Eng/KS4/Hurricane

Hurricane Hits England

grace nichols.jpg (13603 bytes)

by Grace Nichols

The words in RED have been highlighted because they are specific poetry techniques. Click on the drop down menu and select the technique you think is being used. Be careful, sometimes more than one technique is employed. Choose the one you think is most appropriate. You can check your answers at the end of the page.

It took a hurricane, to bring her closer

To 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:

Talk to me Huracan

Talk to me Oya

Talk to me Shango

And Hattie,

My sweeping, back-home cousin.

Tell me why you visit

An English coast?

What is the meaning

Of old tongues

Reaping havoc

In new places?

The blinding illumination,

Even as you short-

Circuit us

Into further darkness?

What is the meaning of trees

Falling heavy as whales

Their crusted roots

Their cratered graves?

O Why is my heart unchained?

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 storm.

Ah, sweet mystery; Come to break the frozen lake in me,

Shaking the foundations of the very trees within me,

Come to let me know

That the earth is the earth is the earth.

JavaScript page generated by MakeList (version 1.0.0) 27/2/99 � J.R.Wordsworth
comments to: staffjrw@ke7.org.uk at King Edward VII Upper School, Melton Mowbray.

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	Hurricane Hits England by Grace Nichols The words in RED have been highlighted because they are specific poetry techniques. Click on the drop down menu and select the technique you think is being used. Be careful, sometimes more than one technique is employed. Choose the one you think is most appropriate. You can check your answers at the end of the page. It took a hurricane, to bring her closer To 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: Talk to me Huracan Talk to me Oya Talk to me Shango And Hattie, My sweeping, back-home cousin. Tell me why you visit An English coast? What is the meaning Of old tongues Reaping havoc In new places? The blinding illumination, Even as you short- Circuit us Into further darkness? What is the meaning of trees Falling heavy as whales Their crusted roots Their cratered graves? O Why is my heart unchained? 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 storm. Ah, sweet mystery; Come to break the frozen lake in me, Shaking the foundations of the very trees within me, Come to let me know That the earth is the earth is the earth. JavaScript page generated by MakeList (version 1.0.0) 27/2/99 � J.R.Wordsworth comments to: staffjrw@ke7.org.uk at King Edward VII Upper School, Melton Mowbray. Back to Poetry from Other Cultures \| Back to English Homepage