Compare and contrast how Duffy and Lochhead explore aspects of the natural world in two of the poems you have studied. ‘The Dolphins’ by Carol Ann Duffy and ‘The Beekeeper’ by Liz Lochhead both explore aspects of the natural world very skilfully in their poetry. Their focus is largely similar where it is ‘the man’ in Duffy’s poem and ‘The Beekeeper’ in Lochhead’s who have ultimate control over the animals. However, they express their views in a very different manner, where both work equally well to explore the theme. It is important to examine the title of each poem in order to help appreciate how the poet will portray the theme.
A drive in the country A drive in the country is poem written by Peter Skrzynecki. This poem relates to inner journey but significantly relates to physical journey as it is a poem that involves different types of obstacles and movement to new places. The poet has used descriptive language, visual imagery and many more techniques to make his poem more effective. This poem is about the poet’s experiences and they affected him. The poet is suggesting that the natural world has so much more to offer than the one he is currently enduring.
Firstly, Donne's poetry is highly distinctive and individual, adopting a multitude of images. The poem offers elaborate parallels between apparently dissimilar things, “Then as th’ earth’s inward narrow crooked lanes, Do purge sea water’s fretful salt away,” (Donne, Lines 6-7) Donne's poem expresses a wide variety of emotions and attitudes, as if Donne himself were trying to define his experience of love through his poetry. Although, “The Triple Fool” gives a limited view of Donne’s attitude towards love, Donne treats the poem as a part of experience, giving insight into the complex range of experiences concerning love and grief, “I thought, if I could draw my pains through rhyme's vexation, I should them allay.” (Donne, Lines 8-9) Overall, the imagery in “The Triple Fool,” contributes to Donne’s sorrowful diction of love and grief. Moreover, Donne explains that poetry is for love and grief, and not for pleasing things, but songs make love and grief even worse. The first verse of the poem states that he is two times a fool, a fool for loving, and a fool for admitting it, “I am two fools, I know, for loving, and for saying so in whining poetry.” (Donne, Lines 1-3) Donne follows to say that he would still not be wise, even if “she” (Donne, Line 5) returned his love.
The literal purpose of the poem is to inspire the reader to be outside and enjoy nature, but the deeper purpose of the poem is to encourage the reader to be more optimistic/or look at the positive, when the speaker states that he is lonely he also mentions natures beauty and clarifies “a poet could not but be gay” because of his experience with nature. The speaker of “I wandered lonely as a cloud” is a lonesome person but has cheerful views; a deeper explanation of the speaker is that he is imaginative or creative because he
This eerie tone continues thru-ought the poem to inflict that distinct sense of swampy awareness. As I pass through lines five I am captivated once again by this wetlands sense being established by the imagery used by Oliver. "Dense sap, branching vines, the dark burred faintly belching bogs." earthy diction, picked precisely so that the reader reacts; positively or negatively, which ultimately depends upon the reader. Personification is a clear indication of this relationship between writer and reader; "faintly belching bogs."
Browning over-exaggerates the features and beauty of the nature of England almost making them come alive with her use of personification. The poem is very descriptive and also plays on all the five senses. She shows the sense of taste with the use of the word ‘sweeter’ in line 12, ‘ Made sweeter for the step upon the grass’ and also line 20, ‘Fed full of noises by invisible streams,’ the sense of hearing is shown using the word ‘noises.’ Browning also used the repetition to give the reader a sense of continuity. She shows that nature is evergreen and will be omnipresent in this world. This can be seen with the repetition of words like ‘the’ and ‘and’.
'Mending Wall' is an interesting poem that is symbolic of the differences in human thinking on barriers Robert Frost is known to make use of nature and pathetic fallacies in his poems and a lot of symbolism that leaves the reader to imagine what he really means,making his poems highly subjective. In this piece, Frost has used words and phrases that we could draw parallels with,he uses a sense of underlying meanings with these phrases. In the title itself, ‘Mending wall’ the poet lets us know that the poem is about a wall or a fence,but later the reader realizes that it’s more than just the words on the surface that Frost wants us to recognize. The poet refers to the wall as a solid object but also a psychological or invisible wall,this wall signifies the differences between the two neighbors. Ironically,when the wall is actually supposed to separate two beings,this wall reunites the two neighbors ,this is seen in the title ‘Mending wall’,where one might suggest that this is grammatically incorrect, what Frost might actually be intending is that the poem is more about the wall mending the relationship between the two individuals than the two merely mending the wall itself !This wall maybe built due to differences in thoughts and ideas or merely just because of social awkwardness of the two characters.
The simple subject matters of Where the Sidewalk Ends and The Lamb can be seen to disguise the true complexity and deeper significance of the poems. In Where the Sidewalk Ends, the speaker is constructed as an adult, as demonstrated by the description of children in the third person “For the children, they mark, and the children, they know”. Written in a regular verse form, the speaker is certain of a place better than the gloomy present. He (or she) describes it as a magical dwelling of soft white grass in the swaying of a cool "peppermint wind" during the first stanza. The speaker contrasts this captivating beauty with the second stanza which presents the current situation "where the smoke blows black" and the streets are dark.
Another outstanding composer who can recognise and utilise the power of language is Alistair McLeod. His short stories are laden with implied meaning and encourage his audience to think more in-depth about the themes and ideas displayed in his texts. His collection of short stories, The Lost Salt Gift of Blood, is set in Nova Scotia, a remote region of Canada where Gaelic is still spoken and tradition triumphs over technology. It explores many universal themes, like man vs. nature and tradition vs. individuality. The stories are often disturbing, delving deep into the realm of human emotion.
Its descriptive language gave me the opportunity to see what is going on in the poem by Windell Berry. This poem is a good example of how sometimes we need a break from stress, and that we can find the relief of stress in natures beauty. Throughout the poem the author the uses poetic diction to describe the narrators senses and views on earths nature.Windell Berry knows how to create a detailed desciption to give the reader an idea of what objects look like in detail even though the reader is not able to see them in actuality. He really wanted to signify tranquility with the words that he chose. “The Peace of Wild Things” is a poem written by American poet Wendell Berry.