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The Telephone Call
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by Fleur Adcock

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“The Telephone Call” Introduction

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"The Telephone Call" appears in Fleur Adcock's collection The Incident
Book (1986). It describes a mysterious phone call from "Universal
Lotteries," an organization claiming that the speaker has won their
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grand prize. When the callers finally admit the speaker hasn't won any
I can answer any question about The
money, they claim the true "prize" was the memorable "experience" of
Telephone Call instantly.
the call itself. The poem can be read as a miniature fable about
ordinary disappointment, suggesting that human experience always Get 250 answers per month.

falls short of our wildest hopes. Metaphorically speaking, we never

win the lottery; at best, we get to entertain the fantasy for a while.

Read the full text of “The Telephone Call”

“The Telephone Call” Summary

A group identifying themselves as "Universal Lotteries" calls the

speaker's phone and asks if they're sitting down (i.e., ready to hear
major news). The callers claim the speaker has won the "Special"
grand prize in their "Global" lottery. The callers ask how the speaker
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might spend the prize, which is a million British pounds. They clarify
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that it's over a million pounds, noting with amusement that the
distinction doesn't matter much when the amount of money is so
huge.

The callers ask if the speaker is feeling all right and if they're still on
the phone. They urge the speaker to share their emotions. The
speaker stammers that they're in disbelief. The callers say that
everyone reacts that way and urges them to continue. The speaker
says they're as lightheaded as if the crown of their head has flown off
through the window, spinning like a spaceship.

The callers note that this is a strange feeling and ask the speaker to
continue. The speaker says that they're getting choked up, that they
have dry mouth, and that their nose itches as if they're about to
sneeze or burst into tears. The callers assure the speaker that they
shouldn't be embarrassed to let their feelings show; after all, it's rare
to hear that you're about to become a millionaire.

The callers urge the speaker to let their tears flow for a minute. But
the speaker tells them to wait, objects that it's been years since they
entered a lottery, and skeptically asks the callers to repeat the name of
their organization. Amused, the callers say it doesn't matter that the
speaker hasn't entered a lottery lately. Their organization's name is
"Universal," and they use a retroactive system ("Module").

Most people have entered a lottery at some point, and they're all
eligible for Universal's prize, because Universal purchases all past
lottery entries and uses a computer program to draw a winner from
them. The speaker expresses wonderment but says they won't fully
believe their luck until they've received their prize check.

The callers say they won't be sending any prize check. When the
speaker asks about the monetary award, the callers say their lottery
doesn't actually hand out money: it hands out "Experiences." The
callers claim the phone call itself has been an incredible, thrilling,
memorable experience; that's what the speaker has won. The callers
congratulate the speaker, add a pleasant goodbye, and hang up.

“The Telephone Call” Themes

Hope and Disappointment

In "The Telephone Call," a group of mysterious callers claims that the

speaker has won the lottery and become a millionaire. The speaker is
skeptical, since they haven't entered a lottery recently, but they
display some joy and hope even as they question the callers.
Eventually, the callers admit it's all a hoax; instead of "money," they
explain, they provide "Experiences," and they've given the speaker a
memorable one. By this time, the speaker has fallen for the fantasy
just enough to make the reality a bitter anticlimax. The poem
illustrates, then, how easy it is to give into unrealistic hopes—and how
doing so can make inevitable disappointment all the more crushing.

Even though the speaker suspects their amazing luck is too good to
be true, they get partly swept up in hope—and correspondingly
disappointed. On hearing that they've won "the top prize" in the
lottery, the speaker's first response is, "I just… I can’t believe it!" The
stammering exclamation suggests they're already feeling happy, even
if skepticism prevents them from being overjoyed. When the callers
urge the speaker to "giv[e] way to your emotions," the speaker gets
choked up and feels as if they might "cry." Throughout the call, the
speaker remains a little doubtful—"I'll believe it when I see the
cheque"—so when there turns out to be no cheque, they're at least
partly prepared. Yet joy has started to overtake their rational doubts.
The fact that they indulge in some irrational hope shows that even
skeptics are liable to do so.

