same thing

Casey's intention

• Casey identifies and challenges further examples of class prejudice
• These include middle-class ideas that working-class people are all unemployed and live in council houses:
• The reference to housing also indicates the difference in income and wealth between the middle and working classes
• Middle-class people are likely to have higher incomes and be able to afford bigger houses in suburban areas
• The reference to her “unemployment card” also reflects the fact that middle-class people found it much easier to get work at the time Casey was writing
• Emphasising the different names people use for the same things (“patio” or “yard”) also draws attention to the absurdity of class prejudice:
• The prejudice isn’t about the things themselves, but about what they’re called by different classes

Lines 14–19

“How can you tell what class I’m from? 

Have I a label on me head, and another on me bum? 

Or is it because my hands are stained with toil? 

Instead of soft lily-white with perfume and oil? 

Don’t I crook me little finger when I drink me tea 

Say toilet instead of bog when I want to pee?”

Explanation

• The speaker repeats her refrain, suggesting that people can’t tell what class she’s from because she has not got a label on her head or bum:
• Instead, they “read” her class through other details about her appearance and behaviour
• Her hands look like she does manual work (they are “stained with toil”) instead of being soft, white and perfumed, as hands that don’t do manual work might be
• She doesn’t raise her little finger when she drinks a cup of tea
• She says “bog” instead of “toilet” when she wants to “pee” (urinate)
  
  

Casey's intention

• Repeating the refrain draws attention to the real reasons middle-class people judge the speaker’s working-class status:
• The reference to having a label on her “head” or “bum” may be acknowledging the way people “label” others
• The references to “soft lily-white” hands and “crooking” her little finger to drink tea satirises middle-class snobbery:
• Using stereotypes like these once more reflects snobbish attitudes back onto those who hold them
• Casey uses terms like “bum”, “bog” and “pee” to shock and to challenge middle-class prejudices
  
  

Lines 20–26

“Why do you care what class I’m from? 

Does it stick in your gullet like a sour plum? 

Well, mate! A cleaner is me mother 

A docker is me brother 

Bread pudding is wet nelly  

And me stomach is me belly 

And I’m proud of the class that I come from.”

Explanation

• The refrain is changed slightly, from “How can you tell?” to “Why do you care?”:
• The speaker is implying that her working-class status is a problem for middle-class people
• She emphasises this by asking if her class irritates them like something unpleasant and difficult to accept (“Stick in your gullet (the throat) like a sour plum”)
• “Well, mate!” is an assertion of the speaker’s position and implies “whether you like it or not”
• The speaker presents her family’s occupations; her mother is a cleaner and her brother works on the docks (Liverpool is famous for its dockyards)
• She calls bread pudding “wet nelly” and her stomach her “belly”
• She ends with an assertion of pride in her working-class heritage

Casey's intention

• The change in the wording of the refrain to “Why do you care what class I’m from” implies that the speaker has encountered people who do care and have displayed class prejudice towards her
• The simile “like a sour plum” indicates the distaste people have shown her because of her class:
• Although her metaphor is humorous (she imagines someone choking because they’ve encountered a working-class person), there is genuine anger in this simile
• This is because class prejudice of the type Casey illustrates always disadvantages working-class people
• The aggressive tone of “Well, mate!” represents this anger
• The shortened phrases and line lengths at the end speed up the poem: 
• This indicates the speaker’s anger at the prejudice she’s experienced
• The quick succession of symbols of her working-class background – her family’s jobs and her names for things – increases the defiance of her tone:
• Her blunt statements feel like a series of punches thrown in a fight
• The “knockout punch” is her assertion of class identity and pride
• The fact that the speaker needs to assert her pride in her class identity suggests that other people have tried to make her feel ashamed of it or used it to belittle her

This section is split into three separate areas: form, structure and language. It is crucial to link these technical areas of Casey's writing together. When you revise the poem, think about how she uses language, structure and form to convey her ideas in ‘The Class Game’. 

You will get higher marks if you focus on Casey's themes rather than on individual poetic techniques. Therefore, the analysis in the following sections is arranged by theme, and examines the intentions behind Casey's decisions about:

• Form
• Structure
• Language

Form

'The Class Game' is a dramatic monologue addressed to an unidentified listener, but the use of the personal pronoun “you” extends the poem out to involve the reader. The confrontational tone of the poem is reflected in its single stanza, which builds in speed and tension as the speaker makes her case. The repeated refrain breaks the poem up into sections, which address different aspects of class identity. The poem uses regular rhyming couplets (AABB) after the first five lines, containing each comparison within the form of a separate question or answer.

