The two poems I am going to compare are Mid-Term Break by Seamus Heaney
and Death Be Not Proud by John Donne.
The first poem I am going to study is a poem by Seamus Heaney called
Mid-Term Break.
Seamus Heaney was born in County Derry into a farming background. He
attended St. Columb’s College in Derry where he was a border. Heaney
went on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
The poet’s title Mid-Term Break is somewhat ambiguous as it would
suggest a holiday of some sort, whereas, the poem is actually about
the death of Heaney’s young brother who was killed in a tragic
accident.
The thoughts of death are brought to the fore almost immediately as
the poem begins with a funeral note in line two:
‘…counting bells knelling classes to a close.’
The word ‘knelling’ reminds the poet of the church bells tolling for a
funeral.
In the second stanza we are aware that the tragedy which has occurred
is different as funerals usually did not disturb his father in the way
that this one had.
Heaney recalls the embarrassment he felt when the adults sympathised
with him and paid his deference saying ‘they were sorry for my
trouble.’ This seemed to perplex him as it was a reversal of roles.
There is a sense of alienation in the forth stanza when he heard the
whispers of the neighbours, apart from his mother’s hand in his. His
mother seems to be trying to control her emotions but is clearly
outraged by what has happened.
When Heaney’s brother is returned home, the poet refers to his brother
as a ‘corpse’. This seems to suggest that Heaney is emotionally
detached but it could just be a case of denial.
Heaney injects a note of tranquillity to the poem when he describes
the ‘snowdrops’ and ‘candles’. ...
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... hand, deals with the mystery and fear that sounds
death. Although we will all have to die eventually it is still
something that scares us but Donne tries to alleviate those fears by
telling us that death is just another part of life that will lead us
to eternity.
Heaney seemed to be emotionally detached throughout his poem until the
final line whereas Donne was very passionate about his feeling from
the start.
When I first read both poems I was drawn instantly towards Mid-Term
Break only because of the simplicity of the language. However, after
carefully studying both poems my preference now lies with Death Be Not
Proud. It is an interesting poem that expresses the act of dying as
something natural and pleasant; abandoning the reputation it has for
being frightening or powerful. It expresses that death is not the end
of life, but only the beginning.
The civil rights movement may have technically ended in the nineteen sixties, but America is still feeling the adverse effects of this dark time in history today. African Americans were the group of people most affected by the Civil Rights Act and continue to be today. Great pain and suffering, though, usually amounts to great literature. This period in American history was no exception. Langston Hughes was a prolific writer before, during, and after the Civil Rights Act and produced many classic poems for African American literature. Hughes uses theme, point of view, and historical context in his poems “I, Too” and “Theme for English B” to expand the views on African American culture to his audience members.
also be seen as a man who enjoyed killing but must come up with an
As Edgar Allan Poe once stated, “I would define, in brief the poetry of words as the rhythmical creation of beauty.” The two poems, “Birthday,” and “The Secret Life of Books” use different diction, theme, and perspective to give them a unique identity. Each author uses different literary devices to portray a different meaning.
There are many similarities and differences between the two poems: “When We Two Parted”, written by Lord Bryon, and “La Belle Dames Sans Merci”, written by John Keats. I shall be exploring these poems and seeing connections and differences between them, so that I am able to compare them.
There are diseases in the world that we can touch and see and there are those which we cannot feel or see. Depression and suicide are one of the few that are not physical diseases but mental. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of deaths in America, and 20-25% of Americans eighteen and older have depression. The two poems ‘Summer Solstice, New York City’ by Sharon Olds, and ‘The Mill’ by Edwin Arlington Robinson are both discussing the different ways that suicide and depression can affect an individual. The first poem by Sharon Olds goes into details of suicide prevention whereas the poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson goes into the details of how suicide and death affect the loved ones of the deceased.
Imagine you were the rose trying to grow in concrete; would you have made it out or die trying or maybe you just gave up. So think about it, what would you have really done? The poem “The Rose that Grew from Concrete” is about a rose that grew in concrete a metaphor that shows that you have to get past your problems to succeed. And the poem “Mother to Son” is about a mother explaining how hard life is a metaphor. Both poems share the theme of You have to rise above the obstacles, but the way the authors developed the theme was similar and different.
on: April 10th 1864. He was born in 1809 and died at the age of 83 in
In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by the name of Langston Hughes. A well-known writer that still gets credit today for pomes like “ Theme for English B” and “Let American be American Again.”
The two poems I have chosen to explain are Piano by D H Lawrence and
A poem by E.E. Cummings and Langston Hughes appeared to share some similarities. The poems are “i sing of Olaf glad and big” and “I, Too” and both are closely related to Walt Whitman’s, Song of Myself. Whitman wrote a long poem celebrating himself. Cummings writes about how war is considered good, but Olaf feels very opinionated about the topic. Cummings express his opinions through this character, "i sing of Olaf glad and big/ whose warmest heart recoiled at war"(1-2). Cummings informs the reader that Olaf recoils at the topic of war which indicates that Cummings too dislikes war. Hughes poem expresses his thoughts about the topic of racism. In the poem hughes says, “I, too, sing America”(1), which goes along with the title of Cummings poem. Both authors talked about touchy subjects around their time period. I think both brought back the whole idea of Whitman’s “Song of myself” of being out of society’s norms of keeping opinions to oneself.
The Romantic period brought a new outlook on how people viewed the world. The fight for individual rights was a major cause for the sudden change. There were too many rules that held people back from being able to express themselves. Once they began to broaden their ideas and practice new motives whether it was political, or emotional, it brought freedom of expression. Many poets took the chance to enlighten their readers on their works. They would write in order to paint a picture and gave more detailed descriptions of the conscious mind. For these poets it brought many people to enjoy their freedom of speech and encouraged a new way of thinking.
‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ and ‘The Preservation of Flowers’: two notable poems, two very different styles of writing. This essay will look at their contrasts and similarities, from relevant formal aspects, to the deeper meanings hidden between the lines. We will examine both writers use of rhyme scheme, sound patterning, word choice, figurative language and punctuation. It will also touch a little on the backgrounds of the writers themselves and their inspirations, with the intention of gaining a greater understanding of both texts.
Although many African Americans can easily lose their identity due to the oppression they face, the tone in Claude McKay’s and Langston Hughes’ poems show that fighting back for equality will allow them to maintain their identity. In McKay’s poem “If We Must Die,” he talks about the issue of lynching. African Americans were being lynched for no reason without getting a say in what happened. In response he says, “Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack, / Pressed to the wall dying, but fighting back!” (McKay). Although the white Americans were trying to put them down, they are refusing to leave without a fight. McKay uses the word “we” to emphasize that this is a problem for many African Americans. He is speaking to the
forced to watch one of his men die after failing to put his gas mask
This poem that I am going to be focusing on is titled "Ode to Autumn",