Edwin Morgan Slate

Edwin Morgan Poems

Slate

> Opening line "There is no beginning" Makes Scotland seem eternal with no start and therefore possibly no end

> Sonnet form "There is no beginning……" flint, chalk, slate. ABBACDDCEFGEFG-rhyming scheme, 14 lines with 10 syllables Using a ‘real’ style of poem when writing about Scotland shows that it is a real, serious country

> Present tense "There is no beginning" Makes Scotland seem ever present and eternal

> 1st person plural narration "We saw Lewis laid down" The narrators have seen how Scotland was formed millions of years ago This makes them seem wise and intelligent, outside of history, looking in

> Witnesses from another world "We saw Lewis laid down" The forming of Scotland was such an important and significant event that witnesses from another world travelled thousands, perhaps millions, of miles over the universe to watch it

> Decision not to have a volta " But raised and shaken, with tens Of thousands of rains" Morgan chooses not to use a volta to show that there is not one easy turning point in a country’s history, that it is a long, slow process

> Word choice suggesting wild energy " we like to think the ages must streak, surely strike, seldom stroke, but raised and shaken, with tens of thousands of rains, blizzards, sea-poundings shouldered off into night and memory" The narrators think it takes a lot of energy to make a country and that it is the right way to make one Morgan is saying that the amount of effort that’s gone into making Scotland means it is important and he believes Scotland is worth the energy

> Alliteration "the ages must streak, surely strike, seldom stroke" Draws our attention to the amount of energy that has gone into making Scotland

> Assonance " there was not much but thunder and volcanic fires; watched long seas plunder " Alliteration and assonance make the poem a sensory experience for the reader. Morgan wants us not just to read the poem but to feel it and get us to pay attention to Scotland

> (Internal) rhyme "thunder...plunder" Internal rhyme gets us to pay attention to the struggle and conflict there was in creating Scotland and Morgan believes there still is a struggle for independence

> Personification "Watched long seas plunder….. Blue as bruises were grated" Giving Scotland human qualities make it seem like it is alive and shaping itself. ‘Bruises’ shows that there was pain in making Scotland and it is not easy to make a great country.

> Embodiment "Gave a rough back… Shouldered off… Empty hunger…. Heels kicked" The embodiment of Scotland makes it seem an important living creature going through physical pain to complete itself

> Simile "Drumlins blue as bruises were grated off like nutmeg" Morgan is saying the creation of Scotland was a hard painful process and it does not deserve to be tied down by England’s political powers

> Scottish words "bens and a great glen" Morgan is using Scottish words to show that the Scotland is so great it needs its own words to describe itself. He also believes that England cannot define how Scotland works

> Metaphor "Sorry glory of a rainbow" Morgan is saying that the future glory of Scotland (the rainbow) can only come after troubles (the rain)

> Well- chosen final word "Slate" The title word is not mentioned until the end  Morgan is telling us that sometimes things don’t work out until the last moment

> Connotations "plunder" Suggests a struggle  conflict to rob of valuables

> Connotations "bruises" Pain hard work damaged

> Connotations "empty" the newly formed Scotland is hungry and ready to be inhabited by man it's empty without people a nation is made of people, not geography

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