Written: May 2022 Bonam Fortunam!

CSEC Poetry Reviews and Analyses:

A Focus on Themes, Literary Devices, Tone, Mood, Perspective and Message

By Ronaldhino McLean, Gabrielle Benjamin, Daniel Miller, Neave-Ven Wong, Vismay Attutpuram, Kristian Coke and Ajhauna Mason

Page No.

1. Orchids by Hazel Simmonds-McDonald …………………………………….………….…. 2

2. This is the Dark Time, My Love by Martin Carter………….………………….….……… 4
3. Ol’ Higue by Mark McWatt ……………………….……….………….………….……..….6
4. Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen ……….…….…………….……….….…..……… 9
5. Birdshooting Season by Olive Senior ……………………………………………………..13
6. My Parents by Stephen Spender …………………………………………………………..15
7. Little Boy Crying by Mervyn Morris ……………………………………………………..18
8. God’s Grandeur by Gerard Manley-Hopkins ………………………………………………20
9. A Stone’s Throw by Elma Mitchell ………………………… ……………………………23
10. It is the Constant Image of Your Face by Dennis Brutus ………………………………... 27
11. Dreaming Black Boy by James Berry …………………………………………………. 28
12. The Woman Speaks to the Man who has Employed her Son by Lorna Goodison ………. 31
13. Test Match Sabina Park by Stewart Brown ……………………………………………….35
14. South by Kamau Brathwaite ………………………………………..……….………….... 38
15. Sonnet Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802
by William Woodsworth ……………………………………………………….…….…......41
16. West Indies, U.S.A. by Stewart Brown ……………………………….…………..…… …43
17. Once Upon a Time by Gabriel Okara ……………………….…….…….…….………… 46
18. An African Thunderstorm by David Rubadiri …………….……….……….…………… 49
19. Mirror by Sylvia Plath …………………………………….……………….………….… 52
20. Theme for English B by Langston Hughes ……………………………………….……….54

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Orchids
Hazel Simmons-McDonald

I leave this house

box pieces of the five-week life I’ve gathered.
I’ll send them on
to fill spaces in my future life.
One thing is left
a spray of orchids someone gave
from a bouquet one who
makes a ritual of flower-giving sent.
The orchids have no fragrance
but purple petals draw you
to look at the purple heart.
I watered them once
when the blossoms were full-blown
like polished poems.
I was sure they’d wilt
and I would toss them out with the five-week litter.
They were stubborn.
I starved them.
They would not die.
This morning the bud at the stalk’s tip unfurled.
I think I’ll pluck the full-blown blooms
press them between pages of memory.
Perhaps in their thin dried transparency
I’ll discover their peculiar poetry.

Summary
This poem is about a person who is moving out of a house she was in for five weeks, leaving
only an orchid which she received as a gift. She is shocked to have been wrong in predicting its
death given her maltreatment of the orchid and ultimately fascinated by its resilience.

Themes:
1. Nature - The orchids are a gift of the earth to man, that survive even our abuse
2. Resilience - The orchids do not die, despite the persona’s attack, they are the last thing
standing as she moves out
3. Conflict: Man vs Nature - The persona tries to kill the orchids, even though they are
harmless
4. Neglect - The orchids are only cared for (watered) once and then left to wither

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

5. Admiration - Nearing the end of the poem, the persona begins to admire the orchid's
resilience, that they are able to survive without her care
6. Migration - The persona moves every 5 weeks

Devices:
1. Alliteration - “purple petals”, “peculiar poetry”, “press them between pages of memory
perhaps…”, “full-blown bloom” - emphasises characteristics of the flowers
2. Symbolism - orchids representing nature's resilience and regularity, the woman
representing the abusive, volatile and ever-moving ways of mankind
3. Metaphor - “box pieces of the five-week life I’ve gathered” - compares objects in the
box to fragments of her life, “press them between pages of memory” - commits the
orchids to her memory
4. Imagery - “purple petals” - highlights colour, “blossoms were full-blown” - highlights
appearance
5. Allusion - “...purple heart” - references the U.S. military decoration given to wounded
soldiers, an acknowledgement that the orchids do well despite being starved

Tone
1. Reflective - The persona meditates deeply on the purpose, nature and meaning of the
orchids
2. Frustrated - The persona is angered by the stubbornness of the flowers
3. Awestruck - The persona arrives at a place of surprising fascination with the orchids

Mood
1. Admiring - The poem causes the reader to admire the resilience of the flower
2. Amazement - The poem causes the reader to be amazed that the orchids are still alive
even after neglect

Perspective
1. 1st Person - The narrator uses “I”, and makes transparent the limits of her knowledge
and emotional intelligence

Messages:
1. Nature is a gift to man
2. Man has abandoned and actively fought against nature, and it yet survives
3. Man needs the environment to live, whereas nature can sustain itself
4. We often see the meaning in objects only when they are gone

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

This is the Dark Time, My Love

Martin Carter

This is the dark time, my love,

All ‘round the land brown beetles crawl about.
The shining sun is hidden in the sky
Red flowers bend their heads in awful sorrow.
This is the dark time, my love,
It is the season of oppression, dark metal, and tears.
It is the festival of guns, the carnival of misery.
Everywhere the faces of men are strained and anxious.
Who comes walking in the dark nighttime?
Whose boot of steel tramps down the slender grass?
It is the man of death, my love, the strange invader
Watching you sleep and aiming at your dream.

Summary
The poem describes a time of fear, oppression and despair in Guyana, during the period under
British colonisation where soldiers were sent into the land to suspend the constitution, oust the
local government and quell dissent out of a fear of potential Communist rebellion. The persona
relates these events to his “love” who may either be an actual human lover, a child or even a
nation.

Themes:
1. War - The British send battalions, artillery, and weapons to rein in the local government
2. Conflict: Man vs Man - The British attempt to stamp out the opposition in Guyana
3. Oppression and Injustice - Ordinary, civilian people are traumatised by the military
parade of British soldiers
4. Misery and Suffering - The people remain anxious, strained and sorrowful from having
to fight in the war
5. Death and Despair - The soldiers bring with them the potential and readiness to kill
6. Dreams and Aspirations - The British are destroying the dreams of the Guyanese people
to gain independence
7. Civic Pride - The persona calls his nation, “my love” and decries the infringement upon
their civic rights and aspirations for self-determination

Devices:
1. Repetition - “This is the dark time of love” - emphasizes a sustained sadness at his
nation’s oppression and an implied repeated call to action

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

2. Rhetorical Question - “Who comes walking in the dark nighttime?”, “Whose boot of
steel tramps down the slender grass?” - acknowledges the clear, inevitable threat in the
British soldiers
3. Oxymoron - “carnival of misery”, “festival of guns” - soils some activities that are
typically tied to joyful celebrations
4. Personification - “It is the man of death” - personifies death in the form of the invaders,
“Red flowers bend their heads” - describes flowers being crushed as soldiers trample
over them
5. Metaphor - “man of death” - compares the essence of death to the wrath of the invading
soldiers, “all ‘round the land brown beetles crawl about” - compares the soldiers,
dressed in brown uniform, to beetles which pervaded the land
6. Visual Imagery - “brown beetles”, “shining sun”, “red flowers”, “dark metal”, “boots
of steel” - creates scenery of Guyana under siege
7. Auditory Imagery - “festival of guns”, “boots of steel tramps” - creates the sounds of a
ground invasion and the raining of bullets
8. Contrast - “shining sun is hidden… dark time” - juxtaposes a bright day with a dark
depressing local environment
9. Alliteration - “brown beetles” - reinforces the antagonism of the soldiers
10. Pun - “aiming at your dream” - plays on “dream” as both the aspirations of the people
and one’s head while he sleeps

Tone
1. Sad/Pessimistic - The poet depressingly recounts his observations, wary of invaders
2. Patriotic - The poet defends the urgent cause of the resistance of the native people

Mood
1. Sombre - The poem causes the reader to empathise with the struggles of the Guyanese
people
2. Fearful - The poem creates a feeling of fear of the terror of the strong British army
3. Passionate - The poem inspires deep care about the rights and self-determination of
native people

Perspective
1. 1st Person -The narrator speaks of his own environment and experience

Messages
1. The world can be a violent, cruel place.
2. People are inspired to become inhumane in the quest for power and control.
3. There is a rallying strength in national spirit and civic pride.
4. War can take an ugly toll on human optimism.

