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Campus BC School OIS Subject English Literature

Class 8 Section Jupiter WS/IS/PQ No.
Topic Report to Wordsworth
Name ID Roll No.
Poem: Report to Wordsworth By: Boey Kim Cheng

You should be here, Nature has need of you.

She has been laid waste. Smothered by the smog,
the flowers are mute, and the birds are few
in a sky slowing like a dying clock.
All hopes of Proteus rising from the sea have sunk;
he is entombed in the waste
we dump. Triton’s notes struggle to be free,
his famous horns are choked, his eyes are dazed, and
Neptune lies helpless as beached as a whale,
while insatiate man moves in for the kill.
Poetry and piety have begun to fail,
As Nature’s mighty heart is lying still.
O see the widening in the sky,
God is labouring to utter his last cry.

ABOUT THE POET

He was born in 1965. His life started in Singapore, his secondary education was at Victoria School and
graduated Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in English Literature from the National University of
Singapore. In 1993, he won a scholarship to attend the International Writing Program at the University of
Iowa. He started his doctoral program at the National University of Singapore. However, he discontinued and
was employed as a probation officer by the Ministry of Community Development. Then he left for Sydney and
completed his Ph.D. studies at Macquarie University.

At the age of 24, he published his first work. His “Somewhere-Bound” won the National Book Development
Council Book Award for Poetry in 1992. Then his second volume of Another Place received the award at the
NBDCS Book Awards. His fifth volume of poetry, Clear Brightness, was selected by The Straits Times as one of
the best in 2012. Boey’s works are famous among both writing communities. His poems are included in the A-
level syllabus for English literature in Singapore. His poem ‘The Planners’ is in the O-level English literature. In
2004, Boey was one of the English Poetry judges for the Singapore Literature Prize. His works convey great
social messages to society.
Summary
In Boey Kim Cheng's poem to Wordsworth, he begins by saying in the first line, "You should be here, Nature
has need of you".Then in the next few lines, he describes some of the environmental problems in our
contemporary world, like pollution, smog, flowers that cannot function, a few birds and a sky that is "slow
moving". Then he speaks about Proteus. He says all hope for Proteus--the God of the sea-- rising is dead. He
means all hope the sea (the unhealthy and contaminated oceans) is gone. He says this is because of man's
insatiable greed, he says, "insatiate man". He says at the end of the poem, "poetry and piety fail" He means that
poetry fails to awaken and save humankind and religion also fails. This poem is very gloomy. It paints a grim
picture of human beings as the cause of the ruination of nature.

The fact that he says "You should be here.." is sort of hopeful, in that, perhaps the poet feels that Wordsworth
could have a positive effect on this ruined natural world. The fact that he entitles his poem "Report to
Wordsworth" is significant in that, he is situating himself in a long line of Romantic poets who elevate nature
above man-made inventions.
ANALYSIS
The tone of the poetic speaker in "Report to Wordsworth" is both objective, as befitting a report, and
despondent: "She has been laid waste. Smothered by smog." The atmosphere (or mood) of the poem is
subdued hopelessness:

All hopes of Proteus rising from the sea have sunk; he is

entombed in the waste ...

Literary devices include the techniques of personification, synaesthesia imagery, and simile, with which Cheng
evokes original mental conceptions. Examples of these are personification: "Nature has need of you”; imagery:
"the flowers are mute" (combines sensory experiences: vision and sound); simile: "sky ... like a dying clock."

The narrative presents an appeal to Romantic poet Wordsworth to come and rescue "Nature She has been
laid waste." Wordsworth's task will be difficult in the extreme because it is humankind that has laid Nature
waste: "insatiate man moves in for the kill." The theme of the narrative is a plea for Nature as "Poetry and piety
have begun to fail" since they are no longer sustained by the pure inspiration of Nature, which represents a
major tenet of Romanticism espoused by Wordsworth.

FORM & STRUCTURE

A fourteen-line composition with rhyming couplets.

The sonnet form is often reserved for compositions where the subject is admired, loved, or deeply respected.
Given the content of Kim Cheng's poem, the poem's form has been chosen ironically.

Kim Cheng's poem describes how nature is abused and disrespected by humanity, not admired, loved, or
respected.

This idea is reinforced through the poet's subversion of the sonnet form throughout the poem. Rhyming
couplets are out of sync or sometimes barely half-rhymes and, in at least one example, the rhythm is entirely
interrupted by an internal rhyming couplet.

This subversion of form is symbolic of the lack of respect awarded to nature.

Literary Device
Personification
 In line three, “the flowers are mute” he uses flowers to convey a pitiful sense, like they do not have a voice and
are suffering in silence. There is irony here as well as flowers are supposed to bloom which creates a sense of
joy and happiness but here, he describes them as gloomy and dull.

In line seven, “Triton’s notes struggle to be free” he emphasizes the amount of waste that we dump, even a god
is useless and helpless due to mankind’s actions. It is beyond his control. This makes us realize our
responsibility on Earth. In the next line, “his famous horns are choked” Boey uses Greek and Roman gods as
allusions to nature.

Simile
In line four, “slow like a dying clock” Boey uses a clock as time is very precious and he wants us to
remind us about Nature and not take her for granted. In line nine, “Neptune lies helpless as a
beached whale” a beached whale gives us an imagery of death, as if nature is dying but it is a slow
process. This increases the effect of sympathy.

