The Class Game (Edexcel GCSE English Literature)
Revision Note
‘The Class Game’
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.
Examiner Tips and Tricks
Your exam question will ask you to compare 'The Class Game' with another poem from your Conflict anthology. Your comparison should focus on the way each writer presents their ideas about conflict. They may be depicting an armed conflict, or a personal conflict, or – as in this poem – a social conflict.
If the poem printed on your exam paper is 'The Class Game', you should start by stating which poem you’re going to compare it to. For instance, you could compare 'The Class Game' with another poem that addresses ideas about identity and social prejudice, like John Agard’s ‘Half-caste’ or Christina Rossetti’s ‘Cousin Kate’. Look at the “What to compare it to” section below for detailed suggestions about comparing 'The Class Game' with other poems in the anthology.
Overview
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
Writer’s methods
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
Examiner Tips and Tricks
Think about how Casey uses poetic methods to make her meaning clearer and more effective. You should avoid identifying techniques without linking them to the themes of 'The Class Game'. So, instead of writing “Casey uses rhetorical questions”, you could state: “Casey’s use of rhetorical questions to confront the reader’s prejudices”, then analyse an example.
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”:
| This direct address involves readers and challenges their own ideas about class:
|
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:
| The repetition of the refrain presents an accretive argument as the speaker builds her case:
| |
The rhyming couplets make the poem straightforward and easy to read:
| The couplets convey the simplicity of Casey’s message about class differences, as rhyming couplets are often used in poems for children:
|
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):
| The awkwardness of the half-rhymes projects the discomfort felt by middle-class people about the speaker’s class:
|
The poem’s lines do not have a regular length:
| The uneven length and rhythm of many lines emphasise the difficult nature of the speaker’s feelings:
| |
Conflict and identity | The comparisons in the poem are presented as a series of rhetorical questions and answers:
| This makes the poem feel like a one-sided argument:
|
The poem uses enjambment in some lines:
| Casey uses enjambment to mimic human speech:
| |
A caesura is used to convey the speaker’s anger:
| The caesura after “Well, mate!” makes it sound even more confrontational:
|
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:
| 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 expressions “’Olly” and “stick in your gullet like a sour plum” are linked by their focus on speech and the physical act of speaking:
| |
Although most of the imagery in the poem is very direct, Casey does use some objects to represent other things:
| These juxtapositions emphasise the differences in wealth and the type of work available to different classes:
| |
Conflict and identity | The speaker uses colloquial language and informal diction throughout the poem:
| Combining the colloquial language of her class and the diction of her Liverpudlian accent are assertive statements of the speaker’s identity:
|
The speaker also uses a range of dialect words and expressions:
| The consistency with which the speaker asserts her natural accent is a confirmation of her class and regional identity:
|
Context
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.”
Examiner Tips and Tricks
You can use your knowledge of contexts to enrich your analysis of the themes and ideas Casey presents in 'The Class Game'. However, your response should demonstrate how the context is relevant to the ideas in the poem.
The key word in the task will identify the relevant context. Casey’s themes, such as class identity or social prejudice, should be central to your argument. You should only use contextual information to support the points you make in your analysis.
What to compare it to
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
Examiner Tips and Tricks
Your comparison of 'The Class Game' with another poem from the anthology should show your in-depth understanding of both poems. Therefore, it’s important that you have a thorough knowledge of all the poems, rather than just memorising a series of quotations. Your response should focus on the themes of each poem and compare how Casey uses language, form and structure with the methods used by other writers.
Make sure your response is a comparison of the named poem and one other poem in the anthology. If you only write about the poem given on the paper, you will only achieve half the marks available. A comparison of two poems that demonstrates your thorough understanding of both will achieve the highest marks. For instance, you could compare how Christina Rossetti and Casey explore social inequality, or how Casey and John Agard present social prejudice and identity.
'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:
| Rossetti also uses “I” and “you” throughout the poem to demonstrate her anger and bitterness about her situation:
| |
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:
| Rossetti also uses juxtaposition to compare her situation with her more fortunate cousin’s:
| |
Casey makes it clear that her speaker is not the source of the unequal social relationship between the classes:
| Rossetti also makes it clear that her speaker is not to blame for her social rejection:
| |
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:
| The class and gender prejudice experienced by the speaker have diminished her sense of self:
| |
Despite the speaker’s anger at the injustice of class prejudice, she asserts her class identity with pride:
| The injustice of the prejudice shown towards the speaker affects her identity so that she feels barely human:
| |
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:
| The poem also presents its argument in the form of a dramatic monologue:
| |
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:
| 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:
| |
Casey uses direct address – “I” and “you” – to present her speaker’s case:
| Agard also uses direct address – “I” and “yu” – to challenge racism:
| |
Casey’s speaker repeats her refrain to challenge her listener:
| Agard’s speaker also repeatedly questions his listener to challenge them:
| |
Casey celebrates her speaker’s working-class heritage by using her natural dialect and diction:
| Agard celebrates his Guyanese heritage in his spelling, dialect and diction:
| |
The final lines of the poem show Casey’s speaker asserting her own truth and identity:
| The final three-line stanza shows Agard’s speaker asserting his own truth and identity:
| |
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:
| Agard’s humour is indirect and metaphorical; he uses a succession of analogies and satirical speculation to make his case:
| |
After her opening lines, Casey uses rhyming couplets for each statement, often for dramatic or humorous effect:
| While there is rhyme in the poem, it is irregular and works to emphasise certain words, usually for humorous effect:
| |
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:
| Agard’s speaker doesn’t compare himself to his listener:
| |
Casey’s speaker challenges readers with her direct, blunt humour and language, while Agard’s poem uses a more indirect, satirical approach | ||
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