Comparing Love after Love and This Room
The two poems with which I compare each other are both poems of
celebration. Celebration of life, love and your identity. The first is
“Love after Love” by Derek Walcott. This poem is about self-discovery.
Walcott suggests that we spend years assuming an identity, but
eventually discover who we really are - and this is like two different
people meeting and making friends and sharing a meal together. Walcott
presents this in terms of the love feast or Eucharist of the Christian
church - “Eat...Give wine. Give bread.” And it is not clear whether
this other person is merely human or in some way divine, this is also
an imperative which would suggest that they are divine and so have a
right to give orders. But it could just be advice.
The second poem, with which I will be comparing “Love after Love” is
Imtiaz Dharker’s “This room” a poem again, about the joys of life and
how it should be enjoyed and absorbed. This is a quite puzzling poem,
if we try to find an explicit and exact interpretation - but its
general meaning is clear enough, it suggests that Imtiaz Dharker sees
rooms and furniture as possibly limiting or imprisoning one, but when
change comes, it is as if the room “is breaking out of itself” this
line is obviously a metaphor, which I believed to mean that the room
is alive and it is liberating itself.., I think this means that if the
mere room is doing this, that you should liberate yourself. She
presents this rather literally, with a bizarre or surreal vision of
room, bed and chairs breaking out of the house and rising up - the
chairs “crashing through clouds” suggesting upward motion. The
crockery, meanwhile, crashes together noisily “in celebration”. And...
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... “This Room” In the poem our homes and possessions symbolize
our lives and ambitions in a limiting sense, while change and new
opportunities are likened to space, light and “empty air”, where there
is an opportunity to move and grow. Like Walcott’s Love after Love, it
is about change and personal growth - but at an earlier point, or
perhaps at repeated points in one's life.
In my opinion, both poems do an excellent job of encouraging a love of
life, and making it seem very attractive and using metaphors for it to
make it seem less serious. This is definitely a good thing. Both tell
that you should live your life as you wish and should take advantage
of every second of it. To conclude, I believe these poems both hold a
strong moral point. Why should you become someone else to satisfy
society’s needs? The resounding answer from both poems? You shouldn’t.
Firstly, the speaker brings up the fact that “the only two rooms in the house with the walls that reached all the way up to the ceiling and doors that opened and closed, were the bathroom and the darkroom.” Through addressing that the two rooms with the highest walls are the bathroom and darkroom, Kay is emphasizing the fact the darkroom is a private place which is why it is cut off from the rest of the house much like a bathroom. By including these details she is insinuating the fact that it is a sacred space. The bathroom is also a room that is an essential space in the house and so, by comparing the two rooms, Kay is demonstrating that the darkroom is an inherent need. To the speaker’s mother, the darkroom is more than just a hobby, it is an essential part of her life. Furthermore, by describing the darkroom in great detail Kay allows the reader to better visualize what the darkroom looks like, ultimately transforming the space into a main character of the poem. Additionally, by including the fact that the speaker’s mother “built herself a darkroom” and refers to it as her “home” she is once again reiterating the fact that photography used to be much more of an art and those who took part in the hobby put in an abundance of effort to master their
Inside the house there were “piles of Tupperware and glass dishes” (19). Outside there was a shed, garden, trees, and a river. There was an office. There were “brass numbers” hanging “on the front porch” (19).
Although both poems are set in the same environment, and that the visual structure of the poems are similar. Once you look deeper and analysis the poems it becomes clear that they have been written in very different styles, and very different but as powerful emotions running through them i.e. grief and resignment. One poet has a future to look forward to; the other knows that death is around the corner. One poet could not have for scene a death, the other is questioning weather the ‘black diamond dust’ was worth it on reflection.
There is a quote that is “All love is my love of love and love is not all loving” by David Bowie, I feel like this could relate to characters in “Harrison Bergeron” and Anthem because love is portrayed differently and the journey of discovering love could have been difficult. In “Harrison Bergeron” it was more taken in the future and the problem was trying to keep everyone equal when it came to everything. In Anthem the dystopia was trying to go back to when there was not a numerous amount of information to also keep everyone equal. “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and Anthem by Ayn Rand are both pieces of dystopian literature, their portrayal
In all poems the theme of Disappointment in love is seen throughout. Duffy focuses on the pain, despair and acrimony that love can bring, whereas Larkin focuses on the dissatisfaction before, during, and after a romantic relationship. Both Duffy and Larkin differ in tone. Duffy takes a more aggressive and dark stance to portray what love can do to a person after a disappointing love life. Duffy also uses this sinister and aggressive stance to try and convey sympathy for the persona from the audience in ‘Never Go Back’ and ‘Havisham’ Whereas Larkin conveys his discontent in love through his nonchalant and dismissive tone, but still concealing the pain that has been brought by love in ‘Wild Oats’ and ‘Talking in bed’.
