With reference to two or three of the poems, compare the different ways in which the idea of change is presented

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With reference to two or three of the poems, compare the different ways in which the idea of change is presented

In the first stanza of the poem “Miracle on St David's Day” Gillian Clarke describes the country house in what seems to be an idyllic setting. “The sun treads the path among cedars and enormous oaks. It might be a country house, guests strolling...” Despite the conversational tone suggesting normality, her use of the word might alerts the reader. The illusion of normality is soon swept away by the opening line of the second stanza, “I am reading poetry to the insane.”  The finality of the end-stopped line and the blunt tone shocks the reader. The contrast between the descriptive lines of the opening stanza and the flat tone of this line introduce the reader to the contrast between the setting and the guests. Here the reader is presented with the first idea of change in the poem. The use of contrast is one way in which the idea of change is presented.

        “Miracle on St David's Day” is a poem about a group of handicapped people who live in a home. The poem describes the events which occur while the people are being read to. One woman is sitting “not listening, not seeing, not feeling…the woman is absent”. Another person, “a big, mild man” who had “never spoken” is also described. These two people portray the idea of being absent and passive from the world.

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        The idea of being passive and absent from the world is also seen in Seamus Heaney’s poem “Digging”. In the second stanza it describes Seamus watching his father digging with expertise, “I look down”. In both the poems the people are absent and passive, watching from a distance and trying to fully absorb what they are seeing or hearing.

        While the man is being read to in “Miracle on St David's Day” “he rocks gently to the rhythms of the poems”.  By the man rocking to rhythm it is as though he were in a trance, the words making ...

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