In the poem “My parents kept me from children who were rough” there is not a rhyming pattern however in “Funeral Blues” the first and second lines in every verse rhyme and the third and fourth lines in every verse also rhyme.
The rhythm in “Funeral Blues” is a very slow one which emphasises the sadness of the poet whereas in the poem “My parents kept me from children who were rough” there is a medium pace rhythm which accelerates gradually during the poem and then slows down at the end to a slow pace.
Both “My parents kept me from children who were rough” and “Funeral Blues” have four lines in every verse but the amount of verses in each poem differ since the poem “My parents kept me from children who were rough” has only three verses whereas “Funeral Blues has four.
In the poem “My parents kept me from children who were rough” all three of the verses are set in the past tense whereas in “Funeral Blues” three of the verses are talking about the present and only one is talking about the past. The verse, which is referring to something in the past, is the one that talks about the man who died.
In the poem “My parents kept me from children who were rough” lines similar to “I feared more than tigers their muscles like iron” conjures up an image in one’s head of large and very muscular boys. An example of the boys abuse and images, which is stated in the poem, is “ And who threw world like stones and who wore torn clothes”. This line shows us that the boys would use bad language and would dress very badly.
The imagery in “Funeral Blues” is one of a heart broken man who is very sad and depressed and doesn’t know what to do with his life anymore. The man in the poem is wearing black since he is going to the funeral of his companion. He also thinks that members of the public should also wear black and mourn for the death of his companion.
The imagery in the both of the poems is quite different. For example what the people in the poems are wearing. In “Funeral Blues” the man is dressed in black and in “My parents kept me from children who were rough” the children have got torn clothes. One similarity of the poems is that the life of the man in Funeral Blues and the boy in “My parents kept me from children who were rough” are quite dark and miserable. The boy is upset because he wasn’t able to make friends with other people since he was kept away from them and the man is sad because his partner has died and thinks there is no longer a point for his existence.
In the poem “My parents kept me from children who were rough” a lot of metaphors are used. For example “Like dogs to bark at our world” and “Who threw words like stones. There are also a few moderately complex words, “… salt coarse pointing…” “They were lithe…” and “I longed to forgive them…” are all examples of some of the more complex words Stephen Spender uses.
The language in the poem “Funeral Blues” is quite basic and only has a few complex words like dismantle and muffled. Like “My parents kept me from children who were rough”,“Funeral Blues” also has metaphors. Examples of this in the poem are, “scribbling on the sky…” and “pour away the ocean…”
The two poems have a similar language and both poem have metaphors in them. They both also are mainly made up of basic words but have also included a few moderately complex words.
The poem “My parents kept me from children who were rough” gives quite a strong message, which tells you that you are allowed to express your feeling however you like when you are feeling emotional and in some cases you might think you can tell others what to do as well. An example of this in the poem is “prevent the dog from barking…” or “silence the pianos…” In these two lines you see how the man is telling others what to do.
In “My parents kept me from children who were rough” the message you receive is that when you are a child you should go out into the world and experience new things. You should also mix with others who you usually wouldn’t, like people who were quite rough. You might even be able to influence them in a positive way instead of them influencing you in a negative way. You should also have a good time while you can but don’t go to overboard and get a bad reputation. The messages in the poems are completely different since they represent the poet’s thoughts and emotions.
In my opinion both of the poems were extremely well written and both were moderately interesting. The language in “My parents kept me from children who were rough” is better than that of “Funeral Blues”, since it consists of more complex words and expresses the thoughts of the boy more deeply than that of the man in “Funeral Blues.”
Something that stood out to me with regards to both poems is that both poets have used a lot of repetition throughout their poems which I am not particularly fond of. For example in the poem “My parents kept me from children who were rough” the poet uses the word “I” several times:
“I feared more than tigers…”, “I feared the salt coarse pointing…”, “And I looked another way…”, “I longed to forgive them…”.
In the poem “Funeral Blues”, the word “let” is used several times. Evidence of this is shown in the first two verses of the poem, such as:
“… let the mourners come”, “let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead” and “ let the traffic policeman…”.
In conclusion, people of an older age group would prefer the poem “Funeral blues” since they would have probably experienced the pain of having lost a loved one , but personally I prefer the poem “My parents kept me from children who were rough” as I can relate to it more since it is about real life events, such as bullying, which happen to children of my own age.
