Consider how Seanus Heany provides us with a view of his childhood in the following poems: Digging, Death of a Naturalist follower, blackberry picking, The barn and mid term break
Consider how Seanus Heany provides us with a view of his childhood in the following poems: Digging, Death of a Naturalist, follower, blackberry picking, The barn and mid term break Sheanus Heany was born in 1939 on a farm in County Derry, Northern Ireland. His poetry is based on the landscape in his farm from his childhood. In his life there is one key feature that changed him from the rest of his family. This was the level of education that he obtained. He went to a decent school unlike his family that enabled him to write and not farm. He is currently a professor of poetry at Oxford. There are two large symbolic features in his poetry. Firstly, the danger in the countryside could be said to represent the danger in Northern Island at the time. Secondly, there is a strong sense of division in his family, which could be linked with Heany growing up in a divided country. His first poem in the Death of a Naturalist is very important. The purpose of it is to symbolise and introduce his circumstances. 'Between my finger and thumb the squat pen rests'. Look at this first sentence. It is telling you he is a writer. He is telling you that the pen rests. This means that he is comfortable with it. In a way he is saying that the pen belongs in his hand. Then he goes on to write 'snug as a gun'. A gun is a weapon. Something used for destruction which poetry is not. But, If you look
Anthem for Doomed Youth
Wilfred Owen - Anthem for Doomed Youth Wilfred Owen is a poet who wrote anti-war poems. One of his most famous poems is called 'Anthem for Doomed youth'. He wrote this poem to enlighten the reader about what you experience on a battle field. He describes to us the conditions to show his bitter angst towards war and how wrong it was of the government to send innocent men to fight a battle which was not even worth the amount of lives that were lost. Wilfred Owen manages to achieve his purpose by using different methods in language. He uses alliteration, onomatopoeia, metaphors and suitable words. The words are very straight-forward but Wilfred Owen still manages to describe the conditions clearly. The alliteration and onomatopoeia used in the poem empathizes certain phrases, for example, "Rifles rapid rattle," it uses sound to create an image in our minds. The images are the most important technique in which Wilfred Owen puts his message across. For example in the first line we are told about "passing-bells." Bells are tolled for the dead. The word 'passing' has various meanings, for example a bell that 'passes-by' on the way to the funeral. Passing can also refer to dying or passing-away. Owen uses words to enrich the meaning of his lines, supplying multiple ideas to a word. Another image in the first line is 'cattle' which is directed towards the soldiers who are
Analysis of Anthem for doomed Youth
Anthem for Doomed Youth - Wilfred Owen Wilfred Owen was born the 18th of March 1893 in United Kingdom. He's probably, one of the most important English War Poets. The popularity of Owen today can be explained by his condemnation of the horrors of war. As an English poet, he is noted for his anger at the cruelty and waste of war and his pity for its victims. He said," "My subject is War and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity." The title, 'Anthem for Doomed Youth', gives the first impression of the poem. An 'anthem', is a song of praise, perhaps sacred, so we get the impression that the poem might be about something religious or joyous. However, the anthem is for 'Doomed Youth' which describes something negative. The poet shows his anger and bitterness in the first part of the poem. In the second part of the poem he expresses his sadness at the pathetic condition of the soldiers. The poem is a sonnet. The first stanza is mainly about the battlefield, whereas the second stanza is more about the reactions of friends and family back at home. The poem starts with a rhetorical question and is very intense from the starting. In order to express his ideas, Owen mixes the sad, calm images of a funeral with the chaotic, explosive images of a battlefield. The poet uses poetic techniques such as imagery, personification, assonance and alliteration and sound (onomatopoeia)
The poem 'My First Sonne'was written by Ben Jonson. 'The poem is a first hand experience from the father, which his one and only son died. In the poem 'Mid-Term Back' written by Seamus Heaney, the author focuses
Comparing the poems 'My First Sonne' and 'Mi-Term Back' In this essay I am going to compare 'My First Sonne' and 'Mid-Term Back'. The poem 'My First Sonne'was written by Ben Jonson. 'The poem is a first hand experience from the father, which his one and only son died. In the poem 'Mid-Term Back' written by Seamus Heaney, the author focuses on his younger brother's death in a tragic car accident. Both poems relate to the parent relationships to children and the death of a family member. Heaney's image of 'Polly bruise' is suggestive of respect for the death of the young child. The older brother sounds confused 'The bumper knocked him clear', this suggests that the child doesn't understand why he died as he only had one bruise. The 'poppy' is an image of young life lost. It's a strong metaphor as the poppy is a mark of respect for those who died in the war, unusual death of a young child. The 'poppy' is classed as a wild random growing flower, so it suggests that the death was a shock. The poem shows a clear sign of sadness, 'My father's crying'. Its hard for the older brother to cope with seeing his father cry because his finding the death hard to cope with. The family support and comforts each other. 'As my mother held my hand', this implies that their feel they'll all get through it together and care about the remaining members of the family but will never forget the
How does Wilfred Owen portray the horrors of war through his use of language in Dulce et Decorum Est?
