Larkin often seems to criticise society. In the light of this statement, what connections have you found between the ways in which Larkin and Abse write about the society in which they live? In your response include at least two of Larkins
'Larkin often seems to criticise society'. In the light of this statement, what connections have you found between the ways in which Larkin and Abse write about the society in which they live? In your response include at least two of Larkin's poems. Larkin criticises society in many of his poems and also does it from a superior place in an attempt to distance him from the society which he criticises and this can be seen in Nothing To Be Said. On the other hand, Abse writes about society and community whilst he participates in it and is a part of it. Larkin tries to stunt and remove the parts of society he criticises whilst it is clear Abse attempts to preserve many of the positives in society, for example in The Story of Lazarus, a story that surrounds the optimistic tale of someone surviving something so horrific. Abse is also very proud of the society from which he grew for example he is proud of being Welsh. Larkin labels and stereotypes the working class with a superior view in Nothing To Be Said, for example in the first stanza he describes the working class as 'small-statured cross-faced tribes', giving the impression that he views the working class as poorly developed, and a sense of savagery and it is possible to assume that Larkin viewed them as not very intelligent also. In addition to this, the use of the word 'tribes' is particularly powerful and evokes this
Warning by Jenny Joseph and On Ageing by Maya Angelou
Warning by Jenny Joseph and On Ageing by Maya Angelou Warning by jenny joseph is a humorous way of looking towards old age. It is written as a monologue within which the poet describes how she will behave when she is an old woman. In The first stanza she talks about herself and lists all the things she will do when she is old. She says she will wear the colours purple and red which are significant in the fact that they are bright garish colours. The two colours clash with each other and would not be put together by someone who cares about keeping up their appearance. One of the main themes to this poem is the idea of rebelling against the way society expects you to behave and the idea of not conforming therefore she decides to deliberately make a statement with her appearance by wearing clashing colours to show rebellion against the idea of everyone looking the same- everyone conforming. This idea of rebellion is further emphasised when she says "I shall spend my pension on brandy... and say we've no money for butter". She has decided that she is going to be deliberately difficult and irresponsible. She is desperate to rebel against the norms of responsible adulthood and change the way she has always been " escape from the sobriety of my youth" . The acts she chooses are harmless and humorous and she will be likely to get away with them as people will think she is
Compare the two "Wuthering Heights" poems by Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes.
> Compare the two "Wuthering Heights" poems by Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. Poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Huges both wrote poems by the name 'wuthering heights'. Based on the book by Emily Bronte, Both poems are highly descriptive and try to capture the essence of the landscape about which they were written, both with very different effect. Ted Hughes Describes a vibrant landscape. He paints a picture of a wild but beautiful place leading to a very positive tone in his poem. Huges poem has an almost aspirational quality. He talks of Emily Bronte as if he, or his character, wishes to be just like her. This gives the poem a far more positive tone than that of Sylvia Plath. Plath creates a deeply depressing, almost disturbing tone through her use of description. This results in a far more negative feel about the poem. This negativity seems to reflect both the wildness of the landscape and also her feelings. Huges uses his poem to tell a story that puts the reader in the position of the character in the poem. This leads to the reader feeling like a part of the poem, therefore creating a personal interest in the surroundings, which are described to them. The poem seems to be about more than just the landscape. It is about beginning to understand the book by Emily Bronte and in doing so understand the moor itself. Plath on the other hand uses her poem as a metaphor for her
Thomas Hardy's philosophy
What is Hardy's philosophy and how does he choose to present it? Hardy has various philosophical views. He uses different themes to show his philosophical views and he presents them through his love for Emma, time and place, nature, war, religion and the industrial revolution. Hardy's philosophical poems include the Oxen, Shut Out That Moon, Afterwards, During Wind and Rain, the Darkling Thrush and He Resolves to Say No More. Hardy chooses to present his views on philosophy through several means such as language and structure. The Oxen shows the way in which Hardy moves from past to present and by doing this it shows Hardy's change in philosophy from the past to present through his childhood. Hardy blames his loneliness as a result of Emma's death. His love for Emma was Hardy's last memory and he has been clinging on to this ever since she has died. The poem shows Hardy's loneliness throughout his childhood into his later years. It shows Hardy's philosophy on life as being a separate individual who keeps themselves to themselves. The rhyme scheme of ABAB shows the continuity of his loneliness and this could have affected his mental mind sight later in life, as the loneliness could have driven him to becoming slightly paranoid. The indents show hesitation which is shown throughout Hardy's childhood. The result of the movement through the poem, showing Hardy's journey, is due
What characterises the early poetry of World War 1?
What characterises the early poetry of World War 1? In this essay, I am going to explore the similarities and differences between different WW1 poetry. I will be looking into the points that the poems show and comparing them with each other. Different poems are written for different reasons and they are written to show different things. In terms of the realities of war, 'In Flanders Fields' is the only poem that truly shows this. This is because John McCrae wanted to show the realities of war because his friend had died during the war, this meant that McCrae was determined to show the realities of war and not let people think that it was 'easy' or 'fun' as people said it was. "We are the dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow" (In Flanders Fields) This shows that war isn't all that good. It explains quite bluntly that they are dead, this is to show the harsh realities of war. It represents that they no longer have lives because they are soldiers and so do nothing else but fight. It explains this by using past tense, which shows that it no longer exists. The poem 'In Flanders Fields' also shows mans inhumanity to man. This is also because McCrae is trying to show what war was really like and show the insensitive realities of war. "Take up our quarrel with the foe" (In Flanders Fields) This shows that people in war did show inhumanity to the
How could Mrs Faust represent how moral values are changing in modern society?
