COMPARING AND CONTRASTING POETRY
COMPARING AND CONTRASTING POETRY It is often said that school days are the most memorable days of one's life. Debate still flourishes around the validity of this statement but for most, school life presents or presented many challenges, both happy and painful. In First Day at School, Roger Mcgough depicts a young student's surreal look at his first day among the 'big people' as he explores an amusing and harrowing impression of a first day at school. U A Fanthorpe entertains the simple, yet abstract, concept of 'time' through the eyes of a young student in 'Half past two'. A student whose innocence derives from his inability, 'she hadn't taught him time', to comprehend the structured world of adults and their habit of classifying events into 'times'. Enjoyed for their simplicity and for the memories they conjure up, both poems lend themselves to a discussion on their respective styles and resultant impact on the reader. Both poems take place in the school environment and show the reader how vulnerable children are when something is not familiar to them. The poem First Day at School as the heading suggests is about a young child and how he or she sees the first day of school. The poem takes place in the playground before school starts 'waiting for the bell to go'. The child goes on to tell the reader about how confused, frightened and out of place he or she feels, 'games
How does Wilfred Owen in Disabled treat the subject of exclusion? Including comparisons with how W.H Auden in Refugee Blues treats the same theme
Jordan Carp How does Wilfred Owen in Disabled treat the subject of exclusion? Including comparisons with how W.H Auden in Refugee Blues treats the same theme ________________ Both poets explore a form of exclusion and are similar in the respect that the exclusion was brought about by war. They have face exclusion due to similar circumstances and this is outlined in both ‘Disabled’ and ‘Refugee Blues’ respectively. Wilfred Owen explored the theme of exclusion by taking a fine young man who was fit, healthy, attractive and full of exuberance for life, and turned him into a disabled soldier who lost various limbs in the First World War. The exclusion he faces is from normal, able-bodied society. He can no longer perform the acts that made him seem so appealing in the past and he is excluded from everything that previously defined him and made his life worthwhile. W.H. Auden also based his theme around exclusion. However he focussed more on the aspects from The Second World War in his poem, when a number of races were excluded from their basic human rights on a national and worldwide scale. In both cases the people who had been excluded have felt that they have lost their humanity, due to the way they are treated like items, who can just not be involved or turned away without a second glance. The sympathy that is drawn from the poem appeals to the reader’s feelings
Comparison of The Soldier and Why Patriots Are Nuts In The Head
Comparison of “The Soldier” and “Why Patriots Are Nuts In The Head” The soldier was written in ww1 and the language used to formal e.g. “concealed” rather than “hidden”. The second poem was written more recently and uses informal language “yobbo” and “belly”. I think both poems, “why patriots are nuts in the head” and “the soldier” are important. Both poets use a range of vocabulary telling us they put effort in. the soldier describes death war very little but describes death. On the other hand, the second poem describes war like hell saying “belly shot away” and it says you rot on the corner of a field next to a soldier. This tells me that death is awaiting you as soon as you join the army. He is serious about the poem as he cares about people and he wants to save their lives so he exaggerates war like a horror in order to save people. The soldier is serious about the poem as he wants to be remembered, he wants to show everyone his love for Britain. He doesn’t want to be another soldier who gets forgotten in history. He wants to express his love for god in order to go into heaven so he has to be taking the poem seriously.’ Brooke believes that going to war was a path to heaven; he believed “all evil shall shed away “so he probably thought war was his way of showing his love and compassion to god. Brooke believed in the afterlife
Comparison between 'The Hero' and 'The Soldier' (Poems) - English Lit.
