One of the major relations in this poem is the idea of slavery, which also links to my original idea of this poem coming from a foreign country such as Africa. The limbo stick contrasts with the thought of slaves as once someone is under the stick; there is no escape which relates to the slaves. Also the journey under the stick can be related to the journey slaves experience on the ships. The ongoing beat and tune of the poem links in with the slaves creating there own tunes whilst being imprisoned.
Towards the end of the poem ‘Limbo’ the rhythmic pattern changes and begins to look a bit more positive. “Sun coming up, the drummers are praising me”. This suggests the anonymous person has come to the end of their journey and that things are looking better. “Up, up, up”. This creates a feeling of encouragement and support.
“hot, slow, step”. This could be the tradition or culture of the country. Again this is evidence to support the African theme of the hot weather on the sand. “on the burning ground”. This again is ambiguous in many ways. It could mean the slaves being tortured and being forced to stand on the burning ground, it could mean hell and that after being in limbo they are sent to hell however it could also be interpreted as hot ground because the journey has been difficult underneath your feet.
‘Hurricane hits England’ is also another poem in which the poet, Grace Nichols explores the idea of journeys and places. She does this in a very different way to Edward in ‘Limbo’. A lot of personification is used in this poem to create a humane atmosphere with hurricanes and storms. “It took a hurricane to bring her closer”. Again the poet is very anonymous in this poem and immediately this opening sentence makes the person sound as if she has been previously forced away from this place and that it needs something as drastic as a hurricane to bring her here. This could be because of past experiences. “Like some dark ancestral spectre, Fearful and reassuring”. This is almost haunting this person which suggests that her family have possibly been killed during a hurricane which therefore brings back dark memories.
“Talk to me Huracan, Talk to me Oya, Talk to me Shango, and Hattie”. These are names of previous hurricanes and she personifies them by talking to them. These could be specific hurricanes which have influenced her or her families life which again regress the fearfull memories she has been experiencing.
Further on into the poem, the person continues to talk to the hurricane.
“Tell me why you visit An English coast”. This tells the reader that the hurricane has visited here and questions need to be asked. Through Grace Nichols poem, she asks a lot of questions to gain her confidence in writing. These rhetorical questions get the reader to think about it and this is her way of exploring her ideas and to make the reader feel involved.
‘Hurricane hits England’ is a poem about a hurricane hitting an English shore which sounds unusual as they do not occur very often. The poem talks about someone talking to the storm and we get the impression she has met it before and it is not the first time. This may suggest that as she is travelling, so is the hurricane and it meets her. Grace Nichols shows the movement along side with the movement of the main character in the poem.
In comparison, the two poets explore the theme of journeys and places in quite different ways. Edward Kamau Brathwaite’s poem ‘Limbo’ is closely linked to the theme of imprisonment of slaves and there being no escape whilst being under the limbo stick. However in the other poem ‘Hurricane hits England’ by Grace Nichols, she concentrates more on past experiences which brings reality into the poem and as the hurricane travels, so does the poet reader and the described character.
