A Comparison Between Two Complementary Poems Essay

The two complementary metrical compositions Old return and Island Man atomic number 18 based on the subject of two diverse men who atomic number 18 coping with an experience of migrating to another country. In this coursework we will hold forth these poetrys, accordingly compargon, and contrast their theme and talking to.Hugh Boatswains Old fuss appe bed in an anthology called Writing in 1978. Boatswains work speaks to the condition of the racial tensions in the 70s and engages, in sparse poetic form, in a cover of the cultural analysis. Boatswains poems demonstrate the impressiveness of creativity, cultural trans operateion, and transition in the historicizing of West Indian migration and settlement in Britain.The poet has employ a narrative description in the poem to portray his views and thoughts to the members of the audience. The poem relates to a series of events of old go in a chronological order of his sustenance. The poem depicts the travellihood and culture of a person from a distant atmosphere and surrounding who goes through a solidifying of hardships in the beginning due to the unknown environment. The poet has then given a brief sketch of his adaptation to the society and how he changes to accept those adaptations. The poem creates a depressing feeling in our hearts as the poet describes how old father for welcomes his culture and roots by his behaviour.The poet has described his views in rather an enigmatic way no information obtained by us can be strongly evident. It tells the story of an old or older figure in the black community, how old is not known but can be presumed to the mid thirties or more. The title Old Father depicts a personage of high value, a person who would hold up and resist the beliefs and values of the society. The title describes a public of experience, ingenuity, and responsibility.In the beginning of his channelize to England the Caribbean homo craved to return to his homeland. The poet then discuss es how old father bought a turning dose in his life-time and started changing his lifestyle to get more certain in the society. This is indicated by the haggling Old Father feet begin to shift. His roots have no misbegoting now (Line no(prenominal) 10 and 11).This is also an example of one of many metaphors in the poems, i.e. his feet are not actually shifting but his berth is changing and he is accepting his situation in the society and is trying to improve it. In this process he is leaving nothing out, to the extent that he is build to change his values, beliefs and ethical values to receive acceptance. He then discusses rough old fathers personalized and love life, he also brings up the point of how he changes his attitude towards his own friends of his race.Boatswain has added a variety of characters to the poem. until now though the vagueness of details of the character we can imagine that Old Father was undignified to an extent. From the following line Bouncing down the road with a blonde (Line none 17) we can presume his indecency, as walking with a blonde is considered inappropriate due to the negative image they have created in the society. The whole image is cojourned by the term blonde relieving his change in attitude and lifestyle to be considered indecorous.The poet has chosen his words very especially and has also considered the ar cast offment of these words. He has affaird a varied range of figures of speech like metonymy and personifications but has highly considered the use of metaphors. These figures of speech and alternative of conceptions create a rhythmatic design this maintains the reader with an interested attitude.A lot of attention is given to the use of punctuations. Boatswains way of describing and explaining imaging is noteworthy. For example Cold bite him hard (Line No.2), this shows how painful the weather is to this Caribbean man in the beginning of his arrival. We can see how Boatswains use of language is very d escriptive but concise and effective.The other poem Island Man is a piece of poetry written by alter Nichols. She was born in Guyana and came to Britain in 1977. She writes this poem in context to a Caribbean man who has settled in London but still wakes up to the sound of the sea and the tranquillity of his native island.Island Man consists of a vast range of sounds and images to express the Caribbean mans feelings and thinking. For example the sound of the colored surf and the steady breaking and wombing (Line No.3 and 5) are good examples of his use of language and images for the description of his feelings. This poem is also told in a narrative trend but unlike Old Father the poem is more spontaneous.The poem is bought out in the form of a ideate. A number of images are described to show how he imagined himself in his native island where there was no hindrance or disturbance but peace and tranquillity, whereas the atmosphere in London was comp permitely contradictory to his dream. Therefore when he wakes up and enters the world of reality where he is back in London and hears the roar of the cars and screeches of the wheels kind of of the sound of the sea he just says Another London daylight (Line No. 19). He probably says this as he has been living in London since a long time and is now frustrated with his rough-cut rut and wants to get out of it and return to his paradise like island.His attitude towards this new environment is not so enthusiastic. This is indicated by the words groggily groggily (Line No. 11). He has already seen the usual busy days of London and has accepted them in his life and has acknowledged this new surrounding. But a sense experience of frustration has aroused and his crave for his native island just became greater than before. two the poems hold a lot of similarity of cultures and attitudes towards the new migration. Both of them allot unhappiness in this new environment of theirs. Both of them also discuss the bitter w eather. But old father moves on in his life whereas in Island Man we will notice that there is not much of progression in the story. It is just a dream whereas the whole life of old father is discussed in the other poem. Hence a lot of contradictions are in the poem. Also the language and use of punctuations is very different. In Old Father punctuations are given a lot of importance and are very proper whereas in Island Man the poem consists of no punctuations at all. It forms more of a spontaneous attitude and also considers the unavailing morning attitude of a person. Therefore as this is a dream the poet has very well described this quality and has also set a sense of spontaneous feelings and emotions.He is an example to his concourse (Line 41, Old Father), these were the words used to describe old father and his behaviour. It is the opinion of a face cloth English racist person. This opinion can be adapted in two contradictory perceptions. The white people may say it in the c ontext that every person from another country, another culture should act like him. They should also adopt the behaviour and culture of the country they live in.The contradictory farmingment to this would be that the white people are express that he was a person who was ready to change for his benefit of himself and in the end of the day for h is own betterment he would allow for his friends. Hence they jump to the conclusion that he is just an example of those people who are of his culture and each would do anything for their own personal benefits forgetting their personal beliefs and culture.In the end I would conclude saying that both the poems state a moral towards us. In Old Father we can say that a man should adapt towards his surrounding but that does not mean we should forget who we are, what is our identity. Whereas in Island Man we can see that a man has come to another country but still has not let go of the memories of his own countries and hence is not able to move o n and adapt the good qualities of the country he is living with. Hence we should claim from this poem that thinking about our past and not moving on would just lead to frustration and everything would go wrong. Hence we should keep up the pace in life and never look back and ponder.