Poems Comparison Essay examples

One art is poem written by Elizabeth Bishop discussing loss and the role it plays in the world. The poem conveys a powerful message subtly hidden in the speaker's use of connotation and denotation. In addition to the multiple connotations of loss in the poem, repetition and sound coupled together add meaning overall to the poem. The form of the poem contributes to the uses of repetition and connotation to emphasize the ease of loss.

Death is a spiritual experience that is flush with taboo connotations. When a loved one leaves this life for the after there are tears and grieving. This occurrence has been used countless times throughout history to commemorate the passing of a loved one, this makes it difficult to produce a piece of poetry that discussed death in a way it has not been discussed before. In The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse poem 67 which will be referred to as “The blackbird calls in grief”, poem 108 which will be referred to as “There are three ways to await death”, and All That is Left…by Michael Hartnett discuss this taboo topic in new and interesting ways. These poems are distinct because of the way that the author represents death. These poems are related and similar while being vastly different.

The first poem we read in class was Elizabeth Bishop’s “One Art.” This poem was a villanelle that was about the art of losing and the fact that it is not hard to master. Throughout the poem she describes things that she has lost in her lifetime and how losing them has not caused a disaster. However, once she reaches the end of the poem she loses someone, and to me it seems as if it was a loved one who meant

In the poem, Thomas also stresses on the words “rage” and “rave” to indicate that the person should retaliate and to be angry at the fact that their life is coming to an end. It is also noted that metaphor is used in the poem describing death, “That Good Night” can be seen as the sadness and heartbreak but mixed with the “light”. He talks about how the good, the wild, and the blind also will be melancholy once death approaches because they cannot enjoy life as they please. Towards the end of the poem, Thomas mentions that his father is dying and recounts it as a “sad height”, but still he tells him to be ferocious with his tears. In the end rather than accepting death, Thomas pushes people to approach it with energy and to be

Death is an inevitable part of life, one of the few things which all people are susceptible to. Despite the reality of death, whenever we are faced with it we try to deny its actuality and when that is not successful we grieve and howl about the wrongness of it all. The persona in Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” does the same, ranting about how his father should “rage against the dying of the light” (428) throughout the poem, trying to convince him to fight against death. Thomas utilizes many metaphors in order to focus on the major theme of Death and how it brings out the vulnerabilities of those close to passing.

The third poem “The Song of Despair” could be claimed to be about the loss of someone you love because of the language the author uses. The entire poem could be seen as a simile itself, where the author compares his loss the the leaving of ships from the dock, and the personality of their lover was and is still alive and refreshing as can be. A symbol from the poem is “in you everything sank,” meaning their lover eventually just gave in to the death, such as a ship would have given into the sea after being vulnerable to damage. “Lost discoverer” is another symbol explaining how the author is discovering the feeling of loss. A metaphor from the poem is “deserted like wharves at dawn,” meaning the author could feel deserted from the loss like

Thomas uses the experiences of the noble men in the third stanza to show that they were contempt with what they did with their life but acknowledge that there is still more time for them. The noble men are to “rage against the dying of the light” as they are on their last wave (9). They reminisce on their pasts together and become aware that although they are near their end they can still accomplish more in life. Moreover, they approach death with hesitation because they feel like they haven’t done the most they can with their life. They fight against death to try and utilize the time they still have

Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” deals with loss in the form of death. The speaker in the poem describes his love for Annabel Lee and then continues to describe how he has lost her. He is unable to let go of her and is overtaken by his grief. This sense of holding on is illustrated in the structure of the poem and the various poetic devices used in it. Edgar Allan Poe mainly employs both metrical and non-metrical elaborate sound patterns to convey the deep pain accompanied by loss.

In A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful Edmund Burke writes, “It is the nature of grief to keep its object perpetually in its eye, to present it in its most pleasurable views, to repeat all the circumstances that attend to it”. Burke’s writing attempts to clarify the “pictorial, literary, cultural, economic and psychological” phenomenon of sublimity, explicating the ways in which power, vastness, obscurity and beauty intersect to form emotional response. A Philosophical Enquiry elucidates why so many Romantic poets and writers would make grief, mourning and death the subjects of their works; the limitless, obscure, infinite theme death corresponds to the existential, contemplative and introspective ideas Romantic writers were attempting to interrogate. Death is unknown and thusly, by Burke’s definition, sublime. But the subject of death in Romantic literature transcends the topic of corporeal death and explores the death of memory, of youth, of innocence and of the past. ‘Death’ becomes something that can encompass multiple forms and occur in different ways, and the exploration of this coincides with the existential, philosophical preoccupations of the time. Furthermore, the Romantic writers were grappling with a shifting, changing society that caused a sense of pervasive loss in their works; as artists,

