Compare and contrast the poems 'Brendon Gallacher' and 'Yellow' in terms of language, ideas and imagery.

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                Ryan McDonnell

                10CTJ 10a1

COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE POEMS ‘BRENDON GALLACHER’ AND ‘YELLOW’ IN TERMS OF LANGUAGE, IDEAS AND IMAGERY

Jackie Kay wrote both the two poems ‘Brendon Gallacher’ and ‘Yellow’. The two poems give many ideas about family relationship. They are also giving an autobiographical view of Jackie Kay’s experiences in childhood although the two poems contain a different perspective of her childhood and family relationship. The ideas of family relationship become narrowed down to intimate relationships such as mother-daughter or father-daughter relationships.

The two poems reveal problems in her childhood through ideas such as freedom. In ‘Yellow’, Jackie Kay uses imagery of birds to convey freedom. The poem ‘Brendon Gallacher’ tells of Jackie Kay having an imaginary friend. This tells us there may have been difficulties in her childhood and to escape these she would think about other things that would make her forget these problems.

Both poems contain a lot of language, in particular personification. The language is very strong in both poems. In the poem ‘Yellow’, the idea of freedom is frequently shown through the language in the poem. The first example is, ‘the yellow bird I the birdcage is let out’. Throughout the poem ‘Yellow’, Jackie Kay incorporates birds into the language. This is because birds are thought of as a symbol of freedom as they have the gift of flight and no limitations to where they want to go. Jackie Kay is showing that she had no freedom from rules and regulations where she lived. Another example of birds is the following, ‘I dream of budgies born in my curls’. This conveys freedom and individuality. It backs the idea that Kay had no freedom as a child. In Brendon Gallacher, there is also an idea of freedom in line fourteen, ‘I like meeting him by the burn in the open air’. The line conveys an image of an empty, open field where there are no restrictions of space. This gives an idea of freedom also.

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Personification can be found in the poem ‘Yellow’ right from the beginning. ‘The hedge has its hair cut and stand between us and the neighbours’. The first line gives an idea of the family. It suggests Jackie Kay may have lived in a successful family, as they make sure the garden is tidy. It also suggests appearance and reality. This is because the garden may look clean and tidy but inside, the family have problems, which Jackie Kay mentions in both poems. The second example of personification can be found in the following, ‘The crocuses’ yellow tongues try to ...

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