Compare two poems showing how poets explore aspects of their identity
Kevin Halligan’s “Cockroach” is a sonnet about how he compares himself to a cockroach and about how his life has no direction. Halligan conveys identity through the use of personal pronouns and the awkward actions of the cockroach to show that his life has no direction. Edward Thomas’ “Rain” is a poem about himself and how he is depressed and lonely and welcomes death. Thomas conveys identity through personal pronouns and the reference to his family and friends. These poems have similarities and differences in rhyme, diction and tone.
Kevin Halligan conveys identity in “Cockroach” through diction. At the start the narrator who is Halligan watches a “giant cockroach”. Most people would be revolted by such a creature however Halligan views it as if it was important. Because Halligan views the cockroach as being ‘giant’ this portrays the cockroach as being more important than him which evokes a comical effect of the cockroach being big but also negative because Halligan has lower social status than a cockroach. Furthermore Halligan describes the cockroach’s movements as “circling”, “flipping” and “skirting”. These words have irregular stresses which portray the cockroach as moving awkwardly. The cockroach is not moving in a straight line and it conveys how his direction in life is all over the place. This links to Halligan as neither him nor the cockroach have direction in life. However the cockroach is a “victim of a mild attack” but only of “restlessness”. Halligan evokes a humorous tone through the fact that the cockroach was not actually being attacked. This conveys to the reader that Halligan doesn’t care about life because he is not being serious. Halligan conveys identity through the diction and how he “recognised himself” through the cockroach which showed awkwardness and no direction in life.