Alliteration
In line two, “Smothered by the smog”, the alliteration has an effect that our air is smothering us, which gives
us a sense of suffocation. In line thirteen, “wound widening”, the alliteration has a wailing effect which tells
readers the suffering the earth is facing.

Metaphor
In line thirteen, “O see the wound widening in the sky” refers to the hole in the ozone layer. It is also an image
that the world is hurt and in pain because of the pollution we because which gives a feeling of guilt and regret.

Imagery
In line four, Boey Kim Cheng uses an image of a “dying clock” to express the idea of slow death and also to show
that time is running out for people unless they change the way they live. • In line six, “he is entombed in the
waste” this image shows that destruction and waste are everywhere around us. The word “entombed” gives us
an image of suffocation, this emphasizes and reminds us of our responsibility to nature. The image also lets
readers sympathize with the state that nature is in.

Campus BC School OIS Subject English

Literature
Class 8 Section Jupiter WS/IS/PQ No.
Topic Lament By: Gillian Clarke

Poem: Lament By Gillian Clarke

For the green turtle with her pulsing burden in

search of the breeding ground.
For her eggs laid in their nest of sickness.

For the cormorant in his funeral silk,

 the veil of iridescence on the sand,
the shadow on the sea.

For the ocean’s lap with its mortal stain.

For Ahmed at the closed border.
For the soldier in his uniform of fire.

For the gunsmith and the armourer,

the boy fusilier who joined for the company,
the farmer’s sons, in it for the music.

For the hook-beaked turtles,

the dugong and the dolphin,
the whale struck dumb by the missile’s thunder.

For the tern, the gull and the restless wader,

the long migrations and the slow dying,
the veiled sun and the stink of anger.

For the burnt earth and the sun put out,

the scalded ocean and the blazing well.
For vengeance, and the ashes of language

POET’S SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Born 8 June 1937 is a poet, playwright, editor, broadcaster, lecturer and translator (from Welsh), Clarke was
born in Cardiff and brought up in Cardiff and Penarth, though for part of the Second World War, she was in
Pembroke shire. Although both of her parents were native Welsh speakers, she was brought up speaking only
English, and she learnt to speak Welsh as an adult.
After graduating in English from the University of Wales, Cardiff, she spent a year working for the BBC in London. She
then returned to Cardiff where she married and had a daughter, Catrin - about whom she has written a poem of the same
name - and two sons.

ABOUT THE POEM

Gillian Clarke's poem, ‘Lament’, is an elegy, an expression of grief. It can be a sad, military tune played on a bugle. The
poem uses the title as the start of a list of lamented people, events, creatures and other things hurt in the war, so after
the word ‘lament’, every verse, and 11 lines, begin with ‘for’.

The poem is about war, and in particular about wars in the Middle East. War can’t be waged without grave damage to
every aspect of life. All the details in the poem came from reports in the media. There were newspaper photographs of
cormorants covered with oil - ‘in his funeral silk’. ‘The veil of iridescence on the sand’ and ‘the shadow on the sea’ show
the spreading stain of oil from bombed oil wells. The burning oil seemed to put the sun out, and poisoned the land and
the sea. The ‘boy fusilier who joined for the company,’ and ‘the farmer’s sons, in it for the music’, came from hearing
radio interviews with their mothers. The creatures were listed by Friends of the Earth as being at risk of destruction
by oil pollution, and ‘the soldier in his uniform of fire’ was a horrific photograph of a soldier burnt when his tank was
bombed. The ashes of language are the death of truth during war.

VOCABULARY
1. Cormorant: A kind of seabird.
2. Iridescence: The appearance of a rainbow-like spectrum of colours on a lustrous surface.
3. Ahmed: An Arabic masculine name, common in the Middle East.
4. Gunsmith: A person who makes guns.
 5. Armourer: A person or company that makes, supplies, or repairs weaponry.
6. Boy fusilier: A young rifleman.
7. Hook-beaked turtles: Sea turtles.
8. Dugong: A marine mammal closely related to the manatee.
9. Tern: A kind of seabird.
10. Restless wader: Probably a description of seabirds that stick to shallow water to hunt for food.
11. Blazing well: Here referring to a burning oil well.

SUMMARY
This lament is meant for the sea turtles aching to give birth, who, arriving at the shore where they breed each year, will
lay their eggs in poisoned nests.

It's for the cormorant draped in funeral cloths, the shiny colours reflected in oil on the sand, the darkness spreading
across the sea.

It's for the ocean that has been fatally tarnished. It's for Ahmed, who is unable to cross the border. It's for the soldier
burned alive in his uniform.

It's for the people who make the weapons, and for the young rifleman who only signed up because he was lonely, and
the farmer's boys, who only cared about getting to hear and play music.

And for the other sea turtles, the ones with curved beaks, and for sea mammals like dugongs and dolphins, and the
whale stunned into silence by the roar of missiles.

It's for the birds, too: the tern, the gull, the birds who wade in water, looking for food. It's for the migrations that are
thrown off kilter, and the drawn-out deaths that occur as a result. It's for the hidden sun and the sharp smell of rage.

