ENGLISH LANGUAGE HOLIDAY HOMEWORK- BUSHED.

ADITYA KHOSLA- IB1

The title of the poem gives the readers a feeling of isolation and regression. It creates a scene or location in the readers
mind, a backdrop for the happenings of the poem, adding to the sense of loneliness and alleviating the impact. The poem
tells the story of a man who went so far as to cutting himself off from the rest of the world in order to satiate his
yearning for solitude; away from mankind and the hustle and bustle of the city life. He was very pleased at first,
charmed by the untouched, majestic and regal beauty, relishing every moment, appreciating every feature. But after a
while the tranquility and serenity causes a sense of deprivation leading to deterioration and withering away of his
nirvana. The pleasant solitude and atmosphere may not be idyllic after all.
The lack of punctuation marks attracts the readers attention to the poem, allowing the reader to riddle out the precise
relations between words, phrases, and clauses, involving them in the poem. It also gives the poem an almost unrefined
feeling making it seem primitive, uncivilized" and raw. This fact is reiterated on noticing the lack of rhyme and use of
free verse, giving the poet greater freedom of expression by liberating himself from stern forms or rules of poetry thus
rendering the poem less contrived and more sensitive in feeling and thought. The use of run on lines creates a free
flowing tone to the poem and gives the poem a sense of continuity; making it seem almost like a conversation between
the poet and the reader. Even among the anarchy and flouting of language rules, the appearance of certain capital
letters, signifies some sort of structure and organization; giving the readers and indication of the way it should be read.

The poem is written from the third person perspective, giving us a rather detached overview of the occurrences taking
place, it is almost like a narrative poem, telling us a story. Although this is a rather focused third person narrative as
there is only one character, it doesnt really have an ominous sense to it. From the very first line we can see the
happenings or situation described in the poem go by or change with such swiftness and spontaneity adding a fast pace
to the whole poem. It is quite evident that the rainbow is a metaphor for an idealistic state he was trying to create,
which all of a sudden was shot down by some dark and powerful entity or external factor; this dreadful image evokes a
sense of pity for the poet. The recurring use of alliteration, assonance and sibilance diverts the readers attention to
specific words, having a memorable impact on the readers and also contributing to the rhythm and music of the poem,
giving it an almost calming and soothing tone. The varying length of the stanzas adds to and emphasizes the raw and
unrefined characteristic of the poem; contributing to a sense of the poems spontaneity and unpredictability. We also
start to notice that quite often verbs are placed at the very beginning of the line, giving them maximum impact and
grabbing the readers attention, especially when the verb is negative and unexpected as in line two- shattered. Often it
helps emphasize the true supremacy and power of natures wrath- boomed. The use of the onomatopoeia boomed
evokes the readers sense of hearing, thus involving them in the passage and maintaining their attention.

The second stanza has a rather sluggish rhythm and pace given by the alliteration of the sh sound, creating a calm and
soothing atmosphere. We also see the character evolving and adapting to his surroundings rather than trying to escape.
He wishes to survive, learn new skills, learn to fend for himself-learned how to roast porcupine belly; we see he begins
to undergo a metaphorical transformation. The use of simile in yellowed bright as wood- columbine evokes our
auditive and tactile senses, allowing us to feel and see the situation the character is living in. the personification of the
mountain adds a sense of drama to the poem, presents the mountain to be a powerful entity and creates a sort of
connection between the reader and the mountain which are both so distant. We can clearly see the time follows a
specific chronological order, a specific course of consciousness, a sequence of evolution. The next trait he learns is
fishing, he learns to be a ruthless and heartless hunter in order to survive. The use of simile in lake ospreys would fall
like valkyries helps create an image in the readers minds and makes it easier to get an idea of what the poet is trying to
describe, thus enhancing the communication between the reader and the poet. We can slowly see, as the paragraphs
progress, there occurs a gain of security and safety in the character. As he continues to learn new abilities, he seems the
environment around him to be less of a threat to his physical and mental safety and stability. The mentioning of the
soothing and calming nighttime and the sight of the sunset simulates his serene and confident mental state.
He begins to feel lesser reassurance of his sanity; the serenity and isolation begins to drive him crazy. The gaining pace
of the poem, which is achieved by the uses of shorter, crisper sentences thus creating a more worrying atmosphere,
simulates this fact. The once nirvana has now turned into a more hostile environment; this is shown in the line he
knew though to an arrowhead where the metaphor seems to portray that nature is threatening to attack him. Along
with the internal rhymes in the last paragraph- wait and great; which give the poem a more serene tone and one of
stability and tranquility, which juxtaposes the sense of anarchy and disorder in the previous paragraph. The poem ends
with a sense of obscurity and darkness in the atmosphere, leaving the reader wondering what truly happened to the
character in the end.