Half of a Yellow Sun

You can surf this site:

http://www.halfofayellowsun.com/index.php

which is the official site of the book. 

We'll discuss some of those entries in class!

Here

Ronald Stuart Thomas was a Welsh poet and Anglican priest who was noted for his nationalism, spirituality and deep dislike of the anglicization of Wales. He was one of the major English language and European poets of the 20th century. In 1996 Thomas was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

“Here” is divided in seven stanzas of three verses each one. In the first stanza, “I am a man now” is a short, simple sentence that shows the brutal and brief nature of war and violence. It presents a sharp tone and atmosphere. It also implies that, as the narrator is going to war, he is no longer considered a boy, but a man. The phrase “the brains grow” refers to the man´s growing in knowledge and understanding of the world, as he is exposed to such violence in war. The simile “I am like a tree” in the second stanza is also a short and brief phrase, that reinforces the previously mentioned points. The narrator links himself to a tree (nature imagery), and says that he can see “the footprints that led up to me”. These are metaphors for the past events in his life which led him to be who he is now. This establishes a reflective tone, reflecting on his past, probably because he knows he is risking his life. In the third stanza, “blood” is a war imagery and “the stain” is a metaphor for the negative emotions which lead to war. The fact that this “stain” is carried in the “veins” as “blood”, shows that it is passed down from generation to generation. However, the use of the phrase “run clear” show that the narrator was able to break free of this hereditary prejudices leading to violence. The word “contracted” has many negative connotations, as we “contract” a disease or illness. By using the first rhetorical question in stanza four, the narrator questions if he has escaped from the violence prejudices of his ancestors, why is he at war, killing people? He concludes that he has been “misled”, forced and tricked in war. The phrase “hands red” brings connotations of guilt and blame. Words such as “red”, “blood” and “dead” add to the war images. Stanza five continues with the questioning phrase and he questions why his hands “will not do as I say”, being his hands a symbol for his entire self. This reinforces the idea that he has been forced into war. The last verse “does no God hear when I pray?” shows his desperation, praying to more than one god. The sense of desperation increases as he mentions that he is trapped and has nowhere to go, another short sentence showing brutality in stanza six. “Swift satellites” shows he is constantly being watched, and consequently cannot escape. The metaphor “the clock of my whole being is slow” has many ramifications, his life becomes predictable and controlled, not unique in any way. The stanza seven starts with him admitting “it is too late to start/for destinations not of the heart”, meaning that it is too late to think rationally, only violence, war and prejudice remain. The poem ends with a melancholy tone, “I must stay here with my hurt”, showing that he truly is trapped in war, and cannot get out.

The regular structure and rhyme scheme (AAA BBB CCC etc.) shows the unstoppable march of the soldiers at war. The poem moves from him being a new recruit (“I am a man now”) to being a hardened veteran, familiar with the tragedy of war (“I must stay here with my hurt”).

Attack by Siegfried Sassoon

At dawn the ridge emerges massed and dun
In the wild purple of the glow'ring sun,
Smouldering through spouts of drifting smoke that shroud
The menacing scarred slope; and, one by one,
Tanks creep and topple forward to the wire.
The barrage roars and lifts. Then, clumsily bowed
With bombs and guns and shovels and battle-gear,
Men jostle and climb to meet the bristling fire.
Lines of grey, muttering faces, masked with fear,
They leave their trenches, going over the top,
While time ticks blank and busy on their wrists,
And hope, with furtive eyes and grappling fists,
Flounders in mud. O Jesus, make it stop! 

Siegfried Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English poet, author and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches, and satirized the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's view, were responsible for a vainglorious war.

Attack is a short poem of 13 lines and only one stanza written in speech rhythm with some rhyme. The detach structure of the poem represents mankind losing direction and righteousness inn life in times of war. The poet adopt a calm yet emotional tone on serious and agonising subject as shown by the words: make it stop. The poem begins with time and ends with reference to Jesus, who western time is centred around. This implies end of humanity. The caesura in the barrage roars and lifts. Contrasts with the enjambment that is found throughout the poem.

The language used creates effectives images in the poem. The opening lines of Attack describe the new day emerging as shown by the line: at dawn the ridge emerges massed and dun. The ridge, however, is personified as having a living presence and no specific shape, with the use of words emerges and massed The sun is described as being almost inactive and personification is use again, as the word glowering suggests that nature is both disapproving and antagonistic. The word smouldering portrays a vivid images of the sun being covered by the infected smoke, almost giving a literal meaning as to look at what human action has done to nature. Sassoon uses more personification when describing the slope- scarred evokes a physical visualization and the sense of human danger. The poet also use color imagery like wild purple, dun, grey. The poem start by presenting brighter colors such as purple and dun, as the poem progresses duller colors are presented such as grey and blank, representing how young men were keen to go to war to represent their country but realize the actual terror of it later.

