The Seed-Merchant has lost his son,
His dear, his loved, his only one.
So young he was, Even now it seems
He was a child with a child’s dreams.
He would race over the meadow-bed
With his bright, bright eyes and his cheeks all red.
Fair and healthy and long of limb;
It made one young just to look at him.
His school books, unto the cupboard thrust,
Have scarcely had time to gather dust.
Died in the war….And it seems his eyes
Must have looked at death with a child’s surprise.
The Seed-Merchant goes on his way:
I saw him out on his land today;
Old to have fathered so young a son,
And now the last glint of his youth is gone.
What could one say to him in his need?
Little there seemed to say indeed.
So still he was that the birds flew round
The grey of his head without a sound,
Careless and tranquil in the air,
As if naught human were standing there.
On, never a soul could understand
Why he looked at the earth, and the seed in his hand,
As he had never before seen seed or sod:
I heard him murmur: ‘Thank God, thank God!’
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The stanzas are two lines long - each are rhyming couplets. The repetition in the second line adds emphasis to how much the son means to the Seed Merchant. Lines 9 and 10 show just how young some of the soldiers were, 'school books into the cupboard thrust, have scarcely had time to gather dust'.
ReplyDeleteIt's from the point of someone else, perhaps somebody that lives close by or knows the Seed Merchant and his son because it mentions how the son 'would race over the meadow-bed'.
The ellipsis [. . .] act as a pause and then the poem changes so that it is about the Seed Merchant himself - it then comes to an abrupt end that is quite unexpected: ' 'Thank God, thank God!' ' maybe he says this because he is glad he had the small amount of time God gave him with his son, or maybe he's glad his son's suffering is over?
Tash :) and Katie S x
When we first read the poem we found it difficult to understand but after further analysis of what it was about we understood the meaning better. The poem tells the story of the death of a seed-merchant's son and the affect it has on him and how he realises how precious life is. "he looked at the earth, and the seed in his hand, As he had never before seen seed or sod: I heard him murmur: "Thank God, thank God!"" At first this didn't make sense but we eventually realised that he is realising that you don't appreciate what you have until its gone.
ReplyDeleteThe writer uses many techniques in the poem, the first and most obvious is the rhyme scheme; rhyming couplets. This could have made the poem sound like a nursery rhyme but he makes the rhythm of each verse irregular to stop this. The meaning of the poem is quite sad but it comes across not so depressing. This shows his skill of making being able to make the poem understated but good.
Having read and understood the poem, it had a big effect on all of us. We felt empathy for the seed-merchant and having found the moral, it hit us hard. Having being told all what they had experienced together and how he misses it so much and how he realises the moral so understatedly.
By Group 3
(Ed Parry, Lucy Oliva, Ashley Layer and Georgina Bray)
The writer emphasises on how young the son is and he does this in 5 stanzas. I have labelled them and I shall unpick them below.
ReplyDelete1. So young he was, Even now it seems
He was a child with a child’s dreams.
2. He would race over the meadow-bed
With his bright, bright eyes and his cheeks all red.
3. Fair and healthy and long of limb;
It made one young just to look at him.
4. His school books, unto the cupboard thrust,
Have scarcely had time to gather dust.
5. Died in the war….And it seems his eyes
Must have looked at death with a child’s surprise.
In the first stanza Herbertson describe how "He was a child with a child’s dreams." This tells us that he still had dreams of what to do with his life, and that he shouldn't be fighting in the war, but chasing his child's dream.
In the second stanza Herbertson uses description of the boy to emphasise how young he is; "bright, bright eyes and his cheeks all red." Using the word "bright" to describe his eyes makes us see the youth and that his eyes hasn't seen many experiences to age him.
Herbertson using description again in the third stanza; "Fair and healthy and long of limb;" these two paragraph of descripton emphasises his youth and using two paragraphs instead of one emphasises his youth even more.
In the next paragraph Herbertson doesn't describe him, but his school books. She describes them as hardly having "time to gather dust" tells us that he is barely out of school and there for still very young.
"his eyes Must have looked at death with a child’s surprise." This sentence in the last stanza I think, is the most powerful because it tells us that he looked at the war with child's eyes and that is very powerful. It tells us that he didn't really understand what he was letting himself in for when going into the war. We feel empathy with him because he didn't know what was going to happen and no one should be going into a war situation without knowing that they might die.
From Ed (Group 3)
Sorry for such a long comment, I didn't quite realise how long it was until I posted it!
ReplyDeleteFrom Ed again
Arguably the most intriguing line in the poem is the last line which seems, at first glance, to contradict the rest of the poem. As I see it, the reason the Seed Merchant is thankful is because his son has sacrificed himself for a better future. The connection is quite clear: his son has played a role in the recovery of civilization; in planting the seeds for the growth of a new era. It ties in with the popular notion of "regeneration" at the time. I hope that helps =)
ReplyDeleteGuys this is so helpful, thank you!!
ReplyDelete