eruditeHSC

Structural features of texts

Deconstruction

5 sections

Section 1 – verses 1 and 2

Section 2 – verse 3

Section 3 - verses 4, 5, 6 and 7

Section 4 – verse 8

Section 5 – verses 9,10 and 11

Section 1 – immediate context Section 2 – places the reader in an historical context

Section 3 – beginnings of articulation

Section 4 – impact of memory and time

Section 5 – prospect of a new life

11 verses

Verse 1 – describes migrants/refugees sleeping on the deck

Verse 2 – beginnings of shared experiences

Verse 3 – voyage represents the beginnings of a new life

Verse 4 – voyage places people in a position to express their shared experiences

Verse 5 – snatch of experience

Verse 6 – snatch of experience

Verse 7 – reference to Lazarus

Verse 8 – connection between the night and the movement of the ship and time and memory

Verse 9 – the next morning

Verse 10 – one topic not addressed: death

Verse 11 – Equator as a dividing line; big changes yet to come

Movement throughout the poem away from port/Europe to the Equator

Journey away from the past and history to a new beginning.

Equator represents a dividing line.

Language features of texts

Analysis

Use of colour – red

Red: life, passion, blood, death and martyrdom

White: light, purity, truth, resurrection

Imagery

Section 1

Natural elements: landscape, caves, shorelines, mountains, rivers, storms

Section 2

Metaphoric reference to the Israelites traveling to the Promised Land

Section 4

The movement of the sea as a stimulus to dialogue

Personification of time

The passing of time

The effect of time

The effect of the journey on time and memory

Use of monologue

Lends authenticity

Reinforces the idea of people beginning to talk

Significance of the chosen snatches of dialogue?

Reference to night and day

Section 4 – night and the slow revelations of memories

Section 5 – day and the crossing of the Equator to a new life, a promised land?

Biblical references

Section 2 – The Promised Land

Section 3 – Lazarus

Section 5 - Resurrection