Dusting the Phone (WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Literature): Revision Note

Dusting the Phone

Here, you’ll find a guide to Jackie Kay's poem ‘Dusting the Phone’ to help prepare you for the Eduqas GCSE English Literature exam. It includes:

• Overview: a breakdown of the poem, including its possible meanings and interpretations

• Writer’s methods: an exploration of Kay’s techniques and methods

• Historical and literary context: an exploration of connections between contextual aspects and the themes and ideas within Kay's poem

• Linking the poems: an understanding of how ‘Dusting the Phone’ connects to other poems in the Eduqas GCSE English Literature Poetry Anthology 

Overview

In order to answer questions on any poem it is vital that you understand what it is about. This section includes:

• An overview of the poem

• A ‘translation’ of the poem, section-by-section

• A commentary of each of these sections, outlining Jackie Kay’s intention and message

‘Dusting the Phone’ overview

Jackie Kay’s poem ‘Dusting the Phone’ presents the intensity of a new relationship. Kay’s paranoid speaker obsessively sits at the telephone awaiting a call from their lover. Formed as a monologue, it reveals the anxiety and uncertainty of new love. 

‘Dusting the Phone’ translation

Lines 1-3

Translation

• The speaker debates their attitude to love:

  • They say that they cannot help but think of all the bad things that may happen, despite the fact this is a bad way to spend their time

• The speaker accepts that “being in love” should make one feel optimistic, but anxiety prevents her from feeling that way

Kay’s intention

• Kay’s self-aware speaker expresses their dilemma using antithesis:

  • She reflects the speaker’s emotions with superlatives (like the “worst” and the “best”) that present extreme oppositional ideas

• The continuous verbs “spending”, “imagining”, “going”, and “happening” immerse the reader into an ongoing situation, heightening tension

Lines 4-6

Translation

• The speaker imagines a phone call that reports a “disaster”, one that may be accompanied by “Sirens”

• However, if the phone does not ring, this could be similarly disastrous:

  • The speaker asks who would call if such a disaster occurred?

  • Without the call, the speaker would not know what had happened, as they are so hidden from the lover’s real life that no one would know to call them

Kay’s intention

• Kay uses parallelism (“disaster” and “Sirens”) to present the speaker’s paranoid thoughts as they consider all possible outcomes in an irrational loop

• Repeated short sentences (“Sirens”) convey the speaker’s tense, disjointed thoughts

• A question conveys the speaker’s inner struggles, while the short answer "Nobody knows” creates dark humour:

  • It could be that this is a secret affair

Lines 7-9

Translation

• The speaker considers the unknown quality of the “future”

• The future may include an invitation (a “long gloved hand”):

  • It could lead to nothing (an “empty cup”)

  • The relationship could lead to a wedding and family, or it could be just a casual relationship

• The final line suggests the lover’s own words, instructing the speaker to “forget tomorrow”, shutting down any hope for a shared future

Kay’s intention

• Kay presents the racing thoughts of an individual in love

• Her speaker considers an unknown future:

  • A metaphor connotes to romantic invitations (“ a long gloved hand”)

  • A contrasting metaphor, “empty cup”, connotes to absence and need

• The speaker lists traditional relationship milestones, but contrasts them with the harsh reality of their current arrangement (meeting for “one night per week”)

Lines 10-12

Translation

• The speaker addresses an implied listener (their lover) who offers advice not to overthink the relationship or take it so seriously:

  • However, the speaker is unable to do this

• Instead, they wait anxiously for news, wait for a gift, remember the details of their “times together”, and read messages over and over

Kay’s intention

• Kay portrays the speaker’s obsession with their new relationship

• Light-heartedly, she presents the speaker’s inability to follow advice

  • Unable to look to the future (which her lover told her to “forget”), the speaker is forced to look backwards

• Hyperbole (in verbs like “assault”, as well as a list of actions) reflects an agonised, desperate lover:

  • There is an implicit power imbalance in this relationship, where the lover seems to be the one in control

Lines 13-15

Translation

• The speaker is still waiting for a call in the immediate present

• She goes through obsessive rituals, and attempts to negotiate with the phone itself, promising to give it “extra” attention if it will just reward them with the lover’s call

Kay’s intention

• Kay emphasises the intensity of love with present tense verbs and short sentences that create a tone of urgency:

  • She is waiting by the phone “this very second”

• These lines directly enact the poem’s title:

  • This illustrates how the speaker’s severe anxiety has manifested into obsessive rituals

• By offering the phone “silver service” and promising “extra in return” for a call, the speaker treats the object like an idol or direct substitute for the absent lover:

  • This highlights their unravelling grip on reality

Lines 16-18

Translation

• The speaker expresses frustration about the calls they get (pranks, “wrong” numbers and “boring people”)

• Without a call from their loved one, they cry for their lover in bed

Kay’s intention

• Kay’s speaker humorously narrates the irony of getting calls from a variety of people, but not their lover:

  • The phone is personified as a cruel force, deliberately sending her “hoaxes”

• The tone becomes melancholy as a caesura followed by enjambment describes the lover’s voice disappearing into “lonely cotton sheets”:

  • Kay vividly describes a disappointed lover with the personification of a “lonely” bed

 Lines 19-21

Translation

• The speaker’s distress worsens: they feel stuck and unable to get past their desire for communication 

• The speaker addresses their loved one, demanding they call:

  • They threaten consequences, but quickly realise they will do nothing but continue waiting

Kay’s intention

• The realist style of the poem is created with colloquialisms like “damn you” and a rhetorical question “What?”