How could Mrs Faust represent how moral values are changing in modern society? Mrs Faust is a poem that is based on the German legend that talks of a man who sold his soul to the devil for worldly pleasures. From Mrs Faust's perspective, she had the ideal lifestyle that everyone wants but she wasn't satisfied and began to crave something more than just physical wealth. "I grew to love the lifestyle, not the life." This could suggest that she may have expected that having such a rich, and luxury lifestyle comes with being happy but after she's got all the wealth, she realises that actually there's more to life that just money and material things. She begins to separate her lifestyle from her life and sees where she was previously ignorant about what she really wants. At the beginning of the poem, she talks about being in love with Faust and marrying him when they were students. Duffy uses "we" frequently to show the partnership that Mrs Faust had with her husband and the likeness between them, as well as the happiness that they felt. However, as the poem progresses, the reader learns that the couple wanted wealth and the use of "we" by Duffy turns into the use of "I" and "he" showing that as they got richer and their lifestyle became more and more wealthier, Mrs Faust felt her marriage begin to decay and feels the gap between them widen. This shows that in the beginning she
the problem with the worlds wife is that having found one joke duffy retells it throughout the anthology
"The problem with The Worlds Wife is that, having found one good joke, duffy just tells it over and over again" How far do you agree with this assessment? Refer to at least two or three poems in your answer. Within The Worlds Wife Duffy explores the idea that men are inadequate. Although the book of poems does unveil feminist issues and coveys an inequality between men and women, it does also contain other issues such as social acceptance, self-confidence and love. Duffy places an interesting slant on a number of these poems that serves to establish the idea that feminism can be ironic. Poems such as Anne Hathaway directly oppose the idea that Duffy is re-telling a 'joke' throughout the anthology. The poem creates a persona of Shakespeare widow and the best bed becomes the focus of the fourteen-line sonnet. In the opening two lines, Duffy uses a metaphor to express the magic of the bed in which Shakespeare made love to Hathaway "it is a spinning world of forests, castles, torchlight, cliff tops seas". By using these metaphors, she embraces his talent and, when describing the notion that Shakespeare would 'dive for pearls' suggests he is somewhat a sexual athlete and far from inadequate. From line five to ten Duffy uses imagery in a fascinating way that relates directly to the fact Shakespeare was a writer. Anne sees her body as a "softer rhyme to his.... now assonance"
Presentation of Hopelessness of War in Futility and other Owen poems.
"Consider the ways in which the sadness and hopelessness of war is presented here. How does Owen convey this in different ways in other poems in the selection?" Futility is a two stanza poem possessing many of the characteristics of an elegy - it is both mournful and plaintive, expressing feeling of regret, as well as a deep consideration for the past. The poem describes the first morning after the death of a soldier. The poet laments the man, whom he clearly knew personally - giving details of his life in the first stanza: "At home, whispering of fields unsown". The second stanza is filled with grief; it shows the poet's potent anger over the death of his friend, as well as the regression into naïveté it causes within him. He becomes child like and in denial, failing to see why the soldier - "Full-nerved, - still warm" cannot be awoken by the sun. Finally, Owen seems to collapse into a state of disbelief, questioning the necessity of life itself. "- O what made fatuous sunbeams toil / To break earth's sleep at all?" Owen's aim in this poem is to convey the futility of the young soldier's death - the fact that he has seemingly died for nothing. The semantic field of cultivation and farming hints at the idea that before going to war, the man was a farmer or farm hand: "fields unsown", "wakes the seeds" and "clays". This impression of a previous vocation provides a strong
Duffy- Feminist Propaganda?
It has been said that 'The World's Wife' is simply feminist propaganda. Discuss weather you agree with this view or not. You should refer to 2-3 poems or range through the collection. Propaganda is a message purposefully written to influence opinions, causing the viewer to agree with the message writer's point of view. These are often written in a misleading manner with equivocations. However in 'The World's Wife' many of the poems see women in a negative point of view and many of the women described in the poems are described as happy at the thought of children and child-birth. There is a lack of continuity in the themes of the poems, some are about lesbianism, some are about not conforming to society, but others are about accepting family life and other themes of conformity. There are a few decisively feminist poems, for example 'Queen Herod'. This poem is a different view of the bible story in which Herod sentences to death every male infant in his kingdom to kill the son of God. However instead of 3 kings to celebrate the birth of Jesus, 3 queens visit Herod to see their new baby daughter. They warn Queen Herod of a boy who will take her daughter away from her, thus Queen Herod orders the death of every male infant of the kingdom to, in her view, save her daughter from heartbreak. This poem has powerful overtones of homosexuality- predominantly lesbianism, although
ComparativeCommentry of Two Passages
COMPARATIVE COMMENTRY OF TWO PASSAGES Winter is the season which is very cold and calm, is the season when we usually have snowfalls all around the city and this is what both of the passages are all about. The first passage is adapted from an article written by Duan Jones in 'The Observer' on 21st January, 1996 and what Mr.Jones is trying to tell us is about the exaggeration made by the TV journalist and people's thoughts about the snowfall in the city of New York. Where as the second passage is written by Pual Theroux in year 1979 in the magazine called 'London snow' which is all about people loving, enjoying and praising the environment of snowfall in London. Though it is similar for the two passages that both of them are something about the snowfalls, there are still so many comparisons between them. Like in the first passage the writer is talking about the snowfall in the city of New York whereas the second passage is all about the snowfall in London. What Mr. Jones has written in his passage is about the repeating exaggeration made by the TV journalist, which makes the passage very boring, just as it is written there in the passage that ''Almost every New York news show was either doubled in length...flakes upon flakes...corner of the city...wasn't covered by snow-speckled...weather.'' from (line 6-8) meaning that though there was a heavy snowfall that people started