One major technique that the author uses in order to convey of the horror of the battlefield and what it seemed to be like to be in an attack is literal and figurative imageries. Examples of literal images are "the ridge emerges", "bombs and guns and shovels and battle-gear", "lines of grey, muttering faces". The poet uses very striking diction that makes the poem sounds more uncomfortable, for example, "scarred slope". The color of the atmosphere is described as dun and wild purple which accentuates on the menacing atmosphere of the setting. The verbs at the beginning of the poem are very significant as they seem to be particularly strong in this poem, like the description of the tank "creep and topple" over the ridge, the barrage that "roars and lifts" or the men who "jostle and climb to", etc. On the other hand, the poet also uses a lot of figurative images. These figurative images include: "time ticks blank and busy on their wrists", "and hope, with furtive eyes, ..., flounders in mud", etc. These images help to personify and emphasize the meaning of the poem, for example, in line 11:

"While time ticks blank and busy on their wrists"

  

Sassoon uses more personification when describing the slope-'scarred' evokes a physical visualisation and the sense of human danger. The verb 'creep' is interesting, a personification that captures the tentativeness slowness of the 'tanks' moving towards the wire which slows down the tone and builds up the tension considering the verb 'creep.' Sassoon used another verb: 'roars' which is in obvious contrast to 'creep' conveying intense violence.

Siegfried Sassoon's use of alliteration in line seven-'and' emphasises the weight of the men's kit. The weight is also symbolic of the soldiers oppressive fear, and in the next line (line eight), in this landscape only now the men are mentioned, as though they are in an alien territory.

In conclusion, the author of the poem Attack describes the life at the trenches in times of war. He adopts a calm and emotional tone on serious and agonising subject as these one. Sassoon describes what he had lived as a soldier, that is why his poem has so many emotions: he was there.

CAMBODIA

James Fenton, the poet of 'Cambodia' spent several years in Asia, touring countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam and Indochina and became distressed and exceedingly more and more incensed by the atrocious war crimes being committed by those in authority. He wrote most of his poems upon his return to America, but 'Cambodia' was written while he was visiting Southern Asia. Cambodia was a country devastated by war, and over 2 million civilians died in the various conflicts. The conflict he is referring to here is when American troops conducted illegal bombing raids under the guise of killing Viet-Cong they thought were fleeing into Cambodia. These bombing raids cost 750,000 innocent civilians their lives. Cambodia was then ruled by Pol Pot, who killed up to two million civilians in his reign. James Fenton was particularly disillusioned with those who had the power to stop the war, and became a fervent anti-war supporter. He knew that it was the ordinary citizen who was dying, not soldiers or the higher class. In this poem it is those ordinary people he focuses on, those who have either perished or are facing almost certain death on the battlefield.

'Cambodia' has a deceptively simple and childlike structure. In the 1st stanza he describes a man who smiled and said goodbye, a reference seemingly to his death. If this is so, it is debatable whether this is sarcastic, given that the man would not be smiling at the time of his death, or whether it is highlighting how war can instantaneously change things for people, so that one day he was smiling and happy and the next dead. However on closer inspection, it could appear to be a man either being sent away from the battle, or a man being called up for duty possibly saying his farewells to his family. The fact that a constant theme throughout the poem is that the first line contains a survivor, while the second line depicts the dead or those who will soon be dead, adds credence to this thought as does the fact that he is saying two will be left-presumably left behind in battle. In the second line James Fenton initiates a trend that continues throughout the poem of an increasing number of people in the second line of the stanza. As stated above, this poem is to focus on the dead and those who will die and the second line here adheres to that. He gives us false hope by saying that two shall be left, but then cruelly dashes that when he says that "two shall be left to die".

In the 3rd stanza we are told that a man shall give his best advice, but three men will die as a result of it. This is a reference to the habitually abysmal military intelligence that plagued these conflicts and often led men into traps. In the fourth stanza we see that one man shall live, but will live a life of regret and to meet that one man surviving four men will have to die. This could be the cause of the man's regret, as survivor's guilt that often plagues the survivors of war in these situations when they live, but their comrades don't. In the fifth stanza we see the after-effects of war, the nightmares and flashbacks and the shellshock suffered. We see this expressed in many poems, but the minimalism of this line conceives an extremely vivid and therefore shocking image of the after-effects of war. The second line also describes that the man thinks it's a nightmare or a dream, but it is actually happening and is reality. War is so bad that it must seem like a nightmare to those involved, and this also shows that there is no escape from war no matter where you are.

The last stanza escapes the form of the previous stanzas, in that it doesn't have one man on the first line and then six men on the second line. Instead it says "one man to five. A million men to one." I think here that James Fenton is trying to emphasise that for the one man who started the war, a million must suffer the consequences, and also that for every five people who stay at home and don't go to war, one man must die. The last line, "And still they die. And still the war goes on." is a chilling reminder to us, a line that is as brutal as it is simple. This line feels laden with anger, accusations, guilt and grief and could be tabled as an accusation at those who are in 'control' of the battles as to why they won't end it. It also demonstrates how there is no end to war, and that that must be particularly astute to those involved.

The structure of 'Cambodia' is so 5 stanzas of two lines which lets the poem flow extremely fast and lets the poem get straight to the point. This makes it concise and almost allies us to the poem, rather than letting us feel detached. The poem is also almost lyrical and is presented in an almost joking way which only heightens the shock and impact of his words when we get to the real message. As these poems were always intended to be a form of anti-war propaganda (a fact touched upon by the Washington Post Editorial Feature) and so would be used as a way of getting his message across to the masses, it is clever that he gives us hope at the start of each line. Every first line starts optimistically like "One man shall live" which grants us false hope, before cruelly taking it away from us and showing us that war doesn't have happy endings, as is shown with this line which ends with "live to regret." Because we are hopeful at the start when we lose that hope we feel even more negative, which is a really good tactic for this form of propaganda.