• By stating “I am trapped in it”, Kay uses the metaphor of a prison, as the speaker is psychologically imprisoned by this imbalanced, secretive relationship

• Kay shows how the uncertainty of a relationship in which the power is imbalance results in extreme, conflicting emotions:

  • Frustrated and powerless, empty threats are issued to an absent lover

Line 22

Translation

• The poem ends on a single line stanza expressing the speaker’s helplessness: there is nothing they can do but wait for a call

Kay’s intention

• Kay’s single line conclusion brings no resolution, which continues the speaker’s sense of powerlessness

• Kay emphasises continued uncertainty in this final line:

  • It links back to the earlier unanswered question “What?” with the reply “Nobody knows”

Writer’s methods

This section is divided into three sections: form, structure and language. When you write about a poem, aim to expand your interpretation of what the poet is writing about by exploring how they present their ideas and why they have made the technical choices they have.

Focusing on the poet’s ideas and how they express them will gain you far more marks than examining individual poetic techniques. Look at the analysis in the sections below, which is organised by the main themes of ‘Dusting the Phone’ and demonstrates the methods and reasons for Jackie Kay’s choices of:

• Form

• Structure

• Language

Form

The poem is a dramatic monologue that reflects the inner thoughts and feelings of a paranoid and unsettled lover waiting for a call from their loved one. 

Structure

The poem is made up of seven tercets except for the last single line stanza. Kay’s structure reflects the speaker’s attempts to impose order and rationality onto their chaotic, spiralling emotions. Kay deliberately fractures this structure, using caesura and enjambment, to mirror the speaker’s deteriorating control.

Language

Kay uses the symbolism of a telephone call to portray the uncertainty and intensity of a new, possibly secret, relationship. Extreme contrasting language highlights the complexities and imbalance of power.

Historical and literary context

Context offers you a different perspective on a poem and can enrich your engagement with it. However, examiners don’t want contextual information added on at the end of your essay, or even in your introduction. Instead, your knowledge of Jackie Kay’s life should be used to explore themes and support an analysis of the poem.

The ideas explored in 'Dusting the Phone’ focus on a lover’s uncertain sense of self as a result of the unpredictability of a romantic relationship, as well as the power of memory and vivid imagination to affect emotions. Therefore, this section has been bullet-pointed under the following themes:

• Memory and reflection

• Identity  

Memory and reflection

• Jackie Kay’s poem, ‘Dusting the Phone’, appears in her 1993 collection ‘Other Lovers’:

  • The poem refers to a landline phone (before mobile phones), hence her waiting by the telephone and feeling “trapped” by it

  • The poem refers to a “postman” and possession of a single “photo”: the speaker relies on both for memories to connect them with their lover

  • Her speaker clings to memories of “times together” which they “go over and over” 

• Like many poems in Kay’s collection, ‘Dusting the Phone’ explores the power of the imagination using simple language and an immersive style:

  • Kay brings to life the speaker’s vivid imagination with repetition of words like “Sirens” linked with potential “disaster”

  • The speaker in the poem has paranoid visions “imagining the worst that could happen”

Identity  

• Scottish poet Jackie Kay was born in 1961:

  • Her background as a Black Scottish woman adopted by white Scottish communist parents is central to her identity and her work

• Her work is often semi-autobiographical, although this is never explicit:

  • Her poem ‘Dusting the Phone’ is intimate, written in first person

• Kay’s poetry often makes use of rhythm and musicality, typical of the Scottish tradition of performance verse:

  • The poem ‘Dusting the Phone’ is in free verse, using pauses, questions, and unstable rhythms to create a realistic voice

• Kay’s influences include renowned Scottish poet, Robert Burns:

  • Burns is famous for musical poetry that blends satire with complex and honest explorations about life and identity

  • In ‘Dusting the Phone’, Kay offers an ironic portrayal of obsessive love

  • The speaker ignores advice not to overthink: “I try. It doesn’t work.”

• Kay’s poem bears some similarities with the poem ‘Quickdraw’ by Carol Ann Duffy (with whom she had a relationship):

  • Jackie Kay was appointed Scots Makar, while Carol Ann Duffy was named Poet Laureate

  • Both poems connect a love affair with telephone conversations

  • Both poets often present subversive and surprising descriptions of love

Linking the poems

The Eduqas GCSE English Literature exam asks you to compare two poems from the anthology. You will be given the text of one poem in the question paper, but you will need to compare this with another poem of your choice, one that comments on the particular theme in the question. It stands to reason, then, that it will be a good idea to understand your anthology poems according to their themes.

 Here, you will find a guided list of poems that work well together, and how they are linked by a common theme. Do remember, though, the list below is not exhaustive and themes and ideas often overlap.

The poems you could link with Jackie Kay's poem ‘Dusting the Phone’ are:

• ‘Cousin Kate’ by Christina Rossetti

• ‘Catrin’ by Gillian Clarke

• ‘I Shall Return’ by Claude Mckay

• ‘Sonnet 29’ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

• ‘Origin Story’ by Eve L Ewing

• ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ by William Wordsworth

• ‘Decomposition’ by Zulfikar Ghose

• ‘Kamikaze’ by Beatrice Garland

Sources:

Poetry Anthology (C720) (opens in a new tab)

https://www.scotsmagazine.com/articles/jackie-kay/ (opens in a new tab)