Stanza viii, Line 7: “melts like butter”
Niyi Osundare’s choreo-poem, Hole in the Sky, is a commentary on the current ecological state of the Earth. A certain line in the poem brings about a particularly strong visual image to the reader’s mind of Arctic ice that “melts like butter,” (8.7). This line refers to the long-term melting of Arctic ice as a result of global warming. Since the 1970s, this ice has declined by about 40%. This melting can negatively affect a number of different things, including climate, weather and oil and natural gas operations.
Osundare underlines the gravity of the problem through his use of imagery in this line. Saying that the ice is melting at the rate of butter is clearly an exaggeration, as there is no way it could melt that fast. But imagining the ice as doing so enables the reader to draw a line between a issue that he or she might not completely comprehend to a commonplace occurrence. This, in turn, betters the reader’s understanding of the issue of global warming and climate change. Overall, Osundare effectively depicts a huge issue in a poetic and easy-to-understand way.
Milyza Flores
1 response so far ↓
JMERLE // Nov 29th 2015 at 2:35 pm
Yes, Milly, this is a wonderful quote, and you do a good job discussing it. Melting like butter is certainly an exaggeration, as you note, but at the same time points to how fast it seems to be melting, and how there doesn’t seem to be anything we can do about it. Also, think more about the use of the word butter, and the connotations this word evokes (we’ll discuss this more in class together). Your reference is a good one, and this is quite timely, in light of the Paris conference on global warming.