Heritage

=The Poem:=

A heritage of a sort. A heritage of comradeship and suffocation.

The bawling pit-hooter and the god's explosive foray, vengeance, before retreating to his throne of sulphur.

Now this black-robed god of fossils and funerals, petrifier of underground forests and flowers, emerges with his grim retinue past a pony's skeleton, past human skulls, into his half-propped up, empty, carbon colony,

Above, on the brutalised, unstitched side of a Welsh mountain, it has to be someone from somewhere else who will sing solo

not of the marasmus of the Valleys, the pit-wheels that do not turn, the pump-house abandoned;

nor of how, after a half-mile fall, regiments of miners' lamps no longer, midge-like rise and slip and bob.

Only someone uncommitted, someone from somewhere else, panorama-high on a coal-tip, may jubilantly laud the re-entry of the exiled god into his shadowless kingdom.

He, drunk with methane raising a man's femur like a sceptre; she, his ravished queen, admiring the blood-stained black roses that could not thrive on the plains of Enna.

=Notes=

//Bawling//- Crying out loud //Foray-// Raid //Sulphur-// Non-metallic element that is usually used for preserving something //Petrifier-// Someone who turns something to stone //Retinue//- Servents that accompany someone important //Propped//- Supported //Carbon Colony//- A Colony filled with Carbon, possible reference to pollution //Brutalised//- Treated cruelly //Marasmus//- Malnutrition and Defeciency Disease like Kwashiokor, usually results in waste/decay //Pit-Wheels//- A big Ferris-Wheel like figure which was used to wind miners down, it is mining equipment //Pump-House//- A shed-like house in the middle of a long road, usually very small and dusty //Regiments//- Disciplined squads //Midge-like//- Midges are small insects; refers to something small //Panorama-high//- Something so high that it has a birds-eye view of it //Coal-tip-// A pile of coal that is black and looks as big as a mountain //Juibilantly//- Triumphantly //Laud-// Praise //Methane//- Colourless gas used for fuel //Femur//- Thigh Bone, longest bone in the body //Sceptre//- A Staff //Ravished//- Spellbound //Black Rose//- Reference to Black Magic //Plains of Enna//- A mountanious plain in Italy

=The Analysis:=


 * Description (What Happens):**

This poem is about the Welsh Heritage, and how it is destroyed and how unnatural the world has become. Moreover, the poem also compares (if not contrasts) this with the role of god, and what effect this has on the world. The poem talks about a 'God' entering with his retinue into his 'empty' colony, who seems to be quite cruel "Past Human Skulls". However, someone from another mountain does not complain about the mistreatment of the mountain, nor the faulty pit-wheels and neither the abandoned pump-house; but rather praises this "God". This person is drunk with Methane (Used for Fuel) and raises a mans thigh like a staff; and has also spellbound a woman who is his "Queen", and she admires unnatural Black-Roses: which is in contrast to the beautifual "Plains of Enna".


 * Themes:**

The main themes in this poem are the role of god andf also nature and culture itself; although the past and present are also common themes.


 * Langauge (Effect on Reader):**

The language used in this poem is reasonable, with most words being commonly used- despite mentions to rather archaic words such as "Bob" and "Sceptre". Moreover, this has an effect on the reader in that we feel more can be associated with the culture; and how the choice of words opens up a whole new realm into what this poem could be about- we are kept in suspense as to what "Pit-Wheels" are.


 * Imagery (Similies/Metaphors/Personification):**

Very strong imagery is on show within this poem, with a rather vicious and vile "Black-robed God" in somewhat dry and deserted, "Underground Forest"- this strong imagery highlighting how the world has becoeme. Moreover, we see other strong imagery such as "a Pony's skeleton" and "Human Skulls" which also indicate extreme infestation.


 * Sound (Rhythm):**

There is no rhyme scheme present throughout the poem, and with is the chance of any strong 'Sound' being ruled out.


 * Structure (Form):**

The poem is structured so as to have a total of 8 Stanzas, each varying with length. There seems no pattern within the number of lines in which stanza has, and thus there also seems no definitive rhyming or structral scheme.


 * Tone (Narrator):**

The poem seems to be either told by a narrator who watches change over time, and who is constantly monitoring and to whom is clearly visible how the world is changing, and the role of this "Black-robed God" in this. Moreover, the tone of this is suttle but with sometimes explosive and violent words, such as "petrifier" and "grim".

By: Nafees and Ahmed