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PADDY CLARKE HA HA HA, Roddy Doyle

COMPARATIVE COMMENTARY

    Compare the following poem by Vernon Scannell with the passage in "Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha" (p.7-8) that runs from "Sinbad wouldn’t put the lighter fluid in his mouth …" to "… We left his mickey till last."

    Consider:

      • the author’s point of view (child/adult?)
      • the style (e.g. syntax, vocabulary, register)
      • the theme/s
      • imagery

    INCENDIARY

    That one small boy with a face like pallid cheese
    And burnt-out little eyes could make a blaze
    As brazen, fierce and huge, as red and gold
    And zany yellow as the one that spoiled
    Three thousand guineas worth of property
    And crops at Godwin's farm on Saturday
    Is frightening - as fact and metaphor:
    An ordinary match intended for
    The lighting of a pipe or kitchen fire
    Misused may set a whole menagerie
    Of flame-fanged tigers roaring hungrily.
    And frightening, too, that one small boy should set
    The sky on fire and choke the stars to heat
    Such skinny limbs and such a little heart
    Which would have been content with one warm kiss
    Had there been anyone to offer this.


    Vernon Scannell

    Frankie Meehan

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