Compare and contrast the presentation of dreams in ‘Island Man’ and ‘Blessing’
In ‘Island Man’ written by Nichols and ‘Blessing’ written by Dharker, dreams are portrayed, but in different situations. The poets explore the meaning of dreams and the happiness they can bring if made true. ‘Island Man’ and ‘Blessing’ similarly show that the people they are about are not happy with their normal lives. The want and need something new to happen. The island man is bored with his life, whereas the village of people rejoice when their dream comes true after the “silver crashes to the ground”.
Both poems use language in different ways to portray the effect of dreams. In ‘Island Man’ the colours that are used are to describe the different locations, for example, “blue surf” and “emerald island” show that the island is precious and idyllic, those colours are also relaxing and calm colours of the sea. In addition “grey metallic” gives the effect of dullness and a monotonous surrounding. In ‘Blessing’ there is not as much colour used as onomatopoeias, for instance “splash”, “rush”, “flow” and “crashes”. These words all have an association with water because that is the dream the villagers had, more water. Dharker has included a lot of religious language to the poem as well as if to say the water they were given was a gift from God, when in fact it was just a burst town pipe. The poet uses words such as “kindly god”, “congregation” and “blessing” to get his message across of the village being religious and thanking the gods they finally have water. Plosive illiteration is also included with describing the pots and pans put out to collect the water for the villagers. The dream in ‘Island Man’ however is quite different and he does not get the satisfaction of it ever happening to him. The poem tells us that he wants to be in the Caribbean under the warm sun and with the calming sea but in the end he just wakes up to “another London day”. In both poems there is enjambment and a bit of illiteration to show irregularity and to give the poems a flow.