The poem casts this cycle of guarded hope and predictable

disappointment as universal: part of the "experience" all humans
share. When the speaker's initial reaction is "I can't believe it!" the
callers reply, "That's what they all say." This might suggest that it's
common to distrust amazing news, since most people know firsthand
that such news is often false. But "I can't believe it!" is also a joyous
exclamation that betrays some desire to believe—and this, too, is part
of human nature.

Similarly, the hoaxers claim that the speaker must have entered a
lottery sometime: "Nearly everyone’s bought a ticket / In some lottery
or another, / Once at least." Metaphorically, this claim implies that we
all indulge wild hopes at some point, and can feel stung by their failure
to come true even when we're no longer young and optimistic. The
company's name, "Universal Lotteries," hints at this same idea. The
callers even say, "We're Universal," as if implying that everyone goes
through the roller coaster of hope at some point.

Joyous hope followed by a letdown may not be "Exciting," as the

callers claim, but the poem suggests that it is a kind of universal
"prize." It's something we're all dealt as players in the game of life—
even if the circumstances are usually more boring than a prank call
from a fake lottery.

Where this theme appears in the poem:

Lines 1-48

Illusions vs. Experience

After revealing that the speaker hasn't won any money in the lottery,
the callers in "The Telephone Call" claim that the real "prize" was "a
great experience." This phrase evokes an age-old literary theme: the
journey from ignorance, innocence, or illusion to experience, as in
hard-won wisdom. In this case, however, experience is such an
obviously anticlimatic "prize" (compared to the riches originally
promised) that the poem ends up mocking its value. Experience, the
poem implies, isn't inherently "great"; some illusions are even
preferable to harsh lessons and painful memories.

Although the speaker never quite falls for the illusory lottery news,
even their cautious hope clearly improves their mood. When asked to
describe their emotions, the speaker feels as if their head has flown
off "like a flying saucer," and the callers reply, "That’s unusual." The
news makes the speaker feel something remarkable, even if it's not
full-blown euphoria. The callers then encourage the speaker to emote
more, explaining: "It isn’t every day you hear / You’re going to get a
million pounds." The speaker won't be getting that money, but just
"hear[ing]" they will—just the brief illusion—has the power to produce
an emotional high. In fact, while the speaker's better judgement
continues to nag at them, they start to feel some giddiness ("that's
incredible [...] It's marvelous") mixed in with their doubts.

By contrast, the "experience" the speaker wins as a "prize" is sourly

anticlimactic—and reminiscent of more familiar forms of
disappointment. After revealing their hoax, the callers ask: "You’ve had
a great experience, right? / Exciting? Something you’ll remember? /
That’s your prize."

The irony is clear: whatever innocent "Excit[ement]" the speaker may

have felt has now been ruined by reality. And no one actually enjoys
"remember[ing]" a major letdown! The "prize" of "experience" is not
only far worse than a million pounds, it's worse than the speaker's
unassuming pre-phone-call state. Rather than share their feelings
about their supposed prize, the speaker says nothing to the callers,
then flatly reports, "the line went dead." Metaphorically, this detail
may suggest that their emotions have gone dead: whatever happiness
they were feeling has evaporated. Experience hasn't left them happier
or wiser, just numb and silent (the poem ends here).

Cruel as the letdown is, it's also, in a sense, perfectly ordinary. The
disappointed speaker is no worse off financially than they were before
the phone call and no worse off than millions of lottery losers. For
most people, not winning the lottery—literally or metaphorically—is
an "every day" event, even if they don't get the news via telephone! In
that sense, the speaker's harsh "experience" is just a heightened or
allegorical version of normal human experience.

