‘Lucozade’ - Jackie Kay -

Told from the perspective of a 16-year-old persona visiting his/her mother in hospital.

Explores ideas about death.

‘Lucozade aids recovery’You are going to watch a Lucozade advert from 1979.• Who is the target audience for the advert?• What is the purpose of the advert?• Can you identify the USP (unique selling point) of the

product? How has Lucozade’s branding and marketing changed over the years?

Lucozade

My mum is on a high bed next to sad chrysanthemums.‘Don’t bring flowers, they only wilt and die.’I am scared my mum is going to dieon the bed next to the sad chrysanthemums.

She nods off and her eyes go back in her head.Next to her bed is a bottle of Lucozade.‘Orange nostalgia, that’s what that is,’ she says.‘Don’t bring Lucozade either,’ then fades.

‘The whole day was a blur, a swarm of eyes.Those doctors with their white lies.Did you think you could cheer me up with a Woman’s Own?Don’t bring magazines, too much about size.’ My mum wakes up, groggy and low.‘What I want to know,’ she says,’ is this:where’s the big brandy, the generous gin, the Bloody Mary,the biscuit tin, the chocolate gingers, the dirty big meringue?’

I am sixteen; I’ve never tasted a Bloody Mary.‘Tell your father to bring a luxury,’ says she.‘Grapes have no imagination, they’re just green.Tell him: stop the neighbours coming.’ I clear her cupboard in Ward 10B, Stobhill Hospital.I leave, bags full, Lucozade, grapes, oranges,sad chrysanthemums under my arms,weighted down. I turn round, wave with her flowers.

My mother, on her high hospital bed, waves back.Her face is light and radiant, dandelion hours.Her sheets billow and whirl. She is beautiful. Next to her the empty table is divine. I carry the orange nostalgia home singing an old song.

In groupsLook at the cards which you have been given. These are pictures of items / symbols from the poem:• Discuss the associations of each item.• Sort them into two groups: ‘illness’ and ‘living life to the

full’.• Now look at the poem and re-sort the cards according to

how the items / symbols are grouped in the poem.• What do these groupings represent?• What do you think each of the symbols represents?

Symbolism is the use of objects or symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense.Here are some common examples of symbolism in everyday life:• The dove is a symbol of peace;• A red rose or red colour stands for love or romance;• Black is a symbol that represents evil or death;• A ladder may stand as a symbol for a connection

between Heaven and Earth;• A broken mirror may symbolise separation.

What do each of the symbols represent in the poem?

What do each of the symbols represent in the poem?

What do each of the symbols represent in the poem?

What do each of the symbols represent in the poem?

What do each of the symbols represent in the poem?

What do each of the symbols represent in the poem?

What do each of the symbols represent in the poem?

What do each of the symbols represent in the poem?

____chrysanthemums_______ nostalgia____________________________________Woman’s Own?Grapes have _____________ they’re ____________ brandy_________ gin________meringue

What adjectives, descriptions or comments are associated with each symbol in the poem?

What does this add to our interpretation of each symbol?

orangeDid you think you could cheer me up with a

no imagination just greenbig generousdirty big

sad

• What does Lucozade symbolise in the poem?

• Why did Kay choose it as the title of the poem?

• The drink is a symbol or marker of ill-health, but is also connected to getting better/recovery.

• The irony here is that it is when the Lucozade is rejected – along with the other trappings of sickness – the mother is (albeit apparently temporarily) rejuvenated.

Lucozade as a symbol

The persona’s mother transforms in the poem from being oppressed / dejected at first to liberated at the end. Highlight the words and phrases which show this in different colours on your copy of the poem

Initial appearanceSad chrysanthemumsNods offEyes go back in her headFadesBlurA swarm of eyesLiesGroggy and low No imagination

Final appearanceLuxuryLightRadiantDandelion hoursBillow and whirlBeautifulDivine

True, false, can’t tellIdentify the following statements as either true, false or can’t tell.

Try to back up your answers with evidence or ideas from the poem:

• This is a defining moment in the speaker’s life.

• This is an optimistic poem.

• The mother likes being in hospital.

• The mother is very ill.

• People have been coming to visit the mother.

• The speaker is happy at the end of the poem.

Do you think the mother is going to die? Think about:• language connected to heaven• language connected to light • the passing of time, its fragile and delicate nature• the waving of the flowers• the dandelion hours• the empty table• nostalgia• burdens• old songs.

Each of these could be interpreted in many different ways, meaning that there is a sense of ambiguity in the poeme.g. ‘singing an old song’: is this happy or sad? Is this connected to the ‘nostalgia’? Is it elegiac? Is it celebratory?

We are now going to look at the poem with annotations.

You will have a copy of these slides – use highlighters / coloured pens or pencils to fill in and colour code the annotations as we go through the slides.

Lucozade

My mum is on a high bed next to sad chrysanthemums.‘Don’t bring flowers, they only wilt and die.’I am scared my mum is going to dieon the bed next to the sad chrysanthemums.

Opens with simple confessional tone reflecting speaker’s age / fear.

‘High bed’ suggests distance from speaker. Image of a pedestal /altar?

Transferred epithet: the speaker is sad, not the flowers. Stereotypical ‘hospital flowers’ – mother rejects the stereotypical trapping of illness.

‘wilt and die’ - flowers become image of death / fading / loss of vitality.

‘they only’ – sense of inevitability.

Simple confessional statement. Connects mother to flowers. Simple circular / symmetrical structure of stanza reflects speaker’s age / fear.

She nods off and her eyes go back in her head.Next to her bed is a bottle of Lucozade.‘Orange nostalgia, that’s what that is,’ she says.‘Don’t bring Lucozade either,’ then fades.