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Ol’ Higue
Mark McWatt

You think I like this stupidness

gallivanting all night without skin
burning myself out like cane–fire
To frighten the foolish?
And for what? A few drops of baby blood?
You think I wouldn’t rather
take my blood seasoned in fat
black-pudding, like everyone else?
And don’t even talk ‘bout the pain of salt
And having to bend these old bones down
To count a thousand grains of rice!
If only babies didn’t smell so nice!
And if I could only stop
Hearing the soft, soft call
Of that pure blood running in new veins,
Singing the sweet song of life
Tempting an old, dry-up woman who been
Holding her final note for years,
Afraid of the dying hum…
Then again, if I didn’t fly and come
to that fresh pulse in the middle of the night,
how would you, mother,
name your ancient dread,
And who to blame
for the murder inside your head…?
Believe me –
As long as it have women giving birth
A poor ol’ higue like me can never dead.

Summary
A soucouyant, the Caribbean concocted cross between the traditional fictional characters of a
vampire and a witch, goes by the name Ol’ Higue and is the object of traditional folklore. The
superstition is that she sheds her skin, stores it in a mortar, and becomes a ball of fire before
going out to suck the blood of babies, also having to perform daunting tasks like counting grains
of rice individually if her victims are expecting her. In the poem, Ol’ Higue explains that she
does not seek to hurt babies out of malice, but does it to prolong her own life.

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Themes
1. Superstition/Folklore - Allusions to Caribbean folk tales come in the drinking of baby
blood, the primary persona who is ol’ higue, a soucouyant
2. Women in Society - Ol’ Higue represents various women and their roles in society, from
old women who are holding onto their youth to mothers, who are eternally attached to the
experience of childbirth and the care of young children
3. Mortality - The poem points to the impermanence of all life, from newborns killed at
infancy to the soucouyant herself whose death is ever immanent
4. Determination - The soucouyant’s persistent nature is what keep’s her alive, in the same
way, that the determined denial of responsibility of mothers for the death of their infants,
is what keeps the legend Ol’ Higue alive
5. Dreams and Aspirations - Ol’ Higue expresses her heartfelt desire to prolong her life as
her only ideal, reflective of the way many of us live our lives with only the desire to
survive as long as we may
6. Internal Conflict - Ol Higue’s simultaneous self-awareness of the seeming stupidity,
immorality and abnormality of her actions and the desire she has to stay alive makes for a
fascinating conflict with self
7. Guilt - The soucouyant is cognizant of the perceived impact of her actions and lifestyle
on the people around her, particularly mothers, in the way she “frightens” them, and
admits shame and remorse for doing it, explaining though that it is out of a kind of
necessity to stay alive

Devices
1. Rhetorical Question - “You think I like this stupidness ”, “And for what? A few drops of
baby blood?”, “how would you, mother, name your ancient dread?” - shows her
resilience and simultaneous annoyance at having to constantly expend so much energy
and self-worth to stay alive
2. Alliteration - “frighten the foolish? And for what, a few…” “sweet song of life”, -
emphasises the nature of the concepts she describes, like the goodness of life
3. Metaphor - “the murder inside your head” - suggests that all the evils of Ol’ Higue are
figments of the collective imagination of negligent mothers in a superstitious society
4. Simile - “burning myself out like cane-fire” - compares the way she works to burning
cane-fire, which burns quickly and gives off a pungent smell, so as to suggest that she
expends energy in a way that is abundant, quick and obvious
5. Personification - “pure blood running… singing… tempting” - gives a cunning sense of
human nature to the blood she goes after, to explain how attractive it is to her
6. Allusion - “how would you mother name your ancient dread… the murder inside your
head” - references the deep-rooted traditional folklore which conceptualised Ol’ Higue in
the first place

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Tone
1. Angry - The poet initially presents Ol’ Higue’s frustration with the world around her, the
people who make assumptions about her, and the tasks she has to do to stay alive
2. Argumentative - The poet allows Ol Higue to make a case for why what she does is
beyond her control, that being that it clearly brings her no immediate joy
3. Sensitive - The poet gives the character a transformation from pure bitterness to
self-aware introspection, to empathy with the mothers who use her as a scapegoat for
their negligence

Mood
1. Irritated - The poem causes the reader to become uneasy at the thought of an old witch
murdering babies so that she may live longer
2. Reflective - The poem causes the reader to become more considerate of the soucouyant’s
plight, in not wanting to do wrong, but feeling forced in a desperate attempt at survival

Perspective
1. 1st Person - Narrator uses “I” and “me”, and tells the ‘other side of the story’ that is so
famously told in Caribbean folklore

Message
1. Man will always have a place for folklore/superstition to account for unexplainable
phenomena or unfortunate truths.
2. One man’s happiness may come at the cost of another’s.
3. The price to pay for survival is often plenty.

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Dulce et Decorum est

Wilfred Owen

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,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
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
Of tired outstripped five-nine’s that dropped behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues—.
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Summary
The poem is about a soldier constantly reliving and retelling the stories of harsh life on the
battlefield. It vividly details his traumatic experience with the death of his friend. It is a critical
review of those who glamorize war and push to a younger generation what he believed to be an
old lie.

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Themes:
1. War - Citizens able to be drafted are, and are made to fight against others likely in the
same predicament as them
2. Death - Death seems to be occurring all around, as soldiers die on both sides.
3. Love - Love is shown in the concern the persona shows for the man who died because of
the gas and for all his fellow soldiers
4. Heroism - Though tricked and forced into their predicament, the soldiers don’t defect
and fight until they are unable to, even to the point of death
5. Oppression - The poem references the conscription of citizens to war, which was
prevalent during WW1, and the imposition of the ideas of the honour of war
6. Conflict: Man vs Man - There are clearly detailed injuries caused to the persona’s
comrades, likely by opposing men at war
7. Patriotism - Many young men believe, like the persona once did, that dying for their
country is sweet, fitting and honourable
8. Deception/Propaganda - Citizens are deceived in the retelling of “the old lie: Dulce et
Decorum Est, Pro Patria Mori”
9. Disillusionment - The persona’s description of the titular maxim as an old lie expresses
his disappointment in something he once believed, that it is sweet and fitting to die for
one’s country

Devices:
1. Imagery - “like old beggars under sacks”, “...limped on blood-shod”, “white eyes
writhing in his face” (visual); “coughing like hags”, “the blood come gargling from the
froth-corrupted lungs” (auditory); “bitter as the cud” (gustatory) - creates a harsh and
lucid mental scene of the scarring war environment
2. Simile - “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks” - compares the injured soldiers
struggling to carry their equipment to old and poor people carrying sacks, creates a
sombre mood; “Knock-kneed coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge” - compares
young soldiers to old sickly people to show how weak the war has made them; “As under
a green sea, I saw him drowning.” - makes the weaponized gas seem as big as the ocean
and shows that the soldier is being engulfed in it and dying; “And flound’ring like a man
in fire or lime…” - compares the suffering of the man in the poison gas to the suffering
one would experience in fire or corrosive lime; “His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of
sin” - says the soldier’s face looked so horrible, that an apt comparison would be a devil,
someone who delights in horrible things, seeing something too obscene for his tastes;
“Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud” - states that the death throes of the soldier and the
froth coming out his mouth as a result of the poison gas, are as bad as cancer and the taste
of cud.

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

3. Metaphor - “Men marched asleep” - highlights the men’s tiredness and gives a reason
for it; “Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots” - compares the impairment caused by
fatigue to the impaired movements of a drunk person; “An ecstasy of fumbling” -
compares the frantic rush to put on gas masks to the excitement seen by someone in a
trance; “Of vile incurable, incurable sores on innocent tongues” -
4. Rhyme - “sacks… sludge… backs… trudge… boots… blind… hoots…. behind”,
“...fumbling….time….stumbling…lime” - makes the poem easier to read
5. Personification - “Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind” - Personifies
the bombs as tired and worn out to express the long and dragged out nature of the war;
6. Alliteration - “knock-kneed” - emphasized the strange appearance of the injured soldier,
disfigured by the atrocities of war; “Men marches asleep. Many had lost their boots.” -
suggests a tired, mindless or otherwise monotone contribution to the war by these soldiers
7. Onomatopoeia - “...deaf even to the hoots of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped
behind” - Highlights how numb/deaf the soldiers have become to bombs by saying they
sounded like hoots; “He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.” - horrifying
sounds of someone dying; “If you could hear at every jolt, the blood come gargling from
the froth-corrupted lungs,” - a graphic retelling of the look and sound of blood emerging
from the mouths of these soldiers;
8. Euphemism - “many had lost their boots” - softer language for saying their legs were
blown off in explosions
9. Oxymoron - “His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin” - creates an apparent
contradiction in the Devil, a character often presented as the author of sin, being tired of
it.
10. Hyperbole - “Men marched asleep” -they are not literally marching asleep but are
emphasising how exhausted they are.

