“They have no acceleration
and no brakes.
Top speed’s their only one.”
Here the poet is comparing the bird to a vehicle. A car can accelerate and brake, and the poet has shown how the bird unlike the man-made car, cannot do these things. The poet is describing the movement of the ringed plover in these lines. All that it can do is go at top speed. The poet emphasizes this point in the stanza by using a run on line and a rare amount of punctuation. This forces us to read faster, as it would be unnatural for us to slow down when there is no pause or comma to force us to stop. So we, like the bird have no alternative but to go at a fast pace.
“They’re alive – put life
through a burning-glass, they’re
its focus – but they share
the world of delicate clockwork.”
In these lines the poet tells us that the ringed plover is very well a part of this world. He says ‘they’re alive – “. The caesura here seems emphasizes the point that the ringed plover are part of the world. It does this because the sudden pause after the phrase puts emphasis on what we have read. Then the poet says “put life through a burning-glass, they’re its focus”. The burning-glass represents a magnifying glass and the poet it putting focus on the ringed plover. Then the poet goes on to say “but they share the world of delicate clockwork.” The delicate clockwork represents manmade objects. The point that the poet is trying to make is that even though man has evolved and created many complex machines, the simple ringed plover, still does exist. The poet is putting forward the message that the ringed plover is part of same world as man, even if it is not as sophisticated as man.
“In spasmodic
Indian file
they parallel the parallel ripples;”
Again here the poet has described the movements of the bird. Saying it does not move continuously but rather is short and irregular bursts. When the poet says ‘Indian file’, what he means is that the ringed plovers move together in groups. Like the Red Indians, who are disciplined and move together. The mood in this stanza is very calm.
“When they stop
they, suddenly.
are gravel.”
In this stanza the poet reinforces the point that even though the ringed plover can do the same movements of men, in the end, yet again they are just part of nature. The poet has used very short lines in this stanza and a lot of punctuation to emphasize that the ringed plover has slowed down and stopped.
In conclusion, the ringed plover is just a part of nature. Man before now, used nature to create some of the objects that we have now. This is why it seems that the ringed plover can act like man-made objects.
