Summary
Summary In Romney Marsh
- Module
- English GCSE Edexcel
- Institution
- Edexcel
English Edexcel GCSE Poetry Time and Place Notes
[Show more]
Content preview
Aleena IslamIN ROMNEY MARSH – John Davidson
Themes
Praise, wonder, awe, Nature and natural idyll; longing for a lost way of life;
rejection of modern post-industrial world
Contextual overview
This is a celebration of the poet’s love for a place: Romney Marsh is on the East
Sussex/Kent border and this poem reads almost like a love song or a ballad,
dedicated to what is presented as a rural idyll. The landscape is brought to life,
personified almost, through the poet’s evident knowledge of the place and
seems to belong to an outdated mode of poetic expression, in which the only
purpose of the writing to laud Nature and her work.
Key features of language, form and structure
- Much of the poem details what Davidson can see and hear and he is alive
to the natural phenomenon on the marsh as well as the human. In the first
stanza, the speaker states that he ‘hear the South sing o’er the land.’ The
personification of the breeze is a typically Romantic device; the use of
the verb ‘sing’ suggests the joyfulness and a contentment that the poet
finds in this peaceful place.
- He continues to state, ‘I saw the yellow sunlight fall on knolls...’ By
describing the sunlight in this way, a bright, jovial and warm ambience is
created given that the colour yellow has strong connotations of
happiness and serenity. Moreover, a knoll is a small hill or mound. By
suggesting that there are minute hills, rolling over one another, the reader
is given a calming impression of the environment since the rolling hills
give a soothing depiction.
- He ends the first stanza by stating, ‘…where the Norman churches stand.’
The Norman churches suggest the history and antiquity of the area.
Already in the first stanza, Davidson’s senses are heightened and much of
the poem consists of what he hears and sees.
- In the second stanza, Davidson’s heightened senses are supported by the
intense sounds made from the telephone from Romney to Hythe; ‘ringing
shrilly, taut and lithe… within the wind a core of sound’ The tricolon of
constricted adjectives could reinforce the extent to which Davidson’s
senses are heightened from being in such a transcendental location; a
true pastoral idyll.
- However the speaker properly depicts the beauty of Romney Marsh in the
third stanza; ‘a veil of purple vapour flowed and trailed its fringe …’ The
metaphor of a richly coloured layer enhances the clarity of the image
being depicted while the imagery of the colour also symbolises how
transcendental, idyllic and beautiful Romney Marsh is.
- The speaker continues to illustrate Romney’s beauty as he describes in a
simile that ‘the upper air like sapphire glowed.’ This presents the idea
that the sky is lustrously beautiful since a sapphire is a gemstone of
immense delicacy and beauty. The numerical value of a sapphire is quite
substantial and so symbolically, one could interpret Davidson’s
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller aleenaislam. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for £3.99. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
64438 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy revision notes and other study material for 14 years now