The poem points to the paradox of naming: while naming is creative and powerful, it is also limiting. Once named, an object snaps into focus. But the name interferes as well: it comes between us and the object. We can think of the object now only through the name that has been attached to it. The opening line of the poem, “By naming them he made them,” connects “naming” with making (Page line 1).
“Compare the ways in which Larkin and Abse write about time and it’s passing.” In your response, you must include detailed critical discussion of Love Songs In Age and one other poem by Larkin. Many poems in Philip Larkin’s ‘The Whitsun Weddings’ are connected through one common factor: Larkin’s rather dismal attitude towards time and the passing of it. In many of his poems Larkin presents time as a menial entity resulting in an inevitable mortality. However, on further examination Larkin reflects back on time in a nostalgic manner. In order to emphasise Larkin’s outlooks onto time and it’s passing, one can highlight the similarities and differences between Larkin and Abse’s poetry.
Hughes uses more literal meanings for his work, every word can be used as its literal meaning and the poem makes sense. When analyzing the voice and tone used in these poems, these too are totally different. While Angelou’s poem is very sarcastic in tone; Hughes’ poem seems more monotone and storytelling. Angelou seems to be trying to prove a point and show
This gives a jarring effect, causing the words to stand out to the reader. In comparison, Quickdraw has no obvious rhyme scheme. It does however contain lots of punctuation, unlike ‘Sonnet 116’ which draws attention to key words. Enjambment is common to both poems however is used in different ways. In Sonnet 116, each quatrain is an idea, contained in a single sentence.
Each poem I have chosen reflects aspects of contemplation, sadness or regret. Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" examines feelings of regret and choices in time, Sir Walter Raleigh's "Life" is a poem of contemplation; of existence and time before its end. Finally, John Milton's "Of Time", a typically dramatic piece by the 16th century master of 'epic' poetry. "Of Time" is written of the bittersweet relationship between mortal lives and the aching shortness of said lives. The chosen image of an hourglass is a typical, although, undeniably apt choice of symbolism wherever time is involved.
In Wild Oats It explains that a person, over the course of time, comes to realise that his greatest desires of love, are unattainable, and second best things will have to suffice. The central purpose of this poem is to show that love is one of these great desires and despite flashes of promise it contains scarcely anything that is more than fragmentary. Larkin reveals this through tone and diction. Both poets seem to focus a lot on the physical side of love where lust and desire are involved however Abse makes it sound more sensual and even spiritual when he speaks of Eros in his poem. Larkin portrays this sense of objectification in his poem with regards to woman as he describes a woman as a ‘bosomy English rose’ and then follows on to call her ‘beautiful’ throughout the poem portraying the sexual lust involved with love.
This poem, like most of his poems, revolves around a common object or event. But these objects and events are not only what they appear to be, they also have a deeper meaning, they are metaphors for larger issues and themes. By obscuring his theme and working so covertly in metaphor, the reader is forced to come to their own conclusions about the work. This is exactly what Frost is trying to accomplish, through metaphor he strives to make the reader think about his poem, what it means and what he is trying to say. Robert Frost the most famous American poet of the last century was born in San Francisco in 1874.
Tennyson chooses to tell the story of Tithonus as a dramatic monologue. The effect of this is twofold: it allows us to sympathise with Tithonus’ view of his no-longer-wanted immortality, and simultaneously prevents Tennyson lecturing us on the folly of unrealistic aspiration. Structurally, Tennyson presents Tithonus’ plight in a series of verse paragraphs, each of which contributes to our understanding of his sad situation. At first, for example, he compares his immortality to the passing of time on earth. He opens the poem with an elegiac note that sets the tone: the ‘woods decay’, man is depicted as lying in his grave – a state that Tithonus longs for at the end of the poem when he begs to be ‘restore[d] to the ground’ – and ‘after many a summer dies the swan’ – a specially poignant image of gracefulness and beauty passing away, qualities which
Similar to how the pauses after each “We” created a resonating pause, the same can be said of the poem’s end. The writer leaves the reader with a harsh and startling attribute of the subject, which allows the sad line to echo in the reader’s mind. When read aloud, the last line sounds as if it is a premature ending to the poem, which mimics the premature ending to the lives of the young men in the gang. When reading through an anthology
However, differences in form, use of imagery, diction and tone ultimately lead to subtle differences in the theme. Perhaps the most visible difference between the two poems is their form. Borson uses a free verse form that varies even within the poem itself. The first two lines are complete sentences. Sentence three is written over three lines, with the first two of those lines demarcated by a comma.