In choosing a poem to compare I choose farm child as its meaning is that as a child the boy is very clearly related and influenced by nature, but as he grows up he must learn to work against nature as opposed to being in harmony with it. This is shown in the last line, “earth breeds and beckons to the stubborn plough.”
Farm child is made up of one short ten-line stanza, which leads directly to a conclusion. The simple structure encapsulates as idea and seems to catch a moment in the boy’s life.
The evacuee is a narrative poem, the stanzas are not of equal length. The first verse is separated from the other two by use of enjambement. This gives the verse a gentle flowing feel that contrasts to the other verses loud, harsh, sense. This is because the farm and its inhabitants are awake in the second and third verses, and so this movement and noise is portrayed in the poet’s use of words.
Although farm child isnt a narrative poem, it is written similarly to the evacuee, as it is written as though it were telling a story. The farm child is written with informal language and as thought the poet is giving a lecture, on the characteristics of a village boy. I found farm child’s structure easier to understand and define, as it simpler.
The rhyme scheme in farm child links the rhyming lines together by using both internal rhyme and a few couplets. It has a simple tripping almost childlike rhythm, use or rhyme, e.g. flowers and hours, half rhyme and consonance all suggest discordance in the poem. The rhyme scheme is ABBA CDC EDE k which is relatively simple and regular.
In the evacuee every verse is an iambic pentameter with no rhyme. Although emjambement used in the first verse, makes the lines flow from one to the next. This feeling of continuity stops at the last line of the first verse, with a word using many harsh syllables. “Un-in-hi-bi-ted din.”
Although the farm child is a short poem, it is a fairly structured one, whilst the evacuee is much longer and mostly unstructured. Farm child has a simple rhyming scheme whilst the evacuee has one.
Farm child has an appealing rhyme scheme, which I prefer to the evacuee’s non-structured body, as I enjoy poetry with a rhyming scheme.
The language used in farm child is not Standard English, it is informal language. It is written in a childish manner to coincide with the child in the poem. “His head is stuffed with all the nests he knows.” This is not seen as formal English and helps show how childish the poem is. The informal conversational tone encourages the reader to relate to the subject of the poem.
The language used in the evacuee is also to an extent informal English, as it seems to be written, like farm child, in a conversational tone and manner. The first verse is written more in this manner than the second and third. These seem to be written in the manner of an outsider, similar to how it is written in farm child.
I find the farm child’s use of language more appealing as it is less descriptive and more to the point.
The poet analyses the boy in farm child. Almost as a subject of a lecture. He raises him for scrutiny by using words such as “look” “mark” and “notice”. These are all words to encourage observation, but it is written in irony, as we cannot see he boy only the poet can. The poet seems objective, the poets overall tone is one of analysis and scrutiny.
The poet of the evacuee is telling a story, as this is a narrative poem. He writes as though he is an eyewitness to the child’s movements since she has awoken.
I prefer the farm child because it feels as though you are being spoken to directly by the poet, and his use of informal language made me feel involved.
I find that farm child is a more interesting poem as it is a short poem that immediately makes clear what it talks of, it leads directly to a conclusion, Using clear concise language. It makes the reader analyze the ten lines in order to interpret the message it is giving. I feel the evacuee is too unstructured for my tastes and the meaning is too clear and simple.