Stewart Island by Fleur Adcock Flashcards
Context:
- Poet was born in NZ
- Moved to England at 5, returned to NZ, then left again to settle in England
- Poet wrote poems about daily events or places, often with dark twists
- SI is the 3rd largest NZ island and a popular destination for tourists
- Perhaps an autobiographical poem
Form/Structure:
- Free verse, with a deadpan/conversational tone, exemplifying the spontaneity of the speaker’s outburst of animosity at the place.
- Lakcs any rigid structure, and the conversational tone is created by caesuras and enjambment, contributing to a ranting tone.
- Lack of paragraphs gives the sense that the entire poem is a frustrated, overflowing outburst.
KEY QUOTE: Poem beings en media res, with the negative conjunction “but” suggesting a sense of defence for the beauty of the island - the speaker may have suggested otherwise:
” ‘But look at all this beauty’ “
KEY QUOTE: The verb “bear” implies suffering and endurance, exemplifying the speaker’s animosity and tone of negativity towards SI:
“how she could bear to live there”
KEY QUOTE: Vague, perhaps sarcastic language that can be seen as dismissive of the beauty of the island, undermining it - emphasises speaker’s disdain for the place:
“All hills and atmosphere”
KEY QUOTE: Parenthetical statement exemplifying the hotel manager wife’s disloyalty; perhaps speaker views the people on the island as unreliable and immoral:
“(she ran off with one [a Maori fisherman] that autumn)”
KEY QUOTE: The leisurely, pleasant activity of walking on the beach is contrasted with the sea’s cold temperature, exemplifying the speaker’s animosity and disappointment towards the place:
“I walked on the beach; it was too cold to swim.”
KEY QUOTE: Same technique as “I walked on etc.”, but semantic field of violence and the infliction of harm, furthering the speaker’s frustration and animosity towards SI:
- “My seven-year-old collected shells and was bitten by sandflies”
- “My four-year-old paddled, until a mad seagull jetted down to jab its claws and beak into his head”
- “bitten”, “jetted”, and “jab” create a dynamic sense of violence, emphasising the unpleasant atmosphere of the place
KEY QUOTE: Declarative statement at the end, with an assured sense of finality, powerfully accentuating the speaker’s dislike and animosity towards SI, sealing the negative tone of the poem:
“I had already decided to leave the country.”
Summary:
This poem encapsulates the speaker’s highly negative tone towards Stewart Island and radiates their utter disapproval, disappointment, and disdain for the place through the depiction of their bad experiences on it. The poem seems to be an unrestrained emotional outburst, portraying the speaker’s relentless frustration through the lack of any set structure.
