Similarities And Differences In Limbo And Hurricane Hits England

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Similarities and Differences in ‘Limbo’ and ‘Hurricane Hits England’. Grace Nichols and Edward Brathwaithe, the poets of ‘Limbo’ and ’Hurricane Hits England’, express many similar and different emotions, throughout their poems. They show feelings of anger, pain, relief and sorrow through the structure and through particular phrases in their poem. In both poems, ‘Limbo ’and ‘Hurricane Hits England’, the poets express the feelings of anger and pain. For example, in ‘Hurricane hit England’, Grace Nichols says ‘Talk to me Huracan, Talk to me Oya’. ‘Huracan’ and ’Oya’ are both gods and Goddesses of some sort of destruction or cause of pain. It suggests that since she wants to ‘talk’ with them, she is begging them to guide her and perhaps cause …show more content…

In ‘Limbo’, the poet describes the ship by saying the ‘long dark deck.’ The ‘long’ may foreshadow the long days of hardship through working on the sugar plantation, after the middle passage. Near the end of the poem, he states that ‘the music is saving him’, which is followed by the ‘burning ground’. ‘Music’ is usually considered relaxing and for leisure, so this may suggest that the music was the small amount of relief he felt before he was lowered off the ship. The ‘burning ground’ which follows it, seems a painful experience since it may foreshadow the amount of heat and pain they will suffer in the future. The poet seems to indicate that the ‘burning ground’ is only the start and from what we know about the torture that the slaves were put through, they would endure more hardship. While in ‘Hurricane Hits England’, Grace Nichols looks at how a ‘hurricane’ could finally make her feel relief and change things. A ‘hurricane’ is an extremely dangerous type of storm and usually brings some sort of devastation or disaster to an area. Due to its consequences, it could suggest that the ‘hurricane’ represents the disasters and bad events in her life, which she had to suffer through and experienced hardship. ‘Reaping havoc’ indicates the destruction of the ‘hurricane’. The ‘reaping’ is a repetitive action and may indicate that many …show more content…

In ‘Hurricane hits England’, Nichols begins to talk about ‘breaking the frozen lake’. The word ’break’ is a harsh action, which may signify the importance of doing it. The ‘frozen lake’ is something that traps everything beneath it until it melts or breaks. This could mean that the ‘frozen lake’ is the resentment that she has been harbouring a long time. The length of time may be indicated by the fact that it is ‘frozen’. Grace Nichols, at the end, is finally letting go of all the hatred towards those that harmed her ancestors by ‘breaking the frozen lake’. Breaking it may suggest the feelings of relief and happiness, in the end. However, in ‘Limbo’, the poet expresses continuous pain and distraught. Brathwaite states that ‘the music is saving me’ but then, follows it with ‘the burning ground’. The ‘the music saving me’ suggests that there is calmness and some hint of positivity in the end. We can infer this as the word ‘saving’ is seen as a positive and a heroic act and not anything negative. The ‘burning ground’ indicates excruciating pain and torture. This helps us infer that due to the emotions that the poet expresses, the ending is not one of relief but of

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