3.0 Comparing and Contrasting Two Excerpts of Poems: Don’t Quit and If
For this task, two different excerpts of poems are going to be analysed, compared and contrast. One of the poem is titled “Don’t Quit” by an unknown author and the poem “If” by the famous Rudyard Kipling. Four items will be put into highlight for the comparison of the poems, which are subject matter, themes literary device and also language and style.
The main subject matter for the poem “Don’t Quit” is not to be deprived of hope and to not lose faith albeit facing big hurdles in life. The subject matter for the poem is pretty straight-forward which is to hold on to what you believed most in life. Alternatively, in the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling, the subject matter centres on how a man of an older age, which has experienced so many events in life and became wise, giving his two cents and wisdom words to someone who was much younger than him, someone who was novice and did not have that many experience in the real life work (Lobster, 2013). The excerpt of the poem “If” given also centres on how an individual should react towards life and willing to face the long hardship throughout his or her time in the world.
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Furthermore, the poem is telling the reader that when one is facing some of the biggest challenges in life, that is the time you have to brace yourself and not waving the white flag (Pignatone, 2014). Whereas in the poem “If”, the theme revolves around one’s path of becoming an adult and a man, where they will be times when one have to lose something in order to gain something more
¨If¨ by Rudyard Kipling and ¨Girl¨ by Jamaica Kincaid are both letters to a child written by their parents in the form of a poem. In the letters the parents set expectations the child is expected to follow in the future. They are very similar with some differences. The goal of this essay is to compare and contrast the two texts.
The initial two lines of this poem present the recollections that the primary individual storyteller will be transferring. The speaker, when she ponders the importance of her life, "… what I'm like, underneath (1)" she considers her initial two
In many parts of the poem, Guest uses metaphors to show the strength that one should always keep while facing their troubles. He tells his readers to "Lift your chin and square your shoulders, plant your feet and take a brace" to prepare for whatever could be ahead (lines 2-3). Even through the metaphor "Black may be the clouds above you" which gives a clear perception of difficult and hopeless moments that might be surrounding an individual, it is still better than running since it "will not save you" (lines 8-11). It is throughout the poem that Guest has used many metaphors to remind his readers about the facing the problems that will lie ahead. It is even pointed at points, such as, "You may fail, but fall fighting" to remind the reader that not all problems can be confronted. However, the author suggests that with a person's body language, like standing tall, could become a resolve. With these metaphorical commands, it gives the reader the feeling of a solider or fighter that is preparing to face an enemy. This is also further emphasized from his use of repetition. Guest repeats the figurative phrase, "See it through" to show the reader to overcome the toughest or most hopeless of problems. It is also from this statement that he suggests to go keep going no matter what since in the end it is possible that one can succeed. Becoming the clearest and most encouraging phrase and title of the poem, Guest has made the distinction of his theme to overcome everything that one can in order to achieve the best for one's
situation is not to surrender to fear and the author shows this idea throughout the poem that we
It's about sunlight. It's about the special way that dawn spreads out on a river when you know you must cross the river and march into the mountains and do things you are afraid to do. It's about love and memory. It's about sorrow. It's about sisters who never write back and people who never listen.” -pg. 85
In the end, the poem is looking to show what actions can do in the long run. It teaches us to be very cautious with everything we do since it can affect the people around us. It can have good or bad
No one should let others opinions influence what they do and no one should not do something because they are worried what others will think. In the poem the narrator tells the story of a person who is scared to talk about themselves because they were criticized once for it. They are worried about others opinion and spend their time working to be liked by everyone. The stanzas in the poem help to emphasize the meaning of the poem by breaking it up into three different parts of the story. The first part talks about the incident where the person the narrator was talking about was hurt. The narrator recalls the incident while talking to the person they wrote the poem about, “do you remember the first time you were called annoying/how your breath stopped short in your chest” (1-2). The person in which the poem was about was hurt because of something someone said to them. They were called annoying and didn't know how to respond because they took the insult to heart. The second stanza talks about how the person in which the poem was wrote about is still hurt. The narrator shows the person who the poem is wrote about is still hurt, “you’re 20 now/ and I still see the light fade from your eyes when you talk about your interests for too long”(8-9). The person who the poem wrote about is still hurt by what someone said to them when they were thirteen. Someone called them
The two poems I will be discussing are My fathers is a simple man and Life doesn't frighten me. The authors of the poems are Luis Omar Salinas and Maya Angelou. The overall message that both poems are trying to get us the readers to understand is life is not always easy. Life throws things at you when you least expect it at times it would be good things or bad things. But we'll both poems are pretty much saying is that no matter what life throws at you and the obstacles you're going to face in life never give up don't let life itself let you fall don't let life itself let you feel like you can't do anything or be somebody because if you try so hard to make your life easier it's only going to get harder.
...s everything beautiful in the world or even life itself. The “sun in flight,” represents the lifespan of people’s lives. “Flight” means that our lives move rapidly therefore we need to cherish and live every moment to the fullest with the time we have under the sun. A similar concept is also addressed in “To his Coy Mistress,” by Andrew Marvell who believes that life is shortly lived. The last stanza of the poem implies that the only way to influence the run of time is to speed it up and live it more intensive, “…we cannot make our sun stand still, yet we will make him run.” In “If” Rudyard as well emphasizes that we should live life to the fullest and occupy every minute “With sixty seconds worth of distance run,” this is a metaphor for life and a conceit telling us we should run—making the most of every second we have—and not waste time walking in our life time.
This poem describes the worry of decision-making and the rewards of forging your own path. The subject of the poem is faced with a decision of taking the "safe" route that others have taken before or breaking new ground. He finds that making original and independent choices makes life rewarding. One poetic device is imagery described in the lines, “long I stood/ And looked down one as far as I could/ To where it bent in the undergrowth;” (lines 3-5). The imagery is used to describe his sight of the not literal two paths that he could choose. One form of figurative language used is Metaphors. This poem is attractive because is its very inspirational to me at a time where I am making a lot of important
In the essay I hope to explain why I picked each poem and to suggest
“The Widow at Windsor” is quick paced with a rhyming technique that deceives the reader into thinking the topic will be light when in reality the poem is emotionally intense and reveals a difficult lifestyle. Sir George MacMunn refers to Kipling’s style, in his book Rudyard Kipling: Craftsman, as being refreshing yet frequently under scrutiny by the critics of Kipling’s day. Undoubtedly, it is this style that catches the eye of the modern reader.
Overall, dwell on this process of changing throughout the poem, it can be understood that the poet is demonstrating a particular attitude towards life. Everyone declines and dies eventually, but it would be better to embrace an optimistic, opened mind than a pessimistic, giving-up attitude; face the approach of death unflinchingly, calmly.
The two poems I have chosen to compare for this essay are 'How do I
Allen, Charles. Kipling Sahib: India and the Making of Rudyard Kipling. New York: Pegasus Books, 2009. Print.