Although references have been made to this already, it is necessary to remark again upon the importance of the simplistic outlook of this poem. This is because it is this simplicity that allows James Fenton to convey successfully to us the shock. The simple structure lends the poem a fast, snappy rhythm which ensures the poem gets straight to the point. This creates not only a tense atmosphere but guarantees that the reader will feel that this is an important message. The simple words of no more than 6 or 7 words contrive to build up devastating images because they allow our imaginations to run wild and think up horrors far worse than words could.

This poem brings up an extremely famous quote by a man who committed some of the worst deeds history has ever seen, mostly against his own people. Stalin once commented that while "A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic." While these words are ghastly, to a certain degree they are true. Reading in the papers of one mans heroic death is far more heart-rending than hearing that 1 million soldiers have died in the war so far. James Fenton uses that to his advantage here; by always keeping the numbers low - even when he talks about the million dead he reminds us that it is caused by one person.

As this was intended as a piece of anti-war propaganda, it is worthwhile to look at how effective a piece it is. To me, this is a superb illustration of how bad war is, but how simple it appears. Although not as comprehensive as pieces such as "Dulce et decorum est" by Wilfred Owen, I think that it is far more shocking and persuasive than the aforementioned poem, while not drawing on any personal experiences or describing the abominable conditions of war. It was published in countless newspapers and figured on leaflets and anti-war demonstrations which shows its eminence and value. Even now it is an apt and timely reminder about the perils of war.

 Fabi Acuña and Camila Pellegrini

A Man I Am

I was consumed by so much hate

I did not feel that I could wait

I could not wait for long at any rate

I ran into the forest wild

I seized a little new born child

I tore his throat, I licked my fang

Just like a wolf. A wolf I am.

I ran wild for centuries

Beneath the immemorial trees,

Sometimes I thought my heart would freeze

And never know a moments ease,

But presently the spring broke in

Upon the Pastures of my sin,

My poor heart bled like anything,

The drops fell down, I knew remorse,

I tasted that primordial curse,

And falling ill, I soon grew worse.

Until at last I cried on Him,

Before who angel faces dim,

To take the burden of my sin

And break my head beneath his wing.

Upon the silt of death I swam

And as I wept my joy began

Just like a man. A man I am.

At first glance, the poem seems to be about a cold blooded man who committed a murder. He knew no guilt, remorse or regret at first, but as the years pass, his conscience catches up with him. He starts feeling guilty, remorseful, until someone or something relieved him of these feelings of guilt. Only then, was he able to feel joy and happiness.

More deeply it talks about the things that mankind had committed.

What the poet is trying to say through her poem is that mankind started off really bad. We started off with violence and death. We killed off innocence lives for the benefit of ourselves. We knew no remorse, no guilt, we had not conscience. We’re basically like animals (Wolf); we follow our aggressive, merciless, impulsive and impatient nature.
But, then, we started to progress. We grew a conscience, we learned about remorse and guilt. But, the progress is slow; it’s surprising that we even progressed at all. 

Paula Scotti - Paulo Ojeda

For Heidi with blue hair

When you dyed your hair blue

(or, at least ultramarine

for the clipped sides, with a crest

of jet-black spikes on top)

you were sent home from school

because, as the headmistress put it,

although dyed hair was not

specifically forbidden, yours

was, apart from anything else,

not done in the school colours.

Tears in the kitchen, telephone-calls

to school from your freedom-loving father:

‘She’s not a punk in her behaviour;

it’s just a style.’ (You wiped your eyes,

also not in a school colour.)

‘She discussed it with me first -

we checked the rules.’ ‘And anyway, Dad,

it cost twenty-five dollars.

Tel them it won’t wash out -

not even if I wanted to try.

It would have been unfair to mention

your mother’s death, but that

shimmered behind the arguments.

The school had nothing else against you;

the teachers twittered and gave in.

Next day your black friend had hers done

in grey, white and flaxen yellow -

the school colours precisely:

an act of solidarity, a witty

tease. The battle was already won.

Analysis

Introduction

For Heidi with blue hair is a poem written during the 1980s. The poem presents the readers with a central image of a child being sent home from school for dying her hair blue. The poem can be seen as one in a narrative form since the poem is being described like a story, with several dialogues used. Using different literary devices and imagery, Adcock manages to transform such a minor event and convey the different issues faced in adolescence’s life such as friendship, solidarity, school life, home life, family relationship, independence.

