All of the Poems in his Oeuvre Coast Road’s
Journey, the North Coast Flames and Dangling Wires Harbour Dusk Byron Bay: Winter Description of a Walk 24 Poems
Key Themes
Capturing the sublime in the ordinary
Introspection and Self-Knowledge
Interdependence with Nature
Restorative & consoling power of nature & art
Complex relationships between humans and natural environment
Transience of life (everything is fleeting)
Journey, the North Coast
Quotes and Techniques
“Shuttering shadows” - Alliteration
“Swaying bunks/as if on board a clipper” - Simile
Flames & Dangling Wire
Quotes and Techniques
“cars like skulls” - Simile
“his eyes are wet as an oyster, and red.” - Simile
“The Raft of Medusa” - allusion to Geralts painting
Homeric Simile throughout entire poem
Harbour Dusk
Quotes and Techniques
Colour Motif
- “aubergine dark fading life”
- “a sky of mulberry and orange chiffon”
Byron Bay: Winter
Quotes and Techniques
“it’s lighthouse a tiny pawn”
- Metaphor
“I wear great wings while stepping along the earth”
- Alludes to pegasus
Description of a walk
Quotes and Techniques
“angry as a burnt insect” - Visceral imagery
“all of a rusty red or burnt orange tone”
- Colour Motiff
24 Poems
Quotes and Techniques
“Milky Way blowing high above the forest” - Personification
“hiding in the wind” - metaphor, implies transience
“soapy yellow light” - imagery
All of it is Enjambment
Distinctive features of all the poems
Frequent reference to artworks and greek mythology
Poetic form and structure mirrors subject matter and/or ideas
Imagist and color motifs
Distinctive features of all the poems
Frequent reference to artworks and greek mythology
Poetic form and structure mirrors subject matter and/or ideas
Imagist and color motifs
Journey, the North Coast
Ideas/Themes
- Natural connection between humans and the past, present and environment.
- Journey is a metaphor for growth, change, progression & depended awareness.
- Repetitive use of similes, emphasis unity between humanity and nature
Flames and Dangling Wire
Ideas/Themes
- Clear connotations/ comparisons to greek ‘hell’
- Homeric Simile throughout poem, bleak sombre mood
- Beauty exists in harsh spaces, ugly is needed in order to appreciate beauty
Harbour Dusk
Ideas/Themes
- ‘Things fall apart’ - WB Yeats
- Colour used as motif, marking passage of time
- Alludes to the breakdown of a relationship
Byron Bay: Winter
Ideas/Themes
- Spiritual connection to nature
- Strong connection between art & literature and memories & personal experiences
- landscape changing force, human interaction is not without its effect on nature
Description of a Walk
Ideas/Themes
- Colour motif furthers Imagery & Gray’s sentience
- Vivid sensory imagery
- landscape as a metaphor, growth, peace of mind, renewal
24 Poems
Ideas/Themes
- Focuses on life, death continuum, cycles of day & night and life & death
- Tension of relationships
- light is a motif
“The train’s shadow, like a bird’s”
Simile
