1. You Will Be Hearing From Us Shortly
U.A. Fanthorpe
(page 51)

2. You feel adequate to the demands of this
position?
What qualities do you feel you
Personally have to offer?
Ah
Let us consider your application form.
Your qualifi cations, though impressive, are
Not, we must admit, precisely what
We had in mind. Would you care
To defend their relevance?
Indeed
Now your age. Perhaps you feel able
To make your own comment about that,
Too? We are conscious ourselves
Of the need for a candidate with precisely
The right degree of immaturity.
So glad we agree
And now a delicate matter: your looks.
You do appreciate this work involves
Contact with the actual public? Might they,
Perhaps, find your appearance
Disturbing?
Quite so
And your accent. That is the way
You have always spoken is it? What
Of your education? Were
You educated? We mean, of course,
Where were you educated?
And how
Much of a handicap is that to you.
Would you say?
Married, children,
We see. The usual dubious
Desire to perpetuate what had better
Not have happened at all. We do not
Ask what domestic disasters shimmer
Behind that vaguely unsuitable address.
And you were born —?
Yes. Pity.
So glad we agree.
Read through

3. Structure
• 12 stanzas, 6 main stanzas (all are the interviewer’s
speech), 5 of which with one line replies afterwards
(all are the interviewee’s speech).
• Enjambment throughout.
• Indentations/text shifted to the right after most
stanzas.
• The last things the interviewer says is in blunt, one
line sentences – this shows his growing impatience
for the candidate.
• Each stanza is about a different aspect of the
interviewee.

4. Meaning/Background information
• Ursula Aksham Fanthorpe was went to a boarding school in
Surrey, she was educated at Oxford and later became a
teacher at Cheltenham Ladies College. She taught for 16 years
until she began writing poetry in 1974.
• Her prestigious education is a contrast to the theme of the
poem – sympathising with the unemployed, working class.
• In this poem a working class woman is being interviewed for
a job and (presumably) an upper or middle class man is
interviewing her.
• The poem conjures up an image of a snobby, well spoken, and
rude interviewer looking down in disgust at the unfortunate
interviewee.
• The poem has themes of prejudice, stereotypes and
discrimination through the use of tone and language such as
‘vaguely unsuitable address’.

5. Meaning/Background information cont.
• This poem begins in a realistic way, almost reasonable, but
becomes surreal towards the end – overwhelming the reader
and interviewee with a perplexing rant (The usual dubious desire
to perpetuate what had better not have happened at all. We do
not ask what domestic disasters shimmer behind that vaguely
unsuitable address) that only the most articulate of people
would be able to understand.
• This a way of excluding the interviewee and the reader, so the
reader sympathises with the candidate.
• ‘You will be hearing from us shortly’ could be read as a reflection
on today’s society – judging a person based on their
age, appearance, education, personal life, and where they come
from.
• The poem also displays patriarchy – which Fanthorpe was
stongly against (she was a feminist). And the interviewer seems
misogynistic and chauvinistic.

6. Imagery
• Imagery is used in the last main stanza – where the
interviewer says ‘shimmer’. This is odd because it
makes the candidate’s domestic life seem
positive, shiny, perfect, etc. A better word would
have been ‘lurk’, ‘fester’ or ‘hide’.

7. Language
• The interviewer uses 1st person plural throughout –
‘we do not ask...’ If there is a panel of
interviewers, this could be to exclude the candidate.
Also, the interviewer could be using the seemingly
royal term ‘we’ to come across well spoken and
superior – out of sheer arrogance.
• Prose throughout, no rhyming.
• It is odd when the interviewer says ‘the right degree
of immaturity’ – as you’d expect him to say
‘maturity’. The author/interviewer uses a lot of
opposite words in this poem. Perhaps to confuse
and intimidate the reader/candidate.

8. Effect on reader
• The reader probably feels sorry for the
interviewee, and pities them. They may also dislike
the interviewer – as he comes across rude and treats
the interviewee unfairly.
• This poem could conjure up the reader’s own
memories and experiences of interviews, this would
make the poem more relatable for the reader.

9. You feel adequate to the demands of this
position?
What qualities do you feel you
Personally have to offer?
Ah
Let us consider your application form.
Your qualifi cations, though impressive, are
Not, we must admit, precisely what
We had in mind. Would you care
To defend their relevance?
Indeed
Now your age. Perhaps you feel able
To make your own comment about that,
Too? We are conscious ourselves
Of the need for a candidate with precisely
The right degree of immaturity.
So glad we agree
And now a delicate matter: your looks.
You do appreciate this work involves
Contact with the actual public? Might they,
Perhaps, find your appearance
Disturbing?
Quite so
And your accent. That is the way
You have always spoken is it? What
Of your education? Were
You educated? We mean, of course,
Where were you educated?
And how
Much of a handicap is that to you.
Would you say?
Married, children,
We see. The usual dubious
Desire to perpetuate what had better
Not have happened at all. We do not
Ask what domestic disasters shimmer
Behind that vaguely unsuitable address.
And you were born —?
Yes. Pity.
So glad we agree.
Annotate

10. Link to The Tempest
• Power and control – the interviewer has lots of
control over the interviewee, similar to prospero
and Miranda/Ferdinand/Caliban.
• The interviewer dislikes the interviewee and doesn’t
want her to take over or ‘invade’ the company –
similar to how Caliban dislakes Prospero, and doesnt
want him to take over or invade.