Skirrid Hill

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The epigraph itself however, has been chosen most judiciously, for there are at least four obvious thematic paths it can lead us down, and several more subtle. It is lyrical in tone and, though not strictly an elegy, it deals in a mournful way with the sadness and loss of what seems to be a failed relationship. We publish a Literature Newsletter when we have news and features on UK and international literature, plus opportunities for the industry to share. Because elephants are known for seeking a quiet place of solitude, away from the pack, when they are about to die, Sheers gives an otherworldly sense that the cars have gone to this quiet quarry of their own volition.

That could be the point—a speaker so interested in analysing the relationship that he loses sight of the thing itself, but nothing else about the speaker in the poem implies as much.This can be seen as symbolic of how the ‘couplet’ of him and his father has now been whittled down to one. The female has clearly mesmerised the male in this section, but Sheers gives us the sense that it is not a genuine attraction, as she has only achieved it through make-up, jewellery and a nice dress.

The poem ends with the father scattering his son’s ashes ‘against the tongue of the wind’ by the fort they once went to together.

The title carries some degree of irony, as Spring is ‘mating season’ for most animals, yet these lambs are about to lose their reproductive organs. The ‘elephant’s graveyard of cars’ is a potent image within the collection as it reminds us of Mametz Wood. The standout poem in The Blue Book – the one which most conforms to Sheers conception of poetry – is the title poem. Skirrid Hill’ takes its origin from the Welsh, ‘Ysgirid Fawr’ which roughly translates as ‘shattered mountain’. By likening the scar to ‘lovers who carve trees’, Sheers is continuing his theme of comparing that world of nature to the world of man – in this case ‘skin’ and ‘bark’ are tenor and vehicle.

The birds flying in unison is a reflection of him and his grandfather performing castration together in the field, or he and his father climbing up Skirrid Hill together. The quotation itself ties in with the ideas of national identity in this collection – by depicting a flag as a ‘vital organ’ we get the sense that everyone feels the need to belong somewhere, and so it is vital to the Welsh people that Wales retains a sense of national identity so that its inhabitants aren’t left feeling ‘homeless’. Song’ is an elaborate, extended metaphor, likening the young woman with whom Sheers was in a relationship to a caged magpie.According to legend, part of the mountain is said to have been broken off at the moment of the crucifixion of Jesus. This idea of lovers sharing a bed whilst drifting apart is reused in ‘Four Movements in the Scale of Two’ later on. This idea resonates with the fact that the Welsh name is the title of the first poem, yet the English name is the title of the second – the transition shows that Wales is gradually losing its identity and being eroded with the spread of modern society, much like the fort itself. Water torture’ is a suitable image because it is a form of psychological torture – perhaps like love.