NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Poetry 4 : Telephone Conversation

rancid breath – Rancid refers to a matter which is disagreeable or offensive. Hence, the lady’s voice when she speaks to the poet is immensely unpleasant.

squelching tar – Squelch is a verb which means to press or strike with a crushing force. Hence, the expression which is used here is that of a large amount of tar, a dark-coloured product which is obtained after the distillation of wood or coal, describing the poet’s complexion.

spectroscopic flight of fancy – Spectroscopy is a word which originated from the topic of the dispersion of light into seven different colours. Hence, the word describes the dispersed flow of thoughts of the lady after talking to the poet. Her fancies of a dark man gaining wings and attaining high levels of interpretation when she had to accept the fact that she did not know much more than the person on the other side.

rearing on the thunderclap – Thunderclap resembles the unexpected occurrence of thunder, as in loudness.

brunette – Brunette means dark skin, dark hair and darkish or olive skin.

peroxide blonde – This term refers to the unnaturally or harshly bleached palm and the sole of feet rather than the fair complexion. Peroxide is basically a chemical used as a bleaching agent.

clinical assent – The lady’s voice in the poem sounded clinical when assenting to the revelation of the poet. It means the concerned voice, according to an actual and vivid observation of the poet, giving into the situation after a lot of inspection and thoughts.

raven black – Raven black is a metaphorical expression which explains the intensity of the black colour. The Raven is a large, dark-coloured bird of the crow family. This metaphor is used to describe people who are dark-skinned.

The central issue revolves around the ironical fact that when a person is in need of shelter, the questions asked are based upon the colour of skin and not the actual questions exchanged like that of the amenities provided, rent and other fundamental needs in an apartment. Racist behaviour is shown by the landlady in the poem, and the poet is unapologetic for something which he was born with. Differences between what really is and what appears to be develops a sense of verbal irony which helps the poem to depict the absurdity of racism.

There are intervals of silence in the interaction between the landlady and the prospective tenant. The reason was the racial prejudice the landlady showed towards the poet. The unexpected silences in the poem emphasize the effect of the revelation of the poet’s racial identity to the landlady and the consequent unease she probably felt. The landlady’s prejudice is portrayed with a sense of humour on a subtle level.

The different colours highlighted in the poem point to the difference between the poet and the landlady in terms of the colour of their skin. The red colour describes the different things which contain the red colour, like the double-tiered bus, the telephone booth and the pillar box. It depicts the dark-skinned colour of the poet, who is not fair like the landlady. The expression ‘gold-rolled’ explains the class to which the ‘fair-skinned’ people belong.

The different colours used in the poem are – Black, Red, Milk Chocolate, Gold, Blonde and Brunette.

The line, “Rapidly, wavelength adjusted,/I chose. “West African sepia”—and as an afterthought,/“Down in my passport”, impressed me the most. The phrase “West African sepia” is a befitting reply to the white woman who was intolerant. It projects humour on a subtle level where the poet, when questioned frequently about his colour, gives a befittingly blunt reply. In a few words, Soyinka emphasises that it is not right to judge a person according to his colour.

The phrase ‘hide and speak’ is a clever pun on the name of the popular game ‘hide-and-seek’.  In the poem, the phrase refers to the awkward situation that the poet encounters during the telephonic conversation. As the landlady  obliquely inquires the racial identity of the author by asking about the colour of his skin, the two are caught exchanging racially loaded comments and blunt replies. The landlady tries to somewhat hide her true intention, whereas the poet gives openly aggressive replies intended to condemn her racial prejudice. The duo, thus, engage in a game of ‘hide’ and ‘speak’.

Certain words in the poem which are in capital letters are –

‘HOW DARK ?’, ‘ARE YOU LIGHT OR VERY DARK ?’,  ‘OR VERY LIGHT?’

These words explain the purpose of the poem which is to highlight the racist mentality of the fair-skinned. Ideally, the land lady should have been more concerned about whether the person is suitable to stay according to the financial position,  behaviour, etc. and not on the colour of the skin. These words in capital letters explain the fact that it is important for the landlady to know the skin colour of the person who is on the other side of the phone, rather than how knowledgeable or well-behaved or intellectual he might be.

‘Different – Are We?’ could be another title of the poem.

The poet has chosen an appropriate title for the poem – ‘Telephonic Conversation’. It aptly refers to the racism which is projected in the conversation between the fair-skinned landlady and the dark-skinned poet. The telephone explains the gap between the two ends of the line and the impossibility for the ends to meet.

Understatement is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker intentionally represents something as being smaller, weaker, or less significant than it actually is, often for rhetorical effect. The conversation between the poet and the landlady proves that to a racially prejudiced mind, the nationality and colour of a man are of less importance than the education level or intellect of a person. The questions of the landlady turns into an insult to her own level of intellect. The poem suggests that the questions based on civilisation do not depend upon the colour of a person. Wole Soyinka uses sarcasm humorously as he states that he is ‘Shamed By ill-mannered silence’ when it is clear that it is the landlady who is ill-mannered among the two.