Compare how the poems What Were They Like and Vultures present the cruelty of war.

Compare how the poems "What Were They Like" and "Vultures" present the cruelty of war. Both poems, "What Were They Like" (WWTL) and "Vultures" has conflict as a common theme. "WWTL" is about the Vietnam war and the lasting effect of war on the culture, whereas "Vultures" is loosely about WWII and the conflict between good and evil. One of the ways that Levertov presents the cruelty of war in "WWTL" is through the ignorance of those in conflict. The structure of the poem takes the form of question and answer, which could perhaps be seen as a soldier asking a person of a higher status, because of the use of 'sir'. By asking about the past, the soldier is ignorant of the effect that he has on the 'people of Viet Nam'. In the same way the 'Daddy' in "Vultures" ignores the 'fumes of human roast'; but action cannot be without consequence, which causes the experience 'clinging rebelliously'. Here both poets imply that not knowing the consequences of war is the cruellest act of all, otherwise lives and culture would not be lost. In "Vultures", the cruelty of war is also shown through the conflict of good and evil. Achebe contrasts the beauty of 'love' to the ugliness of vultures; this shows that those at conflict can unite even with their differences. He admires the 'pebble on a stem' as well designed, similar to that of a tank, but at the same time well designed machines could

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Dulcet decorum est

Look again at Dulce et Decorum Est and The Send Off. How does the writer's choice of words in these two poems convey the strength of his feelings about the atmosphere and events portrayed? The poems are written by the same writer about different experiences of war. Wilfred Owen uses the theme, tone, structure and language to "convey the strength of his feelings". The theme of The Send Off is how a group of soldiers leave to go to the station to leave the country and fight in the First World War. He mainly refers back to the fact that nobody has come to say good bye also he seems to give the idea that most will not return. The theme in Dulce et Decorum Est is how the men in the trenches have been marching. Then they are gassed and a man dies and is thrown on the wagon and how there is nothing glorious about war. These show his "feelings" of war are negative as both death and being alone and when you leave somewhere with out family you will always feel lonely. Both themes have a larger picture in Dulce et decorum est the larger picture is about how the soldiers are in both poems are marching and going to somewhere unknown to the reader. This leaves us curious but the emotions amplified in the poems by Owen makes it had to see the many meaning. Both tones of the poems are sad as Owen is writing about experiences which are saddening as death and leaving are both hard

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Compare how the past reveals feelings about a place in Nothings Changed with the ways another poet reveals feelings about a place or places in one other poem.

Essay Question: Compare how the past reveals feelings about a place in "Nothing's Changed" with the ways another poet reveals feelings about a place or places in one other poem. Nobody can help have feelings- they are a part of everyone. We feel differently towards an issue as different things happen to us. Feelings do not change with time. What we feel as a child stays with us even when we are older. Feelings can be positive or negative. The poets Tatamkhula Afrika and Grace Nichols are both trying to deliver a similar message about feelings. In the poem Nothing's changed, the poet is feeling anger towards the white people even though the Apartheid had been finished. "District Six. No board say it.... And the hot, white, inward turning anger of my eyes." This shows that the poet is feeling ferocity towards the People in District Six. This can be said because "District Six" has been written as a short, expletive sentence, which is full of anger. "No board says it: but my feet know" This shows that even though Apartheid has ended and all the boards which differentiate the black community from the white community have been removed, the poet still feels secluded from the community. "And my hands, and the skin about my bones, and the soft labouring of my lungs, and the hot, white, inward turning anger of my eyes." This shows that as he is walking along, his anger is

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How does Sujata Bhatt show that identity is important in from Search For My Tongue? Compare the methods she uses with the methods another poet uses to show that identity is important in one other poem.