Later in the poem, the same wealthy women from the Ladies’ Betterment Society decide they want to donate some of their immense wealth to charity, specifically to a local poor house. When the women visit the poor house to see where their donated money would go, they are unable to stop comparing the poor house conditions with those of their mansions. The women lament how "Nothing is sturdy, nothing is majestic," (42) in the poor house when compared to their expensive homes. In the eyes of the wealthy women, the poor house is the complete opposite of their expensive homes in every way from the poor house’s lack of cleanliness to its feeble structure. In fact, the use of descriptive adjectives such as “majestic” further emphasizes characteristics the poor house lacks. The image of wealth and power that the use of “majestic” evokes shatters as the negative word, “nothing,” removes any perception of grandness. This contradiction of the image of wealth demonstrates the large differences between the women and the impoverished. The rich women cannot help but be completely overwhelmed by the harsh reality of the daily living conditions of the poor when compared to their relatively
Furthermore, Oliver clearly demonstrates the point that you do not have to follow society’s rules to be happy in her poem, “Wild Geese,” by using free form structure for a poem that does not rhyme. Many poems rhyme. By not rhyming or following a set structure, Oliver demonstrates that the poem does not need to follow the normal requirements for a poem to have meaning. The poem begins with a bold statement: “You do not have to be good.” The first line does not have a rhythm or pattern, which further demonstrates the further delineation from the status quo of poetry in this poem. The difference in structure between this poem and many others helps to set the poem and its message apart fro...
kitchen. The message of the poem is of praise for simplicity of spirit and the
As soon as the poem begins, the reader detects a feeling of melancholy. The opening line "The Muses are turned gossips" immediately creates a negative tone. Muses (inspirations) are usually thought of as being good and uplifting, here they are being turned into something that is generally thought of as being bad. As the poem continues, a sense of sarcasm can be detected at the end of the author's reference to this day. She details the way the women ("domestic Muse") come from where they live in a most woeful way "prattling on" and going by mud where there are drowning flies and an old shoe. Then she ends this section by saying, "Come, Muse; and sing the dreaded Washing-Day." If something is dreaded, a person is not going to be singing about it, even though the men would probably like to see that. The description of marriage in the next line is interestingly negative. " Beneath the yoke of wedlock bend,..." a yoke is put on an ox which is a beast of burden! I suppose the women feel exactly this way because they seem to have no choice in the matter.
The Tallahassee Hispanic Theatre presented Nights of Ephemeral Love written by Paloma Pedro on June 10, 2016 at the Augusta Conradi Studio Theatre in Tallahassee, Fl. The play is exactly what it says, a night of ephemeral love. The production consisted of three one act plays, each play representing a relationship that involved love and attraction. The seven talented cast members performed the show hilariously making each moment full of laughter and drama.
Similarly, the furniture in the house is as sullen as the house itself. What little furniture is in the house is beaten-up; this is a symbol of the dark setting. The oak bed is the most important p...
“Complexion don’t mean a thing, it all feels the same, you like it, I love it” - Told by Kendrick Lamar. Love is a strong feeling, both being portrayed in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and in Tate Taylor’s movie The Help. To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in Maycomb Alabama during the Jim Crow era. Although there is a lot of hate taken place in the book, it also shows plenty of love. Atticus, a white man, father of two, and a well respected lawyer sees everyone as equal. The Help takes place in Mississippi also during the Jim Crow era. Mississippi is home to Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, a white woman, single daughter, and a newspaper writer. Skeeter was born and raised to love and that's what Skeeter did, color blew over Eugenia’s head. Atticus
If there were no policemen or firefighters, or army. The world would be in danger or even destroyed. Heroes help people in need and who are in harm’s way without being asked. Heroes are not picked by the society or the world. They choose to help society and we have to thank them for that. Anyone can be a hero, but you have to be up for the challenge. The guts it takes for the army to go to work everyday for the country. Heroism means to save people or to take care of people in need, heroes are brave, courageous, and intelligent.
In the second stanza, the woman shows her emotions. The woman’s tone changes as she sees flowers moving freely while she is not moving freely as she walks through the garden dressed in a stiff, brocaded gown. “I walk down the garden-paths, and all the daffodils are blowing, and the bright blue squills” (p. 370). The speaker describes daffodils and other types of flowers moving freely in the winds. The woman in the poem wishes she can move freely and confidently like the flowers. She was not allowed to show any emotions for her lover who was killed in combat. Society expected some patterns from her, and that is what she did. In the third stanza, the speaker tells us how the woman was angry and frustrated for not allowing her to show any feelings. She does not want to be trapped in her brocaded gown. She wants to be loose. “Underneath my stiffened gown is the softness of a woman bathing in a marble basin, a basin in the midst of hedges grown so thick, is near” (p. 371). On the inside, she expresses her emotions and what she truly feels. She feels as if there is not softness anywhere about her being confined by whalebone and brocades. The speaker continues to live up to the expectations society enforces upon her. The last stanza the woman sees that that everything in her life is stiff as her brocade. Her patterns cannot be broken as the
As we all know, life reflects Poetry, poetry nurture each soul, poetic beauty of salvation. That is the unchanging values seem to never change in the lives of each of us. When I was young, my mom put me to sleep by the soothing poem. So, I was familiar with the verse. Last week, I read two poems “As I Walked out one evening” and the “The more loving one”, which were written by W.H. Auden. English is m second language, so it is hard to understand the English’s poem by form or theme. However, that is an interesting experience for me anyway. After read, I really like both of them, but I prefer the “As I walked out one evening”, because it relates to human condition such as the lovers and the clocks.