Difference in Tone

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“Difference in Tone” The poems that I will be comparing and contrasting are Nazim Hikmet’s “Since I Was Thrown Inside,” and Arthur Nortje’s “Letter from Pretoria General Prison.” Both of these poems consist of narrators who are serving time for crimes committed. “Letter from Pretoria General Prison,” describes an inmate’s typical day and gives insight into what prison is like. “ Since I was Thrown Inside,” describes how life seems to passing an inmate by and how he or any inmate is merely meaningless in the eyes of time and life. These poems are definitely similar in terms of the circumstances in which the narrators are in but are completely different in terms of tone and overall content. “Letter from Pretoria General Prison” does not have a rhyme scheme and even though it is a poem, it has more of a descriptive feel to it. The poem seems to follow a hexameter format that is it has 6 stresses per line of poetry. As previously stated the poetic form that this poem seems to portray is descriptive. Throughout the poem I felt as if Arthur Nortje was trying to take me through a day in the life of an inmate and how it seems to be more enjoyable and pleasant which is contrary to the very idea of prison. Alliteration was used in, “Forge a forgetfulness,” and a simile was used in, “ like sparks in a furnace,” and allusion was used, “I read books, Jane Austen/for elegant agreeableness.” Imagery was definitely used throughout this poem. The whole poem seemed to appeal to the senses. For example, “ Trees are green beyond the wall, leaves through the mesh are cool in sunshine.” Another example is, “ The bell wakes me at 6 in the pale spring dawn with the familiar rumble of the guts negotiating murky corridors that smell of bodies.” Both of these quotations show how Nortje poem appeals to the senses of smell and sight. I think Nortje uses imagery in this way to bring the

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