The poem is written in first person narrator. This is effective because it makes the readers personalize her experience and sympathise with her the pressure and stress that parents have other their children.
Similarly, “Afflictions of Margaret” by Wordsworth is written in first person to also convey the poem as a personal statement.
This is a long poem as it consists of eleven stanzas, each of which convey Margaret’s psychological situation, and it is written in a regular and basic rhyme scheme which is very unique among the other poems.
Wordsworth is not a very economical writer in this poem in the way that Ben Jonson is in “On My First Sonne”. They are both completely opposite. Instead of packing an idea tightly into a short couple of stanzas, he tends to spell things out. Therefore, rather than just write ‘humbled’, Wordsworth explains what this means ‘poor. Hopeless of honour and of gain’. However, I believe that this is less effective that Jonson’s style.
Wordsworth conveys the relationship between a Margaret and her lost son as slow moving and not fluent by ending most of the lines in a punctuation mark which requires the reader to pause or stop and sympathise with Margaret. However, there are a few lines that use enjambement and do run on, for example, “to have received no tidings of an only child”. This adds a restless quality to each stanza and this conveys her mind.
Similar to Clarke, Wordsworth effectively uses repetition in “Where art thou” to emphasize the remorse and stress a very distant relationship can be, if one.
The general tone of Wordsworth’s poem is of the sorrow, pleading and pitiful sorrow Margaret has of her lost son. This tone is strongly conveyed in the last stanza as he writes, “my troubles, and beyond relief: if any chance to heave a sigh”. This conveys to readers that losing a loved one can be a very stressful time and you may be left with “no other earthly friend”.
The vocabulary that is used is mingled with rhymes and a tone of everyday English, for example, “Well born. Well bred”. This is quite a comparison to Clarke’s hostile vocabulary of the “struggle” and “confrontation” as the mother and daughter “fought”. She also uses violent verbs such as “shouted” and “fighting” to convey the aggressive and unfriendly relationship that mothers and daughter can have at harsh times in their everyday lives.
The overall tone of Ben Jonson’s poem, “On My First Sonne” is totally opposite to that of Wordsworth as there is a sense of euphemism, that death sounds comfortable. Jonson uses an extended metaphor of a boy being “lent” for “seven years” and paid back “on the just day” to convey the idea that everyone is like a loan given out by God to experience what it is like to live in his world. Therefore to back up the extended metaphor, Jonson uses biblical vocabulary such as “on my right hand” and “sinne”
The extensive use of rhyming couplets conveys a fluent pace yet slow moving due to the usage of punctuation marks to end most of the lines which requires the reader to pause or stop and sympathise with Jonson. The effective latter technique is very similar to that used by Wordsworth.
“Digging” by Seamus Heaney “sticks out” compared to the rest of the poems as it expresses the highs of a parent/child relationship as they can be full of admiration and respect. The overall tone is of nostalgia. In comparison to the rest of the poems, “Digging” stands out as it is a pathetic fallacy as nature gives a mirror to, and reflects human feelings.
Also, Heaney uses rhyming in words such as “sound” and “ground” to convey auditory description which can help readers to experience and understand his own experience of him looking up to his father and grandfather. He vividly recollects back to their time and their way of life to show readers that relationships can last for very long times and they will never be forgotten.
Additionally, he uses a simile, which is quite rare in the selection of poems, of “snug as a gun” to suggest that his pen could also be like a weapon and that it is powerful in his hand. He uses alliteration in “squelch” and “slap” to convey the physical impact of the work his father and grandfather did and onomatopoeia to convey the sound the peat makes as it is cut. This all builds up an auditory description that helps the readers not only visualize a picture but also to sound the picture.
Overall, there are many ways in which the poets convey their feelings and attitudes to parent/child relationships. However, I believe that the most effective way is through the use of metaphors as used in “Catrin” and “Digging” as they can convey complicated ideas to the readers in very intelligent yet short sentences.
