The Morning Sun is Shining-Olive Schreiner
The Morning Sun is Shining-Olive Schreiner
Poem
Poet
Olive Schreiner
Form/ Structure
Lyric poem > musical quality to the
poem.
16-line poem made up of 4 distinct parts:
❖1-4 = the sense of sight
❖5-8 = the sense of hearing
❖9-12 = the sense of smell
Rhyme ABCBDEFE GHIHJKHK
Title Reference
Early morning – new day/ life and colour to nature
Message
Contrast the beauty of nature with suffering of humans
Nature is in sync, while humans experience loss/ loneliness
Theme
Permanence of Nature
Despair/ loneliness
Futility of Life/ relationships
Mood
L1-12: Joyous/ cheerful/ Celebratory
L13-16: Sombre/ despairing
Tone
L1-12: Joyous/ cheerful/Peaceful
L13-16: Sorrowful
L15 & 16 Bitter
Figurative devices
L3 Allusion
L3&4 Personification
L5 Onomatopoeia
L7 Alliteration
L9 Personification
L12 Alliteration
L15&16 Repetition
SUMMARY
The speaker praises the beauty of Nature around her. She describes various aspects and uses many auditory ‘images’ to engage the reader. The last four lines step away from the natural scene. The sadness in these lines (to do with loss) are surprising, given the tone and content of the preceding lines.
Happiness is real when shared”. The poet comments on the beauty of a morning in which the sun is shining. She highlights the various elements that make the morning so beautiful, but then she changes track/ direction and asks, rhetorically, what is the purpose of a beautiful morning if it cannot be shared with anyone. A nature poem that shows the beauty of nature, but highlights her loneliness as she has no one with whom to share it.
Olive Schreiner’s only child, a daughter, died within a day of being born. The juxtaposition between the beauty and abundance of Nature, and the immense loss suffered by the speaker, is poignant and incredibly sad.
ANALYSIS
LINES 1-2
The morning sun is shining on / The green, green willow tree,
Lines 1-2 set the scene: it’s a beautiful morning and the speaker reflects on the beauty of the morning.
The repetition of ‘green’ reinforces the beauty of nature, emphasising the intensity of the colour of the willow tree. Green is a colour that is associated with life, synonymous to freshness, lush vegetation and health. The sun is also symbolic of life.
LINES 3-4
And sends a golden sunbeam / To dance upon my knee.
The personification of how the sun blesses the earth and provides joy and entertainment reinforces the beauty of the morning and helps create a mood of joy / enjoyment / happiness/ cheerfulness.
It is a benevolent sun “golden” that causes happiness and has connotations of riches and wealth and beauty.
LINES 5-8
The fountain bubbles merrily, / The yellow locusts spring, / Of life and light and sunshine / The happy brown birds sing.
These lines expand on the beauty of nature on a sensory level.
The personification in line 5 gives the fountain the human quality of being joyful and reinforces the mood of happiness / cheerfulness. The personification succeeds in providing an idyllic view of the beautiful morning which emphasises the sense of well-being and happiness.
The various hues of the colour yellow continue with the “yellow locust”, just like the “golden sun” in line 3.
The word ’spring’ relate to the energy inherent in and adds vibrancy to elements of nature. This idea is amplified by the description of ‘brown birds’ in line 8. The onomatopoeic word “bubbles” is a happy sound.
The repetition of ‘and’ (line 7) alludes to the spontaneous expression of emotions and reinforces the beauty of the speaker’s surroundings.
The alliteration in line 7 (The repetition of the “l” sound: life and light) gives a sense of freedom and unburdened life in the happy morning.
The singing of the bird is joyous “…happy brown bird sing…” The birds as singing about ‘life and light and sunshine’ .This contributes to the idea that the natural world is celebrating life. It is as if the plants, insects and birds are all rejoicing in the morning sunshine.
LINES 9-12
The earth is clothed with beauty, / The air is filled with song / The yellow thorn trees load the wind / With odours sweet and strong.
clothed – the earth is personified wearing the beautiful clothing. Every part of the world is covered (clothed) and “filled” with a beauty that makes the poet happy.
load the wind with odours sweet and strong – Schreiner was a South African poet, so her reference to the “thorn trees’ contextualizes the poem. The trees are also full of flowers and the sense of smell is used to show how their smell is pervasive.
sweet and strong – the alliteration is used to reinforce the strength of the smell.
The sibilant ‘s’ in “song”, “sweet” and “strong” contribute to the lyrical quality of the poem. This poem celebrates the beauty and sounds and smells of Nature.