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Conflict and class	The poem uses a first-person voice (“I”) and the personal pronoun “you”: “How can you tell what class I’m from” is the first of many questions presented to “you”	This direct address involves readers and challenges their own ideas about class: The repeated rhetorical questions make us question ourselves about our class attitudes and prejudices
	The poem is presented as a single, long stanza	This long stanza illustrates the speaker’s train of thought and the way her frustration and anger build up as the poem progresses
	The refrain is repeated four times in the poem: Each time, it introduces another comparison that highlights class differences	The repetition of the refrain presents an accretive argument as the speaker builds her case: It also reinforces the sense of absurdity about class prejudice
	The rhyming couplets make the poem straightforward and easy to read: This makes the rhythm lively and song-like It gives the poem a lighthearted tone that reflects Casey’s humour	The couplets convey the simplicity of Casey’s message about class differences, as rhyming couplets are often used in poems for children: This could also reflect the way the middle class regards the working class as unsophisticated or uneducated

Structure

The poem presents a series of observations about class differences and attacks the way working-class people are regarded or treated by others. The refrain changes in the final repetition to emphasise Casey’s message. Although most of the poem employs rhyming couplets, many of these are half-rhymes, and the line lengths are uneven, enhancing her speaker’s tone of anger and frustration. The question and answer structure used throughout the poem encourages readers to reflect on whether they play “the class game” themselves. Casey also uses enjambment and caesura to convey her speaker’s feelings and change the pace and tone of the poem.

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Class prejudice	Casey often uses half-rhymes and internal half-rhymes (occurring in the middle of lines, rather than at the end): At the start of the poem, she rhymes  “from”/”some” and “nose”/”clothes”	The awkwardness of the half-rhymes projects the discomfort felt by middle-class people about the speaker’s class:  The gap between half-rhyme and full rhyme illustrates the gap between how the speaker sees herself and how others see her
	The poem’s lines do not have a regular length: For example, lines 14 and 15 have an irregular number of beats, despite being a rhyming couplet  This conveys the directness and speech-like qualities of the verse	The uneven length and rhythm of many lines emphasise the difficult nature of the speaker’s feelings:  The shorter lines towards the end of the poem speed up the pace to convey the speaker’s growing anger
Conflict and identity	The comparisons in the poem are presented as a series of rhetorical questions and answers: For example, “How can you tell what class I’m from?/’Cos we live in a corpy-”	This makes the poem feel like a one-sided argument: However, Casey’s use of  direct address draws the reader into the argument It also helps to establish her identity, as the argument is entirely from her perspective
	The poem uses enjambment in some lines: For example, “Or did I drop my unemployment card/Sitting on your patio (We have a yard)?	Casey uses enjambment to mimic human speech: It makes her speaker’s voice sound more informal and speeds up the pace to convey the urgency of her argument
	A caesura is used to convey the speaker’s anger: “Well, mate!” creates a clear break in the line It is also a very direct verbal reproduction of her Liverpudlian diction and accent	The caesura after “Well, mate!” makes it sound even more confrontational: The poem speeds up after the caesura, using shorter lines to show that the speaker’s patience is running out

Language

Casey makes her poem as direct and simple as possible to engage readers. However, she does use juxtaposition throughout the poem to emphasise her themes and enhance the poem’s confrontational tone. Her use of working-class Liverpudlian diction and dialect words establish and confirm her identity.