And it's for the earth that was scorched and the sun that disappeared in the smoke, for the burned ocean and the oil
burning in wells. It's for retribution and the charred remains of language.

ANALYSIS
Lament for Nature

The natural world plays a significant role throughout the poem. In the first two verses, Clarke describes a turtle and a
cormorant (a diving bird with a famous appetite), both searching for their naturally fulfilling habitats. For the turtle, it
is a place to lay her eggs, and for the cormorant, it is the sea, where food can be easily found. In both cases, these areas
are corrupted in some way, and these passages are marked with darkly connotative terms, such as “burden,”
“sickness,” “funeral,” and “shadow.” In these words, the natural world is distorted and ruined. It is very striking for the
first image in ‘Lament‘ to be the bringing of life into the world, and even more striking for the fact that it is built up and
described as a bad thing. This suggests deeper meaning to the images and thoughts described afterwards.

Natural imagery is also prominent in the fifth, sixth, and seventh verses of the piece, surrounded in a similar darkness
to the opening two. In particular, the final two verses describe a natural imbalance of catastrophic proportions; Clarke
describes the sun as being veiled, and then extinguished altogether, an apocalyptic disaster. Despite this, it is framed
from the perspective of the animals, particularly in birds, who migrate long and are slow in dying. The idea of
migration brings to ‘Lament‘ the theme of running away, though it is clear that there is nowhere to run away to, as the
entire Earth is falling apart, as both the sun and the seas are described in various states of turmoil. In these ways, the
poem is a kind of eulogy for the natural planet, and a grim look at its darkest moments.

Lament for Humankind

Juxtaposed against the natural imagery in the poem is Clarke’s involvement of people in the struggles portrayed
throughout ‘Lament‘. Interestingly, there are far fewer man-made images throughout the poem than natural images,
though the ones that do appear make it clear that human wars are the cause of the natural world’s devastation. By
choosing to focus on lives that are innocent and ones that do not comprehend the cause or nature of their own
destruction, Clarke elicits a measure of sympathy from her audience.

The third and fourth verses focus on a number of thematically related images. First is Ahmed, who stands at a closed
border, suggesting he is trying to enter a country and is being denied access. Secondly is the image of a soldier who is
being burnt alive. These two ideas are a clear indicator of war, strife, or a similar struggle that sees people as enemies
of each other. In the following verse, Clarke expresses sympathy for gunsmiths and armourers, the people who create
devices and tools used for destructive purposes only, and then for the people who must use those devices. In
particular, she describes these people as “boys,” and as “sons,” suggesting people who are in over their heads, in a
conflict that doesn’t really involve them.

In the fifth verse, the natural world and the world of humans collide when a whale is rendered speechless in fear as a
response to the sound of a missile detonating nearby. Similarly, the seventh verse concludes the poem with the
haunting phrase, “For vengeance, and the ashes of language.” This is perhaps the most complex idea of the poem, which
suggests metaphorically that language has been destroyed, and that vengeance is the concept that has replaced it in
human societies. “The ashes of language” is a striking image, one that essentially describes the absolute destruction of
human society — how would any kind of culture exist without language? Amid the natural world being destroyed by
warfare, the world of humans, of culture, language, and countless unique societies, has also been lost.

Lament for War

On her website, Gillian Clarke explains that this poem is the result of a collection of images and media stories
surrounding the Gulf War. The approach the work takes to the task makes it sound as though the entire world is
being slowly destroyed by the conflict, and in a sense, it may well be. War is not necessarily a contained concept,
particularly in the modern sense, and its effects and influences can be far-reaching and devastating. Clarke’s ‘Lament’ is
written for everything that is touched by war, because war ruins anything it touches in some way, shape, or form. This
is an important theme to consider in a world where wars and conflicts are an unfortunately common occurrence, but
also where a great many people can speak out against them and see for themselves their devastating effects, even from
across the world.

FORM & STRUCTURE

The poem features seven stanzas of three lines each and has an unrhymed structure. The first stanza describes the
plight of a pregnant turtle, and the second stanza explains a cormorant doused in oil. However, the next five stanzas
describe elements more rapidly, with one line dedicated to each. Clarke moves from a gunsmith, to a lonely soldier to a
farmer's musical son in stanza 4, to a turtle, a dolphin and a whale moved by the "missile's thunder" in stanza 5.
Although the poem does not rhyme, slant rhyme does occur; the words "wader" and "anger" almost rhyme in stanza 6,
for instance.

IMAGERY
Poets create pictures via imagery, so the audience can relate closely to the subject. Clarke creates powerful imagery of
a nesting turtle with her words "pulsing burden" and "nest of sickness" in stanza 1. She employs personification,
giving human qualities to objects, in stanza 6 by saying "the veiled sun and the stink of anger." A great example of
metaphor is achieved in stanza 5 with "the whale struck dumb by the missile's thunder." By comparing the missile to
thunder via metaphor, she is telling of its power.

