WordPress.com



Compare the ways poets present relationships between a parent and a child in ‘Walking Away’ and one other poem from ‘Love and Relationships’I chose ‘Mother Any Distance’ as my second poem, because they both focus on the child growing up and moving away from the parent, but one is written from point of view of the parent, and one from child, which makes interesting comparison. There are also a lot of similarities in the imagery, which makes easy comparison. I think it is always easier to spot the links between the poems and then address subtle differences...I begin my introduction with the main link between the poems followed by the main difference. I focus on similarities in ideas but differences in perspective. I try to make my introduction snappy as I don’t want to waste lots of time on it.Both ‘Walking Away’ and ‘Mother Any Distance’ focus on children growing up. However, whilst ‘Walking Away’ is written from the parent’s point of view, ‘Mother Any Distance is written from the child’s point of view, creating an interest contrast in the tone of the poems.I focus my second paragraph on comparing the structure of the poem, but also link this to context. I link to context here, as it seems to fit, but could do it elsewhere in my essay if relevant.Both ‘Walking Away’ and ‘Mother Any Distance’ convey the narrator’s emotional journey as the relationship between parent and child changes. However, whilst ‘Walking Away’ moves from the past tense to the present tense, with a sense of resolution at the end, ‘Mother Any Distance’ remains in the present tense all the way through and ends with sense of ambiguity. The calm resolution of ‘Walking Away’ may reflect the fact that the narrator is the older parent, looking back on the moment of change through his wisdom in later years. It is an autobiographical poem, and Lewis dedicated the poem to his first son. In contrast, in ‘Mother Any Distance’, the narrator is the child, still in the uncertainty of youth. Whilst Armitage was greatly influenced the confessional poets, it is unclear the extent to which the poem mirrors his own personal experiences.I then compare the forms of both the poems, being careful to link this to how the choice of form helps them to express their ideas.Furthermore, whilst ‘Walking Away’ has a consistent rhyme scheme to show Lewis’ steady love for his son, the form of ‘Mother Any Distance’ is more erratic. Although it is loosely based on a sonnet, it has an irregular rhyme scheme, reflecting the narrator’s sense of uncertainty and also has an additional 15th line, suggesting that the narrator may be stretching the distance between himself and his mother too far. Thus whilst Armitage deliberately chooses to subvert a poetic form to highlight the uncomfortable change in the status quo, Lewis reinforces the natural evolution of the relationship through the fixed form.NOTE-You can achieve a good mark by writing about either the structure OR the form, and don’t need to include both unless it is relevant to your argument and you can link your paragraph to the ideas the poet is trying to express.I move on to comparing the imagery of both the poems in detail. I am now exploring quotations in detailBoth poets use imagery to highlight the growing distance between parent and child. C. Day Lewis describes his son as ‘like a satellite wrenched from its orbit’ . The reader can infer that in this simile the parent is the ‘orbit’, providing security for the child, and the child is the ‘satellite’ seeking freedom. Furthermore, the verb ‘wrenched’ suggests a tone of pain and conveys the fact that the split between the parent and child is uncomfortable. Similarly, in ‘Mother any Distance’, Armitage uses the extended metaphor of a tape measure to depict the growing distance between himself and his mother. The fact that his mother’s ‘fingertips still pinch’ the tape measure as he moves, also conveys that the mother is struggling with her son’s new found independence and wants to hold on to the bond they have. In this way, both poets convey the pain felt by parents when their children grow up.Write the next paragraph, focusing closely on another language feature….Write the conclusion…. ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download