Unrelated Incidents And Half Caste Comparison

i) In 'Unrelated Incidents', Tom Leonard expresses his thoughts on how we our characterised by the way we speak. Compare one other poem that deals with similar ideas. John Agard, born in 1949 to parents of mixed nationality came to live in Britain in 1977. Agard's poem 'Half Caste' demonstrates the attitude of narrow minded people he must have met, who consider people of 'mixed race', to be inferior. Agard uses a bit of humour but the anger of the situation is always obvious. Tom Leonard, born In Glasgow, a British Citizen but describes him self as being thoroughly Scottish. Similar to Half Caste, Leonard's Poem is about attitude towards people with non standard accents and dialects and how we are discriminated because of the way we speak. Half Caste opens up with a short, sharp three line stanza in which Leonard sarcastically explains he is 'standing on one leg' because he is half caste; by this Leonard means that if people consider him to be half a person than he would only have one leg. From the second stanza on, the poet addresses the audience in a very direct way, 'explain yuself, wha yu mean'. It is almost as if Agard is assuming that the reader is one of those who look down on mixed race people and use the term 'half-caste'. On the other hand, Leonard's 'unrelated incidents' is about how people have prejudices for and against particular accents and dialects and he

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Compare the methods used to make a protest through poetry in two scavengers and one other poem.

Compare the methods used to make a protest through poetry in two scavengers and one other poem. Both 'Two Scavengers' and 'Nothing's Changed' are protesting against issues of discrimination between different classes of society and different races. In 'Two Scavengers' Ferlinghetti is protesting against the inequalities within a democracy, and how it's not democratic but more ruled by class. In 'Nothing's Changed' we are shown Africa when the apartheid law was still in place and a protest about the way black people are treated there. The imagery used by both poets highlights there protests against the unfairness of society. 'Two Scavengers' is set in San Francisco which is meant to be a democratic society however there is a 'small gulf in the high seas of this democracy.' The use of this metaphor emphasizes how society is still ruled by class. Ferlinghetti says the gulf is 'small' which indicates it should be easy to cross the over to a democratic society. However, paired with 'the high seas', it becomes hard to cross. It is dangerous to try and break out of the different classes and it is easier and almost safer to remain in the same kind of society. The use of the word 'democracy' is sarcastic, there shouldn't be a 'gulf' in a 'democracy', especially in a place like 'San Francisco' that should keep everyone equal. Similarly there is an invisible divide in apartheid Africa,

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Compare Two Robert Frost Poems, The Road Not Taken & Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

Compare Two Robert Frost Poems, Focusing On The Ideas That He Presents And How He Presents Them 'The Road Not Taken' and 'Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening' are two poems by the American poet Robert Frost. The poems were both written in the early 20th century and as a result contain many features, typical of a poem at that time. The poems concern an encounter with nature and similarly are both set in woods although one is an autumnal wood and the other, as the title of 'Stopping...On A Snowy Evening' suggests, is set in deepest winter. It is also known that one of these woods is set in England whereas the other is in America. Furthermore, the poems concern a journey or a travel of some sort. However the journey in 'The Road Not Taken' is undertaken on foot whilst the other is on horseback. Both poems are a first person narrative which suggests that it might be a personal experience of the writer, especially as they feature decisions that the narrator has to take. The ideas explored by Frost in the two poems contain many similarities and differences. As previously mentioned, both poems concern a journey. In 'The Road Not Taken' the narrator, possibly the poet himself, is faced with a fork in the path of a 'yellow' wood. He spends a while judging which path he should possibly take and there is the feeling that, whichever road he takes, it is for good and he can't turn back

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The poets of both half-Caste and Search for my Tongue put a strong emphasis on the importance of personal identity. They both use similar devices to portray their personal attitudes towards the topic.

