The Magpies - By Denis Glover

"The Magpies" By Denis Glover1: ‘The bracken made their bed’ I think this means that the natural resources on their land helped them to create a farm and a home for themselves; the bracken meaning the resources and their bed meaning their home and the farm.2: ‘Toms hand was strong to the plough’ I think this means Tom was good at sowing his seeds and ploughing the fields, without his skill at this there wouldn’t be a farm.3: ‘But all the beautiful crops went to the mortgage man instead’ I think this means their hard work on the farm eventually didn’t pay off, so someone else took ownership of their crops.4: ‘Old Tom’s gone light in the head’ I think this means Tom has gotten older and is a bit senile, so he can’t work the farm anymore and he isn’t as strong mentally as he used to be.5: ‘The farm’s still there. Mortgage corporations couldn’t give it away.’ I think this means that after Tom and Elizabeth stopped working the farm, it became worthless and the mortgage person who owned it couldn’t sell it because it wasn’t worth anything anymore.The whole poem is showing their hard work and how it didn’t pay off in the end.-Lila