2024.03.23 What do successful readers do - Sandy Millin for PARK.pptx
Nature out of the blue and tha falling leaves
2. “Where no wind whirled them whistling to the sky,”
No natural cause sent them out there to fight for there country.
They were sent by an unnatural cause: Conscription.
“Slain by no wind of age pestilence.”
Killed unnaturally.
Man-made deaths.
Didn’t die of old age (“wind of age”).
No disease (“pestilence”) killed them either.
Hinting that war is unnatural.
“They fell, like snowflakes wiping out the noon;”
Young, pure unique men, all falling to the ground: dead.
Wiped out at the peak of their lives; mid life (“wiping out the
noon”).
Could be comparing the cold of death (“snowflakes”) wiping out
the warmth of life (“noon”).
3. “A bird goes by.”
Could represent the planes that crashed into the building.
The freedom of the bird.
A bird casually going by, untouched by what has happened.
Could symbolise the urge to jump and save himself.
“The Heat behind me is bullying, driving,”
Personification of the fire behind him.
Creates the image of fire poking out at him.
The use of words “bullying” and “driving” indicate how the heat is urging
him forward, to the verge of jumping.
“That here in the gills I am still breathing.”
“Gills” used as a metaphor to create the image of a fish; the gills are
where fishes breathe,
The part of the building in which he is standing resemble gills.
The Gills of the Building are the only place where he can breathe fresh air.
4. Both Out of the Blue and The Falling Leaves use personification to
hint that war is unnatural. This is shown in the first stanza of The
Falling Leaves when Cole writes, “They, fell like snowflakes
wiping out the noon.” The semantic field of the word
“snowflakes” could suggest the unique, and young, pure natures
of the soldiers being wiped out at the “noon” of their lives, i.e. the
mid point and/or peak of their lives. Furthermore, the word
“snowflakes” could also symbolise the artillery falling to the
ground in vast quantities or even the cold of death “wiping” out
the warmth of day (life). The use of the word “wiping” is
personification because wiping is a human action used when
cleaning a surface. By writing this, Cole is implying that war
doesn’t solve anything, but could potentially wipe the earth of our
existence.