Compare and contrast the way Seamus Heaney and D H Lawrence Essay Example For Students

Compare and contrast the way Seamus Heaney and D H Lawrence Essay In this essay I shall be examining poems from two famous poets Seamus Heaney and D. H Lawrence. Both write about their childhood experiences and express their feelings and memories through their poetry and use poetic devices to help the reader identify with and visualise these. The poets techniques and memories are similar in some ways, yet vividly contrast in others. I shall begin with studying two poems by Seamus Heaney Digging and Mid term break, which deal with feelings about his father and the loss of his brother. I shall then compare these to two of D. H Lawrences poems Piano and Discord in Childhood, which are Lawrences recollections about his parents and their relationship. Seamus Heaney grew up on a farm in Ireland, and many of his poems are recollections of his early rural experiences. They are journeys of innocence and changing attitudes as he matured from a child to a man. Seamus used the creation process of poetry as a way of discovery about how he felt and how that impacts his life now. As he writes he paints a vivid picture in the mind of the reader of the characters and places he describes through poetic devices and his use of language. In the poem Digging Seamus Heaney explores the relationship between the previous generations of his family digging and working the land, and how he broke this tradition and became a poet. This must have been a very difficult decision for Heaney to make and throughout the poem; the reader gets an insight as to how Seamus feels about this. In the fifth stanza, Heaney states his father could handle a spade just like his old man showing that this tradition has been carrying on for a long time and therefore emphasising that this was a very hard thing for him to break away from. Another place where we get an insight into Heaneys thoughts is in the penultimate stanza where Heaney says he has no spade to follow men like them. This verse sounds self-pitying at a first glance; however we know that Seamus was capable of becoming a farmer as he is well educated in the subject, which we are aware of due to the large amount of technical language he uses, making it even more unlikely that Seamus would opt out of carrying on the family tradition. The rhyme scheme supports this as it is inconsistent and Seamus had broken the pattern of his ancestors making the family tradition inconsistent. He has no spade to follow them with, only a pen which he will use to dig in his own way. In the poem Seamus manages to find some similarities between physically digging and poetry. Firstly, poetry is rhythmic, just like digging, as his father is described as stooping in rhythm as he works the land. Also, poetry is very technical, as is digging as it is described in stanza three. Thirdly, symbolism is used when it says to scatter the new potatoes we had picked, loving their cool hardness in our hands. This shows that there is a good product which arises from digging, and you can be proud of and enjoy this, just as a poem is a pleasing finished product of writing. Seamus is apparently comfortable with writing, as we are told the squat pen rests, snug as a gun just as his father was comfortable with digging (the coarse boot nestled on the lug)Finally Heaney links the roots his father struggles to dig up to the living roots which he awakens in his head by writing. This is a powerful metaphor linking poetry to digging, and expresses that Seamus feels that his personal form of digging is more important to him, as he is dealing with the living roots The poem also explores Seamus relationship between him and his father. We know Seamus has a lot of respect for his father as he says By God, the old man could handle a spade which exclaims his praise for him. He also admires his grandfather and states with pride that he could cut more turf in a day than any other man on Toners bog, he is proud of his grandfathers achievements. He also admires the fact that they fell to right away and were dedicated to their work. The poem also shows the simplicity of their life (corked sloppily with paper) and the fact that his childhood shaped his life as he likens his memories to roots which anchor something and do not allow it to move. The strength of the memories shows that these two people had a great impression on Heaneys life; however he cannot and does not wish to follow in their footsteps. The poem is a journey down and down into Heaneys mind and feelings. The rhyme scheme supports this as it is inconsistent not blank verse, allowing freedom of thought. It was written during a pause in writing as the pen rests and he concludes by saying the squat pen rests. Ill dig with it. This link between the spade and pen shows that Seamus has reached a decision where he understands that he cannot follow them, regardless of how big an impact they had on his life, nor feel guilty about his decision he can only dig in his own way. The second poem I have chosen to examine is Mid-Term Break. It explores the feelings of Seamus Heaney and his family about the death of his four year old brother. Although the poem is not overly sentimental, it contains a lot of emotion, and gives the reader a good insight into Heaneys feelings and also how his mother and father react to this tragedy. The poem is on a universal theme loss, and Seamus recalls his first experience of this. It is written in a nai ve and unsure way, due to the simplicity of the writing. Seamus Heaney, as a poet, would undoubtedly have a wide range of vocabulary; showing that the poet wanted to convey that it was written from a childs point of view. This makes the poem even more poignant and emotionally distressing to the reader. The poem shows how Seamus feels about the loss of his brother. The only emotion Heaney expresses is embarrassment which shows that he did not know how to deal with what was happening maybe because it was his first experience of loss. However, it is clear that