Weather eye
Isobel Dixon
Isobel Dixon
• Born 1969
• Has won multiple literary awards & is
• internationally published
• Poetry is described as "unflinching emotional
• precision"
• Makes use of precise observation & honest
almost
• deadpan delivery
• Combines biographical material with abstract
• argument
WEATHER EYE
1 In summer when the Christmas beetles
2 filled each day with thin brass shrilling,
3 heat would wake you, lapping at the sheet,
4 and drive you up and out into the glare
5 to find the mulberry’s sweet shade
6 or watch ants marching underneath the guava tree.
7 And in the house Mommy would start
8 the daily ritual, whipping curtains closed,
9 then shutters latched against the sun
10 and when you crept in, thirsty, from the garden,
11 the house would be a cool, dark cave,
12 an enclave barricaded against light
13 and carpeted with shadow, still
14 except the kitchen where the door was open
15 to nasturtiums flaming at the steps
16 while on the stove the pressure cooker chugged
17 in tandem with the steamy day.
18 And in the evenings when the sun had settled
19 and crickets started silvering the night,
20 just home from school, smelling of chalk and sweat,
21 Daddy would do his part of it, the checking,
22 on the front verandah, of the scientific facts.
23 Then if the temperature had dropped enough
24 the stays were loosened and the house undressed
25 for night. Even the front door wide now
26 for the slightest breeze, a welcoming
27 of all the season’s scents, the jasmine,
28 someone else’s supper, and a neighbour’s voice –
29 out walking labradors, the only time of day
30 for it, this time of year. How well the world
31 was ordered then. These chill machines
32 don’t do it half as true, the loving regulation
33 of the burning days. Somehow my judgment isn’t quite
34 as sure when faced with weather-signs. Let me come home
35 to where you watch the skies and keep things right.
Summary
• ‘Weather Eye’ by Isobel Dixon is a poem filled
with nostalgia for the past and a time during
which family routines were strong.
• In the first lines of ‘Weather Eye,’ the speaker
begins by describing how summer mornings in
their youth drove them outside to the shade of a
guava tree. There, they could get away from the
oppressive indoor heat for a time. Their mother
would close the blinds and ensure that the home
cooled down and became cave-like. As the lines
progress, it becomes clear that although this time
in their life was difficult, they miss it. They
express a desire to return to it in the final lines.
Detailed Analysis
Stanza one
In the first lines of ‘Weather Eye,’ the speaker
begins by noting that in summer, there’s a very
specific sound in the air, that of Christmas
beetles. They make a “thin brass shilling” that
could wake you up in the heat of the day and
drive you outside into the sun and to the
relative coolness of the “guava tree.” These are
wonderful opening examples of imagery that
help set the tone and create an atmosphere for
the rest of the poem.
Stanza two
As the lines progress, the speaker adds in more
details. They note that inside, “your” mother would
start her daily routine of closing the curtains and
shutters against the sun. Finally, too hot and thirsty,
“you” would come back inside. At that point, the
heat banished, the house would be a “cool, dark
cave.” This last line is a great example of a
metaphor. The house isn’t really a cave, but by
describing it as one, the reader is better able to
imagine what it was like inside.
Stanza three
In the next stanza, the speaker says that the house
was like an “enclave barricaded against light.”
Shadow was the only thing welcome during those
summer months in the home. But, it was not
without its warmth. There was the “pressure
cooked” chugging away all day. It aligned itself, the
speaker felt, with “the steamy day.” By this point,
readers should have a good image in their mind of
what the days were like for this speaker or the
“you” they’re directing their words to.
Stanza four
Now, the speaker transitions into describing the
evenings after the sun has “settled” and the
crickets fill the air with their sound. This is in
direct contrast to the sound of the beetles in the
morning and the rising of the sun. The speaker
gets home from school, and now, with the father
in the picture, the evening routine begins.
Stanza five
They’d open the doors to a breeze, if there is
one, and various sights and sounds would play
themselves out. This included the “season’s
scents, the jasmine,” and “someone else’s
supper.” Despite the natural images that fill this
poem, the home is close enough to others to be
able to catch a whiff of their lives and a sound of
their voices.
Stanza six
In the final stanza, which is one of the longest in the
poem, the speaker says that the “neighbour’s”
voices could be heard when they were out “walking
labradors” during the dark evening. This was the
only time of year that this was possible.
Looking back on the past, the speaker understands
that the world was better-ordered and easier to
understand at that time. Now there are “chill
machines” that change the rules of when one thing
can happen during a particular season. The
regulation “of burning days” changed.
Continued
The final line is moving and is the first time that
the speaker refers to themselves with a first-
person pronoun, “me.” They ask that they be
allowed to return to this time in their life when
“you,” the person to whom they’ve been
directing their words, watched the sky and kept
“things right.” This refers to the simple
procedures of opening and closing the blinds
but also the rightness and simplicity of the
speaker’s childhood.
Structure and Form
‘Weather Eye’ by Isobel Dixon is a six-stanza poem
that is divided into sets of five, six, or seven lines.
These lines are written in free verse. This means
that the poem does not conform to a specific rhyme
scheme or metrical pattern. But, it doesn’t mean
that the poem is entirely without structure. For
example, the use of half-rhymes. These occur when
the poet allows words with similar sounds,
although not identical sounds, to land close
together. For example, “day” and “wake” in stanza
one. Both of these words use the same long “a”
vowel sound.
Literary Devices
• Enjambment: occurs when the poet cuts off a line before its
natural stopping point. For example, the transition between
lines one, two, and three of stanza three.
• Alliteration: can be seen when the poet repeats the same
consonant sound at the beginning of words. For example,
“beetles” and “brass” in lines one and two as well as “cool”
and “cave” in stanza two.
• Imagery: occurs when the poet uses especially interesting
and effective descriptions. For example, “filled each day with
thin brass shrilling, / heat would wake you, lapping at the
sheet.”
• Metaphor: can be seen when the poet makes a comparison
between two things without using “like” or “as.” For example,
“the house would be a cool, dark cave.”
Tone
The tone is nostalgic and wistful. The speaker
spends the lines celebrating what their life used
to be like, the ups and the downs, and the ways
the family had to compromise when the
weather was too poor to do what they needed
to do at one time.
Theme
The themes at work in this piece include family
and the past. The speaker is expressing, in clear
and loving terms, what their life used to be like.
At the end of the poem, it becomes clear that a
lot of changes have occurred since then.
Purpose
The purpose is to describe, with nostalgia,
the way life worked when the speaker was
young. The heat of summer was all-
consuming and directed their family’s daily
actions. These routines are something the
speaker connects to a happier time and
something they wish they could return to.
