ONCE UPON A TIME-ANALYSIS

The heart is a symbol of genuine emotions, and the eyes the conveyor of the same (as sincere
feelings are communicated through the eyes). Once upon a time people used to smile and shake
hands with their hearts. Though they were rooted in primitivism, the emotions they embodied
were genuine. Now, in the contemporary post-colonial context, the smile is purely plastic as it
reveals only the teeth. The eyes are devoid of emotion and phrased as 'ice-block.' They appear
without the slightest trace of warmth and humanity. They search behind the speakers shadows, as
their intentions and motives are not explicit. They are now characterized by ulterior motives.
There was a time when their very greeting (shaking of hands) was heart-felt. The ‘right hand’
here is the metaphor for the projected intention. The left hand for the ‘intended intention.’ The
left hand gropes in the empty pockets of the speaker.

Niceties like “Feel at home!' and 'Come again' are reiterated just for the sake of formalities.
However, when the speaker makes an appearance for the third time, there is certainly a marked
change in their behavior. Leave alone the thought of a warm reception, the doors are closed on
him. The speaker has now learned to conform to this sophisticated world driven by calculation
and manipulation. He talks of many faces that are nothing but metaphors of masks and disguises
designed to suit specific needs and situations:

I have learned to wear many faces

like dresses - homeface,
officeface, streetface, hostface,
cocktailface, with all their conforming smiles
like a fixed portrait smile.

The portrait smile is a symbolic act of something that is not felt, but done purely for the sake of
it. Conforming to the so-called refined culture the poet has attuned himself with the rest and
learnt to smile only with his teeth and greet (shake hands) without any trace of sincerity (heart):

I have also learned to say, 'Goodbye',

when I mean 'Good-riddance';
to say 'Glad to meet you',
without being glad; and to say 'It's been
nice talking to you', after being bored.

'Goodbye' is an expression that originated from the blessing 'God be with ye.' It’s meaning has
deteriorated to 'Good-riddance'. In the pseudo-modern fast-forward life people have lost the
power to connect as human beings and communicate in naturalness. The poet tells his son that he
wishes to transcend into the innocence of childhood characterized by purity where the soul is
closer to God, as Wordsworth claimed in his Intimations Ode. He wants to unlearn all the muting
things of sophistication. Particularly, he wants relearn to smile as now the poison is becoming
more obvious with the fangs showing. The showing of the fangs emblematizes how the people
were transforming from their seeming disguise to shameless display of iniquity. The symbol of
the snake also points to the first sin of Man.
So show me, son,
how to laugh; show me how
I used to laugh and smile
once upon a time when I was like you.
Towards the end of the poem, the speaker entreats with the son to teach him to emote. The poem,
therefore exemplifies that 'Child is the Father of Man.'

TECHNIQUES USED

LITERARY DEVICES

I. METAPHOR

The people’s eyes are as cold as ice. This means that there is no warmth or real feeling
in the words that they say, or how they behave. This metaphor literally allows you to
visualize a block of ice, cold and unwelcoming.

II. SIMILE

Stanza 4, lines 20-21 emphasizes the constant changes in the persona’s face. If you
think of how often a woman changes her dress, then that is how often the persona
adjusts his/her’s personality to suit an audience. The list of faces that follow this line
emphasizes this point.

Stanza 4, lines 23-24 compares people’s faces to smiles in a portrait. If you think about
a portrait, it is usually very formal and stiff, even uncomfortable. Therefore, the
implication is that the smiles are actually fake and stiff. They are conforming, or trying to
fit, to a preconceived mold that is set up by societal expectations.

Stanza 6, lines 38-40 compares the persona’s laugh to a snakes. When you think of a
snake, words such as sneaky and deceitful come to mind. Therefore, the implication is
that the persona is fake, just like the people he/she despises.

III. REPETITION

This phrase is repeated at the beginning and the end of the poem. This usually signals
the beginning of a fairy tale. Therefore, it is implied that the persona is nostalgic about
the past.
IMPORTANT WORDS/ PHRASES

4.’they only laugh with their teeth’

This emphasizes the insincerity of the people around the persona. To laugh with your
teeth means that only the bottom half of your face is engaged, the laugh does not reach
the eyes.

V. ‘shake hands with their heart’

To shake hands with your heart implies a strong handshake that is sincere, this is the
opposite of what now occurs between people.

VI. ‘search behind my shadow’

This implies that the person cannot look the persona in the eye, they are looking
everywhere but there. Looking someone in the eye during a conversation implies that
one is sincerely interested in what you have to say. Not being able to do so implies
shiftiness.

VII. ‘hands search my empty pockets’

People are only ‘seemingly’ nice to get something from you. So, they smile with you, but
it is not sincere, they are seeking to get something from you.

VIII. ‘unlearn all these muting things’

The word mute means silence, think of what happens when you press the mute button
on the TV remote. Therefore, there is an implication that the insincere actions that the
persona describes are muting, they block, or silence, good intentions. Hence, the
persona wants to ‘unlearn’ these habits.

MOOD/ ATMOSPHERE:

The mood of the poem is nostalgic. The persona is remembering how things used to be
when he was young and innocent, like his son.

TONE:

The tone of the poem is sad. The poet’s response to his nostalgia is sadness.
AN AFRICAN THUNDERSTORM

Definitions

1. Cloud: A visible mass of water droplets suspended in the air. Anything that makes things
foggy or gloomy… obscure from sight.
2. Plague: A wide spread affliction, calamity or destructive influx, especially when seen as
divine retribution (punishment). A great nuisance; whatever greatly irritates.
3. Whirl: To rotate, revolve, spin, or turn rapidly
4. Perch(intransitive): To rest on something
5. Sinister: Evil, seeming to be evil
6. Din: a loud noise
7. Clinging: to hold very tightly, as to not fall off.
8. Dark: A sudden turn or fast movement
9. Whilst(while): At the same time
10. Jaggered: Something that is rough and harmful
11. Pelt(ing): To beat or hit, especially repeatedly. To rain or hail heavily

Analysis

Stanza One

The poem opens with the first line specifying where the wind is coming from. The wind in
question, which is also accompanied by the cloud, is portrayed to have speed and strength:

“Clouds come hurrying with the wind

Turning

Sharply

Here and there”

In this stanza, the wind is depicted as being destructive (line 6):

“Like plague of locust”

A plague of locust inflicts pain and destruction wherever it visits. Take Egypt in the days of
Moses for example.

Line 9 tells the reader that the wind is not only destructive, but it has no specific direction or
destination.
 “Like a mad man chasing nothing”

A mad man has no focus in thought, dangerous to anyone around and moves often without a
specific abode.

Stanza two

What can one make of a “pregnant cloud”? The word, “pregnant,” added to the word, “cloud,”
informs the reader that cloud carries more things that are yet to be unleashed. It moves in line
(stately) with the wind and poses a threat (dark sinister winds).

“Gathering to perch on hills

Like Dark sinister winds”

The last two lines of the stanza tells us that the wind make noise and forcefully subdue the trees.

“The wind whistles by

And trees bend to let it pass”

Stanza three

In this stanza, the image of a village with children and women is created in the mind of the
reader. Children appear to be screaming in joy, probably in anticipation of a rainfall or maybe the
joy is triggered by the way the wind tosses things.

Nonetheless, in line 21, the children cling to the back of women (their mothers). Looking at the
meaning of the word, cling, and the context of usage, it seems that the children are equally
afraid.

As the sound of the wind roars and its strength forcing the trees to bend, clothes fly and fall from
ropes and even from the women’s body.

“Clothes wave like tattered flags

Flying off
 To expose dangling breasts”

For better understanding, try to imagine those windy period when the wind fling clothes off from
the ropes and hanging places.

Then, from line 30 to the end, it seems the pregnant cloud has delivered its offspring as
lightening and thunderbolts strike.

“As jaggered blinding flashes

Rumble, tremble and crack

Amidst the smell of fired smoke

And the pelting march of the storm”

Second Analysis

Stanza one

“From the west came the wind,” would refer to Europeans who came from the West and are
often referred to as the Westerners. The force of the wind depicts how they forcefully invaded
Africa, tossing and turning up-side-down every African cultural value.

In this line of interpretation, it seems like a pestilence inflicted on the land. They authoritatively
roar (whistle – this might mean firing of guns) and the Africans out of fear bow to them and bend
theirs ways to allow for the adoption of western culture.

“Like a mad man chasing nothing”

This could mean that they seem not to want anything in particular, but everything and to conquer
all. This kind of dominance is evident in the French assimilation principle.

Stanza two

“Pregnant Cloud”
The first line of the stanza, shows that Africans have no idea about what will follow the
Westerners’ visit, but, they know that there is more to the fierce visit of subjugation, and
whatever it is that they have in mind hidden from Africans, it falls in line with fighting,
conquering and subjugation of Africans. The line below shows this.

“Ride stately on its back

Gathering to perch on hills”

There is more to the above two lines: what is it that the colonial masters secretly comes with and
goes on to stay in the high places (kings, people of influence or something similar).

Stanza three

This stanza tells us that once the white with their gun fire and war enter a village, the children are
delighted to see them, but on seeing the destruction they inflict, the children clings to their
mothers. The children could mean youths who are always the first to embrace change, and the
women represents the elders.

However, they start taking what they came for, causing move havoc on the land.
BIRD SHOOTING SEASON

Persona:
first person persona, a child

Tone
reflective - a child relating on an experience

mood:
calm, sober

Themes:
Nature, Gender roles

Metaphor:
"the men make marriages with their guns" - hunting substitute their wives, the women
are displaced for their guns.

Contrast:
"all night long contentless women stir their brews." the women prepare the food for the
men to hunt while the men drink "tonight the men drink white rum neat" wives the
secondary role of preparing the food

Imagery:
"we stand quietly on the doorstep shivering"

Summary:
Birdshooting Season is a free verse poem seen through the eyes of a child. The child
takes the readers in a house where the women work contentless to prepare for the men
to Hunter in the morning while the men drink. In the dawn the children and women stand
on the doorstep of the house watching the men leave, the little boys longing to grow up
become hunters like their fathers and the girls long for the birds to be free.
WEST INDIAN USA SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS

SUMMARY

The persona is travelling in a plane, looking down at San Juan, Puerto Rico, as the
plane descends. He is saying that this island is the wealthiest in the Caribbean because
it has won the jackpot, it has come up lucky. He then points out that he, and others, had
travelled to many Caribbean islands and received a hint of the flavour of each island
through it’s calling card, – its airport – all of which fail when compared to plush San
Juan. As they land, they are instructed to stay on the plane if their destination is not San
Juan. The persona takes offence and states that America does not want blacks in San
Juan, implying that they might be a disruptive force. He notes the efficiency with which
things flow, enabling them to take to the skies once more. During the ascent, the
persona notes the contrast between the influences of the Caribbean and America. He
likens San-Juan to a broken TV, it looks good on the outside, but broken on the inside.

