After having read a selection of poems from Best Words, I have decided to write about two. "First Love," by John Clair and "Long Distance," by Tony Harrison.
Booth of these poems have a central theme of love but in two different ways. 'First Love' is a powerful poem about the feelings that Clair had towards a young and very attractive woman who was the daughter of a wealthy farmer. Clair knew he would never be able to get this woman due to the class system of that time. Clair grew up in extreme poverty and he worked the land from the age of seven.Due to his background his health both physically and mentally began to fail him as he hit middle age. He suffered from many delusions and the last year of his life where spent in an asylum.
From examining the poem in greater depth I can see Clair's clever use of language. In the first stanza of the poem Clair cleverly uses the word 'struck'. I ne'er was struck before this hour with love so sudden and so sweet. The word 'struck' brings emphasis of his feelings of love. It makes you believe that Clair was really hit by the beauty of this woman. Also in this stanza the beauty of the women is emphasized again.
Clare uses the metaphor 'bloomed like a sweet flower'. This draws an image in your mind that the woman is as beautiful as a blooming flower. Clair uses another metaphor in this stanza, 'My life and all seemed turn to clay. ' This implies that Clair's whole life stopped when she looked at him. In the second stanza Clair talks about what happened to him when he saw the woman.
He writes about the emotions he felt and ho 'raw love' can effect people. In the final stanza Clair uses a collection of similes, metaphors, alliterations and rhetorical questions.Are flowers the winter's choice? ' and 'Is love's bed always snow? ' Both of these are rhetorical questions meaning they need no answerer. This shows that Clair is beginning to question the meaning of love.
'Are flowers the winters choice? ' Clair has likened the woman to a 'Blooming flower' as it is in the middle of winter Clair is asking do such beautiful blooming flowers appear in winter. 'Is loves bed always snow? ' Here Clair is asking if the feelings of love he has got are always so cold and hurtful like a bed of freezing snow.In the final stanza Clair explains how his heart has been broken by this woman that he could never have and how he would never love again. My heart has left its dwelling-place And can return no more.
After having read this poem by Clair I have begun to relies that falling in love to a beautiful woman will not always to nice. Love can hurt people and in Clair's case causes him to break down. This poem made me feel almost sorry for Clair because of him coming from such a bad background and ending up dieing with nothing at all because of one attractive young woman.The second poem I have decided to write about is 'Long Distance' by Tony Harrison.
This poem is from a sequence of different poem Harrison wrote to come to terms with the death of his parents. Like 'First love' this poem is about love, but this kind of love is the kind you have to a very close family members like your parents or grandparents not someone you would have a relationship with. This poem if powerful for everyone because it deals with an issue than we all will have to face in our lives or have faced already.What is unique about this poem is that Harrison has used almost no poetical devises such a similes, metaphors and alliterations. The makes the text more of a short story than a poem.
In the first stanza of the poem Harrison writes about how his father had dealt with the death of his mother. His father still 'kept her slippers warming by the gas,' 'put hot water bottles her side of the bed' and 'still went to renew her transport pass. ' All of these little things that his father did shows that he has not coped with his mothers death and does not want to admit she has gone forever.All these things he does are very unusual but the most disturbing is that he still spends money on a transport pass that will never be used.
In the second stanza it explanes that his father would not allow people round without giving some kind of notice so he could put away the thing that belong to his wife, Harrison's mother. The last line of the stanza tells us how his father felt about is behaviour. He felt that what he was doing was a crime. 'as though his still raw love was such a crime' In the third stanza you can see that his dad does not want to let go.He still feels the she will come back. Though sure hat very soon he'd hear her key scrape in the rusted lock and end his grief The uses of the word 'rusted' is a metaphor of his life after her death, how it has decade and fallen apart.
The final stanza has shown that Harrison is no different from his dad when it comes to grieving for a loved one. The first two lines though, give the impression that Harrison is mocking his father and fell he as act ridiculous. 'I believe life ends in death,' and ' You haven't both gone shopping;'.Both of these lines give you the opinion that Harrison as no respect for his father but the final lines of the poem, and the most powerful shows that even though he belief life ends in death he still does things his father did.
In my new black leather phone book there's your name And the disconnected number I still call. I believe both poems are written very well. They both give two powerful views on love. I prefer Harrison's 'Long Distance' as it has started me thinking how I shall act when my loved ones die and it is a poem all people can relate to.
