Allen Curnow has employed parallelism as well as repetition in order to draw links in this poem. The parallel comparison of 'How small; how sad', draws a link with how the persona seems to be recalling his days back in school. The passing of time and his aging is revealed for the very doors that seemed huge as a kid now seems to be described as being rather 'small'. The persona refers to himself as a third person and this is deduced through the repetition of the word 'you'. Perhaps the persona had a tough time reconnecting with his old school that he felt more comfortable referring himself as a third person rather than personally reflecting, as though he were talking to himself.
This poem follows an irregular rhyme scheme, perhaps something that reflects his irregular pattern of this recollection of memories. The lack of a proper rhyme scheme might also reveal the lack of assurance, and the hard time he seems to have re-adjusting to his past. Although the poem does follow an imperfect rhyme scheme: topping-skipping; waves-eaves; than-began; small-wall, the fluctuating rhymes and discordant sounds allows the audience to notice his discomfort while revisiting his school.
Curnow has made use of an unstable structure so to say, for the poem does not hold a constant number of stanzas, rather the poem begins with 3 and 5 lined stanzas but ends with two 4-lined stanzas. Now this growth of stability towards the end perhaps reflects the growth or the increase in the persona's clarity of understanding. It's as though he finally realized that the very things that were unsettling or intimidating to him as a child (terrible doors) are not as bad as they seemed back in the day. This minor epiphany seems to be mimicked by the structure of the poem itself. Similarly, in this poem, the persona seems to get distracted momentarily and this can be shown in the second stanza after 'Pinus betrays'. While observing the pinus he drifts away into talking about how they function. However, the persona gets back on track in the third stanza 'For scantling Pinus' as his focus shifts back to the tall trees that seem to be protecting the school. Several roll over lines, such as – 'paint all peeled on bargeboard'; 'scattering bravely Nor' West gale' etc find its place in this poem. The ideas rolling together suggests the pace at which the persona seems to be remembering his past and the sense of excitement is established with this upbeat pace with lines spilling over to others, not slow with end stopped lines. Also, the rolling over lines reveal the haphazard ideas that seems to be moving on to the next in contrast to other poems where the ideas follow a stable well paced pattern.
In this poem, Curnow employs colloquial language, the usage of this everyday language is to perhaps connect with his audience and communicate on an informal level and talk about something as casual as 'school'. 'Gibbet belfry' would be an example of this simplistic yet local language helping the audience further visual this school in detail. The idea that the school started along with the persona himself brings into notice that the school might not be as old as one would think. Also 'you call it old' further suggests that the persona is merely just referring to the school as being 'old' when actually its not. Also, the idea of aging has also been linked to the pinus trees that grow mature 'in less than the life of a man'. This line suggests that the time period for a tree to gain maturity is lesser than the time taken for human beings. Also the word 'scantling' further backs this idea for the word describes the measurement of the maturity of the tree and to deduce its time of harvest. Similarly, the word 'terrible' implies that the persona wasn’t actually fond of the tiny doors when he was a kid, and its reference as being 'sad' suggests its dilapidated state. Its through words like these that the audience is able to sense a hint of unpleasantness in the past as the persona fails to hold an optimistic approach to this walk down memory lane. Rather the tone seems to be somber and a bit died down. Furthermore it suggests that the persona pities the state of his school.
This poem holds a variety of figures of speech used and this perhaps reflects the variety of emotions the persona himself goes through in this visit to his old school. The alliterative phrases: 'paint peeled'; 'rood-ridge', 'tufts topping' all help the audience build up a vivid image of the school. A similar imagery effect is achieved through the series: 'bargeboard, weatherboard and gibbet belfry'. Using neologism, the phrase 'srub-worn' suggests that the school is not in the best of its condition as the floors have worn out.
The pinus trees that seem to portray the same pace of aging, has been personified as it has been accused of betraying the school and not protecting the roof from the stormy 'Nor' West gale'. However, the trees have also been described as 'scattering bravely', perhaps an attempt to denote the nobility of what the tree is doing for the school by scattering the strong winds and defending the meek school structure. This task of the trees has been compared to the 'reef' through the analogy 'as a reef its waves' for the wind is scattered just as the tidal waves are scattered by the reef, drawing an interesting comparison with the two elements wind and water. Also, the comparison of the ages between the persona and the trees are established through the usage of the polyptiton 'less than a life of a man' and 'together your lives began' further stating the common point in time as they simultaneously began this process of aging. Also, the persona holds a humorous as well as a sarcastic tone when saying 'O sweet antiquity' for it has been made clear that they are not so old let alone antique.
Known to be a 'time-haunted poet', Curnow has portrayed this persona who seems to be in denial of growing old. It's quite obvious that the persona is just as old as the school but we find him calling the school antique, suggesting that he doesn’t feel like he's getting older but finds it okay to exaggerate other's age. Through this poem, I have realized that it's still possible to savor the past without having to hold the same perspective. In the sense that, times change and so does one's perspective, however it doesn’t mean that things remain the same throughput and the very things that seemed unpleasant once upon a time might seem laughable now.
