In the next stanza, Gillian Clarke introduces the harsh reality of the situation, by saying “I am reading poetry to the insane”. As this sentence is so insensitive and such a contrast to the last stanza, the poet effectively captures the reader’s attention. The poet then goes on to explain about her encounters with some of the other patients. I think she expertly uses enjambement when she describes the “schizophrenic / on a good day, they tell me later.” Schizophrenia is the fragmentation of the mind and means that the person has a twin personality, so she separates the sentence onto two lines. I think that “on a good day” means that if the boy were having a bad day, he would not be listening “entirely absorbed” as he is now. Gillian Clarke states that although this schizophrenic boy is in a mental hospital, he is still beautiful, so that the readers do not just assume that everyone in the hospital are less attractive to ordinary people. She also clarifies that the people in the hospital can be young or old.
When we meet the woman sitting in a cage of first March sun, Gillian Clarke uses deliberate repetition of the word not when she describes the woman’s actions. The woman sits “not listening, not seeing, not feeling”. The woman appears caged inside herself, as a result she is not hearing the words and appears vacant. This repetition causes one to imagine how limiting her life must be because she absent to world and gives reason for one to sympathise with her.
Gillian Clarke causes the readers to take pity on the “big mild man”, because she explains that although the man us big on the exterior, he is mild on the interior. I feel for this dumb man because he has to be led to his chair, whereas any ordinary man would be independent. I also find it interesting that Gillian Clarke uses an oxymoron to survey how the patients appear trapped inside themselves. Gillian Clarke reads to their “presences, absences”. Again, on the exterior, the patients seem present, but on the interior, their minds are absent. They are oblivious to Gillian Clarke reading poems to them.
I think it is inventive how Gillian Clarke uses sibilance in the fifth stanza, to alert the reader by means of different sounds and rhythms. I feel that the language she uses, gives an air of expectance and anticipation. As the two previous stanzas continue on from each other – enjambement - this stanza a change. I also like the way that Gillian Clarke conjures an image of this large man taking his first steps just as a newborn lamb does in the first few days of spring, because he is “breaking” free of his dumbness or “darkness”. This is the beginning of his new life with speech.
I think it is effective, how Gillian Clarke personifies the daffodils in the sixth stanza, “the daffodils are still as wax”, because she portrays the flowers as waxworks, so they are motionless and tranquil, as if listening to the man reciting the poem about them. It is as if time has stopped, and all the nature outside the window is reflecting on the “miracle” that is taking place inside. The hyperbole that she uses, “a thousand, ten thousand” is an excerpt from the poem ‘The Daffodils’ that the dumb man had recited. Gillian Clarke successfully employs this hyperbole to exaggerate the number of daffodils who stop to observe to the man breaking free of his limited life. I think it works well, because Gillian Clarke intended to stress that as this is such an important event, that lots of creatures would stop to listen to it.
I think that the seventh stanza is the most heartbreaking stanza, especially “Since the dumbness of misery fell”; because that implies that the man was once a happy child and only stopped talking and became miserable when something tore his life apart. This is the point in the poem where we realise the power of speech and nature, which Gillian Clarke believes very strongly in. I find “that once he had something to say”, very moving, because it was only at that point that I could believe that the man really had not spoken for such a long time and now he had been released with the strength of a poem.
I think “the daffodils are flame” is a very effective way to finish the poem because it is rounding off with the daffodils where it first started. As the main theme of the poem is the power of nature, I feel that it is an excellent way to finish. “Flame,” means that the daffodils appear to become brighter, even when they are not, to symbolise the end of the “miracle” workings.
When I first read the poem, I was puzzled by the different figures of speech that Gillian Clarke uses, but after reading it again, I found them very inventive. The poem left me with a feeling of satisfaction and fulfilment, because the thought that nature has healing properties is awe-inspiring.
