Compare How the Idea of Leadership Is Presented in Next to of Course God America I and Hawk Roosting

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The poems next to of course god america i and Hawk Roosting share a number of themes however substantially differ in the way they are written. The poem next to of course god america i in my opinion is a transcript of almost a debate between two people and features the speech of two people. There is a strong political leader and patriot who is talking about his views on the subject of war however his speech has then been taken and paraphrased by the speaker who adds mockery and sarcasm to the speech. For example in lines 4 to half way through line five. It says tis of countries come and go and are no more what of it, this line implies that the patriot is very dramatic but then the speaker mocks the patriot by putting “what of it”. This is very different to the poem Hawk Roosting as the poem describes a Hawks perception of itself. The hawk is arrogant and can be compared to a dictator as he considers himself all-powerful. Both poems share the theme of violence and talk about power, however how these themes are addressed are very different. The form of both poems is very different. next to of course god america I is not an easy poem to read and understand as it does not use punctuation or capital letters. It appears to be one continuous speech however if we look deeper it is a speech delivered by a patriot (possibly a politician) which an opposition is attempting to undermine by using sarcasm and other devices to make the message less effective. The patriot is strongly patriotic and this sentiment can easily be observed just by looking at the title of the poem which lists the three things the patriot cares about in order; God, America, I. The true meaning of this poem is hard to appreciate however once the meaning has been understood the poem becomes a lot more enjoyable. This poem uses a relatively new satirical device; the use of allusive quotations or fragments

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