Hurricane Hits England

1
Hurricane Hits England

• Grace Nichols

2
Grace Nichols

• Grace Nichols grew up in a small country village
  on the Atlantic coast of Guyana, in the
  Caribbean. Guyana used to be a British colony, so
  English literature has always been part of her
  personal background. In the 1970s, she moved to
  England, and now lives on the coast of Sussex.
• In 1987, the southern coast of England was hit by
  what was known as The Great Storm.
  Hurricane-force winds are rarely experienced in
  England, and the effect on the landscape,
  particularly the trees, was devastating. In the
  Caribbean, on the other hand, hurricanes are a
  regular occurrence, and Grace Nichols had
  experienced them during her childhood.

3

• It took a hurricane, to bring her closer
• To the landscape
• Half the night she lay awake,
• The howling ship of the wind
• Its gathering rage,
• Like some dark ancestral spectre,
• Fearful and reassuring

4
Suggests shes been feeling alienated from GB up
to this point
The first verse is the only part not in the first
person

• It took a hurricane, to bring her closer
• To the landscape
• Half the night she lay awake,
• The howling ship of the wind
• Its gathering rage,
• Like some dark ancestral spectre,
• Fearful and reassuring

The wind is linked to her journey to GB
The personification of The storm hints at the
religious imagery in the rest of the poem
Introduces the ancient historical theme
Oxymoron, implying a tradition that someone
Fears but also comforts as it represents their
Culture or normality
5

• Talk to me Huracan
• Talk to me Oya
• Talk to me Shango
• And Hattie,
• My sweeping, back-home cousin.

6
She addresses the storm gods in a bold dramatic
way
Huracan is a West Indian god of wind Oya and
Shango are two storm gods of the Yoruba People of
Nigeria

• Talk to me Huracan
• Talk to me Oya
• Talk to me Shango
• And Hattie,
• My sweeping, back-home cousin.

The name of a Caribbean hurricane in 1961 a
memory from her childhood
Caribbean weather is like a family member its
comforting to her
Poem changes into the first person
7

• Tell me why you visit.
• An English coast?
• What is the meaning
• Of old tongues
• Reaping havoc
• In new places?
• The blinding illumination,
• Even as you short-
• Circuit us
• Into further darkness?

8
Strange weather symbolises the mix of cultures
she feels

• Tell me why you visit.
• An English coast?
• What is the meaning
• Of old tongues
• Reaping havoc
• In new places?
• The blinding illumination,
• Even as you short-
• Circuit us
• Into further darkness?

Ancient, religious theme
Questions show a strange in the structure and
change in tone
Just the sight is awe inspiring
The lightning could be a metaphor for the
enlightenment the storm brings her
Symbolises the power cuts caused by the storm
9

• What is the meaning of trees
• Falling heavy as whales
• Their crusted roots
• Their cratered graves?
• O Why is my heart unchained?
• Tropical Oya of the Weather,
• I am aligning myself to you,
• I am following the movement of your winds,
• I am riding the mystery of your storm.

10
Shes trying to learn from what is happening

• What is the meaning of trees
• Falling heavy as whales
• Their crusted roots
• Their cratered graves?
• O Why is my heart unchained?
• Tropical Oya of the Weather,
• I am aligning myself to you,
• I am following the movement of your winds,
• I am riding the mystery of your storm.

Shows the power and destruction of the storm
Ambiguous statement that could have
various meanings.
She wants to become one with nature, but also
with her old culture. This is what she recognises
herself as.
11

• Ah, sweet mystery
• Come to break the frozen lake in me,
• Shaking the foundations of the very trees within
  me,
• Come to let me know,
• That the earth is the earth is the earth.

12
Note The structure of the poem is irregular
and unpredictable, just like the storm
She had frozen out her origins, symbolic of the
cold winters in England in comparison with the
Caribbean

• Ah, sweet mystery
• Come to break the frozen lake in me,
• Shaking the foundations of the very trees within
  me,
• Come to let me know,
• That the earth is the earth is the earth.

Her cultural roots have also been revealed by the
storms. Her adopted culture has been shaken
All places on Earth are connected she no longer
feels apart from her homeland