How does Sujatta Bhatt show that identity is important in 'Search For My Tongue'? Compare the methods she uses with the methods used in one other poem. Brainstorm Half-Caste Language used from personal culture Language identifies him Pride Offense Personifies himself through weather, art, music Metaphors Talks about being and doing half of things Not Standard English Search for my tongue 3 sections English, Guajarati, English Isolation Imagery Metaphors Personifies herself through plants Tongue *keyword* meaning organ & language Uses I a lot and you - shows separation and distance rather than saying we, individuality Words - majority of which are no longer than 2-3 syllables The poets of both 'half-Caste' and 'Search for my Tongue' put a strong emphasis on the importance of personal identity. They both use similar devices to portray their personal attitudes towards the topic. The term 'Caste' means to be made, therefore 'Half-Caste' is a reacial term meaning half made. It is an offensive word used to descibe someone as being only half a person. John Agard opens the poem in standard English: "Excuse me standing on one leg". He chose to do this to show his diversity in culture. He later changes his language to portrayhis other culture. "Explain yuself wina yu mean". John Agard is showing his audience his pride in being from two separate cultures using

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Comparing Before You Were Mine and Mother, any distance

Comparing Before You Were Mine and Mother, any distance Before you were mine and Mother any distance both explore range of themes relating to a mother and child bond and their love and affection. This poem is written by Simon Armitage in which he talks about the relationship between him and his mother and the great affect she had on his life. "you come to help me measure windows, pelmets, doors...". This shows how his mother helped him a lot whenever he needed someone to help him through his life as a child. The quote also shows us that he's moving into a new house because I think you would usually need to carry out these measurements when moving in, but even after he will be moving into a new house and away from her security, she is still there for him, and always will be. This emphasizes that they have a strong and healthy relationship. He also talks about how he feels as he is moving further away from him mother as he is growing up, "...unreeling years between us." and he shows that he still feels attached to her even though he is moving away. Before you were mine was written by Carol Ann Duffy who writes about her mother before the poet was born after seeing a photo of her when she was a teenager. She is inspired to write the poem because she thinks her mother was happier then. She begins the poem by setting the scene and portraying her to be romantic and attractive,

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In both Hurricane Hits England and Search For My Tongue, the poems explore the theme of culture being important to person, both poems approach this theme in different ways.

Compare how a person's culture is shown to be important in "Hurricane Hits England" and in one other poem. In both "Hurricane Hits England" and "Search For My Tongue", the poems explore the theme of culture being important to person, both poems approach this theme in different ways. In "Hurricane Hits England", the poet uses the method of flashbacks to explore the theme, whereas "Search For My Tongue" approaches this theme by putting us in the author's shoes. In "Hurricane Hits England", the subject matter is based around the serious hurricane that hit Southern England 1987. This is a very rare life force that is unusual in this country, more frequently occurring in the Caribbean. This storm in England reminds Nichols about her culture and this life force has been able to "break the frozen lake" within her. This shows us, the reader her culture is important to her, by creating a fusion of human life and natural life forces; "Talk to me Huracan...Talk to me Shango". These "gods" that she is calling out to us the reader, makes us also think that she is trying to create a chant as if she sees the hurricane as both "Fearful and reassuring". Although she is happy that the hurricane has come for it has been able to help her discover her culture again, she is also reminded about what damage this 'life force' can do to a country, physically and emotionally. The poet is using this

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The theme of father and son relationships in Digging and Follower

Examine the theme of father and son relationships in Digging and Follower. In the two poems, Follower and Digging by Seamus Heaney there is an obvious, strong, father and son relationship between Seamus and his father. Seamus has written the poems in accordance to his childhood. In both poems, there are a sign of respect for each other. In Follower, Seamus praises his father a lot of his expertise: 'His shoulders globed like a full sail strung,' Seamus is describing his fathers well built shoulder muscles and how they globe out like a ships sail in the wind does. Seamus also respects the way that his fathers work is always perfect and nothing can go wrong: 'The sod rolled over without breaking.' Here, whilst at working in the farm, Seamus' father rolls over the mud in perfect piles without breaking. He also says, 'the polished sod,' which conveys an image of perfect shiny piles of mud all neatly mounded in a row. In Digging, Heaney says how his father and his grandfather were both expert farmers, but he could never follow in their footsteps, 'But I've no spade to follow men like them.' This shows how Heaney respects them both, he uses the word 'them' to point out the different generations. Heaney shows some guilt for not becoming a respectable farmer like them when he says, 'Through living roots awaken in my head.' He is showing his guilt because both the men above him were

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Compare the ways the poets use description in from Search for my Tongue and Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan by Moniza Alvi.

