NEWS BREAK - MAX FATCHEN

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NEWS BREAK

by MAX FATCHEN



Now why so loving, darling,  

And why the sudden kiss? 

You’d help me with some little jobs? 

For goodness sake, what’s this? 

 

Your face is clean for once, dear, 

Your clothes without a crease. 

You saved your luncheon money? 

Will wonders never cease? 

 

No dropping of your school books, 

No shrieking, childish treble. 

Today you are a lamb, love, 

Where yesterday a rebel. 

 

But surely you’re some stranger, 

No rage or hullabaloo. 

Come closer, let me look, dear, 

Can this be REALLY you? 

 

Now were you struck by lightning 

Or were you stunned at sport? 

Ah … now I see the reason. 

You’ve brought your school report! 


Structure:


The poem consists of 5 stanzas with four lines and the rhyme scheme is ‘a, b, c, b’.  The style is simple and direct. The language and choice of words used is easy to understand as we can relate it to what a child does.


Tone:


Surprised. The persona is astonished by the child’s behaviour. The poem creates a reflective mood as the persona compares the child’s past and present behaviour. Overall, it is light-hearted and a little humorous.


Mood: 


Humorous and light-hearted.


Theme:


1. Honesty – Being honest is of paramount of importance. We must tell parents the truth so that we can prevent complicating things. I think most of us must have learned by now that lying will be followed by more lying and you will get into even bigger trouble when the truth is revealed. In the poem, the child does not lie but he evades the truth which is also an act of dishonesty that might anger his/her parents even more. Therefore, we must not engage in any act of dishonesty. 


2. Children’s antic and shenanigan- Children will usually behave in an unusual and sometimes humorous way whenever they do something that they shouldn’t. The majority of us can relate to this when we were kids. We must have done something cheeky in order to distract our parents from our antics. In the poem, the child tries to get on his/her parent’s good side by being very tamed and controlled; very out of character for the child, before presenting his/her school report.


THE MEANING: 

First Stanza

In the first stanza, the persona who is the parent is wondering why his child is so out of character that day. The child does things such as giving a kiss to the parent and offering to help with little jobs. The parent desperately wants to know the reasoning behind the sudden change of behaviour.



Second Stanza

In the second stanza, the parent is surprised to see the child’s face without stains. The child’s clothes are also neat as if it has been ironed and has no crumples. The parent is amazed to learn that the child did not spend all of his lunch money for that day as he usually does. The parent is also wondering if the surprises from his child will ever stop.



Third Stanza

In the next stanza or stanza 3, the child continues to stun his parent by not dropping his books as he usually does. The surprise resumes when the child does not scream or has a sudden burst of anger. The child was tamed that day compared to the day before where he was such a rebel.



Fourth Stanza

In stanza 4, the parent feels as if the child is a complete stranger to him – like a whole new person. The child does not display any form of anger or throw any tantrum. Hence, the parent asks the child to come closer to him so he can really see if that is indeed his son.


Fifth Stanza 

That brings us to the last stanza, stanza five, all the surprises that the parent received make him wonder if his child had been struck by lightning or was injured during sports to make sense of why his child is so out of character that day. The parent’s confusion is resolved when he notices that his child has brought home his school report. All the sudden nice and tamed behaviour makes sense when he sees the school report.



Message:  


  1. The author wants to remind us of our childhood. All of us must have done this-distract our parents from our shenanigans- in one way or another as kids. Reading this poem will remind us of our antics when we were younger. Maybe some of us did what the poet’s child did; act out of character or maybe create bigger mischief than the first one to distract our parents: which sometimes works or sometimes will land you in bigger trouble.

  2. We should be honest. The author also encourages children to be honest with their parents. Dishonesty will definitely complicate things and fuel the anger. It is something that a child should not be used to doing. It is okay for them to exhibit cheeky behaviour once in a while since they are a child and do not know better. However, it will be concerning once they lie frequently and smoothly.  

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