1. Referring to the fi rst line of the poem, what age would the poet have been when he is remembering playing football with his friends? (Hint:
refer to the Poet Profi le as well.)
2. This poem has many images. Choose the image that you think is most powerful. Explain your choice.
3. One of the themes of this poem is love. Write a short paragraph to introduce the poem to someone who hasn’t read it and which explains
how the theme of love is connected to this poem. You may identify any other themes that you notice in the poem.
Examine an Author’s Choice of Words and Images [R8]
Imagine that you are the picture editor for the newspaper publishing this poem. Suggest an image that you would use to accompany it and explain why you feel it would be an appropriate image to use.
Sample Answer (Ordinary Level)
If I were the picture editor choosing an image of George Best to go with this poem, I would choose an image of him from when he was at the height of his footballing career. The poet is remembering how he felt about George Best, so this is when the poet was younger, and this would be the image he would have of George Best in his head. It would also help to remind people of how good a footballer George Best was. A black and white photograph would be very eff ective, as these can be very striking. I think this would be more suitable than a photograph of George Best when he was older, as I think newspaper readers would prefer to remember George Best how he was when he was young and a very good footballer.