Tones:
1. Reflective/Reminiscent - For most of the poem, the persona recollects the haunting
memories of wartime
2. Disappointed - The poet seems gravely saddened that the lie he disdains is still told and
believed broadly

Mood:
1. Pity - The reader is made to feel like soldiers exist in extremely unfavourable situations
and empathize with the work they do
2. Disturbed - The poem tends to disgust, shock or jar readers with its vivid imagery
3. Provocative - The poem provokes a sense of anti-establishment, anti-war consciousness
as is popular within a left-wing school of politics that is critical of imperialism and
warmongering

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Perspective
1. 1st person - The poet uses “our”, “me” and “my” to recall events, which gives an insider,
first-hand look into the horrors of war

Message
1. War is not the beauty it is often made out to be.
2. The images and characterizations of dying in war as sweet and fitting, are the product of
propaganda.
3. Personal experience can fundamentally change a person’s outlook.

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Birdshooting Season
Olive Senior

Birdshooting season the men

make marriages with their guns
My father’s house turns macho
as from far the hunters gather

All night long contentless women

stir their brews: hot coffee
chocolata, cerassie
wrap pone and tie-leaf
for tomorrow’s sport. Tonight
the men drink white rum neat.

In darkness shouldering
their packs, their guns, they leave

We stand quietly on the

doorstep shivering. Little boys
longing to grow up bird hunters too
Little girls whispering:
Fly Birds Fly.

Summary
In this poem, a child describes the preparations being made in her father’s house for a bird
hunting expedition. The women prepare food for the expedition whereas the men drink rum and
carry guns for the hunt. While the male children admire the male bird hunters, the female
children are enthusiastic about the killing of birds.

Themes
1. Tradition - “Birdshooting Season” seems to be describing a regular and recurring time
when men go out to hunt birds
2. Gender Affairs - Commentary is given on the starkly different roles and attitudes of
members of opposite genders towards the time-honoured tradition, as the men become
aggressive and focused on their objectives (the boys also idolizing those men), while the
women take little care for the bird shooting, rather seeking to serve the men with food
and drink and the girls hope the birds escape their impending peril
3. Conflict: Man vs Nature - The interaction between man and nature is highlighted in the
killing of birds being characterized as man’s sport

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

4. Childhood experiences - The children in the poem find tradition to look forward to,
heritage to understand more completely, role models to look up to, and an innocent
understanding of the world around them

Devices
1. Metaphor - “make marriages with their guns” - gives their guns a level of attention
similar to the attention a husband would give his wife, “My father’s house turns macho”
- highlights the masculine activities being done in the house by saying the house itself
turned masculine
2. Personification - “My father’s house turned macho” - [See entry under metaphor];
3. Contrast - “contentless women stir their brews…the men drink white rum neat” - The
women unhappily work to make preparations for the hunting expedition whereas the men
enjoy themselves drinking rum and attending to their guns. ; “Little boys longing to grow
up bird hunters too Little girls whispering Fly Birds Fly” - The boys admire their fathers
whereas the girls are opposed to the men hunting birds
4. Alliteration - “...the men make marriages with their guns… My father’s house turns
macho” - highlighting how close the men are with their weapons.
5. Imagery - “In darkness shouldering their packs, their guns, they leave” (visual), “we
stand quietly on the doorstep shivering” (tactile), “hot coffee chocolata” (olfactory),
“the men drink white rum neat” (gustatory), “little girls whispering: Fly Birds Fly”
(auditory) - appeals to all senses
6. Symbolism - Guns, birdshooting and rum represent the roles and desires of men in
society while cooking, preparation and compassion represent those of women

Tone
1. Narrative - The poet intends only to portray a factual representation of events, rather
than persuade the reader to any particular opinion

Mood
1. Reflective - The poem causes the reader to more carefully consider the roles of men and
women in society

Perspective
1. 1st person - The narrator uses “my” and “we”, the speaker’s gender is left purposefully
ambiguous so as to present the poem impartially

Message
1. Man enjoys destroying nature, so long as he is not immediately affected
2. Women serve men without recognition
3. The roles of men and women in society are often diametrically opposed

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

My Parents
Stephen Spender

My parents kept me from children who were rough

Who threw words like stones and wore torn clothes
Their thighs showed through rags they ran in the street
And climbed cliffs and stripped by the country streams.

I feared more than tigers their muscles like iron

Their jerking hands and their knees tight on my arms
I feared the salt coarse pointing of those boys
Who copied my lisp behind me on the road.

They were lithe they sprang out behind hedges

Like dogs to bark at my world. They threw mud
While I looked the other way, pretending to smile.
I longed to forgive them but they never smiled.

Summary
The poem is a recollection of the persona’s childhood and the children he wants to be friends
with. The persona’s parents prevent him from playing with a group of children who are rowdy
and of a lower class. They would both physically and verbally harass the persona who makes
great efforts to be their friend.

Themes
1. Loneliness - The persona suffers from a feeling of isolation from other children and
rejection by those he longs to befriend
2. Childhood Innocence - The persona, a child, unable to understand the complexities of
the class antagonism between the children and himself, settles on the fact that they are
just different
3. Classism - Clearly underlying the parents’ sheltering of the child from the children in the
poem, is to some extent a scornful treatment of those children of lower class
4. Disillusionment - The persona seems to go through a transformation to the ultimate
understanding that the sheltering of his parents are justified, and the lower class boys
would always reject him
5. Forgiveness - The boy wants to forgive his bullies, who seek to disrespect, disparage or
hurt him at every turn

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Devices
1. Simile - “Who threw words like stones and wore torn clothes” - compares the harsh
words to the violent act of stone-throwing, “I feared more than tigers their muscles like
iron” - the children are strong as they had big muscles, likely due to lots of physical
activity, which is emphasized by comparing their muscles to iron, “Like dogs to bark at
my world” - compares the harassment the persona faces from the children to the
persistent barking of a dog
2. Metaphor - “I feared the salt coarse pointing of those boys” - highlights the scorn
driving the pointing of the boys by comparing it to the roughness of salt
3. Hyperbole - “I feared more than tigers their muscles like iron” - The persona greatly
fears the bullying of the children so he claims to fear their muscles more than he fears
tigers
4. Contrast - “I longed to forgive them but they never smiled” - The persona wants to
befriend the children but the children do not like the persona. There is a general contrast
in the behaviour of the children and that of the persona as well as a contrast in their social
classes
5. Imagery - “wore torn clothes Their thighs showed through rags they ran in the street” -
highlights how ruggedly the children lived as their clothes had become worn out due to
playing outside, highlights their lower social class as higher class people would have their
damaged clothes replaced, “They were lithe they sprang out behind hedges” - description
of the children as very thin and agile which demonstrates both the athleticism they
possess as a result of their lifestyle and their thinness which may be because of their
poverty
6. Irony - the persona so desperately wants to befriend these children despite their constant
bullying.

Tone
1. Longing - The poet presents the persona as yearning for the love, validation and
company of the boys his parents try to protect him from
2. Fearful - The fears of his parents toward lower-class children, as well as his own fears,
are constantly reinforced
3. Accusatory - The persona seems to be accusing his parents of not just sheltering him
from outside experiences, but causing the boys to dislike him as well

Mood
1. Empathetic - The reader is made to feel pitiful, or otherwise understanding, of the boy’s
desires, plight, and problems with the other characters in the poem

Perspective

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

1. 1st person child narrator - The persona uses the words “I” and “my” and captures
complex problems through his own experience as a child

Message
1. Parents instinctively protect their children from danger.
2. Bullying is typically reflective of underlying material conditions.
3. Victims of bullying often maintain love and forgiveness for their abusers.

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Little Boy Crying

Mervin Morris

Your mouth contorting in brief spite and hurt,

your laughter metamorphosed into howls,
your frame so recently relaxed now tight
with three year old frustration, your bright eyes
swimming tears, splashing your bare feet,
you stand there angling for a moment’s hint
of guilt or sorrow for the quick slap struck.

The ogre towers above you, that grim giant,

empty of feeling, a colossal cruel,
soon victim of the tale’s conclusion, dead
at last. You hate him, you imagine
chopping clean the tree he’s scrambling down
or plotting deeper pits to trap him in.

You cannot understand, not yet,

the hurt your easy tears can scald him with,
nor guess the wavering hidden behind that mask.
This fierce man longs to lift you, curb your sadness
with piggy-back or bull fight, anything,
but dare not ruin the lessons you should learn.

You must not make a plaything of the rain.

