Nature

by H.D. Carberry

We have neither Summer nor Winter
Neither Autumn nor Spring.
We have instead the days
When the gold sun shines on the lush green canefields-
Magnificently.
The days when the rain beats like bullet on the roofs
And there is no sound but thee swish of water in the gullies
And trees struggling in the high Jamaica winds.
Also there are the days when leaves fade from off guango trees’
And the reaped canefields lie bare and fallow to the sun.
But best of all there are the days when the mango and the logwood blossom
When bushes are full of the sound of bees and the scent of honey,
When the tall grass sways and shivers to the slightest breath of air,
When the buttercups have paved the earth with yellow stars
And beauty comes suddenly and the rains have gone.

SYNOPSIS

The poem tells of the weather conditions in Jamaica although it does not have the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter. The weather conditions of golden sunny days and wet rainy days are just as good and are almost equivalent to the four seasons.

THEMES

• Beauty of nature
• Appreciation of one own’s country
• Differences in appearances but similar in effects

MORAL VALUES

• We should appreciate what we have in our own country
• We should not long for what we do not have.
• We should be aware that different people have different skills or beauty.

TONE,MOOD, ATMOSPHERE

• Appreciative and happy
• Carefree and light-hearted
• Sense of beauty

POINT OF VIEW

• Third person point of view

LANGUAGE AND STYLE

• Simple and easy to understand the language
• Clear and descriptive
• Simple style with no rhyming scheme

POETIC DEVICES

• Imagery – e.g. ‘gold sun’, ‘lush green fields’, ‘trees struggling’
• Alliteration – e.g. ‘sways and shivers to the slightest breath of air’
• Symbols – e.g. ‘gold sun’ – symbol of summer, ‘rains’ – symbol of winter
• Contrast – e.g. ‘beauty’ or summer is compared with ‘rains’ or winter
• Figurative Language  – Simile – ‘rain beats like bullets’
• Metaphor – e.g. ‘the buttercups paved the earth with yellow stars’
• Personafication – ‘buttercups have paved the earth’ …  buttercups have been personified as having laid tiles