Compare the ways Tony Harrison and Elizabetyh Jennings write about their parents in their poems, 'Background Material' and 'On

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Compare the ways Tony Harrison and Elizabeth Jennings write about their parents in their poems, ‘Background Material’ and ‘One Flesh’

The poems ‘Background Material’ and ‘One Flesh’ were written by Tony Harrison and Elizabeth Jennings, respectively. In the poems, the poets both describe the relationship between their parents, however they address them differently. Tony Harrison is very subtle in describing his parents’ relationship, and ‘Background Material’ is ostensibly about photographs of his parents. It is only when one realizes that there is a deeper meaning that it becomes clear that he is relating his parents to one another. In contrast, in ‘One Flesh’, Elizabeth Jennings portrays her parents’ relationship intimately: by describing them going to bed so vividly that one almost feels that one is in the room, spying on them.

In ‘Background Material’, Harrison describes two photographs that he has on his desk - one of his mother and the other of his father. The photographs share the same photo frame, and this links his parents together. Harrison describes the photographs, explaining that his father’s was taken “in our favourite pub” whereas his mother’s photograph was taken in his garden. The different locations suggest that his parents had different interests and may not have had a very close relationship. Harrison does not directly mention this, although he does make allusions, describing the photographs as “Neither one a couple and both bad”. His parents were however connected through him, their child. “Though one of them’s in colour and one’s not, / the two are joined, apart from their shared frame”. Harrison goes on to say that this bond is displayed in the photographs, as they both have a technical mistake which “for photographers, would mar each shot”. The blemishes in the photographs were caused by him – in his father’s photograph there is a minute image of Harrison and in his mother’s there is a shadow, which he had cast.  The fact that he refers to the photographs as ‘bad’ and that the source of blemishes in them is himself  may indicate that Harrison’s birth, in fact, was unplanned – he was ‘a mistake’ – and this also links his parents together. Alternatively, this may just mean that his parents are united through him. Whilst Harrison’s parents were connected through his birth, they are also separated by death, as his “father and his background are both gone”.  

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Similarly to ‘Background material’, in ‘One Flesh’ Jennings herself appears to be one of the key things that connects her parents together.  Jennings’ poem describes her parents in a more personal, intimate way than in ‘Background Material’. It describes how the passion of their relationship – which produced their child – has ‘grown cold’. Jennings outlines her parents’ bedroom and how they lie in bed together “strangely apart and strangely close together”. They are uneasy in their relationship because “they hardly ever touch” and yet they are not comfortable any other way either as the intimate side of their ...

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