Chinua Achebe is a proud Nigerian who observed the civil war in his country and the horrific suffering of the innocent refugees. Refugee Mother and Child vividly portrays the terrors and pain the refugees have gone through, along with the unwavering love the mother gives to the child. The enjambment used in this poem allows us to see strong imagery in a photojournalistic way. The quote “with odours of diarrhoea of unwashed children/ with washed out ribs and dried up /bottoms” communicates how this is an on going problem with refugee children by the use of enjambment. The long sentences like the above, increases the intensity of the images and vividly expresses the suffering of the refugees. The quote “her eyes the ghost of a mother’s pride” is another strong image, which communicates to the reader that the mother is hanging onto the life of the child, whilst her son slowly dies. Though this is the case the mother is still holding on to his dear life, and is not giving up though a part of her is slowly dying because of her child. The unwavering love for the child is again seen. The alliteration in “behind blown empty bellies” makes plosive sound which reflects back to the sound of harshness. The word “bloated” also makes people think of malnutrition, emphasising the tragic horrors children and refugees went through. Refugee Mother and Child in my opinion is truly a great poem because it shows the undying spirit and determination of the mother in the face of tragedy. The photojournalistic images are real enough that I could really sympathize the refugees.
Plena Timoris is set within the conservative morality of Victorian England where women had a subordinate and dependent position in a male patriarchal world. Hardy captures the dangers of extreme love, by the contrast of hope and despair, showing how quickly one can transform to the other eventually leading to death. Hardy uses different language techniques to evoke how he feels towards love, and the cynical view he has on it. In the first stanza the use of alliteration in “the lovers looked over” emphasises that harmony of love. The “l” sound is nice and soft allowing us to feel romance and happiness. But in the second stanza onwards there were a sudden transition and the change of tone was turned emotionless and insensitive. In the last stanza the use of alliteration in “dim dreads” and “slowly sees” instead of emphasizing love in a positive light, the sounds are harsh. This shows that insecurity is starting to appear and there is a problem present between the couple. This huge contrast of tone between the first stanza and the last one shows how love changes in Hardy’s point of view. In the third stanza, the juxtaposition in “and hope, till hopeless despair began” compares the hope and despair. We can see that Hardy is trying to stress the point of how quickly hopeful love would just shatter and lead to death. This point later is reassured when the sentence after it says “So much for love in this mortal sphere!” This phrase is very cynical and is not at all sensitive. Although this is not the last sentence of the poem, this phrase puts a stop to all thoughts of an everlasting love. I think this poem is a great one, because I find it interesting how Hardy compares something that is suppose to be positive (love) to something so negative, death.
The three chosen poems Remember, Refugee Mother and Child and Plena Timoris all relate to the subject death. Though this is the case, I feel that they all have different opinions towards this topic. In Hardy’s poem it is more of the fear for death and running away from it. This thought is a huge contrast with Rossetti’s poem, as Remember emphasises how death is the ultimate goal that a person should achieve. Death in Refugee Mother and Child is related in a more defiant way. Achebe portrays death in a more positive light, and even though the mother had unwavering love for her son, she accepted the reality that the child had to die. The sentence “had long since ceased to care but not this one” shows how the mother unlike others has dignity towards death and is in refusal to give her child up.
Personally I liked Refugee Mother and Child the most because after reading Achebe’s poem I felt and sympathised the mother and child, and I thought the poets point was put forward very clearly on love and how strong it can be. Though Hardy’s and Rossetti’s poem were not unforgettable pieces of work, I think Achebe’s is the better one because his comparisons stood out more than the ones Hardy had. Also the imagery he had and alliteration was stronger than Rossetti’s.