LANGUAGE
Poets choose language carefully for musicality and shades of meaning. Clarke uses powerful adjectives throughout,
such as "pulsing," "restless," "veiled" and "scalding." Her choice of words creates a picture of a war alive with shrapnel.
She creates imagery with nouns such as "iridescence" and "vengeance." The words paint the war in a negative light.
Her last line evokes the death of life as she once knew it with the phrase "ashes of language." When even words and
thoughts are ashen, the lament is very powerful.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT
In August of 1990, Iraq's president, Saddam Hussein, ordered the invasion and occupation of Kuwait to expand Iraqi
power by taking control of Kuwait's oil reserves. He assumed that surrounding Arab nations would support his
invasion, but instead, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait's exiled leaders turned to the United States and NATO (the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization) to condemn Iraq's aggression.

When Hussein refused the UN's demand to withdraw from Kuwait by the middle of January the following year, the
Persian Gulf War began. The U.S. led a persistent air offensive, using the latest military technology to quickly eradicate
Iraqi resistance. President H.W. Bush declared a ceasefire in February of 1991, which ended the war.

"Lament" foregrounds the effects of the war on the environment, which are still apparent over three decades later.
Sea turtles were already considered an endangered species before Iraqi troops, to keep U.S. troops from landing in
Kuwait, intentionally dumped 400 million gallons of U.S. oil into the Gulf. Considered an act of eco-terrorism, this
spill had devastating consequences. The Center for Biological Diversity estimates that it resulted in the death or
harm of tens of thousands of birds, fish, sea turtles, and marine mammals, while also devastating beaches and
marshes.

THEME

The Human and Environmental Costs of War

Gillian Clarke's "Lament" is a song of mourning for those killed in or as a direct result of the Persian Gulf War
(fought in 1990-1991 between 39 NATO members and Iraq, which had invaded Kuwait to take control of its oil
reserves). As the poem describes the soldiers, civilians, animals, and natural environments that suffered in the
conflict, it builds an argument against war in general. No part of life on Earth—nor even the Earth itself—is safe
from the damage war causes.

"Lament" takes the form of a long list of the war's victims, making clear that no one and nothing was immune
from its destruction:

For example, the poem mourns both the "soldier with his uniform of fire" (a reference to a photograph in which
an Iraqi soldier burned to death trying to escape his tank), and the young "fusilier" (or rifleman) who only joined
up because he was lonely. Those who signed up for the war didn't all know what they were getting into, the
poem implies, and war harms even those responsible for perpetrating its horrors. There are no winners when it
comes to such immense violence, which burns everyone in its path.

The poem also mourns "Ahmed at the closed border." "Ahmed" is a common name and, here, is likely a stand-in
for the millions of refugees displaced by the violence. War's victims, the poem suggests, are often innocent
bystanders.

It's not just people who suffered in the war, either, and "Lament" illustrates how humanity's impulse towards
violence is devastating for all of earth's creatures:

The speaker also mourns for "the green turtle" preparing to lay her "eggs" in a "nest of sickness" and the
"cormorant" (a kind of seabird) "in his funeral silk." These images refer to the deliberate oil spill in which Iraqi
troops dumped 400 million gallons of U.S. oil into the Persian Gulf, resulting in "a shadow on the sea" and leading
to the deaths of many marine animals.

The speaker also describes "the whale struck dumb by the missile's thunder" and seabirds likewise disoriented
and doomed to die from the disruption to their natural habitat.

Finally, the poem emphasizes that the earth itself was torn apart by the war:

The speaker refers to the "burnt earth," alluding to Iraq's scorched-earth policy, in which they set oil fires to
devastate the land when they were forced to pull out of Kuwait.

 The speaker also describes the sun as "veiled" from the smoke of these fires, and the "ocean" as
"scalded" by them. The speaker shows that the war decimated every form of life possible; nothing was
unscathed.

The poem ends with the speaker mourning "vengeance" itself, as well as "the ashes of language,"
suggesting that there is simply no way to make sense of, or justify, this scale of violence. "Language,"
here, might represent truth, meaning, or even our shared humanity—things that the poem argues war
utterly decimates.

Campus BC School OIS Subject English Literature

Class 8 Section Jupiter WS/IS/PQ No.
Topic The Cockroach By: Kevin Halligan

Poem: The Cockroach By: Kevin Halligan

I watched a giant cockroach start to pace,

Skirting a ball of dust that rode the floor.
At first he seemed quite satisfied to trace
A path between the wainscot and the door,
But soon he turned to jog in crooked rings,
Circling the rusty table leg and back,
And flipping right over to scratch his wings –
As if the victim of a mild attack
Of restlessness that worsened over time.
After a while, he climbed an open shelf
And stopped. He looked uncertain where to go.
Was this due payment for some vicious crime
A former life had led to? I don’t know,
Except I thought I recognised myself.
 ABOUT THE POET
Kevin Halligan is a Canadian poet and writer who was born in 1964. His notable works include The Cockroach and his
poetry collection Utopia. Many of his individual poems were published in the Times Literary Supplement from 1998 to
2006.

SUMMARY
'The Cockroach' by Kevin Halligan is a poem about reflection on life through watching the movement of a cockroach. The
central idea of the poem is the distress and suffering felt by a person, when he is without a goal or aim. The poem is an
example of an allegory and a sonnet. It is an allegory because it personifies a cockroach as a human being. Halligan
repeatedly personifies the cockroach in many ways and he prefers to address the cockroach as 'he' rather than 'it'.

