This Winter Coming
What does 'Winter' represent metaphorically in this poem?
A period of violent upheaval/social change
What does 'mirth' mean?
Happiness.
How many people died and survived the shipwreck?
Who has the speaker lost in this poem?
Her child.
What connotations appear in line 7. under this sky, this shroud falling?
Death and violenve descending on everyone.
What do these lines imply about the state of the world:
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth, But has trouble enough of its own
The world has experienced a lot of pain and suffering (wars, natural disasters etc.). This means that it will only respond to happy moments in individuals' lives.
Discuss the personification of Winter in this line:
When winter shakes the door
Winter - this was when the shipwreck took place and this reminds the community of the loss they suffered. The 'doorway' also refers to this loss as it represents a spiritual doorway in which souls go through after death.
Identify and comment on the sound device used in this line: The fountain bubbles merrily
Onomatopoeia - the bubbling sound of the fountain appeals to the speaker's sense of hearing, emphasising how each sense is bewitched by the beauty of nature.
Comment on the significance of 'dogs barking in the street'.
Dogs are aware of danger and bark - implies that there will be something dangerous/violent approaching.
Discuss the effectiveness of the title 'Solitude'.
Solitude means being left alone. It is a one-word title which emphasises the speaker's main argument, that everyone will suffer from loneliness during the difficult periods in their lives.
Comment on the contradiction between the title and line 1:
The Shipwreck
Glee! The great storm is over!
Shipwrecks are usually incredibly sad an allude to a loss of life/a disaster for the community. However, this melancholy title is immediately followed by 'Glee!' - a word which emphasises happiness and joy.
Account for the repetition here:
The green, green willow tree,
Green symbolises life and vitality and this emphasises the beauty of the speaker's surrounds. She is surrounded by life.
What is being contrasted:
The world is so hungry, madam’s house is clean
The extreme poverty of people of colour is being contrasted with the lack of worry of white South Africans.
What message is conveyed in this juxtaposition:
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air
If you are happy and going through good times (sing), people will join you and surround you. However, if you are sad and sigh, you will be alone and receive no reply from anyone.
Identify and comment on the sound device used in this line:
Then a silence suffuses the story
Sibilance/Alliteration: This emphasises the tragic nature of the shipwreck and reinforces the trauma created by the death of forty people. They have no answers as to why this tragedy occured.
Why does the speaker end with so many rhetorical questions?
She cannot understand the reason for her loss. She is surrounded by beauty but cannot benefit from it because of her lost child. She invited the readers to ty make sense of her loss.
Identify and comment on the figure of speech in this line: old stumps in the rain, tombstones
Metaphor - being compared to old, dead trees, and tombstones. Both dead trees and tombstones symbolise death, which shows that these back men are more dead than alive - They have lost hope.
Discuss the central message of the poem using these lines:
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.
There is an overly cynical message in these lines - everyone will suffer or experience 'pain'. In these painful moments, people should expect to be abandoned and suffer through them alone 'one by one'.
Comment on the central message of this poem.
Comment on the structure of this poem. Bonus points for discussing the central message.
In the first three stanzas, the speaker expresses the beauty of the natural world and how nature engages all senses - sight, touch, hearing and smell. However, the last stanza is focused on the speaker's sense of loss - she has lost her child so she can no longer take joy in th beauty of nature.