"History" - John Burnside (POD)

overall meaning

the poem is set on a beach in Scotland but dated September 2001, meaning that the recent attacks of 9/11 loom over the poets exploration of the state of the world. Burnside presents a speaker dealing with anxiety by grounding themselves in the present moment, the natural environment, and focusing on his son, presenting these things as an antidote for the anxieties of modern life

themes

• conflict

• nature

• innocence

• anxiety

“St Andrew’s: West Sands: September 2001”

• the poem’s first line riots in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, foregrounding the anxiety and dread that the speaker goes on to describe

• the location of the poem in ‘St Andrews’, Scotland, hyperbolises this anxiety as global and far-reaching

“today as we flew the kites”

• Burnside juxtaposes the opening of the poem with its title ‘History’, establishing the poem’s key concern: how the past infringes upon the present, and how existing in the present moment can act as a source of calm

• this effort to remain present is complicated throughout the poem by the speakers anxiety and subsequent imagination. consider also the juxtaposition of the childish activity of flying kites with the planes used in the 9/11 attacks

“that gasoline smell” “quail-grey” “the war planes cambered and turned”

• Burnside creates a semantic field of bleakness, decay and even violence in the background of this innocent, childlike activity. this uneasy juxtaposition reflects contemporary anxieties about terrorism in the wake of 9/11, and a fear of violence penetrating into everyday life.

• the almost birdlike image of ‘the war planes’ that ‘cambered and turned’ in the sky corrupts and parodies the natural environment, with the poet suggesting that the Romantic or pastoral possibility of finding refuge in nature is nullified in the modern world

“today/ - with the news in my mind, and the muffled dread/ of what may come/ i knelt down in the sand/ with Lucas”

• the specificity of ‘today’ roots the poems in a specific time frame (the aftermath of 9/11) and Burnside emphasises this temporality by isolating the word through the enjambment and in its own line

• the excessive use of enjambment and hyphenation reflects the speakers fragmented system

• ‘the muffled dread/ of what may come’ perfectly encapsulates the speakers anxiety and the sensory adjective ‘muffles’ suggests that their anxiety and dread is separating them from reality and an ability to truly be present in the world: the main focus of this poem

• the specific detail of the speakers sons name creates a moment of intimacy and connection that contrasts the earlier detachment of the vague characterisations of ‘people’

“gathering shells/ and pebbles/ finding evidence of life in all this/ driftwork/ snail she;;s; shreds of razorfish/ smudges of weed and flesh on tideworn stone”

• Burnside employs a clear juxtaposition here between the conventional childhood activity of ‘gathering shells and pebbles’ and the connection to the violence that looms over the poem

• the speakers desire to find ‘evidence of life’ suggests a hope in the restorative powers of the natural world, though this is immediately undercut by the ‘evidence’ he describes; ‘snail shells ‘shred of razorfish’ ‘smudges’. these are all evocative of death, destruction, and hollowness rather than life, and the noun ‘smudges’ suggests trace of life rather than a tangible embodiment of it

• this act of searching for ‘evidence of life’ through rubble, may also mirror the task of the rescue services searching for bodies in the rubble of the twin towers

“the rose of petrol blue/ of jellyfish and sea anemone/ combining with a child’s/ first nakedness”

• the vivid colours of ocean life are a direct contrast to the ‘grey’ of the natural landscape above water, and Burnside combines this image with one of childhood innocence, identifying hope in these ideas

• significantly, jellyfish and anemone are both quite intangible animals as they don’t have bones, which links to the broader concern with the tangible vs the intangible in the poem

“be afraid; but still, through everything/attentive to the irredeemable”

• we may debate the tone of this final line; the speaker directly addresses the reader with an instruction to ‘be afraid’ and we may consider the reference to ‘the irredeemable’ to suggest a sense of hopelessness. however, it may also suggest the speakers acceptance of what he cannot change, which puts a slightly more positive spin on the poems ending

each stanza is a self-conflicted sentence, which creates what

a sense of consistency and grounding within the otherwise chaotic structures

stanzas and lines are irregular in length what did this may reflect

the speakers fractured, disjointed mind and their anxiety, but also a desire to be free from social constraints as they use their connection to nature to ground themselves. the poems structure gets slightly more regular near the end of the poem, suggesting that they are beginning to find peace

the poem begins free verse and shifts to iambic pentameter from the fourth stanza

• this is often disrupted and begins to disintegrate going into the end of poem

• the iambic pentameter begins as the speaker shifts from the present moment to contemplation, suggesting an innate peace and musicality that has been disrupted by current events

what does the prevalence of enjambment and caesura, and the lack of rhyme create

a sense of being out of control