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Theme Based Poetry Essay
To what extent are there common threads in the poems you studied this year?
Refer to a range of poets and poems in your answer.
Poetry is the window into life; it allows readers to read different perspectives on different themes. Death is a universal theme; everyone will experience death, whether it is the death of a loved one or their own. Consequently, everyone has a different perspective on death. Poets such as, John Shaw Neilson, James McAuley, Gwen Harwood, Peter Porter, A.D. Hope and Barcroft Boake, use different poetic techniques to convey their perceptions of death. Their poems share the common theme death, however each convey different ideas and perceptions through the use of different poetry techniques.
Porter in An Exequy portrays death as a time of despair and grief, and the pain in remembering the deceased. In this ode, written some 0 years ago, he uses imagery to convey his experience with death.
This introduction serves to sing
Your mortal death as Bishop King
Once hymned in tetrametric rhyme
His young wife, lost before her time;
Though he lived on for many years
His poem each day few new tears…
Porter writes in the form of an ode to convey his deep feelings for his wife, shown by phrases such as, 'and you alone of pure substance,' but his poem differs from the typical ode form. He conveys a passionate grief with no resolution in sight. Porter uses imagery to compare himself to Bishop King, a man who had too lost his wife at a young age, to convey his feelings after her death. 'Though he lived on for many years, His poem each day few new tears,' conveys how he is grieving for his wife and will continue to grieve her death. 'The abstract hell of memory,' portrays to the readers that he perceives memories of his wife as painful and taunting.
The sky is overcast be doubt,
The time has come, I listen for
Your words of comfort at the door,
O guide me through the shoals of fear
The above extract portrays to the readers the feelings he has become consumed with, despair, doubt and fear. He also uses specific language to maintain the tragic tone of his poem. For example, he uses words such as, 'mourning', 'grief', 'misery' and 'black'.
Similarly, in Harwood's Mother who gave me life, although death isn't the only theme presented, also conveys death as a time to mourn the deceased and the painfulness of memories. She too writes in ode form to portray her strong feelings for her mother, though her ode more relates to her ancestral 'mothers'. Harwood, in contrast to Porter, uses strict stanzas and no rhyme to present her perception of death. 'Anguish remembered hours' portrays to the readers the pain she was experiencing after and as her mother was dying. It also portrays how some memories of her mother caused her anguish which is similar to Porter's poem. The use of short detached sentences emphasises these key ideas which are similar to those in An Exequy.
In contrast to Porter and Harwood's poems, McAuley, a 0th century poet, in Memorial portrays death as time to remember the deceased residents of New Guinea rather than mourn them.
I write it brief and unadorned
That some remembrance may be paid
Far longer than they can be mourned.
He, in the extract above, portrays memories as, not painful, but the way in which the deceased's lives can be remembered. This poem is short, i.e. contains a single stanza and uses alliteration. 'When the sleeping isles were shaken,' is an example of his use of alliteration. He uses alliteration to maintain the atmosphere of the poem. He also maintains the atmosphere of tragedy and pain through similar words such as, horror, fear, and forsaken. Although the theme of the poem is death, like the previous poems, this poem explores a different perspective on death.
Death of a Bird, by A.D. Hope also portrays a different perspective of death.
And the great earth, with neither grief nor malice,
Receives the tiny burden of her death.
He writes of the death of a bird, not a human being, as being blamed on the earth (metaphorically). He mentions the word 'tiny' to convey how small in comparison the death of a bird is and how often it may go unnoticed or if noticed, not cared about. He does not portray any grief or mourning. He also does not mention any afterlife or remembrance.
She feels it close now, the appointed season
The invisible thread is broken as she flies;
Suddenly, without warning, without reason,
The guiding spark of instinct winks and dies.
Through the explanations in his poem of her life before death and how she died, he portrays that he had a sound understanding of her death. He uses imagery to emphasise the feelings he felt after her death, and to maintain the dreary tone. For example, 'the invisible thread is broken as she flies,' portrays her instinct when migrating and drives us to feel sympathy for the bird. He writes with strict stanza patterns and rhyme to create a 'songlike' poem which appeals emotionally to his readers, as he wants them to feel empathy for the bird.
