Easter Monday is a sonnet of fourteen lines written in two verses; the first verse has nine lines and the second verse five lines. However, it does not follow the structure of a traditional sonnet. It is an unrhymed poem. It was written April 9th, 1917. It was in memory of Edward Thomas and called Easter Monday as this was the day he died. The poem is written in the form of a letter and has an intimate conversational term. She writes as though she were speaking directly to him and she just calls him simply ‘u’ and the words ‘I’ occur several times in the first section. Starting with the first four lines the poet uses an extensive use of enjambment; the poet uses this literary technique to convey emotion. The poet also uses symbolism for example, “You found the egg the Monday before Easter”, the use of the word egg symbolises new life. From lines 5-9 there is a change in syntax (sentence structure) which are short and sharp sentences, this conveys her emotion.
Louis MacNeice was born in Northern Ireland in 1907 and died in 1963. His mother sadly died when he was very young and her death affected him deeply for the rest of his life. He went to Oxford and he was one of a group of poets at Oxford who became famous. He was deeply affected by the political events of the 1930’s and by the Second World War. In this poem an unborn child prays that it should be born into a good world. The only verse which provides images of this good world is verse number three and the images of goodness are linked to nature; water, grass, trees, sky and a white light to guide him. “With water to dandle me, grass to grow for me, trees to talk to me, sky to sing to me, birds and a white light in the back of my mind to guide me.” All the other verses are filled with images of a world of hostility, repression, distraction and many of them refer to things that happened in the 20th Century. For example in the second last verse when he says about those who would freeze humanity he is talking about how individuals ease to matter and just became units of production as though they were small parts of a machine. What he prays for is to be an individual human being in a world where people respect each other and show human kindness. If the world can’t be like that “otherwise kill me”. He would rather be aborted than be born.
Prayer Before Birth is a poem of eight verses written in a very unusual form with a contrasting number of lines in each verse from two to ten which creates a varied rhythmic affect, this is a prayer and it to has ritualistic quality with the phrase ‘I am not yet born’ beginning in each verse but the last. The form of narration is in the form of a paradoxical narrator, and is a dramatic monologue. The poem also has a liturgical quality to it (religious sounding).Louis MacNeice uses many aspects of linguistic features in this poem to express his ideas and feelings to his intended audience. He uses alliteration as one of his features for example, “lies lure”, “lovers laugh”, “drugs dope”, “grass grow”. This feature creates a fast tone. The poet creates Images of restriction to emphasise upon a point for example, “walls wall”. Similes are also used on a regular basis for example, “like thistledown”, “like water”. This creates imagery and gives us a better sense of the poem. Personification is another feature used by the poet as it creates a suggested idea of a person for example, “trees talk”, “sky to sing to me”. The repetition of words creates a rhythm and emphasises upon a point. It also creates tension and suspicion. The rhyming scheme builds to a crescendo.
Overall I found that both poems were interesting and enjoyable to analyse. I found that the theme of war in both poems created a sense of emotion towards its audience through various ways such as language, form, structure and many more which I have commented upon. My preference overall was Easter Monday by Eleanor Farjeon, due to the fact that I felt more emotion towards the poet and her feelings.