Continuum

Writer: Allen Curnow-One of New Zealand's most celebrated poets whose poetry tried to explore 'the private and unanswerable.'

Summary: The writer is writing about his inability to sleep due to his inability to come up with material to write about so he gets up at night when everyone is asleep and experiences a surreal world as his reality and dreams blend together in one beautiful work of poetry. It is ironic that he finds nothing to write about so he writes about his inability to write.

Form: There  is there are seven stanzas each with three lines per stanza which shows the author's short minded thinking and his inability to study in depth. The structure is disorgainised with little patterns which creates the fact the writer has spent little time redrafting his work concerning the poem. The enjambment shows how he is unable to upkeep a coherent train of thought. Also, there is no rhyming scheme to indicate the sense of disorganisation in the writer's thoughts and his confusion affects his interpretation of the world as something surreal,

Tone: Dissatisfied, unhappy, annoyedm confused, isolated, alone, detached, seperated,

Language and Imagery:

• 'The moon rolls over the roof and falls behind my house'-Personifcation of the moon as he is describing himself and his train of thought. Also, there is surrealist imagery as the moon obviously can't do such a thing and indicates the writer is half asleep. It is used as a symobl on loneliness as there are no other objects in the sky mentionned suggesting he is alone,
• 'Better barefoot'-Alliteration. The word 'better' is read quite quickly as is used by the author to create the image of the speaker in the poem trying to jolt himself himself out of his surreal world and if he wants to go 'out the front' it suggests he wants to thore himself out into the open to awake him and try to make his body realise the dangers of the outside world without protection,
• 'privets and the palms' are like boundries and barriers stopping his train of thought to create his work and he needs to confront the obstacles and solve his problems. He uses the phrase 'washed out creation' that is symbolic of his tired mind on the night,
• 'bright clouds dusted by the moon'-metaphot os the poet as the clouds near the moon are symobolic of his mental haziness which is blocking the bright poet mind which he identifies,
• 'A long moment stretches, the next one is not on time'-There is a sense the poet is aware time is not passing by quickly and personifies the moment with its ability to stretch endlessly. The mid-line pause emphaises the time passing slowly,

• 'the next one is not on time'- The poet is talking about the next moment not arriving on time so making the present unbearable and he becomes aware of his hopless situation and uses 'the chill of the planking underfoot' as a metaphorical inference representing his mind and trail of thought which is cold and hazy like the planks,
• 'the night sky empties the whole of its contents down'-personification as the night is trying to give the poet inspiration and clear his mind by giving and showing him all he could write. The poet is becoming aware he can't deal with the situation so turns to nature for comfort.
• 'close the door behind on the author' which suggests he is closing the door on his poetic personality and wants to forget about being an author,
• 'picks up his litter and his tools and paces me back to bed, stealthily in step'- personificaton of the night as an instrument of God designed to help man rest and feel refreshed and believes the night can urge him back to bed quietly which metaphotically could means he is trying to combat the problem,

Links: 'The Woodspurge' as both adress the concept of detachment but there is a contrast in the organisation of the poem wuth clear rhythm and paragraphing which is the oppsite to Continuum. Also, they both convery surreal imagery and the Woodspurge arises in the dead of night like the author in Continuum,

• 'the next one is not on time'- The poet is talking about the next moment not arriving on time so making the present unbearable and he becomes aware of his hopless situation and uses 'the chill of the planking underfoot' as a metaphorical inference representing his mind and trail of thought which is cold and hazy like the planks,
• 'the night sky empties the whole of its contents down'-personification as the night is trying to give the poet inspiration and clear his mind by giving and showing him all he could write. The poet is becoming aware he can't deal with the situation so turns to nature for comfort.
• 'close the door behind on the author' which suggests he is closing the door on his poetic personality and wants to forget about being an author,
• 'picks up his litter and his tools and paces me back to bed, stealthily in step'- personificaton of the night as an instrument of God designed to help man rest and feel refreshed and believes the night can urge him back to bed quietly which metaphotically could means he is trying to combat the problem,

Links: 'The Woodspurge' as both adress the concept of detachment but there is a contrast in the organisation of the poem wuth clear rhythm and paragraphing which is the oppsite to Continuum. Also, they both convery surreal imagery and the Woodspurge arises in the dead of night like the author in Continuum,