Theme	Evidence	Poet's intention
Class prejudice	Juxtaposition is used to compare working-class people with middle-class people: Casey connects her comparisons with contrasting language, such as “because”, “or” and “instead”	The succession of comparisons highlights the class differences portrayed in the poem: The comparative language used by Casey links the speaker’s examples together
	The poem uses one metaphor and one simile: The metaphor “With an ’Olly in me mouth” represents the way someone would sound if they tried to talk with a marble in their mouth The combination of metaphor and simile in “stick in your gullet like a sour plum” suggests choking	The expressions “’Olly” and “stick in your gullet like a sour plum” are linked by their focus on speech and the physical act of speaking: This draws attention to the importance of speech, accent and dialect in the poem The “sour plum” being stuck in the throat prevents speech, so the speaker may be exercising power as well as evoking discomfort or disgust
	Although most of the imagery in the poem is very direct, Casey does use some objects to represent other things:  For example, the speaker compares her family’s “corpy” with the middle class’s “pretty little semi” She also compares her “stained” hands with the “soft lily-white hands” of the middle classes	These juxtapositions emphasise the differences in wealth and the type of work available to different classes: The houses are used to represent different levels of wealth The hands are used to represent different types of work The speaker is making the point that work – and, therefore, wealth – are both more easily available for middle-class people
Conflict and  identity	The speaker uses colloquial language and informal diction throughout the poem: For example, saying “I can talk posh like some” is a colloquial way of expressing herself Using “me” instead of “my” helps to convey the rhythms and sounds of the speaker’s native accent	Combining the colloquial language of her class and the diction of her Liverpudlian accent are assertive statements of the speaker’s identity: These aspects of the poem create a strong sense of voice This enhances the speaker’s argument about class identity and class differences
	The speaker also uses a range of dialect words and expressions: Words and phrases like “Tara”, “corpy”, “out Wirral way” and “wet nelly” identify the speaker as a native of Liverpool	The consistency with which the speaker asserts her natural accent is a confirmation of her class and regional identity: The fact that she draws attention to words and speech repeatedly reinforces her strong sense of identity

Context can offer important insights into the poem, but you should avoid including random chunks of information about the poem’s historical or literary context in your response. Instead, aim to combine contextual information with your analysis of the poem's themes to demonstrate your understanding of Casey’s ideas and message. In 'The Class Game', the main focus is on class prejudice and class identity, so the following section has been bullet-pointed under these themes: 

• Class prejudice
• Conflict and identity
  
  

Class prejudice

• ‘The Class Game’ was published in the literary magazine Voices in 1972
• Voices had been set up to give people from working-class backgrounds an opportunity to publish their writing:
• The writers published by Voices were ordinary working-class people writing directly about their experiences
• The fact that a special magazine had to be set up in order to publish their work reveals the lack of access to the literary scene for working-class people like Casey in the 1970s and 1980s
• This lack of access is a form of class prejudice, as it suggests that working-class voices weren’t as important as middle-class voices
• Divisions between social classes were deep and prominent in the 1970s and 1980s:
• Although the class system was less noticeable than earlier in the twentieth century, society was still divided along class lines
• This was largely because of differences in access to education, work and income between working-class people and middle- or upper-class people
• ‘The Class Game’ focuses on some of these differences, such as where people lived and what kind of work they did
• Conflicts between social classes focused on the inequality and injustice of some people having advantages because they were born into a more privileged class:
• This inequality created the alienation between classes that Casey portrays in ‘The Class Game’
• The disadvantaged working class was often regarded with fear and suspicion by middle-class people, which led to attitudes of snobbery and defensiveness
• These attitudes were manifested in the kinds of behaviour, such as the “wince” at her speaker’s diction, illustrated by Casey

Conflict and identity

• Mary Casey was a housewife from Liverpool, but not much else is known about her:
• Like many of the other working-class writers who published poems in Voices, she didn’t have a literary background or a public profile 

• The 1970s saw a series of terrible recessions, which hit northern cities like Liverpool particularly hard:
• This is because Liverpool was an industrial city, and industry suffers most in a recession, leading to loss of jobs 
• Most people working in industries in Liverpool were working class, which meant that they were more affected by job losses
• That meant there was a huge gap between the lives of middle-class and working-class people, which Casey portrays in ‘The Class Game’ when she addresses housing and employment
• A dual sense of class oppression and class solidarity led to working-class people like Casey celebrating their local and class identity:
• This is illustrated in Casey’s use of her Liverpudlian dialect, diction and colloquialisms, as well as her final statement: “I’m proud of the class that I come from.” 

