Month: June 2014

Winter Sea – Caseys Beach

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WinterSeaCaseysBeach

Caseys Beach, Batehaven – South Coast of New South Wales

Winter Sea – Caseys Beach

applique on applique of dulling light
washes the bland sky-sea merge
into an ever increasing dark

spates of seaweed disgorge a thick edge
the lonely remnants of empty days
the late afternoon drifts to an early close

finally the beach is lost of light
but an intermittent sigh continues
like a sallow woman refusing death

across the road homes define
as lights increase in intensity and number
respite to the night-wrapped street

Richard Scutter 26 June 2014

Winter – Shakespeare – Analysis

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Winter
(From Love’s Labour’s Lost)

When icicles hang by the wall,
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipp’d and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
Tu-whit;
Tu-who, a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

When all aloud the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson’s saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marion’s nose looks red and raw,
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
Tu-whit;
Tu-who, a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

William Shakespeare

Crabs = crab apples … my mother used to core apples and fill with raisins and currants and brown sugar then bake in the oven with the roast
Keel = to cool – perhaps by stirring the pot
Saw = well known phrase giving advice about life

Rhyming scheme – ababaa – then the chorus

S1 … Well here we have the winter of seventeen century rural England … the poor old shepherd can only blow on his fingers … a vain attempt at warmth … logs and milk have to be brought inside the milk freezing on the journey … and blood is nipp’d perhaps implying loss of circulation (rather than a reference to drink) … and difficult mobility (ways be foul) … it gives great emphasis to the harsh outside conditions

Chorus … we are taken to the night blacking out the cold except for the hoot of the staring owl … but why is this a merry note? … usually more thought of as sinister and haunting … perhaps it is because we are now indoors with Joan and in the welcome warmth of the kitchen and from this perspective it could be seen as ‘merry’ … and ‘merry’ has connotations with Christmas time too and celebration … an indoor celebration from the cold

… but why is Joan greasy? – because of her work with meat in the kitchen? … or because her clothes are dirty covered in grease from cooking – rather than because she has greasy skin herself … for it must have been difficult to keep clothes clean in those day.

S2 …Again the contrast between the outdoors and the indoors returning to the kitchen and the cooking of crab-apples before the repeat of the chorus

What is the parson’s saw – getting his teeth into the congregation? …perhaps all fire and brimstone … but winter is a time of coughing and colds and the congregation get their own back by drowning the parson’s words with their noise … and winter slows things down and in line with the nipp’d blood of S1 the birds sit brooding … so there is a nice balance between the two stanzas

The Chorus again … the repeat of the owl from the warmth of the kitchen

In summary, this is a descriptive poem on winter and how people lived at that time in rural England giving great contrast between the outside severity and the indoor warmth – with the sense of it being rather nice to be indoors after being outside.

On a personal note I can identify with this poem remembering times when I was a child and we used to have family visits to an uncle, a farmer in rural Hampshire. In winter the large low-ceiling farmhouse lounge was heated by a wood-fire – the fireplace of such dimensions that one could literally sit within its structure on either side of the threatening blaze – while outside a blustery cold wind battered snowflakes against the front door. And of course the dining room table was always adorned with wonderful home cooked food – in particular meringue halves kissed with farm-cream and brandy snaps filled with the same. The contrast between the warmth and cold externals was heightened when car trouble sometimes delayed our departure into the black night.

Douglas Stewart – Scribbly Gum – Analysis

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Here is a simple poem from Australian poet Douglas Stewart (1913 – 1985). He was born in New Zealand but lived most of his life in Australia. He was editor of the Bulletin for twenty years. This poem appeared in the centenary publication of the Bulletin.

Scribbly Gum

A child might think
The fairies have come
And scribbled in play
On the scribbly gum,

But we say, no;
Burrowing and biting,
It’s some small insect
Has done this writing;

And yet as though
Wild honey dripped
Down the white tree
To shape the script,

The creature makes
Such clear gold words
Of rock and bush
And leaves and birds

And it its own strange life
As it writes on bark
Like poetry dancing
Out of the dark,

Perhaps after all
The thick white wood
Does hide a fairy
Or just as good.

Douglas Stewart
 
The shorter the text the more thought needed … the more imagination needed perhaps and this is a poem about both imagination and nature and how we communicate with nature. Douglas Stewart wrote many poems on nature so that it is no surprise that such a poem was included in the special edition.

When I first read the poem I immediately thought of my grandchildren and their interpretation of nature and life when they do not relate to any adult understanding. Children, of course, readily make up fanciful stories. The Sribbly Gum along with other eucalypts shed bark leaving quite a beautiful white trunk and insects that create their random scribble then open up a book to be read. Similarly honey can also create interesting language on the trunk of the tree – notice that the ‘words’ are in gold indicating both importance and the link with honey.

This can be seen as nature communicating – and a child or a poet or anyone with imagination can interpret accordingly to their fancy.

And perhaps this is what poetry is all about – an imaginative interpretation of all life. And it must be said that we are part of the natural world too, for so often we seem to separate humanity as something special above environment and other life.

The question is how does nature communicate within its own … and of more importance what is our understanding … it may not be as clear as the scribble on a tree – but it is always there for us to understand, as well as admire the beauty and diversity. And of course when the environment turns sick the message is very clear … how we respond is another matter.

And for those that like to explain everything in life … it is well to recognise that there will always be ‘fairies’ – or just as good! – and we should take a lesson from our children. After all what would life be without the unknown and a little mystery.

Below is an image of the trunk of a Sribbly Gum.

Scribbly Gum 

A link to the background on Douglas Stewart.