Select any two poems you have stdied and compare how the poems use language and structure to deliver and develop the message of their poems.

Hardy's poem, At Castle Boterel talks about the poets reminiscences of his walk with his girlfriend who is now dead. He talks about how they climbed the road not minding what they talked about because it was so perfect, and how the hill remembers his walk, 'was there ever a time of such quality in that hill's story?' This is saying how in all of the people walking up that hill, was there ever such a romantic and perfect story. The language used here is a good way to show the message of the poem. Hardy also describes how he can still remember this incident although it is very distant, 'one phantom figure remains on the slope'. The same as the hill telling a story, in 'Piano', the author shows his reminiscence of how his mother's music told a story. There is also a slight sense of nostalgia in Lawrence's poem, as he remembers the sadness and happiness of his childhood. He remembers sitting by his mother's piano and he describes what sounds he hears, 'the boom of the tingling strings'. This is an oxymoron and this is a clever language method to use because it shows two opposites next to each other, just like nostalgia does. Also Lawrence uses many s sounds in his poem to make the poem sound very soothing like a mother does to her child.

The two poets also use structure in their poems to deliver and develop the message they are trying to show. Both poets have got 4 lines to a stanza, I think that this is done to show how the poems are organised like a story. Strong memories with no breaks in them to show how the memories are clear ones and the poets reminiscence of their loved ones. In 'Piano, the structure of the poem could enhance the feeling of childhood and his life up to now; it does this by starting off with him starting to remember his memories, then the second stanza he starts to remember more of his mother and then in the last stanza he remembers himself as a child, 'I weep like a child for the past'. The set out of the three stanzas is like the poets lifetime going in reverse as he remembers. In Hardy's poem 'At Castle Boterel', it is also set out with a set 5 lines to a stanza in every stanza. I think that Hardy has done this because his memory of every last detail of the walk and his girlfriend are as clear as they were the day he went on the walk.