this is not all he felt. The events and the outcome are slowly revealed, implying that Seamus took a long time to come to terms with this. Book Review (Betrayal of Work) EssayHowever quite a few of the techniques the poets use are similar, such as neither poet writes poems with great sentiment showing that the two are strong and products of their experiences. They both rely on creating sounds in their poetry through the use of onomatopoeia, assonance and alliteration. Their poems are powerful, concise and full of symbolism. The second poem I have chosen to examine by D. H Lawrence is Piano. In the poem, Lawrence looks back to his childhood and the way his mother made him feel and the memories he associates with her. This nostalgic poem is both positive and negative as he fondly thinks of the past which makes him realise what he had then yet he can never go back there. The poem is very revealing about the emotions D. H Lawrence associates with his mother. The poem begins in a very harmonious situation a complete contrast to Discord in childhood where the opening stanza sets the scene for the aggression to come. The harmony is symbolic of the close relationship between Lawrence and his mother. He is describes as a child sitting under the piano showing that Lawrence is looking up to his mother perhaps representing the admiration he feels for her. This is similar to how Seamus Heaney feels for and respects his father, as examplified in the poem Digging. D. H Lawrence feels safe with his mother and the boom which scared him in Discord in childhood is now a protective one; not bruising. The word choices throughout the first stanza are all gentle such as softly and tingling, which convey the mood and how he feels in his mothers presence, and the rhyme scheme is consistent, representing the constant pillar of strength his mother was to him. The parlour is described as cosy with winter outside. In Discord in childhood, the bad weather outside is pathetic fallacy for the mood within the house, however in Piano, the winter outside merely contrasts the love inside the house making is cosy, and the protection he feels inside the house. It is clear that his father is not in this poem, which is quite a positive memory. This is significant, as it shows that Lawrence associates most of the happy moments in his childhood with his mother, and the discord he felt are memories he links to his father. This contrasts Seamus Heaneys poetry, where many positive recollections are associated with his father, and the admiration Seamus felt for him. In fact on the whole, Heaney has written more poetry containing his father than his mother. The singing and playing in Piano is metaphoric of how Lawrences mother made him feel just as the fight in Discord in childhood symbolised the violent relationship of his parents. The poem also exposes how D. H Lawrence felt about these happy moments in his childhood. He describes the piano as their guide, which could mean that when he no longer could spend this quality and calm time with his mother, he lost his guide and now he is lost and deserted. This shows just how important D. H Lawrences mother was to him. Although this is a positive memory, Lawrence says In spite of myself the insidious mastery of song betrays me back.. with hymns in the cosy parlour, showing that he does not wish to remember these times, as it emphasises how sad he is now especially since he lost his mother. The memories make him upset as it is in vain for him to return to his childhood. He says the glamour of childish days in upon me know, which is an unusual choice of words, but again means that the best is behind him and that his childhood was very special. It is somewhat odd to think that D. H Lawrence would think of his childhood like this, as another word he used to describe it was discord, but tells the reader that the love from his mother and the happiness he felt when he was with her can override the bad experiences he also had in his earlier years. The strength of these memories is shown through the big passionate words which he uses, and the onomatopoeia strengthens these images in the mind of the reader. D. H Lawrence says that his manhood is cast meaning that he is a product of his experiences and he cannot change that. Seamus Heaney too believes that he too is a creation of his experiences, but instead views this as a good thing because it gives him living roots in his head which he can turn into poetry. The circular structure of this poem is similar to that in Discord in childhood where the ongoing storm conveys the ongoing violence between his parents. The fact that the poem is not concluded but returns to the beginning shows that D. H Lawrence has not concluded these feelings he has not yet learnt how to deal with them. D. H Lawrence and Seamus Heaney are both poets who use poetry to express their feelings about their childhood. Both write in different styles and express different emotions. Whilst Seamus Heaney enjoyed a quiet and secure childhood, growing up on a farm, D. H Lawrence experienced great discord in his childhood, however these bad memories are sometimes overridden by the loving moments he shared with his mother. Seamus Heaney had great respect for his father who always took things in his stride and was devastated that he could not carry on the family tradition. On the other hand, D. H Lawrence greatly disliked his father and the way his father treated his mother. Few of the memories of his father are positive, and he is described as a booming and bruising character. However there are some similarities between the poets. Both feel a great sense of love towards one (or in Heaneys case both) of their parents, and have fond recollections of times spent with them. Even so, their poems are not overly sentimental, yet appeal to the readers emotions in other ways. Heaney and Lawrence believe they are products of their own experiences and use symbolism and other poetic techniques to strengthen these experiences when they are transferred onto paper in the form of poetry.