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Answers
,
They fuck | you up, || your mum | and dad.
They may | not mean | to, || but | they do.
The iambic rhythm in these lines gives the words a bouncy feel, one that is also created by the assonant sounds that pattern themselves throughout. For instance, the /uh/ sound repeats three times in the first line, appearing in the words "fuck," "up," and "mum." Similarly, the long /a/ sound repeats in the second line, appearing in the word "they" (which occurs twice) and the word "may."
All in all, this creates a satisfying sound that, when combined with the meter and pacing of the poem (in addition to the internal rhyme between "to" and "do" in the second line) ultimately gives the poem a sing-song quality. In this regard, the beginning of the poem sounds surprisingly cheerful despite the speaker's pessimistic outlook, thereby inviting readers to laugh at the sad notion that all parents mess up their children.
Lines 3-4
They fill you ...
... just for you.
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Lines 5-6
But they were ...
... hats and coats,
Lines 7-8
Who half the ...
... one another’s throats.
Lines 9-10
Man hands on ...
... a coastal shelf.
Lines 11-12
Get out as ...
... any kids yourself.
“This Be The Verse” Symbols
Symbol The Coastal Shelf
The Coastal Shelf
The reference to coastal shelves in the poem introduces the image of a very old and largely unseen geographical feature that slopes down into the depths of the ocean. This image is particularly relevant to the poem's acknowledgment that human misery works its way from generation to generation—after all, a coastal shelf is something that has been in existence for a long time, thereby embodying the same kind of persistence and longevity that suffering and discontent also have.
What's more, coastal shelves stretch deeper and deeper into the ocean the farther they are from land. This depth, it seems, represents the ways in which unhappiness is deeply ingrained in life itself. With this in mind, the speaker mentions coastal shelves to symbolize the fact that sadness is a fundamental feature of existence—a feature that has always been part of the human condition.
Where this symbol appears in the poem:
Line 10: “coastal shelf”
“This Be The Verse” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
Anaphora
The speaker's use of anaphora is subtle, since the words that repeat at the beginning of consecutive lines aren't particularly noticeable. For example, the speaker begins each of the first three lines ("They fuck you up ... they had") with the word "they," a word that more or less blends into the rest of the poem.
At the same time, this repetition creates a feeling of consistency that makes the speaker sound unwavering and predictable. In this way, the anaphora adds to the dry, cynical tone that the speaker uses, ultimately creating a matter-of-fact overall sound that reflects the speaker's pessimistic outlook. It's inevitable that parents will mess up their children's lives, the speaker thinks, and repeating "they" again and again draws attention to this inevitability. It also keeps the poem's resentment focused squarely on parents, at least for now.
The speaker also uses anaphora in the second stanza ("But they ... another's throats"), repeating the word "half" at the beginning of the two consecutive clauses that take up lines 7 and 8:
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another's throats.
This is a very straightforward example of anaphora, since the poetic device reflects the content of the line; it divides the parents' actions into two parts.
Where anaphora appears in the poem:
Line 1: “They”
Line 2: “They”
Line 3: “They”
Line 7: “Who half”
Line 8: “And half ”
Assonance
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Where assonance appears in the poem:
Line 1: “fuck,” “up,” “mum”
Line 2: “They,” “may,” “to,” “they,” “do”
Line 3: “you,” “had”
Line 4: “add”
Line 5: “fucked,” “up”
Line 6: “old,” “hats,” “coats”
Line 7: “half,” “were,” “stern”
Line 8: “half,” “at,” “one,” “another’s”
Line 9: “Man,” “hands,” “misery,” “man”
Line 10: “deepens”
Line 11: “as,” “as,” “can”
Line 12: “And,” “have,” “any”
Alliteration
Where alliteration appears in the poem:
Line 2: “may,” “mean”
Line 3: “fill,” “faults”
Line 5: “they,” “fucked,” “their”
Line 6: “fools,” “hats”
Line 7: “Who,” “half,” “soppy,” “stern”
Line 8: “half”
Line 9: “Man,” “misery,” “man”
Caesura