Summary
After playing in the rain, a little boy is corporally punished by his father. The boy harbours
immense anger towards his father for punishing him and fantasizes about harming his father.
Although the father believes that he was correct to punish his child, he is saddened by his son’s
crying.

Themes
1. Parent and Child Relationship - Commentary is made towards the roles of parents and
boundaries they should face in executing discipline
2. Childhood Experiences - Being scolded, punished and beaten for innocent exploits is a
common part of childhood
3. Internal Conflict - The boy’s father seeks to comfort him through his crying, but
resolves that his commitment to the punishment is necessary to teach the child a lesson

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

4. Relationships With Authority - The boy shows firm resistance to and a deep disdain for
this authority figure that infringes upon his freedom and seemingly hurts him without
reason

Devices
1. Contrast - “your laughter metamorphosed into howls, your frame so recently relaxed
now tight” - Contrasts how the boy feels before and after being beaten; “This fierce man
longs to lift you, curb your sadness…but dare not ruin the lessons you should learn.” -
the father wants to be gentle with his child but his actions are stern and disciplinary
2. Metaphor - “The ogre towers above you, that grim giant, empty of feeling, a colossal
cruel,” - The boy views his father’s punishment as excessive but he is unable to do
anything in response due to his size, te father is compared to a giant cruel monster; “You
cannot understand, not yet, the hurt your easy tears can scald him with” - To scald is to
burn something with hot water, the father is saddened by his son’s crying - to emphasize
this, the tears are said to be scalding him.
3. Allusion - “you imagine chopping clean the tree he’s scrambling down” - An allusion to
the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, a story where a small boy slays a giant who he had
angered.

Tone
1. Sombre - Neither of the personae in the poem enjoys what is happening, but the father
must maintain the lesson he is trying to teach the child, however harsh
2. Contemptuous - The poet makes the child to feel disdain for his father
3. Firm - The father remains resolute in punishing his child, despite feeling somewhat
guilty and compassionate toward the child

Mood
1. Tense - The poem makes the reader somewhat uneasy at the nature of the father’s
punishment while relatively understanding of the lesson he tries to teach
2. Empathetic - The poem makes the reader understand the child’s weeping, and feel some
compassion toward him

Perspective
1. 3rd person omniscient - The narrator uses both “you” and “him” and has knowledge of
the feelings and thoughts of all the personae

Message
1. Parents often have to make tough choices and take harsh action to instil discipline
2. Parents straddle wanting to comfort their children with needing to ground them in
discipline

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

God’s Grandeur
Gerard Manley-Hopkins

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Summary
In the poem, the persona addresses the negligence and outright abuse of man towards the earth.
He characterizes nature as a reflection of the glory of God and thus looks upon man’s
exploitation of it with great disdain.

Themes
1. Nature - The earth and all its natural features are presented as the work of God: a sacred
treasure with which human’s have been blessed
2. Admiration - The persona marvels at the grandeur of God, which so intensely radiates
and illuminates the world, saturating it with its natural features
3. Renewal - Despite the constant destruction of humanity, nature continues to replenish
itself, never depleted of the things that the persona so warmly admires
4. Resilience - The earth withstands man’s onslaught, and continues to bear its essential
characteristics
5. Conflict: Man vs Nature - Man scars the earth out of his own greed, as nature replies
only with beauty and transformative renewal
6. Capitalism - Commentary is made on the nature of commodification, consumerism,
industrial production and trade, which forms the backbone of society’s abuse of its
natural resources, since it centres profit above all else

Devices

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

1. Simile - “It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;” - The grandeur of God
manifests itself in nature in a striking way similar to the bright flash of light seen when
thin sword (foil) is shaken. “It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed.” -
God’s grandeur as seen in nature is compared to oil extracted from crushing plants (ex.
olives), ike olives that produce sought after oil when crushed, the greatness of nature is
shown when it continues to be something to marvel, even after humanity’s attempts to
destroy it.
2. Metaphor - “seared with trade, bleared, smeared with toil” - calls man’s exploitative
actions dirty, compares the effects of man’s actions to a thing being defaced
3. Rhyme - “And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;” - An internal rhyme
of the sound ‘-eared’ describes the effects of industrialization and human exploitation of
the earth in the sound of a thing being smudged, also imagery and assonance.
4. Repetition - “Generations have trod have trod have trod” - shows the incessant and
recurrent nature of man’s abuse toward the earth
5. Contrast - Industry is presented as dirty and destructive toward the earth in comparison
to the awe-inspiring glory of God which only brings the earth beauty
6. Allusion - “Holy Ghost… broods with warm breast and… bright wings” - alludes to the
Christian conception of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, as it appeared before John
the Baptist while Jesus was being baptised
7. Alliteration - “And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil” - emphasises
the look and smell of the earth through man’s illtreatment of it, also imagery
8. Symbolism - Nature is a symbol of God’s greatness and the destruction of nature is a
symbol of man’s infallibility and moral imperfection

Tone
1. Grateful - The poet presents a persona who is grateful for the earth and all its benefits to
man
2. Disdainful/Disappointed - The persona becomes disappointed that man would take such
a sacred gift of God and desecrate it for his own greed
3. Awestruck - The persona is in awe of both God’s glory as shown through the world, and
nature’s tendency to replenish itself

Mood
1. Reflective - The poem causes the reader to think about the beauty and usefulness of the
earth we have been ‘blessed’ with
2. Ashamed - The poem makes the reader ashamed that humanity could be so ungrateful for
and destructive of the earth

Perspective
1. 3rd person - narrator speaks of the actions of humans toward the earth

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Message
1. Nature is a reflection of God’s glory
2. We should appreciate this gift much more
3. Man has taken advantage of the world out of his exploitative greed

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

A Stone's Throw
Elma Mitchell

We shouted out
'We've got her! Here she is!
It's her all right '.
We caught her.
There she was -
A decent-looking woman, you'd have said,
(They often are)
Beautiful, but dead scared.

And not the first time

By any means
She'd felt men's hands
Greedy over her body -
But ours were virtuous,
Of course.

And if our fingers bruised

Her shuddering skin,
These were love-bites, compared
To the hail of kisses of stone,
The last assault
And battery, frigid rape,
To come
Of right.
For justice must be done
Specially when
It tastes so good.

And then - this guru,

Preacher, God-merchant, God-knows-what -
Spoilt the whole thing,
Speaking to her
(Should never speak to them)
Squatting on the ground - her level,
Writing in the dust
Something we couldn't read.
And saw in her

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Something we couldn't see

At least until
He turned his eyes on us,
Her eyes on us,
Our eyes upon ourselves.

We walked away
Still holding stones
That we may throw
Another day
Given the urge.

Summary
In the poem, the persona in a mob of men is about to stone a woman to death for sexual
immorality. They feel justified in this execution of justice, blind to the hypocrisy of their actions,
until another man steps between them and the woman, to spare her their impending wrath. This
may be interpreted as an allusion to the biblical story in the book of John, where Jesus saves an
adulterous woman from a similar mob, who seeks to stone her in accordance with Levitical law.

Themes
1. Gender Affairs - Only the woman is sought out for punishment by the group, and little
thought is given to the men who would have likely participated in the same acts she did
2. Oppression - The persona’s idea and likely system of justice strictly targets women for
acts of sexual immorality, denying them their free choice
3. Violence - There is a vivid description of the men seeking to stone this woman to death,
in their execution of justice
4. Hypocrisy - While they seek to punish this woman, they ignore the acts of the men who
would have been involved, as well as their own evils and wrongdoing
5. Conflict: Man vs Man - Violence is being enacted on a woman by other human beings
6. Morality - The persona feels entitled by his system of morality to judge and punish her
for her immoral actions
7. Justice - The men feel that their violence upon her is in pursuit only of justice
8. Empathy - The man who saves the woman takes compassion upon her, and deters the
men from stoning her
9. Self-Righteousness - These men feel a sense of goodness in their actions to stone the
woman, and self-righteous indignation when the figure comes between her and their
quest for justice