For those who face the imminence of death, there exist two choices: to embrace death’s approach or to refuse it altogether. At the end of one’s life, beleaguered by the ailments, apathy, and fatigue of old age, a temptation often arises to submit to the encroaching darkness; however, not everyone willingly accepts this grim inevitability, especially as they realize the true insignificance of their legacies. Thus, some choose to boldly defy death’s advance in order to vigorously live out their end of days. As his father lies on the verge of death, Dylan Thomas’s rigid structure and fervid language of his unnamed poem implore the reader, as well as Thomas’s father, to passionately live out their final hours and to tirelessly combat death’s last

Each of us is defined to some degree by our suffering. When we experience a great loss, the grief can be overwhelming. We can become crippled by our emotions, plagued by questions, our faith is challenged. “On My First Son” by Ben Jonson describes a father’s tortuous conflict caused by the death of his firstborn son. John Milton searches for answers and self worth after he becomes blind in his sonnet [When I consider how my light is spent]. Both poems are powerful messages of pain and affirmation that address our universal need for connection. Each work is as relevant today as it was when it was written in the seventeenth century. Although they differ in form and the nature of their losses, each poem asks the same question: What is

Poetry is a way of confronting experiences and the issues it raises for the living. Death is rife during global conflicts and some poets use their craft to show the pain and suffering aspects of death. ‘War Photographer’ by Carol Ann Duffy presents people’s death through both literal and figurative lexis. It uses the metaphorical lens of a camera to create an opinion about war and the role of media is reporting it humanely. ‘A Mother in a Refugee Camp’ by Chinua Achebe presents the suffering and torment of death with strong sensory imagery to reflect the horrible and inevitable events levied on innocent victims. ‘Vultures’, also by Chinua Achebe presents death by contrasting cruelty and love in the Second World War and obliquely, the Nigerian civil war. Death also befalls every individual in an inevitable manner and grief is just as intolerable when someone you love is taken from you. ‘Remember’ by Christina Rossetti is bittersweet; whilst embracing death, she rejects death as she is torn between her lover remembering her, or forgetting her as remembering would be too painful for him. ‘Mid-term break’ by Seamus Heaney is a first hand account of his painful early experience of his family tragedy and ‘Funeral blues’ by W.H Auden, consist of an unnamed speaker lamenting the death of someone close to him.

Every single person goes through certain types of losses in their lifetime. Sometimes losses have a big impact on one’s life, and sometimes they do not. Even with all the losses that life can bring, many times those losses have the appearance of something much worse than the reality. Sometimes loss and sadness are inevitable, just so one can see that everything is survivable, and even in the moments of greatest suffer, that is not the end. Embracing loss can be a wonderful thing when you accept it, being that not all loss will lead to disaster and has potential to grow into something healthy and beautiful once again. In her poet “One Art,” Elizabeth Bishop argues that losing is survivable by showing small and large scale of life’s disasters. This can be seen by her use of repetition, somber tone, and allegory.

In “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night,” Thomas describes the men’s perspective about death. For wise men, “because their words had forked no lightning, they / do not go gentle into that good night” (5-6). The metaphor in the line reflects wise men’s regret in life as their words, the ability of intellectual people, forked no lightning, meaning they didn’t leave any significant marks in history before dying. Therefore as good night, a metaphor for death, approaches, wise men resist dying to satisfy their discontent, and all other men think similarly. However, since night will come anyways, Thomas know men cannot escape death, so he agonizes for his incompetence in saving his father. Comparably in “One Art,” Bishop claims “so many things seemed filled with the intent / to be lost that their loss is no disaster” (2-3), though the disappeared objects metaphorize Bishop’s loss of precious life-related fragments, such as losing the mothers’ watch representing the farewell

Also during this era, many people were questioning their religious beliefs. In Memoriam has been said to reflect the Victorian feelings. (Victorian Contexts, class notes: page 102) This era influenced Tennyson along with his poor mental state, it also mediates on the Victorians’ deepest concerns about religious doubt, such as death, creation and evolution. In Memoriam touches on many intellectual issues and the poet searches for the meaning of life and death while trying to come to terms with his sense of loss. (Victorian Context, class notes: page 110) In Memoriam reflects the struggle to reconcile traditional religious beliefs and faith which was a popular Victorian aspect of literature at the time. The poem shows the development over three years of Tennyson’s acceptance and understanding of his friend’s death. (Robson, W., 2013) With this cultural context, In Memoriam could be seen to be written in a time of advancement and hope, however this contradicts the theme of loss of the poem.