Evaluate the Effectiveness of the Poet's Use of Language in "Nothing's Changed" and "Two Scavengers in a Truck,

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Evaluate the Effectiveness of the Poet’s Use of Language in “Nothing’s Changed” and “Two Scavengers in a Truck,

Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes

“Nothings changed” is a poem about the separation of black people and white people in South Africa. The poem is about all the invisible barriers separating blacks, entering where only white people can go in the country. This poem emphasizes the problems with the system and breaking apart the two different types of culture. “Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two beautiful people in a Mercedes” although they are the same race, this poem uses the phrase “Small gulf” to metaphorically show the distances and differences from higher and lower classes in society. I feel that “Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two beautiful people in a Mercedes” is seen from the view of the “Scavengers” looking enviously down into the Mercedes. This poem stereotypes poorer people as they are labelled as “Scavengers,” and the higher class two people are labelled by the poet as “Beautiful” and “Elegant.”

“Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful people in a Mercedes” instantly introduces the poem by stereotyping the two different classes. The lower class garbage-men are labelled as “Scavengers” while the higher class Mercedes owners are described by the poet as “Beautiful.” The title contains a metaphor and a contrast between the two sets of classes because the poem is about the differences and separations of the classes. Lawrence Ferlinghetti uses the metaphor “Across the small gulf, In the high seas.” The separation of the two sets of people here is only a few meters hence the “Small gulf” but the separation and differences of the two classes is portrayed by the poet as huge with vast differences so the poet describes these differences as “In the high seas.” These two lines conclude the poem brilliantly I feel because they describe that although the “Two scavengers” are only a few meters apart but different in nearly every aspect in life. Lawrence Ferlinghetti uses alliteration to emphasize the language he uses to describe the two classes. “Casually, coifed, Coloured.” These three words included in the poem stand out while being read to stress the opinion of the two higher class people. These words of alliteration are positive complimentary descriptive words, they are emphasized by Lawrence Ferlinghetti to highlight the positive compliments, towards the two beautiful people in a Mercedes. The poet describes the older man of the “Two scavengers” in this poem metaphorically as a “Gargoyle Quasimodo.” Gargoyles are hideous looking statues that were usually placed high above crowds in such places as the Notre Dome. These statues were famous for goggling down and staring into the streets, they were seen as scary and very intimidating. This metaphor also describes the ‘Two scavengers” as the subject of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” by Victor Hugo. The character in Victor Hugo’s poem was a hideous person with a hunched back and he was a character who lived in the Notre Dame The Hunchback would stare longingly into the crowded streets, Lawrence Ferlinghetti therefore uses this metaphor to create a image of the “Two Scavengers” staring longingly into the Mercedes, with jealous envious eyes, looming down on the opposite class of people. For the garbagemen looking down on the couple is the same as “Watching come odorless TV ad” - the way of life is portrayed seems impossibly perfect . To the garbagemen, the couple are almost unreal and their lifestyle is out of reach, for two “grungy” garbagemen. The poems structure is inconsistent and fairly free. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, doesn’t use punctuation; instead he goes onto a new line instead of a comma or a full stop. This slows the poem down for the reader, to help us understand the meaning of the poem.

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“Nothings Changed” is a poem showing the separation of the two different colors of people: black and white. The poem is set in South Africa by Tatamkhulu Afrika, a non colored poet but a man who had such strong views over the social system and separation of blacks from white people that he was imprisoned for campaigning against these barriers. Nothings changed compares the lives that colored people are forced to live and the luxuries and lives that the white people enjoy living. Tatamkhulu Afrika describes the invisible barriers and unwritten rules of where and where not black people ...

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