Lake morning in autumn by Douglas Livingstone
Before sunrise the stork was there
resting the pillow of his body
on stick legs growing from the water.
A flickering gust of pencil-slanted rain
swept over the chill autumn morning;
and he, too tired tired to arrange
his wind-buffeted plumage,
perched swaying a little,
neck flattened, ruminative,
beak on chest, contemplative eye
filmy with star vistas and hollow
black migratory league, strangely,
ponderously alone and some weeks
early. The dawn struck and everything
sky, water, bird, reeds
was blood and gold. He sighed.
Stretching his wings he clubbed
the air; slowly, regally, so very tired,
aiming his beak he carefully climbed
inclining to his invisible tunnel of sky,
his feet trailing a long, long time.
Glossary:
Ruminative – thinking deeply about something.
Contemplative – meditative or thoughtful.
Vista – distant view seen through a long, narrow opening.
League – measure of distance similar to approximately 5 kilometres.
– alliance; compact between persons to further common interest; a group of people
or organisations linked by a common aim.
Ponderously – That which is very heavy, laborious or clumsy; boringly solemn or long-
winded.
Anthropomorphism – attribution of human form and characteristics to that which is not
human.
Enjambment – the unbroken continuation of a sentence from the end of one line to the
beginning of another.
Summary:
The poem is a personal and impressionistic response to a stork. The details of the seen and
the bird are vividly captured which contributes to a central theme of marvel. The speaker
attributes many human qualities to the stork allowing us a greater degree of empathy and
hence enhancing our appreciation of the poem. The season and the bird’s weariness
suggests that his presence at the lake is a break in his migratory journey.
Enjambment:
. Suggests movement – the stork’s migration.
. Forms a link between impressions.
Grammar:
The scarcity of full stops suggests that there are very few stops on the bird’s migratory
journey.
Interpretation:
Key:
Green – important connotation
Yellow – anthropomorphism Line:
1. A sense of mystery is present in the stork’s introduction. It is as if it has made a
sudden appearance and the question arises as to the place it has come from.
2. A pillow is effectively used to describe the stork’s body. Besides its association with
rest or sleep the pillow is also soft. It is also ironic that the pillow need rest on
something when things normally rest on pillows.
3. Sticks are normally considered spindly and pointy. These would provide
uncomfortable things to rest on. The contrast with pillow also emphasises the
impression of discomfort that the speaker has of the stork. That the stork’s legs grow
from the water suggests a harmony with nature.
4. An inconsistent wind causes the rain to fall at an angle. The description of the rain as
‘pencil- slanted’ suggests it to be dark grey in colour and piercing, due to the sharp
tip of a pencil.
5. The rain sweeps over the morning. This suggests the strength of nature and further
points to the poor conditions that the stork must endure.
6. ‘Tired’ is repeated for emphasis.
7. That the stork struggles to arrange its feathers shows us that it is far too exhausted
even to perform the most basic of tasks. ‘Buffeted’ implies a heavy and repeated
force. This again suggests nature’s strength.
8. The stork’s swaying again points to its exhaustion as it is too tired to resist the
buffeting of the wind.
9. The stork is resting its head on its body. The speaker has the impression that the
stork is deep in thought.
10. The stork is again portrayed as resting. ‘Contemplative’ suggests that the stork is
reflecting on the subject of the next line, that being its migratory journey.
11. ‘Star vistas’ suggests to us that the stork has travelled many nights as well as days.
‘Star’ also suggests the wonder of all the things it may have seen on its way whilst
‘vistas’ suggests the stork’s focus on his journey thus suggesting that it has had no
time to enjoy these wonders. ‘Hollow’ may suggests that the stork has, in its fatigue,
forgotten the reason for which it undertook the journey- it has become empty or
meaningless to the stork.
12. ‘Black’ again suggests the night time flight of the stork as well as that the migration is
never ending. Hence the use of league as a measurement of distance. The second
use may refer to the other migrating storks which, as explained in the next line, are
strangely absent .
13. The stork is alone which is strange for a bird that usually migrate in small groups.
That it is ‘some weeks early’ serves as both an explanation of its solitude and to add
further questions, hence increasing the sense of mystery. ‘Ponderously’ refers to the
migration of the stork.
14. The sun rises. ‘Struck’ suggests the force of nature once again and the sun can either
be interpreted as violent or as an absolute power. ‘Everything’ supports both
interpretations as the sun has either the power to effect everything or is violent
enough so as to inflict violence upon everything.
15. The list of things the sun effects further serves to emphasise its power or reign of
violence/ force.
16. ‘Blood’ may refer to the sun as a necessity to life or it may again point to the violent
nature of nature. ‘Gold’ refers to the wealth of nature and/or the wealth that the
sun gives to everything in the world. The stork sighing once again reminds us of its
fatigue.
17. Stretching is an act of preparation for a physical activity. This suggests that the sun
has aroused the stork from its rest and perhaps even giving it the energy to continue
its journey. That the stork clubs the air again suggests violence and thus can be
interpreted as the stork fighting back against nature with great effort , but it may
also be interpreted as a sign of renewed determination.
18. The stork takes to the sky. ‘Regally’ implies that the stork still retains a dignified
appearance despite its fatigue.
19. The stork is precise in his navigation ability and rises higher into the air with care.
20. The stork picks his direction instinctively as suggested by its ‘invisible tunnel’ which
also links back to ‘vistas’ (line 11).
21. The feet of the stork trail behind, reminding us of its fatigue.
Compiled by B. S. Seegers
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