Namaqualand after rain — seen poetry Flashcards
What is the mood?
mood of harmony/triumph/elation/celebration/exultance
What is the tone?
Of joy, appreciation, or admiration
Speak about the structure of the poem
- 8 quatrains
- Short lines of the same/uniform leNGTH
- No end stop until the end of the poem
- Enjambment used throughout but increases as the poem reaches its conclusion, increasing quickness - flow/melody nothing jolting
- Rhyme: lines 2 and 4. Consistent throughout the poem -ABCB (Gentle, smooth flow)
STANZA 1: explain the connotations of the words:
1. Again
2. Imbued
3. Lyric
4. Sap
5. Re-sweetening
- Cycles of growth again in nature
- Soaked everything/ abundant/generous
- Lyric: song-like (divinity of nature)
- Life-giving liquid
- Gives life back to the stalks
STANZA 1: explain the connotations of these words
1. Perfumes (+ parse)
2. Quickening
- Used as a verb: the distinct aroma of sap
- Coming to life/bringing back to life
STANZA 1: TECHNIQUES FOR HARMONY and nature description
- Rhyme scheme perfect
- Most senses are touched on (sight, sound smell)
STANZA 1:THEMES
- DICTION IS POSITIVE with connotations of a celebratory/restorative process
- restorative overtones
STANZA 2: explain the connotations and techniques of the following phrases
1. “Small” yet they “explode”
2. “Strings of stars”
- A paradox showing the violent emergence of them out of the soil; this looks at the forces of nature
- Consonance (repetition of the same sound)/ alliteration — soft, dreamy
STANZA 2: explain the techniques and connotations of the following phrases
1. “Each bulb gives up its dream”.
2. “Drips”
3. “Honey”
4. “Jewels”
- closed, quiet, bulbs: personification. Planning their miracle/performing their dream
- Ongoing/endlessly
- The pollination
- Used as a verb: precious, covers each raceme
STANZA 3: What are the main themes and techniques used?
sibilance (underlines the beauty and magic of nature’), alliteration (the plosive b — «breaks her buds»
All elements in nature are collaborating (symphony)
STANZA 4*: describe the technique and connotations of the following words:
1. Frou-frou
2. Puff of un ruffling
- Frills of dresses/ metaphorical
- Assonance creating musicality
What is the theme of the poem and how is it achieved?
- nature is in harmony : melody created by all the sound devices thourhgout the poem
- death overlap with birth
- extremes of nature
what is the theme of STANZA 4?
Nature is made of polarities: extreme on both sires, but despite this there is harmony
NATURE IS ALIVE: IT ORCHESTRATES AND COMMANDS!!
Explain the connotations of «strike» and ‘rocks»
Aggressive /hardness
-> compared to the softness before (nature is perfect/ where everything coexists
-> power of nature
-> rocks are not generally viewed as alive: life in the most pointless things
Describe the technique and effect of the word «beveined» What other word relates?
Personification: showing life in nature as veins carry blood though us, keeping us alive -> ALL OF NATURE IS ALIVE
Ironstone
Speak about the rythm/cadence of stanza 4?
same as a church hymn (rhymes and meter) -> reminds of a church hymn. Nature is divine, a sanctity, a resurrection
Describe the effect of «gaunt
‘ in stanza 5
- extremely thin and bony: from extreme hunger/tiredness
-> winter season causes death. Echoed by denudes (stripped bare)
What is the effect of burr in stanza 5?
It is onomatopoeic: poet extends exploration of the senses
What is the effect of «multitudes» in stanza 5 and what is the theme of the stanza?
multitudes: abundance of nature and cycles of birth and death + paradoxical duality: splendor after death
STANZA 6: describe the significance of «grass waves again»
- after burning/dying/ the cycle repeats
- triumph
STANZA 6: what emphasizes the force of nature?
«Shoots» «volleys (movement or connotations of quick bursts of bullets -> buds)]
Allitération that highlights the forcefulness as grass shoots its way up through the hardened soil
Broken: life force inside nature so strong, it breaks its way through the wall
STANZA 6: what is meant by the term «bleached»?
- after leaving in the sun too long, loss of colour and moisture
WHAT is the impact of the w alliteration in stanza 6?
Draws out the syllable, creating forcefulness of grass pushing through the soil: alliteration