Suggests a lack of energy / fading of vitality.

‘Lucozade. / Orange nostalgia’ – metaphor. Mother rejects nostalgia / another stereotypical marker of illness.

‘fades’ – word choice continues idea of light going out / vitality ebbing.

‘The whole day was a blur, a swarm of eyes.Those doctors with their white lies.Did you think you could cheer me up with a Woman’s Own?Don’t bring magazines, too much about size.’

‘blur’ – word choice – indistinct, unclear, senses impaired / fading.

‘a swarm of eyes’ – metaphor – feeling objectified, gawped at. Irritation. Passivity.

‘white lies’ – recalls white coats. Idea of doctors dealing in half truths / medical euphemism.

Rhetorical question. Magazine (another traditional symbol of hospital illness) cannot bring happiness.

Again reflects mother’s rejection of traditional approach to illness / death.

Magazines obsessed with dieting and being slim mother gaunt / emaciated through illness? End rhyme – ‘size’ with ‘eyes’ and ‘lies’ previously. Reflects monotony / ’blur’ of hospital life?

My mum wakes up, groggy and low.‘What I want to know,’ she says,’ is this:where’s the big brandy, the generous gin, the Bloody Mary,the biscuit tin, the chocolate gingers, the dirty big meringue?’

‘Groggy’ – ironic link to alcohol mother asks for. Already groggy from illness / medicine.

Colon – marks turning point in poem from negatives to positives, from passivity to action, from acceptance to rejection.

All these techniques serve to emphasise the grandiose indulgence, recklessness, extravagance, naughtiness and life-affirming nature of the request.

Alliteration of ‘b’ and ‘g’ sounds

Internal rhyme of ‘gin’ and ‘tin’

List of several luxuries

Repetition of ‘the’

I am sixteen; I’ve never tasted a Bloody Mary.‘Tell your father to bring a luxury,’ says she.‘Grapes have no imagination, they’re just green.Tell him: stop the neighbours coming.’

Emphasises speaker’s youth /inexperience of life. Contrasts with mother’s age/experience. Sense that mother’s situation (/death) is bewildering to speaker.

‘Grapes have no imagination’ – personification / transferred epithet. Implied criticism of visitors / father who bring such stereotypical markers of illness to hospital.

Ambiguous request – Too ill / close to death to receive visitors? Or simply sick of the ‘swarm of eyes’ and wants to spend final days on her own terms? (Another rejection of expected hospital etiquette).

I clear her cupboard in Ward 10B, Stobhill Hospital.I leave, bags full, Lucozade, grapes, oranges,sad chrysanthemums under my arms,weighted down. I turn round, wave with her flowers.

‘bags full’ / ‘under my arms’ / ‘weighted down’ – metaphorically heavy with sadness / emotion / grief. Objects removed are the stereotypical markers of illness / death: Lucozade, grapes, oranges, flowers.Sense of unburdening the mother / freeing her.

Turning and waving implies a final goodbye / last look.Stanza break separates speaker’s wave and the mother’s response – imitates distance between the two.

My mother, on her high hospital bed, waves back.Her face is light and radiant, dandelion hours.Her sheets billow and whirl. She is beautiful. Next to her the empty table is divine.

Mother waving back suggests that energy has returned. She has been revived. Not by Lucozade, but by its removal – through a rejection of the expected role of victim / invalid.

Repetition of ‘high hospital bed’ from first line – tone has changed. Optimistic now.

‘dandelion hours’ – metaphor continues sense of lightness and beauty, but also delicate fragility. Little time remaining /easily blown away.

‘billow and whirl’ – Angelic connotations.Soft consonants and vowels. Simple statement of beauty – suggests a revelation for the speaker?

‘light and radiant’ – optimistic / sense of being unburdened (compare this to daughter’s burden carrying away trappings of illness).

…She is beautiful. Next to her the empty table is divine.

I carry the orange nostalgia home singing an old song.

‘empty table is divine’ – continues image of heaven /angelic transcendence (compare with the negative tone of death in first stanza). Transferred epithet – mother is divine.Clearing of the table removes the trappings of sickness – a final, transformative ritual.

‘I carry’ – daughter has unburdened her mother. She is instrumental in removing the sadness.

‘orange nostalgia’ – repeated from earlier – this time given a positive tone. Carrying the objects (including the Lucozade) away has metaphorically revitalised the mother on her death bed, in a way the Lucozade could never literally achieve.

‘singing an old song’ – joyful, happy connotations.

Overview notesNote the symmetrical structure of the poem balanced around the colon in line 14.

This marks the move from the depiction of a stereotypical hospital death bed to a redefinition (on the mother’s own terms) of how she will face death.

The poem serves as a reflection on the speaker’s changing attitude towards her mother’s death.

Overview notes

While the poem could be read more generally about illness – that the daughter’s actions literally bring energy and vitality back to the mother – it is hard to read the penultimate stanza, with its heavenly connotations, this way.

A literal reading would also grossly simplify and obscure the poem’s complex themes of how embracing life can be the best response to death, and how death itself is coloured only by our attitudes towards it.

Overview notesThere is also a shift in the speaker’s perspective and tone between the poem’s opening and ending.

This appears to be caused by her ability to perform the cleansing ritual of removing all the symbols of sickness from the mother’s bedside.

Overview notes

The title – ‘Lucozade’ – is complex. It refers to the literal bottle (one of the aforementioned traditional symbols of sickness), but there is also a sense that the daughter’s actions are the real revitalising energy boost that the mother needs.

Furthermore, the idea of Lucozade as a childhood memory associated with being ill (‘orange nostalgia’) is also explored in the poem, and there is a clear sense in the final line that the daughter’s final act for her mother might be a memory in the making – a moment looked back on nostalgically in the future.