the following 2 poems
Instructions:
You will be writing an essay of 1,000 words or more about the following 2 poems.
Answer the questions below.
Begin your paper with an engaging introduction and clear thesis statement, develop each point in the body of your paper using examples and quotes from the poems, and conclude your paper with a restatement of your thesis and closing remarks. Also, make sure you maintain your credibility by including in-text citations and a reference list correctly formatted in APA style.
1.Imagery: What visual images can you identify in both poems? Comment on the details you notice about objects, places, people, colors, textures and so forth. Which of your other senses are stimulated by the poets’ descriptions?
2.Figures of Speech: List the specific metaphors, similes, puns and other figures of speech each poet uses and how they contribute to the poem’s overall meaning. (Remember, figurative language is not literal but rather suggestive of something else. For example, the metaphor, “Jack is a pig,” is not a reference to an actual animal with hooves but rather someone named Jack who has pig-like qualities or mannerisms.)
3.Symbolism: Identify the symbols you notice in each poem. What abstract concepts (e.g., love, death, truth) might the concrete objects (e.g., persons, places, things) suggest?
4.Language and Word Choice: Every word in a poem has been included (or left out) after much deliberation, as poets choose their words very carefully. Remark on the following in each poem: Does the poet use informal or formal language? Does he or she write in an older dialect or contemporary English? Provide examples.
5.Tone: What tone does each poet take (e.g., sad, humorous, sarcastic, loving, etc.) toward his or her subject matter?
6.Themes: What are the main messages of both poems? Give reasons for your answers.
7.Sound: Read both poems aloud. What do you notice about their rhythms, rhyme schemes and musicality? How does listening to the sound of a poem differ from merely reading it as words on a page?
8.Final Thoughts: Poetry can enlighten and/or evoke deep emotion in readers. Express the impact each of the two poems you have analyzed for this assignment had on you. What insights did you gain about life or human nature, and what feelings did each piece stir in you? Has your view of poetry changed in any way since reading and analyzing the Phase 3 poems? Explain your answer.
Paper received (from last teacher)
1. Imagery:
What visual images can you identify in both poems?
Both poems use imagery using different sense descriptions i.e. smell, touch, sight, taste, and hearing
Imagery in ‘They’
The grotesques depictions of the various impairments suffered by the soldiers is how Sassoon uses imagery in the excerpts such as “George lost both his legs, and bill stone blind are figurative descriptions that are meant to paint a picture for the reader as to the sad effects of world war one on the young men
Imagery in Harlem
Figurative statements such as “fester like a sore, stink rotten meat or crust over like a syrup sweet “
Are meant to paint a vivid picture of dream having come before its time and being rejected and the subsequent waning of hope of those that the idea has come to save.
2. Figurative Speech
· In “They”
Use of similes and puns are evidenced in the statement; “Bills stone blind”, there is use of pun when we are told that “Berts gone syphilitic then the Bishop attributing all this happenings in the war as Gods acts.
· ‘’Harlem figurative Speech “
The author uses similes excessively in the sonnet as portrayed in these excerpts;
“ what happens to a dream differed does it dry up like a raisin in the sun or fertile like a sore or does it sink like rotten meat or crust on sugar over like a syrup sweet”
He also uses metaphors when he writes, “like a load depicts how dreams have been piled on top of dreams and eventually hopes for the future become burdens
3. Symbolism
· In They
The use of the Bishop in the poem depicts the clueless British government who are hailing the war as a “just cause” in the war of a supposed Anti-Christ.
By proclaiming the ways of God are strange the Bishop is trying to justify the war as the will of God
· Symbolism in Harlem
The line “does it dry up like a raisin in the sun” symbolizes a ripe grape having come of age to be consumed in all its juices, but instead being left out in the sun, where its turned into a shriveled raisin and even though still a fruit it could have been more nourishing as a grape as raisins are initially grapes before they turn into raisins. And the author is decrying the grape having to be forced to take this path the grape in this instance presents a deferred dream
“ Fester like a sore “ goes towards symbolizing the pain of waiting for a promised dream that never comes and the pain becomes of it in the end.
“ Does it stink like a rotten meat “ this portrays the need to get rid of an overdue dream what has become of a dream kept for too long as its lost its essence and in its rotten state it no longer remains desirable but is to be discarded like any other substance having expired.
4. Language & word choice
· Harlem/ Deffered dream
Langston Hughes uses formal language so as not to lose his audience and communicates his message hence the short stanzas and rhymes (run sun, load explode etc.)
· ‘They’
The poet in the poem uses informal languages and formal languages juxtaposed in between the bishop and the returnee soldiers.
Both poet use contemporary English where they write using symbolism, figurative speech and diverse themes.
5. Tone
· ‘They’
In the opening of the sonnet Sassoon uses a dispassionate and nonchalant tone to pottray the real situation on the ground as regards the war.
· Harlem
The tone of voice used in differed dreams is simple yet empathetic to the protagonist whose dreams are being refused them.
6. Themes
The themes in Harlem are transience and choice
Under transience, the author portrays that dreams like every other thing are susceptible ot growth, change transformation.
Choices- the author asks if chose to keep dreaming or actuaries their dreams should
The themes in ‘they’
Sassoon exemplifies the themes of descent against the system, and anti- military resolve of issues
Read both poems aloud. What do you notice about their rhythms, rhyme schemes and musicality?
How does listening to the sound of a poem differ from merely reading it as words on a page?
When read, out aloud, the beat of the speaker’s heart spills out of the pages . Almost as if recorded as part of a well arranged song, the short stanzas with the longest line having only six words and limited end rhyme use sun and run, meat and sweet, load and explode are the only rhymes used alongside such vivid descriptions give us a rhythm to connect to – you don’t just read the message, you feel it down in your soul.
8. Final Thoughts
Poetry can enlighten and/or evoke deep emotion in readers. Express the impact, each of the two poems you have analyzed, has had on you. What insights did you gain about life or human nature, and what feelings did each piece stir in you?
The poems evoke emotions of embracing that which I try to keep under wraps avoid to embrace because I think its time has not come the poems have this call for solidarity in purpose and resolve . one of the poems, (Harlem) being written in 1951, has been felt as a requisite source of refuge for many people at times when most other things from the fifties were non issues . the authors ‘ ability to give so many generations a sanctuary is remarkable: any person who faces adversity and loses hope in the idea that they can achieve their dreams easily identifies with this sonnet . Sometimes, all anyone needs is that they are not alone.