Themes in the poem

The poem deals with independence and individuality in human beings. The main character- Heidi, in the poem has obviously grown up, and has developed her own thoughts and personality, and this can be seen in the headmistress’s tone, being unused to students dyeing their hair ‘blue’. The poem successfully shows how important relationships between parents and children are, as without her father’s help she would not have achieved her independence. Her father is recognised as a “freedom-loving father”, showing the support he gives to Heidi, which is not very usual among parents. From the poem we can also see Heidi’s strong determination in achieving what she wants, as she is strong minded. The poem uses some imagery, and a metaphor is used “shimmered behind the arguments”, demonstrating how they were all aware of the depressing news of her mother’s death, and that it was a major problem that she was going through. Despite this the poet regains Heidi’s justice and strongly states his firm and that by dyeing her hair blue was not to rebel against her mother’s death, “It would have been unfair to mention your mother’s death, but that shimmered behind the arguments.” The poet however, manages to evoke the reader’s feelings, such as to feel what Heidi is going through, having to face her mother’s death, “The school had nothing against you; the teachers twittered and gave in.” From this we can see that the death of her mother may have caused the school to back out of pity.

Heidi’s impression to the reader

Heidi strikes as a wild and rebellious girl initially. The first stanza of the poem describes in detail her hair, which is dyed "ultramarine for the clipped sides, with a crest of jet-black spikes on top". Ultramarine is a shocking blue colour that stands out completely and her hairstyle is outlandish, definitely not what one would expect from a typical student. The convention is an ordinary hairdo, for example a ponytail, without spikes or dyed hair. Heidi's hairstyle shows the rebellious and wild side to her character since she should very well have known that ultramarine is too extreme a colour to be acceptable by the school or societal norms. Her spiked hair is also unconventional for a student. Despite the school's pressure against having it, she showed no fear of going against it, thus showing her rebellious way.

Heidi also gives the impression of being a stubborn girl. The poet wrote in stanza four of the poem that when Heidi's father called the school to speak up for Heidi and told them that "we (Heidi and her father) checked the rules", Heidi told him that "anyway, Dad, it cost twenty-five dollars. Tell them it won't wash out - not even if I wanted to try". These show that even after Heidi was sent home from school because of her dyed ultramarine hair, she was still unrepentant of what she had done and did not feel that she was in the wrong. She cared little about conforming to rules, as could be seen from the word "anyway" which suggests that she did not want to give in to the school's request for conformity. Heidi was insistent on keeping the hair colour and hairstyle by providing reasons like it costs a lot and that it would not wash out. Hence, despite the school's opposition, Heidi remained unafraid and would not change, showing her stubborn side.

At the end of the poem, the impression of Heidi has changed to one that is more sympathetic. In stanza three, the poet portrayed a chaotic scene in the kitchen after Heidi was sent home from school, with "tears in the kitchen". The effect of this stanza evokes sympathy from the reader.

Sources

Poem

Introduction

Heidi's impression

Themes

Photo

Aldana Saccomanno and Jorge Lin Kang

Follower

This poem was written by Seamus Heaney. The poet tells the story of his childhood with his father on the countryside. He follows his father while he ploughs throughout the field. The poet admires the way his father does this. He describes the action of ploughing as amazing and perfectly done. He is willing to follow his father’s footsteps. He achieves his dream as his father is too old to continue doing the job. The old man takes the place of his son, inverting roles. This is a typical case of the son taking care of the father’s lifetime achievement, working on it and improving what was left by the older man.

There is also a description of the physical conditions of the father in the very beginning of the poem, and the reader is also informed about this man’s works as a farmer. The man is described as a very hard-working person. The title refers to the admiration that the poet feels for his father and it also represents the desire of being like him in a future.

The author places himself in his childhood, and gives us his own point of view about the personal relation that he had with his father, which was very special and close. Being the first of nine children made this easier and is considered to be important.

The author is an Irish poet. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995.

Martina Izurieta and Manuela Scatena Bugallo

Childhood by Frances Cornford

Frances Cornford

Frances Cornford, granddaughter of Charles Darwin, was born in Cambridge, England, in 1886, where she also died, in 1960. She was awarded the Queen’s Medal for Poetry in 1959.

‘Childhood’ explores a dual perspective on the ageing process. On the one hand, it is a child who watches ‘through the banisters’ and is ‘helplessly young’, but the whole poem is a memory – ‘I used to think’. Between the lines, the reader understands that the crafting narrator is moving towards old age. Both young and old are ‘helpless’ in the progression of time.

These wider considerations are based on precise, particular memories and observations. The first section vividly describes the physical features of old age, while the second centres around the moment of realisation about ‘My great-aunt Etty’s friend’ and her rolling beads from a broken necklace.

Though written in one stanza, consider the effects of Cornford’s use of short lines. The first serves to complete the childish observation before the epiphany in the poem’s second section, while the final short line provides the ambivalent conclusion. Note the way too that the couplets, established in the early part of the poem, break up in the last four lines. 

Childhood

I used to think that grown-up people chose

To have stiff backs and wrinkles round their nose,

And veins like small fat snakes on either hand,

On purpose to be grand.

Till through the banister I watched one day

My great-aunt Etty's friend who was going away,

And how her onyx beads had come unstrung.

I saw her grope to find them as they rolled;

And then I knew that she was helplessly old,

As I was helplessly young.

Analysis

The speaker of this poem is looking back on an occasion in her life when she first realized that both young and old people are helpless against the aging process. In the first four verses she tells us that she used to think grown-ups "chose" those physical defects that marked them as old, but the speaker also thought they chose them "to be grand." This thought indicates that the speaker was very young, since she thought stiff backs, wrinkles, and veined hands were "grand."

