History - John Burnside

Society

Throughout Burnside’s oeuvre there is a sense of the liminal, the provisional and the transformative.

‘History’ directly addresses ideas regarding society and the reaction of society to terrorist attacks and traumatic events as a whole. This is both in the form of societal identity, and through the way in which society reacts, used as a form of social commentary to urge society not to repeat its mistakes

Natural vs man-made

Burnside creates a dichotomy through the repeated juxtaposition of antithetical images - operating in contrasts of the land against the sea; the human world against the natural world; innocence pitted against gilt; pessimism against hope. This use of oppositions in a contrasting manner projects a tableau vivant of the inherently multifaceted nature of human and natural life

The consciousness of mortality and ephemerality highlights different aspects of the ‘cherished world’ by presenting our existence as precious but also limited. Highlights the innate value of all life

vulnerability of nature is paralleled to that of a child ‘first nakedness’

Context

The poem is significantly dated September 2001 in the epigraph, soon after the attacks of the Twin Towers in New York. The large events of history, here symbolised by war planes, can only be understood in context; how the past impacts upon the present, how it affects individuals

‘finding evidence of life in all this’ = perhaps discovery of 9/11 survivors

Structure/form key points

• No rhyme scheme nor consistent metrical pattern, enjambment throughout represents the fluidity of time, adding to the lack of structure and confused thoughts. The ambiguity could also represent the ambiguity of human identity

• Enjambment throughout makes it difficult for readers to discern where each clause ends, representing the indeterminacy of humanity

• Free verse – the structure, length, spacing and placement of lines on page is quite erratic
  (mimic literal falling of twin towers. also link beach idea to the theme of nature and how this is linked)
  (spatial drifting of lines symbolic of an untethered identity in response to the news, drifting of thoughts, indeterminacy of humanity, fragmented society - e.g. shown through the isolation of ‘people’ spaced on a line alone - alienating). The structural fragmentation is also mirrored within the content of the poem, through the discovery of only parts of objects e.g. ‘smudges of weeds’

• The voice is that of the speaker using the first person singular pronoun ‘I’, although he refers also to ‘we’, as if pulling in all humankind. This makes the reader feel as though they are playing a more active role in the poem’s message and hopefully increases the magnitude of his ideologies

• The unstructured flow gives an impression of unformed thoughts, expressed just as they occur to the speaker. The uncertainty is partly communicated by the spatial drifting of the lines about the page – they create a tentative reading for meaning as dislocated words and phrases are connected

• Frequent line breaks working in opposition to the logic of syntax show difficulty in articulation and represent the multifaceted nature of life. The blank space created by these broken lines reflects the space between what we know and what we don’t understand, the space between life and death

‘Pebbles’ vs ‘dread’ ‘fear’

• He employs frequent imagistic contrast between the tangible and the intangible, for example using vivid descriptions of his immediate surroundings on the beach, such as the concrete 'pebbles' and 'jamjars', contrasted by the poem's deeper engagement with existential concerns and the abstract concepts 'dread' and 'fear.' (this juxtaposition could explore the difficulty he has managing these complex emotions within everyday setting)

• Burnside illustrates the complex interplay of oppositions to explore how our world is provisional and subject to change, and that this acknowledgement of finality gives life even more value.

• Commentary on how it is the most important things in our life that tend not to be physical objects

‘The sea, the sky’

• Syndetic listing creates an almost euphonic quality, exploring an appreciation for nature, and concern for its protection

• This is enhanced by the sibilance of ‘sea’ and ‘sky’, which evokes a softness or delicacy to expose the ease to which natural beauties in the world can be damaged by humans

• Underscores further the innate value of all living beings and the climate with which we live in

‘Kite’

• Used cyclically within the poem and expresses a gravitational relationship with the planet; the kite represents freedom and aspiration yet it is grounded by responsibility to represent paradoxical and conflicting emotions in life

• A kite is pulled by larger forces, the intangibles in life that shape who we become (contrast between the concrete and the abstract). Microcosmic (like the fish) for all human life – tugged around and shaped by different pushes and pulls, just as a kite is moved by the wind. (could reflect Burnside’s feelings of helplessness, or alternatively the way in which he feels he lacks control)

• Juxtaposing image at the end of the poem in which the perspective of the child is facing down, ‘sifting wood and dried weed from the sand’, only preoccupied with what is directly in front of him in the present. The parents however are facing upwards towards the ‘kite’ and the ‘sky’, reflecting the broader world view of adults, the way in which we are affected by the world around us

• Kite running in the East/Asia is a very popular activity, particularly in countries like Afghanistan. When the Taliban took over Afghanistan they banned kite-flying as ‘un-Islamic’. This links explicitly to the 9/11 epigraph and theme of terrorism (horrific acts of terrorism discussed through images of childhood play)

‘Jamjars of spawn and sticklebacks’

• The second half of the poem celebrates the ordinary, which now seems even more vulnerable. This is emphasised by the long single sentence, with its isolated phrases spaced across the lines; it is a delicate web of meaning on the page.

• Contrast between the concrete and the abstract, taking comfort in tangible and familiar things. Could be critical of materialism (‘we are confined by property’)

• ‘jamjars’ references confinement vs freedom, acting as a microcosm for human life, and the ways in which life and social constraints refine us

‘Today’

• The poem opens with an anaphora of the temporal marker ‘today’, which is also separate from the rest of the poem, isolated on its own line. Whilst this emphasises the fact that this day is an important and unforgettable day, the fact that ‘today’ is isolated on its own line may be a symbol of how alone people feel in a world full of war and death (influence of the past on the present)

• Juxtaposes the title ‘history’ to reflect that everyday is an opportunity to make new history, it is all part of history. The fact that this is after the 9/11 epigraph shows that history is modern also, that history can repeat itself and humanity must be aware of this - sense of hope, link to ‘light’ imagery