Language and style

The language and the style used in “Tich Miller” can help you better understand the message of Wendy Cope's poem.

Playing with the language

The poet plays with language in this poem in a rather subtle way by creating comical images and irony such as when she exaggerates Tich’s disability— “one foot three sizes larger than the other” (l. 3)  —  or when she calls herself “the lesser dud” (l. 13).

Another way in which the poet plays with language is by creating a subtle metaphorical allusion to mainstream society being like a prison with “wire-mesh fence” (l. 6) and people like Tich and Tubby looking at “the flight of some fortunate bird” (ll. 9-10) which, unlike them, is free.

Tense of the verbs and types of words used

The poem is rendered in the past tense, as the narrator accounts for events that have happened in her childhood: “wore” (l. 1), “had” (l. 3), “avoided” (l. 7), “pretended” (l. 10), etc. Notice that the author also uses typical adverbs used for showing repetitive actions, indicating that bullying was a constant situation: “always” (l. 5), ...