Compare and Contrast

NOTES: m
Both poem's are talking about their life and the looming reality of future death.
How they want to live for more, but there are impediments
They both touch about on the subject of love.

OUTLINE:
In these two poems, first by John Keats, and the second written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, both eloquently delve into the subject of growing up, old, and growing into death. Similarities in both poems are uncovered in both author's use of diction, rhyme and imagery. However, often differences arise due to the author's varying view points. The first point represents more clearly the fear of death in a way of looking in the future, whereas the second poem represents life as unfulfilled reflecting on the past. John Keats unites with Henry Wadsworth in creating a poem similar in diction and structure, symbolism and imagery, however differ in their opinion on the cycle of life in exploring their particular situation.

Point 1: similarities

John Keats: express his view of life through the use of diction - such as "fears" , "full ripened grain" "never live" "unreflecting love" "stand alone" "nothingness"
Wadsworth: expresses his similar view of life through the use of diction - such as "gone" "almost" "dim" "restless" "not fulfilled"

Diction is used to represent their belief and worries of an unfulfilled life whether life has passed them by or just beginning. They use rather derogatory words linked to happy words such as "unreflecting… love."

Point 2: structure

The structure of each poem is reflected by their mono stanza with ABAB rhyming scheme.

Point 3: Symbolism

"half way up the hill" this line is used by Wadsworth to represent the trek through life. As he comments in the first few lines, is that "half his life is gone", and therefore half the trek through life is completed.
"the night's starrd face" is an endless expanse upon which your life can be.

How to - Climb Mt. Everest

Don't leave me behind;
I too want to climb.
To the highest reaches;
Starting from the lowest beaches.

We need some things, we can not do without;
Food, water and a toothbrush no doubt.
Tent, sleeping bag and a guide to boot;
Someone who has been there, and knows the route.

We will close up our packs
And put them on our backs
And Like beasts of burden
for awhile we escape our lives, do the forbidden

The climb will be rigorous;
But it won't get the best of us
Each step measured and sure;
It is just part of what we must endure.

Wind cutting my face like a knife
Feet; cold, just as ice
We may be beaten before we arrive
Was this encounter too high to strive

When on top, we will soar like the birds;
And see below us the meandering herds.
We will have joy that will have no bound;
Until we must make our way back down.

My Papa's Waltz

My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore Roethke (1948)


The merry title of Theodore Roethke verse, "My Papas Waltz", belies the true sense of this distressing poem. What one anticipates as a touching childhood memory, is quickly dispelled and any preconceived ideal that we may have ascertained from the brief title has completely vanished. The reader is thrown into the midst of reality by the first lines, swiftly sending us deeper into the melancholy lives of this working class family. Each new line reveals a new layer of imagery created by the morbid scene.

The sad and lyrical poem is then hard to deny and misinterpret; the melancholic scene where a child is forced to 'waltz' in a macabre and wild dance with his drunken father while the mother looks on unable to help either her son or herself.

The overall tone of the poem is incontrovertible with the use of words like: “scraped,” “battered,” “hung on,” “clinging,” “beat”. The child's uncertainty, unpleasantness and fear are evident throughout the poem by such phrases as, 'Waltzing was not easy', and 'my ear scraped a buckle'; this was obviously an involuntary dance for the child. The boy's desperation of in this situation seeps to the reader with the simile, "I hung on like death"; a distressed plea from someone so young. The shear gravity of the words communicates the deep desperation of the child.

The child’s understandable objection to the situation is apparent, though it is written in a blasé tone suggestion to the reader that reluctance or resistance may come with a price, so it does not seem possible nor is it attempted by either child or mother.

Furthermore, the mother’s vulnerability of the situation is obvious as she looks on frozen with a frown of what could be interpreted as displeasure, defenselessness and fear. The battered knuckle subtly conveys that the hand has been used as a weapon and the tone implies that this is not a new idea to the child but probably a repeated occurrence to his mother and perhaps himself.

The tone of the poem conveys the overall wretchedness of these people lives and the perpetual cycle of unhappiness which accompanies it, which persists from generation to generation.




"My Papa's Waltz" - Theodore Roethke (1948)

The whiskey on your breath

Could make a small boy dizzy;

But I hung on like death:

Such waltzing was not easy.

We romped until the pans

Slid from the kitchen shelf;

My mother's countenance

Could not unfrown itself.

The hand that held my wrist

Was battered on one knuckle;

At every step you missed

My right ear scraped a buckle.

You beat time on my head

With a palm caked hard by dirt,

Then waltzed me off to bed

Still clinging to your shirt.

Homework Part B

Is this brief poem satiric? Does it contain any verbal irony or is the poet making a matter-of-fact statement in words that mean just what they say?
I do believe the poem is satirical in essence. The poem is evidently a verbal irony and situational irony because the children should be playing while the men work in the mill. Children deserve a childhood experience, whereas the men, who have garnered childhood memories generallynegotiate the responsibility of supporting their family.
This poem dates before the enactment of legislation against child labour. Is it still a good poem or is it out of date?
Even though the enactment of legislation against child labour occurs before this poem, child labour still viciously exists. Factories and agriculural industries in many countries are reputable in hiring cheap child labour to support the normal functioning of their plant. Countries such as India, Indonesia and China, to which provide cheap labour often employ children.

Poem: For I am a dreamer

For I am the dreamer

As I pace back and forth one step at a time
Thinking I may be too late
For my sense of this world to recreate
Because I honestly believed things to be set to chime
Oh what a dreamer i am
Within this frame of the truth
what happened to our democratic reality?
Perhaps lost in my irreversible youth
Bhudda, great uncle Tom , say good bye to the "land of the free"
Oh what a dreamer i am
I Got lost in what was said to be true
Oh Snowflakes, rainbows , how life is askew
You let me down
Maybe there is reason to frown
Oh my mistake
For I am a dreamer

Homework 1

Chronology, a poem by Margaret Atwood, develops simplistically into a short excerpt recounting the story of a person who ages in reverse. The speaker, who we may assume to be the poet, begins by saying she was born "senile" which is somewhat ironic due to this term relating or believed to be characteristic of later life, or mentally less acute, where as in reality that we are generally born young and alert. In addition, the speaker continues to describe the newborn as gigantic, old and "wrinkled" which is obviously not the typical case. The poem continues chronologically recounting a description for the years 6, 12, 16, and 20 whereby the person begins to de-age, or age backwards in maturity, knowledge, and features. The speaker states " I have been living backwards" which fully exposes the direction of the poem. The poet describes this process of aging as means of gaining innocence, naivety, and smooth skin referring to the characteristics predominately associated with a newborn child. The final stanza is poignant in highlighting a final point to consider in the poem. The poet relates herself to that of a lame horse, to which when there is no use to the city and therefore is shot. She relates the different process of aging to that of an animal which shows that she feels hierarchically inadequate to that of a human. In addition, one might consider being shot a harsh repercussion to the unfortunate event of uselessness.