Big Jim Evans said “it’s a hard blow” the use of a nick name suggests they lived in a very close Knit neighborhood and the use of the words “hard blow” portrays the neighbor’s empathy with the parents losing a child. It goes on to portray this even further “sorry for your troubles” this way a traditional way of expressing sympathy.
“Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest, away of school as my mother held my hand”
The whispering was simply a mark of respect and everyone as in a sanctious place such as the chapel, means to herself also. and his mother holding his hand suggests she was giving her eldest son support and comfort probly as a
“At ten o, clock the ambulance arrived with the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses”
The word “corpse” was used by the poet as a means of unacceptance of the death of his little brother, as he fond it to difficult and painful to mention him by name .up to now there has been no signs of the poets personal feelings and emotions, yet a strong sense grief and loss runs through out the poem.
The sixth stanza appears much gentler than the rest of the poem. This I feel is because snowdrops give the significance of innocents and purity. The lit candles create a soothing warming atmosphere to such a cold cruel tragedy.
Heaney describes the bruise on the child as “wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple “. The word “poppy” was used to describe the bruise, as it is reddish and purple in color. We know the child did not die of a prolonged illness.” He lay in the in the four foot box as in his cot” no gaudy scars the “bumper knocked him clear”. It’s only at the end of the poem that the poet reveals that his brother died due to an unfortunate accident.
“A four foot box a foot for every year”
The poet highlights the last line of the poem by the use of alliteration. I feel the effect has a two-folded meaning/ one that his little brother now lies alone in his “four foot box” and also to create an unforgettable picture.
Heaney concealed his emotions and feelings through out the poem. He didn’t tell us how the death affected him, or if he ever learned to accept it. Maybe by writing a poem about it was his way of acceptance and also a tribute and memory to his little brother.
Emily Bronte was a 19th century poet. She wrote “Remembrance” as a tribute to her loved one who passed away. The poem opens with a long drawn out line
“Cold in the earth and the deep snow piled over thee”
When we see the word “Thee” we can see straight away that it was not written in modern times. In the second line Bronte repeats the word “Cold” this could be to emphasize that he is actually dead and buried then she doubts herself.
“Have I forgot my only love, to love thee.”
Similar to Heaney’s poem this indicates that she is writing the poem long after the death. Already the reader can see the poet is becoming more physically and emotionally involved with the poem than Heaney did. She also describes how they are separated by time and distance, and feels cut off from her loved one.” Severed” at last by times all severing wave this to me gives the impression that they are separated by the ocean.
In the second stanza she continues to question herself. She asks herself whether thoughts still “Hover” above him. Bronte still asks the question of herself had she been good enough for him.
Bronte was a bird a metaphor, when speaking about where he is buried, as if her thoughts are in flight like a bird to his grave. Lines such as “fern leaves cover thy noble heart for ever ever more” give me the distinct impression that deep feelings loneliness has set in. Lines such as these show the depth of emotions Bronte has for her dead lover a sense of etemity that she is going to feel like this forever, until they are reunited.
It is only in the next stanza that we discover how long her loved one has been dead “fifteen springs have come and gone” Bronte concludes this stanza by reassuring herself that she has been faithful and that life hasn’t been easy without him. In Bronte’s time they where not very explicit about the physical side of love, therefore she implies to the reader that she remains faithful both in mind and body.
“Others loves and others hopes beset me. Hopes which obscure but cannot do thee wrong”
While she is trying to carry on with everyday life, other thoughts are distracting her mind. She seams to feel guilty about this and she asks for forgiveness if she occasionally forgets him or her memory of him. I feel in the forth stanza she is trying to convince herself that she remained faithful and true.
“Sweet love of youth forgive if I forget thee”
From this line we see they had been lovers from youth this also suggests that they met when they where young . He died in the early stages of their romance the stage where love is blind and one is consumed by love for the other finds no fault in the object of ones love.
In the fifth stanza she explains she had no other love,
“No later light has lightened up my heaven”, as if no one could shine like he did for her. She goes on to explain that he brought her the greatest happiness, but now it is buried with him “All my ties bless is in the grave with thee”, her happiness has been cruelly snatched away, suddenly she forgets her grief and picks herself up and remembers life must go on.
“I learned how existence could be”
In other words she is learning how life should be lived, and even after fifteen years of suffering. Bronte doesn’t seem to be able to move on from her lovers death while Heaney seems to have got on with his life, and learned to live with the death of his little brother, Bronte yearns to stay in the same mode of discontentment.
In the concluding stanza Bronte recalls how she stopped crying, and slowly “weaned” her young soul from “yearning” after him.
Towards the end of the poem I feel the poet is in two minds about her feelings. She is depressed and crying over her dead lover, but then again she sees how she must move on. I feel the phrase “Rapturous pain” is very appropriate, because I associate rapturous with happy thoughts , not pain this clearly shows the mixed emotions of the poet. She is certainly very confused and relies on words to show how love can confuse and stir up our emotions turning order into confusion.
In conclusion I feel that Bronte has got entangled in the past again. There is an obvious feeling that the poet has not come to an acceptance of her loss, where as Heaney shows little personal emotions, his words are very well understated, his emotions were kept tightly under control.
