In These Two Poems, Gillian Clarke Gives The Impression Of Someone Who
Is Uncomfortable With Her Surroundings. Compare And Contrast Clarke's
Feelings About Violence, Change And The Attitude Of Those That
Perpetuate These Themes.
The intention of this essay is to compare the corresponding themes of
violence, change and the attitude of those who influence these themes
in the poems 'Jac Codi Baw' and 'No Hands'. Both poems are by Gillian
Clarke and give an insight into her feelings on modern society and the
way in which it disregards others feelings.
Clarke is obviously uncomfortable with the change that has, as she
sees, come so quickly. In 'Jac Codi Baw', Clarke seems most worried by
the suddenness of destruction-
"In the space of time it takes to fill a shopping bag". Clarke also
seems distressed by the transformation of a whole area, just by the
destruction of one building- "the hand-writing of a city will be
erased"; or in another way, the entire character of a city, or
particular part of that city is destroyed by the demolition of just
one [historic] building which gives that city its individuality.
In 'No Hands', Clarke approaches change from a different angle.
Whereas in 'Jac Codi Baw' change is seen as sudden and rapid, in 'No
Hands' change is more of a creeping tide, which does not make itself
immediately apparent. Clarke feels that the countryside is being
'invaded' by "silly boys" who "think they strum guitars". This refers
to the pilots of the warplanes, who do not know of Clarke's feelings
of intrusion and insecurity.
The use of peaceful words, to do with water and music, directly
contrast with the change intrusion that Clarke disagrees with-
"Shaking the world", the intrusion, follo...
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...use of the pilots apparent immaturity- "silly
boys", boy scaring boy", "all do and dare", "look at me, no hands" and
"lads high on speed" all relate to the pilots juvenile attitude.
Clarke reiterates the pilot's childish attitude by making the last
phrase ambiguous. This makes the point that the pilots act like they
are high on speed the drug, while actually just being high on the
speed of the planes. Clarke's unease is also with the thought that
these young men have entrusted to them, a multi-million pound
warplane, which they show off in as if they were using "surfboards
over crests".
In these two poems, Gillian Clarke has shown a passion, indeed almost
an obsession for preserving the 'old ways of life', particularly her
own. Her concerns are mainly about the needless change and violence in
modern life and the speed in which they can be brought about.
Black Swan Green and Letters to a Young Poet are stories with a central idea on the many aspects of beauty. Both of the works of literature share a character with a love for poetry. Black Swan Green and Letters to a Young Poet share a central idea but refine it differently. Each of the stories has characters who have a different opinion on the concept of beauty itself.
In a Time of Violence Boland sets out to shatter the myths of violence, and the history that so often led to it. Boland viewed political violence as dehumanizing the victims, while glamorizing the political cause. Her way of interpreting the political poem was to give insight into the victim’s lives through the lens of her personal world. It is Boland’s intentions as described in “That the Science of Cartography is limited” to write a new history, a correct history for In a Time of Violence. Boland’s approach and insight as a mother reveals the qualities that she would have for a society.
As this poem characterizes the view of a native woman expressing feelings of passion relating to her culture, it also criticizes society, in particular Christianity, as the speaker is experiencing feelings of discontent with the outcome of residential schools. It does not directly criticize the faith, but through the use of a heavy native dialect and implications to the Christian faith it becomes simple to read the speakers emotions.
‘War Photographer’ differs structurally from ‘Prayer Before Birth’. Firstly it is a narrative and the voice is the poet’s itself, as opposed to a persona. It also follows a conventional structure of 4 stanzas with an equal number of lines where each ends on a rhyming couplet as if to conclude argument. This also keeps the readers interested in the poem or the particular phrase as it creates a flow of rhythm. Alternatively, ‘Prayer before Birth’ is written in free verse and uses alliteration and assonance to create rhythm. The structure of the poem also supports this dichotomy in that there are two contrasting worlds: the world of war zones (‘Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh.’) and the quieter and calmer world of ‘Rural England’. The photographer is portrayed as a struggling man who wants to adapt back into ‘normal’ life having witnessed such tragedies. The war has made everyday life meaningless and trivial to him in comparison to the suffering experienced by others. The sentence structure also helps emphasise the contrast the poet is creating between everyday life back in leafy England and the shocking reality of a war zone.