In short, the poem's closing ironies show that "experience" has no

inherent positive value. Though the callers chirp, "Have a nice day!" it's
clear that the speaker's day would have been better without this
"experience." If anything, the "Call" calls attention to the relative
poverty of a life the speaker had been basically content with. (They
mention that they "[hadn't] bought a lottery ticket / for years and
years.") Even when experiences are memorable, they can be
disappointing and deadening.

Where this theme appears in the poem:

Lines 9-48

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Telephone Call”

Lines 1-4

They asked me ...

... Ultra-Super Global Special.

The opening of "The Telephone Call" grabs the reader's attention by

jumping right into a dialogue. All but the last words of the poem will
consist of a conversation between the callers, who identify themselves
as "Universal Lotteries," and an unidentified speaker. As in fiction and
other prose narratives, the dialogue in this narrative poem serves
multiple purposes: it propels the story forward, provides exposition,
and illustrates the personalities of the characters speaking.

There's no initial scene-setting, so it's not clear where the speaker is

receiving this call. However, given the nature of the call (a notification
about supposed lottery winnings), a home setting is likely. The
pronoun "They" may indicate that there are multiple callers on the
other end—a faux prize committee, perhaps—or "They" may refer to
"Universal Lotteries" as a collective, to a single caller whose gender
isn't known/revealed, etc. (This guide will refer to callers in the plural.)

The callers begin by asking if the speaker is sitting down—a common

way of prefacing big news. (Presumably, the recipient of the news will
need to steady themselves for a shock.) After identifying themselves
as a lottery company, the callers claim that the speaker has won their
"top prize," called "the Ultra-Super Global Special." Both "Universal"
and "Global Special" suggest that this is a large, international
company and that the speaker has won a huge prize out of a large
field of participants—in other words, the speaker has truly hit the
jackpot.

These names will gain other implications, too, as the poem goes on.
Since lotteries are symbols of chance and fortune, "Universal
Lotteries" may suggest that the company symbolizes the cosmic
workings of fate itself. The name may also hint that there's something
"universally" relatable about the experience they give the speaker: a
surge of hope followed by disappointment.

Lines 5-8

What would you ...

... millionaire." And they laughed.

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Lines 9-13

"Are you OK?" ...

... us about it."

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Lines 14-20

I said "I ...

... to sneeze—or cry."

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Lines 21-26

"That's right" they ...

... you a moment…"

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Lines 26-32

"Hang on!" I said. ...

... retrospective Chances Module.

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Lines 33-37

Nearly everyone's bought ...

... lucky person is."

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Lines 38-42

"Well, that's incredible" ...

... deal in money.

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Lines 43-48

Experiences are what ...

... line went dead.

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“The Telephone Call” Symbols

The Lottery

Lotteries are games of chance, so they're often symbols of chance,

luck, and fate in general. This poem's (fake) lottery is no exception. On
receiving the phone call from "Universal Lotteries," the poem's
confused speaker says, "I haven’t bought a lottery ticket / for years
and years." Symbolically, this suggests that they've long since
accepted their fate in life; they've stopped taking risks or entertaining
their wildest dreams. They no longer imagine themselves winning the
lottery in the idiomatic, metaphorical sense: that is, stumbling into
success and happiness by a stroke of good fortune.

"Universal Lotteries" holds out—and then withdraws—the hope that

fate has somehow smiled on them anyway. Even the name
"Universal" suggests that this is a cosmic lottery, representing the
larger forces of fate. It's as though fate itself is promising the speaker
an amazing life, only to admit in the end that the promise was an
illusion; all the speaker has really gained is the wisdom of
"experience." Figuratively speaking, fate disappoints most people in
similar fashion—only without informing them by phone. To put it
another way: mere "experience," as opposed to blissful happiness, is
all that most of us ever win from the "lottery" of life.

