Designed By :

Gunish Singh Anand Saxena

IG - 1
  Adcock, the older of two sisters, was born in
Papakura to Cyril John Adcock and Irene
Robinson Adcock. Her birth name was Kareen Fleur
Adcock, but she was known as Fleur and legally
changed her name to Fleur Adcock in 1982. She spent
eight years of her childhood (1939–1947) in England.
  Humorous and Condensed – Conversation
 "Universal Lotteries" company called – Lucky Winner
 Passion
 False discussion
 Cheque of money
 Ironically – not dealing with money
 Trade in experiences
 Line Dead
  Six Stanzas – Eight Lines
 Dialogue between the poet and the lottery business –
Flow
 No rhyme – Free Verse
 Metre Structure – basic rhythmic structure of a line
 Iambic and trochaic feet are combined
 An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable
 Internal rising and falling rhythm - mental state shifts
  Enjambment to connect lines – multiple
interrogations.
 Irony and Sarcasm.
 Elipses in three different places.
 "top of my head“ – Second verse – meatphor.
 Final line – Simile.
 "We buy up the files,/ input the names into our
computer“ – Personified.
 Equate the experience to a reward or prize – Metaphor
 Synecdoche – Final Line
 Stanza One
They asked me ‘Are you sitting down?
Right? This is Universal Lotteries’,
they said. ‘You’ve won the top prize,
the Ultra-super Global Special.
What would you do with a million pounds?
Or, actually, with more than a million –
not that it makes a lot of difference
once you’re a millionaire.’ And they laughed.
  Four lines – Introduction
 Informing the poet that she had won the top reward in the
"Ultra-super Global Special" lucky draw, the "Universal
Lotteries" called her.
 They questioned the poet about what she would do with a
million or more pounds later in the poem.
 They then mockingly added, "not that it makes much of a
difference/once you're a millionaire”.
 They laughed, inferring that she didn't receive any awards,
the poet suggests as much in this part. Simply mocking her
innocence, they were.
 Stanza Two
“Are you OK?” they asked – “Still there?
Come on, now, tell us, how does it feel?”
I said, I just…I cant believe it!
has floated off, out through the window,
revolving like a flying saucer.”
  Fleur Adcock's The Telephone begins by developing the main
theme of the poem from the second stanza.
 The theme of appearance vs reality is found in the opening lines
of the poem. In the poet's mind there is a battle between reality
and the illusion of getting a million pounds.
The news somehow seeps into her subconscious and awakens a
persistent and angry child named Greed , entered her mind.
 She lost her senses and felt like her brain was floating through a
window.
 To represent her condition, she uses the image of a flying saucer.
 Stanza Three
What else? Go on, tell us about it.’
I said ‘I feel the top of my head
has floated off, out through the window,
revolving like a flying saucer.’
  In the third stanza of `The Telephone Call`, the base
emotions in the poet`s started to dominate her
rational mind.
 She found it hard to express anything. Her throat went
dry for the burning greed of her heart.
 The apparent truth made her so vulnerable that she
even became emotional. This section presents the
theme of turbulent human emotions.
 They wanted to take him to the pinnacle of incredible
excitement for teaching a lesson that changed his life.
 Stanza Four
‘That’s unusual’ they said. ‘Go on.’
I said ‘I’m finding it hard to talk.
My throat’s gone dry, my nose is tingling.
I think I’m going to sneeze or cry.’
‘That’s right’ they said, ‘don’t be ashamed
of giving way to your emotions.
It isn’t every day you hear
you’re going to get a million pounds.
• The poet began to emerge from her delusion in the fourth
stanza of "The Telephone Call." She admitted to them that
in recent years, she had not purchased any lottery tickets.
They laughed at the poet once again after hearing the
response.
• As they utilised a "retrospective Chances Module," they
informed her that she need not worry about receiving a
ticket.
• However, the mention of the module might have caused
some people to doubt their veracity. The caller was aware of
this.
• In the portion that follows, the person tells the poet how
the procedure works.
 Stanza Five
Nearly everyone’s bought a ticket
in some lottery or another,
Once at least. We buy up the files,
feed the names into our computer,
and see who the lucky person is.’
‘Well, that’s incredible’ I said.
‘It’s marvelous. I still can’t quite...
I’ll believe it when I see the cheque.
 • The mechanism used by Universal Lotteries to choose
winners is described in Fleur Adcock's short story "The
Telephone Call.“
• The poet illustrates how people rely on luck rather than
making it work for them in this passage. Because of this,
almost everyone buys a lottery ticket at some point in their
lives to try their luck.
• The corporation mentioned in the poem purchased the old
files from other lotteries and entered the information for a
lucky draw in their computer.
• The winner of the draw was the poet. The poet, though, is
already past her delusion. She informed them that she
would trust it once she saw the check for that reason.
 Stanza Six
‘Oh,’ they said, ‘
there’s no cheque.’
‘But the money?’ ‘We don’t deal in money.
Experiences are what we deal in.
You’ve had a great experience, right?
Exciting? Something you’ll remember?
That’s your prize. So congratulations
from all of us at Universal.
Have a nice day!’ And the line went dead.
 • The final stanza of Fleur Adcock's poem "The Telephone
Call" takes an intriguing turn that topples the last support
for the poet's hunger.
• They retorted that they didn't trade in money or other
similar items. They dealt in "experiences," that is to say.
This section explains why priceless memories are more
valuable than cash.
• That was her prize, which she would always remember.
They then congratulated the poet before ending the call.
• In addition, the word "dead" in the final line illustrates how
her pointless curiosity evaporated in a matter of seconds.
Moreover, the word "don't deal" contains an alliteration.
 https://poemanalysis.com/fleur-adcock/the-
telephone-call/
 https://studylib.net/doc/6677943/-the-telephone-call-
-by-fleur-adcock#