A Comparison of Poetry

A Comparison of Poetry

In this essay two poems will be juxtaposed. One of the poems is called

"My parents kept me from children who were rough". This poem was

written by Stephen Spender. Stephen Spender was greatly admired for

his work and was knighted in 1983. He lived in the 20th century and

died 22 years after W H Auden in 1995 .The second poem chosen is

called "Funeral Blues and was written by W H Auden.

W H Auden was a greatly respected homosexual poet who lived in the 20th

century. He was born in 1907 and died in 1973. W H Auden's full name

was Wystan Hugh Auden. He wrote Funeral Blues in 1936.

In the poem "My parents kept me from children who were rough" a young

boy is being bullied by rough and strong boys who intimidate him, so

his parents have chosen to keep him away from them. The rough boys

would cause him verbal and physical abuse. This is demonstrated by the

poet writing "…threw words like stones…" and, "And their jerking hand

and their knees tight in my arms". Whatever abuse would be thrown at

the boy he would always want to forgive and befriend the rougher boys.

The poem "Funeral Blues" is about a man whose partner and lover has

died and the way he is realising and expressing his sadness and his

fury. He believes everything should be overcast and dull. Examples of

this in the poem are "Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun" and "Let

the traffic policeman wear black cotton gloves". These lines

demonstrate that he thinks there should be no light in the world and

only darkness.

In the poem "My parents kept me from children who were rough" there is

not a rhyming pattern however in "Funeral Blues" the first...

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... children who were rough" the poet uses the word "I" several

times:

"I feared more than tigers…", "I feared the salt coarse pointing…",

"And I looked another way…", "I longed to forgive them…".

In the poem "Funeral Blues", the word "let" is used several times.

Evidence of this is shown in the first two verses of the poem, such

as:

"… let the mourners come", "let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead"

and " let the traffic policeman…".

In conclusion, people of an older age group would prefer the poem

"Funeral blues" since they would have probably experienced the pain of

having lost a loved one , but personally I prefer the poem "My parents

kept me from children who were rough" as I can relate to it more since

it is about real life events, such as bullying, which happen to

children of my own age.