It is written in the format of a sonnet which runs in fourteen lines. The first four lines of the sonnet show that the
cockroach is certain of his movement. It has started to move fast and it is satisfied with its movement. The
cockroach is content to take a safe route by avoiding the dust ball. In the same way, the poet is sure of himself in
the early stages of his life.

The next 4 lines convey that the cockroach’s movements show uncertainty just like the poet’s. His uncertainty of
movement is shown by its action of scratching its wings. When the cockroach stops, it looks as if he is tired of being still.
He wants to move on and not remain in the same place all the time.

In the last 6 lines, the poet becomes thoughtful. The last three lines tell us that the poet recognized himself in the
cockroach in several ways. First, he wanted safety, much like the cockroach keeping a safe path along the wainscot. Later
he became more willing to seek new places and new activities. Finally, just like the cockroach he was ‘uncertain where to
go’. He questions whether just like the cockroach he is being punished for something wrong in his ‘former life’. The word
‘due payment’ tells us that the poet is suffering and agonized over uncertainty and indecision. In the last line of the
poem, he confesses that he recognizes himself in the Cockroach.

ANALYSIS
“The Cockroach” by Kevin Halligan is a poem that explores the themes of isolation, mortality, and the search for meaning
in life through the metaphor of a cockroach. The poem is composed of three stanzas, each of which builds on the central
theme of the poem.

The first stanza describes the cockroach as a “brown scavenger,” highlighting its lowly status. The use of the word
“scavenger” also implies a sense of desperation, as if the cockroach is searching for something to sustain itself. The
cockroach is described as “solitary,” emphasizing its isolation and loneliness. The phrase “he carries crumbs / Of his
own misery” suggests that the cockroach is burdened by its existence and that its life is marked by suffering and
hardship.

The second stanza shifts the focus to the speaker, who is also depicted as a solitary figure. The line “I watch a snail / Ease
his way across the floor” highlights the speaker’s passivity and detachment from the world around him. The image of the
snail also reinforces the theme of mortality, as the snail is a creature that moves slowly and is vulnerable to predators.
The line “He seems a kind of symbol” suggests that the snail is a representation of the human condition, with all its flaws
and limitations.

The final stanza returns to the cockroach, which is now described as “indestructible.” This description is ironic, given
that the cockroach is eventually “drowned” and “flipped over.” The speaker reflects on the meaninglessness of existence,
wondering “What does it matter?” The image of the “blank-faced” clock reinforces the sense of futility, suggesting that
time itself is meaningless.

The poem makes use of several literary devices to convey its themes. The metaphor of the cockroach is particularly
effective, as it allows the poem to explore the human condition in a way that is both concrete and universal. The use of
imagery is also effective, with the cockroach and the snail serving as powerful symbols of isolation and mortality,
respectively. The repetition of the phrase “he carries” in the first stanza emphasizes the burden of existence, while the
 repetition of the phrase “what does it matter” in the final stanza reinforces the theme of futility.

In conclusion, “The Cockroach” by Kevin Halligan is a powerful poem that uses the metaphor of a cockroach to explore
the themes of isolation, mortality, and the search for meaning in life. The poem is notable for its vivid imagery, its
effective use of metaphor, and its thought-provoking reflection on the human condition.

FORM & STRUCTURE

There are two distinct parts in the poem: lines 1-8 and lines 9-14. Lines 1-8 are two quatrains that follow a regular
ABAB rhyme scheme. However, in lines 9-14 the rhyme scheme becomes incredibly irregular (ABCACB). This is
significant because it links to the message of the poem: at first, we see the cockroach seems to have some idea of what it
is doing with its life, but then becomes distressed and uncertain of where to go in the second section. Thus, the structure
is being used to further convey the lack of focus and uncertainty of the cockroach/Halligan.

THEMES
“The Cockroach” by Kevin Halligan is a poem that explores several themes related to the human condition. The central
theme of the poem is the search for meaning in life, which is explored through the use of a cockroach as a metaphor for
human existence. Other themes include isolation and mortality.

Isolation: The poem presents the cockroach as a solitary figure, wandering aimlessly around a room. The use of the
word “solitary” to describe the cockroach reinforces this sense of isolation. The theme of isolation is further developed
in the second stanza, where the speaker reflects on his sense of loneliness and isolation.

Mortality: The cockroach is presented as a symbol of mortality, as it is described as

“indestructible” but also “drowned” and “flipped over.” The cockroach’s struggle to survive mirrors the human struggle
with mortality. The speaker reflects on his own mortality in the final stanza, wondering if his life has any meaning or
purpose. The image of the snail in the second stanza reinforces the theme of mortality, as the snail is a creature that
moves slowly and is vulnerable to predators.

The search for meaning in life: The poem suggests that the search for meaning is a universal human experience
and that even the most insignificant creatures are engaged in this search. The image of the cockroach, with its
seemingly meaningless existence, reinforces this sense of futility and meaninglessness. The speaker wonders if
there is any purpose to his own existence, asking “What does it matter?” The poem encourages readers to reflect
on their own lives and the meaning they find in them.

