Furthermore the poem includes the line, ‘...circling posthumous dates on a calendar’. This line makes the reader sympathise with the reader as the person is circling dates that are pointless to him and not remarkable in anyway. This creates a sense of irony, as the dates won’t actually be remarkable to the person, however the dates should be remarkable, as one of them could be the day the, he or she dies. The ‘someone’ will never get a chance to see the dates they are circling, as the audience knows that the person will be dead by then, making the audience feel sorry for the ‘someone’. Similarly, it makes death seem as it is approaching, as the person is circling dates and one of the dates could be the day he or she dies.
Likewise, there is a phrase, ‘Saluting terminally, the neighbour who will join in the cortege’. This phrase has a double meaning as it could mean the person is saluting their neighbour by just waving positively on their way to work ,for example, or it could mean they are saluting to the neighbour for the last time as it could be the last time the person will see them. It may possibly be the persons ‘last salute’. The word ‘salute’ has conations to words such as, ‘the army’ and ‘the military’. Soldiers opt to join the military and put their life on the line to make peace even though it could mean death and that links in with the poem because the theme of the poem is death. Soldiers take their ‘last salute’ as well which shows that they are ready to die for their country or for peace. As well as, a cortege had connotations to ‘death’ as a cortege is a funeral procession. This would make the reader think that death is definite for the ‘someone’ and they would be nervous for them.
O’ Driscolls main technique in the poem is repetition. He repeats the word ‘Someone’ by using it at the beginning of every line. This emphasises that the ‘Someone’ could be anyone in the world. It also creates an insistent tone which emphasises the mood and atmosphere created in the poem.
In the poem ‘Two scavengers in a truck, Two beautiful people in a Mercedes’ there are also some contrasts.
Firstly, Ferlinghetti writes about four similar people in the poem. The poem consists of two pairs of people. All four have working lives, and the two men; one driving in the Mercedes and one in the garbage truck, have long hair and are wearing sunglasses which show they do have some similarities.
However, there are many contrast between the two pairs. To begin with the main contrast , is that one pair work as garbage men, and the other pair have a cleaner and more advanced job as there is a phrase in ‘Two scavengers...’, ‘on the way to his architect’s office’ which clearly shows this. They are dressed in different ways, as the garbage men are wearing ‘red plastic blazers’. The man in the more elegant couple is wearing ‘a hip three-piece linen suit’, and the woman is wearing ‘a short skirt and coloured stockings’. Linen here is a more expensive and softer which contrasts plastic which is more uncomfortable and cheap but more functional which agrees with the garbage men’s job. Linen and plastic are both opposites.
In addition, both couples have different life lifestyles; however the garbage men are needed more in the democracy. Many people would expect the bin men to be looking up at the elegant and rich couple, but it is the opposite in this poem as it seems as the bin men are looking down on the rich and elegant couple. This is shown physically on the page as the line, ‘and looking down on to’ is above the line, ‘an elegant Mercedes’. It has a double meaning, as it could also mean that the garbage men are just standing on the stoop and looking down on the rich couple as they are beneath them.
Furthermore, the poem is structured in an unusual way. The lines of the poem are placed unusually around the page. This shows the traffic which is where the poem is set and where the two couples meet. The lines are placed further apart to show that the two pairs will never meet, but the lines do meet in the middle and this to show that they repel away from each other because after the lines meet the lines beneath them start to show bigger gaps and move away. Further, the large gaps between the lines show the repulsiveness between the pairs and how they should never meet even though they have at the traffic lights. This may show the complications within the democracy too.
Earlier in the poem there is a phrase ‘...as if they were watching some odorless TV add’. This could suggest, that the garbage men think that the couple in the Mercedes are an illusion, by comparing them to a TV add which is usually odourless and made to perfection. By this the garbage men are saying that the couple in the Mercedes seem perfect which shows that they have no substance or odour to them. However a lot more attention is paid to garbage men as they are needed more in society as they keep the streets clean by taking the garbage from houses. They have literal odour due to this and people are thankful for them. Even though many people may think that the elegant couple seem more important, as being on TV puts them on top of society, it is actually the garbage men who are more important, and are needed more as they keep the streets in the condition they are in, without smelling ghastly. The couple in the Mercedes don’t do much for society as a whole.
Moreover, in the poem ‘Two scavengers in a truck, Two beautiful people in a Mercedes’, it contrasts the difference in the democracy, as even though everybody should be treated equally they are not as the ‘two scavengers’ are looked down on, and ‘the two beautiful people’ are looked up on. This may be a difference in the democracy but it shows that they all do come together and are equal because they are part of one democracy. This is shown, as the lines in the poem meet at each paragraph which suggests that everybody in the democracy does meet and is equal. Similarly, the word democracy is placed at the bottom of the page. This could show that it is just a word, and doesn’t mean much to most people. This is because the two couples in the poem should be equal as they are part of the same democracy, and this should show that everybody in it should be equal, however this is not the case as the two couples are clearly different, and are not treated equally, therefore democracy is just a word to a lot of people. Ferlinghetti addresses his disappointment through this poem by the clear differences between the two pairs which should not be there.
Both poems similarly contrast everyday scenes and in ‘Someone’ it shows that they cannot escape the outcome of the day.
In the poem ‘Someone’, it lists some everyday actions people do; ‘dressing up’, ‘shaving’, and ‘paring his nails’. These phrases show that people are getting ready for life, and death doesn’t even cross their minds, however the audience knows that death is actually coming their way. Most of the actions that they are performing are pointless and the reader knows this which makes Similarly, in ‘Two scavengers in a truck, two beautiful people in a Mercedes’, the everyday actions include ‘on the way home’, ‘on the way to his architects office’, ‘at the stoplight waiting for the light’. The main action in this poem is that the cars are waiting in a queue of traffic. The contrasts, are the two couples who are more or less opposites, but somehow are together even though in reality they would never be found anywhere near each other. It makes the reader think that they may be the same in someway, even though they have clear differences.
However the structure and the techniques in the poems are different. In the poem ‘Someone’ O’ Driscoll keeps a normal structure by placing the lines beneath each other as most poems usually are. However, in the poem ‘two scavengers in a truck, Two beautiful people in a Mercedes’ Ferlinghetti spreads the lines across the page and doesn’t have a simple structure to it like the poem ‘Someone’ does.
To conclude, both poets do explore the universal ideas of life thoroughly which evolves the readers knowledge, of the themes of the poem further. O’ Driscoll explores the ideas of everyday scenes, which a lot of people go through to get ready for life, however the true outcome of the day would be death, which the reader would sympathise with as they would know that the everyday actions the ‘someone’ is doing is useless. Ferlinghetti explores the universal ideas of life too, and contrasts two couples in the same democracy. He contrasts the fact that not everybody is equal, even if they are in the same democracy. These contrasts that both poets use help the reader understand the universal ideas further and how they may be affected.
