The Affliction of Margaret Essay Example
The Affliction of Margaret Essay Example

The Affliction of Margaret Essay Example

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I have been given four depressing poems to study, looking at the way different poets display their or their persona's feelings.

The poets in the four poems I have read write about different experiences of frustration and anger and the different effects these have on their emotions. In this study I am only mentioning 3 of the four poems. Other poems I have studied, including "those bastards in their mansions" and "the affliction of Margaret" show different types of frustration, and different methods of coping with it.Those bastards in their mansions" is a voice of a fictional character like "education...

.. " The poem features two different classes; the rich and the poor people. The poem is written from the point of view of a poor person, which is highly obvious due to

...

the language in the title, which is full of anger and resentment, but needs to be stated.

He uses this language to shock people. We know they're rich as they've got their big lawns, and we know the persona is a poor person because he sees himself running across their lawn with no shoes on.He mentions the "lords and ladies in their palaces and castles. " Stereotype would say palaces for ladies and castles for lords, so here the poet is playing around, as you would expect the peoples belongings named respectively.

In the last line of the first stanza he mentions "the gift of fire". Originally, in the Greek myths, the gift of fire was given to mankind by Zeus, the god of all gods. There was the story of Prometheus who stole fire from gods to make mankind better than animals

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and this angered the gods so they put him on rocks so the eagles could pick out his liver.I think this is great work by the poet, as he is using knowledge about the Greek gods: a subject which is in the structure of life, mainly due to Latin.

Prometheus was only doing what's right, and so would the persona if he did. The poet is saying that if people did do something right, but the rich don't agree with, you wont make it anyway, because the rich can use their power to pick at you. Pick at you like a vulture would. In "the affliction of Margaret" different methods are used. For a start there is rhyming.I am not a fan of rhyming when it comes to serious serious poems as your going out of your way to write down rhymes, so you're not writing what's deep in your heart, but what fits best in the frame you want.

The poet uses similes like "tears like dew". This has a deep meaning as he's saying the tears are there when you don't really want them at the crack of dawn, but go. So they cry but you might not see it. The poet uses alliteration.

... "Maimed, mangled by inhuman men. " The effect of alliteration is not always obvious.

Some times it is just put into a poem because the poet can do that.I think the alliteration here is to focus on the word men. She's gaining sympathy because she's suggesting MEN have got what is still her BABY. I also feel that with the line before "perhaps some dungeon hears thee groan," it

gives a theatrical feel, getting worse and worse ideas of what might have happened to her son. "Education for leisure" doesn't use rhyming couplets or any other methods like that, but does have a structure for the lines.

I love the way the poem is set out. The poet describes how he/she suffers from being ignored. Their self obsession causes them to want to "play god" and murder.His "autograph" is never appreciated, he's a "genius" and he could be anything at all, he just needs half a chance. I am always one willing to write "in proper English" with one word sentences.

My example for "education. " Is". Shakespeare. " Its simple writing which gives the reader an idea of simple thinking. The killer knows what he/she is doing.

He/she knows they don't appreciate his/her autograph. All three poems have a finishing line in my mind. I feel "education for leisure" is about a man who has an alter ego but more along the insane side.I think this because throughout the poem he goes on I, I, I. "I squash the fly.

I am a genius". But as he can't kill anything, and the fact he's suffering from depression, he commits suicide. However he is not killing himself, he is killing the dull person who gets ignored. The man who's name is registered with the body. The alter ego who kills him doesn't seem to understand he'll die if he kills his owner's body.

I'd use the lines "I get our bread knife out" and "I touch your arm". We know he can't touch the reader's arm, so he must be touching the arm of

the other of him who's there listening.Those bastards in their mansions" almost delivers a type of punch line. All through the poem he talks about britches, ditches, cuffs ; shackles. All medieval material, but then finishes with "me, I stick to the shadows, carry a gun". This works well; he's saying 'time's don't change.

Bad things are happening now that happened 100 years ago. If you don't believe me or understand, I'll just tell you what happened 100 years ago. ' And "the affliction of Margaret" finishes with "I have no other earthly friends". This poem is in my eyes incredibly long, so to stop on that is meaningful.

She's saying she only has god who is the only person that she can't see, and the only person she wants she can't see. Plus the fact that in 1807 everyone had god as people were still highly religious, but the one she wants no-one has. The main similarities are the theme; anger and depression, the "punch line" endings, all involve death, whether it be killing someone, or just as if you'd killed someone. The main differences are the different uses of framework, e. g.

verses and stanzas, the simplistic writing of "education for leisure" compared to the detailed alliterations, similes and metaphors of "the affliction of Margaret"

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