Skirrid Hill context Flashcards
Flag
written after 1997 vote - got Wales its devolv gov – sheers went home & = surprised by the number of flags in gardens
Eng seen as a lang of progress & high culture - meant parents didn’t speak Welsh to children - many talented Welsh authors writing in English
Sheer’s gen not taught Welsh at school & if their fams weren’t Welsh speaking then didn’t learn Welsh - Sheer’s still felt a closeness to the language and culture of Wales
History
Late 18th early 19th century Welsh regions like the valleys become heavily industrialized
The Steel Works
Late 18th early 19th century Welsh regions like the valleys become heavily industrialized
Steel works in south Wales in 1930s = largest steel mill in Eur – survived WW2 bombing only to be closed in 2002 and demolished in 2003 - Ebbe Vale
Hill Fort & Y Gaer
Written about a 19-year-old boy Sheers knew who died in a traffic accident – wrote 2nd poem bc father said 1st didn’t reflect all feelings - shows complexity of feeling involv in loss
Hill forts = ruins of ancient settlements used to defend areas of land
Sheers – a dialogue between poem and place - = elegy
Stitch in Time
Fiji = popular destination for Indian workers wanting to make money to send home to their families
Prime meridian measured at 0 longitude splits the world into eastern and western hemisphere – goes through Fiji
Shadow Man
Mac Adams = Welsh artist experimented with idea of shadow and space to create light
Happy Accidents
Robert Cappa = Hungarian war photographer landed w/ 1st troops on D Day filmed as it happened only 11 rolls of film survived - took 106 photos
Inheritance
RS Thomas – wrote about welsh landscape = Nb welsh poet shows sheers engaging with literary heritage
Show
split into two parts could represent skirrid hill – could be about the sterilisation of the fashion industry – explores the sexualisation and empowerment of models
Night Windows
takes name from Edward Hoppers painting – expressionistic style – both give uncomfortable experience of witnessing personal & intimate moment
Border Country
hints at the disconnectedness of rural communities – depression among farmers, sheers had friend whose father died – thrust into adulthood, lived near border between England & wales – gives sense of in between
Hedge School
brought up in Abergavenny – Hedge Schools = small informal schools in 18th/19th Century Ireland - secret catholic schools = dif types of edu
Joseph Jones
typical welsh name – represents welsh coming of age, due to lack of jobs in wales many suffered unemployment depression & alcoholism
Drinking With Hitler
Hitler in poem = pol activist – most of his victims were black – named as torturer by amnesty – Zimbabwe = democ – Robert Mugabe voted in military dictatorship – v poor struggling to feed country – took white farms – dec prod
Two Movements in the Scale of Four
traditional division of a symphony
Amazon
Greek mythology tribe of warrior women cut off their breasts to use bow more easily – rep great courage
Under Superstition Mountains
set in America – looks sim to Skirrid Hill – natives believe hole in mountains leads to under world Lowell = confessional poet – wrote honestly
Service
TS Elliot = pre runner of free verse – The Love Story of J Alfred Prufrock – both free verse & feel frantic – imagery of restaurants – sheers = m detached
LA Evening
epigraph is material from Edwin Booths who founded the players club – place for actors in NYC
