Mr Huffman's Higher English Site



NOTE: I do not pretend that these notes are the ‘answer’ to these very complex poems. These notes are a result of our class discussion and are intended to reflect the common understanding we have in the class. If you disagree with anything here, that’s great – just bring it up in class so we can make sure it works.The Ferryman’s ArmsThis poem seems to be about our complex relationship with / our understanding of our mortality. It features a series of images associated with duality: splits, halves, divisions, contrasts, light, dark - all reflecting the duality within us all. In this case, the split seems to be between our rational and emotional selves. When those two sides of us try to take each other on, there are no winners. When contemplating our mortality, all sense of logic and rationality seems to go out the window (just as 'physics itself becomes something negotiable' on the sketchy pool table).The ThreadSonnets follow specific structures (see attached whiteboard photo). When those structures are played around with, we have to take note. Sonnets are traditionally romantic love poems, but Paterson uses them to explore his love for his children.The image of the thread (a fragile, weak piece of string) is used effectively at the start to illustrate how fragile and close to death Jamie was. The imagery throughout the octave effectively puts this across (see your annotation).The italics near the middle of the sestet refer to the time Jamie was born and how horrible it was. It seems buried in the middle of the stanza, as if Paterson deliberately doesn’t want to end on that thought. It ends with the image of the thread become the very thing that now ties the whole family together.Structurally, the rhyme scheme adds a lot to this poem. There first four lines (abba) are quite weak half-rhymes, nicely illustrating the weakness of the thread. The rhymes immediately get stronger (as Jamie does). The rhyming couplet in the middle of the sestet draws the reader’s attention to the fact that, though very important, this is not something he wants to end on.Waking With RussellThe nature of our existence is a common theme in Paterson’s work. This poem nods in this direction, too, as it seems to be about, on some level, our desire to forge or find our own paths in life. Not being able to find our path leads to frustration, cynicism (‘my old hard-pressed grin’). Russell helps him find his path, his purpose. He was lost, (‘the true path was as lost to me as ever’) when Russell ‘cut in front and lit it [the path]’ as he ran. The octave refers to the idea of gift giving, altruism, and the power of the shared smile. The last two lines seem archaic and suggest a sort of Shakespearean, overblown reference to the power of the smile in ‘wakening’ the poet.Nil NilOn the face of it, this is a poem about the decline of a football team and a plane crash. On a deeper level, it seems to be about the fear everyone feels about being forgotten, fading into obscurity, into ‘a point so refined / not even the angels could dance on it’.The prologue discusses the fact that history as we know it is just a collection of hard, ‘terrible’ facts. It is only through ‘the infinite ghost-/libraries of the imagination’ that we can even start to understand the past.The decline of the football team takes up about two-thirds of the poem – slightly ironically leaving about one-third for the arguably more significant plane crash. The language used in the opening creates a sense of ambiguity and contrast (‘majestic in ankle-length shorts’, ‘golden hair shorn to an open book’, ‘a plague of grey bonnets falls out of the clouds’), tainting even the ‘zenith’. Death, dead ends, and inevitable obscurity are major themes in the opening: ‘plague’, alliterative lists (‘pitch-sharing, / pay-cuts, pawned silver’), ‘it’s all down’, ‘giant-killing’, ‘sponsored by Skelly Assurance, / then Skelly Dry Cleaners, then nobody’, ‘dead shanty-town’, ‘cul-de-sac’. Ironically, the section dealing with actual death uses a light-hearted, trivial tone: ‘plopped’, ‘silently / twirling away like an ash-key’, ‘unleashing a flurry of socks / like a sackful of doves’, ‘he caught up with the plane’.The title reminds us of the issues of duality, splits and contrasts of ‘Ferryman’s Arms’. If it’s ‘Nil Nil’, no one wins. In the end, it’s the only possible outcome.This is a complex poem and, like ‘The Ferryman’s Arms’, you really need to get to grips with it yourself. It is hard to clearly articulate these poems’ central concerns because they are so abstract, but you should try for yourself, anyway.11:00 BaldovanThis is a poem about fears. The two main parts of the poem contrast childish/childhood fears with those of adulthood / old age. The childhood fears are clearly stated: “matters of procedure”, “where we should sit, when to pull the bell, even / if we have enough money for the fare”. These seemingly trivial fears seem bigger by the use of overblown language (“Base Camp. Horizontal sleet.”) but are contrasted by childish language (“me and Ross Mudie”, “I plan to buy comics, / sweeties, and magic tricks”).This contrast highlights the fact that, though seemingly trivial, as a child, these are very real fears – just as real as those experienced by adults.They get progressively more sinister and abstract as the poem goes on: “streets that suddenly forget / their names”, “the bus / will draw into the charred wreck of itself”, and finally, “and our sisters and mothers are fifty years dead”. These seem to be fears associated with getting older – time passing too quickly, losing everyone / everything we know – and these fears are emphasised by the lack of punctuation at the end of the lines (creating a sense of speed, rushing forward towards the ‘end’) from line 9 until then end – fittingly, the final full-stop after the word ‘dead’.Two TreesThis poem seems to be all about coupling – the two trees being grafted together, the rhyming couplets throughout, the two stanzas, the ‘double crop’. On a deeper level, this coupling hints at the fact that when two things work together, they are both stronger. Similarly, perhaps Paterson is hinting at the fact that if we allow our duality, our two sides (the conflict between our rational and emotional selves [with regards to our understanding of mortality, etc.], the conflict between what we want to be and what we have to be, the conflict between good and evil) to work together, we would be better off. It might be uncomfortable to accept the ‘bad’ sides (just as the trees may experience ‘shame’ at first), but eventually we’ll be better off (‘two lights in the dark leaves’, ‘double crop’). The second stanza plays with the reader, suggesting that it’s not about anything deep, but by telling us to not think of something, we, of course, think of it.Or maybe it’s just about trees. ................
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