How does Wilfred Owen portray the horrors of war through his use of language in Dulce et Decorum Est? Dulce et Decorum Est, a poem by Wilfred Owen, explores the many horrors and cruel ordeals of World War One. Through his use of linguistic techniques, vivid imagery and dramatic descriptions, Owen seeks to convince the reader that it is far from honourable to die for ones country, as the title of the poem in fact suggests. He does so successfully, presenting his opinion through a series of images designed to obliterate the misconception that war is admirable, as well as differentiating and varying his techniques throughout the poem. In the first stanza, Owen describes the state of the soldiers to allow the reader to visualise the cruel reality that war was for them. Their situation is made more realistic through the use of first person plural as displayed in the line "we cursed through the sludge". Unexpected and contrasting descriptions of the soldiers such as referring to them as "bent double, like old beggars under sacks", and associating them with animals by referring to them as "blood shod", also changes the reader's perception of what conditions were like during the war. In relation to their harsh portrayal, Owen uses similes such as "coughing like hags" to help produce a pitiful sense of anguish for the soldiers, as well as, for emphasis on their weariness, and both
Dulce et Decorum Est
Dulce et Decorum Est The poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" was written during the First World War by a soldier called Wilfred Owen. The title is Latin and means "It is Sweet and Fitting To" and is shown as ironic, as it explains throughout the poem, that there is nothing sweet or fitting about war. The poet explains the irony by use of various literary techniques. The poet himself suffered greatly during the war and, to escape shell-shock or madness, he transferred his suffering into poem form But he sadly died on on the front line on the last day of 1918. The first stanza sets the scene and shows us the urgency of the situation. The poet does this by giving a vivid description of life on the front line. Wilfred Owen uses a variety of literary techniques to give us an image of what the horrors of war are really like. The use of similes and metaphors help to create that true gruesome picture of war. For example the use of the simile "coughing like hags" suggests, in the word "hags" there is evil around them and that war itself is evil. He also uses techniques like alliteration, still to create the image of the disgusting reality of war. The second stanza consists of only two lines but in its shortness it changes the poem entirely by the use of the word "my". This changes the format of the poem from a second hand account, to his thoughts and feelings being presented in first
Porphyria's Lover Analysis
'Porphyria's lover' by Robert Browning is the description of an intimate night-time meeting between a man, the lover and narrator, and a woman, Porphyria. The word Porphyria itself is a medical disorder which involves painful symptoms - this suggests that something painful will happen to the girl sometime in the poem. Within the first couple of lines Browning set the mood for the poem, 'the sullen wind was soon awake, it tore the elm-tops down for spite,' It's a description of the elements battling it out in the dark of the night, which is perhaps a metaphor for a prior argument between lovers. The timing of the meeting, in the middle of the night, may suggest that this was a secret assignation, something that was always going to happen, like it was fate. At the start of this poem, Browning suggests that Porphyria was once blinded by her pride and vanity and rejected the lover; however he suggests that she gave in to her passions and pursued him. Porphyria then 'shut the cold and the storm' out as if the lover had been sitting in the cottage with doors and windows open, exposed to the weather, and she comes to close the doors and window. This imagery may represent a desire to stop arguing, to calm the storm. She then proceeds into the warm cottage and take off her sodden clothes, 'withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl.' She then speaks to her lover however he doesn't respond
Out, out..." by Robert Frost.