In contrast, McAuley in Pieta conveys no one is to blame for the death of his child and cannot comprehend the aftermath and the loss.
A year ago you came
Early into the light
You lived a day and night
Then died; no-one to blame.
This portrays to the readers that his young baby had died unexpectedly, only after living for a day. It also portrays that he feels that death is no one's fault.
Your mother in farewell
Touched you. I cannot tell,
I cannot understand
A thing so dark and deep
So physical a loss
This portrays to the reader the confusion he felt regarding his and the mother's mourning and the loss of their child. In his sonnet (4 lines, 4 lines, lines, lines), he uses detached sentences to maintain the rhythm (through rhyme) and flow of the poem and to emphasise key points in his sentences. For example, 'I cannot understand,' and 'So physical a loss'. McAuley also makes a reference to a religious symbol, the Cross, to strengthen his perception of great loss and the everlasting wounds, by comparing it to the death of Christ on the Cross.
In contrast to all of the previous poems, Barcroft Boake, in Where the dead men lie, portrays that there is 'life' beyond death. He uses imaginative writing to portray the presence of ghosts and his perception of death.
Hearing them call to their friends the plover,
Hearing the dead men cry;
Seeing their faces stealing, stealing,
Hearing the laughter pealing, pealing,
Watching their grey forms wheeling, wheeling
Round where the cattle lie.
He portrays 'life' after death by comparing the ghosts' actions as similar to human activity, for example, they cry, they laugh and they have faces. He uses repetition to emphasise his perception of death and how the dead taunt the living, for example, 'stealing, stealing'. He also arranges the structure of his poem in a certain way to emphasise the 'living' actions of the dead, as shown above.
Also in contrast to the previous poems, The Moon Was Seven Days Down, by Neilson portrays that death is something to be feared, is unavoidable or cannot be changed, and hence somewhat insignificant. He portrays these elements of death by making references to two characters in his poem, a woman and Peter.
I fear no evil; but, oh! the moon!
She is seven days gone.
This portrays how the woman fears her death, as the use of imagery, the moon being seven days gone/down, symbolises her death or soon-to-be death.
That I should die in the turning time
When the wheat was in the ear;
That I should go in a plain coffin
And lie in a plain gown
When the moon had taken her full glory
And was seven days down.
This extract informs the reader that she was told she was going to die and this is why she is filled with fear because the moon was seven days down. It is also used to prepare the reader for the upcoming stanzas.
How cool and straight and steady he was
He said, 'She seems so young!
Her face is fine it was always fine
But, oh, by God! her tongue!
This portrays how insignificant her death was to Peter. He did not feel sadness, grief or guilt for ignoring her. Instead it is mentioned that he continued to complain about her tongue. To continue expressing his perception of death Neilson mentions, in the following stanzas, that he speaks to his neighbours, not about the woman's death but of his crops.
He said, 'A good strong plain coffin
Is the one I am thinking on,'
- And the moon was over his shoulder
She was seven days gone.
These closing sentences reveal that the information of her death previously stated came true. It portrays that death is governed by fate, cannot be changed nor avoided.
Neilson uses repetition, such as repeating 'seven days down/gone', to emphasise the key elements of his poem and to create a 'songlike' feel similar to Hope's poem. He uses specific wording to emphasise the dullness in death, for example, he uses the word 'plain' repeatedly. Neilson, similar to Boake, manipulates the structure in his poem to emphasise certain sections of his sentences.
These poems although covering the same central theme express different perspectives of death. Whether it is depressing, tragic, a time of remembrance, or insignificant, they all cover the theme of death. Each poet uses poetry techniques to emphasise the key elements of their perceptions. To some extent each poem has its similarities, such as the same theme or techniques used, but the majority of the poems differ from one another in their perceptions.
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