“When that drew out the boundless deep- turns again home”
Here he is demonstrating God’s power by showing that he created him and enriched him from nothing. Here Tennyson is making analogy’s with the sea, Tennyson is also showing modesty in this poem by using the phrase “boundless deep” (referring to himself). The fact that Tennyson uses the word home shows his positive feelings towards death, the word home also shows Tennyson’s confidence because he had lived his life according to religious principles therefore he believes death is not something to fear. Tennyson’s religious attitude is also mirrored by the use of the word “home”, by the use of the word home Tennyson is undermining the value of this world by referring to the afterlife as home so this word is also an extended metaphor. The use of extended metaphors in this case is so that the audience interprets the word in different ways.
The use of metaphors can be further explained by the quote:
“When I meet my pilot face to face”
The word pilot is someone who controls a particular object. In this quote the word “pilot” is referring to God as he is controlling the different events happening in life. This also shows us to what extent religion impacted Tennyson’s life. As we know one of the main beliefs of religion is fate and that is clearly shown by Tennyson as Tennyson acknowledges that god is controlling the events in his life. He also demonstrates his religious attitude as he says death is a time for reunion with god. Repetition of the word “face” demonstrates his bravery and also shows certainty as he reckons his death will be good.
The poet also uses indefinite terms in the poem such as:
'And may there be no moaning of the bar, / when I put out to sea'
'And may there be no sadness of farewell, / when I embark'
“I hope to meet my pilot face to face”
This reinforces the idea that these poems although it is certain at times, there are also times of uncertainty, this leads back to Tennyson’s belief in fate, this also shows us that Tennyson is steadfast on religion as he acknowledges fate plays a huge role in his life. Due to his uncertainty Tennyson cleverly adds these phrases at the end of the stanza to show his audience what he wishes for and also to encourage them to wish for the same.
The poet adds different punctuation to slow the pace of the poem. The use of exclamation marks shows the significance of the phrase and to give an effect on the audience. This could also have been added to give the audience a slight experience as to what death would be like. As we can see Tennyson has added the exclamation marks when he is giving advice so this would help to leave an impact on the reader by getting the message across. This can be further understood by the use of commas, the commas are used in the middle of the stanza so that the reader can take in the message from the poet. The commas are also used to slower the pace of the poem and could have been used to show death as a lengthy event in one’s life. This statement can be backed up through the use of time, as we know Tennyson has set the events in the poem by the order of time.
The poet includes mood and tone by his choice of words. The poem contains some emotive language such as:
'And may there be no moaning of the bar, / when I put out to sea'
'And may there be no sadness of farewell, / when I embark'
This may have been used so the audience sympathise with the poet. This also shows us that people in Victorian times regarded death as a sad event. Overall I can see the fact that Tennyson believes death is a cause for celebration rather than a time to mourn. This could be because of the environment the poet lived in as in Victorian times many infants died so death would have been a day to day aspect.
I am now going to analyse Roger Mcgough’s poem “Let me die a young man’s death” In this poem Roger Mcgough shows and demonstrates his liberal attitude towards death. This may be because the period and society Roger Mcgough lives in as religion was at its downfall due to the rise of the hippies who believed in sex, drugs and music. Another reason Roger Mcgough deems religion not to be so important was because of his environment he worked in as we know he used to write songs for the Beatles who were the most famous pop group at the time. The poet also expresses his placid attitude to becoming old as he wants to maintain his dignity from his childhood. To achieve his primary aim Roger Mcgough uses various ages to mirror his mixed feelings towards different aspects he has to face towards the end of life.
Roger Mcgough expresses his wish in the title:
“Let me die a young man’s death”
Here the poet is directing a plea to someone, although he is directing a plea, the poet does not say who he is directing the plea to. This is because Roger Mcgough wants his audience to understand his uncertainty as he discourages the existence of god in the poem. However we cannot say that he is atheist as he doesn’t argue the existence of god however to say he is agnostic would be reasonable as he seems unwilling to acknowledge god’s existence, the poet still deems there is someone or something supreme that is willing to listen to his plea and grant him his wish. Another purpose for the title being set out in the form of a plea is to grab the audience’s attention and also lead many of them to follow the poet’s concept of God’s existence. Roger Mcgough repeats his wish in order to make the audience realise the purpose of the poem. The title can also be used to show the poet’s feelings by the use of the phrase “young man’s death”. The word young can be taken literally as Roger Mcgough does not want to die whilst he is young however he wants to die a death which is energetic similar to a personality of a youngster. Here Roger Mcgough is making use of extended metaphors as the word young can be interpreted differently. The title is used in the first stanza and is also repeated in the last stanza to emphasise the poet’s wish of wanting to die a dramatic and energetic death.
