The title ‘Nettles’ creates the thought of the severe stinging pain that the nettles produce that the reader will have experienced. The nettles within the poem can be taken both literally and metaphorically to represent the pain that the son will experience throughout life. In contrast, within the second poem, Larkin grants the cherished child a simple life full of ‘happiness’ and ‘not the usual stuff’. ‘Born Yesterday’ describes the normal wishes bestowed on new-borns that are overrated and that being average shouldn’t be overlooked. The title itself alludes to the idiom ‘I wasn’t born yesterday’ which compares the speaker’s intelligence beside the naïve child that literally was born few days ago.
She is able to achieve this in Father and Child, Mother who gave me life and a Valediction through allusions to music, juxtaposition, symbolism and imagery which help construct meaning and a sense of intimacy. Art is often an individuals response to their context. The human condition is such that there are distinct contending principles that individuals seek to reconcile (Hoddinott). Harwood fuses binaries such as reason and emotion; certainty and ambiguity in order to deal with the different facets of self and to engage readers who are from different periods. “Father and Child” is a poem about the growth and maturation of a person.
The poetry of Gwen Harwood deals with themes which reflect universal problems such as human existence, loss of innocence, unavoidable death as well as time, youth and age. Her poetry evokes the modern reader to take the opportunity and explore the different interpretations for the relentless movement of time, where she reflects on her childhood memories. The poem ‘The Violets’ and ‘Father and Child’ allow Harwood to recollect positive and negative incidents in her childhood, where she celebrates the power of memory to give life to the past. ‘The Violets’ reflect aspects of childhood and memory, which are idealised. It encompasses the growth of the persona from innocence to experience, where the child’s loss and change are evident.
in many ways these poems are similar, and very beautiful. In "A Barred Owl" and "The History Teacher", the two poets have similar meanings behind what their poems are saying, in that they both capture how a child's innocence is made by lies from adults. In "A Barred Owl", Richard Wilbur discusses how someone keeps the fears of life away from a child, for, "Words, which can make our terrors bravely clear, Can also thus domesticate a fear" (7-8). This is like "The History Teacher", by Billy Collins, because in the his poem, Collins introduces his interactions with the children with, "Trying to protect his students' innocence." (1).
How does Gwen Harwood lead you to share her concerns about aspects of the world? Gwen Harwood is a sophisticated poet who uses many means of writing to entice the reader to share her views on certain aspects of the world. Her poems demonstrate her worries in parenting and relationships within families. She also expresses fear of death and her interest in individuality. A collection of six poems demonstrates the techniques used by the poet to convey her messages and influence the reader to understand her concerns.
Both poems are rich in material, just waiting to be dug up, interpreted, and reinterpreted again. The poet`s different strategies on the usage of images and emotion, and other poetic devices really project an experience to the reader. My purpose is to, step by step, go through various poetic device, present the similarities and differences, convince you that both have similar roots, but also locate where poetic devices of the poems stem apart – particularly highlighting the effect on the child. Both poem`s overarching themes are of paternal, or family, dysfunction. Interestingly in “American Primitive”, the speaker initially purveys a sense of wonderment and admiration towards the father.
In The Power of One, although Hoppie influences Peekay for a short amount of time, he turns Peekay’s life around and leads him to his greatest passion, boxing. Hoppie realizes that Peekay’s brokenness and depression is caused by the kids at school who bully him for being a rooinek, and he shows Peekay compassion and kindness. Without Hoppie Peekay may have never been introduced to boxing or be proud to be a rooinek. With the loss of Granpa Chook fresh in his head, Peekay reaches his lowest point. He tries to camouflage himself so he does not stand out as a rooinek because the kids at school bully and discriminate against him because of his English heritage.
Milan Rakocevic Feb-7-2012 The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me In the short story of “Superman and Me”, Alexie explains the pain of growing up as an Indian on a reserve where Indians were expected to fail and be uneducated, but because Alexie is smart, arrogant and lucky he broke the mold. The pain he refers to is the pain of being repressed. As young children we like to be praised for our talents, instead Alexie was socially shunned by his peers; Told to keep quiet during class because his participation would some how expose his genius, setting a new standard for his Indian classmates. Alexie refers to himself as a prodigy but then goes on to write, “A smart Indian is a dangerous person, widely feared and ridiculed by Indians and non-Indians alike. I fought with my classmates on a daily basis.
When an individual embraces inner-discovery their identity is destabilised allowing them to access previously untold possibilities through the revelation of their purpose, values and passions in the journey of life. The concept of self-discovery and its ramifications on a person’s purpose in life is evident throughout Robert frost’s poetry including his poem “After Apple-picking”. In this poem Frost metaphorically recounts the persona’s inner journey of self-reflection, an important aspect of self-discovery in regards to building ones understanding of ones purpose in life. The concept is also manifest in the speech ‘A Journey of Self-Discovery’ by Tyler Devault. Devault expresses his personally opinion of the importance of self-discovery if an individual is to find their true purpose in life and demonstrates the ramifications of resisting self-discovery.
Waltrina D. Kirkland Mullins stated that: “Poetry is a blend of lyrical, rhythmic, kinesthetic motion that draws young learners in. The use of words and thoughts packaged in musical syllables and special structures helps to create a welcoming literary environment for even the most disinterested child” In my opinion, the purpose of poetry to young readers is to improve their reading skills, promote literacy, and create excitement and understanding for the literacy work. According to Gary R. Hess, The definition of "elements of poetry" is "a set of instruments used to create a poem." They help bring imagery and emotion to poetry, stories, and dramas. Some examples of elements of poetry that both share educational and entertainment attributes are Alliteration, Rhyme and Rhythm.