Comparison of Poetry of a Different Culture

Comparison of Poetry of a Different Culture

We live in a society where culture and identity are very important.

Culture is the distinctive practices and beliefs of a society. Culture

is all about where we live, our language, the food we eat, the clothes

we wear, the celebrations we celebrate and the things we value.

Many people who live in poorer countries move over to the bigger

cities were there are more jobs and money. Many people end up living

in a place they don't know.

In English we have studied five poems from another culture, which was

Jamaica. All the culture poems we studied were mostly about a man or

woman wanting to go back to Jamaica. We have to do our coursework on

this topic and the five poems I have chosen to look at are, 'Island

Man' by Grace Nichols, which is about a Caribbean man who has moved to

London, 'I Shall Return' by Claude McKay, which is about a man who

promises to return to Jamaica one day. 'An Old Jamaican woman thinks

about the Hereafter' by A.L Hendricks, which is about an old woman who

wonders what will happen when she dies. 'Song of a banana man' by Evan

Jones which is describing a man's day at work. The final poem I am

going to look at is 'The Lament of the banana man' by Evan Jones,

which was written by the same man who wrote 'Song of the banana man'

and it is about what would happen if someone left their native country

and moved to England.

I chose to do culture because I liked finding out what it was like for

people having to move from their country to somewhere completely

different.

The first poem I am going to look at is 'Island Man' by Grace Nichols.

The poem is about a Caribbea...

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don't think the man had many possessions because he seemed so pleased

to have a room of his own, an iron bed, a table and a chair.

In England people treat him like an outcast and stare at him, because

of this he thinks they don't want him in their country. The man wants

to die in Jamaica but he says he can never go back there.

At the beginning of the poem the man is tired of England and tired of

us. This stanza is soft; it drifts off, sad, tired, slow and depressed

tone.

The character in the poem finds England cold and dark, we know this

because it says, 'if it col', it col', if it rainin', it rainin', I

don' mind if its mostly night.'

The character is a proud man who tends to hide his feelings because it

says, 'You won' catch me bawlin' ant homesick tears if I don' see

Jamaica for a t'ousand years.'