Humoon’s Comparison Essay: ‘The Soldier’, ‘The Hero’ In this essay I will be comparing two poems; ‘The Soldier’ and ‘The Hero’. ‘The Hero’ is about an officer who delivers a consolatory letter to a grieving mother concerning the death of her soldier son, Jack. She is proud of her son’s glorious sacrifice but, on leaving, the officer reflects on Jack’s cowardice and incompetence in the line. The poem, ‘The Soldier’, is about the honour men receive when fighting for their beloved nation, England. It expresses patriotic views of war and the idea that England is its on heaven. The different effects the writers use along with their difference in opinions will be explored in this essay. In the poem, ‘The Hero’ the title itself helps to emphasise the poems purpose. The ‘hero’ of the poem is, of course, ironically termed. Jack is the kind of malingering coward who earned the contempt of his comrades on the battlefield, especially in a well-disciplined regiment like the Royal Welch, in which Sassoon served. The writer has chosen this phrase to clearly emphasise the types of dehumanising effects war had on soldiers in the front line. From this point, I can tell that, Sassoon had a negative perspective on war and its effects. In the poem, “The soldier” the writer expresses his feelings for his nation in a dependable way. It says in the text,
Compare how the writers express their ideas in Pessimism for Beginners and A Consumers Report
Compare how the writers express their ideas in “Pessimism for Beginners” and “A Consumer’s Report” Pessimism for Beginners and A Consumer’s Report both are very similar in how they show how life should be enjoyed more and that we should stop always thinking negatively, being pessimistic. They also both sarcastically devalue life as well as using some humour to convey their ideas, where Pessimism for Beginners is like an instruction manual, telling you how to be pessimistic while A Consumer’s Report has an extended metaphor, relating life to a product. The poems both reveal how we are very pessimistic, always taking life so seriously and negatively, and end up wasting it. Pessimism for Beginners uses hyperbole saying “bash you head with a stone”, using violent imagery with the word “bash” as well as “peck”. This exaggerates how we think negatively and hence creates the mocking tone of the poem. A Consumer’s Report also shows the pessimism of our human nature when saying “I had it as a gift, I didn’t feel much”. This oxymoron is created through how “gift” is very positive describing life as a miracle, but the next line is negative. This emphasizes how we waste our life, thinking negatively and not enjoying life like how we should. Alliteration is used in Pessimism for Beginners, when saying “venal and vile”. The “v” sound is very
How love affects the poets in Valentine and Funeral Blues.
Name: Basma R Teacher: Mr. Chris Assignment: Exam Practice - Love Poems. Date: 25.04.11. Word Count: 1036 How does love affect the poets in “Valentine” and “Funeral Blues”? In the poem Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy, love affected the poet in various ways which made her view love in a new and different way, revolving her perspective of love on an onion. In the poem Funeral Blues the poet W.H. Auden was also deeply affected by love, to the point that his lover became everything to him. In Valentine the poet, Carol Ann Duffy, metaphorically expresses her perspective of love through an onion, and uses this unique view of love to illustrate its evolution from good to bad. In the poem (Valentine), Duffy rejects every other romantic gift “Not a red rose or a satin heart” and “not a cute card or a kissogram” and instead presents her lover with an onion, granting him with an uncommon yet more meaningful version of love, instead of the usual clichéd versions. The poet repeats the phrase “I give you an onion” to reinforce her choice, showing that she is confident and sure for what she has chosen. She describes the onion as “a moon wrapped in brown paper” which “promises light”, the “brown paper” supports the fact that the onion is a gift, which will be unwrapped to reveal a “light”. Comparing the onion to the moon suggest a romantic
How do James Fenton and Carol Ann Duffy present ideas about the pain of love in In Paris with You and Quickdraw?
How do James Fenton and Carol Ann Duffy present ideas about the pain of love in ‘In Paris with You’ and ‘Quickdraw’? The similar themes of ‘Quickdraw’ and ‘In Paris with You’ reveal the poets’ experiences of love and the pain it brings. Both poems deal with the anguish that love brings. ‘In Paris with You’ takes place some time after the end of a relationship, showing the poet’s reluctance to include the feeling of romantic love in his new relationship as he is still hurt from his past love as shown in the lines ‘Don’t talk to me of love... I’m resentful at the mess I’ve been through... I admit I’m on the rebound’. The theme of ‘Quickdraw’ is akin to this but, contrastingly, it takes place at the moment the poet’s relationship ends, showing her pain as her partner deals the final blow on their romance ‘your voice a pellet in my ear, and hear me groan. You’ve wounded me.’ One way in which the poets present ideas about the pain of love is through their use of imagery within their poems. For example, both refer to being wounded by love – James Fenton’s line ‘I’m one of your talking wounded’ suggests that the character has been through emotional pain in their previous relationship but is keeping on going [relating to the military saying ‘walking wounded’ to describe a soldier that is wounded, but not badly enough for
Carol Anne Duffy and Sheenagh Pugh both use their poetry to write about youth and the process of growing up.