Selfishness and inconvenience can lead to far worst conflict. In this poem, it shows how harsh and cruel life can be. There were many people dying every day and fighting for a living. However, for those who live in the peaceful areas, they basically did nothing about helping the world. The fact that they did not do anything about it, it’s because they only care about themselves and not willing to take a stand to solve the problem. In the poem of “It Is Dangerous to Read Newspapers” by Margaret Atwood. One way to read about this poem is that people should take responsibility to the things around them, it’s everyone’s obligation to help the world and help those who suffered from a disease, war, poverty and etc.
Literature and poetry are a reflection of society. The words are reflected in numerous feelings that we can almost touch and can be deeply felt in its reach. Most poets expressed their perception and emotion through their writings. Unfortunately the art and poetry describes one of the worst things that human can do to one another. The legalized murder called "war." Hence, this type of self-reflection called "poetry" has help create new fundamental ideas and values towards our society. In this essay, I will discuss the issue of the "War Poetry" during the "Great War" along with comparing and contrasting two talented renowned poets; Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) and Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967).
In the poem “Terminal Resemblance,” author, Louise Glück talks about her younger self and the complicated relationship with her father. Her father tells her that he will die soon and she does not know how to take it. Glück is not close with her father and never was before, even though he was always present in her life. When the father tries to connect with his daughter in the last conversation they have the speaker feels awkward because her father has never tried to have an emotional connection with her before so she focuses on her surroundings and notices how much life has changed while she was away. The speaker tries to focus on anything other than her father to avoid the fact that the father she was never close to is about to die.
Gwendolyn Bennett and Jean Toomer approach the use of violence in their writing from two opposite angles. In Bennett’s poem “Hatred”, this violence is explicitly stated against white people and the institution of racism. Toomer, on the other hand, employs this violence in a domestic context. Both poems make use of images of weapons and elements of nature. These images reconcile two completely different works of literature by establishing them firmly within the culture of the American South.
Poetry has been commonly associated with having abstract views, outdated entertainment value and old fashion sentimental notions, therefore holding little meaning in this modern and materialistic world. However, upon careful analysis poetry does, in fact, hold valuable parallels to today’s world, ultimately giving poetry an irrefutable importance in society. The idea of war is a prevalent aspect of society dating back to ancient civilisations. Originally it held heroic values, however, as time passed that changed to attitudes of horror, as young soldiers on the battlefield began to realise they were fighting in a vicious cycle and killing those who were similar to themselves. Wilfred Owen’s Strange Meeting captures these beliefs in a timeless poem creating seamless parallels to today’s modern world.
War is a controversial topic where people’s views differ at what war is, some people see it as pure evil and wicked while others think that it is brave and noble of what soldiers do. They look at poems which have been written by people affected by wars to show the contrast and the messages which are portrayed. Two poems which show different views of war are ‘the charge of the light brigade’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson and ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ by Wilfred Owen. Both these poets use linguistic devices to convince the reader of their view of what the war is.
Ferguson, Margaret, Mary Jo Salter and Jon Stallworthy, eds. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. 5th ed. New York and London: W. W. Norton, 2005.
“Ballad of Birmingham” evokes emotion by the use of conflict, irony, and imagery throughout the poem. In the dialogue between the mother and daughter we see a child who wants her voice to be heard, and a mother who refuses her child’s request by insisting that she go to church: a place that the mother deems to be safe and free from the hatred that will come from the impending confrontation. Randall’s choice to use the ballad form along with his strong words help us to feel the mother’s fear for her child and we assume the mother knew, from stories of previous marches, that dogs, clubs, and fire hoses will be used on the peaceful protestors. At the same time, ironically, the mother is detached from what is going on around her and one must wonder if she believes that the horrors will go away if she pretends it does not exist. The poem’s emotional and dramatic intensity is the fact that what begins as a normal conversation—a private moment between a mother and child, turns into a horror story at the end as the mother realizes that her fears have come to fruition, in what she considers the safest of places.
This creates a despair, of hopelessness and of downheartedness. The woman, on multiple occasions, wrote down, “And what can one do?” This lets the reader know that women as a whole were very oppressed in ...
How does Duffy use language to present the themes of power and conflict in her poem ‘War Photographer’
TOPIC SENTENCE The corruption of humanity is explored in depth in ‘War photographer’ through the form and structure of the poem. Humanity does appear corrupt to a great extent in ‘War Photographer’ where the hope is slowly decreasing as the poem progresses. This is shown through the use of language and structure present throughout the poem. ‘War Photographer’, the reader is given only an im...