Nature By H.D Carberry

Prepared by Miss Tang (Theo2014)

Choice of words

• covered with • bear flowers • names of local Jamaican trees • cut and gathered • uncultivated • fragrance • moves gracefully • very brightly/ gloriously • healthy and strong • channel/ ditch

Vocabulary

Word(s) Meaning

Lush healthy and strong

Reap cut and gathered

Sways and shivers moves gracefully

Paved covered with

Blossom bear flowers

Gullies channel/ ditch

Guango trees/ logwood names of local Jamaican trees

Scent fragrance

Fallow uncultivated

Magnificently very brightly/ gloriously

Literal Vs Figurative Meaning

Line 1 -2 • Jamaican unlike countries

with temperate climates, does not have 4 seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter.

Line 1 - 2

• It may appear that we, who come from different races and places, do not have the same in life.

We have neither Summer nor Winter Neither Autumn nor Spring

Literal Vs Figurative Meaning

Lines 3 - 5 • Jamaica has instead bright

days when the weather is very hot and the gold sun shines brilliantly on the fields rich with green sugar cane.

Lines 3 - 5

• However, we all do have good times when everything is bright and pleasant and things that bring joy in their own ways.

We have instead the days When the gold sun shines on the lush green canefields- Magnificently

Literal Vs Figurative Meaning

Line 6 - 9

• During rainy season, the rain falls heavily and beats with such force on the roof of houses.

• We can only hear the water rushing through the gullies.

• The trees have to struggles against the strong winds.

Line 6 - 9

• At times, life is a struggle and we may face many problems.

• Life may not be pleasant anymore because the road ahead is full of obstacles.

The days when the rain beats like bullets on the roofs And there is no sound but the swish of water in the gullies And trees struggling in the high Jamaica winds.

Literal Vs Figurative Meaning

Line 10 - 12

• At other times, trees shed their leaves and the field are left bare.

Line 10 - 12

• At times, life is a struggle and we may face many problems.

• There will be times when certain things go beyond our control and we have no choice but to let them be.

Also there are the days when leaves fade from off guango trees And the reaped canefields lie bare and fallow to the sun.

Lines 11 - 15 • The best days are when Earth is alive

again. • Fruit trees, like the mango and

logwood, bloom and the bushes are full of bees and the fragrance of honey.

• The grass grows tall and moves to the slightest breeze. The field are covered with yellow buttercups that look like shinning stars and nature bursts with beauty after rainy days have gone.

Lines 11 - 15 • But we will also get the chance to

experience the best times of our life. • We have go through bad days in

order to appreciate the good days. • When these good moments occur,

everything goes right and we enjoy life to the fullest.

• Then, we realize that everyone is actually getting the same things in life, only in different ways.

But best of all there are the days when the mango and the logwood blossom When the 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.

UNDERSTANDING THE POEM

Lines 1 to 10

• The poet tells about his homeland , Jamaica and rejoices the beauty of this island. Jamaica has no seasonal changes. It has a tropical climate which is hot and wet throughout the year. The days of golden sunshine are glorious and magnificent. The are many canefields in Jamaica as sugar is one of the main exports in this country.

Lines 11 to 15

• In the ending of the poem, the poet tells us his favourite time – days when the flowers of mango trees and logwood blossom. He uses imagery of sound and smell to illustrate abundant life and activity in the bushes when the ‘sound of bees and the scent of honey’ add to the charm and beauty of Jamaica. He describes the fields filled with lovely yellow buttercups. All this happens when the rains have stopped and the beauty of nature emerges once again.

THEMES

• Beauty of nature • Appreciation of one own country • Appreciation of nature

MORAL VALUES • We should appreciate what we have in our own

country • We should not long for what we do not have. • We should appreciate our homeland. • We should appreciate the beauty of nature.

TONE,MOOD, ATMOSPHERE

• Appreciative and happy

• Carefree and light-hearted

• Sense of beauty

POINT OF VIEW • Third person point of view

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

• Onomatopeia – e’g ‘swish’