POETRY
Bird shooting Season- Olive Senior
The author is Jamaican and most of her work talks about the Caribbean identity, particularly gender identity and how differently girls are from boys or rather, how unequal Caribbean society is. The speaker is a child- “My father’s house”. It might also appear that it’s a female speaker.
The author uses a child’s point of view to criticise the actions of adults in society.
Themes:
1. Nature
2. Patriarchal Society
3. Childhood Experiences
Summary
This poem briefly states the rituals surround bird shooting season. Stanza one of the poem shows the behaviour of the men during the season ‘make marriage with their guns’ and ‘My father’s house turns macho’.
In contrast, stanza two shows the behaviour of the women during the season. Women prepare food items for the man to take with them.
In stanza 3 the men prepare to leave in the dark and finally in stanza 4 we see the contrasting reaction between the boys (longing to grow) and the girls (feeling sorry for the birds).
Analysis
The poem ‘Birdshooting Season’ is reminiscent of the prominent bird poems. Significantly, while Senior’s gender roles are sharply defined in her poem, there is the strong sense of patriarchy and the clearly divided gender roles and gender positions.
First of all, the men "male marriages with their guns" guns replace and displace their wives. (Implied in the poem is that the guns get all their attention, all their care.) The weapons are fussed over and treasured while the wives and the women are relegated to secondary subservient roles. . The house "turns macho” in a stamp of patriarchy.
These are ‘feminine’ roles like preparing food for the men to carry, background supporting roles Note Senior’s careful word choice in "contentless women" She means that they work "all nightlong" in serving the men and helping their preparations and they get no ‘content’ meaning they get no rest ‘tireless.’ But also means ‘not happy,’ ‘not satisfied’ ‘not content’ in their relegated supporting gender roles. There is a "macho" atmosphere while the women are secondary. It is further dramatized in "drinking white rum neat” which is a man’s thing, a macho achievement, as is the sport of birdshooting.
Then the children are "shivering" because of the chill of the early morning, but the little girls shiver as well out of fright for the birds and horror at the ‘sport’ and slaughter that is about to take place. The girls wish this escape for the birds. The poet divides the genders the female concerns.
(In the final line they dramatize the sense of freedom) and the poem associates this with a need for freedom on the part of women in this "macho patriarchal society ".
Literary Devices
1. Alliteration
Men make marriages and macho in the first stanza. Emphasis on how much time and care go into the preparation of their guns and their sport. Macho associated with manly and the fact that all of the men are gathered at the house, the house has become more manly/macho with the number of the men in it.
2. Repetition
“Fly birds fly”- emphasizing how badly the girl wish for freedom for the birds. But could also be the significant of their desire for freedom.
3. The use of Upper Case
Fly Birds Fly- This is for emphasis on the phrase that could also be seen as a call to action for young women and girls to break free and seek freedom and opportunity., It is has a very wishing tone to it as well.
4. Contrast
Contrast of stanza 1 and 2. The actions of men vs the actions of women signify the gender divisions in society and the difference between the roles of the two groups. Also, one can contrast the emotions of the men vs the women- excitement vs discontent.
5. Personification
“House turns macho”- A house cannot turn macho but a man can. For the reader/audience to understand the effect the presence of the men have on the house.
6. Oxymoron
“Marriages with their guns”- Marriage is something sacred that brings joy and is a happy time. But it also shows commitment. Which is what the men also have with their guns right now. It’s a happy time for them as well but not for the women who they are actually married to.
Important words/phrases
1. ‘Contentless women’- contrasts with the first stanza. The men are getting such satisfaction from their guns and women are not. Seems like the women are not in agreement with the men going bird shooting but they say nothing about it.
2. ‘Stir their brews’- showing how the women are reduced to subservient roles. Shows how the Caribbean household is a patriarchal. Men are the dominant force. Showing how the women were busy doing all the preparing while the men “drink white rum neat”
3. “Shivering”- maybe because of the temperature or for fear for the sport. Women/girls are voiceless because they cannot tell them anything so they just stand there observing and in fear
4. “Little boys longing to grow up bird hunters too”- Boys wanting to continue the patriarchal format of society. Reinforced the role of men in society and the continuance of patriarchy. Not just bird hunters but roles of fathers of men
5. “Whispering”- girls were not empowered to speak up or feel empowered. They were afraid.
Tone
Conversational
Mood
Resentful
Little Boy Crying- Mervyn Morris
In this poem, a father deals with the troubles of raising and disciplining a child. Morris investigates the complicated emotions between a father and his three year old son who has received a spanking because he has been playing in the rain. The themes of time, paternal love, and punishment are demonstrated in the complex pattern of word choice and shifts in point of view.
The poem begins by using word play to show change and water imagery to reveal the fluidity of time and introduces the theme of crime and punishment.
Stanza two is from the boy's point of view. Using allusion, the poet let the boy imagine revenge upon his father. In this stanza, the boy regards his father as a cruel giant who exercises the power over a little boy and revenge in the fairy tale. "The ogre towers above you, that grim giant, empty of feeling, a colossal cruel..." in this stanza shows that boy really hates his father and describes him as a heartless, cruel giant ogre.”You imagine chopping clean the tree he's scrambling down or plotting deeper pits to trap him in": the boy imagines himself as Jack in the fairy tale, Jack and the beanstalk, cutting down the beanstalk before the giant ogre, metaphor of his strict father,
Third Stanza -The tone changes from a hateful tone to a softer tone.