LITERARY DEVICES

I. SIMILE

Line 2: Puerto Rico is compared to dice that is tossed on a casino’s baize, it can either
come up with winning numbers, or losing numbers. Puerto Rico comes up with winning
numbers in the game of chance, as reflected in its wealthy exterior, which is supported
by America.

Lines 7-8: San Juan’s glitter is compared to a maverick’s gold ring. The word maverick
implies non-conformist, an individualist. This implies that San Juan, Puerto Rico is in the
Caribbean, but not a part of the Caribbean. It belongs to America.

Lines 10-11: Airports are compared to calling cards. This means that, like a calling
card, the quality of the airport gives you an idea of the island’s economic status. The
airport is also compared to a cultural fingerprint. A fingerprint is an individual thing,
therefore the airport gives the traveler an idea of the island’s cultural landscape.

Line 39: The road is compared to twisted wires. This means that the roads, from above,
look both plentiful and curvy. This does not carry a positive connotation, but implies
confusion.

II. ALLUSION
Line 5: Dallas is an oil rich state in America. Therefore, many of its inhabitants are
wealthy, and the state itself, is wealthy. By stating that San Juan is the Dallas of the
West Indies, it implies that it is a wealthy island in the West Indies.

Lines 5-7: An allusion is being made to the well known cliche; ‘every cloud has a silver
lining’. It means that behind everything that is seemingly bad, there is good. In the
context of this poem, it means that the good, the silver lining, has a mark, or stamp, that
authenticates its good quality; it is hallmarked. This implies that it will always have its
silver lining showing.

III. SARCASM

Line 20: This statement means the exact opposite of what is stated. The persona is
disgusted that Uncle Sam (America) would have such a regulation. This regulation bars
anyone from stepping a toe on Puerto Rican soil, if it is not your intended destination.
You just have to remain in the air craft, no matter the waiting period, until it is time for
takeoff. The persona believes that the Americans are being blatantly discriminatory, and
are attempting to camouflage it through the use of regulations. He does not believe that
they have achieved their goal of subtlety.

Line 20: The statement, ‘give me your poor…’ is particularly sarcastic because it is a
direct quote from the New Collossus, which rests on a plaque on the statue of liberty,
and signifies that the disenfranchised of the world are welcome. The persona, as a
member of the ‘disenfranchised’ masses, clearly feels unwelcomed.

Line 26: The persona implies that America is all talk and no action. They really do not
want the poor because they bar them from entering and expediently sends them on
their way when they enter their airport. The statement is sarcastic because it is loaded
with an alternate meaning, due to the contrast in statement and action.

IV. PUN

Line 17-18: The pun is placed on ‘land of the free’, it becomes ‘Island of the free’. This
pun emphasizes how isolated Puerto Rico is from the rest of the Caribbean islands. It
belongs to the U.S.A. This state of belonging to, or being owned by the US is asserted
through it’s insertion into the Star Spangled Banner.

IMPORTANT WORDS/ PHRASES

 V. ‘plush’

This word implies soft, like a teddy bear. It also implies luxury. So San Juan is all of
these things.

6.’desperate blacks might re-enslave this Island of the free’

These ‘desperate blacks’ to whom the persona is referring are the poor people of the
Caribbean. If they converge on the glistening San Juan, sucking up its resources, then it
might become re-enslaved by poverty.

7.’America’s back yard’

A backyard means one of two things for people. It is a haven where you relax, therefore
you decorate it and invest time and money in it. Or, you ignore it and spend all your time
indoors, not investing any time, energy or money in it. America viewed Puerto Rico as
the latter, a prize in which it saw value. Therefore, when the persona uses this phrase,
he is implying that while it is valued, it is still at the back. Slight sarcasm is being used
here.

8.’the contrasts tantalise’

When something, or someone, is tantalising, it implies that it is intriguing. The persona,

by using this phrase, is trying to draw the readers attention to to the jarring contrasts by
stating that he finds them intriguing.

9.’fierce efficiency’

The word fierce, used to describe the level of efficiency with which the people worked to
get the plane off the ground, shows the extent to which they were not wanted on the
island.

10.’fools-glitter’

This implies that the flashiness of San Juan was not authentic.

11.’It’s sharp and jagged and dangerous, and belonged to some-one else.’

This implies that San Juan is not safe. The cultures are not melding, but jarring against
each other. The reason for this is because it belongs to someone else.

CONTRAST
The contrast in this poem is found in stanza 5. The American cars etc, against the
pushcarts. The American culture versus the Puerto Rican culture.

MOOD/ ATMOSPHERE

The mood of the poem is sarcastic.

TONE

The tone of the poem is slightly bitter, which is fueled by the sarcastic atmosphere.

THEMATIC CATEGORIZATION

 Discrimination,
 oppression,
 places,
 culture.

West Indies, U.S.A by Stewart Brown

The poem is about a passenger’s experiences and observations while stopping off at different
airports, in particular Puerto Rico. The poet exposes the double standards in the American
attitude to immigration of non-whites.

In the first stanza, simile is used to compare the island to a casino game. This is because in the
Caribbean at that time, having a good life was not guaranteed but a gamble, “some come up
lucky, others not”. It is because of this uncertainty that many Caribbean persons migrated to the
United States, United Kingdom and Canada. A concern of the poet is the attitude of the US to
black immigration. Puerto Rico is alluded to being the region’s Dallas. Dallas, Texas is a city
made wealthy due to oil. Puerto Rico far outshines other capitals in the region due to its size,
beauty, American culture and wealthy appearance.
In the second stanza the persona lists the many other airports passed through and the description
of the airports hint at the prosperity of the country. For example, Haiti is the poorest country in
the region and its airport is described as “the hand written signs at Port-au-Prince”, while Puerto
Rico’s is described as “plush San Juan”.

In the third stanza, the discrimination and double standards begin to show in the American
image. They are not allowed off the plane. Sarcasm is used to describe the US as “Subtle Uncle
Sam”; the way they are treated clearly shows that they are not welcome. Sarcasm is also seen in
“island of the free”, it refers to the phrase in the US anthem “land of the free”, but for the
persona they are not free to disembark as the authorities fear they might run away from the
airport and live illegally in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico here is an example of the American attitude
in the rest of the country. The word “re -enslave” is used to point at the fact that the US controls
Puerto Rica after seizing it from Spain.

The fourth stanza continues to give examples of how unwelcome the persona is made to feel.
Security vehicles are parked near to the plane to monitor them and luggage is quickly removed
so that the plane can continue its journey. There is also an allusion to the words on the Statue of
Liberty “give me your poor”; the poet points out the hypocrisy of the US policy of discriminating
against non-white immigration.

When the plane leaves in the final stanza, the whole picture of Puerto Rico is seen. It too has
poverty. “San Juan’s fools-glitter” is an allusion to the saying “all that glitters is not gold”. The
poet uses descriptions of the city to contrast wealth and poverty. Wealth is described with
“pulsing city streets”, “condominiums” and “polished Cadillacs”. At the same time, the city has
“galvanized shanties”. The persona compares San Juan to a TV that has fallen and is now

broken. It is now useless, just as Puerto Rico will be if it no longer has anything to offer. It
modern but like the broken television being modern cannot protect it from being damaged. It is
“sharp and jagged and dangerous” because unlike other places in the region cultures have not
melted and there is inequality.
SONNET COMPOSED UPON WESTMINISTER BRIDGE

Analysis of Composed upon Westminster bridge

Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 is Wordsworth's delicately wrought

dedication to the capital of England, the city of London.

From that grand opening line, with its showy declaration, to the steady iambic beat of the
metropolitan heart, this sonnet aims to do one thing: romanticise what might be deemed ugly.

This is a whole new view of a great city before it has properly woken up. The speaker is adamant
that a person would have to be dull...of soul not to be affected by such a vista, both moving and
majestic.

 The fourth line is interesting because it sets the reader and speaker in the absolute
present; the reader is looking through the eyes of the artist as it were, as dawn lights up
the architecture and the great river.

And the metropolis comes alive in the following line - it wears the morning, a calmed
personified giant. Wordsworth brings in that most romantic of notions, beauty, and attaches it to
what is potentially one of the least beautiful of places, a growing, heaving city.

But this is a city of dream-like quality, as yet unpeopled, set in fresh light, at rest, at ease with
fields and sky, not yet subject to the smoke of the chimney stacks or the smog of industry.

The poet could be forgiven for thinking that this is not London he's looking at but some other
natural habitat, perhaps a mountain or a series of lightly lit cliffs and rocks. In line 9 the feelings
of the poet reach a kind of fever pitch, an echo of the opening line sounding - he has never seen
anything like this dawn, this splendid sunlight.

He is clear in his heart and mind. He's never felt so calm. It's as if the city has him in a trance.
Perhaps we've all experienced similar feelings when waking up really early in some great city,
and venturing out to take in that special atmosphere, when there's no one around at all and the
streets are deserted.

Wordsworth interprets these feelings he has about the overview from that bridge; he's trying to
capture the emotion generated by the things he observes. From a ship to a dome, from the river to
the houses, the whole suspended shabang.

As to the sonnet's inherent beauty, that is up to the reader, but there are some intricate rhythms
involved in these lines, and the pace is controlled with clever syntax.

Certain lines stand out for their sense of wonder - lines 4, 5, 8, 9, 10 - and overall the word
intimacy isn't lost to the differing rhythms.

One oddity is line 13 that starts with Dear God! - you can just picture Wordsworth on the
carriage top exclaiming. He liked to use such phrases in some of his poetry, an attempt to reflect
the language of the street?

So, in conclusion, beyond reality lies the romantic, be it a city turned into a natural phenomenon
as in this sonnet, coated, some might say, in too sweet a layer of wonder.

Wordsworth's 'strongly felt emotions' come through loud and clear and he certainly created a
timeless piece that beguiles, irritates and puzzles as it takes the reader along into a shared
metropolitan experience.

More Analysis of Composed upon Westminster Bridge

Composed upon Westminster Bridge has the traditional 14 lines split into an octave and a sestet.
The rhyme scheme is abbaabba cdcdcd. All the rhymes are full except for lines 2 and
3: by/majesty.

Full Metrical Analysis

A traditional sonnet is made up of a lines with pure iambic pentameter. In Wordsworth's sonnet
iambic beat does dominate but only one line consists of five iambic feet, without caesura or
obstacle to flow, and that is the last line.

Lines 3, 4, 5 and 12 are iambic pentameter but the syntax and caesura interrupt the steady beat,
reflecting the uncertainty and oddity of the scene. Wordsworth must have purposely constructed
it this way to highlight the unusual nature of his subject.

The last line is the only one with a consistent da-DUM beat, the mighty heart beating, the city
asleep.