Devices

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

1. Biblical Allusion - The entire poem may be considered an allusion to the biblical
narrative of Jesus rescuing an adulterous woman from the onslaught of men who believed
she had broken the law and was deserving of the punishment of death
2. Metaphor - “These were love bites… the hail of kisses of stone”, “last assault and
battery, frigid rape to come of right” - Compares their violence upon the woman to acts
of love, compares their own actions to crimes which they justify as right, also
euphemism, irony and oxymoron; “justice must be done, specially when it tastes so
good” - compares the justice of killing someone to a delicious meal/sexual gratification,
also irony
3. Pun - “A stone’s throw” - references their throwing of stones, how close their own
immoralities were to themselves as they sought justice and a callback to the proverb: “if
you live in a glasshouse, don’t throw stones”
4. Irony - “...frigid rape to come of right” - a serious act of crime is painted as right
through the persona’s eyes, “She'd felt men's hands greedy over her body - but ours were
virtuous” - the persona admits to be engaging in a similar activity to what he will punish
the woman for, “A decent-looking woman, you'd have said… Beautiful, but dead scared”
- the persona clearly finds the woman attractive and seeks her death nonetheless
5. Personification - “men’s hands greedy over her body” - hands are given the qualities of
hunger and greed
6. Repetition - “his eyes… her eyes… our eyes upon ourselves” - emphasises the shame
and guilt the men now feel at the hypocrisy that the “God-merchant” has alerted them to
7. Imagery - “if our fingers bruised her shuddering skin” (visual and tactile) - gives the
reader an image of the fright and frailty of the woman about to be killed

Tone
1. Contemptuous - The poet presents the persona with great contempt for the figure who
saves the woman from their pursuit of justice
2. Firm - The persona is resolute in his thinking that the woman has done something wrong
and they must correct it
3. Sanctimonious - The men in the poem are given a self-righteous anger that justifies their
violence toward the woman

Mood
1. Empathetic - The poem causes the reader to put himself in the woman’s shoes and
oppose the men’s treatment of her

Perspective
1. 1st person - narrator uses “we” and gives a different perspective into a story often told
from one point of view

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Message
1. Noone is without moral flaw
2. Sexual promiscuity from women is demonized in our culture, as the same is celebrated or
ignored when from men

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

It is the Constant Image of Your Face

Dennis Brutus

It is the constant image of your face

framed in my hands as you knelt before my chair
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;
and neither you nor I can plead excuses
for you, you know, can claim no loyalty –
my land takes precedence of all my loves.

Yet I beg mitigation, pleading guilty

for you, my dear, accomplice of my heart
made, without words, such blackmail with your beauty
and proffered me such dear protectiveness
that I confess without remorse or shame,
my still-fresh treason to my country
and I hope that she, my other, dearest love
will pardon freely, not attaching blame
being your mistress (or your match) in tenderness.

Lol

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Dreaming Black Boy

James Berry

I wish my teacher’s eyes wouldn’t

go past me today. Wish he’d know
it’s okay to hug me when I kick
a goal. Wish I myself wouldn’t hold back when an answer comes.
I’m no woodchopper now
like all ancestors.

I wish I could be educated

to the best of tune up, and earn
good money and not sink to lick
boots. I wish I could go on every
crisscross way of the globe
and no persons or powers or
hotel keepers would make it a waste.

I wish life wouldn’t spend me out

opposing. Wish same way creation
would have me stand it would have
me stretch, and hold high, my voice
Paul Robeson’s, my inside eye
a sun. Nobody wants to say
hello to nasty answers.

I wish torch throwers of night

would burn lights for decent times.
Wish plotters in pyjamas would pray
for themselves. Wish people wouldn’t
talk as if I dropped from Mars.

I wish only boys were scared

behind bravados, for I could suffer.
I could suffer a big big lot.
I wish nobody would want to earn
the terrible burden I can suffer.

Summary

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

This poem follows the speaker in the first-person perspective expressing his frustration with the
way society treats him because of his race. He expresses a yearning for a better life than those of
many of his ancestors, which were plagued by racial issues.

Themes
1. Dreams and Desires - The persona expresses a constant desire to be treated fairly and
equally as others, despite his race, and to survive, even given the catastrophic fates of his
ancestors, and to model people like Paul Robeson who were able to flourish within a
racist environment
2. Racism - The persona speaks of discrimination toward him in school and in public and
allusion is made to historical racism during periods of slavery and racial segregation in
America
3. Childhood Experiences - As a child, the persona has an innocent and wishful
understanding of the world
4. Self-Esteem - The boy shows issues of confidence in himself which manifests itself in a
yearning for the validation of others
5. Injustice/Oppression - Commentary is made on the historical and contemporary racial
barriers that have resisted the success of black people

Devices
1. Repetition - “I wish” is repeated to emphasize the seriousness and desperation of the
boy’s longing for validation and respect
2. Allusion - “I’m no woodchopper now like all ancestors” - references enslaved ancestors
who were held back because of their race, “my voice Paul Robeson’s” alludes to a famous
black musician who thrived in Jim Crow America, “I wish torch throwers of night would
burn light for decent times” - references Ku Klux Klansmen who often marched with
torches and lynched innocent black men
3. Metaphor - “I wish I could be educated to the best of tune up” - compares the good
education he longs for to a finely tuned instrument, “...and not sink to lick boots” -
compares subservience to racist ideals to bootlicking
4. Simile - “Wish people wouldn’t talk as if I dropped from Mars” - compares his
ostracization to feeling like an alien from a distant planet
5. Personification - “I wish life wouldn’t spend me out opposing” - gives life a
characteristic of agency that exhausts the persona as he combats discrimination

Tone
1. Yearning - The poet presents the persona as longing for a better life for himself
2. Sad - The persona seems sad, as he recollects many of the ways society mistreats him on
the pure basis of the colour of his skin

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Mood
1. Empathetic - The poem makes the reader empathetic with the pain and struggles of this
black boy, fighting for success in a racist world

Perspective
1. 1st person - The narrator uses the words “I” and “me”, and writes from the perspective
of a child who experiences the trauma of racism

Message
1. Discrimination can inhibit people’s biggest desires.
2. Race affects many aspects of our lives and interactions with the world.
3. People are affected by their ancestors’ past.

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

The Woman Speaks to the Man who has Employed her Son
Lorna Goodison

Her son was first made known to her

as a sense of unease, a need to cry
for little reasons and a metallic tide
rising in her mouth each morning.
Such signs made her know
That she was not alone in her body.
She carried him full term
tight up under her heart.

She carried him like the poor

carry hope, hope you get a break

or a visa, hope one child go through

and remember you. He had no father.
The man she made him with had more
like him, he was fair-minded
he treated all his children
with equal and unbiased indifference.

She raise him twice, once as mother

Then as father, set no ceiling
On what he could be doctor,
earth healer, pilot take wings.
But now he tells her he is working
for you, that you value him so much
you give him one whole submachine
gun for him alone.

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.
She went downtown and bought three
and one-third yards of black cloth
and a deep crowned and veiled hat
for the day he’d draw his bloody salary.

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

She has no power over you and this

at the level of earth, what she has
are prayers and a mother’s tears
and at knee city she uses them.
She says psalms for him
she reads psalms for you
she weeps for his soul
her eyewater covers you.

She is throwing a partner

with Judas Iscariot’s mother
the thief on the left-hand side
of the cross, his mother

is the banker, her draw though

is first and last for she still
throwing two hands as mother and
father.

She is prepared, she is done.

Absalom.

Summary
The poem follows a mother’s journey with her son from pregnancy to preparation for his death.
She speaks of the high hopes she had for her son, which are soon lost when she discovers his
entrance into a life of crime.

Themes
1. Dreams and Aspirations - The mother has high and desparate hopes that her son will
take the family out of poverty
2. Crime and Violence - The son becomes involved with a gang which will inevitably lead
to his death and the death of others
3. Religion - Prayer and scripture reading form an integral part of the mother’s parenting
and fight against violence/death, she shows great faith in God
4. Family Relationships - The son seeks a father figure as a replacement for the absence of
his own
5. Women’s Issues - The mother has had to serve the roles of both mother and father to her
child
6. Disillusionment - The mother becomes disappointed that the man that her son would
look up to would lead him to a violent death

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Devices
1. Metaphor - “...and a metallic tide rising in her mouth each morning” - compares
morning sickness caused by pregnancy to a tidal wave in the mother’s mouth, “...for the
day he draw his bloody salary” - compares his impending death to a payment for his
criminal works, “...and at knee city she uses them” - compares the woman’s sessions of
prayers to a city where she goes while on her knees
2. Simile - “she carried him like the poor carry hope” - compares her hope, faith and love
for the child to that of a person in poverty to escape it
3. Repetition - “hope” is repeated to emphasize the depths of her own wish for her child’s
success
4. Sarcasm - “he was fair-minded he treated all his children with equal and unbiased
indifference” - humourously characterizes his abandonment of his children as impartial
judgement
5. Oxymoron - “she raised him twice, once as a mother then as a father” - describes her
committed parenting of her child in seemingly contradictory terms, as both mother and
father
6. Irony - It is counter-intuitive that the man that the woman’s son values and works for,
would give him the tools for his own demise
7. Biblical Allusion - references a scripture verse in the bible that asks, “Which of you, if
your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?”, “She is throwing a partner with Judas
Iscariot’s mother the thief on the left-hand side of the cross” - references the biblical
narratives of the man who betrays Jesus and the man who dies beside Jesus, who
presumably all had mothers who were involved in their lives, “Absalom” - references the
biblical narrative of Absalom, David’s son, who plots to kill him, similar to the way that
the mother’s son kills her hopes
8. Hyperbole - “her eyewater covers you” - exaggerates the woman’s tears

Tone
1. Disappointed - The poet presents the mother as distraught as her hopes and dreams are
crushed by her son’s involvement with criminals
2. Resigned - The mother eventually comes to accept her son’s inevitable death and can do
nothing but prepare for it

Mood
1. Sympathetic - The reader is made to feel heartbroken and understanding of the mother’s
plight

Perspective

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

1. 3rd person limited - The narrator addresses the gang leader, only knowing the mother’s
point of view

Message
1. The role of a father can’t be substituted by a mother.
2. A child, no matter how well he is raised, will eventually make his own choices.
3. You can’t fight the inevitable.