Where this symbol appears in the poem:

Lines 2-4: “This is Universal Lotteries," / they said. "You've
won the top prize, / the Ultra-Super Global Special.”
Lines 27-37: “"I haven’t bought a lottery ticket / for years
and years. And what did you say / the company’s
called?" They laughed again. / "Not to worry about a ticket. /
We're Universal. We operate / A retrospective Chances
Module. / Nearly everyone's bought a ticket / in some lottery
or another, / once at least. We buy up the files, / feed the
names into our computer, / and see who the lucky person
is."”
Lines 42-47: “"We don't deal in money. / Experiences are
what we deal in. / You've had a great experience, right? /
Exciting? Something you’ll remember? / That's your prize. So
congratulations / from all of us at Universal.”

“The Telephone Call” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

Irony

The poem's narrative hinges on a simple situational irony. The

protagonist is led to believe they've won the lottery, only to find out
there's a major catch: the top prize awarded by "Universal Lotteries"
turns out to be the mere "experience" of a memorable phone call, not
"more than a million" pounds (as the "Universal" callers initially imply).
This ironic reversal of expectations ends the poem on a note of
anticlimax and bitter disappointment.

Technically, the callers never lie; that is, they never directly promise the
speaker a large sum of money. In the first stanza, they say, "You've
won the top prize," then ask, "What would you do with a million
pounds?" This strongly implies that the prize is monetary, but the
statement and question don't have to be related—and in fact, the
"prize" turns out to be very different.

Later, the callers remark, "It isn't every day you hear / you're going to
get a million pounds"—but again, this is subtly different than stating
that they will get the money. These technicalities make the irony even
crueler; they suggest that "Universal" has misled the speaker on
purpose.

Even the callers' wording at the end is loaded with irony:

You've had a great experience, right?

Exciting? Something you'll remember?

Clearly, the phone call was "great" until it wasn't! And it's
"Something" the speaker will "remember" only because it's
disappointing. No one would prefer a disappointing "experience" to a
million pounds! The callers almost seem to be mocking the speaker,
right down to their final "Have a nice day!"

Where irony appears in the poem:

Lines 11-12: “I said "I just… I can't believe it!" / They said
"That’s what they all say.”
Lines 41-48: “"Oh," they said, "there's no cheque." / "But the
money?" "We don't deal in money. / Experiences are what we
deal in. / You've had a great experience, right? / Exciting?
Something you’ll remember? / That's your prize. So
congratulations / from all of us at Universal. / Have a nice
day!"”

Rhetorical Question

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Where rhetorical question appears in the poem:

Lines 44-45: “You've had a great experience, right? /
Exciting? Something you’ll remember?”
Repetition

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Exciting? Something you’ll remember?”

Where repetition appears in the poem:

Line 2: “Universal Lotteries”
Line 5: “a million pounds”
Line 6: “a million”
Line 8: “millionaire”
Line 10: “tell us”
Line 13: “Go on,” “tell us”
Line 17: “Go on”
Line 19: “My,” “my”
Line 20: “cry”
Line 24: “a million pounds”
Line 25: “cry”
Line 26: “I said”
Line 27: “lottery ticket”
Line 28: “years,” “years”
Line 30:
2: “Universal
“a ticket” Lotteries”
Line 31:
5: “a“Universal”
million pounds”
Line 33:
6: “a“amillion”
ticket”
Line 34:
8: “millionaire”
“lottery”
Line 38:
10: “I
“tell
said”
us”
Line 40:
13: “cheque”
“Go on,” “tell us”
Line 41:
17: “cheque”
“Go on”
Line 42:
19: “My,”
“money,”
“my”
“money”
Line 43:
20: “Experiences”
“cry”
Line 44:
24: “experience”
“a million pounds”
Line 47:
25: “Universal”
“cry”
Line 26: “I said”
Line 27: “lottery ticket”
Dialogue
Line 28: “years,” “years”
Line 30: “a ticket”
Line 31: “Universal”
Line 33: “a ticket”
Line 34: “lottery”
Line 38: “I said”
Line 40: “cheque”
Line 41: “cheque”
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Line 42: “money,” “money”
Line 43: “Experiences”
Line 44: “experience”
Line 47: “Universal”

Where dialogue appears in the poem:

Lines 1-48

Cliché

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Lines 1-48

Where cliché appears in the poem:

Line 1: “Are you sitting down?”
Line 11: “I can't believe it!”
Line 12: “That’s what they all say.”
Line 23: “It isn't every day”
Line 25: “have a little cry”
Line 48: “Have a nice day!”

