Comparing Poems Salome, Hitcher, On My First Sonne and The Man He Killed

Comparing Poems Salome, Hitcher, On My First Sonne and The Man He Killed

The poems, Salome, Hitcher, On My First Sonne and The Man He Killed

all have similar themes. The menacing and threatening ideas that the

poets used are all based around death. However, each poem has a

different perspective on the word with different motives and emotions.

The Man He Killed is about a man who talks of the experience he had of

shooting someone and the regrets he has for it. He feels guilty, as he

has no conceivable explanation for shooting the man. He talks of the

similarities he and his foe had such as 'He thought he'd 'list,

perhaps, Off hand like - just as I.'

The use of hesitation and repetition show the threatening side of the

story. It is almost as if he himself is trying to construct an image

in his mind as not to make himself look or feel guilty or censurable.

The use of colloquialism makes the image even more menacing as we do

not understand greatly of this man. Originally, it could be perceived

as an old man who regrets his actions in the past. It however, could

also be seen as a man who enjoyed killing but must come up with an

excuse to the reasons for killing him. 'My foe of course he was,

that's clear enough, although.'

The poem "Hitcher" has a character that expresses violence in a

completely different manner. The poem is a monologue where the speaker

casually admits to possibly murdering an innocent hitchhiker. The

speaker tells us that he has been taking time off work - faking

illness and not answering his phone. Being threatened with the sack,

he goes in to work again and gets a lift to his hired car. As he

drives out of L...

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...he spot. Both of the poems are confusing

and surreal as Hitcher is about the idea of jealousness compared to

Salome, which is about the idea of hatred.

Both The Man He Killed and On My First Sonne are menacing in a

different way. They both are about guilt and empathy. The Man he

Killed is a dramatic monologue of a man confessing to murder whereas

On My First Sonne is an elegy to his Son. In On My First Sonne the man

is desperate for the reason why his son was taken and feels pain and

rage. When compared to The Man He Killed, he is looking for the reason

for why he shot him but feels neither pain nor anger.

All the poems show menacing and threatening ideas but are not all

based around violence. The poets use technical methods to hide a

story. They do this by using repetition of words, hesitations and

enjambment.