The lines 6-10 contain the reason for the speaker's changed opinion about aging grown-ups. She had told us that she used to believe that the grown-ups "chose" those aging qualities until she observed her great-aunt's friend groping helplessly for her beads. The speaker realizes that it is not likely a person would choose to have such difficulty just retrieving some loose beads, so she then realizes that they probably don't choose those visible physical defects either. This observation led the speaker to change her perspective: the adults were just helpless as they acquired those old-age characteristics, and their helplessness paralleled her own, the helplessness of being young.

The rime scheme in this poem is AA, BB, CC, DE, ED. An interesting rime scheme, but as I mentioned earlier, I believe the rime scheme interferes with meaning. Take "wrinkles round their nose," for example; wrinkles usually form around the eyes and mouth. Even in a very old person, wrinkles are seldom noticeable around the nose. In line six the friend "is going away"; while "away" provides a nice rime with "day," it is vague. Perhaps the speaker wants us to infer that the friend was dying, but "going away" does not clearly convey that message.

Source

http://www.google.com.ar/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=analysis%20of%20childhood%20poem&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&ved=0CEwQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpillay6c2011.wikispaces.com%2Ffile%2Fview%2FAnalysis%2Bof%2BChildhood.docx&ei=G2WrUOHdOozg8ASfkYDoBw&usg=AFQjCNEjjUgV7ouPXmzzo8G751iLbgEyMA

Country School , Allen Curnow– Poem analysis

In this poem, the persona pays a visit to his old school where he takes a nostalgic walk down memory lane and recalls his childhood. As this poem reflects childhood reminiscence, the persona seems to realize that things are not as bad as they seemed before along with the portrayal of the overall issue of aging. However, the tone of the persona seems to sway between enthusiastic and apathetic as there are many a times when the tones seem to differ between two extremes.

In this poem, the persona describes a country school that seems to be in a somewhat dilapidated condition. The vivid image drawn by the alliterative phrase 'Paint all peeled' supports the fact that the school is indeed deteriorating. With the phrase 'tufts topping', one is able to picture a country school architect with pinus tufts on it 'roof ridge', establishing an image of a typical country school. Through the usage of colloquial language, the vivid images seem to hold a lot of details, for instance the word 'dunny' evolves a picture of the local Australian toilets enlightening the audience to the smallest of details. Furthermore, 'Girls squeal skipping' conjures up an auditory image as the little kids play around.

Several kinds of sound effect helps describe what the persona is going through. The fluid 'r' sounds in rank, and roof-ridge help integrate the ideas, linking them and helping form a wider image of the country school. Also the 'b' sounds in 'bargeboard, weatherboard and gibbet belfry' calls attention to the detailed observation again helping in building up the vivid image.

Allen Curnow has employed parallelism as well as repetition in order to draw links in this poem. The parallel comparison of 'How small; how sad', draws a link with how the persona seems to be recalling his days back in school. The passing of time and his aging is revealed for the very doors that seemed huge as a kid now seems to be described as being rather 'small'. The persona refers to himself as a third person and this is deduced through the repetition of the word 'you'. Perhaps the persona had a tough time reconnecting with his old school that he felt more comfortable referring himself as a third person. 

Having a look at the poem specifically, the first stanza could be a parallel to the educational experience Allen Curnow had. By putting these words into his poem he is able to associate his experience with that of the reader’s possible experience of school.

In the second stanza, his memory, however, is rippled with more imagery throughout the stanza. Perhaps Curnow is trying to emphasise the importance of our senses when it comes to creating a memory. That by visiting this old school, this old memory- the images around him that were once remembered through the sense of hearing, are now being remembered through the sense of sight. In the third stanza Curnow makes comparisons between the three main images in this poem… You, Pinus, and the School. In doing this he is able to portray the theme of time. The Pinus which lives “less than the life of a man”, you as “the man”, and the school which was there before you were and was there after you left. The most important line in this stanza however is “Together your lives began.” This line suggests an end which makes it personal and emotional to the reader. Curnow puts into perspective that our lives begin with education/schooling in some form. Either in the form of a classic schoolhouse education or in the form of a “mature” figurehead. Perhaps Curnow is trying to put across that Pinus could stand for this “mature” figurehead and that throughout life the roll of teacher will change, e.g. nun, mother, lecturer and so on. However this “sapling” made its appearance in your life as soon as your educating of the world began, and as you grew in knowledge so did its influence on you, or people’s influence on you.  The last stanza seems to group all the imagery and mood created in the precious stanzas, into established themes. Leaving the reader wondering in reflection of their own experiences with education.

Lucía Neira & Martina Cervi

Source:  http://www.markedbyteachers.com/as-and-a-level/english/poetry-analysis-of-country-school-allen-curnow.html

My Parents – Stephen Spender

This poem could be a description of Spender's early life .He suffered the disability of a club foot and a speech impediment. The use of the first person, contrasts, and ambiguity give us a vivid picture of a child troubled by a superiority/inferiority complex. 

 While his parents are condescending towards the rough coarse children, the child appears envious of their carefree liberty, their unbridled animal prowess and uninhibited playfulness, yet resentful of their bullying behaviour to him.   