Earth has not anything to show more fair: (note opening trochee)
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by (same trochee first foot)
A sight so touching in its majesty: (caesura: touching in)
This City now doth, like a garment, wear (commas slow down line)
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare, (semi-colon and commas)
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie (2 syllables tower and theatre)
Open unto the fields, and to the sky; (trochee first foot)
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air. (2 syllables glittering)
Never did sun more beautifully steep (opening trochee)
In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill; (commas to slow line)
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep! (opening trochee;spondee)
The river glideth at his own sweet will: (caesura glideth at)
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep; (opening spondee)
And all that mighty heart is lying still! (pure iambic pentameter)

Further Analysis

Enjambment
Lines 2,4 ,6 and 9 have no punctuation to end them so the reader can carry on straight into the
next line, a reflection of the flow of feeling as the speaker describes the view.

Simile

Line 4 contains a simile...This city now doth, like a garment, wear

Hyperbole

The opening line perhaps, and lines 9 and 11 show some exaggeration.
ORCHIDS

LITERAL MEANING
The persona is moving from a house that she has occupied for five weeks. She has sent her
belongings to her future home, but one item remains in her old space, an orchid. The persona
clarifies that she was given the orchid as a gift, but implies that it holds no value because the
gifting of orchids is habitual for the person who gave her. She describes the flower as odourless,
but attractive. She watered the orchid once, expecting it to die, but it survived. It not only
survived, but bloomed. The persona contemplates plucking the bloom and pressing it between
the pages of a book. The purpose of this is to allow her to appreciate the flower.

Structure of the Poem

The poet’s use of blank verse (lacks rhyming pattern) effectively captures the persona’s struggle
between hope and despair as he narrates (tells his life-story) with a tone that similarly and
occasionally shifts between feelings of optimism and pessimism, adding to a mood that varies
between contemplative serenity and foreboding uncertainty.

Illustrated by the poet’ use of emotive language to describe the aesthetically pleasing orchids–

“purple petals/blossoms … full blown/like polished poems/ This morning the bud … unfurled”
juxtaposed against the persona’s destructive intentions–“I watered them once/ I would toss them
out/I starved them/I’ll pluck the full-blown blooms/press them”.

Indicative of the persona’s seeming lack of appreciation for the orchids as natural and
philosophical emblems of beauty, wisdom and strength.

Symbolism/ Symbol
The orchid is a flower of magnificence that brings a universal message of love, beauty, wisdom,
thoughtfulness, luxury, strength, refinement, affection, new growth and development.
“This elegant flower should make you feel pampered. Purple is the colour of royalty. Orchids are
generally regarded as symbolic of rare and delicate beauty…. Their graceful appearance draws
immediate attention, and their reputation as an exotic and unusual flower evokes a sense of
refinement and innocence”.

Literary Devices

SIMILE- lines 13-14

The orchid’s full blown blossoms are being compared to a polished poem. The word polished in
this comparison implies perfection, shiny and pleasant to read.

PUN- line 11
The purple heart literally refers to the splash of color in the center of the orchid’s bloom, but it
could also refer to the bravery of the flower. This is so because a purple heart, in the army, is a
medal that a soldier receives for bravery.

Metaphor- lines 1-2

The persona compares her experience over a five week period with boxes that she uses to pack
her belongings in.

MOOD/ ATMOSPHERE
The mood of the poem is pensive, or thoughtful. The persona is thinking about the lack of value
that she places in the orchid.

Tone of the Poem

The tone of the poem is one of almost bored musing.
Themes
Death
Nature
Survival

Orchids by Hazel Simmons-McDonald

The persona in the poem is preparing to move from a home that she has been living
in for five weeks. After packing all the boxes she notices an orchid that was given
as a gift. The persona remembers how little care was given to the plan yet now it
blooms. The persona thinks about the lessons that can be drawn from it and
preserves the flower.

The lines “one who makes a ritual of flower-giving sent.” shows that the gift of the
orchid held no particular sentimental value to the persona as the one giving the gift
normally gives flowers as presents.
The flower has no fragrance yet it draws the persona to look closer at its “purple
heart”. The purple heart is an allusion to the medal awarded to injured soldiers in
the US military, it is also a reference to the purple hear tree which is one of the
strongest lumber. The orchid is defiant and tough in the harsh environment it lives
in. A lesson being taught here is that strength exists in many things, even those that
on the surface do not appear special or appealing.

The persona waters the orchids once, but the plant is so resilient that it requires
little soil and water to grow. Its blossoms surprise the persona and “the blossoms
were full blown like polished poems”. This simile shows how well developed,
perfect and appealing the blossoms are. The comparison to polished poems means
that the blossoms are refined and great care was placed in their creation. Again we
learn that something that on the surface may not be appealing can surprise us with
beauty.

The persona things the orchid would die but yet it survives. Instead it grows “This
morning the bud at the stalk's tip unfurled.” This shows that the plant refuses to die
in spite of the adverse situation and instead grows and matures. No matter the
neglect it endured, the plant not only survives but it grows. The bud is a symbol of
growth and development and mirrors the new step in life the persona is making by
moving to a new place. It is at this time that the persona preserves the bloom by
pressing it in a book to keep the memory and lessons that could be learn from the
orchid. It is ironic that only with the orchid’s death that the reader sees value in it
and wants to keep it. The poet uses a metaphor to compare the persona’s memory
to a book in “press them between pages of memory.” Just as the orchid’s blossoms
will be preserved in the book, so will the person’s memories of the place she lived
and the lessons learn from the orchid. There are several life lessons from the orchid
in this poem. Firstly, things that may seem to be unpleasant have inside of it the
ability to build strength. The orchid has no fragrance yet it is strong and survived
in an environment not many other plants could. Secondly, adverse conditions force
the best in us. It is in the harsh environment that the orchid blooms. Thirdly, never
give up. The orchid is described as stubborn and refuses to die. Lastly, only
through hard work can we truly grow. After all the struggle of the orchid it still
shoots a tip.

This is a free verse poem and shows that the persona is conflicted and confused
about the orchid. It does not provide a calm mood but instead one that is uncertain.
There is also a change in the tone of the poem. In the beginning the persona does
not care much for the orchid but as the poem progresses, she pays careful attention
to it.
THE WOMAN SPEAKS TO THE MAN WHO EMPLOYED HER SON

The allusion implies both the death of a rebellious son and the lament fo the parent
wailing in his name in grief.

ANALYSIS
FORM
The poem is written in six stanzas of free verse. There is no set rhyming scheme
and the free verse created a conversational style, appropriate in light of the poem’s
title which suggests a conversation between two persons.

MAJOR THEMES
1. PARENTING
The poem points out the need for both parents to contribute to raising their child.
Boys, especially, need their fathers as role models. Parenting is depicted as a
difficult and often rewarding task, especially when the children become rebellious.
(a) Motherhood
Motherhood, especially for single mothers is challenging from the onset of
pregnancy to the growing up stage of the child. This mother tries her best with her
son and cannot be blamed for his delinquency. As a mother, she has high ambitions
for her son and is grieved at how easily he is swayed by a negative influence. Her
experience reflects the pain of all mothers through the ages. The fear of bad
influences leading their children astray is one of the recurring anxieties of
motherhood and the image of the heartbroken mother praying for her wayward
child seems to have become a stereotype of mothers over the ages.

(b) Absentee Fathers

The poem comments on the trend of fathers abdicating their responsibilities to their
children and leaving the burden of childcare.

Stanza 1

The first stanza the woman realises that she is pregnant. Her pregnancy is not easy
as she endures illness. The poet uses the metaphor “a metallic tide rising in her
mouth each morning” to describe the nausea of morning sickness. Even though she
is sick she carries the baby for the entire nine months of pregnancy. “She carried
him full term tight up under her heart” refers not only to the baby’s position in the
woman’s body (under the chest cavity) but under her heart shows how much love
she has for her unborn child.

Stanza 2

The second stanza begins with the simile “She carried him like the poor carry
hope”. This shows the hope the woman has in her son accomplishing things in life,
for example migrating to work, and helping her get a better life. Her carrying of the
child is compared to the poor carrying hope to show how carefully she carries the
child and how the child is a means for her upliftment. It is compared to poor
carrying hope because all the poor have is hope combined with hard work, nothing
is simply given to them. There is the repetition of ‘hope’ as this is a theme in the
poem. The reader also finds out that she is a single mother due to the father
abandoning them. There is sarcasm by describing him as “he was fair-minded he
treated all his children with equal and unbiased indifference”. It shows that his
‘fairness’ was seen in that he abandoned all his children equally.

Stanza 3
The third stanza starts by stating the difficult task the woman had of raising her son
as both mother and father. She “set no ceiling on what he could be”; she works
hard to enable him to succeed in life. She dedicates her life to him being successful
in his. After this the first reference to the man appears. The persona is not a
character in the poem but speaks in the third person. This allows the persona to see
everything and be a witness to the story. The persona uses a pun to describe the
boy’s relationship with the man, “he tells her is working for you”. Working here
does not refer to an honest job but the money the son makes from criminal activity.
There is also sarcasm when referring to the man, “that you value him so much you
give him one whole submachine gun for him alone”. The man really has no value
for the son as he only gives him a life of crime and death.

Stanza 4

The sarcasm towards the man continues in stanza 4, “He says you are like a father
to him she is wondering what kind of father would give a son hot and exploding
death, when he asks him for bread”. This verse shows the motivations for the son
joining the man, a need for a father figure and a need for a job. Because the son
cannot get both in a legal or natural way, he turns to the man as criminals provide
these things for poor boys. The woman buys cloth and a hat to make her clothes to
attend her son’s funeral. The stanza ends with the metaphor “his bloody salary” to
refer to the eventual fate of the boy; a violent death.

Stanza 5

The fifth stanza shows the condition of the mother when faced with her son’s life
choices and her response to it. She cannot force her son to take a different path or
force the man to leave her son alone. All she can do is pray for her son and prays
against the man so he will be removed from their lives, “She has no power over
you and this at the level of earth” The persona here warns of the dangers of causing
a mother so much pain, “She says psalms for him she reads psalms for you she
weeps for his soul her eyewater covers you.” The one who makes a mother cry will
face the consequences, if not in this world then it will come in the next or through
some divine intervention.

Stanza 6
In the final stanza there are several Biblical allusions to men who have destroyed
themselves because of the poor choices they made in life. There is the reference to
Judas who betrayed Jesus, the thief on the left side of the cross who did not believe
in Jesus and Absalom who was King David’s son who rebelled against him
committing three sins in one act; rebelling against ones father, king and prophet.
Her upbringing of her son is treated as a metaphorical sou-sou in which she has put
in two hands (deposits), one as mother and father, but her return is a dead son. “His
mother is the banker, her draw though is first and last for she still throwing two
hands as mother and father” This also refers to all the hope she was banking on her
son to change their lives. It can also refer to the thief on the left side of the cross
being a banker. In this way she is betrayed by his actions.
IT IS THE CONSTANT IMAGE OF YOUR FACE

The poem is about a man who is torn between his love and his country. He is going
through a great internal conflict between love and patriotism. He believes that he
should love his country more but still loves the person. Due to this he thinks he has
betrayed his country as it needs him more due to the dangerous time it is in. The
persona feels guilty that he, in his opinion, has not been loyal and devoted enough
to his lover and country.

