Comparing Literature Poems

“HAVISHAM” In the poem “Havisham”, Carol Ann Duffy presents the subject of this poem as an old, embittered woman with “ropes on the back of her hands”, while Browning presents the subject of his poem as a strong and determined but very jealous and embittered young woman. The poem is written in the first person in the form of a dramatic monologue, “The Laboratory” by Robert Browning is also written in this form. Miss Havisham is aware of her own stink – because she does not ever change her clothes or wash. She stays in bed and screams in denial.

At other times she looks and asks herself “who did this” to her? She sometimes dreams almost tenderly or erotically of her lost lover, but when she wakes the hatred and anger return. Thinking of how she “stabbed at the wedding cake” she now wants to work out her revenge on the lover that betrayed her. Parent/Child Relationship Compare the ways parent/child relationships are represented in ‘Before You Were Mine’ by Carol Ann Duffy and three other poems, one by Simon Armitage and any two from the Pre-1914 Poetry Bank.

The relationship between a parent and a child can bring about any of a range of emotions. In ‘The Affliction of Margaret’, we see a parent’s desperation at not hearing from her missing son in seven years, while in ‘On my first Sonne’, the poet bids farewell to his dead son. In ‘Before You Were Mine’, the poet describes the effect her own birth had on the lifestyle of her mother, whereas ‘My father thought it bloody queer’ describes a strained relationship between father and son.

The differing structures of the poems affect their impact. Wordsworth’s structure for ‘The Affliction of Margaret’ consists of eleven verses of seven lines each. How does Ben Jonson use language and structure to convey the message of the poem “On my first Sonne”? “On my first Sonne” is a poem where Jonson describes his reaction to sorrow when his first son dies. Jonson confronts conflict, loss and despair when “Ben Jonson his best piece of poetrie” was “exacted by fate, on the just day”.

He uses his son as an inspiration in this poem and describes his different stages that he has gone through by using language and structural features in this poem. The structural layout in this poem suggests that a progression of ideas is taking place. The first five lines indicate struggle, conflict, loss and despair. He experiences shock and guilt as he says, “My sinne was too much hope of thee, loved boy”.