“The Telephone Call” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem.
The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

Universal Lotteries The Ultra-Super Global Special

Line 1: “Are you sitting down?”
PoundsLine 11: “I Flying saucer it!”
can't believe Retrospective
Line 12: “That’s what they all say.”
Chances Module
Line Cheque
23: “It isn't every day” The line
Line 25: “have a little cry”
Line
(Location 48: “Have
in poem: Line 2:a“This
nice is
day!”
Universal Lotteries”; Line 31: “We're
Universal.”; Lines 46-47: “So congratulations / from all of us at Universal.”)

A fictitious organization that supposedly operates a giant lottery.

According to the prank callers in the poem, it's "Universal" in that it
collects tickets from other, past lotteries and picks a winner from that
aggregated pool.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Telephone Call”

Form

The poem consists of six octaves, or eight-line stanzas. It's written in

free verse, meaning that it has no meter or rhyme scheme, but its
lines are of approximately even length (seven to ten syllables).

These formal choices make the poem extremely approachable and

easy to read. The lack of rhyme and meter helps the language sound
natural and conversational—well suited to a poem that mostly
consists of dialogue. The equal-sized stanzas break this plain
language into smaller, manageable units, much like paragraphs in a
work of prose. (In general, this poem reads like a very short story; it's
narrative rather than lyric.) The poem's form makes it easy to digest,
even as the "experience" it describes leaves a bitter aftertaste.

Meter

The poem is written in free verse; it doesn't follow a regular meter. At

the same time, its line lengths stay very consistent, ranging between
seven and ten syllables. (Line 6 might be eleven, depending on how
you count.)

The lack of meter gives the poem a loose, conversational quality—

after all, it describes a conversation. In general, the combination of
unadorned speech, even stanza lengths, and fairly even line lengths
makes the poem's language extremely smooth and approachable. The
poem tells its story straightforwardly, in easily digestible segments,
without any elaborate formal tricks getting in the way.

Rhyme Scheme

As a free verse poem, "The Telephone Call" has no rhyme scheme. It

narrates a simple, colloquial conversation as straightforwardly as
possible. Traditional poetic effects like rhyme and meter would detract
from that conversational quality.

The phrase "million pounds" does occur at the ends of two lines (5
and 24), and the word "cheque" ends two consecutive lines (40 and
41). Though these aren't really rhymes, the repetition of these money-
related terms helps drive home what's at stake in the narrative (a lot
of money!).

A few other words/phrases recur at the ends of lines, too: "cry" (lines
20 and 25), "I said" (lines 26 and 38), and "ticket" (lines 27, 30, and
33). Again, these don't register as rhymes, but they provide subtle
links between stanzas while drawing attention to some of the poem's
key words. (For example, "cry" underscores the high emotion of the
moment, and "ticket" recurs because the way this lottery supposedly
works becomes an important point in the narrative.)

“The Telephone Call” Speaker

The poem provides almost no identifying information about the

speaker; their name, age, gender, etc. are never revealed. Presumably,
they're an adult (someone old enough to buy lottery tickets) residing
in the UK (or another country that uses "pounds" as its currency).
They're not fabulously wealthy, since the prize of "more than a million"
pounds would substantially impact their life. Also, they've apparently
entered "some lottery or another, / once at least," since they accept
this as their qualification for winning the grand prize.

Otherwise, they could be just about anyone—and that's the point! The
poem presents a universally relatable scenario, as the name "Universal
Lotteries" playfully suggests. All but the most hardened skeptics
would feel some hope if they got a phone call claiming they'd won a
fortune. And it's true that most adults have entered a lottery of some
kind, at some point, in countries that offer them. ("Nearly everyone[]"
might be an exaggeration, but for example, about 50% of American
adults play state lotteries each year.) In a metaphorical sense, too,
everyone hopes to win the lottery—that is, hopes their wildest dreams
will come true.

