I would like to begin with an excerpt from a quote by Elie Wiesel, a holocaust survivor, “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.” Stanislaw Baranczak’s poem “She cried that night, but not for him to hear” emulates the emotional paradox of love and war, both in a relationship and within the self. The assessment of depression and sadness in our loved ones consists of a methodical and analytical approach in addressing their emotions, regularly resulting in the indifference and dissociation of one person to another. This lack of empathetic reasoning creates distance, especially between lovers, and leaves a couple in a state of physical closeness, but with an inability to comfort or understand those dearest to us. The male persona experiences an intentional ignorance towards the female, and although he loves her, he does not move to comfort her, instead convincing himself that it was not her that woke him. The half-waking state we are often left in when being roused is epitomised by the regular rhyming scheme of the poem.
Comparing Two Poems The Old Familiar Faces by Charles Lamb and Mid-Term Break by Seamus Heaney The poems “The Old Familiar Faces” by Charles Lamb and “Mid-Term Break” by Seamus Heaney have both similarities and difference. Both are sad poems about tragedies and want to inspire pity in the reader. Also both of them had a very similar structure. However, the diction is completely different as well as the imagery. Both poems explore sensations of grief, sadness, mortality and having to cope with the disappearance of loved ones.
The poems of Hopkins and Dickinson both talk about the hardships of declining mental health with the theme of depression and despondency. The poems are similar in the context, however the style that each is written presents a different stage of despair and opinions I feel. The way in which the poems are similar is the fact they both describe the characters depression, in the poem by Hopkins we are introduced with the idiom ‘no worst; there is none’. This sets the tone of grief and unhappiness, as if to say that these emotions are engrained in society and things could not possibly get any worse for him. The first line uses the plosive word ‘pitch’ repeatedly in order to emphasise the ‘pangs’ that the character feels; the repetition also dramatizes the depth of his despair.
When the dreamer in Skrzynecki’s poem says “That hang over you in a dream”, he is talking about his distinct sense of separation between himself and the shadows that are surrounding him. This use of enjambment explains to us how the shadows are haunting him and that his poor link to his family heritage - that he doesn’t know – demonstrates that his heritage is an unknown. There is also the use of the second person pronoun “you” invites us as the reader to belong and become positioned in the text and see from the personas point of view. There is also the use of the rhetorical question “why do they never speak”, the emphasis and emotive language demonstrates the personas frustration with the lack of verbal communication and therefore their importance in his life. To represent the growing sense of alienation to the shadows there is also the use of “they” as he becomes further and further disconnected from the shadows.
Compare ways in which Larkin and Abse write about loneliness and isolation, in your response you must include a detailed discussion of at least 2 of Larkin’s poem Throughout both anthologies of Phillip Larkin and Danny Abse the themes of loneliness and isolation are ever present; it adds other feelings such as sadness to the poem to make the reader think deeper about the meaning of the poem. These themes are present in Mr Bleaney, Talking in bed by Phillip Larkin and present in the poem Leaving Cardiff by Danny Abse, the writers have different ways in which they display the feelings, which by doing so give off other feelings which accompany loneliness. In the poem ‘Mr Bleaney’ Larkin uses another character to inform the reader of how lonely and isolated Mr. Bleaney was. “This was Mr Bleaney’s room†so we are told were they are, by reading what is said about Mr.Bleaney we start to gain a picture of what type of person he was, we gain a picture that they are in a B and B and for Mr.Bleaney to stay there for years and accumulate no belongings shows that he had nowhere else to go and was fairly lonely. However Abse in ‘Leaving Cardiff ‘has his character talk in first person “ I wait in the evening airâ€.
Several thematic ideas are portrayed in the poetry of William Blake and Seamus Heaney, one such idea distinctive to both poets is a loss of innocence, this idea is conveyed in several ways. Blake reflects this in the exploitation of the less fortunate by the religious upper class and how the introduction of religion has diminished a place of happiness whereas Heaney reflects this in an disappointing adventure with friends and how one has to cope with the tragic death of someone dear at a young age. A loss of innocence in the exploitation of the less fortunate by the religious upper class is conveyed in the poem ‘Holy Thursday’ (Experience) by William Blake as it is about a special occasion where poor children are presented before their sponsors at a church service to give thanks. The poem is written from the point of view of someone seated in the congregation as the third person narrative 'Is this a holy thing to see' is used rhetorically. This gives the reader the impression that Blake is asking them to consider the true nature of such an event as the last syllable is stressed in the masculine verb 'see' which highlights his serious tone of voice.
When pain and suffering take place, it is likely to affect one’s psychological state of mind. Dickinson discusses the ways in which pain is processed, and the poem could be a reflection of Dickinson's own experiences of depression and intense mental suffering. She lived in a time where religion was a big preoccupation, specifically the Calvinist community. The description of despair and pain would be radical to a religious person and would be seen as having lack of faith in God. In the poem Dickinson recreates the psychological state of mind, we as the readers go through when we suffer pain, through her use of language, imagery and verse.
One of the themes in Poe's "The Raven" that highlights the gothic genre is alienation and loneliness. This is a result of the speaker's loss of Lenore. The beginning of the poem establishes the speakers isolation and vulnerability and his mental state of mind. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary Alliteration of w in “while,” “weak,” and “weary” produces the effect of unsteadiness. The sound of the "w's" used supports the sense of the reader's lack of energy.
He continually juxtaposes images of the passion he felt for the woman he loved with the loneliness he experiences in the present. He is now at some distance from the relationship and so acknowledges, “tonight I can write the saddest lines,” suggesting that the pain he suffered after losing his lover had previously prevented any reminiscences or descriptions of it. While the pain he experienced had blocked his creative energies in the past, he is now able to write about their relationship and find some comfort in “the verse [that] falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.” Love and Passion Throughout the poem, the speaker expresses his great love for a woman with whom he had a passionate romance. He remembers physical details: “her great still eyes,” “her voice, her bright body,” “her infinite eyes.” He also remembers kissing her “again and again under the endless sky” admitting “how I loved her.” His love for her is still evident even though he states twice “I no longer love her, that’s certain.” The remembrance of their love is still too painful to allow
The drawing shows a scary Skelton face that have different pattern around it full of sadness, pain, hurt and damage. This painting shows a dark and unfriendly feeling that crushes his spirit. The pain that the picture shows can be base on his heritage and how slavery had to go through a tough life. Alissa Goldberg even quoted “this is a really good painting it describes his life and soul must have been tough”. The author believes that the painting is mainly expressing a plot about the artist life and his mood.