The title ‘Clever Tom Clinch’ is ironic because the word ‘Clever’ is used to describe Tom Clinch. In reality I believe that Tom Clinch is attempting to be clever whereas if he were intelligent he would have never been caught in the first place. ‘His waistcoat and stockings and breeches were white’ this could have shown that he was witty because his garments were white which associates with an angel. He considered that he could have swindled them into believing that he was innocent.
Jonathan Swift wrote the poem Clever Tom Clinch using swift and dexterous movements. He had also used rhyming couplets throughout the poem. My opinion for why the poet decided to do this is because when the reader is reading, he is reading in a continuous rhythm and flow. This helps the reader to carry on reading. Clever Tom Clinch has been written in the form of a ballad, which means that there is a narrator, which is telling you what is happening throughout the poem. For instance, ‘As Clever Tom Clinch, while the rabble was, rode stately through Holborn, to die in his calling’. The poet is telling us that Tom Clinch was going through Holborn, and that the crowd were disorderly. A narrator helps the reader, again concentrate and carry on reading. A London Fete has been written in a dejected and deprived manner. This helps the reader to feel grief for the condemned man as well as makes you hate the crowd for instance, ‘they brought the man out to be hanged. Then came from all the people there a single cry that shook the air; Mothers held up their babes to see, who spread their hand and crowed with glee’. As with Clever Tom Clinch, A London Fete is also written rhyming couplets but the scheme breaks at lines 23-26. In my opinion there are two reasons why the poet has chosen to do this, firstly this catches the reader’s attention second that the writer makes it seem like a story. IT is also a form of ballad because there is a narrator telling the reader what is happening for instance, ‘All night fell hammers, shock on shock; with echoes Newgate’s granite clanged’. The narrator is describing the atmosphere.
Another difference that sets A London Fete opposite from Clever Tom Clinch is the description of the condemned man. Jonathan Swift decided to concentrate on the man rather than the surrounding and atmosphere. The poet wrote, ‘His waist coat and stockings and breeches were white, his cap had a new cherry ribbon to tie’t'. Tom Clinch was wearing a white outfit as he might have been giving people the idea that he was sinless. When people think of the colour white, they think of something good, whereas if they were to think of black they would believe that there was something bad. I remember this as the white dove and the evil black crow, which destroys crops. He wore a red coloured ribbon on his cap, which symbolises blood and death. The poet made him wear this to show that he was going to die.
Tom Clinch does many things throughout the poem to show that the word clever from the title adapts to him. Firstly the poet wrote, ‘He stopped at the George for a bottle of sack, and promised to pay for it when he’d come back’. Tom was going to be hung so he swindled the bartender into lending it to him. This showed that he was smart and that he knew how to fool people. The poet also writes, ‘But, as from the windows the ladies spied, like a beau in a box, he bowed low to each side’. Tom was trying to be a bragger. It shows that tom didn’t care about what was going to happen to him for instance, ‘the hangman fell down on his knees, Tom gave him a kick in the guts for his fee’. So really he did not care about anyone else either. In my opinion Tom was honest but about the wrong things for instance, ‘My honest friend Wild, may he long hold his place. He lengthened my life with a whole year of grace’. This tells the reader that he does tell the truth but he gets other people in trouble in trouble because he told the people that Wild was leading him. So this was the character of Tom Clinch.
On the other hand Coventry Patmore concentrated on the crowds reaction towards the hanging. I believe that because he was a religious person he got devastated about the crowds behaviour and decided to write about them. I can tell this because the poet has used quite a few lines to describe the crowd as devils, for instance, ‘As when the realm of the damned rejoices at winning a soul to its will’. This means that the land of the wrong doers celebrates the arrival of a new soul. The wrong doers are the crowd and they celebrate the arrival of the condemned mans soul. Another line that backs this up is, ‘Thousands of eyeballs lit with hell’. Here he mentions the word hell. He is describing the crowd’s eyes that they are red like the fire. The poet again uses colour symbolism in his poem, ‘at last the shows black crisis pended’. He uses the colour black which again just like Clever Tom Clinch it symbolises something bad.
This had many effects on the crowd’s behaviour. The hanging influenced all men, women and children. ‘A baby strung its doll to a stick; a mother praised the pretty trick’. A mother has influenced the baby by admiring the trick. In my opinion if nowadays such things did happen the kid would get punished. Two children caught and hung a cat after the hanging had taken place because they were adapted to that way of living.
Although both poets had written about hangings they both had different messages to convey to the reader. Coventry Patmore basically conveyed that ‘violence would always lead to more violence’. Whereas Jonathan Swift conveyed that ‘no matter where you are be true to yourself’.
Overall I think that A London Fete is better because it is much more of a serious poem with serious thoughts. I think it has a kind of story line, which made me carry on reading.