Stanza 1
The persona is constantly remembering his lover and with that remembering the
pain caused by his absence. The eyes of the persona’s lover are personified as a
judge that casts judgement on him, it shows how he has hurt the person due to the
time he has dedicated to his country. The poem states “the grave attention of your
eyes surveying me amid my world of knives that stays with me, perennially
accuses and convicts me of heart's-treachery”. The “grave attention” shows the
seriousness he is looked at. The “world of knives” refers to the real world that the
persona faces, a world of danger. This is in reference to the poet’s activism against
Apartheid. It shows that he is constantly at risk. The poet was actually shot by
South African police. In the first stanza he apologizes for loving is country at the
expense of his lover.

Stanza 2
Another personification is used when the country is described as a person, “I
confess without remorse or shame my still-fresh treason to my country and hope
that she, my other, dearest love
will pardon freely”. He hopes that his country, which is in great need of him, can
forgive him for loving another. In the second stanza, he believes he has committed
treason by still loving the person instead of his country alone.
FURTHER ANALYSIS

The persona reflects on the image of someone he cares for. This love interest
accused him, with their eyes, of breaking their heart. The persona admits that both
of them (he and the love interest) can make no excuses for his behaviour because
the love interest does not take precedence over his land, or country. Despite this
fact, the persona begs for mercy, pleading guilty for being seduced by his love
interest’s beauty. This person protects him dearly and he admits that, as a result of
this, he has committed treason against his country. He hopes that his country, his
other dearest love, will pardon him because he loves both his country and his love
interest.

LITERARY DEVICES

I. PERSONIFICATION

Lines 4, 6-7: The love interest’s eyes constantly accuses and convicts the persona.
This device highlights the extent to which the persona has hurt this person.

Lines 18-20: The persona hopes that his country, his other dearest love, will
forgive him for the treasonous act of loving another. This highlights the patriotism
that defines the persona’s relationship to his country.

II. OXYMORON

The term heart’s-treachery implies that the heart, something so vital and indicative
of love, has committed a terrible crime. It highlights the heartbreak that the persona
has caused his love interest.

IMPORTANT WORD/ PHRASES

III. ‘constant image’

This implies that the persona constantly, or always, remembers his love interest’s
face. It emphasizes the guilt he feels in relation to this person.

IV. ‘grave attention’

The love interest’s eyes display grave attention. The word grave implies intensely
serious, so this person is truly hurt.

V. ‘world of knives’

A knife inflicts pain and destroys. The persona, therefore, is identifying his world
with causing pain.

VI. ‘such blackmail with your beauty’

To blackmail someone is to have something over them that puts their will in your
control. The love interest’s beauty has captivated the persona in such a way that he
betrays his country with this person.

MOOD/ ATMOSPHERE

The mood of the poem is reflective. The persona is thinking about his two loves
and how he is torn between them.

TONE: The tone of the poem is sadness and guilt. The persona is guilt ridden over
this love triangle and sadness permeates the words that he uses to describe it.

THEMATIC CATEGORY: Love, guilt, patriotism, places, desires/ dreams

A STONES THROW

Overview of the Poem

A crowd has caught a woman (Line 2: ‘We’ve got her! Here she is’). The
persona implies to the reader that the woman is not decent (Line 6: ‘A decent-
looking woman, you’d have said,’// Lines 11-14: And not the first time//By any
means//She’d felt men’s hands//Greedy over her body’). The persona states that
the woman has experienced men’s hands on her body before, but this crowd’s
hands were virtuous (Lines 15-16: ‘But ours were virtuous,//Of course’).

He also makes a proviso that if this crowd bruises her, it cannot be compared
to what she has experienced before. The persona also speaks about a last assault
and battery to come. He justifies this last assault by calling it justice, and it is
justice that feels not only right, but good. The crowd’s ‘justice’ is placed on hold
by the interruption of a preacher, who stops to talk to the lady.

He squats on the ground and writes something that the crowd cannot see.
Essentially, the preacher judges them, thereby allowing the lady to also judge the
crowd, leading to the crowd inevitably judging itself. The crowd walks away from
the lady, still holding stones [which can be seen as a metaphor for judgments that
can be thrown another day.

Literary Devices

SARCASM:

The persona is making the point that the lady was in fact NOT decent
looking.

PERSONIFICATION :
 This device is particularly effective because the word ‘kisses’ is used. Kiss
implies something pleasant, but it is actually utilized to emphasize something
painful that has happened to the lady; she was stoned.

PUN :

Title: The title of the poem is itself a pun on two levels. A stone’s throw is used by
many people in the Caribbean to describe a close distance. eg. “She lives a stone’s
throw away”. The other use of the title is to highlight the content of the poem. It is
a figurative stoning, or judging, of a woman.

ALLUSION (biblical) The content of the poem alludes to the story of Mary
Magdalene in the Christian Bible. See John 8 v 5-7.

CONTRAST

Lines 13-15: These lines show that the men who were ‘holding stones’ believe they
are more morally upright than the other men with whom the woman associates.

IRONY

One would think that men with ‘virtuous’ hands would have only pure thoughts,
but these men intend to stone the woman , who seems utterly defenseless. Also,
images of cruelty are used, such as ‘bruised’, ‘kisses of stone’, ‘battery’ and ‘frigid
rape’.

TONE

The tone of the poem is mixed. At times it is almost braggadocious, then it

becomes sarcastic, moving to scornful.
Additional Analysis

This poem is a very closely and cleverly crafted dramatisation. It illustrates the
way poetry uses implicit dramatisation to reveal and comment on issues. This is
done without any specific reference, without explanations. It shows something
without telling it. There are no explicit details, but the dramatic nature of the
narrative in the poem directs the minds, the thinking, of the readers to the issues
the poem wants to focus. There is a speaking voice – a man who narrates an event
in his own words, providing details of the incident while unintentionally revealing
much about himself and his companions.

A group of men caught a woman who seems to have committed some serious
offence or violation punishable by stoning to death. The poem does not tell us what
it is, but the several lines and references suggest it is something of a sexual nature
and the men are about to carry out their judgment. They are, however, interrupted
by a stranger who causes them to take a good look at themselves, have doubts and
abort their mission. The final stanza suggests that, though prevented on this
occasion, the men have not changed or repented and are prepared to do the same
thing again.

While the poem does not tell explicitly what was happening we are not really left
guessing, because the poem is obviously using a biblical allusion. It retells a story
from the Bible (John 8; 3 – 11), well known even to many who might not be
Christians or who might not know the Bible. A woman was caught in adultery,
punishable at that time, according to the law, by stoning to death. She was taken to
Jesus, who was urged to pronounce the expected sentence of death. But Jesus
spoke quietly to her while writing in the dust on the ground and, instead,
challenged her accusers, uttering the oft quoted words “let him that is without sin
cast the first stone.” This effectively halted them and the woman was spared.
The poet uses the technique of narrative point-of-view. A great deal is gained by
having the story told in the poem by one of the men eager to stone the woman.
Several lines in the poem tell us about him and his companions who take a very
perverse, greedy, sexual pleasure out of their mission – “we roughed her up”;
“men’s hands/Greedy over her body”; “our fingers bruised/Her shuddering skin”;
“it tastes so good”, and “Given the urge”. The poem uses several ironies. The men
are self-righteous, ready to condemn others while they themselves are guilty. They
describe their own greedy hands as “ours were virtuous, /Of course”; their
violation of the woman as being “of right”, claiming “Justice must be done.”

Another important technique used by Mitchell is the central metaphor or central

imagery of the poem, which has to do with sex and violence. The woman is
roughed up, indecently handled by her captors who are about to stone her; note the
startling chilling crude imagery (typical of Mitchell) of sexual violence in the
fourth stanza especially, but running through the poem. Note also the other sexual
innuendos elsewhere. Note as well the use of almost throw-away understatements,
such as those remarks in brackets which come from the dramatisation – the
conversational tone of the narrative which reveals the speaker’s thoughts and
biased, prejudicial, judgmental attitudes.

Then in stanza six the poet pinpoints that people are quick to pass judgment upon
others but hardly ever look at themselves. Probably for the first time these men are
forced to do that and are quite uncomfortable and wrong-footed. The final stanza,
though, shows that they are unrepentant, unchanged. This brings to mind a
powerful statement of the poem – that even in modern times, long after biblical
days our society has not changed because men behave the same way.

The poem’s title is significant in this respect. The poem is about the throwing of
stones, but it also refers to the troubling issue of violence against women; the
occasional cases of women condemned to death by stoning in extreme Islamist
states according to Sharia law. What took place in the Bible all those years ago is
still with us. It is only “a stone’s throw” away.
 GOD’S GRANDEUR

 Owlcation»
 Humanities»
 Literature

Analysis of Poem "God's Grandeur"

by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Updated on March 1, 2019

Andrew Spacey
more

Andrew has a keen interest in all aspects of poetry and writes extensively on the
subject. His poems are published online and in print.
Contact Author
Gerard Manley Hopkins | Source

Gerard Manley Hopkins and God's Grandeur

God's Grandeur is a finely crafted sonnet written in 1877, the year Hopkins was ordained as a Jesuit
priest. It explores the relationship between God and the world of nature, how the divine is infused in
things and refreshes, despite the efforts of humans to ruin the whole show.
With the industrial and commercial revolutions gathering pace in Britain and the West,
unprecedented pressures were being placed on the environment. Hopkins, a sensitive and
observant poet above all else, expressed his dismay at this free-for-all by writing sonnets of
extraordinary texture and depth.

God's Grandeur is a tour de force, tight-knit yet organic in rhythm and internal rhyme. Hopkins was a
fastidious and serious poet, working his lines again and again to achieve the desired effect.
God's Grandeur | Source

Analysis of God's Grandeur

God's Grandeur is an Italian or Petrarchan sonnet, being split into an octave (8 lines) and a sestet (6
lines). The octave and sestet are end rhymed and the rhyme scheme is: abbaabba cdcdcd.

Traditionally the octave is a proposal or introduction, of an argument or idea, and the sestet then
becomes the development of, or conclusion to, the octave. This shift in sense is known as the turn
or volta (in Italian).

 Hopkins sticks to these traditions of rhyme and form, but where he differs is in his choice of
language, subject and metre (meter in USA).
Subject
Sonnets are usually all about love and romance and relationships between people, lovers and so
forth. God's Grandeur focuses on the handiwork of God, the natural phenomena he inherently
resides within, and the contrasting negative influences of man.
Language/Diction

As you read through, make a mental note of words like charged and flame out,related to electricity
and the element of fire respectively. What about shining from shook foil and ooze of oil/Crushed -
both short and long vowels used to enhance the image of brilliance and smoothness, whilst the
consonants echo.
The contrast between positive and negative language is stark. Just
consider reck/trod/seared/bleared/smeared/toil/smudge/smell/bare....in the octave, reflecting man's
destructive influence on the world.