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Test Match Sabina Park

Stewart Brown

Proudly wearing the rosette of my skin

I strut into Sabina
England boycotting excitement bravely
something badly amiss.

Cricket. Not the game they play at Lords,

The crowd- whoever saw a crowd
At a cricket match? – are caged
vociferous partisans, quick to take offence.

England sixty eight for none at lunch.

‘What sort o’ battin dat man?
Dem kaaan play cricket again,
praps dem should-a-borrow Lawrence Rowe!’

And on it goes, the wicket slow

as the batting and the crowd restless.
‘Eh white bwoy, how you brudders dem
does sen we sleep so? Me pay me monies
fe watch dis foolishness? Cho!’

So I try to explain in my Hampshire drawl

about conditions in Kent,

about sticky wickets and muggy days
and the monsoon season in Manchester
but fail to convince even myself.

The crowd’s loud ‘busin drives me out

skulking behind a tarnished rosette
somewhat frayed now but unable, quite,
to conceal a blushing nationality.

Summary
The poem follows an Englishman who comes to watch a test cricket match at Sabina Park.
England is batting slowly and poorly, so he is ridiculed by the supporters of the home team,
eventually leaving embarrassed at the fact that England is losing.

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Themes
1. Nationalism/Patriotism - The poem explores the passion for and love of country,
particularly with respect to international sports
2. Loyalty - The Englishman initially shows firm devotion to his team
3. Conflict - At the heart of the plot is an intense rivalry between the West Indian supporters
and the Englishman
4. Pride - The persona walks into the match decorated with pride and firm support for his
team, but leaves in shame, humbled by the West Indians whom he tries to convince that
they are misunderstanding England’s strategy

Devices
1. Metaphor - “...the rosette of my skin”, “...a tarnished rosette somewhat frayed” -
compares his white skin as an Englishman to a rosette (a kind of award),
2. Rhetorical Question - “whoever saw a crowd at a cricket match” - suggests that the
Sabina Park crowd is large, uncharacteristic of a test cricket match
3. Imagery - “caged vociferous partisans” (visual) - creates a scene of these West Indian
supporters as animated, and restrained only by the blockades between the field and the
stands, also metaphor describing their behaviour as animalistic
4. Allusion - “praps dem shoulda borrow Lawrence Rowe” - references a West-Indian
cricketer, whom the crowd believes could do better than the English batsmen
5. Use of Language - “What sort o’ battin dat man dem kaan play cricket?” - contrasts a
vibrant Jamaican dialect with the persona’s formal English language
6. Irony - “about conditions in Kent… sticky wickets… muddy… the monsoon season in
Manchester” - ironic both since there are no monsoons in England and hurricanes are
regular occurrences in the Caribbean
7. Pun - “England boycotting excitement, braving something badly amiss” - a play on both
the defensive style of cricket that England seems to be taking as well as the names of
England’s two opening batsmen at the time, Geoffrey Boycott and Dennis Amiss
8. Personification - “unable, quite, to conceal a blushing nationality” - ascribes to his now
humiliated nationality, the characteristic of embarrassment, also visual imagery

Tone
1. Proud - The persona is first prideful for his team, which he believes is doing well in their
strategy
2. Embarrassed - The persona becomes embarrassed at how poorly his team performs,
moving him to leave the stadium accordingly

Mood
1. Humorous - The poem causes the reader to be humoured by the speech between the
characters in the poem and the contrast of the Englishman first prideful then embarassed

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Perspective
1. 1st person - The narrator uses “I” and “my”

Message
1. Pride goeth before a fall.

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

South
Kamau Brathwaite

But today I recapture the islands' bright beaches:

blue mist from the ocean rolling into the fishermen's houses.
By these shores I was born: sound of the sea came in at my window,
Life heaved and breathed in me then with the strength of that turbulent soil.

Since then I have travelled: moved far from the beaches:

sojourned in stoniest cities, walking the lands of the north
in sharp slanting sleet and the hail, crossed countless saltless savannas
and come to this house in the forest where the shadows oppress me
and the only water is rain and the tepid taste of the river.

We who are born of the ocean can never seek solace

in rivers: their flowing runs on like our longing,
reproves us our lack of endeavour and purpose,
proves that our striving will founder on that.
We resent them this wisdom, this freedom:
passing us toiling, waiting and watching their cunning declension down to the sea.

But today I would join you, travelling river,

borne down the years of your patientest flowing,
past pains that would wreck us, sorrows arrest us,
hatred that washes us up on the flats;
and moving on through the plains that receive us,
processioned in tumult, come to the sea.

Bright waves splash up from the rocks to refresh us,

blue sea-shells shift in their wake
and there is the thatch of the fishermen's houses, the path
made of pebbles, and look!
Small urchins combing the beaches
look up from their traps to salute us:
they remember us just as we left them.

The fisherman, hawking the surf on this side

of the reef, stands up in his boat
and halloos us: a starfish lies in its pool.

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

And gulls, white sails slanted seaward,

fly into the limitless morning before us.

Summary
The poem follows the speaker who has moved away from his home in a tropical climate, most
likely in the Caribbean to a more urban environment. The speaker expresses his nostalgia for the
perks of his home and eventually returns there to reminisce.

Themes
1. Nostalgia - The persona experiences a deep longing to return to his old home, which to
him cannot be replaced
2. Nature - The products and beauty of nature are described in detail as the source of the
speaker’s happiness
3. Migration - The persona travels a far way from his home and ultimately longs to go back
4. Desires - The persona dreams to once again feel the comfort of home, as well as
overcome those desires that drove him away from home in the first place

Devices
1. Imagery - “...the island’s bright beaches” (visual), “sound of the sea” (auditory) - creates
a vivid scenery of the home the speaker longs for
2. Simile - “their flowing runs on like our longing” - compares his constant longing to
return home to the flow of the river
3. Alliteration - “bright beaches, blue mist from the ocean”, “sojourned in stoniest cities”,
“sharp slanting sleet… crossed countless saltless savannas and come…”, “sea-shells
shift”, “tepid taste” - emphasize the descriptions of both his rural and urban homes to
highlight their features
4. Personification - “life heaved and breathed in me” - gives life the attributes of
life-giving, “where the shadows oppress me” - ascribes oppressive characteristics to
shadows, “rivers… reproves us our lack of endeavour and purpose” - gives the rivers the
attributes of reproach, “their cunning declension down to the sea” - ascribes to rivers the
quality of being cunning
5. Pun - “small young urchins” - plays on both the sea creatures and small, young poor
children, known as urchins
6. Contrast - the warm, nature-filled urban life is juxtaposed with the stony cities

Tone
1. Nostalgic - The persona constantly remembers his home and finds that it cannot be
replaced
2. Yearning - The persona longs to return home

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Mood
1. Compassionate - The poem makes the reader sympathetic to the speaker’s longing for
home
2. Joyful - The reader is made to feel happy when the speaker finally returns and becomes
connected to his rural life

Perspective
1. 1st person - The narrator uses “I” and “we”

Message
1. There is no place like home.

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Sonnet Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802

William Wordsworth

Earth has not anything to show more fair:

Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!

Summary
This poem describes a speaker’s sights as he travels across Westminster Bridge, London, in one
early morning in 1802. He doesn’t see much, as nothing has opened up, people are still asleep,
and he notes the quietness and serenity of his environs.

