What is the deeper meaning of the poem “At Lunchtime: A Story of Love” by Roger McGough?
1. The surprise at the end of the first stanza is that the poet begins to have sex with the woman who has fallen across him on the bus. Normally rape is perceived as a serious offence, but in this poem Roger McGouch makes a joke out of it. 2. The woman says she doesn’t want to be raped so early in the day, nor by someone as repulsive as Roger McGough. 3. McGough explains that since the world is about to end in a few hours (the poem was written around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis) there is simply no point in continuing to treat other people with care and respect. 4. The poem is a Carpe Diem poem, telling people to enjoy life while they can – because life is short and youth is even shorter. 5. Like most Liverpool Poets McGough wants his reader to adopt an attitude of cynical indifference to life, and especially to respect for its traditional values. The poem pretends to be about being kind to each other, but in fact glorifies political apathy as an excuse for rape. The poem is hu
