A Game of Chess

 The title of the second part of the poem alludes to two different plays by Thomas Middleton (1580-1627): A Game at Chess, an allegory of the political relationship beween England and Spain, in which Black pieces plot the seduction or rape of the "White Virgin"; and Women Beware Women, in which a chess game is used as a device to comment ironically on the seduction of a married woman.

The theme of this part of the poem is failed relationships between men and women, the image of the game of chess suggesting the stark contrast of black and white; an opposition of interests; the victory of one side over the other, or alternatively, stalemate.

• The bedroom of a highly-strung upper middle-class woman. It is furnished with antiques, including a painting of a scene from Greek mythology, a gruesome story of sexual violence and murderous revenge. The woman repeatedly asks questions, to which her husband(?) makes no response, other than random thoughts he does not express. This non-communication is likely to continue indefinitely.
• Cut to closing time in a working-class pub. A woman reports the conversation she has had with her friend Lil, whose husband Albert is returning from the War. Lil is exhausted by multiple childbirth and a miscarriage, but is encouraged to make herself attractive for Albert. The section ends ominously with the barman repeatedly calling time.

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