"Out, Out..." Essay Jamie Gavin "Out, out..." by Robert Frost is a narrative poem that outlines, in a certain way, the dangers of letting a child do a man's work. The boy, whom we find to be young, has an unfortunate accident with a buzz saw resulting in the boy's death. The poet uses language structure and characterisation to convey the tragic circumstances in which the boy is killed. I found the poem to contain a lot of information, with almost half the poem devoted to describing just a few seconds around the accident. The unexpected ending to the poem was thought provoking and made me aware of how a fatal accident can arise from a moment's lapse in concentration - I felt this was good. The poet characterises the boy to emphasise the circumstances leading to the boy's death. The use of a narrator makes the poem more personal, almost as if the poet was there. The poet includes regular references to the boy's young age. For example: "Doing a man's work, though a child at heart" The use of the word "child" shows us just how young the boy is and how he is doing work that is better suited to a man. The boy's immediate response to the accident was one of sadness, a "rueful laugh". The boy knew instantly that the accident was serious enough to affect his life, " he saw all spoiled". I felt the poet, through the use of word choice and sentence structure, cleverly
Sunil Mirpuri
Sunil Mirpuri September 27th, 2006 IB English HLII Commentary Punishment Seamus Heaney's poem "Punishment" illustrates the revival of history through the eyes of an empathetic narrator and a two-thousand year old mummy. Throughout the poem, Heaney uses a very descriptive and imaginative language in order to create a tone of sympathy towards the reader; nevertheless, this tone is accompanied by a tone of adoration and admiration towards the bog girl. However, by the end of the poem, the narrator completely changes his tone from admiration to understanding and empathy for the killing of the girl. Seamus Heaney uses detailed images, a very descriptive style of diction and a simple form of structure in order to emphasize the narrator's changes in tones and attitude throughout "Punishment." The diction in "Punishment" embodies a very detailed yet grotesque style of writing. The entire poem is a description of the York Girl, a two-thousand year old petrified body which had been preserved under the earth and then dug up in 1817 in Holland. Heaney gives this fossil life through his diction by describing the state she was in when they dug her up. Heaney starts the poem using words like "tug," "halter," "nape," "neck," and "naked" in order to immediately establish a dark and gruesome yet depressing tone. Heaney's desire is to make the reader feel an emotion of sympathy towards the
Wilfred Owen Poetry Comparison.
Wilfred Owen Poetry Comparison In this essay, I have decided to analyse two poems by the war poet Wilfred Owen, taken from his writings on the First World War. Both of these poems ('Dulce et Decorum Est' and 'Anthem for Doomed Youth') portray Owen's bitter angst towards the war, but do so in very different ways. Owen developed many of his poetic techniques at Craiglockhart Military Hospital, where he spent much of the war as an injured soldier, but it was only through the influence of fellow soldier and poet, Siegrfried Sassoon, that he began capturing his vivid visions of the war in the form of poetry. Many would argue that it was while writing his war poems, that Owen felt most able to express his ideas on paper, and he certainly was one of the greatest war poets to have ever lived. Arguably his most famous poem, 'Dulce et Decorum Est', is a fine example of his narrative, first-person poems, written through his own eyes and based on his own experiences and views of the war. Using four clear stanzas, the poem uses standard, alternate rhyming lines. A slow, painstaking rhythm is established at the beginning of the poem through Owen's use of heavy, long words and end-stop lines, in order to illustrate just how slow and painstaking the war was. The pace then quickens during the final stanza (a rhythm achieved by the use of lines with fewer syllables and run-on endings), so
