People and culture Essay

Through this essay I will compare to poems present persons and traditions. Whether it be employing words, images or the sculpt of the composition.

The two poems I will be comparing are ‘What were they like’ by Denise Levertov and ‘presents from my personal aunts in Pakistan’ simply by Moniza Alvi. Both people consider the chance of losing a tradition but the will certainly loose these people in different approaches to each other, through war plus the pressures of society also peer pressure. In ‘what were they will like’ simply by Denise Levertov we are 1st confused about the actual poem material may be until we explore the meaning from the poem and explore the history of the Thai war as well as the people and culture involved in the turmoil.

After studying into the composition we can see that it can be about how people after the Japanese war believed their tradition would be misplaced forever and they would need story tellers and educators to keep their civilizations story. The poem thinks issues that remain relevant today such as the chance of the loss of the culture and tradition in Afghanistan and Iraq due to the ongoing hostilities.

The poem heavily romanticises the battle and the Vietnamese people when saying items like ‘life was at rice and bamboo. ‘ This implies that the Vietnamese are basic folk, their particular lives are decorated in a sympathetic portrait of any gentle, kind and very humble race living and employed in the terme conseille fields, that could be perceived as a patronising watch of the Vietnamese people. This will not necessarily become how the poem was can be presented. ‘Presents from…’ features similarities and differences to ‘What were they like’ is about. In ‘presents by my aunts in Pakistan’ Moniza Alvi is interested of her culture that she was torn away from at an early age.

The lady receives gives from her aunts in Pakistan yet is humiliated of them. This kind of poem can be written through the eyes of your 16 year old girl who will be curious, mixed up and humiliated about a lifestyle that the lady knows so little about although is such a big part of her as a person. When friends come circular she hides her gives to avoid further embarrassment and ridicule. The girl with considering what culture to embrace and what lifestyle to reject, peer pressure from both her close friends and family are forcing her to a corner from which she is built to choose from and has no place to turn.

The way in which this composition is both different and similar to ‘what were they will like’ is the fact in the two cases they are really being forced to loose their particular culture, in ‘Presents from…’ by expert pressure and ‘What had been they like’ by military force, this way they are also similar because it is not their decision to loose their lifestyle, this is how both poems present people and culture, just how people can make their own choices and that people need to stand up for themselves. With this section of my personal essay in people and culture I will be comparing the structure of both ‘Presents…’ and ‘What were…’ that they are similar and different in shape, vocally mimic eachother, punctuation, repeating, refrain and stanzas/sections.

The structure of both poetry are similar as they are original in the way they are shown. The structure has been significantly considered to demonstrate poem is known as a certain approach. In ‘Presents…’ there is apparently no composition or explanation to the weird way the poem can be written to start with reading. Whenever we consider the fact that poet is definitely confused and curious about her other lifestyle she has transferred away from, it becomes clear that that are the scattered tips running throughout the mind of a troubled youthful girl.

Right now there need be zero beginning or perhaps end for this poem; it will be possible for the poem to start out in many places, as this is attempted to be like someone offers jotted straight down ideas and thoughts which may have possibly not any link between lines. There is not any rhythm or flow through the poem, broken up by the lack of sense and constant transform of way the poem takes. There may be still a lot of structure towards the poem, there may be punctuation wherever is should be, maybe actually mare so as she pauses to chuck more tips and thoughts onto the page. You will find full halts and capital letters wherever expected in the beginning and end of tips.

Ideas are split up into stanzas which will shows the poem can be not completely free from composition. There is no replication or avoid which is only to be expected in a poem such as this, where there is no regular form or structure. I believe the poet provides intended for their to be no structure, since it shows turmoil in the writer’s mind since she includes up the pro’s and con’s of enjoying or rejecting her culture of which she knows so very little about.

It might also be written in this way to celebrate culture and diversity, by exhibiting her operate a unique and diverse approach, I think this is the way Moniza Alvi wanted to screen people and culture throughout the structure of her composition. In ‘What were…’ the structure is also unorthodox in the way it is presented. We may be puzzled the first time we browse it and question for what reason the composition is written in such a way.

As I have said before, it is not until you read deeper and research in the meaning from the poem that you can fully understand why it is created the way it is. You can then recognize that it is revealed the Vietnamese people and the battle to keep their traditions. It appears to be children asking their particular teacher, Vietnamese people or American war veterans that fought in the war about the past and the culture or perhaps way of life the Vietnamese acquired.

The way the composition is set out even as something and response poem is usually not as you would expect it to end up being, all the questions and the email address details are grouped collectively in two block paragraphs divided with a small distance. I skinny Denise Levertov wrote the poem in this manner because it implies that there are two different audio system to the composition and that draws an obvious line among then in order to avoid confusion. My spouse and i also think it can be written this way to show there is a bombardment of inquiries from the children, as if the war was over persons would have wished to ask a lot of concerns about the war, what the felt and how their lifestyle has been afflicted.

This is how I believe Denise Levertov intended and used the structure with the poem to provide how the people both Japanese and the group questioning them felt about the conflict. In the next area of my essay I will be exploring how the poets used dialect and graceful devices to show off people and culture. Poets use distinct poetic devices to display all their work in different ways depending on which in turn way they would like their very own work to get perceived. ‘What were…’ is a good example of exactly where metaphors are being used affectively to creat a clear image in your thoughts of the particular poet is usually tring to get accros.

A good example of this is certainly ‘Sir, laughter is bitter to the used up mouth’, this could mean a couple of things, it may mean that they can no longer giggle as absolutely nothing is funny after the horrors they may have seen, nothing at all would seem funny after the amount of loss of life and destruction they have seen. Another meaning that is related to laughter being hard to come by, could be that after seeing charred bodies and charred mouths that could no longer physically laugh. The poem is incredibly ambiguous and can have many symbolism that are not clear at first.

The poet, Denise Levertov would have intended for this to happen and used it as being a devise to make you continue reading to verify that it became obvious over time the precise meaning of this poem. This may also be uncertain because the poem was drafted before the end of the Japanese war and ideas they could have been proven wrong or perhaps be different towards the knowledge we now have, I think it absolutely was accidental which the people and culture are displayed in such an eclectic way, nevertheless the way imagery, metaphors and similes have already been used is effective and gives well persons and traditions in the Vietnamese war. In ‘Presents…’ images is also utilized all of the time that will help you imagine the presents that are sent from her aunts in Pakistan.

Concurrently similes and metaphors are used to describe the things of clothing by comparing the unique items of clothing to other more familiar items, such as because it says ‘They sent us a salwar kameez peacock blue, and another glistening like an orange split open up. ‘ This is very useful once trying to the image other clothes that are directed. It is significantly better way of describing what the thing looks like and a much sharper way of delivering the people and culture in the poem when we can correspond with everyday things and not just a name that individuals cannot pronounce properly. Among the dresses is personified mainly because it says ‘ I attempted each satin-silken top was alien inside the sitting-room’.

This puts a image in your mind of how Moniza feels toward her fresh clothes, that shows that she is confused about her Pakistani traditions as if it were alien to her. Representation is not used in ‘What were…’ nevertheless is used incredibly effectively in ‘Presents…’