Both poems use shape to their advantage. In the poem “Two scavengers…” the author writes a poem not in stanzas but in 5 simple sections. Ferlinghetti presents both characters alternatively, using one of the sections to describe the bin men and the next for the rich couple. The reason the author did this was to show the inequality between the two sets of people.
Both poets structure their poems to form a shape accordingly to their issue. In ‘Island man’ Nichols form the poem using mainly short line and a few long lines. I think that he did this because when the poem is turned on its side it represents the sea on the ‘emerald island’ washing in and out. I think that this symbolises the purity and the slow movement of the awakening man. However Ferlinghetti does not use his poem in any kind of visual symbolism, but does separate his lines with a gap, which I think shows how the two sets of people will never be together.
Ferlinghetti uses his five sections almost like a storyboard, which I believe, is a very strong poetic device. And like a storyboard it uses very little punctuation like ‘island man’. But it does try use colour vividly to give us a stronger image. He used colour to describe the “yellow garbage truck” and “red traffic light”. From his we see that he uses colour effectively to gain the readers attention. Grace Nichols also does this by describing the scenery around the island man in his dream such as “blue surf”, “Emerald Island” and the “ grey metallic soar”. Island man uses very little words to tell us about the character instead we are told a lot more about what the character is going through. Where as Ferlinghetti show both sets of the characters brilliantly, by presenting them in front of the reader, by commenting on where they are, who they are, and what they are wearing. Instead grace shows us by creating a relaxing, sensuous picture of island man ‘waking up to the sound of blue surf’. When I read this I notices that Lawrence Ferlinghetti uses lots of poetry devices such as alliteration “short skirt”, repetition such as “elegant” and the slimily such as “gargoyle Quasimodo”. They are strong devices that give us a sense of being there personality, to view what is happening.
Nichols also does this in “island man”. The language in island man shows what the ‘Island man’ is going through. The reader gets a series of contrasting images. For example, “ the sound of the blue surf” conflicts with the “grey metallic soar” of London. Throughout the poem there is a bit of rhythm used “ soar, roar”. There is also alliteration used with the letter “s”, “sun surfing… sound of blue surf” “groggily, groggily, muffling, muffing” repetition and alliteration.
When I read both of these poems I find that they both have the same overall meaning that, two things can be so different in people eyes, such as in two scavengers I am told about the completely different lives between the bin men and the two rich people. In island man I am told that a man can easily miss home his home nation and how different the cultural places are. On the whole I enjoyed the poems very much. I believe that island man is very small but has a bigger meaning and more impact by the way the author doesn’t say much but whole a sense of rhythm. On the other hand two scavengers uses the fact that the classes are so diverse and I think that the author commented on the way the people looked at each other and the way the two people are far apart, not only in the poem but in their titles as well.