Horses Poem †Edwin Muir Essay

HorsesEdwin Muirin First Poems, 1925Notes Compiled and Edited by RIFirst interpret The sight of horses now, in the present, leads thespeaker to consider his feelings towards horseswhen he was a child Perhaps some girlish hourhas come again. Main focus The various descriptions of horses and the speakersfeelings towards the horses An other-worldliness about them, something wizardly Admiration and fear are mixed A clear Romantic feel about the poesy e.g. And ohthe raptureStanza 1 lumbering gives the impression that thehorses are moving in a slow, heavy and uncouth wayStanza 2 Pistons in the machines in an ancient mill areused to describe the social movement of the horseshooves as the child watched fearful The use of imagery drawn from the earlyindustrial age is interest in what it tells usabout the childs fearStanza 3 The word conquering suggests a reference toan even earlier age The word ritual and the descriptionsseraphim of gold and enraptured monsters hintat something pagan or pre-historicStanza 4 The rapture conveys a Romantic sense ofworshipping these natural creatures see lines24Stanza 5 glowing with mysterious fire links with themagic queen, which describes the horses hesees in the present day (in the first stanza)Stanza 6 The plyful force of the horses is captured inthe eyes gleaming with a cruel apocalypticlight The religious imagery follows on from thestruggling snakes of stanza 5Stanza 7 The repetition of it fades suggests loss,straightforwardly the fading of his memory Pine means to feel a lingering, often nostalgic cravingExercises To assist a closer reading of the poem as awholeStanza 1 travail 1 Look up the meaning of lumbering and thenconsider the way it contrasts with the descriptionin lines 3 4Stanza 1 Task 2 Look closely at the meanings of terrible, red and strange These are of course words common in everydayusage, but precise mental lexicon definitions of thesewords might yield unexpected and original ideas Note that the horses are lumbering, whilst theplough is energiseStanza 2 Check that you have understood the shift intime. The rest of the poem deals with the speakersrecollection of his feelings as a child. What impression do you feel is created by thesimile of the pistons?Stanza 3 The references in this stanza are to a preindustrial age. Consider the effects of these wordsconquering hooves, ritual, seraphim of gold and mute ecstatic monsters. You should consult a dictionary whereappropriate.Stanzas 4 and 5 What do you make of the tone in stanza quaternity? Explore the words used to describe the horses,and to consider what they reveal about thespeakers side? What contrast is signalled by the use of But whenat dusk at the beginning of stanza five? What do you make of mysterious fire here andthe magic power attributed to the present-dayhorses in stanza one?Stanza 6 Analyse the effectiveness of the imagery thecruel apocalyptic light of their eyes and thepersonification of the wind.Stanza 7 earlier consid ering the final stanza andreaching a judgement about its effectiveness,you might read the whole poem (perhaps working in pairs). Having studied closely the previous stanzas,how do you now feel that the final stanzashould be talk? How does the tone here differ from the tonein other parts of the poem?Activities In methodicalness focus on the sounds of the poem, youmight in pairs or small groups practise readingthe poem aloud. drive to capture a suitable voice for the speaker asyou read, and vary the tone as appropriate. Finally, notice a copy of the poem, indicatingbriefly the effects created by imagery and sounddevices Select an example of a device used in aparticularly striking or vivid way pardon what it isthat makes it striking for you.Thematic links with set poems Nature Pied Beauty, Hunting Snake, Pike, TheWoodspurge, Upon Westminster Bridge,Summer Farm clock A Different History, The Cockroach, TheCity Planners, The PlannersSummary Past memories Surpassing reality The poet reminiscing one of his childhoodmemories Horses plough during a rainy dayPower of Nature Expression of the power of nature Language techniques fiction The mechanical metaphor Oxymoron Negative connotationsVocabulary of nature Horses Field Blackeningrain Hooves Stubble Hulks Monsters sunniness light-heartedBossy sidesFlakesSnakesDuskGloamFireBodiesMireEyesNightManesWind agriculturalTreeFigurative Language Similes Hooves give care pistons in an ancient mill Image Their hooves are like machines They keep on moving up and down, ploughing the wholefield Struggling snakes Snake-like furrows Prepares us for the scriptural imagery cruel apocalyptic light Eyes As brilliant and as wide as nightPersonification WindTheir manes the leaping ire of the windLifted with rage occult and blind Dusk The broad-breasted horses in the light of thesetting sun The light coming off of their bodies in flakes The steaming nostrils Their warm, gigantic bodies glowing withmysterious fire The smouldering hea t of their bodies in the cold soil Metaphors Conquering Great hulks Mechanical Industrial age Comparing a horses power to that of an engine E.g. car engine Reader can visualize and sense the physical power of the creature Powerful image of the horses Appreciation of the beauty of the powerful force of the horses Oxymoron Horses described as mute ecstatic monsters onthe mould Horses being presented as terrible, so wild andstrange, yet with magical power Leading the reader to ponder the poets message The idea of nature fading away and liveness becomingmechanical Followed by the disclosure of his dislike of modernisation Negative connotations Dark side and discouragement Through negative connotations The smouldering bodies of the horses Their eyes gleaming with a cruel apocalyptic light here the poet expresses his emotions towardsthe arrival of evil, or apocalypse and his worldturning darkThe right words First half of the poem Words like seraphim and gold Emphasis on strong presen ce and value in nature End of the poem black field and still-standing tree The poet introduces a dark, sad tone As he expresses his realisation faded nature loss of its presenceConclusion Memory Struggle Light and darkness Symbolic Expresses aspects of nature Wildness Innocence