At Lunchtime - A Story of Love

This study guide will help you analyze the poem “At Lunchtime: A Story of Love” (1967) by Roger McGough. You can also find a summary of the poem, as well as ideas for interpreting it and putting it into perspective.

Roger McGough (b.1937) is a British poet who writes for both adults and children. His most popular works include As Far as I Know (2012), Summer with Monika (1978) and It Never Rains (2014). The poem “At Lunchtime: A Story of Love” appeared in 1967 in the anthology The Mersey Sound by Roger McGough, Brian Pattern, and Adrian Henri. In 2011, there was a Canadian TV short film inspired by the poem.

Extract

Here, you can read an extract from our study guide:

Message

The message of the poem is that one should do things as if the world is about to end. The poem hints that people should not think too much about the next day and should expand their life experience with spontaneous events. The speaker of the poem urges the other passengers to keep pretending that the world is going to end, which eventually seems to lead to an actual change in the world’s mentality.