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8 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Introductory paragraph
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Grace Nichols was born in Guyana in 1950 but came to live in England in 1977. Unlike Alvi – Nichols feels comfortable in both England AND the Caribbean. It was the storm which reconciled the two places in her. She wrote: “It seemed as though the old gods were in the wind, and for the first time, I felt close to the English landscape.”
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Content of the poem
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1. The poet writes of herself being kept awake during the ‘hurricane’ that hit England in 1987.
2. It reminds her of the great hurricanes of her childhood in the Caribbean – e.g. ‘Hattie’ – and the wind and storm gods – ‘Hurracan’, and ‘Oya’ and ‘Shango’ – that the people of Caribbean believed caused them 3. It raises a succession of questions – why have the hurricane-gods come to England? What is the meaning of it? ‘Why is my heart unchained?’ 4. She welcomes the hurricane gods, and decides that they have come to let her know that they are here in England as much as they ever were at home in the Caribbean, and ‘the earth is the earth’ wherever you live. |
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Use of Language
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1. Starts off in third person
2. Moves to the first person 3. Talks directly to the storm (personification) 4. Poses a series of questions 5. Images which relate to the storm, but also to her personal cultural experience: 6. Uses Caribbean language for the names of gods ‘It took a hurricane to bring her closer’ ‘Talk to me Hurracan’ ‘O why is my heart unchained?’ • ‘old tongues reaping havoc’ • ‘blinding illumination’ • trees uprooted: ‘falling heavy as whales’ Caribbean patois (Hurracan) and African (Oya and Shango) |
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The Poet's Culture
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Creates a sense of distance – starting with the hurricane
Conveys the process by which she personalised the message of the hurricane so it affected her. Note the allusion to West Indian slaves’ chains – Grace was ‘freed’ to live happily, just as they were set free. = wind, but also her Caribbean language = lightning, but also her inner realisation = her inner feelings and beliefs are shaken & uprooted They are echoes of her past in the Caribbean (the ‘ancestral spectre’ |
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Structure of the poem
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1. Free verse/ stanzas of varying length
2. Rhythm • ‘Talk to me … Talk to me … Talk to me …’ • ‘I am aligning … I am following … I am riding’ = the freedom she found, but also the unpredictability of the storm = reminiscent of Caribbean limbo dancing |
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Feelings of the Poet
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1. Mixed feelings about the storm
2. Exhilarated/ excited/ happy/ free 3. Reconciled 4. Rekindled the past in her • ‘fearful and reassuring’ • ‘my sweeping back-home cousin’ ‘Oh why is my heart unchained?’ ‘the earth is the earth is the earth’ ‘Tropical Oya … I am aligning myself to you’ dangerous – but at the same time bringing back happy memories of her childhood. The storm reconciled her Caribbean past to her English present – because its gods were everywhere. She is happy with her Caribbean beliefs/culture |
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Feelings of the reader
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That is up to you. You must justify whether or not you like the poem.
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Assessmnet Factors
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AF4
1. Craft my paragraphs to create an impact on the reader AF5/6 1. Use the full range of punctuation to create an effect on my reader 2. Use a variety of sentences to create effects that emphasise what I want to say |
