Whether or not the mother’s behaviour crosses a line into abusive territory is a matter of
interpretation, but Yap couches the whole poem in a violent diction of verbal and physical assault
that strongly implies his criticism of this way of parenting. He draws from an abusive lexical field of
words such as beats, shouting, raps (meaning to hit with the knuckles) strikes, shrieks, hit, yells and
shouting again. Many phrases such as she beats the boy and the repeated is at it again are
composed of monosyllabic words that, when read aloud, impact the ear in a flurry of short, sharp
strikes. On several occasions, Yap uses punctuation to further accentuate the physical impact of his
writing, embedding full stops into lines of poetry to create a staccato effect. Both 2nd. lang. tuition.
and p.e. ploy abbreviate words using full stops, adding a tactile dimension to both the mother’s
abrupt shouts and the physical punishment she metes out. Thanks to plosive alliteration (made with
the letter P), the words p.e. ploy strike the ear just like the mother’s palm falls on her son’s bare
skin, giving us an auditory expression of the pain he endures. In fact, throughout the whole poem,
Yap intensifies violent language using hard consonant sounds (alliteration and consonance) as
frequently as he can. Plosives (made with the letters B and P), dentals (D and T) and gutturals (G, C
and K) create an audio assault that mirrors the mother’s physical actions: beats the boy, begins with
his mediocre report grades, strikes chords, circling… cowering, p.e. ploy, tears are dear, take from
the kitty… jab at a random line and you’ll probably hit one of these hard sound patterns. The
combination of different hard consonants creates cacophony, a dissonant and uncomfortable
mixture of sounds that don’t easily harmonise. Combined with Yap’s unpredictable use of rhyme (we
already mentioned half-rhymes; at other times we hear full-rhymes like boy/ploy and the occasional
internal rhyme too, such as his tears are dear/appear) the sound effects in the poem can be jarring,
unpredictable, and occasionally overwhelming – all accusations that can be levelled at the mother
herself. One line describes her as no soft figure of a consonant-vowel gradient, referring to one of
the advanced concepts the boy is expected to master. Her manner is anything but soft and, rather
than moving through a smooth gradient of behaviour, she switches suddenly into modes of anger
and abuse, something conveyed exceptionally well through the poem’s cacophonous sound
patterns. On top of all this, the auditory violence of the poem finds direct expression through
onomatopoeia: words like hits, shrieks, raps contain the sound of the action they describe, letting us
directly experience the whirlwind of action as the mother flails away at her poor, put-upon progeny.
Let’s not forget, the whole poem begins with the idea that she’s so loud the speaker is startled out
of his pleasant afternoon nap all the way across the road!
If you’re teaching or studying htis poem and would like to keep track of all the details of Yap’s
writing craft,visit the shop and find the bespoke an afternoon nap study bundle. Included is a
detailed PPT giving notes on every line and important feature of the poem. You’ll also find a focused
worksheet, a revision booklet, quizzes, questions and more. If you need help with your analytical
writing there’s an essay writing resource with advice on how to plan – and a complete, top-grade
model essay for you to see how it’s done.
