English as Assignment U.K

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English Literature: AS Level Literary Analysis; Assignment 1 The two poems refer to religion and the biblical story of Christ’s birth. Each poem begins with a descriptive scene establishing a particular mood in different ways, the first poem is done through using a third person ‘narrator’, who introduces us straight away to Saint Stephen in the 1st stanza, line, 1 ‘Saint Stephen was clerk in King Herod’s hall’. The name “Herod” tells us of a ancient king and kingdom and if you are familiar with bible stories and its themes or have watched films such as Ben-Hur (1959) or ‘Cleopatra’ (1963) you can imagine this biblical kingdom, full of riches, opulent colours and palaces of Roman and Greek, Egyptian and Assyrian architect. Concerning Stephen, the word “Saint” immediately implies that ‘Stephen’ is of a good character, gentle, pious, pure, qualities usually associated with a saint. The reference to is position, in line 2 ‘he served of cloth and bread’, cleverly portrays Stephen as a humble servant and in a subtle way the poet is informing us that “Stephen” as a servant is someone who is ‘obedient’ with no desire to pursue a ‘high status’ other than to serve, this is no different to that of a ‘saint’ and saints have no desire for material living other than to live a life of servitude. Perhaps, I am implying too much to the poem on the whole but in my opinion the first two lines gives depth and offers a moral message to the reader. In contrast T.S. Eliot, this poem is written from either the viewpoint of a magi or a fellow traveller and they are the first “narrator ‘reflecting’ and telling a story to us the ‘audience’, of their journey. The poem begins with a sombre introduction to winter lines 1-2 ‘A cold coming we had of it just the worst time of year” straight away the words ‘cold and worst year ’ conveys a visual image of a grey bitter winter. It
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