A Comparison of Poetry of Different Cultures Each poem is unique in its own way. They are all aimed at a specific thing or try to get a message across to the reader. But then again, many poems may well be related to one another. They may be related in an obvious way or a way which is more intricate and harder to identify. 'Night of the Scorpion' and 'Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes' are no exception. They are both unique yet they both are contrasting two things in the poem. In the poem 'Night of the Scorpion', Nissim Ezekiel compares the differences between one sceptic man and a whole village of superstitious people. In the poem 'Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes', Lawrence Ferlinghetti writes about the differences between the rich and poor. In the rest of this essay, I will compare these two poems. I will first describe each poem in separately and then compare the different aspects of the poems in together. Finally, I shall conclude the essay by writing the writer's intentions towards their poems. In 'Night of the Scorpion' Nissim Ezekiel remembers "the night" his "mother was stung by a scorpion". The poem is not really on the subject of the scorpion or its sting, but on the distinguishing reactions of the family, neighbours and his father, with the mother's dignity and courage. The scorpion is said to be sheltering from ten hours of rain, but so fearful of people that it "risks the rain again" after stinging the poet's mother. This shows the scorpion as a fearful and apprehensive creature. After the scorpion has bitten the mother, the peasants make effort to "pa... ... middle of paper ... ...at 'all men are created equal' - and the red light is democratic, because it stops everyone. It holds them together "as if anything at all were possible between them". They are separated by a "small gulf" and the gulf is "in the high seas of this democracy" - which suggests that, with courage and effort, anyone can cross it. But because the poet started this statement with "as if", we do not know if this is an illusion or a real possibility. Ultimately, both these poems 'Night of the Scorpion' and 'Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes' contrast the different aspects of culture and primary views of people and communities. Each person or community have different beliefs on how to deal with various problems. In some cases, their specific customs are able to work and in other cases, they are not.
As you can see, upon looking at both pieces of writing from a different angle, there is always the opportunity for different interpretations. It is certain that a deeper analysis will give even more possible themes and common topics. Now that you have seen how each of these can be read in more than one way, hopefully you can read other pieces of poetry, attain different meanings for them and have greater love and knowledge for poetry in general.
Literature shows us the changes of our society from time to time. It also gives us an idea about people, culture, politics, gender traditions, as well as an overall view of previous civilizations. As a part of literature, poetry introduces us to different cultures with different perspectives. Ancient Egypt and ancient China may differ in terms of culture, politics, economic stability, tradition, or even in religious belief. However, in poetry, especially in love lyrics both Egyptian and Chinese poems portray common area of describing women, social attitudes toward love, sexuality and the existence of romance or selfishness in relationships. . If we look at the Egyptian poem “My god, my Lotus” and the Chinese poem “Fishhawk”, we will see both poems have similarities in describing relationships. Also, they have the similarity of imagining the lovers and their expression of love toward each other. However, both poems have some significant differences in terms of representing female sexuality, gender disparity and the display of love.
Looking back at the narratives and the significance of the poems in them is that many of the poems are inspired by nature around the authors. Also, the poems provide more of the voice of the authors instead of just the voice of the narrator and helps present the emotional tones of the characters in the narratives to the reader so that there can be more of a connection to it when it is being read. The poems make for a simple addition to the narrative and allows for a much more meaningful experience for a reader and makes for a much more engrossing story, thus adding to the to experience as a whole.
on: April 10th 1864. He was born in 1809 and died at the age of 83 in
In the essay I hope to explain why I picked each poem and to suggest
This darkly satiric poem is about cultural imperialism. Dawe uses an extended metaphor: the mother is America and the child represents a younger, developing nation, which is slowly being imbued with American value systems. The figure of a mother becomes synonymous with the United States. Even this most basic of human relationships has been perverted by the consumer culture. The poem begins with the seemingly positive statement of fact 'She loves him ...’. The punctuation however creates a feeling of unease, that all is not as it seems, that there is a subtext that qualifies this apparently natural emotional attachment. From the outset it is established that the child has no real choice, that he must accept the 'beneficence of that motherhood', that the nature of relationships will always be one where the more powerful figure exerts control over the less developed, weaker being. The verb 'beamed' suggests powerful sunlight, the emotional power of the dominant person: the mother. The stanza concludes with a rhetorical question, as if undeniably the child must accept the mother's gift of love. Dawe then moves on to examine the nature of that form of maternal love. The second stanza deals with the way that the mother comforts the child, 'Shoosh ... shoosh ... whenever a vague passing spasm of loss troubles him'. The alliterative description of her 'fat friendly features' suggests comfort and warmth. In this world pain is repressed, real emotion pacified, in order to maintain the illusion that the world is perfect. One must not question the wisdom of the omnipotent mother figure. The phrase 'She loves him...' is repeated. This action of loving is seen as protecting, insulating the child. In much the same way our consumer cultur...
All the poems you have read are preoccupied with violence and/or death. Compare the ways in which the poets explore this preoccupation. What motivations or emotions do the poets suggest lie behind the preoccupation?
The two poems I have chosen to explain are Piano by D H Lawrence and
The lyric poems in the ancient times are presented in the first person point of view. Since lyric poetry expresses the personal and emotional feelings of a speaker, Sappho’s poems, Abu Nawar’s verses, Egyptian poems, and Neo-Christian Aztec poems explore the emotions of the speakers as they describe their culture, lifestyle, and tradition. These verses depict the passion, love, and perspectives of the ancient civilizations
In his preface of the Kokinshū poet Ki no Tsurayaki wrote that poetry conveyed the “true heart” of people. And because poetry declares the true heart of people, poetry in the minds of the poets of the past believed that it also moved the hearts of the gods. It can be seen that in the ancient past that poetry had a great importance to the people of the time or at least to the poets of the past. In this paper I will describe two of some of the most important works in Japanese poetry the anthologies of the Man’yōshū and the Kokinshū. Both equally important as said by some scholars of Japanese literature, and both works contributing greatly to the culture of those who live in the land of the rising sun.
The first differences in these poems are the speakers. A speaker is the person that is delivering the poem (Literary
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Emily Dickinson, and Walt Whitman all use different varieties of themes, mood, structure and literary devices throughout their poetry. Poetry uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language. Poetry has been around for years, even back in the early 1900’s.
...each a resolution by the end of the poem. Both meter and rhyme are very essential in building a solid, yet fluid structure to each poem.
During the Tang Dynasty, Li Po and Tu Fu have reigned the literary world with their poetry. Their writing techniques and themes in their poetry allow them to stand out amongst other poets at the time. With the unique aspects and images these poets write about, they distinguish the similarities between themselves and contain different intensities in their poetry. While Li Po has a more relaxed tone to his poetry, Tu Fu deals with the serious aspects of life such as war, poverty, and suffering.
There are an assorted of various characteristics included in poetry including Rhyme, Rhythm, and Mood. Some poems use rhyming words to create a certain effect but not all poems rhyme, poetry that doesn’t rhyme is called “free verse poetry”. Sometimes poets use repetition of sounds or patterns to create a musical effect in their poems, rhythm can be created by using the same number of words or syllables in each line of a poem. Rhythm can be described as the beat of the poem. The mood of a poem is the feeling that it has. A poem can be sad, gloomy, humorous, happy, etc. There are many more various characteristics in poetry including shape, figurative language, descriptive imagery, punctuation and format, sound and tone, and choice of