In this essay I will be dealing with two poems. The Richest Poor Man In the Valley and Buffalo .

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GCSE Coursework – English Literature

Comparison Of Two Poems

In this essay I will be dealing with two poems. “ The Richest Poor Man In the Valley” and “ Buffalo “. I will analyse both poems content, ideas of the poet, the overall mood and atmosphere and mechanical structure. In the final part of this essay I will be comparing both poems, looking at the similarities and differences in mechanical structure and overall content.

“ The Richest Poor Man In The Valley “ is about a man who loves the outdoors. The man is a farmer and each day on the hillside his dog brings down the sheep from the top of the mountain. However the man eventually dies and at the funeral friends and family are upset and his demise. The poet definitely has some ideas he wants to get across, the choice of the title “ The Richest Poor Man In The Valley “ seems to suggest that the poet believes wealth and material possessions are of little significance and people can be very happy without wealth, if you have joy, happiness and good friends. You could be the wealthiest man in the world but inside you could be a cold and miserable man, however likewise you could be living in desperate poverty but be rich in warmth and kindness. “ While inside his heart was fat with sun “. To take the poem from face value, you would get the impression it was rather unpleasant and depressing “ he was living in a caravan until the day he died “, “ his face was like a weather map full of bad weather “. However to me the poem is a celebration of the man’s life: although on the outside the man looked old and frail, he was warm and kind and was able to use those gifts to touch people’s heart and spread a little joy throughout the world: “ his friends tears fell like a thousand diamonds”. The poet uses the man in the poem to symbolize everything that is right in the world, people who are not corrupt, greedy and always want to have more “ money, houses bank accounts and lies” but people who are kind and gentle and use there abilities to help to change the world. I especially like the phrase “ money, houses, bank accounts and lies “ suggesting that wealth and material possessions are just what people use to cover up problems they have in there life such as depression or grief and feel by buying possessions they are dealing with there problems but in the long run are just making the whole situation worse.  I really like the phrase “ while his heart was fat with sun “. I love how the poet uses the sun to symbolize joy and happiness and the adjective fat not to describe the man’s weight, but the size of his heart. I love how the poet compares the face of the man “ to a weather map full of bad weather “ perhaps suggesting in the kindest way that he was not physically attractive or easy on the eye or maybe the bad weather describes the wrinkles on the mans face from old age. I really like how the poet describes “ his friend’s tears fell like a thousand diamonds “ Diamonds contradict every idea of the poem on wealth and material possessions. The diamonds falling from the eyes of his friends are more precious that any stone money can buy, showing that warmth and kindness touch people. As The Beatles once sang “ Money can’t buy you love. “

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Buffalo is about a small broad man, who fought in World War One and came out unscathed. The man is a hard worker, who loves to tend to his allotment and live life to the full. The man unfortunately eventually dies. The poet has a couple of idea’s he wants to get across, such as don’t judge a book by its cover. Most people who saw Buffalo Jenkyn for the first time probably would have been intimated and frightened by his physical presence, “He’d have braked a riot. On the contrary, Buffalo Jenkyn is a gentle ...

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