Campus BC School OIS Subject English Literature

Class 8 Section Jupiter WS/IS/PQ No.
Topic Follower By: Seamus Heaney

Poem: Follower
By: Seamus Heaney

My father worked with a horse-plough,

His shoulders globed like a full sail strung
Between the shafts and the furrow.
The horses strained at his clicking tongue.
 An expert. He would set the wing
And fit the bright steel-pointed sock.
The sod rolled over without breaking.
At the headrig, with a single pluck

Of reins, the sweating team turned round

And back into the land. His eye
Narrowed and angled at the ground,
Mapping the furrow exactly.

I stumbled in his hobnailed wake,

Fell sometimes on the polished sod;
Sometimes he rode me on his back
Dipping and rising to his plod.

I wanted to grow up and plough,

To close one eye, stiffen my arm.
All I ever did was follow
In his broad shadow round the farm.

I was a nuisance, tripping, falling,

Yapping always. But today
It is my father who keeps stumbling
Behind me, and will not go away

ABOUT THE POET

Heaney heralds from a rigid farming community and was born in Northern Ireland into a tradition which values
physical labour. He was the eldest of nine children, which meant he had a lot of pressure to conform to the expectations
of his environment and upbringing and be adept at farming. Seamus Heaney is one of the best-loved poets of all time.
After he passed away in 2013, the world went into grieving.

ABOUT THE POEM

Seamus Heaney's "Follower" appears in his first major poetry collection, Death of a Naturalist, which was published in
1966 and brought the young poet a great deal of critical attention. The volume is understood to be a largely
autobiographical meditation on Heaney's childhood in County Derry, Northern Ireland. Like Heaney, the speaker in
"Follower" is a farmer’s son who finds beauty and value in traditional farming practices but struggles to take them up
himself. The poem touches on themes that appear throughout Heaney’s work, such as family dynamics, agricultural
work, and Irish identity.

VOCABULARY
(1) Horse-plough: A traditional horse-drawn machine that farmers use to prepare their fields so that they can plant
crops.
(2) Globed: Rounded, creating a form that resembles a sphere's arc.
(3) Shafts: The long, narrow poles that connect and brace the plough's two handles.
(4) Furrow: The narrow groove that the horse plough creates as it cuts into the earth.
(5) Clicking: Creating concise, sharp sounds as a means to guide the horses.
(6) Wing: The flat part of the plough, or cutting edge closest to the soil, that "wings" out into a tip.
(7) Steel-pointed sock: The steel tip of the plough's main cutting edge.
(8) Sod: Main; most significant.
(9) Breaking: Cracking into discrete, uneven clumps of earth that are difficult to work with.
 (10)Headrig: The patch of unplowed land on each end of a plot where the ploughing apparatus
turns around to create a new furrow.
(11)Pluck: A quick tug and release.
(12)Team: Two or more horses tethered together to pull a piece of machinery.
(13)Angled: Directed itself at its subject from an angle.
(14) Mapping: Visually tracing and mentally charting.
(15) Hobnailed: Studded with impressions of hobnails, or short nails with heavy heads that are driven into the soles of
work boots to increase their durability.
(16) Plod: Drawn-out, deliberate, and heavy manner of walking.

SUMMARY

‘Follower’ by Seamus Heaney is a retrospective piece that describes how the poet used to go
plowing with his father in his childhood days.

The first half of this piece is a worshipful description by a son of his father, as he remembers how he looked and acted as
he plowed their fields. The father is described as being powerful, strong beyond measure, and in total control of his
“team.” The furrows he plows are pristine, and the son follows clumsily behind, unable to emulate his father’s strength.
In the very last stanza of the poem the roles are reversed and the speaker is now the strong one with his father
depending on him and following him as he plows.

ANALYSIS
Stanza One Lines 1–2
The poem ‘Follower’ opens up with the description of the speaker’s father; the narrator, his son, is describing the hard
work his father does on the farm. He was a hard worker, as he “worked with a horse-plough”. A “horse-plough” is a
piece of basic machinery dragged through fields that cuts deep grooves into the earth for planting. The son speaks of
his father in the past tense, giving the reader a hint that things may have changed since then.
One does not have to experience farm life firsthand to know that farming is back-breaking work. This man worked with a
horse and plowed by hand. This kind of work takes someone truly dedicated to farming.

The second line gives further visual information about the image his father makes completing his hard work, his
shoulders are rounded, he’s hunched over and the shape of his back mirrors that of sails billowing out in a heavy storm.
This description imbues the father with power, he is strong enough to withstand the metaphorical winds of the sea.

Moreover, the speaker describes his father’s shoulders and the way they “globed like a full sail strung”. This imagery
reveals the muscles that formed from years of pure, hard work.

Lines 3–4
The speaker was influenced by watching his father work the “horse-plough” because he remembers the minute details of
it in ‘Follower’, such as the “clicking tongue” of the horse as he strained beneath the plow.

His father walks between the “shafts and the furrow.” The “shaft” on a “horse-plough” is the part from which the farmer
directs the horse, and the “furrow” refers to the grooves that are made in the ground.

While the father may be experienced with this task, and find it relatively easy, the horse is “strain[ing]” against the bridle
to keep up with, or perhaps continue at all, where the farmer wants him to go. One may interpret this line in two ways, as
the horse resisting, or as the horse struggling to comply with the father’s “clicking tongue.”

