Clair uses another metaphor in this stanza, ‘My life and all seemed turn to clay.’ This implies that Clair’s whole life stopped when she looked at him.
In the second stanza Clair talks about what happened to him when he saw the woman. He writes about the emotions he felt and ho ‘raw love’ can effect people.
In the final stanza Clair uses a collection of similes, metaphors, alliterations and rhetorical questions.
‘Are flowers the winter’s choice?’ and ‘Is love’s bed always snow?’ Both of these are rhetorical questions meaning they need no answerer. This shows that Clair is beginning to question the meaning of love.
‘Are flowers the winters choice?’ Clair has likened the woman to a ‘Blooming flower’ as it is in the middle of winter Clair is asking do such beautiful blooming flowers appear in winter.
‘Is loves bed always snow?’ Here Clair is asking if the feelings of love he has got are always so cold and hurtful like a bed of freezing snow.
In the final stanza Clair explains how his heart has been broken by this woman that he could never have and how he would never love again.
My heart has left its dwelling-place
And can return no more.
After having read this poem by Clair I have begun to relies that falling in love to a beautiful woman will not always to nice. Love can hurt people and in Clair’s case causes him to break down. This poem made me feel almost sorry for Clair because of him coming from such a bad background and ending up dieing with nothing at all because of one attractive young woman.
The second poem I have decided to write about is ‘Long Distance’ by Tony Harrison. This poem is from a sequence of different poem Harrison wrote to come to terms with the death of his parents.
Like ‘First love’ this poem is about love, but this kind of love is the kind you have to a very close family members like your parents or grandparents not someone you would have a relationship with.
This poem if powerful for everyone because it deals with an issue than we all will have to face in our lives or have faced already.
What is unique about this poem is that Harrison has used almost no poetical devises such a similes, metaphors and alliterations. The makes the text more of a short story than a poem.
In the first stanza of the poem Harrison writes about how his father had dealt with the death of his mother. His father still ‘kept her slippers warming by the gas,’ ‘put hot water bottles her side of the bed’ and ‘still went to renew her transport pass.’
All of these little things that his father did shows that he has not coped with his mothers death and does not want to admit she has gone forever. All these things he does are very unusual but the most disturbing is that he still spends money on a transport pass that will never be used.
In the second stanza it explanes that his father would not allow people round without giving some kind of notice so he could put away the thing that belong to his wife, Harrison’s mother. The last line of the stanza tells us how his father felt about is behaviour. He felt that what he was doing was a crime.
‘as though his still raw love was such a crime’
In the third stanza you can see that his dad does not want to let go. He still feels the she will come back.
Though sure hat very soon he’d hear her key
scrape in the rusted lock and end his grief
The uses of the word ‘rusted’ is a metaphor of his life after her death, how it has decade and fallen apart.
The final stanza has shown that Harrison is no different from his dad when it comes to grieving for a loved one.
The first two lines though, give the impression that Harrison is mocking his father and fell he as act ridiculous. ‘I believe life ends in death,’ and ‘ You haven’t both gone shopping;’. Both of these lines give you the opinion that Harrison as no respect for his father but the final lines of the poem, and the most powerful shows that even though he belief life ends in death he still does things his father did.
In my new black leather phone book there’s your name
And the disconnected number I still call.
I believe both poems are written very well. They both give two powerful views on love. I prefer Harrison’s ‘Long Distance’ as it has started me thinking how I shall act when my loved ones die and it is a poem all people can relate to.
