Themes
Disaster and danger are running themes of ‘Dusting the Phone’
A number of unifying ideas or Central, unifying idea(s) that run through a text. run through the poem. Different readers may attach more or less significance to each of these themes, depending upon how they view the poem.
| Theme | Evidence | Analysis |
| Disasters: ‘The worst that could happen’ is a running theme, as doubts prey on the speaker’s mind. | ‘heralding some disaster’, ‘The worst that could happen’, ‘Sirens’, ‘hoaxes’, ‘trapped’ | She imagines sirens, and wonders who would tell her if ‘the worst’ had happened to her lover, because ‘Nobody knows’. There’s perhaps a suggestion that the relationship might be secret. In that case, if her lover met with an accident, she wouldn’t know about it. Later in the poem, the mention of ‘hoaxes’ and a feeling of being ‘trapped’ recalls this theme of uncontrollable disasters. |
| Waiting: throughout the poem, the speaker is waiting for her lover to call. | ‘I am spending my time’, 'waiting on the phone', ‘silver service’ | The speaker plays with the double meaning of the word ‘wait’ - to stand by in expectation and to serve like a waiter or attendant. She ‘waits’ on the phone by polishing and dusting it, as she ‘waits’ for her lover to call. |
| Time: Fittingly for a poem about waiting, there are repeated references to time. | ‘Spending my time’, ‘the future’, ‘one night per week’, ‘tomorrow’, ‘I go over and over our times together’, ‘this very second’, ‘All the time’ | Kay’s narrator is constantly preoccupied with the passing of time, reinforcing the idea that she is obsessively watching the clock as she waits for the phone to ring. She sees different possible futures: ‘a marriage’, but also spending a night each week ‘in a stranger’s white sheets’. This shows how uncertain she is about what might happen - she sees both happy and less happy possibilities. |
| Theme | Disasters: ‘The worst that could happen’ is a running theme, as doubts prey on the speaker’s mind. |
|---|---|
| Evidence | ‘heralding some disaster’, ‘The worst that could happen’, ‘Sirens’, ‘hoaxes’, ‘trapped’ |
| Analysis | She imagines sirens, and wonders who would tell her if ‘the worst’ had happened to her lover, because ‘Nobody knows’. There’s perhaps a suggestion that the relationship might be secret. In that case, if her lover met with an accident, she wouldn’t know about it. Later in the poem, the mention of ‘hoaxes’ and a feeling of being ‘trapped’ recalls this theme of uncontrollable disasters. |
| Theme | Waiting: throughout the poem, the speaker is waiting for her lover to call. |
|---|---|
| Evidence | ‘I am spending my time’, 'waiting on the phone', ‘silver service’ |
| Analysis | The speaker plays with the double meaning of the word ‘wait’ - to stand by in expectation and to serve like a waiter or attendant. She ‘waits’ on the phone by polishing and dusting it, as she ‘waits’ for her lover to call. |
| Theme | Time: Fittingly for a poem about waiting, there are repeated references to time. |
|---|---|
| Evidence | ‘Spending my time’, ‘the future’, ‘one night per week’, ‘tomorrow’, ‘I go over and over our times together’, ‘this very second’, ‘All the time’ |
| Analysis | Kay’s narrator is constantly preoccupied with the passing of time, reinforcing the idea that she is obsessively watching the clock as she waits for the phone to ring. She sees different possible futures: ‘a marriage’, but also spending a night each week ‘in a stranger’s white sheets’. This shows how uncertain she is about what might happen - she sees both happy and less happy possibilities. |
Question
In the poem, Jackie Kay uses the term ‘silver service’. What does this contribute to the reader’s understanding of the themes of the poem?
- ‘Silver service’ is a term used to describe a set of rules for serving food used by waiters in high-class restaurants.
- Kay uses the term here to suggest just how carefully she is dusting and polishing the phone. This is perhaps an example of Over-the-top exaggeration for effect..
- Kay’s over-the-top exaggeration has a humorous effect and underlines the poem’s sense of edgy, jokey irony for the reader.