Then take charged/grandeur/flame out/ greatness/never spent/dearest freshness/with warm

breast/bright wings...from both octave and sestet, implying that God and nature work well together.

Metre (Meter)

Hopkins is well known for experimenting with his metrical systems. He preferred to mix things up and
not stick to the regular daDUM x5 beat of the iambic pentameter. God's Grandeur is packed with
deviations, such as the spondaic shook foil of line 3 and Crushed.Why of line 4.

Note the 12 syllables of line three, adding two to the usual ten syllables per line to reflect the effect
of the oil.

An unusual repeated iambic beat occurs in line 5 where have trod, have trod, have trod enhances
the idea of many feet plodding.

Further Line by Line Analysis of God's Grandeur

Lines 1 - 4

The title word grandeur, from the French, means greatness, grandness, and it occurs in the opening
ten syllable line, the speaker declaring that the world is electrified by this impressive divinely given
impulse.

Hopkins, always a finely tuned poet in his choice of words, deliberately uses chargedto bring an
instant surge of positive energy into the reader's mind. Images of lightning flashes across a
skyscape, of sparks being created, of invisible oomph coursing through everything, everywhere.
Note the mild alliteration too - world/with and grandeur/God - in a line that is end stopped for
emphasis.

The second line now consolidates this opening statement by introducing yet more vivid imagery,
enhancing the idea of electricity, power, heat and force. But, Hopkins being Hopkins, he takes the
reader deep into the image with a brilliant specific detail. This is no ordinary flame but one that
resembles foil when it is shaken.
Hopkins himself wrote in a letter:
'I mean foil in its sense of leaf or tinsel, and no other word whatever will give the effect I want.
Shaken gold-foil gives off broad glares like sheet lightning and also, and this is true of nothing else,
owing to its zigzag dints and crossings and network of small many cornered facets, a sort of fork
lightning too.'
Spondee and iamb, together with a caesura (pause because of the comma), contribute to the altered
rhythm. Assonance and alliteration are again in evidence - shining/shook and shook/foil, adding to
the texture.

Line three continues with a second example. Not only is there a flame bursting out, there is a
gathering, a liquified magnificence, as when say fruits or vegetables are crushed for their oil.

 This is a twelve syllable line, to take in the spread of the oil, extending the beat which is
counterpoint to the set iambic tradition. The sounds stretch and roll around the mouth and not
only that, enjambment takes the reader into the fourth line, where the single word Crushed is
suddenly end-stopped.
This abrupt punctuation causes the reader to brake before entering the sonnet's mini turn in the form
of the one and only question, concerning the attitude of man towards God. Single syllables are stark
reminders of this puzzling situation - man ignores the awesome energy of God.

The term reck his rod means to not take care of, or not pay heed to, (reckless) God's instrument of
power, something like a lightning rod.

Lines 5 - 8

The next four lines are in some ways an answer to the question. Men (humans) pay no attention to
God's grandeur because they've become creatures of commerce and destruction.
Line five is most unusual. Full of iambs, it repeats the have trod to reinforce the idea of mankind
treading all over the earth, ruining it as they go about their business.
Line six continues the theme of nature being despoiled by the behaviour of humans. Note the three
words seared/bleared/smeared, all negative, reflecting the damage done through industry and the
race for profit.

The obvious interconnectedness of internal rhyme, the mixed rhythm at odds with the regular iambic
beat, create an ebb and flow that disrupts, leaving the reader uncertain as to where the next line will
take them.
Line seven reinforces line six - anaphora is used, repeated use of words (And) - humans cannot help
but stain and mark out their territories, - iambic beats returning, alliteration very
strong smudge/shares/smell/soil as enjambment once again continues the sense into line eight.

Line eight reaffirms that once industrialised humans have got their hold on nature, not much good
can come out of the earth. The soil is bare and the many feet that have trammeled have no feeling
left - they're shod, like horses are shod.

So, the speaker has given the reader a clear picture of the world. God's great positive energy flows
throughout, energising, invigorating, whilst humankind is busy polluting and undermining.

More Analysis Line by Line

Lines 9 - 14
The sestet brings a different approach, a conclusion to what has gone before in the octave. Despite
all of humankind's efforts to ruin the natural world, it, nature through God, resists and refreshes itself.
Line nine is perhaps the most straightforward in the whole sonnet - no matter what man throws at
nature, it is never completely smashed; it comes back, it always returns. Ten syllables, iambs, no
messing. Note that Hopkins alliterates again - nature/never. He can't help it.
Line ten is perhaps one of the most well known. It contains the mysterious yet intriguing dearest
freshness deep down things an alliterative phrase that is a delight to read and complex to ponder on.
Invisible to the naked eye, this dearest freshness is a spiritual energy that today gets the ecologists,
religionists and environmental people excited - it is present in all things and especially apparent
when each new day dawns, as lines eleven and twelve suggest.
Line twelve with spondees and astute use of punctuation, is poised beautifully.
As the sun rises, the speaker acknowledges the presence of the christian Holy Ghost, the active
force of God, without flesh or known body, third member of the Godhead.
Lines thirteen and fourteen detail this final image, that of a bird-like entity protecting and warming the
nest (and nestlings) that is the earth.
The last line is typical Hopkins -
alliteration world/with/warm/wings and broods/breast/bright providing a wealth of sound carried on
varied sprung rhythm. Earth's renewal is guaranteed and no amount of smudge and smell can thwart
this mystical process.

The first four lines of the octave (the first eight-line stanza of an Italian sonnet)
describe a natural world through which God’s presence runs like an electrical
current, becoming momentarily visible in flashes like the refracted glintings of
light produced by metal foil when rumpled or quickly moved. Alternatively, God’s
presence is a rich oil, a kind of sap that wells up “to a greatness” when tapped with
a certain kind of patient pressure. Given these clear, strong proofs of God’s
presence in the world, the poet asks how it is that humans fail to heed (“reck”) His
divine authority (“his rod”).

The second quatrain within the octave describes the state of contemporary human
life—the blind repetitiveness of human labor, and the sordidness and stain of “toil”
and “trade.” The landscape in its natural state reflects God as its creator; but
industry and the prioritization of the economic over the spiritual have transformed
the landscape, and robbed humans of their sensitivity to the those few beauties of
nature still left. The shoes people wear sever the physical connection between our
feet and the earth they walk on, symbolizing an ever-increasing spiritual alienation
from nature.

The sestet (the final six lines of the sonnet, enacting a turn or shift in argument)
asserts that, in spite of the fallenness of Hopkins’s contemporary Victorian world,
nature does not cease offering up its spiritual indices. Permeating the world is a
deep “freshness” that testifies to the continual renewing power of God’s creation.
This power of renewal is seen in the way morning always waits on the other side of
dark night. The source of this constant regeneration is the grace of a God who
“broods” over a seemingly lifeless world with the patient nurture of a mother hen.
This final image is one of God guarding the potential of the world and containing
within Himself the power and promise of rebirth. With the final exclamation (“ah!
bright wings”) Hopkins suggests both an awed intuition of the beauty of God’s
grace, and the joyful suddenness of a hatchling bird emerging out of God’s loving
incubation.

Form

This poem is an Italian sonnet—it contains fourteen lines divided into an octave
and a sestet, which are separated by a shift in the argumentative direction of the
poem. The meter here is not the “sprung rhythm” for which Hopkins is so famous,
but it does vary somewhat from the iambic pentameter lines of the conventional
sonnet. For example, Hopkins follows stressed syllable with stressed syllable in the
fourth line of the poem, bolstering the urgency of his question: “Why do men then
now not reck his rod?” Similarly, in the next line, the heavy, falling rhythm of
“have trod, have trod, have trod,” coming after the quick lilt of “generations,”
recreates the sound of plodding footsteps in striking onomatopoeia.

Commentary

The poem begins with the surprising metaphor of God’s grandeur as an electric
force. The figure suggests an undercurrent that is not always seen, but which builds
up a tension or pressure that occasionally flashes out in ways that can be both
brilliant and dangerous. The optical effect of “shook foil” is one example of this
brilliancy. The image of the oil being pressed out of an olive represents another
kind of richness, where saturation and built-up pressure eventually culminate in a
salubrious overflow. The image of electricity makes a subtle return in the fourth
line, where the “rod” of God’s punishing power calls to mind the lightning rod in
which excess electricity in the atmosphere will occasionally “flame out.” Hopkins
carefully chooses this complex of images to link the secular and scientific to
mystery, divinity, and religious tradition. Electricity was an area of much scientific
interest during Hopkins’s day, and is an example of a phenomenon that had long
been taken as an indication of divine power but which was now explained in
naturalistic, rational terms. Hopkins is defiantly affirmative in his assertion that
God’s work is still to be seen in nature, if men will only concern themselves to
look. Refusing to ignore the discoveries of modern science, he takes them as
further evidence of God’s grandeur rather than a challenge to it. Hopkins’s awe at
the optical effects of a piece of foil attributes revelatory power to a man-made
object; gold-leaf foil had also been used in recent influential scientific experiments.
The olive oil, on the other hand, is an ancient sacramental substance, used for
centuries for food, medicine, lamplight, and religious purposes. This oil thus
traditionally appears in all aspects of life, much as God suffuses all branches of the
created universe. Moreover, the slowness of its oozing contrasts with the quick
electric flash; the method of its extraction implies such spiritual qualities as
patience and faith. (By including this description Hopkins may have been
implicitly criticizing the violence and rapaciousness with which his contemporaries
drilled petroleum oil to fuel industry.) Thus both the images of the foil and the
olive oil bespeak an all-permeating divine presence that reveals itself in
intermittent flashes or droplets of brilliance.

Hopkins’s question in the fourth line focuses his readers on the present historical
moment; in considering why men are no longer God-fearing, the emphasis is on
“now.” The answer is a complex one. The second quatrain contains an indictment
of the way a culture’s neglect of God translates into a neglect of the environment.
But it also suggests that the abuses of previous generations are partly to blame;
they have soiled and “seared” our world, further hindering our ability to access the
holy. Yet the sestet affirms that, in spite of the interdependent deterioration of
human beings and the earth, God has not withdrawn from either. He possesses an
infinite power of renewal, to which the regenerative natural cycles testify. The
poem reflects Hopkins’s conviction that the physical world is like a book written
by God, in which the attentive person can always detect signs of a benevolent
authorship, and which can help mediate human beings’ contemplation of this
Author.
TEST MATCH AT SABINA PARK

SUMMARY
The persona, a white male, proudly enters Sabina Park to watch a cricket match
between England and the West Indies. The persona notices that the game is slow
and that the crowd is not reacting well. He is, in fact, initially shocked that there is
a crowd at all because this is usually not the case at Lords. By lunch, England is
sixty eight for none, and the crowd gets abusive. They even state that maybe they
should borrow Lawrence Rowe. The persona tries to explain the reason behind the
slow pace of the British side, but fails to convince even himself. His
embarrassment at England’s performance has him eventually skulking out of the
venue.