We can visualise the narrator’s voice through antithesis.  He is everything that they are not; softly spoken “words like stones”, well dressed “torn clothes”, “rags”, passive “they ran and climbed”,  inhibited - modesty “they stripped by country streams”, weak “muscles of iron”, well mannered “salt coarse pointing” lisp (parodied by copying), clumsy “lithe”, and friendly ( hostile- “they never smiled”). 

His attempts at conciliation and acceptance are refused but he appears to blame his parents for psychologically damaging him by over protection or shielding him from a natural childhood.  While their superior attitude has excluded him from mainstream society he undecidedly identifies with his parents by having the boys spring “like dogs to bark at our world”.

In conclusion the author leaves us with the idea of an ambiguous blame with the reader trying to find who has more blame, the child or his parents. But in fact the boy is too young to have account of his own thoughts, he just follows what his parents say. 

Byron - so we'll go no more

“So we’ll go no more a roving” is a poem composed by Lord Byron in 1817. The poem is formed by three quatrains, with continual rhymes which follow the pattern ABAB. At the age of twenty-nine he wrote a letter to his friend Moore in which he included the poem. He wrote: “Though I did not dissipate overmuch… yet I find the sword wearing out the scabbard, though I have but just turned the corner of 29.”
The first stanza is characterised by the word “SO”, which begins the whole poem. The choice of this word is particularly effective as it seems more to introduce a conclusive statement, and not a beginning. This emphasises the fact that he has accepted the end of his young age, and that he is ready to start a new, and more tranquil life. On the other hand, the last two lines of this stanza are contradictory. “The heart be still as loving” and the use of the word “moon”, both express the meaning that party spirit is still bright in his body, and although his heart is still young and wants to party, his body cannot yet sustain it.
In the second stanza he writes the love he had for parties and having fun. The first and the second line are particularly striking as they use a very strong image to describe the actual conditions of his body: “sword outwears its sheath” and “soul wears out his breast”. The image created by the sword entering his body is intended to emphasise the fact that him, and his soul, want to party, but the body do not permit it anymore. In addition to this image, a much more calm one is added in the last two lines: “heart must pause” and “love itself have a rest”. What he is saying is that his heart has to rest and his conclusion is to listen to it.
The first stanza, which represents the real conclusion of the poet, stands out for its melancholy and sadness. The poet is resigned and reluctant towards the idea of stopping with the parties. The words “Yet” and “no more”, are well-chosen as it emphasises the poet’s melancholy. The phrase “go no more a-roving” also makes clear the fact that there will be no more parties and fun. A clear connection can also be noticed between the last line of both stanzas one and three, as they both take the moon as subject.
Lord Byron achieved in creating a striking tone of melancholy and sadness, through his detailed choice of words and phrases which emphasise meanings and ideas, about his life without parties.

Lament link

http://englishlanguageliterature.com/2011/02/17/lament-by-gillian-clarke/

good discussion on this poem

Report to Wordsworth

The poem Report to Wordsworth by Boey Kim Cheng is particularly effective in conveying the human destruction and the deterioration of planet Earth. Cheng imagines writing a letter to Wordsworth an English poet, nature sensitive who grew up in a rural area constantly in contact with nature. In fact, most of his themes were related to the relationship man/nature. To make the poem effective, Cheng uses a variety of poetic devices.
Boey Kim Cheng refers directly to Wordsworth: “You should be here, Nature has need of you”. The “you” could also be referred to the reader. Nature is described with a capital N, this adds importance as only proper noun are written with a capital letter. This creates in the reader’s mind a more humanitarian and spiritual image of nature. It is almost as if nature has been personified and brought to life. The effect is of a creation of a link between the reader and Nature which will develop through the poem; this also gives the possibility of using words normally related to human.
Immediately, nature is described as oppressed and ruined: “she has been laid waste. Smothered by the smog.” This personification of nature shows the importance of nature for the poet and introduces the harmful actions of man towards the natural environment. Through personification again, Cheng describes the “the flowers are mute and the birds are few in the sky” referring to the loss of beauty and of musicality in the surrounding world meaning something has changed. The deaths of the birds are compared to a dying clock: “slowing like a dying clock”. The clock symbolises how the time that passed can’t be retained. The effect is of a drastic ending to nature and the reader will be more and more concerned because as more time passes, we get closer and closer to the end.
In lines 5-6 there is a positive-negative contrast, the poet refers to the Greek sea-god Proteus who lost all this hopes “all hopes of Proteus rising from the sea have sunk” because “he is entombed in the waste”. The word “entombed” refers to natural destruction and suggests he is hidden in the waste of the sea by the excess of pollution and contamination. This terrible image adds to the sympathy than the reader has in regards of Nature. Referents to ancient Greek Gods continue with: “Triton’s notes struggle to be free”. Triton, God’s messenger used to play a horn, however the dirt and waste is such dense and thick that the notes can’t get out. This metaphor is effective in creating meaning and tragedy as music is poetically linked to a positive aspect of life; by destroying music, symbol for life, man is destroying everything which is good in our world. In fact, his horns are:”chocked and his eyes dazed”. This shows how he is totally paralyzed by the waste.
The most significant image of this poem is the one referred to Neptune: “and Neptune lies helpless as a beached whale”. It is significant because Neptune is the King of the Seas and so if he is forced on his knees by human pollution, all hopes vanish. With his death comes the end of a reign. The comparison with a whale accentuates what previously said. A whale is a docile animal and people have huge sympathy for it. The death of a whale brings sadness and this highlights the atrocities caused by pollution. The insatiable hunger of man for killing is showed with “while insatiate man moves in for the kill”. This causes the reader to see man as cruel identity.
Approaching the end of the poem, Boey Kim Cheng is making clear how all hopes are gone: “poetry and pity have begun to fail”. Poetry and Pity, religion, have been for centuries the only way to educate people and if they fail, all humanity is condemned to self-destruction.
The Ozone layer is for Cheng a big issue, “O see the wound in the sky”. The image of the Ozone whole like a wound creates in the reader’s mind a sense pity.
The last phrase refers to the The Great Flood in the Bible. “God is laboring to utter his last cry”. The cry symbolises the Flood. Human destruction reached such a high extension that God is preparing for the ultimate decision to restart a new world. The reader might feel scare but at the same time aware that if he doesn’t start to help humanity, our destiny would be a one path way to destruction.

