In Skirrid Hill, Owen Sheers explores many themes, one of which is undoubtedly virility. Throughout the collection, he often focuses on adolescence and discovering his power as an individual. In this way, it seems clear that Sheers is a poet who explores exactly what it means to be a man. Despite this, many of Sheers' poems do not focus exclusively on what it means to be a man, as he explores many traditionally non-masculine themes, including nature, for example, in the poem "Swallows". Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The poem “Hedge School” investigates Sheers’ realization as a child of his own power as a man, particularly the potential for violence he felt as he entered adulthood. The poem's title refers to Sheers' roots in Ireland, as "shelter schools" were informal educational institutions. By having the poem's content about real blackberry bushes, Sheers seems to suggest that his education was actually gained from the natural world and his experiences outside of school. The epigraph of the poem refers to a tale of evil and violence, which presents it as a predominant theme in the poem. This narrative tactic reflects on the theme of virility, as the boy in the poem goes through adolescence and realizes that he is capable of such violence. The first stanza explores the boy's growing freedom as he moves from childhood to adulthood. He describes, “The walk home from school got longer / those first few weeks of September,” where the use of enjambement emphasizes the message that his journey home is prolonged, as the child explores his freedom. This stanza also establishes the main theme of the poem, "the gathering of blackberries", which is initially presented as an innocent image of childhood. So, the second verse really reflects Sheers' feelings about being a man and the power that comes with it. Sheers uses vivid imagery to describe how the boy tastes blackberries, referring to them as "a nervous heart" and "spidery and dusty as a Bordeaux", in which the use of simile presents how refined tastes become in adulthood. In this poem, it seems that the boy is reluctant to make the transition to adulthood and sees it as unattractive through these descriptions. Sheers presents his opinion of what it feels like to be a man predominantly in the last stanza, which is significantly longer than the first three and which reflects the development and growth of the boy in this poem. This verse uses more violent and sinister language, such as "close your palm into a fist", which suggests that violence is central to being male. His use of similes ("scratched knuckles and my blue-black hand red, bloodied like a butcher's or a farmer's in childbirth") creates dark imagery and introduces a realization of life and death, perhaps as a boy would realize as he grew up. adolescence. The final line of the poem reinforces Sheers' true message of identity and manhood in the poem, "a boy who discovered for the first time how dark runs inside." This presents the idea of ​​the boy discovering his power and desires as a man and how these lessons he learned through nature itself. This idea is introduced early in the poem, when Sheers suggests, “Another lesson perhaps, this choice of how to take them,” emphasizing the options a boy has when he becomes a man and how he might discover this set of options. "Hedge School" has little evidence of rhyme and is written in irregular stanzas; this form of free verse allows thereader to have more details and gain deeper insight into what Sheers is really saying. In this way, it is clear that Sheers is trying to create a poem structured almost like a series of thoughts, as a boy explores his choices in his transition into adulthood. In the collection, the poem is positioned among other poems about growth, family and nature. It acts as a momentary reflection on a darker turning point in childhood, between more sentimental poems like “Farther” and “Trees.” “Joseph Jones” is another poem that clearly explores exactly what it feels like to be a man. The poem is purposely titled with names known to be common, which suggests that Sheers is trying to present a stereotype of what a man should be. The use of alliteration within the name almost gives a comedic feel to the poem, which supports the stereotype as the poem begins quite clearly by depicting a typical "boy", an image often viewed with humor. The poem opens with a sense of nostalgia ("Of course I remember Joseph") and goes on to describe what the man was like ("Fifty push-ups before a night out, hair gelled...") who introduces the character as macho and overconfident. This description also sets the tone of the poem at a conversational tone, perhaps to represent the ease with which Joseph liked to present himself, despite how much effort he actually put into his appearance. These descriptions suggest that Sheers is presenting his vision of what it feels like to be a younger man, more concerned with how others see him. The speaker recalls Joseph boasting about his sexual exploits, traditionally a very loud thing: "He told all of us how he got his red wings." This vulgarity suggests that Sheers is presenting how society often conditions men to be derogatory towards women. This idea continues in the stanza with descriptions of the girl being solely about her clothing rather than articulating or embodying anything of substance: “Her skirt,” “white tights worn up to her high heels.” Sheers goes on to show the reader that, despite Joseph Jones's delusion, very little had actually been done. He describes it as a "small town myth" that seems to downplay everything that has been said so far about Joseph, illustrating the idea that his confidence is just an illusion. In the final verse, Sheers uses a list technique to show all that Joseph had achieved: "XR2, late night fights, a one time trial." The layout of this stanza makes the lines seem especially short compared to the previous stanzas, describing the empty space in Joseph's life. He ends the poem on a melancholy note, suggesting that there is a lack of substance to the character. This shows that Sheers is presenting exactly what it feels like to be a man, as this idea of ​​a typical macho man cannot live up to and probably won't end up with a very fulfilling life. “Joseph Jones” is, in fact, positioned in the collection immediately after “Hedge School,” which suggests that Sheers is presenting the reader with a transition from childhood, to the realization of his power as a man, to manhood presented essentially as disappointing; despite how it may appear on the surface. This poem clearly shows that Sheers explores exactly what it means to be a man. In contrast, in the poem "Swallows", rather than exploring what it means to be a man, Sheers focuses on nature and its regenerative power, which are seen as generally unmasculine themes. The title of the poem is significant as swallows themselves are traditionally symbolic of the cycle of life, reflecting the predominant theme of’.