In this piece of writing I will be looking at "Life Doesn't Frighten Me" by Maya Angelou and "Light Shining Out of Darkness" by William Cowper. Both poems are examples, showing attitudes towards facing difficulties.

The way in which a child would deal with these fears is illustrated just as much as the fears themselves. Twice every stanza the same line of "life doesn't frighten me" is repeated. With this you are able to picture a child saying the fears and then saying "but that doesn't frighten me ". This image is particularly vivid in the last stanza when having told of her fears the fact that isn't frightened is repeated four times. The child is dealing with her fears through words by reassuring herself that it isn't frightening. Although this is the main way Angelou is dealing with her fears she does suggest other ways too, such as convincing herself that they are only dreams or that she can defend herself using "a magic charm". Angelou is in a way trivialising some of the fears that are make believe by giving them make believe solutions.

The techniques used to show the difficulties in this poem are quite necessary to bring across that they are from a child. First of all the pure layout shows the childishness of it. There is no particular structure, instead just a list of fears only interrupted for reassurance. However she still manages to use a rhyme and rhythm scheme which is also very simplistic. For instance the rhyme scheme consists mainly of groups of two words with similar sounds and no variation. Meanwhile the diction contained within the list of fears is also extremely simplistic and childish. They are typical words of a young person and are very simply strung together. In particular words like "boo" and "shoo" in lines thirteen and fourteen, together with adjectives such as "big" and "bad" are very childish. Just as there are no complicated words and there are no complicated uses of language such as metaphors or similes. Although this could be through lack of knowledge, it could also be interpreted as an act of defiance against thinking up such language. With these various uses of language, diction and layout, a sense of desperately trying to convince the reader that the author really isn't afraid. However because of the way in which the fears and how she deals with it, the reader isn't convinced.

The second poem, "Light Shining Out Through Darkness" by William Cowper was written in the eighteenth century and refers to people's attitudes towards religion and God, which were a top topic of conversation at the time. Therefore the difficulties shown in the poem are about the concept of believing in God. Cowper describes the difficulties people have with believing in God and religion. One way of saying that God doesn't exist is that there is no proof that he is there. However the point of religion and God is that it is based on beliefs and not on fact. Cowper illustrates this by saying people are afraid to believe in God and what it might do.

As solutions for the difficulties on beliefs, Cowper suggests that people should worry less about it and let their beliefs happen instead of trivialising them with fact. Lines nine to twelve "Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;

the clouds ye so much dread

are big with mercy, and shall break

in blessings on tour head.

suggest that the religion they dread could bring mercy but that man is too concerned with fact to welcome the religion. The message put across is that man shouldn't judge God with your brain as God is above that. Upon opening themselves to "God's purposes will ripen fast", which again emphasises that all man has to do is accept God.

Cowper uses tone, diction and language to represent God and the people who are having difficulty believing in him. He uses two kinds of diction, one for man and one for God. God's diction comes across as powerful, profound, intangible, unique and omnipotent to make emphasise what he is like. Cowper refers to God being able to control waves and the sea and of having "unfathomable mines". On the other hand man's diction implies that we ask too much, are cynical, inferior and weak. An example of this is when Cowper says that man has "feeble sense". God seems perfect as a result of such uses of diction, Cowper does make the point that God does have two sides to him. This is in fact the whole idea of light shining through darkness. These two sides of him are in the form of contradictions, but the good always come through in the end which is the light. For example in lines fifteen and sixteen, "behind a frowning providence he hides a smiling face". A happy smile comes from the originally dark frown. Another example is in lines nineteen and twenty, "the bud may have a bitter taste but sweet will be the flower". Here the flower starts of bitter but the sweetness and beauty comes through in the end.

Both poems are trying to put across a view on how to face difficulties, but you can notice differences between them. One such difference is the mood of them. When reading "Life Doesn't Frighten Me", you get the feeling that the author is trying desperately hard to convince the reader that she isn't afraid. "Light Shining Out of Darkness" however has different mood as you feel as though it is only an opinion or a point of view and that he is not trying to sell his ideas to the reader. If Cowper had tried to sell or convince the reader of his beliefs of God, instead of presenting them, then it would feel intrusive. "Life Doesn't Frighten Me" doesn't feel intrusive even though it is trying to sell an idea and this is because it is written from the point of view of a child.

Having read both the poems you feel that you have been told two different things. "Life Doesn't Frighten Me" concerns childish fears and everyone can relate to them. Most can also relate with the problems to do with religious beliefs. I feel that they relate well to their intended purpose and the techniques of language, tone and diction emphasise these.