The Resilience of Nature Against Industrialisation in 'The Pigeon' by Richard Church Ruby Kay Dalwood 11th Grade

The poem, ‘The Pigeon’ by Richard Church metaphorically explore themes of nature and beauty against destruction and industrialisation of the modern world. The pigeon is a metaphor for nature and wildlife and the concrete mixer represents industrialisation that is made possible by the workmen, the human race stood as a warning or symbol of the possible destruction and deception of industrialization

The poem begins, ‘Throb, throb from the mixer / Spewing out concrete’, The repetition of ‘throb’ gives the idea of time passing and describes this on going action that will not stop – a ‘throb’ is a steady, on going pulse like the beating of our heart, an action that is essential to our survival, this could allude to our reliance on man made objects and developments and also how we are constantly polluting the world, without any plan to stop. The verb, ‘spewing’ connotes uncontrolled release of concrete implying we are out of control of our expansion on earth and can’t limit how fast and how much we destroy the world anymore because we have become so reliant on industry. The sounds are a prominent part of the poem they help build the character of both the pigeon and the cement mixer. The cement mixer is described with quite aggressive...