The generic speaker makes this already relatable poem even easier to
identify with. Unless they've already achieved all their dreams, any
reader can picture themselves in the speaker's place.

“The Telephone Call” Setting

The poem doesn't specify a setting. However, it describes a

"Telephone Call" in the age before cell phones, most likely made to a
personal/home number. (Lotteries have sometimes contacted winners
via home phone—as have scams pretending to be lotteries!—but it
would be quite unusual for them to reach out via other numbers.) So
this is almost certainly a domestic setting, complete with an old-
school landline.

Like the generic speaker, the lack of a defined location makes the
poem's scenario seem as "Universal" as the fake lottery itself.
("Universal Lotteries" claims to be a "Global" operation, drawing from
lotteries played worldwide.) The poem spins a tale of raised hopes
and stinging disappointment that almost anyone, anywhere, can relate
to.

Literary and Historical Context of “The Telephone Call”

Literary Context

"The Telephone Call" appears in The Incident Book (1986), one of

Fleur Adock's mid-career poetry collections. Originally from New
Zealand, Adcock (born 1934) has been based in the UK for much of
her career and has gained an international audience as a poet and
translator. She is also the editor of the Faber Book of 20th Century
Women's Poetry (1987), a notable anthology published the year after
The Incident Book.

Written in 1980s Britain, "The Telephone Call" reflects the broad

poetic trends of its moment. During this time, a number of leading
English poets were writing narrative poems (sometimes called “lyric
narratives”) in free verse. Even as they steered clear of traditional
forms, they tended to avoid modernist-style experimentation,
preferring to draw on everyday experiences and approachable
language.

Accordingly, “The Telephone Call” is written in free verse, but its style
is conversational; it doesn’t radically challenge the reader’s
expectations about poetry. While its scenario is somewhat bizarre, it's
anchored by a generic, domestic setting and an "Everyperson" type
speaker. (Who hasn't dreamed of hitting it big, whether in a literal or a
metaphorical "lottery"?) Using relatively simple materials, it explores
complex, unsettling themes.

Historical Context

The "Universal Lotteries" organization (line 2) is fictitious, even within

the world of the poem. There is no such thing as the "Ultra-Super
Global Special," with its top prize of "a million pounds"—or "more
than a million." However, Adcock's invention is loosely based on real-
world lottery games, including those in countries that use pounds as
their currency.

Adcock's home country of New Zealand—which used the "New

Zealand pound" in her youth—did not have a national lottery until
1987, the year after The Incident Book was published. Her adopted
country, the UK, didn't establish its National Lottery until 1994.
However, smaller lotteries of the modern kind had been legal in the
UK since the 1930s, and the first official English lottery of any kind
took place in 1569, under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I!

The poem mentions a "computer" (line 36) used in the lottery drawing
process. Lotteries became increasingly tied to computer systems in
the 1970s; for example, the first computerized lottery games in the
U.S. began in the middle of that decade. One other technology note:
since the poem was written before the cell phone era, the titular
"Telephone Call" would have been placed via landline and almost
certainly received at home. In those days, the speaker would have
heard a dial tone, not silence, after "the line went dead" (line 48).

More “The Telephone Call” Resources

External Resources

An Interview with the Poet — Listen to an interview with Fleur

Adcock about her life and career.

A Profile of the Poet — Read about Adcock at the Postcolonial

Studies blog at Emory University.

A Retrospective — Read a retrospective on Adcock's career,

published in The Guardian upon the release of her Collected Poems
(2000).

The Poet's Life and Work — A brief biography of Adcock from the
Poetry Foundation.

More Adcock Resources — A biography, bibliography, and critical

perspective on the poet, via the British Council Literature.

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