Summary

The speaker describes a typical morning on their farmstead household. They can hear a family member sealing the walls of the house against the elements. Outside, the day is brightening and rooks are flying above the sea. The speaker carries a bucket with them to school (likely containing water or firewood); the school stands impressively and intimidatingly alone. Later at home, the speaker considers the natural world outside their window and feels immersed in new knowledge.

Analysis

The poem begins by establishing the poem’s time and place: “That morning” (Line 1). The words here are all simple and unadorned, with only “pale hood” (Line 1) carrying any emotional or imagistic emphasis. In the second and third line, the stanza begins incorporating the consonance-heavy, lyrical language that characterises the poem. In this first stanza, the speaker’s focus is on their own manmade, structured environment: the...