Horses

Edwin Muir

Background

• Muir was born in 1887 on a farm in the Orkney Islands where he lived a happy childhood.

• At the age of 14, he moved with his family to Glasgow, which he came to regard as a descent from Eden into hell.

• He became a critic and a translator as well as a poet.• He died in 1959.

Summary

• The sight of the horses now, in the present, leads the speaker to consider his feelings towards horses when he was a child:

• “Perhaps some childish hour has come again.”

• Find a quote to justify this point.

Stanza 1

• Look up the meaning of “lumbering” and then consider the way it contrasts with the description in lines 3-4.

• Look closely at the meanings of “terrible”, “wild” and “strange.”

Stanza 2

• There is a shift in time in Stanza 2.• The rest of the poem deals with the speakers

recollection of his feelings as a child.

• What impression do you feel is created by the simile of the “pistons”?

Stanza 3

• In this stanza there are references made to the pre-industrial age.

• Can you find any examples?

• “conquering hooves”, “ritual”, “seraphim of gold” and “mute ecstatic monsters”.

Stanza 4 and 5

• What do you think about the tone in stanza 4.

• List all the words that are used to describe the horses, what does this reveal about the speakers attitude?

• What contrast is signaled by the use of “But when at dusk…” at the beginning of stanza 5?

• What do you make of “mysterious fire” here and the “magic power” attributed to the present day horses in stanza 1?

Stanza 6

• Analyze the effectiveness of the imagery: the “cruel apocalyptic light” of their eyes and the personification of the wind.

Stanza 7

• Read the whole poem again in pairs.• Having studied closely the previous stanzas,

how do you now feel that the final stanza should be spoken?

• How does the tone here differ to the tone in other parts of the poem.

Thematic Links

• Nature• Time