In your exam, you will be asked to compare the ideas and themes explored in two of your anthology poems. That means it’s a good idea to revise pairs of poems together, in order to understand how each poet presents their ideas about conflict. This will enable you to write a thorough analysis of their similarities and differences.  In 'The Class Game', Casey's main themes are social prejudice and conflict and class identity. Therefore, the following comparisons would be a good place to start:

• 'The Class Game' and 'Cousin Kate’
• 'The Class Game' and 'Half-caste’ 

For each pair of poems, you will find:

• The comparison in a nutshell
• Similarities between the ideas presented in each poem
• Differences between the ideas presented in each poem
• Evidence and analysis of these similarities and differences

'The Class Game' and ‘Cousin Kate'

Comparison in a nutshell:

‘The Class Game’ and ‘Cousin Kate’ are both monologues, in which their female speakers present the injustices they suffer because of social inequality. Both are angry poems that use a direct form of address and both explore conflicts between their speakers and other people. However, Rossetti tells the story of her speaker’s betrayal and social rejection, which has transformed her sense of identity, while Casey’s speaker confronts class prejudice and ends up proudly reaffirming her class identity.

Similarities:

Topic sentence	Both poems address issues of social prejudice and use similar techniques to confront inequality and its negative effects
Evidence and analysis	'The Class Game'	'Cousin Kate'
	Casey’s speaker uses a direct form of address, repeating “I” and “you” throughout the poem to convey her anger at the prejudice she has encountered: This gives her poem a confrontational tone	Rossetti also uses “I” and “you” throughout the poem to demonstrate her anger and bitterness about her situation:  Her use of direct address emphasises the accusatory tone of the poem
	Casey presents her attack on class prejudice as a series of distinct questions and statements	Rossetti uses enjambment at the end of alternative lines to produce a series of statements detailing her speaker’s story
	‘The Class Game’ focuses on inequality between social classes	‘Cousin Kate’ focuses on both class and gender inequalities
	Casey’s speaker presents repeated juxtapositions of working-class and middle-class speech, behaviour and lives: Casey’s use of juxtaposition highlights the inequality of wealth and opportunities between social classes	Rossetti also uses juxtaposition to compare her situation with her more fortunate cousin’s: The lines, “Even so I sit and howl in dust/You sit in gold and sing” highlight the inequality between the rich and the poor, and “respectable” and the disgraced women
	Casey makes it clear that her speaker is not the source of the unequal social relationship between the classes: Instead, she identifies the snobbery of middle-class people when her accent makes them “wince” and her class status sticks in their throats “like a sour plum”	Rossetti also makes it clear that her speaker is not to blame for her social rejection:   She was “fooled” by the “great lord”, who exploited his power and the inequalities of her gender and social situation
	The confrontational tone of both poems is supported by the accretive case against social inequalities made by Casey and Rossetti

Differences:

Topic sentence	Although both poems address social inequalities, they employ different verse forms and have different outcomes
Evidence and analysis	'The Class Game'	'Cousin Kate'
	Casey employs rhyming couplets, half-rhymes and uneven line lengths to convey a direct, speech-like tone	Rossetti uses strict quatrains and a regular rhyme scheme to convey her speaker’s story
	‘The Class Game’ is an observational poem, which presents its ideas in a series of comparisons between its speaker and her middle-class listener	‘Cousin Kate’ is a narrative poem, which moves backwards and forwards in time to present its speaker’s views and detail her history
	The class prejudice experienced by the speaker has made her prouder of her working-class background: Her assertion of her working-class background is illustrated in her use of dialect, which contradicts the terms used by middle-class people	The class and gender prejudice experienced by the speaker have diminished her sense of self: She calls herself a “thing” and contrasts herself with her “good and pure” cousin to emphasise the contrast between their situations
	Despite the speaker’s anger at the injustice of class prejudice, she asserts her class identity with pride: This is illustrated in the triumphant tone of the poem’s final line: “I’m proud of the class that I come from.”	The injustice of the prejudice shown towards the speaker affects her identity  so that she feels barely human:  This is illustrated the phrase “I sit and howl in dust”, which conveys non-human characteristics expressing her sense of disempowerment and social rejection
	Casey presents her speaker’s pride and affirmation of her class status and identity, while Rossetti’s speaker cannot overcome the effects of social inequality

'The Class Game' and 'Half-caste'

Comparison in a nutshell:

These poems offer you the opportunity to compare two types of inequality and prejudice. Casey’s poem focuses on class prejudice, while Agard explores expressions of racial prejudice. However, the poems are remarkably similar in their approaches, form of address and narrative techniques. 

