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This is the Dark Time My love by Martin Carter

Grade 10
February 4, 2020
Objectives:
1. Define ' dark time'.
2.Research  the society of British Guiana in 1958
3. complete an analysis by 

4. Read tutorial and write a poem in response to the lamentation done by the speaker in Carter's poem.

Read the following tutorial : https://vincyclassroom.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/cxc-poem-this-is-the-dark-time-my-love.pdf

Questions to be answered
1.What takes place in the poem, "This is the Dark Time, My Love" by Martin Carter?
2. What is the effect of the repeated reference to 'my love' in the poem?
3.

This is the dark time, my love,
All round the land brown beetles crawl about
The shining sun is hidden in the sky
Red flowers bend their heads in awful sorrow
This is the dark time, my love,
It is the season of oppression, dark metal, and tears.
It is the festival of guns, the carnival of misery
Everywhere the faces of men are strained and anxious
Who comes walking in the dark night time?
Whose boot of steel tramps down the slender grass
It is the man of death, my love, the stranger invader
Watching you sleep and aiming at your dream.

THIS IS THE DARK TIME, MY LOVE

The theme of this poem is about a people whose dreams of a better life have
been threatened by the destructive power of the ‘strange invader’

The atmosphere of the poem is one of tension, fear, anxiety.
“Everywhere the faces of men are strained and anxious.” This is because of the
presence of soldiers: “all around the land brown beetles crawl about.”
Even nature is sympathetic to the cause of the people as expressed in the line
“red flowers bend their heads in awful sorrow.”

The poet’s mood is one of lamentation for the misery of his people, the instability
and sorrow brought about by the strange invader.

Imagery:
The images appeal to the sense of sight and sound. They present visual pictures
that are striking.
The picture of the soldiers, “all around the land brown beetles crawl about”, in
their thick armoury, the hard covering on their backs is like beetles.
Here you hear the tramping of soldiers “whose boots of steel tramp down the
slender grass”. You can also see the slender grass trampled upon and looking
withered.

Figurative Language
Metaphor: All around the land brown beetles crawl about.”
The soldiers are compared to brown beetles.

Personification: “Red flowers bend their heads in awful sorrow.”
The poet gives the flower qualities of a human being - the emotion of sorrow.

Irony/Metaphor: “It is the festival of guns, the carnival of misery.”
The words “festival” and “carnival” are indicative of joyous celebrations but what
the country is really experiencing is sorrow, not joy.

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