Theme of Fear and Authority

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Theme of fear and authority In these two poems we see that both Heaney and Montague had fears in their youth from school teachers but Heaney also demonstrates his fear of police during the 1950’s. Heaney’s title ‘Ministry of fear’ reminds us of a government organisation and is also a metaphor for a source of fear created by school. During the time that Heaney refers to in his poem, was very torturous for young male Catholics as this was the start of the troubles and even the safety of the authorities was taken away as the RUC was predominantly Protestant and departments of the RUC such as the B squad specials were very anti Catholic. Montague’s title of ‘Time in Armagh’ could be related to a prison sentence and it is almost as if it is never ending. Heaney’s poem focuses on the uncomfortable education that Montague and himself received as a young boy attending St. Cloumb’s College in Derry and charts his friendship with Seamus Deane which to poem is dedicated to. His poem also discusses his own experience of the policing service in Northern Ireland. Montague’s poem also outlines the poet’s often vitriolic attack on the schooling system that he part of when he boarded in St. Patricks, Armagh. Both poets express negative views on authority throughout their poems. Heaney expresses his unpleasant experiences in St. Columb’s and focuses on the idea of unfair treatment, while Montague expresses his anger at the malice treatment and cruelty which was bestowed on the boys by each other and also the corporal punishment instilled on the boys by the priests. Both poems evidently present the physical and linguistic types of authority which Heaney and Montague had to endure. However, while Montague poem sustains the focus on his experience at St. Patricks, Heaney broadens his focus and goes onto discuss his experiences of his youth while growing
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