Inheritance -
- “After R.S. Thomas” - Welsh poet & Anglican priest - ‘in the style of’
- Contrast of fragmentation - focus on relationships
- Life, positive relationships, admiration
- Welsh heritage, links to landscape
- Syllogistic structure - form of argument, thesis/antithesis/synthesis
- ^ Hegal’s dialectic
- Trinity structure - three stanzas, religious connotations
Structure -
- “From my father” / “from my mother” / “and from” - syllogistic structure - synthesis
- ^ repetition of preposition “from” - emphasises the inheritance
- Begins with physical - the more immediate, noticeable
- Father - links to physicality, earth, harsh weather, landscape
- Mother - links to emotions, animals, shelter from weather
Stanza 1 -
- Begins with father - idea of primogeniture - links to tradition
- “From my father, a stammer” - inheritance of stutter
- “Like a stick in the spokes of my speech” - sibilance blocked with plosive ‘p’ or ‘t’ recreates
stammer aurally - no sense of negativity - initial consonant blends
- ^ linguistic manipulation to recreate stammer
- ^ beginning of poem - emphasises significance and noticeability
- “Stick in the spokes” - jagged effect
- “A tired blink” - mirrored movement to stammer - interruption of fluency of vision
- ^ potentially alludes to death
- “Need to have my bones / near the hill’s bare stone” - Skirrid Fawr, elevation of importance of
nature - short sentences in comparison to “stick..” - basic, core elements
- ^ connection to Welsh heritage, being brought back to the earth, need for tradition
- “Bones” / “bare stone” - simplicity of rhyme and words
- Rhyme of “bones” / “stone” emphasises relationships between Sheers & Welsh identity
- “Affection for the order of maps” / “chaos of bad weather”
- ^ juxtaposing ideas
- Chaotic weather is typical of Wales, which is known for its turbulent weather and harsh winds
- “After R.S. Thomas” - Welsh poet & Anglican priest - ‘in the style of’
- Contrast of fragmentation - focus on relationships
- Life, positive relationships, admiration
- Welsh heritage, links to landscape
- Syllogistic structure - form of argument, thesis/antithesis/synthesis
- ^ Hegal’s dialectic
- Trinity structure - three stanzas, religious connotations
Structure -
- “From my father” / “from my mother” / “and from” - syllogistic structure - synthesis
- ^ repetition of preposition “from” - emphasises the inheritance
- Begins with physical - the more immediate, noticeable
- Father - links to physicality, earth, harsh weather, landscape
- Mother - links to emotions, animals, shelter from weather
Stanza 1 -
- Begins with father - idea of primogeniture - links to tradition
- “From my father, a stammer” - inheritance of stutter
- “Like a stick in the spokes of my speech” - sibilance blocked with plosive ‘p’ or ‘t’ recreates
stammer aurally - no sense of negativity - initial consonant blends
- ^ linguistic manipulation to recreate stammer
- ^ beginning of poem - emphasises significance and noticeability
- “Stick in the spokes” - jagged effect
- “A tired blink” - mirrored movement to stammer - interruption of fluency of vision
- ^ potentially alludes to death
- “Need to have my bones / near the hill’s bare stone” - Skirrid Fawr, elevation of importance of
nature - short sentences in comparison to “stick..” - basic, core elements
- ^ connection to Welsh heritage, being brought back to the earth, need for tradition
- “Bones” / “bare stone” - simplicity of rhyme and words
- Rhyme of “bones” / “stone” emphasises relationships between Sheers & Welsh identity
- “Affection for the order of maps” / “chaos of bad weather”
- ^ juxtaposing ideas
- Chaotic weather is typical of Wales, which is known for its turbulent weather and harsh winds
