Charles Causely - Eden Rock Flashcards
What is the poem about?
- The narrator imagines that his parents are young again, his mother is 23 and his father is 25. * They both sit at the edge of a stream, preparing a picnic, the scene is idyllic.
- He’s on the opposite bank and is encouraged to cross and join them.
- The scene may be a real memory, or it may be an imagined scene about death or birth, with his parents encouraging him to join them in life or the afterlife.
Give a brief synopsis of the poem
- The speaker introduces his father then mother, implying there is a stagnation of time.
- The speaker’s parents are pouring out tea for three people, but the son is separated from them
- It is suggested that the speaker is separated from his family by a river, and the parents call to the speaker to join them
- Speaker concludes with an ambiguous comment - “I had not thought that it would be like this” - which could be a reference to having to join his parents in the afterlife.
When was the poet alive?
- 1917-2003
When was the poem published?
- 1988
Context regarding Charles Causley
- Charles Causley (1917-2003) Causley’s father died when he was young (7) due to complications after fighting in the first world war, then his mother died in 1971. * Charles himself worked as a coder for the Navy during the second world war.
- His poetic style is iconic for his simplicity and direct messages. Causely was from Cornwall, and he drew many inspirations for his poems from Cornish folk tales, as well as the landscapes that he grew up in. He never married.
Context regarding the collection “A Field Of Vision”
- Contains a lot of religious allusion, and written after the death of both of his parents.
Context regarding Eden Rock
- Causley has written a poem which focuses on the separation of the speaker from his parents, in a fictional location called Eden Rock. Causley has suggested this place belongs somewhere in Cornwall.
- It is a very metaphorical poem, which employs a lot of natural imagery to imply the significance of the parental relationship.
- As the poem is written after both of Causley’s parents have died, in 1988, it could be assumed that he is attempting to reflect on his parents from the perspective of his childhood memories (the parents are frozen at the ages of “twenty-five” and “twenty-three”) - therefore this is a very personal and intimate poem for the author to write.
- He could be using the poem to explore how he feels about his parents passing to the afterlife. The stream is often viewed as a metaphor for the separation between the earth and the afterlife.
“They are waiting for me somewhere beyond Eden Rock:”
- ‘Eden rock’ - reference to the Bible, The Garden of Eden was a perfect place, which suggests that, for the narrator, this was his Eden, with his parents, perfect and peaceful.
“My father, twenty-five, in the same suit”
- The speaker’s parents are describe in their youth showing his idolisation of them in their prime
- Their introductions mirror one another- which reflects the closeness of their relationship. (‘my mother, twenty-free’)
“Of Genuine Irish Tweed, his terrier Jack”
“Still two years old and trembling at his feet.”
“My mother, twenty-three, in a sprigged dress”
“Drawn at the waist, ribbon in her straw hat,”
“Has spread the stiff white cloth over the grass.”
“Her hair, the colour of wheat, takes on the light.”
- The idea of the light coming through her hair creates an angelic image
“She pours tea from a Thermos, the milk straight”
“From an old H.P. Sauce bottle, a screw”
“Of paper for a cork; slowly sets out”
“The same three plates, the tin cups painted blue.”
“The sky whitens as if lit by three suns.”
- “three suns” can be taken to represent the family triangle; mother, father, and speaker
- Symbolic of purity and the concept of the holy trinity
“My mother shades her eyes and looks my way”
“Over the drifted stream. My father spins”
- “drifted stream” implies that the memory is hazy for the speaker
“A stone along the water. Leisurely,”
- “Leisurely” doesn’t imply a time pressure on Causley to enter the afterlife - metaphorical meaning of poem as Causley’s parents attempting to convince him to join them in the afterlife
- Also slows down the rhythm of the poem showing the reluctance of Charles to follow his parents
“They beckon to me from the other bank.”
- Third person plural pronouns distances the speaker from his parents
- “Beckon” relates to temptation and persuasion, referencing reuniting the family and is a positive embrace
“I hear them call, ‘See where the stream-path is!”
“Crossing is not as hard as you might think.’”
- “Crossing” into the afterlife - reference to a journey / travel / movement
- Crossing between time periods, or a generational divide, or simply different locations?
- Charles could be questioning the process of death
“I had not thought that it would be like this.”
- Last line is separate from the rest of the poem to symbolise the separation the speaker experiences from his parents
Explain the significance of the title of the poem
- Alluding to the Garden of Eden - perhaps his parents are in heaven
- Fictional place
- “Rock” suggests a solid foundation, and an unbreakable memory/relationship
- Deliberately vague and undefined
Describe the perspective the poem uses
- The poem is semi-autobiographical, so the speaker in this case is the poet, Causeley, addressing his dead parents.
- It is narratively structured which is atypical compared to many of the other poems in the anthology. * It is written in present tense, but the speaker does not refer to his parents with direct address.
Describe the structure of the poem regarding stable structure
- Causeley employs exclamatory punctuation in the line “see where the stream-path is!” to connote enthusiasm which juxtaposes with the morose tone of the poem.
Describe the structure of the poem regarding exclamatory punctuation
- Causley uses a fixed structure of quatrains throughout the poem.
- However, the final line of the last stanza has been separated. except for the last stanza where the final line has been separated from the other lines which could symbolise the gap between life and death, the physical stream presented in the poem, or the separation between the speaker and his parents.
- The stream could be referencing the River Styx, which is mythically where individuals would cross to enter the afterlife.
- Each quatrain has roughly ten syllables per line (iambic pentameter) which creates a steady tone: this may reflect the stable relationship between the writer and his parents.
