Summary Of Tony Harrison's Poem V By Tony Harrison

Tony Harrison’s poem “v.” caused much controversy when it was read on television in the late 1980s. This was because of the ideas that the poem dealt with, ideas that the government deemed dangerous. These ideas dealt with are all in pairs – dichotomies. The key dualities were class versus heritage, life versus death and up versus down.
The struggle between class and heritage comes from Harrison’s past. He was born into the lower, working class, both his parent holding jobs typical of plebeians. Thus, Harrison had a distinct accent and this was very much picked upon by the grammar school he went to – this is discussed in greater depth in another poem, “Them & [uz]”. When he became a poet, Harrison had left his roots behind. However, he tries, in “v.”, to argue that a poet is a working-class job, and is a staple – as are “beef, beer and bread”, the jobs of his ancestors. The tension between the classes - the ruling class and the working class – is personified in the poem, when Harrison is arguing with an imaginary skinhead. This could be seen as his lower class side, where the poet is the upper class side. This alter ego is aroused by Harrison’s use of French – but the skinhead mistakes “cri-de-coeur” for Greek, and accuses Harrison for letting his education supersede his background. Of course, Harrison was taught Greek in the grammar school in which he was educated. However, had it not been for his upper-class schooling, would have not known French either – so the skinhead