Coal

Coal, is part of the history of UK history in terms of both culture and literature. This week as a group we focused on the culture and literature surrounding coal as an energy resource. Coal, once a source of employment of nearly a million people in the UK , employs as an industry less than 6,000 people in recent years due to the increased demand for renewable energy. Coal is a fossil fuel and is therefore being phased out in its usage and will be replaced in the future by renewable energy resources. This week 19 nations signed an agreement to commit to  phase out coal including the United Kingdom (The Guardian, 2017). The reasons for this were both environmental and health related , the UK climate minister quoted that “800,000 people a year die from air pollution” which can be related back to the burring of fossil fuels. The decline in the use of coal is part of a larger cultural phenomena in the UK, as it represents a departure away from the coal mining industry and the working class culture that surrounded it. During the 1980’s coal created one of the greatest conflicts and cultural shifts of the 20th century in the UK, the coal miners strike between 1984 ad 1985. This strike had a dramatic effect on the people living in the UK as many people went without income for a long period of time and there were power shortages. As a result of the decreased need for coal overtime, issues of poverty are also associated with areas where coal mining used to be the primary labor work. Such evidence demonstrates how coal is ingrained within UK history and has therefore been influential as a theme within literature. In our discussions we selected  different forms of media that have portrayed the theme of coal, such as films, children’s fiction and poetry. Within this post I will cover each section in more detail.

The poem that I have selected to look at is ‘The Lump of Coal my Parents Teased’ by William Mathews.  The poem written in a quatrain form reveals the speakers complex relationship to coal from a childhood cautionary tale to his fathers death.  Throughout the poem coal is used as a metaphor for love , the nature of ‘tending’ to the coal is much like tending to a relationship . The speaker proclaims  that “if you close your heart to me ever I’ll wreathe you in flames and convert you to energy”, the use of rhyme highlights the precise intention behind these words that on the surface appear a profession of love. However the intent behind the language is quite startling as the speaker claims that like like coal he will burn his lover ,metaphorically, if they are to ever turn away from him. The phrase ‘convert you into energy’ illuminates the metaphor of coal throughout the poem , the word ‘energy’ suggesting that the speaker will drain their lover of all valuable nutrients , much like burning a piece of coal. Such language is harrowing as the speaker suggests that they will drain the energy from their lover. The threat like statement “if you” adds to the projection of this horrible sentiment of ill wishes for the speaker’s lover. A relationship to the father figure is also examined within the poem, the poets use of enjambment between the 4th and 5th stanzas ‘My father’s…dead’ creates a break within the rhythm of the poem highlighting the importance of the statement highlighting the emotive tone of the word ‘dead’and further projecting the anger behind the phrase. The exploration of themes of family and relationship love through the metaphor of coal, connotes the speakers emotive relationship to the subject of coal. through using coal as an imagine of love one interpretation of this poem is that it demonstrates a emotional relationship between the substance and human kind , a theme found within many works of literature.

 

However unlike the poem discussed above more positive relationships to coal have been projected within Children’s literature for example the book The Lump of Coal a Children’s short story by Lemony Snicket about a lump of coal of wants to be an artist, however the book also contains an underlying message on the fragility coal usage by humans. The book can be seen as a cautionary tale for humans of our treatment of coal as an infinite resource. Again the use of coal as a subject of a children’s story portrays the importance of the relationship between humans and coal within society.

Coal can also be seen as a central theme within the film industry , two films that our project group discussed were Billy Elliot and Pride. The fact that without any research our group already had in mind two films to discuss related to this energy resource, makes a statement on the prevalence of coal in British history and media, as I doubt we would have been able to do the same with Solar energy for example. Both Pride and Billy Elliot’ relationship to coal is through the 1980’s coal miner strikes and the hardships ,as a result of the collapse of the coal mining industry. This link is both human , environmental and political, which leads me to suggest that perhaps it is the political historicity of coal that has created some form of emotional relationship to the energy resource within the UK.

 

 

References

Billy Elliot (2000) Directed by Stephan Daldry [Film]. California: Universal Pictures.

Carrington, D (2017) ‘Political Watershed’ as 19 Countries Pledge to Phase out Coal’ The Guardian (Online) Available at:  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/16/political-watershed-as-19-countries-pledge-to-phase-out-coal %5BAccessed 20 November 2017].

Mathews, William ‘ The Lump of Coal my Parents Teased’ (Online) Available at: https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/poem-the-lump-of-coal-my-parents-teased/ [Accessed 20 November 2017].

Pride (2014), Directed by Matthew Warchus [Film]. United Kingdom: Pathé.

Snicket, Lemony (2008) The Lump Of Coal, New York: Harper Collins.

The Guardian (2016) ‘Coal electricity generation falls to record UK low this spring’ The Guardian (Online) Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/29/coal-electricity-generation-falls-to-record-uk-low-this-spring [ Accessed 22 November 2017].

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The Guardian (2009) ‘Arthur Scargill: right or wrong?’ The Guardian, (Online) Available at:  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/poll/2009/mar/06/arthur-scargill-miners-strike-1984-85 [Accessed 20 November 2017].