Morals and values learnt in Under a Ramshackle Rainbow

Morals and values learnt in Under a Ramshackle Rainbow

" Under a Ramshackle Rainbow", is a very deep poem in which the poet uses dark

and morbid images and symbols to get across morals and values to the reader.

The underlining theme of the poem is how one should treat their surroundings and

what the consequences to their actions will be.

From the immediate start of the poem, a creepy and eery atmosphere is

created by casting a dark image in the reader's mind.

' A dead tree.

On a rotten branch sit two wingless birds.'

The words 'dead' and 'rotten' show the sincerity of the issue. The

mentioning of two wingless birds is very significant as they portray

the poet's first message to the reader. The wingless

birds basically defy their objective in life. Birds need wings to fly

and without wings not only do they not have their freedom, but they

have no means of survival; they cannot avoid predators or catch prey.

Therefore death is inevitable. After only reading the first two lines

the reader may feel confused

to why the birds are wingless and why their habit is in such an

unusual state. The ending to the

first stanza clarify the confusion.

' Among leaves on the ground a man is searching for his hands.

It is fall.

By this, the poet is explaining the cause of the dead tree and the

wingless birds. When saying that the man is ' searching for his

hands', it is made clear that the search is a pointless exercise as

the reader is told that it is fall and therefore the pile of leaves

would be extremely deep. Although the man still has his site, he does

not have his hands which are essentially needed to search through the

leaves. The poet uses this description as it is symbolizes man searching ...

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successfully receiving compensation for man's behaviour is secured by

the last line of the poem.

' The ants gather on the shore. '

It is as though the ants represent nature and are the audience that

witness the death of the man.

After reading " Under the Ramshackle Rainbow" the reader understands

perfectly, the aim of the poem. The aim of the poem is to get across a

message that one should respect their surroundings and instead of

neglect or abuse them, giving back to them what you take. If one

should act in greed and only take from nature, they will have to

suffer the consequences. The aim of the poem is put forward

effectively by using methods such as patheticfallacy, irony and

dramatic twists. The poet also uses enjambement to give the poem a

more distorted rhyme and structural appearance that emphasises the

destruction and ruin of the poem.