Comparing Poems 'November And Mark Bibbins' Groupie

Dave Lucas’s “November” and Mark Bibbins’ “Groupie” have similar themes and tone but different topics, settings, and poetic stylings. These poems express the melancholy of unrelated endings. By exploring the poet’s goals and examining theme, tone, poetic diction, end-stop, enjambment, and use of color in imagery, the reader can see how the poems reflect each other in their exploration of mournful endings.

Both poets aim to share the persona’s feelings of melancholy at the passing of an exciting time period. The persona in “November” mourns the loss of October’s bright hues and begrudgingly settles in for the gray of winter. In “Groupie” the persona mourns the loss of adoration and settles in to watch the slow motion train wreck of the dysfunctional groupie and rock star relationship. Both poems express disenchantment through the themes of change, endings, and inevitable decay. These poems

Lucas uses poetic diction to elevate his poetry. With less formal use of language his poem would be reduced to an obnoxious complaint. However, the use of hyphen to connect “leaf-lisp” “cold-tea” and “struck-match-sweet” elevates the diction of the poem and triggers sensory responses; the vision of fallen leaves swirling, the feel of the cold, wet air, and the smell of the sulfur match head mingles with the sweet-smell of early decay (Lucas 2,4). Bibbins uses poetic diction not so much to elevate his text, but to imbibe the poem with more meaning. He uses double entendre and more metonymy when presenting the new girl as “a rail to rail against” which not only describes the way the rockstar views his groupies but also conveys the groupies’ ideas of themselves (Bibbins 11). The new girl’s function is shared in that line; like the other groupies she is with the band for the band members to use as they see fit. The vulgarity and slang in the poem is juxtaposed with the layers of meaning created by Bibbins ingenious word choice and