It was a big river...

By Glanton Bob on Mar 11, 08 05:53 PM in

I was socialised and ‘brought up’ in a working-class community in the North-East of England.

The Language I became familiar with was colloquial and I became quickly aware of the difference between formal and informal modes of language and consequently, written and spoken English.

My Mother was always ready to correct our pronunciation in order to protect or promote her brood in the social hierarchy.

It has been well documented by Richard Hoggard and other social commentators that the use of Literacy is paramount in social placement, social acceptability and social advancement.

It's as if there are two modes of language one rooted in reality and everyday association and the other one which is only used , almost as a ‘Sunday’ language for the other world of trade, religion , commerce and social acceptability in the most formal sense.

As a Grammar school boy who passed the 11+ and was promoted into this ‘other’ world I became acutely aware of the differences. Of course it was only later when I became ‘armed’ with a wider vocabulary and social understanding that I could put these vague feelings into a coherent form, more especially when I studied Social Science that some of the pieces started to fall into place.

I left home to study and this thrust me into a wider world of different accents, different relationships and the extension of language into new directions. The familiar childhood world had gone and in its place was a new one symbolised by a new language with concerns about a different world than the one I was used to.

Regarding ‘Academic’ Literacy ‘A’ level English was a revelation, especially being read the novels (and poetry) by the Lecturer. My favourites were ‘Sons and Lovers’ and ‘Passage to India’. We were encouraged to take notes and never saw a ‘handout’ until the week before the exam when spirit duplicated copies were dispatched.

The poetry was of the time with Sylvia Plath, Thomas Blackburn, Ted Hughes being favourites.

This was when I first started to write in a creative way. Turgid tales about romantic heroes in shipyards and doomed romance were a common theme, anticipating ‘When the Boat comes in’. My writing did eventually improve over a long period of time , especially when I completed a ‘Creative Writing’ course. The poetry I discovered at this time was particularly poignant and still meaningful now.

Looking back on the 1960s and 1970s there was a lot happening that was influential. The old industrial society was fading away and new technologies were emerging. It was also an emerging time for popular music which became more and more predominant. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones dominated the airways and our consciousness. I remember working in London on shift work singing all of the lyrics of the Beatles LPs ending with Sergeant Pepper.

It was also the time for television as world events were shared in every living room and new programmes emerged that were to shape our lives, for example Dr Who and Top of the Pops. Society was becoming less formal and the old industrial world was giving away to new patterns that would anticipate the next century. To paraphrase John Lennon...

"...turn off your mind relax and float downstream..."