The one article both poets make use of is extended metaphors. The purpose of extended metaphors is to communicate with the audience and so that different people understand different words in different ways. Both poets show there attitude towards death from the title. In the first poem Tennyson uses metaphors to represent death whilst Roger Mcgough starts his poem with a plea; this is because Tennyson’s sees death as an important event whilst Roger Mcgough deems death to be unimportant as we can see through his straight-forward attitude which is demonstrated in the title. This can be further understood by the choice of words the poet uses as the title to Tennyson’s poem is more powerful and more engaging as compared to the title of Mcgough’s poem. From the title’s in both poems we can see that both poets accept death as an inevitability and the only way they differ is because of there culture and environment.
The poet also shows the reader what a typical Christian funeral would be like by the last lines in the first stanza, here Roger Mcgough mentions:
“Not a clean and in between “Not a free from sin tiptoe in
the sheets holy water death candle wax and waning death
not a famous-last-words not a curtains drawn by angels borne”
peaceful out of breath death”
Here Roger Mcgough expresses a religious death as a very lengthy process; the poet does this by listing all the events that would normally happen when a person is leaving this world. Roger Mcgough gives this stanza a continuous flow to show how many different things occur before a Christian dies. This is to engage with the audience and lead many of them to support his idea of what death should be like. Unlike the first poem (where religion is at the helm of the poet’s life) Roger Mcgough does not want religion involved in his death re-enforcing the idea that he could be agnostic. The author is being very honest with himself because he didn’t live his life according to religious principles hence he sees no valid reason as to why he should turn to religion towards the end of his life. Roger Mcgough uses repetition in his poem by constantly repeating the word “death”. This demonstrates the bravery of Roger Mcgough as he considers death as an unimportant event in his life. The phrase “angels borne” which was an old phrase used by olden day poets, here Roger Mcgough is mocking religious values. Both poets express the way in which they wish to die although both poets differ as whether or not they would like religion involved when they die, he could also be mocking the first poem as we know the first poem expresses an extremely religious attitude.
The poet also uses various ages in which he wishes the events he has outlined to take place:
“When I'm 73”
"Or when I'm 91”
“Or when I'm 104”
The poet shows the passing of time by using these various ages. By using unusual ages such as seventy-three ninety one and one hundred and four he is showing the audience that he wishes to live life to the maximum (long as possible). These ages also demonstrate the passing of time which is a similarity as the first poet also makes use of time by basing his poem in the form of a day. The poet also uses words such as “or” to reinforce that these events are a possibility and once your dead there is no way back. This is also shown in the first poem as Tennyson uses the bar as a barrier from life and death. The poet also makes cross- references with old age and youth as in each of the old ages he gives an example of a dramatic death. This reinforces the idea that the poet does not want to die whilst he is young but he wants to maintain his dignity which he had whilst he was young.
Roger Mcgough also makes cross-references with his life-style and death by stating:
“Constant good tumour”
“Give me a short back and insides”
Here Roger Mcgough uses puns in order to increase the interaction between him and the audience. In the first poem the poet makes use of extended metaphors. The similarity is that both poets use a range of ways in order to interact with the audience. Here the poet portrays his extravagant and wild life-style as he wants to be gossiped and re-known for the way he died. This may be another difference as Tennyson does not want to be remembered after he dies whilst Roger Mcgough does. The way in which the poets differ is the method they use in order to accomplish this.
