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Hurricane Hits England. Grace Nichols. Slide 7 contains a link to a video reading of the poem on BBC Bitesize. Learning Objectives. Note the context of the poem Consider key terminology and language Annotate the poem.
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Hurricane Hits England Grace Nichols Slide 7 contains a link to a video reading of the poem on BBC Bitesize
Learning Objectives • Note the context of the poem • Consider key terminology and language • Annotate the poem
Grace Nichols was born in Guyana in 1950, where she grew up. She worked there as a journalist and reporter, before coming to Britain in 1977 Grace Nichols lives near Brighton with the poet John Agard and their daughter Kalera. When a hurricane hit Southern England in 1987 she was near the coast. The context of this poem is quite complicated, because it involves the poet's own history of moving between cultures - Caribbean and English - and the wider history of both those cultures
Guyana/Caribbean History Carib Indians were the original inhabitants of the Caribbean Islands, until they were wiped out by European settlers. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the people of Africa were transported to the Caribbean to be sold as slaves, they carried their religion with them. Grace Nichols grew up in this culture before moving to Britain and all of these influences can be seen in the poem.
Hurricane • In 1987, the southern coast of England was hit by what was known as The Great Storm. Hurricane-force winds are rarely experienced in England, and the effect on the landscape, particularly the trees, was devastating. In the Caribbean, on the other hand, hurricanes are a regular occurrence, and Grace Nichols had experienced them during her childhood.
Key terminology and Language • Statements, commands and questions • Contradictions • Stanza length • Natural imagery • Repetition • Change of person (3rd to 1st)
Reading the poem • In pairs: try to find and list words that suggest the violence and destructive power of the hurricane. • “rage . . . havoc . . .trees falling. . . shaking the foundations . . .” • Now try to find words that suggest a more positive attitude to the effects of the hurricane. • “reassuring. . . cousin. . . sweet mystery. . .talk to me” • There seems to be a contradiction here: how can a hurricane be reassuring?
It took a hurricane, to bring her closerTo the landscape.Half the night she lay awake,The howling ship of the wind,Its gathering rage,Like some dark ancestral spectre.Fearful and reassuring. Why 3rd person? What does this suggest What else does this mean? Suggests a journey? How do these words make you feel? Why would something so fearful be ‘reassuring’?
Carib Indian God of the wind Repetition. Why? What does this sound like? Talk to me HuracanTalk to me OyaTalk to me ShangoAnd Hattie,My sweeping, back-home cousin. African Gods of wind thunder and war 1961 hurricane in the Caribbean. What’s the relation? Which cultures are shown mixing in this stanza?
Places the landscape of stanza one Tell me why you visitAn English coast?What is the meaningOf old tonguesReaping havoc In new places? What are these literally? What is the ‘havoc’ refered to? How doeas this link to stanza two?
Two meanings of illumination. What are they? The blinding illumination,Even as you short-Circuit usInto further darkness? Contrast of the lightning and the darkness it causes literally. How is the darkness caused?
The poet reminds us of the sea through her choice of words? Why? What is the meaning of treesFalling heavy as whalesTheir crusted rootsTheir cratered graves? Is this image positive or negative? How can it be seen as both?
O why is my heart unchained? The last question before the answers Personal What does this suggest? What is the speaker’s heart ‘unchained’ from? What was it ‘chained’ to?
Tropical Oya of the Weather,I am aligning myself to you,I am following the movement of your winds,I am riding the mystery of your strom. Repetition: Why? What do these words suggest about the speaker’s attitude towards the storm?
A mystery is something difficult to understand; what suggests it is positive? What does the shaking suggest? Ah, sweet mystery,Come to break the frozen lake in me,Shaking the foundations of the very trees within me,Come to let me knowThat the earth is the earth is the earth Why does the speaker compare herself with nature? What was frozen in her? What is the purpose of the repetition and what does it mean?
Notes in yellow books • What is suggested by the stanza lengths? • There are three examples of repetition; what are they and what might they suggest? • The message of this poem is contained within contradictions. What are they and how do they work?
