Journal of a Disappointed Man

• Structure


  • The structure is very repetitive, with a layout of four-line stanzas with even line lengths, which gives the visual impression of solid blocks and chunks of text.
  • Link to the traditional association between masculinity and strength, with this layout demonstrating this quality through its consistency and regular shape.
• Themes


  • Disappointment
  • Labour
  • Social class
  • Masculinity
• "even the men; very powerful men; very ruminative and silent men ignoring me"


  • Presumptuous narrator - offended tone when the workers probably don't even realise he is there
  • 'Ruminative' - lack of thoughtfulness - suggests they are slow - has links to cattle
  • Repetition of 'men' symbolises how big and strong they are
  • Poet is watching men who are very different to him - doing manual labour where he does poetry
• "Speech was not something to interest them... all monosyllables"


  • They don't use words like him as he is a poet - narrator doesn't understand them and is offended by it - gathers an air of superiority
  • Their lack of speech contrasts narrators rambling
• "ladder by the waters edge"


  • First reference to water motif
  • Links to the idea of the hidden depth of peoples lives - maybe even depths of society
  • The workers are on the lowest rung of the ladder
• "these men were up against a great difficulty I cannot say what. Every one of the monsters was silent on the subject"


  • Narrator is being passive-aggressive - feels superior
  • Use of the adjective 'monster' dehumanises the workers - refers to their physical strengths
  • Also gives a sense of detachment - the narrator sees no link between himself and the workers
• "leaned on the iron rail to gaze down like a mystic into the water"


  • Poet is confused by the men - supernatural
  • Even people who are inarticulate, who favour practical skill have a deeper inner life that others won't understand no matter their intelligence
  • Motif of water - acts as a way of discussing the Marxist perspective - argued that the water is a metaphor for the bottom of the social ladder
  • Looking into the water is an extended metaphor for social heirarchy
• "the foreman, and the most original thinker... with a heavy kind of majesty"


  • Term 'original thinker' is usually associated with intellect and philosophy - applying it to the foreman is amusing - narrator is mocking his lack of education
  • Suggests that because he is higher in the ranks he is therefore more educated and therefore more deserving of credit than the others
  • Mocking is continued through 'heavy kind of majesty'
• "That left the pile still in mid-air, and me of course"


  • Links to the changing ideas of men - they know what they were supposed to be but with societal changes, they are now not as sure
  • 'pile still in mid-air' could be a metaphor for life's uncertainty and irresolution - the significance of the title becomes clear
  • Forms a conclusion that makes sense and a resolution that resolves nothing