Roger Mcgough also uses his extravagant and wild lifestyle to show the way in which he wants to die, he does this consecutively in the second, third and fourth stanza :
“May I be mown down at dawn
by a bright red sports car
on my way home
from an all-night party”
“May rival gangsters
with hamfisted tommyguns burst in
and give me a short back and insides”
“May my mistress
catching me in bed with her daughter
and fearing for her son
cut me up into little pieces
and throw away every piece but one”
Here Roger Mcgough expresses the fact that he wants to be remembered by the way in which he died. This may be a difference between the two poems as Tennyson does not wish to be remembered by the way in which he died. The poet imagines having an affair with the daughter of his mistress. He also dreams about being a victim of a gang attack. He wants to live and die fiercely, not fade away like the first poet. Roger Mcgough uses words such as “may” to show the events as a possibility rather than using definite terms which will judge the events to be certain. This may be a similarity between the two poems as they both accept faith as something which is beyond human control. Roger Mcgough also shows that he would like die in a dramatic way, he shows the audience this by using specific words such as: “mown”,”burst”,”cut”. The poet also uses adjectives such as the word “red” as this word symbolises danger which also shows Roger Mcgough’s wish to die a dramatic death, this world also demonstrates Roger Mcgough’s extremely wild life-style. The pace of the poem also reinforces the fact that the poet wants to die a dramatic and gruesome death. This is a difference in the two poems as in the first poem the use of commas shows that Tennyson wants to die a death which is similar to that of a long journey. The poet also uses alliteration:
“May my mistress”
Roger Mcgough uses alliteration to give the poem more rhythm and more free-flowing in order gain a stronger bond between him and the audience.
The poem has five stanzas but the number of lines differs from stanza to stanza. This is where both poems differ as the first one uses the same number of lines in each stanza. This is because Roger Mcgough has an irregular attitude over death and he wants the audience to see this from the way in which he has structured his poem. The poet does not use a set rhyme scheme but a more mixed up one. This is another place where both poets differ as the first poem has a fixed rhyme scheme. This is because Roger Mcgough wants to show his audience his irregular attitude to death. This also mirrors the poets wish as he wants to die an unplanned, dramatic death. Roger Mcgough makes use of adjectives but the way in which he structures this into sentences can be difficult to understand. Roger Mcgough lists words and phrases as a string of adjectives and places them before the word death twice; this is shown in the final stanza as he uses a list of descriptive words and phrases before the word ‘death’. An example is ‘a free from sin tiptoe’ etc. Here he is being scornful to the old traditional funeral of a Christian. The poet does not use any punctuation but uses a special feature called enjambment. The enjambment adds a quick pace to the poem which also signifies Roger Mcgough’s “wild” attitude. The first poet uses punctuations to show that he wants to die a death similar to a journey so this again is another place where the poets fluctuate.
Both poets make comparisons between life and death however the way in which they do this is different. In the first poem, Tennyson uses the bar to make comparisons to compare life and death whilst Roger Mcgough uses the different ages to make comparisons between life and death. The poem contrasts the energetic youth with the calm and peaceful atmosphere of old age. The poet also makes use of hyperboles, as he exaggerates on the wild death he wants for comical reasons and also to show his negative attitude to death. . An example of this is:
“Cut me up into little pieces and throw away every piece but one”.
The poet uses a happy and cheerful tone in order to win over his audience. This is a difference between the poems as Roger Mcgough expresses the way in which he wants to live his life as he wants to live a free “happy” life as opposed to a “sad” systematic life.
Overall I believe the poets use the same techniques in order to demonstrate their attitudes; however the style of language is based on the poet’s culture and society. Roger Mcgough’s poem is more free-flowing which mirrors his “liberal” society. Tennyson uses metaphors to describe events in his poem as he deemed death to be major importance to him as well as his society. The poets use the same techniques but are opposed to each other when describing their attitudes. Roger Mcgough also uses techniques which help us to understand his “liberal” society. From the mood and tone I can see the mood and tone in Roger Mcgough’s poem is more happy and joyful which reflects on his wish to live a happy and cheerful life whist the mood and tone in Tennyson’s poem is more serious which shows he lived his life according to religious principles. I would prefer Tennyson’s poem rather than Roger Mcgough’s as his poem is more engaging with the audience. He teaches his audience about his society and culture and also gives out a strong clear cut message- death is another big journey.