In the second, third, and fourth lines Heaney uses the technique of alliteration, in this case, of the S sound. The words,
“sail,” “strung,” “shafts,” “strained,” and “shoulders,” come in quick succession giving a flow to these three lines. This
technique is used to mirror the movement of the plow itself as it slides through the ground.

While the first and third lines are only a very slight slanting rhyme, depending on the vowels of the words “plough” and
“furrow.” The perfect rhymes at the end of the second and fourth lines, “strung” and “tongue,” are strong.

Stanza Two Lines 1-2

The second stanza gives little room for interpretation regarding the skill level of the father. The son or the speaker
immediately refers to him as “An expert” in the first line. The next few lines add another few technical farming terms
into the description of the scene. The use of these words that today, will not be known to many, but very well known
to few, lend an additional element of realism to this piece.

The speaker respects his father immensely, considering him an expert behind the plow. He describes the specifics of his
father’s job in a way that allows the reader to understand that his father’s job took more than just back-breaking hard
work. It took skill as well.

The speaker refers to “wing,” the “steel-pointed sock,” the “sod,” and “headrig.” These terms will be broken down
throughout each line. The next lines of the poem incorporate these terms and go into deep detail on the processes, and
pieces, of plowing.

The first line of this stanza ends with a reference to “the wing.” The father is described as setting “the wing,” and fitting
the “bright steel-pointed sock.” These pieces of the plow are those that do the actual digging in the ground.

Lines 3-4

The speaker describes the finesse behind plowing in a way that would roll the sod without breaking it and makes the
single straight lines in the field with the first attempt. This description continues to characterize the speaker as a man
who takes pride in his work, is dedicated, and works hard day in and day out. The reader can quickly begin to acquire the
same respect for this man that his son has for him.

However, here the speaker remarks his father sets the “wing” and “steel-pointed sock” so efficiently that “The sod rolled
over without breaking.”

The final line of the second stanza leads into the third and the speaker draws attention to the “headrig.” This refers to the
starting point of each plowed line, continuing into the third stanza this thought is finished.

The slanting rhyme is stronger in this stanza with the second and fourth line ending words, “sock” and “pluck,” coming
very close to rhyming due to the organization of the consonance. Just as in the first stanza, the first and third line end
words are a perfect rhyme.

Stanza Three Lines 1-2

The first line of the third stanza continues the thought started in the second in which the speaker is describing how his
father “At the headrig, with a single pluck/ Of reins, the sweating team turned round/ And back into the land.”

More simply, the speaker is taking advantage of the term, “headrig” and giving the reader an image of the “team,” his
father and the horse, taking a turn at the end of a row. Again the father’s skill is demonstrated as with only a “pluck” of
the reins he can control the horse.

To sum up, in these two lines of ‘Follower’, the speaker continues to describe the work his father did, and the way that he
and the horse were together “the sweating team”. His sweat went back into the land, so he put his sweat into his work
quite literally. In the next two lines, the speaker’s father was also “mapping the furrow exactly”. Therefore, this
description continues the characterization of the speaker’s father as hard-working and skilled.

Lines 3-4

The last two lines of the third stanza describe the determination in his father’s eyes and the set of his body. This narrator
is in awe of the power and ability that his father possesses. His father maps “the furrow exactly” knowing where and
what to do.

Apart from that, this stanza continues the same rhyming pattern found in the second stanza. The first and third ending
words rhyme perfectly, “round” and “ground.” While the second and fourth end words are slanting rhymes, “eye” and
“exactly,” this time more dependent on the vowels than the consonance.

Stanza Four Lines 1-2

At this point in the poem, ‘Follower’ the narration takes a turn. The speaker now takes on the first-person
perspective using words such as, “I” and “my.” He begins this half of the poem by contrasting his missteps to the skill his
father possesses. He “stumbled in his hobnailed wake,/ Fell sometimes on the polished sod.”

His clumsy, amateur mistakes are a point of embarrassment to the speaker. He is taking off- balance steps in the holes
made by his father’s own feet, and is falling on the sod that has just been plowed to a “polish.”

With this stanza, the speaker reveals that he is different from his father. Although he admires him greatly and tries to be
like him, he seems to stumble around behind him, and he sometimes “fell…on the polished sod”.

Lines 3-4
While the speaker may be embarrassed, the father does not seem to mind his mistakes and carries his son around on his
back. The speaker describes this motion of being a part of his father, the “dipping” and “rising” he experienced as his
father plowed.

Reading these lines, it also appears that, at times, the speaker was allowed to ride on his father’s back as he worked. This
gives further insight into both the father and the son. The son, on one hand, did not seem to be inclined to the same kind
of work his father seemed to love and thrive in.

His father, however, was devoted to his son enough to take on the extra weight of the boy riding on his back as he
plowed the land. This reveals a devoted father and an admiring son, different as they may be.

In this stanza, the first and third end words make a slant rhyme, “wake” and “back.” While the second and fourth make a
perfect rhyme with “sod” and “plod.”