How does Sujata Bhatt show that identity is important in 'from Search For My Tongue'? Compare the methods she uses with the methods another poet uses to show that identity is important in one other poem. 'Search For My Tongue' ('SFMT') and 'Hurricanes Hit England' ('HHE') both share a common theme of identity and how it influences our day-to-day life. 'SFMT' and 'HHE' together show show your cultural identity is within you; it's not constricted to a certain place. However, the two poets show this in different ways. In SFMT, Bhatt's emotional response to the language shows its importance. Whereas in HHE, Nichols' final conclusion of 'the earth is the earth' and her response to this epiphany show importance. Language is a method used in both poems to show identity's importance. Both poems use a physical thing metaphorically, too. In SFMT, it's her tongue. Whereas in HHE, it's the hurricane.In SFMT, the two tongues (languages) conflict in her (both physically and metaphorically). The two toungues would be squashed; there's clearly not enough room in someone's mouth for two tongues. This reflects her struggles on knowing two languages: the 'mother tongue' and the 'foreign tongue'. This is effective in showing Bhatt's dilemma and concerns. As a reader, I empathise with her as I understand that it must be difficult and frustrating. Additionally, the metaphor of the language being

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In Love After Love and Presents From My Aunts, the theme of self-discovery is addressed.

Compare Love After Love with one other poem and explore the theme of self-discovery in each of the poems. In 'Love After Love' and 'Presents From My Aunts', the theme of self-discovery is addressed. LAL discusses reverting back to your true self after the break down of a relationship whilst, Presents is about a teenager's struggles of finding herself in terms of her culture. Both poems use language to convey the importance of self-discovery. In LAL, emotive language is used. For example, 'welcome', 'greet' and 'elation'. This shows the excitement in finding yourself again. Presents similarly uses emotive words; however, for a much more negative approach. She 'longed' for the conventional 'denim and corduroy' and felt 'alien' in the 'glistening' salwar kameez. Her choice of vocabulary show her discomfort to the clothes and, in turn, she feels disconnected from her P Pakistani roots. Personally, I find this disheartening to see how she feels so distant from her culture, an importance part of her identity. Alternatively, in LAL religious connotations are used. It says 'Give wine. Give bread.' This could be used to signify the importance as 'wine' and 'bread' could be associated with the last supper or the Christian Eucharist services. Both poems also use structure to further explore self-discovery. LAL features an enjambaunt: 'Give back your heart/to itself'. This could have

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Poem comparision showing importance of identity

Essay comparison: "Love after love" and "This room" compare the way in which the importance of identity is written about in "Love after love" and "This room". In "Love after love" by Derek Walcott and "This room" by Imtiaz Dharker, the poets explore how outs own identity should be celebrated. Walcott portrays this by using positive language such as "elation" and "feast on your life" to show that once you have found your identity, you can celebrate that you have found yourself. Dharker gets her message across by also giving positive images of hands "clapping" which is what people do to celebrate happy occasions. In this case, Dharker could be outside clapping in celebration for finding her own identity. Both poems use metaphors including "the stranger who has loved you" in "Love after love" and "this room is breaking out of itself". The room is personified to become Dharker's mind breaking out and throwing out the nightmares and the dark memories to become who we really want to be. Walcott uses the metaphor of a stranger, which is yourself, because when you are in a relationship, you become someone else and get traits from another person. The stranger in the mirror is the person who you were before you were in a relationship. Both poems are similar because they talk about how were still ourselves before the change but will be who we are after time in "Love after love" and

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Search For My Toungue and Hurricane Hits England Comparison

i) Compare the way poets use description in 'from search for my tongue' and one other poem. 'Hurricane Hits England' is a poem by Grace Nichols. The poem is about the problems of belonging to two cultures and the effects of memories and experiences from her past. In contrast, Sanjita Bhatt's poem, 'From Search for My Tongue' is also about coming to terms with a new life and different culture. In search for my tongue it is about the poet's original language that is vital to her identity, whereas in hurricane hits England, it is the reminiscence of hurricanes from her native Caribbean that affects the poet. The hurricane makes the poet reminisce about her native Caribbean. From the very start of Nichols poem, the audience is given the impression that the person hasn't quite connected with her new country. 'It took a hurricane, to bring her closer to the landscape'. This shows that the character feels alienated and doesn't feel at home. However, Bhatt's poem starts of with a strong but conversational tone, 'you ask me...I ask you', opening a close relationship with the reader. The writer feels fear that she has lost the ability to speak for her culture and consequently questions her identity. Nichols shows that in her poem, it is the hurricanes that re connects her to her heritage. It breaks the 'frozen lake' in her. This suggests that her personality and history was turned

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Compare the ways that Heaney presents nature in Storm on the Island and At a Potato Digging. Compare this with Patrolling Barnegat and Sonnet.