LINES 13-16
There is a hand I never touch / And a face I never see; / Now what is sunshine, what is song, / Now what is light to me?
The poet’s tone/attitude changes in these lines. This quatrain reflects a stark contrast in both tone and mood in comparison to the first three quatrains.
The word “never” indicates that there is absolutely no possibility of her being able to touch or see her child. The speaker changes to a tone of despondency / sadness /grief /dejection / hopelessness when reflecting on the loss that she has suffered.
The speaker is filled with despair because she has lost someone important to her. ‘Touch’ suggests a very close relationship with this person. It is someone she believes she will never see again, and this thought makes her so unhappy she cannot appreciate the natural beauty around her.
The use of the present tense implies that despite the passage of time, the speaker still grieves. This could possibly describe the extent of the speaker’s pain at the loss of a loved one.
She ends the poem with a rhetorical question, asking what is the point of experiencing a beautiful, natural morning if there is no one to share it with. The rhetorical question engages the reader to consider her situation; a beautiful day all alone, with no hope of company. She finds no solace in her beautiful surroundings.
It implies that the beauty of the morning / the beauty of nature cannot overshadow the pain / emotional trauma the speaker experiences.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Refer to line 2: 'The green, green willow tree’. Account for the repetition in this line.
The word ‘green’ is repeated to emphasise the intensity of the colour of the tree. / The vitality of nature is evident. This implies that nature is abundant, vibrant and lush. The rhythm conveys the speaker’s appreciation of the beauty of nature. (2)
Explain the mood that is created by the phrase, 'a golden sunbeam’ in line 3.
The reference to a ‘golden sunbeam’ creates a mood of happiness / joyfulness /cheerfulness. The warmth and light associated with the sun is both comforting and uplifting. A state of well-being is evident. (2)
Refer to line 9: ‘The earth is clothed with beauty’.
Identify the figure of speech used in this line.
Personification. (1)
Comment on the effectiveness of this image.
Every part of the earth is adorned / decorated with beauty. The beauty is all-encompassing and surrounds / covers everything. Being surrounded by this beauty is uplifting and awe-inspiring. (2)
Refer to lines 13-16: ‘There is a ... light to me?’ Critically discuss how these lines convey the central message of the poem.
In these lines the speaker refers to the loss of a loved one. She is consumed by her grief and she is not able to appreciate or take comfort in the beauty of nature.
The repetition of the word ‘never’ emphasizes the finality of death. Her despair renders the beauty of her surroundings meaningless to her; the rhetorical question which concludes the poem reinforces this. (3)
Comment on how the poet uses colour to create the mood of the first stanza.
The opening stanza contains references to yellow, gold, green and brown. The warm colours of the sunshine, the ‘golden sunbeam’ (line 3). The sparkle of the fountain, the ‘green, green’ (line 2) tree and the happy brown birds’ (line 8) make this scene cheerful and attractive.
The vivid, bright colours of nature make the joyful mood of this scene idyllic. (2)
Refer to lines 3-4: ‘And sends a ... upon my knee’.
Identify the figure of speech used in this example.
Personification. (1)
Explain what this image means in the context of the poem.
It adds to the perfection of the scene as the sunbeam is sent ‘to dance’ (line 4) on the speaker's knee, as of nature itself is revelling in the glorious moment. The rays of sunshine seem to conspire with the parent, the sun, to celebrate the joy by dancing. (1)
Comment on how the poet’s use of sound contributes to the impact of the poem.
The simple rhyme scheme of every second line rhyming, and the resultant regular rhythm seems almost playful and childlike in its simplicity and predictable nursery-rhyme effect. The references to the sounds of the fountain’s merry bubbling, happy birds singing and the song in the air all add to the idealized scene of contentment.
The change in tone is all the more dramatic and unexpected in contrast. The breakdown in rhythm in line 13 makes the shift more noticeable.
The jarring interruption of the happy sing-song verse emphasizes the speaker's sadness and adds to its impact. (3)
Discuss the effectiveness of the poem’s final question as the conclusion to the poem.
The nature of the question tells us how bereft the speaker feels. She is demonstrating how all the beauty and cheer of the scene mean nothing to her in her current state and asks what value this light can have in the face of her yearning for the ‘hand’ (line 13) and “face’ (line 14) that are denied to her.
By ending the poem this way, the reader gains some understanding of the speaker's feelings, and responds sympathetically to her situation. (3)