Themes
1. Nature - In the tranquillity of the morning, nature is most vividly observed by the
persona
2. Admiration - The persona admires the beauty and peace of the morning scenery
3. Urban Life - The city, uncharacteristically, wears a cloak of peace and beauty, which will
soon be ripped off as the business day gets going
4. Conflict: Man vs Nature - Commentary is made to man and his industrial activities
disturbing the peace of nature

Devices
1. Rhyme - “fair… by… wear… bare… lie… air” - makes the poem easier to follow
2. Simile - “this City now doth, like a garment wear” - compares the unusual peace of the
morning to a cloak that the city pulls over at night and will rip off throughout the day,
also personification
3. Personification - “Earth has not anything to show more fair”, “Never did the sun more
beautifully sleep”., “the river glideth at his own sweet will”, “the very houses seem

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

asleep” - make the descriptions of the scenery more vivid by giving them human
attributes
4. Visual Imagery - “ships, towers, domes, theatres...all bright and glittering in the
smokeless air” - conveys a vivid description of the scene
5. Hyperbole - “Ne'er saw I, never felt a calm so deep!” - exaggerates the persona’s
feelings towards the peace

Tone
1. Admiring - The poet presents the persona with great admiration for nature and its beauty
2. Appreciative - The persona finds a small moment to enjoy nature

Mood
1. Calm - The poem immerses the reader in a calm atmosphere in which to likewise enjoy
the peace of nature

Perspective
1. 1st person - The narrator uses “I”

Message
1. It is good to pause and appreciate the beauty in nature.
2. Never let urbanization detract from nature’s beauty.

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

West Indies, U.S.A.

Stewart Brown

Cruising at thirty thousand feet above the endless green

the islands seem like dice tossed on a casino’s baize,
some come up lucky, others not. Puerto Rico takes the pot,
the Dallas of the West Indies, silver linings on the clouds
as we descend are hall-marked, San Juan glitters
like a maverick’s gold ring.

All across the Caribbean

we’d collected terminals – airports are like calling cards,

cultural fingermarks; the hand-written signs at Port-

au-Prince, Piarco’s sleazy tourist art, the lethargic

contempt of the baggage boys at ‘Vere Bird’ in St. Johns...

And now for plush San Juan.

But the pilot’s bland,

you’re safe in my hands drawl crackles as we land,
“US regulations demand all passengers not disembarking
at San Juan stay on the plane, I repeat, stay on the plane.”

Subtle Uncle Sam, afraid too many desperate blacks

might re-enslave this Island of the free,
might jump the barbed
electric fence around ‘America’s
back yard’ and claim that vaunted sanctuary... ‘Give me your poor...’
Through toughened, tinted glass the contrasts tantalise;
US patrol cars glide across the shimmering tarmac,

containered baggage trucks unload with fierce efficiency.

So soon we’re climbing,

low above the pulsing city streets;
galvanised shanties overseen by condominiums
polished Cadillacs shimmying past Rastas with pushcarts
and as we climb, San Juan’s fool’s glitter calls to mind
the shattered innards of a TV set that’s fallen

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

off the back of a lorry, all painted valves and circuits

the roads like twisted wires,
the bright cars, micro-chips
It’s sharp and jagged and dangerous, and belonged to someone else.

Summary
The poem follows a speaker who has a layover in Puerto Rico. He is told he must stay on the
plane, due to U.S. regulations and after taking off, he sees that the reputation Puerto Rico had
built as an extension of the U.S. was not a reality.

Themes
1. Politics - The poem discusses the U.S. regulations that govern Puerto Rico as an
associated U.S. territory, or “America’s back yard”, such as the adamance that passengers
don’t disembark the plane unto U.S. soil
2. Discrimination - Commentary is made on America’s fear that black people would invade
the country

Devices
1. Simile - “the islands seem like dice tossed on a casino’s baize…” - compares the size of
the island to dice on a large table, “San Juan glitters like a maverick’s gold ring” -
compares the country to a maverick, which is unorthodox and atypical from others like it,
“airports are like calling cards” - compares the airport to a card which gives immediate
identifying information about a country
2. Visual Imagery - “above the endless green” - places an image in the reader’s mind
3. Allusion - “the Dallas of the West Indies… silver linings on the clouds” - references the
city of Dallas, Texas, which became rich off oil, much like Puerto Rico is one of the
richest of the Caribbean islands, references the proverb: “every cloud has a silver lining”,
“give me your poor” - references the phrase engraved on the Statue of Liberty
4. Metaphor - “cultural fingermarks” - characterizes the airport as a unique identifier for
the country, “San Juan’s fool’s glitter calls to mind the shattered innards of a TV set… It’s
sharp and jagged and dangerous, and belonged to someone else” - compares San-Juan to
a TV set that has been stolen and destroyed
5. Pun - “island of the free” - plays on the U.S. national anthem which calls itself: Land of
the Free and Puerto Rico being both an island and territory of the U.S., also irony, since
Puerto Rico is essentially property of the U.S.
6. Sarcasm - “subtle Uncle Sam” - shows that the U.S. sneaks a discriminatory regulation
into a loud, aggressive rule on the plane, “might jump the barbed electric fence” -
unlikely that a person would attempt this, yet pursuant to America’s discriminatory
policies, also metaphor comparing the regulations against mass immigration to an electric
fence with barbed wire

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

7. Alliteration - “through, toughened tinted glass, the contrasts tantalise” - emphasizes the
appearance of Puerto Rico as juxtaposed with the other Caribbean Islands
8. Contrast - “galvanised shanties overseen by condominiums, polished Cadillacs
shimmying past Rastas with pushcarts” - shows a contrast between the rich people with
expensive Cadillacs and condominiums and rastas who aren’t as rich to be able to own
the same

Tone
1. Bitter - The poet presents the persona as resenting of the United States’ oppressive and
discriminatory tendencies
2. Sarcastic - The poet employs a sarcastic tone to deride the official stances of the U.S.
immigration agencies

Mood
1. Reflective - The poem makes the reader to consider the reputation of Puerto Rico that has
been sold as contrasted with the personal experience of the speaker
2. Empathetic - The poem causes the reader to understand the persona’s disgust and
disappointment

Perspective
1. 1st person - The narrator uses “we”

Message
1. Appearance is not reality.
2. All that glitters is not gold.

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Once Upon a Time

Gabriel Okara

Once upon a time, son,

they used to laugh with their hearts
and laugh with their eyes:
but now they only laugh with their teeth,
while their ice-block-cold eyes
search behind my shadow.

There was a time indeed

they used to shake hands with their hearts:
but that’s gone, son.
Now they shake hands without hearts
while their left hands search
my empty pockets.

‘Feel at home!’ ‘Come again’:

they say, and when I come
again and feel
at home, once, twice,

there will be no thrice-

for then I find doors shut on me.

So I have learned many things, son.

I have learned to wear many faces

like dresses – homeface,

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

And I have learned too

to laugh with only my teeth
and shake hands without my 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

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

nice talking to you’, after being bored.

But believe me, son.

I want to be what I used to be
when I was like you. I want
to unlearn all these muting things.
Most of all, I want to relearn
how to laugh, for my laugh in the mirror
shows only my teeth like a snake’s bare fangs!

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.

Summary
The poem follows a parent describing to his son how there was once a time when people were
genuine in their words and actions, unlike now when people act without sincerity to conform to
society’s expectations. The parent expresses a desire for the son to teach him how to be genuine
once again.

Themes
1. Nostalgia - The persona reflects on a time when life, in his estimation, was better, as
people seemed more genuine
2. Hypocrisy - People consciously act well toward the speaker without authentic love but
only in a wish to extort him, he often acts with that same behaviour that he detests
3. Desire - The speaker expresses a desire to return to the days of his past
4. Societal Expectations - Adults in society feel a need to appear kind, even when it is
ingenuine
5. Childhood Innocence - Children have a sincerity, honesty and innocence that the
persona wishes to recapture
6. Capitalism - Commentary is made on the profit motive that drives the insincere
interactions between people in society

Devices
1. Metaphor - “...they used to laugh with their hearts and laugh with their eyes” - uses
hearts and eyes figuratively as to represent the true emotions and sincerity that once filled
their laughter, “ice-block-cold eyes” - compares their eyes to something cold to show
how uncaring and callous they are, “...while their left hands search my empty pockets” -
compares those who seek to gain from him to thieves reaching into his pockets

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

2. Irony - “So show me, son, how to laugh; show me how” - Traditionally, a father’s role is
to teach his son about life as fathers have more experience. Yet, the father in the poem is
asking his son to teach him how to smile. “now they only laugh with their teeth,...And I
have learned too to laugh with only my teeth” - The father criticizes the insincerity of the
people he has met, yet he is also insincere in his interactions with others
3. Simile - “I have learned to wear many faces like dresses” - compares his different
attitudes toward different people to dresses for different settings and occasions, “my
laugh in the mirror shows only my teeth like a snake’s bare fangs” - compares his laughs
to a snake, seeming deceitful
4. Allusion - “once upon a time” - references a popular story opener, helps the reader
understand the temporal distance of the period the persona longs for
5. Repetition - repetition of “hearts” and “eyes” calls to inner feelings and sincerity in
expression, repetition of “teeth” suggests danger and repetition of “show me how”
emphasizes his desperation to return to this time when people were more genuine

Tone
1. Nostalgic - The poet presents the speaker as dreaming back to a better time
2. Yearning - The persona longs to return to that time

Mood
1. Sombre - The poem makes the reader saddened that the father has to plead to his son for
help to return to a better time
2. Reflective - The poem makes the reader wish, like the persona, that the world would
return to a time when people were more genuine

Perspective
1. 1st person - Told from the perspective of the father who uses “I”, “me” and “my”

Message
1. Modern society has led to a lack of sincerity which has made people jaded and cynical

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

An African Thunderstorm
David Rubadiri

From the west

Clouds come hurrying with the wind
Turning sharply
Here and there
Like a plague of locusts
Whirling,
Tossing up things on its tail
Like a madman chasing nothing.

