1. upon the sunny hill, To his father's house below securely bound. Far off the silent, changing sound was still, With the black islands lying thick arou
arate height, each vaguer hue, Where the massed islands rolled in mist away, And though all ran together in his view He knew that unseen straits be
ed what new shores were there. In thought he saw the still light on the sand, The shallow water clear in tranquil air, And walked through it in joy
ship so slow would pass That in the black hill's gloom it seemed to lie. The evening sound was smooth like sunken glass, And time seemed finished ere t
slept round him where he lay, Moveless as they, more still as evening came, The grasses threw straight shadows far away, And from the house his m
3. His childhood in remote and unspoiled Orkney represented an idyllic Eden to Muir, while his family'
s move to the city corresponded in his mind to a deeply disturbing encounter with the "fallen" worl
d. The emotional tensions of that dichotomy shaped much of his work and deeply influenced his life
. His psychological distress led him to undergo Jungian analysis in London. A vision in which he witn
essed the creation strengthened the Edenic myth in his mind, leading him to see his life and career
as the working‐out of an archetypal fable. In his Autobiography he wrote, "the life of every man is a
n endlessly repeated performance of the life of man...". He also expressed his feeling that our deeds
on earth constitute "a myth which we act almost without knowing it." Alienation, paradox, the exist
ential dyads of good and evil, life and death, love and hate, and images of journeys, labyrinths, time
and places fill his work.
His Scott and Scotland advanced the claim that Scotland can only create a national literature by writ
ing in English, an opinion which placed him in direct opposition to the Lallans movement of Hugh M
acDiarmid. He had little sympathy for Scottish nationalism. In 1965 a volume of his selected poetry
was edited and introduced by T. S. Eliot. Many of Edwin and Willa Muir's translations of German no
vels are still in print.
The following quotation expresses the basic existential dilemma of Edwin Muir's life:
"I was born before the Industrial Revolution, and am now about two hundred years old. But I have s
kipped a hundred and fifty of them. I was really born in 1737, and till I was fourteen no time‐
accidents happened to me. Then in 1751 I set out from Orkney for Glasgow. When I arrived I found t
hat it was not 1751, but 1901, and that a hundred and fifty years had been burned up in my two day
's journey. But I myself was still in 1751, and remained there for a long time. All my life since I have
been trying to overhaul that invisible leeway. No wonder I am obsessed with Time." (Extract from Di
ary 1937‐39.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Muir
4. Responding to the poem
Stanza 1
Long time he lay upon the sunny hill,
To his father's house below securely bound.
Far off the silent, changing sound was still,
With the black islands lying thick around.
Important notes
:
6. He saw each separate height, each vaguer hue, 5 Where the massed
islands rolled in mist away, And though all ran together in his view
He knew that unseen straits between them lay.
7. Often he wondered what new shores were there.
In thought he saw the still light on the sand, 10 The shallow water
clear in tranquil air,
And walked through it in joy from strand to strand.
8. Over the sound a ship so slow would pass That in the black hill's
gloom it seemed to lie. The evening sound was smooth like sunken
glass, 15 And time seemed finished ere the ship passed by.
Setting
'Sound' a body of water (more on this later)
'evening' day ending?
9. Final note on stanza 4
We had a hint that the menace was still far off in line 13the long vowels in 'so sl
ow' emphasise the ship's inability to affect the boy at present. Even time seem
s to stand still as it passesas if it belongs to another time zone than his own. T
he ship passes him by... suggesting his growing awareness of the world of adu
lthood, but that it isn't his 'time' yet.
10. Grey tiny rocks slept round him where he lay, Moveless as they, more
still as evening came, The grasses threw straight shadows far away,
And from his house his mother called his name. 20
Setting:
'grey tiny rocks slept round him', 'grasses threw straight shadows',
the landscape appears to provide further protectionthere is an atmosphere of peace
personification: sleeping rocks
Mood:
Serenethe threatening ship has passed by
Evidence: 'rocks slept', 'moveless'
Mentioning the child's father (line 2) and mother (line 20) gives the sense that they 'enclos
e' the whole poem (frame), which is concerned with the child, embracing him, giving a sen
se of unity in the family, echoed by the unity and harmony of the landscape.
In the final line of the poem, the repetition of 'his' in 'his house, his mother... his name' stres
ses that he really belongs to this place, with these people. Calling his name emphasises thi
s.
11. The whole poem
So far we've looked at elements of Analysis. Before we go on to Evaluation, we'll look at y
our basic understanding of the poem.
Check your Understanding:
The situation:
Child lies on a hillside near his home during a long afternoon, vi
ewing the familiar landscape.
imagines what the outside world will be like
a ship passes in the bay, from that world
evening comes, and his mother calls him in -
opposing impressions: sunny/gloom, below/far off, saw/unseen
Themes:
childhoodmain theme, introduced in title and stanza 1
sense of unity with earth/landscape/Nature, introduced stanza 1
sense of belonging to a place and our past
13. Setting cont'd
Setting
General feeling of harmony with the landscape, timelessness, e
:
ternity
the structure of the poem emphasises the mixing of the moods, wit
suggests the pureness from 714 firmly enclosed by the serenity of the
h the menacing lines of the child's view, uncontaminated by e
xperience, memory or association line 15 to the end. The very surreal
first stanza and the section from
passage (1012) is bang in the middle. So we have alternating peac
Sense of unity with landscape:
e/menace/dream/menace/peace. BALANCE!
'he lay upon the hill' at one with the earth beneath him
'in thought he saw...strand' fills his serves to make the child's innoc
The underlying mood of menace imagination with joy
'grey feelings of peace and security and more poignant. It can't touc
ent tiny rocks...' the rocks are tiny the sleeping, not threatening, b
uthsurrounding, protecting him , like siblings or a litter of puppies-
him, but the future is out there waiting for him.
image of security.
'moveless...' he isthe one of is written by an adult looking back to his c
reminds us that as poem the rocks
hildhood, with the experience of adulthood and the world beyond the
Attention to detail in the landscape suggests the fresh setting_the ch
tiny, idyllic island of Wyre (remember this is a REAL view of
ild, regarding his surroundings with the interest of childhood, as if se
eing things for the first time.
14. Poetic Form
Regular: fourline stanzassupports ideas of harmony between Nat
ure and man, and the security of the state of childhood
iambic pentameter occasionally slowed down with two strong st
resses at the start of the line, e.g. line 1: Long time...
Rhyme pattern abab: note the variation 'view' at end of line 17, ech
oed at start of line 18 'he knew'supports sens of unity in family and l
andscape.