Carol Anne Duffy and Sheenagh Pugh both use their poetry to write about youth and the process of growing up. Although the write about many of the same ideas, such as the idea that the old prey upon the innocence of youth, their different approaches to the subject matter mean that the poems are often vastly different. In Lizzie, six, Carol Anne Duffy presents a dysfunctional relationship between a young girl and a man, possibly her father or step-father. Duffy presents the contrast between adulthood and youth through the use of two voices which contrast starkly with one another. The child’s voice begins with a very pleasant tone, with simple yet happy language. Words such as “moon… fields…love” are all very non-threatening, and imply a certain freedom, if only the child’s freedom of imagination. However, the tone of the child’s voice gradually becomes more sinister, until the final line “I’m afraid of the dark”. In addition to the common connotations of black representing evil and isolation, this could signify the change in the child, who, as she is growing up is forced to lose her youthful imagination and curiosity as a result of the abuse she suffers. The structure of Lizzie, six also creates tension. The division into five stanza’s of equal length, each with one question, the child’s answer and two lines of the adult’s response create an
How do Carol Anne Duffy in Havisham and Simon Armitage in Kid present different perspectives on the theme of betrayal?
How do Carol Anne Duffy in Havisham and Simon Armitage in Kid present different perspectives on the theme of betrayal? These two poems are written about very different subjects but they both explore the theme of betrayal. In the first poem ‘Havisham’, the poet Carol Anne Duffy uses Mrs. Havisham, a fictional character from the well know novel ‘Great Expectations’ by Charles Dickens, as her extended metaphor for betrayal. In the second poem ‘Kid’ by Simon Armitage, the poet presents the theme of betrayal from a slightly different perspective using ‘Batman and Robin’ as his literary conceit. Both Havisham and Kid feature literary conceits through which the poets convey the characters thoughts to the reader. In Havisham, Duffy uses her chosen metaphor as the title. This makes the theme of betrayal known to the reader from the very start of the poem. Duffy asexualises the main character in the title through the absence of the pronoun “Mrs”. This puts extra emphasis on Mrs. Havisham’s metaphoric significance. In kid, Armitage uses the extended metaphor (Batman and Robin) to sarcastically influence the speakers’ role reversal of his childhood relationship with his stepfather who left him and his mother, to be in a relationship with another woman. Both poems use strong plosives in the opening line of the poem. Havisham starts off with the phrase
Compare and contrast the presentation of place and identity in City Planners and Continuum
Compare and contrast the presentation of place and identity in City Planners and Continuum “The City Planners” by Margaret Atwood is a poem about her distaste for the obsessive regularity and perfection of the city. Atwood opens the poem with vivid exposition of time and place as she “cruis[es] these residential Sunday streets in dry August. This effectively creates a sense of place and set the tone of the poem. Atwood uses the verb “cruising” which juxtaposes strongly with the obsessively clean and fake suburbia landscape that she is driving through. The constant use of juxtaposition is very effective as it creates a stark contrast between the ordered and suppressing city and the disordered and creative driver in the car. “The City Planners” is written with no set stanza length and no set rhyme, which usually represents disorder and chaos. This could represent how on the surface, suburbia seems that it is perfect, but under the surface, it is unnatural and obsessive. This is case with “Continuum” by Allen Curnow. This poem has no rhyme, but in comparison to “The City Planners”, it has a weirdly regular form as it is written in syllabic tercets. This obsessive precision and order seems to replicate the apparent perfection in suburbia. “Continuum” is a poem about the process of writing a poem and the constant duel between two identities, one that