FORGIVE MY GUILT

SUMMARY	METAPHOR
An adult is reminiscing about a traumatic childhood experience. The persona went hunting and shot two birds, plovers He suffers extreme guilt about this action in adulthood. The poem describes the event, the actions of the bird, how he reacts, and, by the last line, asks the birds to forgive his guilt.	Line 4: The nature of frost is that it covers everything in its path, therefore, when the flowers are compared to frost, it implies that there were a lot of flowers, enough to hide the boy from the birds.  Line 8: the sand is being compared to gold – colour. It is emphasizing how beautiful the setting was. Line 12: emphasizes the injuries that the birds sustained. The bones are compared to jagged ivory which are a direct    contrast to the smooth feathers that existed before the injury. Lines 20 – 21: the birds are compared to a flute, an instrument that plays beautiful music, emphasizing the sadness that is related to their death.
SIMILE	AIR/AIRY – THE IMPLICATION
Line 5: comparison of the air with flowers – both are blue and seem to cover the area Lines 6 – 7: emphasize the beauty and delicacy of the birds – beautiful dreams, beautiful birds. Line 7: highlights the speed of the birds, but maintains the beautiful visual imagery Line 12 – ‘cried like two sorrowful high flutes’ - expresses the extreme pain and agony the birds were in	These ‘airy’ – light and beautiful – birds can no longer fly and feel the pleasure of the ‘air’ – sky – rushing past them and through their feathers.
IMPORTANT WORDS/PHRASES	MOOD/ATMOSPHERE Nostalgia, sadness and guilt.
1.       ‘blue’ – the sky. Birds were crying out to other birds as they flew away. 2.       ‘in war or peace’ – the guilt the persona feels about killing the birds causes him to think about them all the time, even though their cries were heard for one day – literally- his guilt made it seem like ‘eternity’ -  ‘in war or peace’   3.       ‘drown’ – for the persona means death.  He continually hears the sorrowful sounds that the birds made as they were dying.
	TONE Sad, sorrowful.
	THEME Death, childhood experiences, nature, guilt, loss of innocence, desire/dreams