Lament by Gillian Clarke
Gilian Clarke-Lament Student’s Worksheet
Activity one * Name: Gillian Clarke Nationality: Cardiff, Wales
* Family life: She has a daughter and two sons, Professional activities/jobs: She was and now lives with her husband (who is an poet, playwright, editor, translator arquitect) on a smallholding in Ceredigion, President of North Wales, Tutor on where they raise a small flock of sheep, M.Phil. course in creative writing, and care for the land according to organic Freelance tutor of creative writing, conservation practice. Primary schools to adults.
* Name some of her most famous poems: Background information to the poem he Stone Hare, On the rain, Marged, (why did she write it?): is about the
Slaughter, Breathing and Flood. Gulf war, which happened in 1991
When Iraq invaded Kuwait, and the
USA, with Britain’s help, bombed Iraq
This war has never really stopped. As
They begin a new school year, it still threatens the world. Activity two
* To mourn aloud * To express sorrow or regret for Bewail. * A crying out in a grief Wail * Dirge, elegy * Complaint.
Activity three
Stanza 1
1. The poem uses the title as the start of a list of lamented people, events, creatures and other things hurt in the war, so after the word “lament”, every verse, and 11 lines begin with “for”.
2. Pulsing burden is where she is looking to lay her eggs, in a safe place.
3. The metaphor is comparing the nest where the green turtle is going to lay her eggs, with sickness. This word refers to where the turtle will lay her eggs, the Gulf, where there is a war. So the turtle is laying eggs in a
Activity one * Name: Gillian Clarke Nationality: Cardiff, Wales
* Family life: She has a daughter and two sons, Professional activities/jobs: She was and now lives with her husband (who is an poet, playwright, editor, translator arquitect) on a smallholding in Ceredigion, President of North Wales, Tutor on where they raise a small flock of sheep, M.Phil. course in creative writing, and care for the land according to organic Freelance tutor of creative writing, conservation practice. Primary schools to adults.
* Name some of her most famous poems: Background information to the poem he Stone Hare, On the rain, Marged, (why did she write it?): is about the
Slaughter, Breathing and Flood. Gulf war, which happened in 1991
When Iraq invaded Kuwait, and the
USA, with Britain’s help, bombed Iraq
This war has never really stopped. As
They begin a new school year, it still threatens the world. Activity two
* To mourn aloud * To express sorrow or regret for Bewail. * A crying out in a grief Wail * Dirge, elegy * Complaint.
Activity three
Stanza 1
1. The poem uses the title as the start of a list of lamented people, events, creatures and other things hurt in the war, so after the word “lament”, every verse, and 11 lines begin with “for”.
2. Pulsing burden is where she is looking to lay her eggs, in a safe place.
3. The metaphor is comparing the nest where the green turtle is going to lay her eggs, with sickness. This word refers to where the turtle will lay her eggs, the Gulf, where there is a war. So the turtle is laying eggs in a