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Marrysong

Analysis : Marrysong ( Themes of Marriage and Relationships)

10Nov

Explore how the poet of Marrysong expresses the varying shades of marriage and love.

‘Marrysong’ by Dennis Scott, is about a husband who is struggling to understand his wife: an abstruse, unpredictable woman whom he compares to territory. He tries to demarcate the lines of her, trying to find out what pleases her, but in this he fails and ends up being “lost in the walled anger of her quarried hurt”, or adversely “see cool water laughing where the day before there were stones in his voice.” Her anger and happiness are both short-lived and perplexing to the speaker. “Walled” implies restrictions and limits, a sense of confinement. This is exactly what he finds in his wife’s company. In contrast “cool water laughing” implies that water, flowing freely and without any limits delights him, just the way his wife does when she is in one of her better moods.
“Quarried hurt” relates to the “stones in her voice”; when quarrying implies digging and blasting out stones from a quarry, stones imply hardness, pain, and discomfort which are everything the speaker experiences.
The poem is an extended metaphor of “that territory” which “shifted under his eye” and no matter how hard he tried “The map was never true.” This sense of being lost, literally and metaphorically, is further emphasized when he says the “roads disappeared”. Roads and maps are associated with guidance, direction, purpose and all this the speaker is deprived of.
“Wind brought him rain sometimes, tasting of sea-”, the wind and sea both are metaphors of his wife and we see how in essential they are to the speaker, yet how deceiving they can be as they constantly change. She tastes like seawater, which implies bitterness, saltiness and unpleasantness, hard to digest for the human body. This in turn implies the pain she has caused the speaker. And all at once she can “suddenly” “change” to “faultlessly calm”.
The structure of Marrysong is designed in a manner that it attracts the reader’s attention till the very end with slow and heavy sounds and a particularly alluring rhyme and rhythm.
He tries to explore his spouse, in order to understand and predict her, but that too is rendered useless. She takes him by surprise each time when everything about her is “each day new”, this implying that although his wife, he “year after year” miserably fails in getting her. She changes each time to him, making “wilderness again”. The “shadows of her love shortened or grew” depicting how constant this process was and how helpless he is to try and grasp these shadows eternally.
This feeling of uncertainty and continuous thwarting at his plans leads to a despairing and complaining attitude. She, being a woman, is alluring and intriguing in the way that her whole persona changes over varying periods of time; it could be an hour or years.
“Year after year” the man’s struggle to understand his better half’s, his wife’s, complex mind is carried out. Eventually he accepts “that geography, constantly strange” as who his wife is. Thus although “he never learned her, quite”, his love for her is so strong that he “stayed at home increasingly to find his way among the landscapes of her mind”, accepting her unquestioningly, and here “home” implies familiarity, comfort, calmness for once.
Thus Marrysong is a touching portrayal of man’s vulnerability towards the woman whom he loves. He can never wholly understand her, this showing he can never wholly possess her. He can only surrender, accept defeat with understanding that the journey through the wilderness of marriage is a difficult one, only to be trekked upon by the willing.

Ayesha Nasir

Class of 2011

Generation’s School

Dover Beach 2

Analysis on ‘Dover Beach’