Compare the ways the poets use description in 'from Search for my Tongue' and one other poem. 'Search for my tongue' but Sojata Bhatt and 'Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan' by Moniza Alvi both use description in their poems. The language in 'Search for my tongue' by Sujata Bhatt is very negative in the first section of the poem. She uses a metaphor for her first language as a "tongue" which "would rot, rot and die in your mouth until you had to spit it out." The negative language of her tongue rotting is very emotional for the reader as they would not like their tongue to "rot and die" either. On the other hand, in the second section, after the Gujarati, she uses more positive language and personifies her first language to "grows strong veins" as well as "grows longer" and "grows moist". Bhatt shows it like a new birth of her "mother tongue" as "the bud opens in my mouth" and "blossoms out of my mouth". All these language is more positive and describes what happens to her tongue. Conversely, the language used in 'Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan' is more colourful to show how much Moniza Alvi admires the clothes in Pakistan. She describes her "salwar kameez" with a simile of "glistening like an orange split open" which shows that she admires the clothing; however the "candy-striped glass bangles snapped, drew blood" which shows that even though she admires the clothing,

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The Outlook of Death in three poems (Poetry Anthology comparison)

Death is life's only certainty. At the moment when each year - each day - begins to weigh heavy importance, we are forced to circumspect not only on the aspects of death, but also life, grief, and the after-life. This essay explores the outlook of death from three poems - Crabbit Old Woman by Phyllis McCormack, Refugee Mother and Child by Chinua Achebe, and Remember, by Christina Rossetti. These verses have moved people with their semblances of reality, and this essay studies the various outlooks of death presented. Crabbit Old Woman is written in the persona of an elderly woman reflecting on her life in a nursing home. This first-person account positions us to view the situation from her angle. She is frustrated at the young nurse's inability to see beyond her physicality. The poem is structured through short, six/seven syllable lines, rhetorical questions and rhyme, which establishes a sense of it being a rapid rapport with the nurse, whilst also an inner dialogue. The poem critiques the presumptuousness of our highly visual society. Nature is pejoratively personified in "Nature is cruel, 'tis her jest, to make old age look a fool". The physical effect of age is evident, "The body it crumbles". The word 'crumbles' metaphorically refers to biscuit-like weakness, which reinstates her physical state. Her physical and emotional beings, however, are presented as separate

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Compare Sujata Bhatt's Search for my tongue poem, with Grace Nichols' Hurricane Hits England, and decide whether or not having one or more culture can be a positive experience.

In both poems, Search For My Tongue and Hurricane Hits England, the authors are talking about being caught having more than one culture. We can see this from many different perspectives. First, where they begin to explain their story and trauma in short concentrated pieces of text and secondly where it shows that they are quite obviously unhappy and confused about their life. Evidence for this in Search For My Tongue is in lines three to six where she says 'I ask you, what would you do if you had two tongues in your mouth, and lost the first one, the mother tongue and could not really know the other' this tells us that she is very confused, desperate and would take help of anyone, it also tells us that she is unsure about what plan of action to take next. Evidence for this theory in Hurricane Hits England is where she says 'it took a hurricane to bring her closer, to the landscape, half the night she lay awake', this also shows us that in her story and experiences, she has deep thought about her situation and problems. this one theory doesn't itself show us that there may be a positive experience right now, but what it does show us and hint to us is that the poem may follow on and tell us a different outcome, slightly more positive if we were to guess, I gathered this when she said 'it took a hurricane to bring her closer' this is both a positive and a negative thing due to

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