In-depth essay plan on the theme Man vs Nature in Skirrid Hill. Covers an introduction, paragraphs, and conclusion. it has quotes, poetry terms, references, interpretations, context etc. All you need to write an A standard answer to the exam question.
English Literature A | Skirrid Hill - Marking Time Notes
English Literature A | Skirrid Hill - Night Windows Notes
English Literature A | Skirrid Hill - Show Notes
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Examine the presentation of man vs nature; man’s
relationship with nature is a negative one.
Intro: Sheers shows the conflict that occurs between industrialisation and nature in his collection often shown
by telephone wires (symbolic of modern world) interrupting and intersecting nature in intermission, swallows
and Landmark. In Steelworks he presents a “deserted” factory that nature is reclaiming. In his poem Winter
Swans nature provides a lesson to a fragmented romantic couple and unites them back together, implying man
can positively learn from nature.
Steelworks:
Nature reclaiming – the “steelworks” are described to be a “deserted mothership” in amongst Ebbw Vale, it evokes the
imagery that it looks alien in the natural environment. Its “becalmed on the valleys floor” presenting the ideas its rigid and
almost stuck there. Nature has started to reclaim the land as the sheep start “passing” through, the “birds” start “nesting”
and the padlocks rusting”. The use of the verbs highlights the activity of the process. It suggests that when the steel did
“work”, nature was subjugated and repressed by the “Steelworks”.
Damage to man- Ebbw Vale is a desolate and deprived area in Wales because of the closing of the plant emphasises
with “The Steelworks, except it doesn’t anymore”. In the long term it has devastated the local economy and lives. Sheers
continues to use verbs that connotate industry to show the inescapability of the steelworks, almost like poison. Semantic
field is created with “locking” “lifting” “pressing” “pumping” etc. The men have “screwed tight eyes, pneumatic sighs”
implying illness as well as the industrial connotations of a machine that relies on air to work.
The last stanza returns to nature cementing the idea it is victorious where the “rain” is constant in the “brushed-metal
sky” ending with a final link between industry and nature, they struggle to coexist in equal.
Winter Swans:
Weather- Sheers uses the weather as an extended symbolism of their relationship. The “rain” is symbolic of the “two
days” of arguments between them. The “waterlogged earth” implies they feel as suffocated in the relationship as the soil
does in floods to the point of “gulping for breath” to show their desperate need to survive. The “afternoon light”
contrasts to the clouds at the start to imply their relationship has progressed into quite literally the “light”
Swans- Sheers cleverly uses the gracefulness of the pair of swans to juxtapose the strained human relationship and
ultimately reunites them. “tipping in unison” shows the synchronicity that they were meant to be together, compared to
the false and unnatural presentation of romantic relationships in Show and Night Windows- suggesting Sheers believes
we can learn from nature. The visual image conjured as they “halved themselves” reinforces the idea of the being a unit-
always together unlike the humans as Sheers uses sibilance in “skirted the lake, silent and apart” to emphasis the mental
and physical distance using the drawn out ‘s’ sound. When the swans are separated, they forcibly reunite even against the
“rough weather” to unite and the water around them is “stilling”- sheers uses this as an extended metaphor which the
couples pick up on when she claims “they mate for life”. It showed them that the arguments symbolised as the “rough
weather” can always be overcome if you put the “righting” effort in. With surprise, shown by “somehow” the narrator
realises “our hands” had “swum the distance between us”. Sheers uses the synecdoche of the pair of hands to symbolise
the whole relationship resurrected with the final act of intimacy of them being “folded, one over the other, like a pair of
wings settling after flight”. The simile is used to illustrate the impact the birds have had on their relationships. Reinforced
again by the last stanza being 2 lines- even, balanced and complete once again
Ultimately, it’s a positive portrayal that nature is a teacher to heal mental difficulties that are seen by the fragmented
relationship
Liable to Floods
Snowdonia mountain- Moel Siabod- where American soldiers were based in WW2. Theme of
poem is set out to contain conflict because of the context. The arrogant “major” patronisingly laid
a “hand upon the farmers shoulder” ignoring the “warn(ing)” of “floods”. Shows a lack of respect
for mother nature and her capabilities.
Nature attacks the camp with its “rain fusillade”, the “artillery of thunder” using military lexis to
show the aggression and anger it possesses. Sheers presents weather as natures army with “rain”
and “thunder” as her weapons just as the “GI’S” have their “rifles”.
Humans “raised the alarm” again implying the idea they are under attack as the “river” was
“Arming herself with rifles” reclaiming her land “under cover of darkness” creating sinister feel,
nature is quite literally turning on the men who refused to listen or respect the “farmer” who
tends the earth and hence nature
Anaphora finish- Sheers explains “how suitable” it was that the “weather had finally caught up
with their lives”. Home is their identity where they belong and this is nature homes, she is kicking
them out “being borne, being swept away”.
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