Two poems that use language and layout for effect are, ‘Two scavengers in a truck, two beautiful people in a Mercedes’ by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and ‘Blessing’ by Imtiaz Dharker. Both poems were set in very different places and with different cultures. ‘Two Scavengers’ was set in America in the 1950s where lots of people were treated very highly and had lots of money. Whereas ‘Blessing’ was set in a poor country, in the outskirts of Bombay, where there was very little water available, “There is never enough water” this suggests that people are very poor.
The poem ‘Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful people in a Mercedes’ is about four very different people. When describing the Scavengers, the poet uses words like “grey iron hair” a
...nd “hunched back” showing us that the scavengers are poor. However this poem also tells us what the Two Beautiful people are like and how they live their lives. By using words like “with sunglasses and long hair” and “at the cool couple” showing us that these people are rich with a lot of money. At this point in the poem, you can see a contrast between the two couples, as the readers can now see that they are from different parts of society.
The poetic devices that are used in ‘Two Scavengers in a Truck’ are imagery and similes. The poetic devices that are used in ‘Two Scavengers in a Truck’ are imagery and similes. Poetic devices are used in this poem so that the reader can visualise their effects and understand them more clearly. The first imagery in the poem tells us abou
colours and makes us think of bright and dull colours. “a bright yellow garbage truck”- The two garbage men are riding in a bright yellow truck, and then the poet goes to say that they are wearing red plastic blazers. This gives us a colourful image about the two garbage men.
This could suggest that the garbage men are more colourful than the Two Beautiful people. Whereas in ‘Blessing’ the poetic devices are imagery, similes, metaphors and rhymes. The poet uses similes and metaphors to give the reader a clearer picture of the poem. An example of a simile is on line one. “The skin cracks like a pod”. This shows that the ground doesn’t have enough water as it cracks open like a pod, just like their skin as it doesn’t have enough nutrition from the water. There is a vast amount of religious imagery in the poem Blessing, as the people think of the water as a gift from God.
This shows the readers that these people are not taking water for granted. Many people could be deceived that ‘the beautiful people’ would take the water for granted, but this shows that you shouldn’t judge people by their appearance. The two poems have very different structures. In the poem ‘Two Scavengers in a Truck’ the poem is set out like a conversation with one thought after another. This slows the poem down and it gives the reader time to appreciate each idea and thought. Another sophisticated structure to this poem is that it is very fragmented and distributed across the page.
I think this is trying to tell the readers
how the people are broken in society. In ‘Blessing’ the stanzas are set out at different lengths. This shows that the long stanzas are when the people have water, but the short stanzas are when the people have no water. In conclusion, both poems were very good, as they each portrayed how there is a divide in society, but especially ‘Blessing’ because I like how the writer uses poetic devices to show meaning. For example “Screaming in the liquid sun” and “There is never enough water” which shows an issue of water shortage.
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