Explore How the Poets Express Their Concerns About the Environment in the Poems Give and Take by Roger Mcgough and Report to Wordsworth by Boey Kim Cheng.

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In the world we live in, humans have evolved intellectually and developed an understanding and appreciation of our environment and why we need to preserve it. Many poets have been inspired by the environment and nature, two poems which express concerns about our modern day environment are Give and Take by Roger McGough and Report to Wordsworth by Boey Kim Cheng. Both poems speak about nature and what we are doing to harm our world, our home. The poem Give and Take by McGough is from the perspective of Earth. The poem uses direct speech, starting every second line with ‘you’ and every other with ‘I’. This causes the reader to feel involved in the poem, almost as if Earth is talking to ‘you’ the reader. However this does not mean Report to Wordsworth lacks direct speech, words like you, we etc are used throughout the poem, however the poet is not speaking to the reader in this particular manner. Yes he is trying to get his point across to whoever may be reading, nevertheless Cheng is speaking to an early poet named William Wordsworth who had a deep love for nature in his time. 1770-1850. Cheng is using direct speech to talk to Wordsworth who is clearly dead. Why does he do this? Wordsworth is a symbol, of a poet who centuries ago cared about the environment, Cheng is using this form of symbolism to point out the fact that if Wordsworth was alive today, to see what us modern day, so called ‘evolved’ humans are doing to our home, he would be distraught. Both poets care about the environment, and both poets are personifying something, McGough personifies the Earth by giving it a voice and Cheng personifies the late William Wordsworth. Secondly, both poets concentrate and give examples of what humans are doing to the Earth and how we are harming it. McGough focuses on what the Earth gives to us, and what we transform or give in return. ‘I give you mountains, You give me

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