3rd year from SPECTATOR AB EXTRA, by Arhur Hugh Clough

Remember to read the photocopies I gave you ealier this year, to start with. Those ideas will also shed light on the poem.

Before actually reading the poem, take some time to think..

What is your attitude towards money? Towards being rich? Whose statement do you agree with: the one stated in the Bible? Samuel Johnson´s? Shaw´s? Albert Camus´s? (check out the above mentioned copies)

NOw, read Clough´s biography:

Arthur Hugh Clough was born in Liverpool, England 1791 and died in 1861. (NB Times of the French Revolution, ok?)He was a radical both in his religious and political beliefs. When one reads this apparently jolly poem, one should remember that it doesn’t express Clough’s personal
sentiments: he went to France to support the French working people in the February
Revolution of 1848 when they fought to overthrow the Orleanist monarchy. (The set
extract is the first section of a longer poem.)


Maybe the following notes may help you understand the poem better

Title: Spectator ab extra: literally: a spectator from outside, i.e. an onlooker or an
uninvolved third-party observer
Line 2: pelf: money, riches, material goods (perhaps with the rather disparaging
connotation of ‘filthy lucre’)
Line 7: en grand seigneur: (French) in the manner of a gentleman, with the
demeanour of a person of a distinguished rank


Read the first stanza out aloud, trying to emphasise the rhythm of the lines. What is the effect of the rhythm? What makes it so jolly and song-like?

• Do you agree with the sentiments expressed here? What impression of the people he overhears do you get? Remembering that it is the persona in the poem who is giving this impression, you should explore how he does so.

• Look at the persona himself and make up your mind what you think of him. You should look especially here at stanza 2 to support your view.

• After you have made up your mind, you should try reading the whole poem
exaggerating the character you have imagined.

• Write down what words or phrases led you to respond to the poem as you have done, those which you would want to emphasise above the others. On Tuesday 15, listen to other students’ responses and then decide which of these descriptions best sum up the persona: happy, cynical, selfish, generous, good-living, solitary, uncaring. Are there other words to add to the list?

• Do you find the poem amusing? Why – or why not? Write an appreciation.

Thematic links with set poems
Social injustice/ poverty: Caged Bird; Carpet-weavers; Morocco; Song to the
men of England; Monologue; Muliebrity; Plenty