Explore the ways the poets use language to depict nature under threat in Report to Wordsworth and Lament.
There are many ways that the poets use language to depict nature under threat. From the depiction of classical ‘gods’ as nature’s representatives in Boey Kim Cheang’s sonnet, to the amount of imagery and descriptive language in Gillian Clarke’s. The poets turn the English language into a weapon, a weapon they use to herald a message that they insist, cannot be ignored. Using words, they create a painting of the damage that we do to our planet. In their poems they show us visions of our bleak future. They call out again and again to us to listen and hear their message, for soon, it may become too late.
Gillian’s message is presented in the form of a sorrowful song. The main focus of her poem, Lament, seems to be oil and it’s effects on the environment. There are many references to it, one such is “the cormorant in her funeral silk.” This line of the poem implies that oil is destructive to the fauna of the air. In fact, the oil coating the feather’s of the cormorant will bring about a slow death. Another reference to animals in the poem is the “..whale struck dumb…”. This suggests that it’s not only the fauna of air that are effected, it implies that it’s also the animals of the sea that are affected by the oil spill ( this was learnt from the line, “the shadow on the sea.”) Should the reader look between the lines of this poem, they would find many hidden messages. Yet, what makes this poem so powerful is the imagery in it. As the audience reads it, the vivid descriptions and the uses of the funereal language evokes a sense of sorrow. Gillian laments the loss of peace, the loss of the wildlife (that were destroyed in the Gulf War, the Gulf war reference is “For Ahmed…”, Ahmed being the representative of the innocents caught in the cross fire.), and the damage we humans inflicted on the ozone – “the blackened sun”.
