Winter Flashcards
Line 1: “The year goes, the woods decay,”
The year is given the ability to go. This emphasises how time is a force that moves forward relentlessly.
The word choice of “decay” has connotations of rot, destruction and death. This emphasises that the environment is withering away, setting a bleak tone.
Line 2: “many a summer dies.”
Just as when someone dies, you cease to experience the person’s warmth and life, this emphasises how the seasonal transition to winter is depressing and the end of any happiness.
The word choice of “dies” has connotations of something final and irreversible, emphasising how winter seems very overpowering
Line 2 and 3: The swan / on Bingham’s Pond, a ghost, comes and goes.”
Swans are usually a symbol of life and beauty. However, it is being compared to a ghost. Just as a ghost is pale, fading and a lifeless being, this emphasises how winter makes the beauty of life fade away and disappear, and only remain in our minds like ghosts.
Line 6: “blinking in the heavy light”
The phrase ”heavy light” is paradoxical — light is usually associated with brightness and clarity, but here it feels oppressive and burdensome, further highlighting the theme of harshness of nature.
Line 8: “After many summer dyes”
The wordplay of ”dies” sounds like dies, emphasising and reinforcing the theme of death and decay.
The word choice of ”dyes” has connotations of colours and diverse landscapes which emphasises that nothing is left and all colours have been replaced with a stark, colourless winter atmosphere.
Line 12: “cut by evening cries, by warring air.”
The word choice of ”evening cries” has connotations of screams of sorrow and pain, highlighting a sense of conflict and civil disruption in Glasgow at the time.
”warring air” - Just as when people are warring with each other, the groups become oppressive and destructive, which emphasises how the wind seems aggressive, as if it is battling against something.
Line 13: “The muffled hiss of blades escapes into breath”
The sounds “muffled hiss” is onomatopoeic, which captures the sharp sounds of the ice skates, but also the subdued sounds of it, reinforcing the quietness of winter.
The sounds of the skates ”escapes into breath” which emphasises how the personification of this sound makes it seem that the sounds also briefly live before dissipating, adding to the theme of the passage of time.
By referring to this poem and at least one other poem by Morgan, show how the poet explores moments in time. (8)
COMMONALITY
Both Winter and Glasgow 5 March 1971 capture moments in time. Winter captures the moment in time at Bingham’s Pond with the atmosphere of silence, depression and isolation. Glasgow 5 March 1971 capture the moment in the incident on Sauchiehall Street, capturing the pain and suffering of the couple, in one scene.
WINTER
“The swan / on Bingham’s Pond, a ghost, comes and goes.”
Swans are usually a symbol of life and beauty. However, it is being compared to a ghost. Just as a ghost is pale, fading and a lifeless being, this emphasises how winter makes the beauty of life fade away and disappear, and only remain in our minds like ghosts.
GLASGOW 5 MARCH 1971
“and spurts arterial blood”
The word choice of “arterial” has connotations of blood coming from the heart, dark red, fatal and thick blood which emphasises she is in a life-threatening situation and she could die because of how vital the blood is for her survival. This word makes the scene very graphic
“Their arms are starfished out”
Just as starfish arms are spread out in all directions and is stretched out, this emphasises how their arms were flung out and flailing as a last-ditch attempt to save themselves, adding to their helplessness, also making the scene graphic
Lines 17: “the dark comes down, the shouts / run off into it and disappear.”
The word ”dark” is personified as leeching into an area, so too this suggests the night is shown to be a physical force descending upon the world, further highlights the gradual disappearance of all feeling.
”shouts run off into it and disappear.”
Just as running off is to dwindle away, so too this suggests that the human presence is temporary and it too fades into the night, leaving everything quiet.
Lines 18-20: “when fog / drives monstrous down the dual carriageway / out to the west,”
The word choice of ”monstrous” has connotations of being menacing and unstoppable, suggesting that the fog is very thick and dangerous to drive in and how it consumes everything in its path. This further highlights the recurring theme of everything around the poet descends into disorder.
The word choice of ”the west” has connotations of being unexplored and uninhabited, symbolising how the poem comes to an end, just as the day begins in the east and the last light goes away in ((the west**.
Line 24: “of ice that sees nothing and that nothing sees.”
Repetition of “nothing” emphasises a sense of emptiness and finality, as if the poet has become completely detached from life. The speaker ends in an uncertain tone, suggesting that winter’s effects extend beyond the physical world into his own thoughts and perceptions.
Line 15: “Fades off, goes, the scene, the voices fade,”
The repetition of ”fades” has connotations of vanishing and deteriorating conditions. This emphasises the idea of gradual disappearance, as if the entire world around the author is dissolving into nothingness.
The breaks between the phrases also emphasises the gradualness of the poem, highlighting how everything slowly dissipates, adding to the theme of the passage of time.
What are the main themes of the poem?
The Relentless Passage of Time
Death & Decay
Harshness of Nature
Transience of Life
Bleakness & Emptiness
