Paul Durcan

Paul Durcan biography. Which of these facts are true:

• He was born in Dublin

• His marriage ended in 1984

• He was put in a psychiatric hospital, against his wishes, by his father

• All of the above

'Nessa': an autobiographical poem about meeting his wife at a wedding in which Dublin coastal hotel?

• The Hilton

• The Shangri-La Hotel

• The Radisson

• Jury's Inn

'Nessa': Fill in the blanks:

"And that was a __________________ , that was a ____________,

And I very nearly _________________ . "

• cyclone cyclone smothered

• whirlpool whirlpool drowned

• hurricane hurricane died

Which adjectives best describe Nessa's personality in this poem?

• Confident, carefree, energetic and spontaneous.

• Dangerous, selfish, murderous and mean.

• Careful, shy, lazy and boring.

Theme of Nessa:

• The strength and power of men

• The strength and power of women

• The strength and power of wedding celebrations

'The Difficulty that is Marriage': In what way do the following lines contrast with each other:

'We disagree to disagree, we divide, we differ;'

and

'I array the moonlit ceiling with a mosaic of question marks'

• The poet moves from 'We' to 'I' which shows the marriage will fall apart like a mosaic.

• The alliteration of 'd's creates a harsh, jarring effect, whereas the alliteration of 'm's creates a softer and more fitting tender effect.

• 'We' is repeated whereas 'I' is used once - this shows that they are a strong couple and he is weaker alone.

Theme of 'Wife who smashed television gets jail':

• Family and marriage

• The negative impact of technology

• The oppression of women in Irish society

• All of the above

'Wife who...' contains emotionally charged language, as if it is a biased and sensationalist tabloid newspaper report. Which word(s) from the following line would be an example of that:

'When she marched into the living room and declared/

That if I didn't turn off...'

• marched

• declared

• if I didn't

• marched and declared

What does the wife use to smash the television with?

• Her fists

• Her boots

• Her husband's head

• A hurley

What TV show was the husband watching?

• Cheers

• Law and Order

• Starskey and Hutch

• Kojak