‘The Road To Roberton ’

1. ‘The Road To Roberton’

2. LEARNING INTENTIONS: Explore how poetry can describe landscape and nature. To consider how the poet used an extended metaphor compare the border landscape with its history SUCCESS CRITERIA: I can read, explore and analyse the Ogilvie poem ‘The Road To Roberton’

3. Analysis • Before you look at the poem, bullet point the connotations the title of the poem suggests to you. • What do you think it will be about? • What do you think the key theme/message will be? • Highlight and identify the key poetic techniques used (e.g. word choice, imagery, repetition, tone) • Analyse how these techniques are used to convey i) nature ii) landscape iii)Scottish history

4. Some Background… ‘Ogilvie always wrote about what was topical and he could see things in the countryside which other people could not and he recorded these in such a way as to tell a story.’ Ann Holt (Southern Reporter 24/8/09) Roberton is a small village in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, on the B711 and near to the A7, five miles from Hawick, 22 miles from Galashiels, and 23 miles from Langholm. It is situated by the Ale Water, the Alemoor Loch and the Borthwick Water, and nearby are Branxholme, Broadhaugh, Burnfoot and the Craik Forest. The Road between Roberton and Ashkirk is a beautiful, undulating, moorland road which is particularly spectacular in August when the heather is out. As you wind down into the valley of the River Teviot, you pass by 17th century Harden Tower, once home to Auld Wat of Harden, one of the most notable of the Border Reivers.

5. The hill road to Roberton; Ale Water at our feet, And grey hills and blue hills that melt away and meet, With cotton-flowers that wave to us and lone whaupsthat call, And over all the Border mist – the soft mist over all. Her on her own, excited, eager, waiting for her son’s birth • Title: • w • 8 • Image Word choice – ‘stare’ – repeated throughout poem, conveying intensity of longing as does ‘willing you to arrive’ – sentiment repeated at end of the poem Inability to believe baby will arrive reflected at start of section 2 when cannot imagine his return from Gap Year

6. When Scotland married England long, long ago, The winds spun a wedding-veil of moonlight and snow, A veil of filmy silver that sun and rain had kissed, And she left it to the Border in a soft grey mist. Metaphor– image of a container. By the end of poem, it is clear Matthew cannot be contained and her sadness/acceptance that she must let him live his life how he chooses. Word Choice and list of baby’s actionsof ‘foot against my heart’ and ‘elbow in my ribcage’– source of joy and pain. Always able to feel him near; now, she cannot. Reflected at end of poem with mixed emotions of pride and longing. Synaesthesia ‘felt you laugh’ –– closeness of pregnancy. His experiences are hers. (cf. later in poem when she experiences happiness/joy vicariously)

7. And now the dreary distance doth wear it like a bride, Out beyond the Langhope Burn and over Essenside, By BorthwickWa’s and Redfordgreen and on to wild Buccleuch. And up the Ettrick water, till it fades into the blue. • She does the things parents are told to do – shows she wants to give him the best start in life. • Oxymoron – ‘close stranger’ – physically close but unknown. Mirrored/inverted at end of poem: mother-son bond is close, but he has become a stranger physically through distance • This section adds to atmosphere of contentment, calm and peacefulness. • Highlights/emphasises connection between them (e.g. pet name/term of endearment that she shares only with him so we can understand how empty/lost she felt when he left.) • You arrived late – almost accusatory – like he kept her waiting for him, on his terms, even then. Now, she waits for him to decide to come again.

8. The winding road to Roberton is little marked of wheels, And lonely past Blawearie runs the track to Borthwickshiels, Whitsladeis slumbering undisturbed and down in Harden Glen The tall trees murmur in their dreams of Wat’s mosstrooping men. • Rhyme of ‘date’ with ‘eight’ – emphasises auspicious due date missed. ‘Due date’ repeated later in poem referring to when he will return from travels • Irony– had to be pulled out with forceps / unwilling to leave; now unwilling to return home from travels • Sunday  Monday – idea of new week symbolising a new chapter beginning. • Also conveyed through the use of a circular structure – the empty basket at the start of the section is now full symbolising she now feels whole/complete, and thus, with him now away, she feels empty once again.

9. Highlights this is a new chapter in their relationship and in both their lives too. A distant glint of silver, that is Ale’s last goodbye, Then Greatmoor and Windburgh against a purple sky, The long line of the Carter, Teviotdale flung wide, And a slight stir in the heather – a wind from the English side. • Word choice– ‘peek’ – actions of a parent checking on a sleeping child. ‘stare’ – intensity of longing. Echoes earlier reference looking at empty basket • ‘hardly able’ - links back to stanza 1. However, then she couldn’t imagine his presence. Now she can’t imagine anything but his absence. Repetition of ‘away’ emphasises the distance too. • List of South American countries – exotic, distant, connotations of exploration/adventure. Also suggests distance between them. • Affectionate descriptions of face as ‘soft, open’ will be contrasted by appearance on webcam later.

10. The hill road to Roberton’s a steep road to climb, But where your foot has crushed it you can smell the scented Thyme. And if your heart’s a Border heart, look down to Harden Glen, And hear the blue hills ringing with the restless hoofs again. • Role reversal – mother following child’s lead. • ‘Times Atlas’ – British institution, roots her in the UK. Contrastin the smallness of her actions (armchair travelling) compared with his adventure. • Repeated structure of “from…to” Traversing from one side of South America to the other. • Contrastbetween ‘baby turtles’ and ‘massive leatherbacks’ • All serve to emphasise range and scale of Matthew’s travels and how he is no longer her little baby but is fully grown and she has to let him go (‘baby turtles  massive leatherbacks’ – he’s ‘six foot two.’)

11. Summary • There are many resonances, parallels and contrasts throughout the poem. • The first section details the peace and tranquillity of the perfect union of mother and baby. It is much shorter than the second section, suggesting that the experience felt brief/short. • The second stanza starts with a flash forward of 18 years. The way this long period is dispatched by a simple section break, perhaps imitates the idea that, to Kay, Matthew’s birth just seemed like yesterday, and the intervening years have flashed past almost instantly.

12. The second stanza is far longer in length than the first, suggesting that the experience of tracking Matthew’s travels and awaiting his return is a painfully long and drawn-out one. • As with most of the poems in the selection, there is a wider range of tones present in the poem than might appear at first glance. Longing, pride, sadness, humour and nostalgia are all present in varying degrees. • Regular stanza lengths (4 lines) mirrors the regularity/inevitability of growing up/life children move away/have own lives. • Last line – short/brief symbolises how quickly this change occurs and the sadness/poignancy of her life with him, in some ways, now be over.