Stanza Five Lines 1-2

The fifth quatrain of this poem, ‘Follower’ speaks on the boy’s wishes for his future. The speaker reveals his childhood
desires here, claiming that he “wanted to grow up and plough” and to be just like his dad. He wanted “to close one eye” as
he focused on the detailed parts of farming life. Besides, he wanted to “stiffen [his] arm” as he went behind the plow. To
summarize, he wants to emulate his father perfectly, plowing just as he did with one of his eyes closed, and a stiff arm.

The rhyme for the overall stanza is the same as the previous with the first and third lines rhyming only partially with
“plough” and “follow.” While the second and fourth lines are perfect rhymes with, “arm” and “farm.”

Lines 3-4
This stanza concludes with a statement from the boy that alludes to the inferiority he may have felt around his father.
The speaker reveals that he never did grow up to be a farmer. He admits, “All I ever did was follow/ In his broad shadow
round the farm” meaning that he never did tend the farm by himself.

This implies that the speaker grew up to do something other than farming, even though he had always wanted to be like
his father. It appears that he had always known that he was inherently different and not meant to be a farmer. Each time
the speaker describes the father he is only spoken of in the best and strongest of terms, this time, “broad.” He is more
than a father figure, he’s closer to an embodiment of the kind of person this speaker wants to be.

Stanza Six Lines 1-2

The final stanza of ‘Follower’ brings the narrative to a close and makes a tight loop on all of the desires professed by the
son. He describes once more his actions as a child, how he “was a nuisance, tripping, falling,/ Yapping always.”
When the speaker looks back on his life, he realizes that as much as he admired his father, he was always more of a
nuisance when he tried to help, always tripping and falling and “yapping”. Looking back, he was aware that he never
could have made the kind of farmer that his dad was. He made his way, however, and his father’s work ethic and drive
did influence him as he found his path in life.

In the following lines, the tables are going to turn. Even though the speaker did not exactly follow
in his father’s footsteps, he was still greatly influenced by his father’s example in his life.

Lines 3-4
He is no longer this boy though, now he has become the man that his father follows. The father now looks to his son as
someone he is proud of and depends on, just as the speaker did when he was young. It is now his father behind him, “and
will not go away.”

Now, as an adult, the speaker is the one to whom his father looks up. In whatever the speaker has found to do in life, it is
now his father who looks up to him. His father is not experienced in his son’s profession, and yet he takes an interest and
“keeps stumbling” around behind him.

In this turn of events, the two have switched roles. The father, now perhaps too old to farm, has
taken an interest in his son’s life, and the son can experience some of what his father had felt.

The speaker says that his father, “will not go away” but the tone of the poem and this line is one of soft reminiscence,
and so it seems as though he says this is a good-natured way, and that he rather enjoys the way his father shows
exceeding interest in his life.

Just as the father did not mind his son following him, so too the speaker treats his much older father. The whole
narrative has come full circle leaving the reader with both a hopeful and solemn message. Hopeful, that one may become
more than they currently are, and solemn that even when one is strong beyond measure, they may become weaker and
dependent on others.

FORM & STRUCTURE

Heaney’s poem is a six-stanza piece, made up of quatrains, or four-line stanzas. Each line is approximately the same
length and contains both slanting and perfect end-word rhymes. Throughout this piece, Heaney uses both perfect and
slanting end rhymes. Slanting refers to those that only half rhyme, and perfect, being exact rhymes such as in the
second stanza of the poem in which the first and third lines rhyme with “wing” and “breaking.” An example of a slanting
rhyme can also be found in this stanza with the second and fourth lines, “sock” and “pluck” partially rhyming due to the
organization of their consonance.

POETIC DEVICES
Heaney showcases several literary devices in his poem, ‘Follower’ that makes this heart-touching recapitulation of his
childhood days dearer to the readers. Likewise, the poem begins with a
simile in the second line. Here, the poet compares his father’s shoulders to “a full sail” inflated due to sea wind. There
is consonance in the first line. Readers come across this device in the phrase, “worked with.” Thereafter, they find an
onomatopoeia in the phrase, “his clicking tongue.”

The poet uses metonymy in the line, “And fit the bright steel-pointed sock.” Thereafter, he connects the second and third
stanzas by the use of enjambment. There is a personal metaphor in the “sweating team.” Moreover, in the third stanza,
the poet uses instrumental metaphors to depict his father’s precise vision. Heaney also uses alliteration in this poem.
In the fourth stanza, the line, “Fell sometimes on the polished sod” contains irony. Thereafter, in
the opening of the last stanza, there is a use of asyndeton. This stanza also forms an antithesis.

THEMES
This retrospective piece, ‘Follower’ presents a bunch of themes to the readers. First of all, the theme of plowing, or
broadly farming, gives readers a feel of how it feels to be on farmland, basking under the sun, feeling the smell of
recently plowed land, and watching a farmer toiling hard. Through this theme, Heaney also brings an Irish touch with
this theme. Thereafter, comes the most important theme of the poem, the father-son relationship. This theme is present
in
Heaney’s several famous poems such as ‘At a Potato Digging’, ‘Blackberry-Picking’, and in his most anthologized poem,
‘Digging’. In ‘Follower’, the poet refers to how he followed his father while he worked on the field. However, at last, the
father takes the role of his son. The poet also makes use of the themes of tradition, identity, memories, retrospection,
love, and family in this poem.

THE TITLE “FOLLOWER”