LITERARY DEVICES

1. RHETORICAL QUESTION
Stanza 2, lines 6-7: This question reveals that, despite the fact that cricket is a
popular sport in England, the venues for the matches are not crowded. This
question could also point to the fact that Sabina Park was very crowded.

Stanza 3, line 10: This question represents the general frustration of the West
Indians in the crowd. They are annoyed that the cricket match is progressing so
slowly.

Stanza 4, lines 16-18: These questions imply that the West Indian crowd’s level of
frustration has escalated.

2. ALLUSION–The allusion to Lawrence Rowe, a very colourful and successful

West Indian cricketer, emphasizes the fact that the match is slow and boring.
3. SARCASM- To ‘boycott’ is to abstain from, or to stop, doing something.
Therefore, the persona is being sarcastic because excitement is a good thing.
People usually boycott for something negative, therefore the persona is, again,
highlighting the slow and boring pace of the cricket match.

IMPORTANT WORDS/ PHRASES

4.’rosette of my skin’
Rosette implies a reddish colour, or tint, to the skin, that sometimes resembles a
rose. This description immediately identifies the race of the persona as caucasian.
The persona is proud of his race, as he enters Sabina Park.

5.’strut
‘This word means to walk proudly. It emphasizes the fact that the persona is
proudly walking into Sabina Park.

6.’something badly amiss’

The persona is jolted by the fact that the match is going slowly. The word ‘amiss’
implies wrong, the game should not be going so slowly.

7.’vociferous partisans’
Vociferous means to be very noisy and clamorous, while partisan is a person who
shows biased, emotional allegiance. Therefore, the West Indian crowd was
extremely noisy in their support of their team. They were also very unappreciative
of the slow pace of the match.

8.’England sixty eight for none at lunch’

While this is a good score, it never-the-less highlights the slowness of the match,
hence the fact that the experience, for the crowd, was far from exciting.
9.’the wicket slow’
The purpose of the wicket is to ‘out’ the opposing side. Therefore, no ‘outing’ is
occurring, the wickets are standing. Everything about the match is going slowly.

10.’sticky wickets’
This implies a sticky, or awkward situation. It highlights England’s situation.

11.’loud ‘busin’
The English team was being loudly abused.

12.’skulking behind a tarnished rosette’

Skulking implies hiding in shame, and tarnished means tainted. Therefore, the
proud Englishman is now embarrassed, and the rosette of his skin is making him
stand out. Initially this was a very good thing, but now it is a disadvantage.

13.’blushing nationality’.
At this point, the Englishman admits to being embarrassed for his team, as well as
himself.

*There is a distinct CONTRAST between the beginning of the poem when the
persona is proud, and ‘struts’. However, by the end of the poem, he is embarrassed
and ‘skulking’

VOICES
There are two distinct voices in this poem. The Englishman’s and the West
Indian’s.

MOOD/ ATMOSPHERE
The mood of the poem is tense.
TONE
The tone of the poem is one of frustration (West Indian) and embarrassment
(English man).

THEMATIC CATEGORIZATION
Discrimination, places, culture and sports
THEME FOR ENGLISH B ANALYSIS

SUMMARY
The persona, a white male, proudly enters Sabina Park to watch a cricket match
between England and the West Indies. The persona notices that the game is slow
and that the crowd is not reacting well. He is, in fact, initially shocked that there is
a crowd at all because this is usually not the case at Lords. By lunch, England is
sixty eight for none, and the crowd gets abusive. They even state that maybe they
should borrow Lawrence Rowe. The persona tries to explain the reason behind the
slow pace of the British side, but fails to convince even himself. His
embarrassment at England’s performance has him eventually skulking out of the
venue.

LITERARY DEVICES

1. RHETORICAL QUESTION
Stanza 2, lines 6-7: This question reveals that, despite the fact that cricket is a
popular sport in England, the venues for the matches are not crowded. This
question could also point to the fact that Sabina Park was very crowded.

Stanza 3, line 10: This question represents the general frustration of the West
Indians in the crowd. They are annoyed that the cricket match is progressing so
slowly.

Stanza 4, lines 16-18: These questions imply that the West Indian crowd’s level of
frustration has escalated.

2. ALLUSION–The allusion to Lawrence Rowe, a very colourful and successful

West Indian cricketer, emphasizes the fact that the match is slow and boring.
3. SARCASM- To ‘boycott’ is to abstain from, or to stop, doing something.
Therefore, the persona is being sarcastic because excitement is a good thing.
People usually boycott for something negative, therefore the persona is, again,
highlighting the slow and boring pace of the cricket match.

IMPORTANT WORDS/ PHRASES

4.’rosette of my skin’
Rosette implies a reddish colour, or tint, to the skin, that sometimes resembles a
rose. This description immediately identifies the race of the persona as caucasian.
The persona is proud of his race, as he enters Sabina Park.

5.’strut
‘This word means to walk proudly. It emphasizes the fact that the persona is
proudly walking into Sabina Park.

6.’something badly amiss’

The persona is jolted by the fact that the match is going slowly. The word ‘amiss’
implies wrong, the game should not be going so slowly.

7.’vociferous partisans’
Vociferous means to be very noisy and clamorous, while partisan is a person who
shows biased, emotional allegiance. Therefore, the West Indian crowd was
extremely noisy in their support of their team. They were also very unappreciative
of the slow pace of the match.

8.’England sixty eight for none at lunch’

While this is a good score, it never-the-less highlights the slowness of the match,
hence the fact that the experience, for the crowd, was far from exciting.
9.’the wicket slow’
The purpose of the wicket is to ‘out’ the opposing side. Therefore, no ‘outing’ is
occurring, the wickets are standing. Everything about the match is going slowly.

10.’sticky wickets’
This implies a sticky, or awkward situation. It highlights England’s situation.

11.’loud ‘busin’
The English team was being loudly abused.

12.’skulking behind a tarnished rosette’

Skulking implies hiding in shame, and tarnished means tainted. Therefore, the
proud Englishman is now embarrassed, and the rosette of his skin is making him
stand out. Initially this was a very good thing, but now it is a disadvantage.

13.’blushing nationality’.
At this point, the Englishman admits to being embarrassed for his team, as well as
himself.

*There is a distinct CONTRAST between the beginning of the poem when the
persona is proud, and ‘struts’. However, by the end of the poem, he is embarrassed
and ‘skulking’

VOICES
There are two distinct voices in this poem. The Englishman’s and the West
Indian’s.

MOOD/ ATMOSPHERE
The mood of the poem is tense.
TONE
The tone of the poem is one of frustration (West Indian) and embarrassment
(English man).

THEMATIC CATEGORIZATION
Discrimination, places, culture and sports
DREAMING BLACK BOY

Dreaming Black Boy by James Berry

This poem is about a young boy who wishes or dreams that he would no longer
have to suffer the discrimination that he faces in society in terms of education,
travel, opportunity, employment etc. He wants to be able to experience the life of a
normal person who is not judged.

Stanza 1
The first literary device met in the poem is repetition, the phrase “I wish” is
repeated throughout the poem to express the boy’s dreams and aspiration for a
change in attitudes towards him. By using the word ‘wish’ it shows how difficult it
is to achieve his wants as he cannot simply work towards them but has to wish and
hope that something outside his effort causes change in attitude. Each stanza is an
explanation of one of his wishes or dreams. In the first stanza we see how an
adult’s behavior can scar a child. The boy is in the school setting and feels
unwanted as his teacher ignores him and does not show any affection so he
becomes reluctant to participate in class. The title shows that he an African-
American male. The poem has allusions as well, the first one being to
‘woodchopper’. It refers to the manual tasks given to enslaved Africans in
America. The boy is saying that he is not like his ancestors and would like to make
a better life for himself in spite of the oppression of his ancestors.

Stanza 2
The boy is aware of how his society works. He does not want to “sink to lick
boots” as other have had to do to be given some small opportunity to succeed. He
then alludes to segregation in the United States where African Americans could not
access certain areas, restaurants, schools, communities, hotels etc. He wants to go
places physically but the segregation laws prevent him from doing that.

Stanza 3
He wishes simply to reach his potential, he is not asking to be treated differently or
given special treatment. The poet argues that African Americans can contribute to
society. There is the allusion to Paul Robeson who was a civil rights leader and
describing the “inner eye” as a sun. This metaphor shows his mind as something
powerful and bright .

Stanza 4
This stanza mentions the terrorist acts that African Americans were victims of. It is
an allusion to the Klu Klux Klan whose ceremonial robes were similar to
“pajamas” who burnt churches and buildings that were used by those who fought
for equal right. He also shows they hypocrisy of these people who openly promote
Christian values but are racist. The last simile “Wish people wouldn't talk as if I
dropped from Mars” show how he was viewed as someone alien even though he is
from the same society that discriminated against him.

Stanza 5
The last stanza has the boy explaining that he has suffered a lot despite his young
age, but still wishes that no one will have his experience that have made him
strong.
DULCE ET DECORUM ANALYSIS

Stanza-by-Stanza Analysis

First Stanza

The first line takes the reader straight into the ranks of the soldiers, an unusual
opening, only we're told they resemble "old beggars" and "hags" (note the
similes) by the speaker, who is actually in amongst this sick and motley crew.

The initial rhythm is slightly broken iambic pentameter until line five when
commas and semi-colons and other punctuation reflect the disjointed efforts of the
men to keep pace.

Also note the term "blood-shod" which suggests a parallel with horses, and the fact
that many are lame, drunk, blind and deaf. The trauma of war has intoxicated the
soldiers.

Second Stanza

Suddenly the call goes up: "Gas!" We delve deeper into the scene as chemical
warfare raises its ugly head and one man gets caught and left behind. He's too slow
to don his gas mask and helmet, which would have saved his life by filtering out
the toxins.

"An ecstasy of fumbling," the poet writes. The ecstasy is used here in the sense of a
trance-like frenzy as the men hurriedly put on their helmets. It has nothing to do
with happiness.

Here the poem becomes personal and metaphorical. The speaker sees the man
consumed by gas as a drowning man, as if he were underwater. Misty panes add an
unreal element to this traumatic scene, as though the speaker is looking through a
window.

Third Stanza

Only two lines long, this stanza brings home the personal effect of the scene on the
speaker. The image sears through and scars despite the dream-like atmosphere
created by the green gas and the floundering soldier.

Owen chose the word "guttering" to describe the tears streaming down the face of
the unfortunate man, a symptom of inhaling toxic gas.

Fourth Stanza

The speaker widens the issue by confronting the reader (and especially the people
at home, far away from the war), suggesting that if they too could experience what
he had witnessed, they would not be so quick to praise those who die in action.
They would be lying to future generations if they though that death on the
battlefield was sweet. Owen does not hold back. His vivid imagery is quite
shocking, his message direct and his conclusion sincere.

