FLEUR ADCOCK
Moonrise on the Yare
Yarmouth Harbour
The Hay Wain
Part of the Constable collection at
the Tate
William Holman Hunt:
Our English Coasts
William Homan Hunt: Cornfield at Ewell.
The painter has carefully cropped the
image to balance the dry yellow land with a
bright blue sky.

Poetry is at its most descriptive when it is
inspired by another art form. In the poems
"Leaving the Tate" by Fleur Adcock art, its
interpretation, its complexities, and the
emotions it invoke are expressed from two
opposing views--the observer and the
observed. Adcock uses nature in juxtaposition
to man-made art. Because of the pieces in the
Tate Museum the narrator saw the natural
surroundings outside of the museum as a
painting in a frame.




Narrative: ‘paragraphing’ – styled as if it’s
paragraphed. Conjunctions – and, so, etc. Beginning,
middle and end like a narrative. Sentence length –
some long, some short. Explaining something rather
than just describing. Linear style in order to arrive at
conclusion: stream of consciousness.
Artistic references – e.g., light: verse two and
penultimate verse (“light painted them”). Colour:
Imagery: especially verses two and three; verse five –
adding to the painting. At “That’s your next one”, she
is saying that the second picture is being composed.
Enjambment: helps to read like a narrative. Other
effects?




Enjambment: helps to read like a narrative. Other
effects? The reader reads to the end of the sentence
then stops, rather than just reading line by line.
They think about each sentence/thought. Also to
do with stream of consciousness – some thoughts
are fully formed and others are snatches. – e.g.,
“Crome? No – too brilliant” – minor sentences like
incomplete thoughts. Fully-formed – e.g., verse
five. As the poem goes on her thoughts become
clearer.
“The narrator is on the outside looking in.” Used
mainly second person narrative. The narrator is the
observer, talking to “you”. “…you pause on the
steps to look across the river.”
Personification: “Art multiplies itself.” Effect?
Tone:


Personification: “Art multiplies itself.” This is
because the observe sees art and it becomes
first internalised, then externalised on to the
landscape, so that what you see becomes your
interpretation rather than just ‘stuff’. Effect?
The poet says you become a better observer of
what is actually out there – a more accurate
representation of reality.
Tone:





Art remains
Impermanence
Change
Futility
Passage of time