40-love a poem by Roger Mc Gough

1. 40-Love
BY: Proudly presented by:
HIDAYAH
ROGER MCGOUGH MASITAH
NABIHAH
AIZAT

2. Roger McGough
Born: November 9, 1937 in Lither Land, north Liverpool.
Education: St Mary's College and the University of Hull.
Most popular titles: Summer with Monika, Blazing Fruit
and Defying Gravity, all published by Penguin, and for
children An Imaginary Menagerie, Pillow Talk and Bad,
Bad Cats.
He is an international ambassador for poetry and in 1997
was awarded an OBE, and in 2004 he was awarded a CBE.
His most recent books include 'All the Best' and 'Slapstick'
(due in August) and for adults, 'Collected Poems' and
'Selected Poems.‘
He now presents the BBC Radio 4 programme Poetry
Please and records voice-overs for commercials as well as
performing his own poetry

3. 40-LOVE
40- Love
middle aged
couple playing
ten- nis
when the
game ends
and they
go home
the net
will still
be be –
tween them

4. Subject
Matter
The poem is about a relationship that the middle
age couple has which is like a tennis
match. There will always boundaries even
after the match ended. The layout of the poem
is also similar to a tennis match.

5. Structure
The two words “tennis” and “between” are separated
by hyphens to be symmetric in structure.
The words in the poem are set in two sequences, like
two sides of the couple.
The middle blank or empty is like a net to separate the
two.
There are only two words in each line to symbolize the
bouts of the ball.
The title of 40-love, the top of the net, is right on the
top of the poem, signifying the scoreboard.
This poem looks like a tennis court with a net being
used to separate the words. It is like a tennis game.

6. Theme
s
The boundaries between people that will
always be there even after what they had
gone through together.

7. Figurative Language
Irony
"love" between a married couple usually
thought as actual love. However, in tennis,
"love" is a score of "0".
Metaphor
40 Love is a score in tennis - it means that one
person (40) achieved all the points and the
other person (love) had none.

8. Figurative Language
Metaphor
The words between and tennis are separated by hyphens -
invisible net in the world of the man and the woman
Imagery
The words are boring to read which suggest that the life of the
couple is dull. The figure of 40 stands for the age of middle-
aged people. And 40-Love is a scoring term in tennis. Tennis
scoring is love, 15, 30 and 45 in sequence. Love here means
zero. Three goals scores 40. No goals, no score. Thus, the title
is of pun with two meanings. One refers to be 40-year-old
love and the other is 3:0. Whether 40-year-old love is vain or
not depends on attitudes of the two parties.

9. Persona
A man and a women in an intimate
relationship

10. Tone
The tone of the whole poem is calm,
without any fluctuating.