Compare the ways that Heaney presents nature in "Storm on the Island" and "At a Potato Digging". Compare this with "Patrolling Barnegat" and "Sonnet". It was once said, 'We humans are full of unpredictable emotions that logic alone cannot solve.' -Something very similar to this is Nature. Poems which recall the experiences of nature are "Storm, on the Island" and "At a Potato Digging" which also relates to the poems "Patrolling Barnegat" and "Sonnet". Seamus Heaney was born in Northern Ireland in 1939, the eldest child in what was to become a family of nine children. Much of Heaney's poetry is centred on the countryside and farm life that he knew as a boy. "Storm on the Island" by Heaney is a poem which explores the experiences which the people who live on an island encounter when a catastrophic storm strikes. Correspondingly, Seamus Heaney's poem "At a potato Digging" captures the emotions and experiences of the Irish Potato famine. In "Storm on the Island" Heaney intends to mimics human emotions and comments that it can be violent and unpredictable; but even through the roughest times we must be "prepared" like the people of the Island are determined to live through the "huge nothing" which they fear. On the other hand, in the poem "At a Potato Digging" Heaney's intentions are more concerned with the suffering of the potato famine and he also dedicates a moral through

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Half Caste by Agard and Search for my tongue by Bhatt use non-standard English within their writing to portray strong messages.

Compare the way two writers use non-standard English to give a strong message. Both poems "Half Caste" by Agard and "Search for my tongue" by Bhatt use non-standard English within their writing to portray strong messages. In Half Caste, the poem is written as a patois and we are shown that Agard uses non-standard English to make the reader feel as though having mixed languages between English and Caribbean is a good thing, rather than making the person incomplete or simply being "half". Agard takes the idea of a multicultural society and incorporates both English and Caribbean influences to create a sense of incompleteness. "Explain yuself, wha yu mean?" shows the reader a fusion between both languages and also helps to bring out the personality of the writer as if to show that the person is abrasive, direct and informal, refusing the fact that some people cannot accept who he is, acting as though having two languages is a bad thing. Agard also uses non-standard English by using repetition within "Half Caste", placing the reader on the spot as if he was speaking directly to the reader. By using the phrase, "Explain yuself, wha yu mean?" Agard creates a sense of non-standard English through repetition and the fact that the phrase is direct and places the reader on the spot, as if it is asking the opinion of the reader creates a strong message to show that some people

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The poems Strange fruit written by Abel Meeropol (Lewis Allen) 1937 and Still I rise written by Maya Angelou both convey the racism which fell upon the lives of many black individuals.

Explore how the poems 'still I rise ' and 'strange fruit' represent the experiences of the black woman/man The poems 'strange fruit' written by Abel Meeropol (Lewis Allen) 1937 and "still I rise' written by Maya Angelou both convey the racism which fell upon the lives of many black individuals. Abel Meeropol although was not of black heritage was provoked to the hatred of the unjust crimes situated amongst the black race, he also emphasises his hatred for the people who perpetuate the circumstances that they were put under. Maya Angelou on the other hand was from a black heritage, and having been apart of the black race, gave her writing which explored the inequalities of the black female and the black man, a more defiant feel, whereas Abel's outsiders perspective of the black man/woman is not as harsh. The way each poem has been structured was specific to the manner in which both Abel Meeropol and Maya Angelou wanted it was presented to the reader. 'Strange fruit' was written in 3rd person which gave the piece and outsiders perspective, whereas 'still I rise' was written in 1st person this gave the poem a first hand perspective of the piece. 'Still I rise' also uses a 2nd person pronoun, which gives the piece a direct appeal to the reader, creating assumptions that the white man is reading it. This grabs the reader and plays with the reader's guilt. The use of metaphors

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