SUBWAY WIND

Nuha Hasan
The rapid industrialization of our culture creates
a feeling of loss within us regarding the sudden
alienation from our natural environment.
 RULES
 Match the annotation to the correct line in the poem
 Some have multiple correct answers
 Annotate rhyme scheme yourself
 Poetic devices= 2 point
 Analysis= 3 points
 Bonus= 1 point
 ENJAMBMENT
 “And pale-cheeked children seek the upper door/To give their summer jackets to the breeze”
 “Their laugh is swallowed in the deafening roar/Of captive wind that moans for fields and
seas”
 “Seas cooling warm where native schooners drift/Through sleepy waters, while gulls wheel
and sweep”
 “Waiting for windy waves the keels to lift/Lightly among the islands of the deep”
 ALLITERATION
 “Far down through the city’s great gaunt gut”
 “The great train rushing bears the weary wind”
 RHYME SCHEME
 ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH
 SHIFT
 “Their laugh is swallowed in the deafening roar / Of
captive wind that moans for fields and seas”
 PERSONIFICATION
 “of captive winds that moan for fields and seas”
 “islands of loft palm trees blooming white / that lend their
perfume to the tropic sea”
 CAESURA (BONUS)
 “through sleepy waters, while gulls wheel and sweep”
 “their laughter is
swallowed in the
Shift from literal description deafening roar /
of modern setting to of captive winds
personification of nature that moan for
fields and seas”
 “And the
trades float
Nature (freedom) is far
above them
above and out of reach fresh and
free”
 “The grey
Train/wind are used as a train rushing
metaphor for all bears the
industrialization weary wind”
The rapid industrialization of our culture creates
a feeling of loss within us regarding the sudden
alienation from our natural environment.
• McKay’s contrast between the descriptions of nature and
descriptions of modern technology is indicative of his disdain
for industrialization
• The island imagery is consistent with his other poems
• Nature being a tool to express McKay’s homesickness is
also consistent
• The early shift is inconsistent
• The poem is not a sonnet which is inconsistent