The last four lines are thought to have been addressed to a Jessie Pope, a children's
writer and journalist at the time, whose published book Jessie Pope's War
Poemsincluded a poem titled The Call, an encouragement for young men to enlist
and fight in the war.

What Is the Main Theme of "Dulce et Decorum Est?"

"Dulce et Decorum Est" does not have one theme, but many. Still, each of the
themes center around war and the antiquated notions associated with it. The main
themes of this poem are listed below:
War

One of the main themes of this poem is war. It deals with a soldier's experience in
World War I, and contrasts the realities of war with the glorified notion of what
serving in a war is like.

Propaganda

This poem takes aim at the idea of war presented by war-supporting propaganda.
During World War I, propaganda came in the form of books, poems, posters,
movies, radio and more, and presented an idea of war full of glory and pride rather
than of death and destruction.

Politics

Politics are often the cause war, yet it is the men who have nothing to do with
politics who are recruited to fight it. This poem underlines the wrongness of this
dynamic.

Hero Worship

Everyone wants to be the hero. In reality, it is the man who keeps his head down is
he who survives the longest.

Patriotism

"Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori," means it is sweet and proper to die for
one's country. This idea of patriotism fueled the hopes and dreams of many young
soldiers who entered World War I. Once they realized the horrors that awaited
them, however, this ideal patriotism was rightly viewed as ridiculous.

Lessons Learned From the Past

Owen highlights this Latin phrase to show how antiquated and wrong it is when
applied to the modern age. Through his work, which entirely destroys the idea that
it is sweet and proper to die for one's country, he hopes to make readers realize that
times have changed–that while war may have once been glorious, now, war is hell.

What Is the Structure of "Dulce et Decorum Est?"

"Dulce et Decorum Est" might have started out as a double sonnet (there are 28
lines in total) and many lines are in iambic pentameter, with end rhymes. Owen
must have decided against it as he worked on the draft, ending up with four
unequal stanzas.

How Is Language and Diction Used in "Dulce et Decorum Est?"

"Dulce et Decorum Est" surprises the reader from the start. The opening lines
contain words such as bent, beggars, sacks, hags, cursed, haunting, trudge. This is
the language of poverty and deprivation, hardly suitable for the glory of the
battlefield where heroes are said to be found.

Yet this is precisely what the poet intended. Figurative language fights with literal
language. This is no ordinary march. Most seem asleep, from exhaustion no doubt,
suggesting that a dream world isn't too far distant–a dream world very unlike the
resting place they're headed for.

The second stanza's first line brings the reader directly in touch with the unfolding
drama and, although these are soldiers, men (as well as old beggars and hags), the
simple word "boys" seems to put everything into perspective.

What Are the Poetic Devices Used in "Dulce et Decorum Est?"

Wilfred Owen makes use of numerous poetic devices in this poem. Aside from the
the structure, which is discussed above, Owen strategically uses assonance,
alliteration, and iambic pentameter to transmit the dirty and dark feelings felt on
the battlefield.

Assonance

It is important to note the poet's use of internal, line-by-line assonance. For

example:

double / under / cursed / sludge / haunting /turned / trudge.

And again with:

drunk / fumbling / clumsy / stumbling / under / plunges / guttering / flung /

corrupted / lungs / cud / dulce

Throughout the poem this is almost like the background rumbling of distant
explosions.

Alliteration

Alliteration also occurs in lines five, eleven and nineteen:

Line 5: Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots

Line 11: But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

Line 19: And watch the white eyes writhing in his face

Iambic Pentameter

The iambic pentameter is dominant, but occasional lines break with this rhythm,
such as line sixteen in the third stanza. This inconsistency reflects the strangeness
of the situation. Iambic pentameter is used in the following instances:
outstripped Five-Nines

This refers to the type of shell being used, a 5.9 calibre, which were not up to the
speed of other shells used.

like a devil's sick of sin

This is both a simile and a great use of iambic pentameter. Whatever you think a
devil looks like, this is one that has gone beyond the pale.

bitter as the cud

This is a term used in farming, where cud is the half digested food of ruminants
which is chewed again to make it digestible. The suggestion is that the blood
coming up from the lungs has to be chewed by the poor dying man. A sobering
image. This line is very similar to the first line of Owen's poem "Anthem For
Doomed Youth," which reads, "What passing bells for these who die as cattle?"

The Latin ending is perhaps a gentle reminder of many a slogan, many a motto and
maxim held dear by clubs, military units, teams and families as an expression of
belief and ideals. These are often displayed in Latin which was, of course, the
language of the ancient Romans.

What Is the Tone and Mood of "Dulce et Decorum Est?"

From the start of this poem you are immersed in the atmosphere of war. These are
the trenches of WWI, full of mud and death. Once optimistic, healthy soldiers have
now been reduced to a miserable, exhausted gang who have little left to give.

It's a shocking environment into which the reader is taken–one that is oppressive,
dangerous and without any real hope.
The poet wants the reader to know that warfare is anything but glorious, so he
paints a gloomy, realistic, human picture of life at the frontline. He leaves us no
doubt about his feelings.

The tone and mood is also set by language such as "misty panes and thick green
light." From the start we feel that the world has been turned upside down, and that
all things having to do with happiness and vitality have been cast away. This is not
a lively green, but a thick green. The window is not clear, but misty. This is the
land of the walking dead, of the sickly–a world cold, muddy and metallic.

By the end of the poem, it appears the reader has been moved away from the
"haunting" battlefield, and the setting becomes internal. Here, the mood is less
gruesome, but no less pitiful. In one sense, to see the way these scenes of death and
violence have affected the poets mind is just as disturbing as the scenes
themselves.

How Is Imagery Used in "Dulce et Decorum Est?"

This poem is packed full of vivid images forged in the heat of battle, skillfully
drawn by the young, keenly observant poet.

The opening scene is one of a group of soldiers making their weary way from the
frontline "towards our distant rest" as bombs drop and lethal gas is released.
Details are intimate and immediate, taking the reader right into the thick of trench
war.

These men appear old, but that is only an illusion. War has twisted reality which
gradually turns surreal as the poem progresses. The speaker evokes a dream-like
scenario, the green of the enveloping gas turning his mind to another element, that
of water, and the cruel sea in which a man is drowning.
The descriptions become more intense as the drowning man is disposed of on a
cart. All the speaker can do is compare the suffering to a disease with no known
cure. The final image - sores on a tongue - hints at what the dying soldier himself
might have said about the war and the idea of a glorious death.

What Are the Symbols Used in "Dulce et Decorum Est?"

While Owen utilizes figurative language, similes, and assonance to combat the
illusion that war is glorious, he also uses symbols to underline his message. There
are three overarching symbols that strengthen the impact of "Dulce et Decorum
Est."

Disfiguration

Owen focuses on the way war disfigures and warps all things that come into
contact with it. Primarily, he focuses on the human body and the way it is slowly
damaged and changed before ultimately being destroyed. We see the symbol of
disfiguration in the first stanza, when the poet reports on the state of his fellow
men:

Lines 1–3

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs

Lines 5–7

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
By looking closely at the language used in the above lines, the symbol of
disfiguration becomes clear. The men are no longer the men the used to be. They
are shadows of their former selves: dead men walking.

Allusion

As we can see by the title and last line of this poem, one of the main symbols is
allusion (in this instance, an allusion to Horace's Latin phrase). The allusion points
to the idea that fighting and dying for your country is glorious. After making this
allusion, the poet devotes all of his efforts to proving it wrong.

The devil is also alluded to in line 20, indicating the badness of the battlefield.

His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;

Nightmares

Another symbol that pervades this poem is the idea of the nightmare. Owen
presents the scenes of war as a nightmare with their greenish color and mistiness.
Also, the terrifying imagery adds to the feeling of a bad dream.

This symbol indicates that the horrors of war are almost too hard to comprehend.
This must be a nightmare, mustn't it? The reality is that it is not a nightmare: These
are real atrocities that happened to real people. The fact that the poet presents the
poem as a sort of nightmare makes it all the more terrible.
THE DARK TIME MY LOVE

This is the Dark Time, My Love by Martin Carter

This type of poem was written by the poet as a form of protest to the British
occupation of Guyana after its independence. There is the repetition of “This is the
dark time, my love”, it serves to make the reader aware of the terrible situation the
country is in. The British occupation is being referred to as the “dark time”. There
phrase “my love” can refer to the Guyanese people who the poet seeks to address
directly and motivate and encourage to resist the occupation. It can also be a
personification of the country itself.

The poet uses a metaphor to describe the British soldiers as “brown beetles”, this is
a reference to the khaki uniforms the British soldiers wore. The comparison to
beetles also shows the persona’s disgust and hatred of the invaders. They are like
beetles that eat vegetation and destroy crops just as they are destroying freedom
now. The “shining sun” is hidden, showing that even nature responds to the
injustice seen. The sun symbolises warmth and progress but that is no longer
possible as long as the people’s rights are withheld. The poet continues to show
that nature is responding to the events by personifying the flowers bending their
heads in sorrow.

In the second stanza the persona clearly states and describes the condition of the
society and the people living in fear with “season of oppression, dark metal and
tears”. This phrase shows the progression of the people’s suffering; first there is
the oppression, the oppression is maintained through the use of force (guns-dark
metal), and the result is the tears of the people. Then there are the oxymorons
“festival or guns” and “carnival of misery”. This shows how the joy and happiness
the people had are now replaced with depression and fear. The people can no
longer enjoy life resulting in the “faces of men are strained and anxious”’

In the final stanza, the persona continues with the imagery of oppression and
abuse. The line, “Whose boot of steel tramps down the slender grass?” shows how
defenceless and weak the grass is; it is a metaphor for the people. The “boot of
steel’ refers to the soldiers, just like the phrase “strange invader”. The persona
continue to address the reader as “my love’, continuing the intimate tone. The last
line speaks about targeting the dreams of people, this is the worst type of
oppression as when dreams are destroyed the person can hardly recover.
OL’ HIGUE

In this poem, the Ol’ Higue / soucouyant tells of her frustration with her lifestyle.
She does not like the fact that she sometimes has to parade around, in the form of a
fireball, without her skin at night. She explains that she has to do this in order to
scare people, as well as to acquire baby blood. She explains that she would rather
acquire this blood via cooked food, like every-one else. Her worst complaint is the
pain of salt, as well as having to count rice grains. She exhibits some regret for her
lifestyle but implies that she cannot resist a baby’s smell, as well as it’s pure blood.
The ‘newness’ of the baby tempts the Ol’ Higue, and she cannot resist because she
is an old woman who fears death, which can only be avoided by consuming the
baby’s blood. She affirms her usefulness in the scheme of things, however, by
claiming that she provides mothers with a name for their fears (this being the death
of a child), as well as some-one to blame when the evil that they wish for their
child, in moments of tired frustration, is realized. She implies that she will never
die, so long as women keep having babies.

