Cricket+Ball

=The poem:=

1935, I watched Glamorgan play especially Slogger Smart, free from the disgrace of fame, unrenowned, but the biggest hit with me.

A three-spring flash of willow and suddenly, the sound of summer as the thumped ball, alive, would leave the applauding ground.

Once, hell for leather, it curled over the workman's crane in Westgate Street to cash, they said, through a discreet Angel Hotel windowpane.

But I, a pre-war boy, (or someone with my name) wanted it, that Eden day, to scoot around the tunring world to mock physics and gravity, to raindow-arch the posh hotel higher, deranged, on and on, allegro, (the Taff a gleam of mercury below) going, going, gone towards the Caerphilly mountain range.

Vanishings! The years, too, gone like change. But the travelling Taff seems the same. It's late. I peer at the falling sky over Westgate Street and wait. I smell cut grass. I shine an apple on my thigh.


 * Content:**

This poem is about a cricket match that Abse saw in 1935, the team (Glamorgan) used to play at Cardiff Arms Park. The Angel Hotel is opposite, on the other side of Westgate Street. "Slogger Smart," Cyril Smart used to bat no.6 for Glamorgan and though he was "free from the disgrace of fame, unrenowed," he was " the biggest hit with" Abse. It is also about change; "vanishings! The years, too, gone like change."


 * Themes:**

The main themes of this poem is sport, nature and change.

"And suddenly, the sound of summer..." "I smell cut grass." "I peer over the falling sky over Westgate Street and wait."


 * Language:**


 * Imagery:**

There are some strong imagery throughout the poem.

"To scootaround the tunring world." "To mock physics and gravity." "To raindow-arch the posh hotel." "Going, going, gonetowards the Caerphilly mountain range." "The applauding ground." "The Taff a gleam of mercury below" "The years, too, gone like change."


 * Structure/form:**

The poem has 5 stanzas but the lenght of each stanza is different, except for the first two stanzas which are the same.


 * Tone:**