Exam (elaborations)
Grade 10 Poetry Essays x3
- Course
- English Home Language
- Institution
- 10
Three examples of different poetry essays for poems we did in class. I chose Caged Bird and got 10/10 for it.
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“God’s Grandeur” was written by Gerard Hopkins in 1877 and deals with Hopkins’ feelings about God's presence and power and how hecouldn’t understand how people inhabiting earth could refuse God. Gerard Manley Hopkins uses diction, assonance and onomatopoeia
in “God’s Grandeur” to illustrate God’s power and ability to forgive mankind despite of his flaws.
Hopkins' word choice expresses wonder towards the greatness of God and the continuity of nature. Words like "grandeur" and "flame
out" show the power God has revealed in His creation, while “seared," "bleared," "smeared," "smudge," and "smell" add to man's inability
to recognize God's greatness and man’s tendency to destroy it. In the last line, "warm breast" and "bright wings" give a sense of hope
that God’s creation will make it past man’s destructions.
Assonance is used in "seared, bleared, smeared" and represents Hopkin's views on the industrial era - known to be dirty from
factories' pollutants and you feel Hopkins's disgust for these pollutants by the unpleasant sounds these words make.
Line 5 is an example of onomatopoeia and "have trod, have trod, have trod” shares Hopkins’ frustration. This line’s repetition of “trod”
gives a visual image of "generations" marching through nature destroying everything. Hopkins contradicts his thoughts as he has a
feeling of relief and hope for humanity; and has God’s forgiveness by saying "ah!"
Hopkins is upset about people’s unawareness of God’s presence. Although he admires God, he feels hopelessness for humanity as
they’ve lost connection with God and nature, but is convinced there’s hope as God’s presence is everlasting. I believe Hopkins finds it
important that humanity will eventually reconnect with God through prayers and Church and be one with nature again. Although
Hopkins finds people’s lives too busy to notice the damage they’ve done but nature can’t be destroyed, as it will always shine
because God’s presence and love will continually restore it.
“The Caged Bird” was written by Maya Angelou in 1969. Maya Angelou uses imagery, irony and imagery in “Caged Bird” to convey
the themes of freedom and isolation by using the differences between the free bird and the caged bird and this enables her to
demonstrate her emotions and feelings about the two themes.
Throughout the first stanza, Angelou uses “leaps, floats, dips” to show how joyful the free bird is. The bird has the freedom to choose
how it wants to live and can live life to the fullest. The bird is in a state of tranquillity and is so delighted that it, “dares to claim the
sky”.
It is only in stanza 2 that Angelou introduces the caged bird, which is ironic, because the title of this poem is “Caged Bird”. However,
the free bird is described first, which creates a contrast between the caged bird and the free bird.
Also in stanza 2, by using dark and heavy words such as “Stalks, Narrow cage, Rage, Tied”, Angelou portrays a bird that is miserable
and alone because it is isolated. “Wings are clipped” and “feet are tied” indicate how the bird was robbed of its freedom, making it
unable to fly even if it wanted to. The bird can only express its anger and pain by singing.
In stanza 3, the poet describes the way the bird sings. Singing is not an indication that the bird is happy, but instead that it is afraid,
angry, and sad. There is something better out there, so he cries for someone to rescue him.
There are two birds are compared in this poem: a free bird may live in nature as it pleases, but a caged bird suffers in captivity. This
bird sings to cope with its suffering as well as to express its own desire for freedom. She uses these two birds as a comparison with
her own life, where she was once free, but when Apartheid came, was "encaged", much like the caged bird, who was also once free.
“I wandered lonely as a cloud” was written by William Wordsworth. Wordsworth uses simile, personification and hyperbole to describe
the beauty in nature.
Lines 1 - 2, “As lonely as a cloud / that floats on high o’er vales and hills,” describe Wordsworth’s aimless wanderings and
purposeless actions, and also how dispassionate and detached we are from nature, failing to appreciate the beauty around us.
Wordsworth notices “A host, of golden daffodils; /Fluttering and dancing in the breeze,” (Lines 4 and 6) - and these daffodils become
more than flowers, they symbolize natural beauty and life filled with experiences, while their flutter and dance in the breeze are the
joy and happiness of living.
It is impossible for a hillside to contain as many flowers as stars in the galaxy and it is equally impossible to see ten thousand flowers
in a single glance. These overstatements show his excitement and joy when surrounded by nature.
Peacefulness and tranquillity lie within an awareness of nature and as Wordsworth admires nature, he remains at peace, regardless
of the time that has passed. He is inspired by nature as it is forever changing and the environment enables him to change with the
environment, becoming one with it.
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