Gillian Clarke's poems focus on highlighting the environmental damage caused by the Gulf War and human activity. They lament the loss of marine life through oil spills which covered birds and stained the ocean. The poems also grieve for human lives lost in the war, describing the volunteers who fought for glory but met tragic ends. Throughout, Clarke uses metaphor and imagery to convey the suffering of animals and devastation inflicted on the marine habitat.

2.  We need to know that Lament means grief…

3.  Gillian Clarke’s poems’ main focus is to point
out the damage the Gulf War and humans in
general, are creating to the marine environment.
 Her poems are highlighting the issues of oil
spills and their results and also the killing of
marine animals for food and also their deaths
caused by the war.
 She also feels grief for the loss of human lives
during the Gulf War.

4.  In this stanza, Gillian Clarke talks about green
turtles and their ultimate search for safe breeding
grounds on the shore.
 There is presence of an oxymoron in the phrase
‚pulsing burden‛. ‘Pulsing‛ refers to the energy of
the baby turtle and ‘burden’, which has negative
connotations, refers to the unpleasant feelings the
turtle experiences.
 There is also a metaphor present; ‘Nest of Sickness’.
It backs up the point the author is making about the
burden of the turtle because green turtles are
suffering due to the effects of the war and human
activity.

5.  This stanza relates to the cormorant, a sea bird, and
how the oil spill caused by the Gulf War affected the
birds by covering them with its ‘Funeral Silk’.
 The ‘Funeral Silk’ creates a link between the dangers
the birds faced and the fact that these dangers are
caused by the oil spills.
 ‘Veil of iridescence’ and ‘Shadow on the sea’ are both
talking about, how the oil has spread all over, on
land and sea. It also talks about the appearances of
oil. The phrase ‘shadow on the sea’ simply connotes
to the negativity of the oil spill.

6.  The ocean is described as being affected or ‘stained’.
It also describes it as ‘mortal’ which has negative
connotations such as death. ‘Mortal Stain’ is used to
describe the oil on the ocean.
 ‘Closed border’ and ‘uniform of fire’ is used to create
an image of being trapped and not being able to
escape the problems of the Gulf War damage to the
environment as well as the animals.
 ‘Uniform of fire’ also gives impression of death and
suffering for the souls that fought in the Gulf War.

7.  This stanza mainly laments the loss of human lives
during the war. It lists out all the possible brave souls
that chose to fight for their country in the war.
 The stanza also points out a volunteer for the fight;
the farmers’ son. It says that he is in it for the ‘music’.
Music mostly relates to a happy or a lively tone so we
can say that Gillian Clarke is trying to tells us the
volunteers signed up for glory and the victories they
would experience.
 ‘Music’ can also be related to the ending of certain
things. For example, we say its somebody’s ‘swan
song’ when they make an appearance for the last time.
In this stanza, ‘music’ can also relate to the end and
the death of these poor volunteers who do not know
what they are getting themselves into

8.  This stanzas show grief and sorrow for the different
breeds of animals that live in the gulf. Their death
would either be caused by the war itself or the oil
spill which is the main cause of most of the
casualties marine life experiences.
 The stanza also says ‘The whale struck dumb by the
missile’s thunder’. This phrase may seem little, but
when you think about it, it emphasises the effect of
war on the marine environment. Even the whale, the
largest animal known to mankind, is struck dumb
by a missile we have launched to defeat another
nation.

9.  This stanza talks about the grief for the birds who
experience painful migrations and death, again caused by
us humans during the Gulf War, making their original
habitat uninhabitable.
 The use of the phrase ‚long migrations and the slow
dying‛ emphasizes the damage we have created to the
birds, causing them to migrate to a different place and
this results in many deaths to occur.
 ‚The veiled sun‛ in this stanza adds in a pessimistic
feeling, since ‚Veiled‛ means covered and a covered sun
suggests darkness and evil. This phrase also has a link to
the following stanza where it also mentions the death of
the sun. The covering of the sun also shows the lack of
light which creates a dark and eerie atmosphere to the
poem, abolishing the innocent aspect.

10.  ‚Burnt earth and the sun put out‛, again suggests
something disastrous had happened, since there is
no light and the earth is burning. There is reference
again, about the damaged ocean mainly to
emphasize the point.
 The word ‘scalded’, backing up the point from
earlier of ‘mortal’, shows that the ocean has been
damaged significantly by the oil that we have
poured out into the ocean.
 ‘Vengeance’ has also been used to remove the
innocent aspect of the poem and bring in the angry
side of it. It could mean that the revenge we all seek
so dearly is the cause for all this.