Pregnant clouds
Ride stately on its back,
Gathering to perch on hills
Like sinister dark wings;
The wind whistles by
And trees bend to let it pass.

In the village
Screams of delighted children,
Toss and turn
In the din of the whirling wind,
Women,
Babies clinging on their backs
Dart about
In and out
Madly;

The wind whistles by

Whilst trees bend to let it pass.

Clothes wave like tattered flags

Flying off
To expose dangling breasts
As jagged blinding flashes
Rumble, tremble and crack

Amidst the smell of fired smoke

And the pelting march of the storm.

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Summary
The poem describes a dangerous storm approaching an African village and the panicking
reactions of people to it.

Themes
1. Nature - The power of nature is unfathomable and has the ability to be extremely
destructive
2. Conflict: Man vs Nature - The efforts of man is no match for the strength of nature, as
the storm moves through the village bringing destruction
3. Colonialism - The poem alludes to Western society, particularly Europe, moving into
Africa, to exploit its resources
4. Childhood Innocence - The children in the village are unable to recognize the danger
presented by the storm

Devices
1. Simile - “Like a plague of locusts” - Compares the thunderstorm to a destructive swarm
of locusts; possibly a biblical allusion, “Like a madman chasing nothing.” - highlights the
destructive nature of the storm, emphasizes the widespread effect of the storm. “Like
sinister dark wings” - emphasizes the height of the thunderclouds and how spread out
across the sky they are, “Clothes wave like tattered flags” - illustrates the damage caused
by the storm passing, specifically the damage done to the people that leave them
vulnerable, compares them to tattered flags which are supposed to be thrown away
2. Personification - “And trees bend to let it pass” - personifies the trees and gives them a
fear of the storm causing them to want to get out of its way, shows the contrast between
how nature reacts to impending doom vs how the humans act
3. Alliteration - “wind whistles”, “toss and turn”, “ whirling wind” and “wind whirls”
emphasises the movement of the wind

Tone
1. Ominous - The poem is building up to the effect that the thunderstorm will have on the
village

Mood
1. Fearful - The poem makes the reader fearful of the incoming thunderstorm and its
effects.

Perspective
1. 3rd person omniscient - The narrator is aware of all points of view, the women, the
children and the thunderstorm

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Message
1. Nature is a very destructive and powerful force that bends to nothing else
2. Mankind must submit to nature’s might

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Mirror
Sylvia Plath

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.

Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful,
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.

Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,

Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.

Summary
The poem is from the perspective of a mirror initially then in the second stanza, changes to the
perspective of a reflection from the lake. As the girl gets older she becomes more obsessed with
her physical appearance. As she ages, she turns away from the truth, the mirror, and looks for
alternatives to show her an image: candles and the moon. However, since they don’t provide
enough lighting, the mirror refers to them as liars because they don't show the truth.

Themes
1. Self-Esteem - The woman shows issues of confidence in herself which manifests itself as
a preoccupation with viewing her own reflection and immense anxiety while doing so
2. Women’s Issues - Commentary is made to the constant expectation and reflected desires
of women in society to maintain accordance with beauty standards
3. Dreams and Desires - The woman wants to look beautiful, even evading the truth if she
needs to preserve those aspirations
4. Internal Conflict - The woman’s desire to maintain her beauty is tempered by the
knowledge that she is growing old

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Devices
1. Personification - The entire poem ascribes human attributes to a mirror and a lake,
“Then she turns to those liars, the candles or moon” - gives to candles and the moon the
human characteristics of dishonesty
2. Metaphor - “In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman Rises
toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.” - metaphorises the woman’s appearance
changing with age by comparing it to a terrible fish rising up to the surface, highlights the
inevitability of her ageing which is fitting since the woman views her reflection in a lake,
“Whatever I see I swallow immediately”- shows that the mirror reflects the entirety of
someone’s appearance as if it has consumed that person, “The eye of a little god,
four-cornered.” - A god is supposed to be all-knowing which is fitting for the mirror as it
shows an unwarped image of the person in front of it, “Then she turns to those liars, the
candles or the moon.” - Since the reflections in a candle and moon are warped, the
woman looks into them for comfort. These reflections are not an accurate reflection of
the woman so it is as if the moon and candlelight are lying to her.
3. Alliteration - “Whatever I see I swallow immediately” - sound suggests the immediate,
impartial devouring of a snake
4. Paradox - “She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.” - The agitation of
hands is the woman shaking the mirror in frustration while crying, though neither of these
things is a reward

Tone
1. Blunt - The poet writes very matter-of-factly about the woman’s intention and the
mirror’s role
2. Detached - The persona does not seem affected by the woman’s plight

Mood
1. Sombre - The poem makes the reader saddened and sympathetic towards the woman’s
predicament

Perspective
1. 1st person - The narrator uses “I”

Message
1. Your beauty fading with time is an unavoidable and often terrifying aspect of life
2. Women are held to unrealistic beauty standards

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

Theme For English B

Langston Hughes

The instructor said,

“Go home and write

a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you—
Then, it will be true.”

I wonder if it’s that simple?

I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.

I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem,
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:
It’s not easy to know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I’m what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you.
hear you, hear me—we two—you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York, too.) Me—who?

Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.

I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records—Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like
the same things other folks like who are other races.

So will my page be colored that I write?

Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be

a part of you, instructor.

You are white—

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.

That’s American.

Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me.

Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that’s true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me—
although you’re older—and white—
and somewhat more free.
This is my page for English B.

Summary
The poem is from the perspective of a young black student going to college in the U.S. It follows
his thought process when his white English teacher instructs him to write a page about himself
and it follows an internal conflict and makes him think about whether his race would make his
page different from the other students in his class due to racial issues, which dictate that black
people and white people are different in all aspects. He comes to a resolution within himself that
we are all a part of each other.

Themes
1. Race - The persona grapples with the realities of being a minority and thinks about how
that feature of himself informs his experieces
2. Racism - Reference is made to America’s history of racial separatist ideology
3. Travel/Migration - There is a constant theme of travel as the persona moves throughout
his community, up the elevator of his home and into his room, also the persona has
travelled from him hometown in North Carolina to attend college in New York

Devices
1. Metaphor - “And let that page come out of you— Then, it will be true.” - By “come out
of you” the instructor is encouraging the persona to write genuinely about himself, not
speaking literally,“Being me, it will not be white.” - referring to the experience of white
Americans being written about and not the literal colour of the paper, “But we are, that’s
true!” - states that the professor and persona have things in common.
2. Contrast - “So will my page be colored that I write? Being me, it will not be white. But it
will be a part of you, instructor. You are white—” - suggests that while the persona sees
that the tastes of black and white people are often the same, they live different
experiences by virtue of privileges and discrimination on the basis of race
3. Alliteration - “Bessie, Bop or Bach” - groups things everyone likes

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 Death is the only adventure I have patience for.

4. Point of View - through the speaker’s eyes, you can see how being black or being
different can make you more apprehensive and inform a different experience

Tone
1. Narrative - The persona details a chronology of events, from his teacher’s assignment of
the paper to his deeper thoughts on it
2. Pensive - The persona ponders very heavy social ideas and issues

Mood
1. Reflective - The reader is made to also think deeply about the subjects that the persona
discusses and to be in some sense inspired

Perspective
1. 1st person - The narrator uses “I”, “me” and “my”

Message
1. People of different backgrounds, including different races, can still like similar things
2. When searching for differences, we can find clear similarities among us
3. Race often informs experience

56