Similarities:

Topic sentence	Both poems are dramatic monologues that confront inequality and end by asserting their speakers’ identity
Evidence and analysis	'The Class Game'	'Half-caste'
	Casey’s poem focuses on the inequality between classes and the injustice of class prejudice	Agard focuses on the injustice of racism and racial inequality
	The poem is presented as a dramatic monologue: Casey’s speaker confronts her unseen listener, who is presented as someone displaying social prejudice against working-class people	The poem also presents its argument in the form of a dramatic monologue: The unseen listener is presented as someone who is racially prejudiced, since Agard’s attack is on their use of the racist term “half-caste”
	The uneven line lengths and enjambment in ‘The Class Game’ make the verse sound like natural speech, enhancing Casey’s anger and frustration about class prejudice: Especially in the final lines, which speed up the pace and combative tone, ending in a final assertion of working-class identity	The free-flowing form and rhythms of the poem make it sound like natural speech, enhancing Agard’s expression of frustration and anger about racism: The short, three-line stanzas that start and end the poem show a progression from confrontation to self-assertion
	Casey uses direct address – “I” and “you” – to present her speaker’s case:  When she calls her listener “you” repeatedly, it confronts the class prejudice of the listener and reader alike	Agard also uses direct address – “I” and “yu” – to challenge racism:  His speaker’s “I” is always in confrontation with the listener’s “yu” and no comparison is made between them
	Casey’s speaker repeats her refrain to challenge her listener: “How can you tell what class I’m from?” she asks repeatedly, to expose the listener’s prejudices against her working-class background Her other questions continue to attack her listener’s class prejudice	Agard’s speaker also repeatedly questions his listener to challenge them: He asks, “wha yu mean/when yu say half-caste”, challenging his listener to come up with a logical answer This question is repeated to emphasise the lack of a good answer
	Casey celebrates her speaker’s working-class heritage by using her natural dialect and diction:  In this way, she reclaims poetry for marginalised working-class voices	Agard celebrates his Guyanese heritage in his spelling, dialect and diction: By doing this, he reclaims poetry for racially marginalised voices
	The final lines of the poem show Casey’s speaker asserting her own truth and identity: “Well, mate!” demonstrates her speaker standing up for her right to define herself in her own terms	The final three-line stanza shows Agard’s speaker asserting his own truth and identity:  “I will tell yu” demonstrates Agard’s speaker reclaiming his right to define himself by telling the other half of his story and presenting himself as a whole person, rather than a “half” of something
	Both poems use direct address to present a case against social inequality and injustice, and both use speech-like forms of address to convey their speakers’ anger and frustration

Differences:

Topic sentence	Although both poems attack social inequalities, they focus on different types of prejudice
Evidence and analysis	'The Class Game'	'Half-caste'
	The poem focuses on a range of class divisions and prejudices, including speech, behaviour and occupation, which Casey gathers to build her case	Agard’s poem focuses on a single example of racist speech, which he uses to represent the racist attitudes he attacks
	Casey’s humour is direct and challenging; she doesn’t use techniques like metaphor and analogy, but presents her case bluntly:  For example, she asks, “Don’t I crook me little finger when I drink me tea/Say toilet instead of bog when I want to pee?”	Agard’s humour is indirect and metaphorical; he uses a succession of analogies and satirical speculation to make his case: He compares 'Half-caste' to painting, music and the weather and satirises the term in a series of statements about his senses, dreams and shadow
	After her opening lines, Casey uses rhyming couplets for each statement, often for dramatic or humorous effect: For example, she rhymes “toil” and “oil” to illustrate the difference between working-class hands and hands that don’t do manual work Her use of rhyme emphasises her comparisons and thus conveys her anger about class prejudice	While there is rhyme in the poem, it is irregular and works to emphasise certain words, usually for humorous effect: For example, “Half-caste till dem overcast” is an example of the way Agard brings together his analogies, suggesting that racism is like the English weather Agard’s rejection of conventional rhyme is a way of affirming his racial identity
	Although the conflict between Casey’s speaker and her listener is clear, she often compares her perception of, or names for, things with her listener’s:  This comparison highlights the differences between them	Agard’s speaker doesn’t compare himself to his listener: The conflict between the “I” and the “yu” in his poem demonstrates that there is only conflict between them, and no comparison is possible
	Casey’s speaker challenges readers with her direct, blunt humour and language, while Agard’s poem uses a more indirect, satirical approach