Poem: Poetry and Armitage Essay examples

Submitted By patrick3463
Words: 851
Pages: 4

In this essay I will be analysing the form, structure and language used in two of the poems from the conflict cluster. The two poems which I have chosen to examine are Out of the blue by Simon Armitage and Poppies by Jane Weir.
Form
Out of the Blue is a strong poem describing the last moments of the innocent who have gave their lives away in the catastrophic event on the 11th of September. On the other hand, Poppies reaches all the way back to the first world war. It has been written to express emotions of a mother whose son has been killed fighting for freedom.
Armitage using a short 4 lined first and second person stanzas throughout the entire composition tried to maintain self-control “You have picked me out of a building burning” and directly address his emotions. Poppies poem has also been written in first “ I could “as well as second “you were away” point of view, it is also easier to understand due to use of more natural form of the poem. Narrator in Out of the blue to remain calm, but breaking up inside, Armitage uses caesuras. “Appalling. Appalling.” Jane trying to control her emotions tends to use a lot more caesuras. “lapel, crimped” By using caesuras, Jane shows us her sadness which she doesn’t want to express using words.
The lines in stanzas consist of many short, clear thoughts and questions “so when will you come” “ A bird goes by “ to show his awareness of death to come. In stanza five, Armitage uses words to describe motion of people falling to their death. “Appalling, that others like me should be wind-milling, wheeling, falling.”
Structure
Armitage uses a very simple rhythm containing from 2-4 syllabled words per each line. “Through a distance shot of a building, burning.” In the poem out of the blue Armitage also tends to interrupt his longer sentences with much shorter ones. By doing this Armitage can demonstrate the depression to the reader. For example: “ a bird goes by”, man who know hes about to die starts to perceive with his eyes the objects they would normally pass by in normal situations.
Jane in her poem didn’t seem narrate in a chronological order. In fact the poem seemed to be in many different locations and times. Going from “ Three days before “ to “after you`d gone” in just a matter of 3 lines. Poppies also hasn’t just been written in non-chronological order but also in past and present tense. “ after you`d gone” Author using this technique has been telling us a wider more detailed story with a background to give us a clearer image of the story. In out of the blue, Armitage also tries to stretch the poem for as long as he can. He uses many short stanzas to explore the final seconds of a man’s life. By doing this he forces us readers to connect to the innocent, to see for ourselves how they feel.

Language
Armitage shows us his desperation in every stanza by using repetition such as “watching watching” By showing us this he also expresses the powerlessness he has. This expressed to us readers the pointless repetition of actions “ twirling, turning “ Jane in her poem uses