-This stanza highlights the thoughts and feelings of the boy’s father. We see that the boy isn’t the only one who gets hurt- the father also hates what he is doing and is sharing the boy’s pain. Here Morris has portrayed the thoughts and actions of both the father and child, paralleling the complex relationship between the two.
-An omniscient perspective is introduced. Although still from the boy’s point of view, the father’s feelings are also considered.
-Then it goes on to explain why the father was so stink towards the boy; because he needs to be disciplined.
(In the third stanza, the complexity of change, judgment and punishment are revealed in the emotions of the father, who will "piggy-back, bull-fight, anything" with his son who only understands play. Yet the father wants to teach his son a valuable lesson he "should learn." Both are suffering through the ordeal of punishment: the father who has a "fierce" love for his son and the son who is suffering because of the slap)
He has to pretend being something is not; "behind that mask" there is a man who suffers the situation more that the kid, but he has to be seen as a strict authority, as any parent must. This poem reflects nothing but the truth of an ordinary relationship between any father and his son during the growing and maturing process of the kid; but it does not end there: in the last paragraph, which is also the last line, there is a sentence emphasized by being left alone, that carries a moral in it: "you must not make a plaything of the rain". This is a metaphor that could be translated as: "you must not cry just because" (the rain represents the tears)
Title: “Little” as well as “boy” again suggests innocence, and vulnerability
The ogre towers above you, that grim giant, -”Ogre”, “that grim giant” ~ Are both metaphorsfor the boy’s father. It shows how the boy feels towards his father .We see what the child feels of the father’s actions, seeing him as an “ogre” “towering above him”, and referring to the father as “that” “grim giant”.
- ”grim giant” ~ Alliteration used to give the image menacing figures. The alliteration is used to emphasize the strong feelings the child feels. The harsh “G” sounds give it a vengeful tone - full of hate. Also a reference to “Jack and the B.S.”
You hate him, you imagine -The repetition of “you” puts the reader into the child’s perspective, drawing our sympathy for the child, but it also reminds us that this stanza is from the view of the child,
You must not make a plaything of the rain. -This line is somewhat unexpected. It leaves the reader something to think about. Was all this drama necessary just for playing in the rain?-It’s the last thing the father wants the boy to think about, therefore it is mentioned last in the poem
My Parents- Stephen Spender
Themes
1. Children
2. Parents
3. Childhood Experiences
4. Social Stratification
Tells us about who how parents try to keep us from people of different social classes. The author did work in social injustice and class struggle hence his focus.
This poem could be a personal or biographical depiction of Spender's early life suffering the disability of a club foot and a speech impediment.
'My Parents' touches on a social divide between on a social divide between the comfortable middle class narrator and local working class children. It is a divide of which both sides are keenly aware. On the side, the narrator's 'parents kept me from children who were rough', while on the other the children 'threw mud' 'at my world' the theme of social inequality is conveyed through the negative connotations assigned to the children. This poem is about the differences between the classes in society. The speaker in the poem is a relatively well-off child who is in some ways jealous of the poorer kids. He sees their lives as more free than his. He also believes that they are more competent and able to deal with life than he is. Beside them, he feels weak and incompetent. He wishes he could be like them even though he knows he is supposed to be superior.
While his parents are condescending towards the rough coarse children, the child appears envious of their carefree liberty, their unbridled animal prowess and uninhibited playfulness, yet resentful of their bullying behaviour to him.
Spender's language consistently expresses have a vitality that he self-consciously lacks with his 'lisp'. Note that the verbs applied to them are full of action-'threw', 'ran', 'climbed', 'tripped', 'sprang'- while the narrator's verbs are passive and weak -'feared','looked','pretending','longed'.
Who is more to blame, the boys or his parents?- the title seems to suggest he blames his parents, not mentioned much in poem. Though the title, “My Parents” doesn’t seem apt, and seems as if the poet just titled it because they were the first two words of the poem, but if you look into it, it does make sense—the parents influence their views onto their children. In the case of the main voice, if it weren’t for his parents, he probably would have gotten along with the boys, and run freely like them.
Literary Devices
1. Imagery
To show us how different the children were form this child. He talks about how their close are torn and that gives us the idea that are from a lower socio economic standing and alludes to the social stratification of society.
2. Simile
“Words like stones”- to emphasize how hard the words were.
“Muscles like iron”- to show how strong the boys were. Also, how physically strong they were compared to the possibly weak persona of the poem
“They sprang out…like dogs”- to show how vicious the children were and how aggressive. This is in tune with their rough physical appearance.
3. Contrast
The boys compared to the poet. We can visualise the persona through antithesis. He is everything that they are not; softly spoken (words like stones), well dressed (torn clothes, rags), passive (they ran and climbed), inhibited - modesty (they stripped by country streams), weak (muscles of iron), well mannered (salt coarse pointing) lisp (parodied by copying), clumsy (lithe), and friendly (hostile- they never smiled).
4. Onomatopoeia
“Like dogs to bark at my world”- Seems to be Chastising the world of the poet it seems. Sounds of the bark to suggest the harshness of the boys.
Important words/phrases
1. “My parents kept me”- It was the child’s parents who kept him from these people. Suggesting segregation and social stratification. It is the only time we see these words as well which suggests that the boy’s views may differ or not be the same as is parents on this subject.
2. “And climbed cliffs and stripped by country streams”- shows the setting as the Caribbean this is normal for boys to do this. However, the poet is British and this is not normal for them (element of racism)
Tone
Reminiscing
Mood
Contemplative