The structure of the poem has 30 lines sub-divided into 6 versus; the poem hasn’t got a certain rhyming scheme. During the poem there’s a lot of poetic devices used like Personification and Pathetic Fallacy an example of this is “First day of May an icy rain blowing through the town” this might have been used to show the emotions of the residence.
The tone of the poem varies from every verse, there is a sense of sadness due to the steelworks being demolished and a sense of happiness of the clean fresh air.
The imagery which I mostly enjoyed from “East Moors” was the contrast of the Pollution after the Steelworks, “The flash of sea with two blue islands” this gives a sense of cleanness within the poem, another striking imagery used was Transience “where the steel works used to smoke” this tells the reader how long ago the steelworks were abolished.
The second poem I will be analysing is called “Jac Codi Baw”.
The main theme of “Jac Codi Baw” is about the demolition of a building in a city. The emotions within the poem are the lack of caringness by the demolition gang and the loss of History within the building.
“Jac Codi Baw” has a structure of 22 lines and 2 verses; there isn’t a specific Rhyming scheme. The main Poetic devices used are Pathetic Fallacy and semantic field of flowers an example of this in the text is “grown over with Ragwort, Toadflax and Buddleia” this is introduced to the poem to give a sagacity of nature. The tone of the poem is sad due to the demolishment of the building “I can’t laugh. Too much comes down in the deaths of warehouses.”
The main imagery within the poems are time and decay, this is used to give the building an old effect that it needs to be demolished therefore the poem has a lot of emphasis on “old bricks crumbling”, this might be used to create a vivid picture in the reader’s mind. Clarke might say this to show the fast change of the modern era and how quickly a death of generation can happen.
For this section I will be comparing the two poems. The two poems are about a demolition of a building within a very old community with lots of traditional background. The common areas in both of the poems are the themes like the demolition of the buildings also the style used especially the poetic devices.
The styles used in the poem like the structure and rhyme scheme are different in there own way but have the same poetic device and tone for example
the personification of time “slow change that weather brings” and “bitterest time as rolling mills make rubble”. The similar tones used are mainly sad “in the sunlight, like a death” and “Blood on our hands” Clarke uses this to show the emotions of the people in the community. The structure of the two poems are different “East Moors” which has more lines and versus shows more emotion and feeling in greater depth for instance “dark sound of something heavy dropping”, also describes natural scenery before and after the demolishment of the steelworks such as “the smell of sulphur almost natural”. On the other hand “Jac Codi Baw” is a shorter more precise poem with more adjectives describing the scenery such as “splattered with the stones’ blood”. The languages used in the two poems are more or less the same. The similarities between the two poems are mainly the occasion, as said above. Between the two poems the most striking images are the uses of nature to enhance the age of the buildings “cherries are in flower” and “Ragwort, Toadflax and buddleia”
My personal opinion of “East Moors” is that it is very detailed in many different aspects from the scenery to the people. The good factors of the poem are that it shows contrasts before and after the demolishment of the steelworks, the imagery used is very rich and thorough.
My opinion of “Jac Codi Baw” is that is very simple and good for an easy read, it goes straight to the point in the two versus. It also brings local influences in the poem like “Caernarfon slate” to enhance the scenario.
The poem I prefer is “East Moors” because it shows the real emotions of the workers who lost their jobs in that era, as said above it also shows the contrast before and after the steelworks were demolished. Also tells us the advantages and disadvantages of the steelworks. It also marks the loss of the city and the history or trademark of Cardiff