LITERARY DEVICES

1. SIMILE

Cane-fire has a very distinct quality. It burns very quickly and its presence is felt
through it’s pungent smell. Therefore, when the Ol’ Higue compares herself to
cane fire in her fireball state, it implies that she uses a lot of energy quickly, and is
very visible.

2. RHETORICAL QUESTION
•Stanza 1,line 4: This rhetorical question highlights the scant regard that the Higue
has for the average person. She is thoroughly annoyed that she has to literally
waste her energy on them.

•Stanza 1, line 5: This highlights the fact that, again, she is annoyed that she has to
expend so much energy to obtain a few drops of baby blood.

•Stanza 1, lines 6-8: The Ol’ Higue is emphasizing the fact that regular people
ingest blood too, just in a more palatable manner. She would not mind if she could
ingest it in the same manner as well.

•Stanza 3, lines 22-23: At this point the Ol’ Higue is making excuses for her
presence, claiming that she serves an actual purpose in the scheme of life. If a child
dies of unknown causes, she can be scapegoated for it.

•Stanza 3, lines 24-25: ‘The murder inside your head’ refers to the moments, when
out of pure frustration and tiredness, a mother might wish ill on her child. The Ol’
Higue is implying that, again, she can be used as a scapegoat if something
unfortunate happens to the child. The mother is relieved of bearing the burden of
guilt.

3. REPETITION

The repetition of the word ‘soft’ emphasizes the fact that the call of the child’s
blood has captured and beguiled the Ol’ Higue’. She implies that she cannot resist
that call.

4. ALLITERATION
This device emphasizes the Ol’ Higue’s dependence, even addiction, to the sweet
blood of the baby.

IMPORTANT WORDS/ PHRASES

5. ‘stupidness!’

This is a distinctly Caribbean phrase that highlights frustration or scorn. Therefore,

it highlights the Ol’ Higue’s frustration with her lack of self control.

6. ‘gallivanting’

This term refers to some one ‘playing around’, having fun. The Ol’ Higue is being
sarcastic at this point. She is expressing displeasure at having to fly around to seek
prey.

7. ‘pure blood running in new veins’

Babies are often associated with purity, this is what is emphasized here. The Ol’
Higue simply cannot resist the lure of new and pure blood.
8. ‘holding her final note for years and years, afraid of the dying hum …’

This tells us that the Ol’Higue has been living this desperate existence for a long
time. It also implies that she will keep hanging on, despite her frustration. The final
line confirms this point: ‘As long as it have women giving birth a poor Ol’ Higue
like me can never dead’

MOOD/ ATMOSPHERE

The mood of the poem is reflective.

TONE

The tone of the poem is slightly bitter and resigned. She accepts that the cycle of
her life cannot change.

THEMATIC CATEGORIZATION
MIRROR

In this poem, a mirror describes its existence and its owner, who grows older as the
mirror watches.

The mirror first describes itself as “silver and exact.” It forms no judgments,
instead merely swallowing what it sees and reflecting that image back without any
alteration. The mirror is not cruel, “only truthful.” It considers itself a four-
cornered eye of a god, which sees everything for what it is.

Most of the time, the mirror looks across the empty room and meditates on the
pink speckled wall across from it. It has looked at that wall for so long that it
describes the wall as “part of my heart.” The image of the wall is interrupted only
by people who enter to look at themselves and the darkness that comes with night.

The mirror imagines itself as a lake. A woman looks into it, trying to discern who
she really is by gazing at her reflection. Sometimes, the woman prefers to look at
herself in candlelight or moonlight, but these are “liars” because they mask her true
appearance. Only the mirror (existing here as lake) gives her a faithful
representation of herself.

Because of this honesty, the woman cries and wrings her hands. Nevertheless, she
cannot refrain from visiting the mirror over and over again, every morning. Over
the years, the woman has “drowned a young girl” in the mirror, and now sees in
her reflection an old woman growing older by the day. This old woman rises
toward her out of the mirror like “a terrible fish.”

Analysis

In this short but beloved poem, the narrator is a wall mirror in what is likely a
woman's bedroom. The mirror is personified - that is, it is endowed with human
traits. It is able to recognize monotony, commenting on the regularity of the wall
that it reflects most of the time. Further, while it does not offer moral judgment, it
is able to observe and understand its owner (the woman) as she grapples with the
reality of aging.

Compared to most of the others in Plath's oeuvre, this poem is not particularly
difficult to analyze. Though the speaker is a mirror, the subjects are time and
appearance. The woman struggles with the loss of her beauty, admitting each day
that she is growing older. Though the woman occasionally deludes herself with the
flattering "liars" candlelight and moonlight, she continually returns to the mirror
for the truth. The woman needs the mirror to provide her with an objective,
unadulterated reflection of self, even though it is often discomfiting, causing her
"tears and an agitation of hands." The mirror is well aware of how important it is to
the woman, which evokes the Greek myth of Narcissus, in which a young man
grows so transfixed with his own reflection that he dies.

Some critics have speculated that the woman is vexed by more than her changing
physical appearance. They posit that the woman is observing her mind, her soul,
and her psyche, stripped of any guile or obfuscation. By seeing her true self, she
becomes aware of the distinction between her exterior and interior lives. In other
words, she might be meditating on the distinction between a "false" outer self of
appearance, and a "true" inner self. After Plath's 1963 suicide, many critics
examined the writer's different facets, contrasting her put-together, polite, and
decorous outer self with her raging, explosively-creative inner self. Perhaps Plath
is exploring this dichotomy in "Mirror." The slippery and unnerving "fish" in the
poem may represent that unavoidable, darker self that cannot help but challenge
the socially acceptable self.

The critic Jo Gill writes of "Mirror" that even as the mirror straightforwardly
describes itself as "silver and exact," it feels compelled to immediately qualify
itself. Gill writes, "as the poem unfolds we see that this hermetic antonym may be a
deceptive facade masking the need for communion and dialogue." The mirror
actually dominates and interprets its world, and thus has a lot more power than it
seems to suggest. It does not merely reflect what it sees, but also shapes those
images for our understanding. Gill notes that the poem is catoptric, meaning that it
describes while it represents its own structure; this is down through the use of two
nine-line stanzas which are both symmetrical, and indicative of opposition.

The second stanza is significant because it, as Gill explains, "exposes...the

woman's need of the mirror [and] the mirror's need of the woman." When the
mirror has nothing but the wall to stare at, the world is truthful, objective, factual,
and "exact," but when the woman comes into view, the world becomes messy,
unsettling, complicated, emotional, and vivid. Thus, the mirror is "no longer a
boundary but a limninal and penetrable space." It reflects more than an image - it
reflects its own desires and understanding about the world.

Overall, "Mirror" is a melancholy and even bitter poem that exemplifies the
tensions between inner and outer selves, as well as indicates the preternaturally
feminine "problem" of aging and losing one's beauty.
TECHNIQUES USED IN MIRROR

In this poem, a mirror describes its existence and its owner, who grows older as the
mirror watches.

The mirror first describes itself as “silver and exact.” It forms no judgments,
instead merely swallowing what it sees and reflecting that image back without any
alteration. The mirror is not cruel, “only truthful.” It considers itself a four-
cornered eye of a god, which sees everything for what it is.

Most of the time, the mirror looks across the empty room and meditates on the
pink speckled wall across from it. It has looked at that wall for so long that it
describes the wall as “part of my heart.” The image of the wall is interrupted only
by people who enter to look at themselves and the darkness that comes with night.

The mirror imagines itself as a lake. A woman looks into it, trying to discern who
she really is by gazing at her reflection. Sometimes, the woman prefers to look at
herself in candlelight or moonlight, but these are “liars” because they mask her true
appearance. Only the mirror (existing here as lake) gives her a faithful
representation of herself.

Because of this honesty, the woman cries and wrings her hands. Nevertheless, she
cannot refrain from visiting the mirror over and over again, every morning. Over
the years, the woman has “drowned a young girl” in the mirror, and now sees in
her reflection an old woman growing older by the day. This old woman rises
toward her out of the mirror like “a terrible fish.”

Analysis

In this short but beloved poem, the narrator is a wall mirror in what is likely a
woman's bedroom. The mirror is personified - that is, it is endowed with human
traits. It is able to recognize monotony, commenting on the regularity of the wall
that it reflects most of the time. Further, while it does not offer moral judgment, it
is able to observe and understand its owner (the woman) as she grapples with the
reality of aging.

Compared to most of the others in Plath's oeuvre, this poem is not particularly
difficult to analyze. Though the speaker is a mirror, the subjects are time and
appearance. The woman struggles with the loss of her beauty, admitting each day
that she is growing older. Though the woman occasionally deludes herself with the
flattering "liars" candlelight and moonlight, she continually returns to the mirror
for the truth. The woman needs the mirror to provide her with an objective,
unadulterated reflection of self, even though it is often discomfiting, causing her
"tears and an agitation of hands." The mirror is well aware of how important it is to
the woman, which evokes the Greek myth of Narcissus, in which a young man
grows so transfixed with his own reflection that he dies.

Some critics have speculated that the woman is vexed by more than her changing
physical appearance. They posit that the woman is observing her mind, her soul,
and her psyche, stripped of any guile or obfuscation. By seeing her true self, she
becomes aware of the distinction between her exterior and interior lives. In other
words, she might be meditating on the distinction between a "false" outer self of
appearance, and a "true" inner self. After Plath's 1963 suicide, many critics
examined the writer's different facets, contrasting her put-together, polite, and
decorous outer self with her raging, explosively-creative inner self. Perhaps Plath
is exploring this dichotomy in "Mirror." The slippery and unnerving "fish" in the
poem may represent that unavoidable, darker self that cannot help but challenge
the socially acceptable self.

The critic Jo Gill writes of "Mirror" that even as the mirror straightforwardly
describes itself as "silver and exact," it feels compelled to immediately qualify
itself. Gill writes, "as the poem unfolds we see that this hermetic antonym may be a
deceptive facade masking the need for communion and dialogue." The mirror
actually dominates and interprets its world, and thus has a lot more power than it
seems to suggest. It does not merely reflect what it sees, but also shapes those
images for our understanding. Gill notes that the poem is catoptric, meaning that it
describes while it represents its own structure; this is down through the use of two
nine-line stanzas which are both symmetrical, and indicative of opposition.

The second stanza is significant because it, as Gill explains, "exposes...the

woman's need of the mirror [and] the mirror's need of the woman." When the
mirror has nothing but the wall to stare at, the world is truthful, objective, factual,
and "exact," but when the woman comes into view, the world becomes messy,
unsettling, complicated, emotional, and vivid. Thus, the mirror is "no longer a
boundary but a limninal and penetrable space." It reflects more than an image - it
reflects its own desires and understanding about the world.

Overall, "Mirror" is a melancholy and even bitter poem that exemplifies the
tensions between inner and outer selves, as well as indicates the preternaturally
feminine "problem" of aging and losing one's beauty.