Posted on March 25, 2011by Julia Mayer

Explore how Matthew Arnold uses language to give us insights into the life of modern man in ‘Dover Beach’.
The life of modern mankind is presented very negatively and ignorantly by Matthew Arnold in the poem Dover Beach by the fact that religious faith evanesce with the Industrial Revolution. Arnold creates the image of the dark future for the people without unwavering faith or religion.
Modern men are bastardised with the thought that new the Industrial Revolution will give them advantage over nature. This thought of gaining superiority made humans arrogant by which this appearance is broken by the reality of nature’s dominance. People also seem ignorant with the wishful thought. These pebbles which ‘the waves draw back, and fling’ are completely powerless and are thrown around by the waves that move these “pebbles” at ease. Arnold uses pebbles as a metaphor for humans to show the inferiority in comparison to nature. The ignorance of humans is emphasised by the historical allusion to Peloponnesian War. In the dark, soldiers could not differentiate between their own army and the opponents; and so they killed their own soldiers. This is used by the poet to show the stupidity of modern man throwing away the religion which was everything to people before the Industrial Revolution; something to believe and rely on when people prayed. However, this old belief is thrown away and Arnold sees it as a very naïve decision.
The Industrial Revolution gave the source of arrogance and confidence which took place among the Western countries. This revolution was revolutionary itself; humans could mass produce, with improved quality, and at ease. These machineries became the limbs of human society. What came with the industrial revolution was the idea of realism. People could nearly produce goods to near-original standards, all thanks to improved technologies and science, and hence began to doubt the existence of God and supernatural beings. Realism contrasts the theology which is all about belief without questioning that God exists; and people believed it before the times of the machineries. It gave people hope and modesty under the mighty existence of God. However both hope and modesty disappeared with the Industrial Revolution which Arnold laments for. Bitterness is suggested when Arnold exclaims ‘Ah, love’ to show that in this changing world, one can only rely on the partner, and be trustful and true. Sarcasm is used to describe the modern world as a ‘land of dreams’ as there is no more hope for the world, as there is no more faith.
As the poem proceeds, the transition of mood is noticeable as the grief of the loss of faith extends to a sense of resignation towards the end and having a sarcastic, sour approach to the issue. The ‘tremulous cadence slow’ helps to convey the gradual process of the wane of doctrine which adds to the idea that the change of people’s lives is almost unnoticeable. This gradual process hurts Arnold because people are caught unaware of the changes taking place and so do not think it is particularly wrong and sinful. Arnold presents his sorrow with the historical allusion to Sophocles who, was a Greek playwright, had heard the sound of waves crashing as the ‘eternal note of sadness’. The ‘sadness’ of the mankind turning away from religious beliefs is a parallel to the ‘melancholy… withdrawing roar…retreating’ of the waves. Before the development of science and technology, people had truly believed in the religion and thought that they were in total control of god. The metaphor ‘Sea of Faith’ which presents the religious faith people have, used to be ‘full and round Earth’s shore’ but now is ‘retreating… down the vast edges’ which shows the decreasing religious beliefs. Arnold points out that, without faith, humans are ‘naked’ and have no protection and defence which reflects the vulnerability of man and their lives.
With carefully chosen words, Arnold presents the uncertainty of the future of humans. The new industrialised world seems “so various, so beautiful, so new” but it is again a mere appearance. The reality is that this mechanic, stiff world will have “neither joy, nor love, nor light” because this mechanics cannot feel love, hence no joy, and no vision as humans need love and the warm characteristics of humanity. It is thus deducible that the future will have no “certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain” which are the essentialities of humans. Humans can only survive the harsh world when everybody believes and trusts each other, and this will be broken with the introduction of industrialisation. This change of the world will bring “confused alarms on struggle and flight” which creates an imagery of a “darkling plain”; a dark vision for humans. Furthermore, the “turbid” ebb and flow shows the cloudy, uncertain future of ‘ebb and flow’ which is the repetitive cycles of nature. Can humans only survive when they make harmony with the nature, and to go against the natural cycles can only mean extinction of humans. The ‘cliffs’ of England ‘gleams’ and ‘glimmers’; gleams and glimmers have a sense of shakiness, precariousness and unknown which echoes the uncertain modern man. Also the alliteration of ‘g’ and ‘m’ creates a stuttering tone which adds to the idea of uncertainty. This imagery portrays the withering away of cliffs as a decline of religious beliefs and whatsmore, deterioration of the Earth itself as humans exploit resources out of the Earth which the modern development enabled men to do.
The flaws of modernism and realism are expressed in this poem. The flow of the poem is cut off by uses of caesura which is a parallel to the imperfect modern world. Arnold gives a hint that modernization of the world will have some flaws which will inevitably bring loss of faith and result in loss of equilibrium. In science, there is no hope; everything is measured out and exact. Hence in the modern world reality there can be no hope as it looks vain. Again, Arnold sympathises with the loss of hope in reality. In a different sense, the calm, naturalistic description of a beach at night in the first stanza is the appearance which contrasts to the reality that is sad, unhopeful, ‘retreating’ and ‘tremulous’.
Human beings are inferior over nature and the spiritual beliefs as to an extent that people cannot control anything. The abandonment of the doctrine of religion with the help of the Industrial Revolution is only a vain act against the power-overwhelming nature. Religion and faith should remain in humanity and ignoring it should result in the uncertainty and vulnerability of modern man.

Hurlingham’s square

Its real name is Ravenscroft, and it is found in Hurlingham, Buenos Aires. It is a square in the downtown Hurlingham and attracts a large number of people during the week and even more during weekends. It has among its features, a monument to women or the tree at Gral Roca corner and O'Brien. On Sunday an art and craft fair takes place where a lot of people go to. As well as families that like to pass its weekend at the square. At noon people use to change the square into a running circuit.Some bands use to play on weekends where the people enjoy some music.
On its surroundings, we found an ice-cream parlor, a church, a tennis court and a kinder garden.

Lucia López Fuentes & Barbara Geoghegan