We have been instructed to compare two different poems both written by the same author. The two poems I have decided to compare are 'Stealing' and 'In Miss Tilscher's class.'

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We have been instructed to compare two different poems both written by the same author.

        The two poems I have decided to compare are ‘Stealing’ and ‘In Miss Tilscher’s class.’

        Firstly I shall comment on ‘Stealing’ and then ‘In Miss Tilscher’s Class.’  Following this I shall make comparisons.

Stealing

This poem is basically about a thief who sometimes steals out of boredom.  The thief often steals things he does not need-like the snowman in someone’s garden, maybe he steals useless things because he has stolen all that he needs before and nothing is left for him to steal which is useful.

This poem consists of five five-line regular Stanzas.  The lines are not really rhymed but the use of Assonance and Alliteration are patterned superbly throughout the poem giving beautiful sentences that rhyme with your tongue.

The poem Stealing begins with the thief dictating what had been the most peculiar thing he had ever stolen.  The poem then goes on to say how wonderful he looked in the midnight moonlight.  This is basically trying to get the point across that someone had put all that effort in to making the snowman, and they had enjoyed making it the day before.

Maybe this is why the Snowman was stolen.  

The poet chooses not to rhyme the poem but to use alliteration and assonance instead.  For instance, in the first stanza it quotes ‘…Midnight. He looked magnificent; A tall, white mute beneath the winter moon.  I wanted him, a mate…’  

The repeating of the letter M and W with the sound of ‘I’ is quite frequent. Assonance and alliteration are very cleverly constructed to make a repeated textured pattern, so when these words are spoken, they roll off of the tip of your tongue portraying a cold, silent, lonely noise.  This giving the effect that no one is around, just the thief.

Although the poem does not positively rhyme, it does come near to rhyming when Mute and Mate are noticed.  Thus giving a solitary feeling towards the reader.

More internal rhyming is in line four of the first stanza.  “Slice” and “ice” again give a cold feeling towards the reader.

 The thief begins with the head.

Ton…Torso…Chest and Chill are just four words which are beautifully patterned throughout the second Stanza.  The poet again chooses to use alliteration and assonance throughout this stanza.

        This is where the snowman is being decapitated and the effect of evil is portrayed both from the thief and the snowman.  At the opening of the second stanza the thief talks about giving in, as it seems ridiculous.  However he will not prove himself wrong as that seems more stupid than giving in although he wants to.

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        The thrill that the thief seems to get out of it is wickedness, that children will cry in the morning.  The alliteration used here is a ‘T’ sound.  Not as much alliteration and assonance as the first stanza, but the effect is the same.

In this third stanza the thief confesses that he often steals things that he simply does not need.  For instance he joy-rides cars and leaves them anywhere.  He breaks into houses to basically devastate people but not to deliberately take anything.  The exceptional camera is stolen, but not because he feels he needs one, ...

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