Compare and contrast the way in which memories and emotions are described in "Digging" and "Mum, dad and me."

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Compare and contrast the way in which memories and emotions are described in “Digging” and “Mum, dad and me.”

        In this essay I will compare and contrast the ways in which memories and emotions are described in the poems “Digging” by Seamus Heaney, and “Mum, dad and me” by James Berry. I will do this by exploring the meaning, voice, techniques used and structure of each of the poems.

        The poem “Digging” by Seamus Heaney is autobiographical, it centres on his choice to become a poet. The poem starts in the present when his father digging beneath his window takes Heaney back to his childhood, twenty years away. He remembers looking up to his father and grandfather, being proud of what they did and how well they did it. There also is an element of Heaney’s nationality in debate in the poem. Labouring and digging for potatoes are seen as traditionally Irish where writing poems is not. When he comes back to the present at the end of the poem he is determined to go his own way in the world but also to stay true to the values of his family by being working hard, and taking pride in what he does.

In the poem “Mum, dad and me” James Berry compares his childhood in London to the childhood of his Jamaican parents. He shows two images in the poem; a negative one of London and a positive portrait of Jamaica. The poem is ironic as James’ parents came to England for freedom, but instead their family is separated by society and their only child longs for the freedom they had, growing up in Jamaica.

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        There are many poetic devices in the poem “Digging” such as imagery, similes and repetition. However there are not many traditional poetic devices used in “Mum, dad and me.” And the main method James Berry uses to get across his point is     by contrasting elements in his life through description.  

                               

There is repetition used in “Digging”; “By God, the old man could handle a spade. Just like his old man.” This is repetition showing tradition through the generations of ...

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