An Examination Of Her Body After Death
In the
poem “Examination of Her Body after Death” written by Glen Colquhoun. The
author uses the language features of metaphores and negatives to get across the important idea of grief.
One of the important ideas in the poem is grief and denial and the author uses the language feature of negatives to show this. “You are not her eyes! Someone has slipped up” this shows that Colquhoun is having trouble facing the fact that his loved one has passed and he’s using denial to get the point across to the audience. He repeats the statement of denial at the start of every stanza. By doing this he helps me to understand that he's grieving for his friend.
The second technique that I'm going to discuss is the use of metaphors. The author uses metaphores to show the contrast of the dead body and the person he remembers. “You are not her mouth! The sound of birds has gone away!” This is showing that he remembers her voice as a soft cheerful sound. But now that she doesn’t have a voice anymore. Later in the verse he refers to " two fat worms ". This is an unpleasant picture of the lips of the corpse that lies in front of him. By using mataphores Colquhoun helps us to understand the suffering that he feels for the death of his friend and his fond memories of her when she was alive.
In conclusion, by using these techniques we understand the anger and frustration the writer feels at the death of his friend and how much he loved her.
One of the important ideas in the poem is grief and denial and the author uses the language feature of negatives to show this. “You are not her eyes! Someone has slipped up” this shows that Colquhoun is having trouble facing the fact that his loved one has passed and he’s using denial to get the point across to the audience. He repeats the statement of denial at the start of every stanza. By doing this he helps me to understand that he's grieving for his friend.
The second technique that I'm going to discuss is the use of metaphors. The author uses metaphores to show the contrast of the dead body and the person he remembers. “You are not her mouth! The sound of birds has gone away!” This is showing that he remembers her voice as a soft cheerful sound. But now that she doesn’t have a voice anymore. Later in the verse he refers to " two fat worms ". This is an unpleasant picture of the lips of the corpse that lies in front of him. By using mataphores Colquhoun helps us to understand the suffering that he feels for the death of his friend and his fond memories of her when she was alive.
In conclusion, by using these techniques we understand the anger and frustration the writer feels at the death of his friend and how much he loved her.
TANGI
In the
poem “Tangi” written by Hone Tuwhare, he uses multiple language features such
as negatives and the contrast of 2 symbolic funerals. The two main ideas in
Tangi are grief and the different reactions to different cultures funerals.
The important ideas in the poem is grief and the author uses the language feature of negatives to show this. “I did not” and “nor did I” are both examples of negatives, the negatives give you a feeling of gloom and darkness. The other important idea in this poem is the language feature of positives, towards the end of the poem Tuwhare uses words like 'heard' and 'caught'. these give you a more positive feeling implying that he would rather be at a Tangi than a funeral.
The author also uses the contrast of 2 symbolic funerals to show the main idea of different reactions to different cultures funerals. The first funeral is clearly the European funeral because of the reference to the wreath of very English flowers like 'voilets and carnations' and the formal layout of a 'bordered path'. He feels foreign, alienated and out of place You can also see that the Tangi is the second funeral because the lat stanza refers to “green leaved anguish, in the bowed heads, of old women” symbolizing old women bowing their heads wearing green leaved hats at at Tangi.
In conclusion the author’s purpose in this poem is describing the 2 different feelings he had at the 2 different funerals and he has achieved this through the use of these techniques; the language features of negatives and contrasting. Overall I like the poem because of the descriptive language.
The important ideas in the poem is grief and the author uses the language feature of negatives to show this. “I did not” and “nor did I” are both examples of negatives, the negatives give you a feeling of gloom and darkness. The other important idea in this poem is the language feature of positives, towards the end of the poem Tuwhare uses words like 'heard' and 'caught'. these give you a more positive feeling implying that he would rather be at a Tangi than a funeral.
The author also uses the contrast of 2 symbolic funerals to show the main idea of different reactions to different cultures funerals. The first funeral is clearly the European funeral because of the reference to the wreath of very English flowers like 'voilets and carnations' and the formal layout of a 'bordered path'. He feels foreign, alienated and out of place You can also see that the Tangi is the second funeral because the lat stanza refers to “green leaved anguish, in the bowed heads, of old women” symbolizing old women bowing their heads wearing green leaved hats at at Tangi.
In conclusion the author’s purpose in this poem is describing the 2 different feelings he had at the 2 different funerals and he has achieved this through the use of these techniques; the language features of negatives and contrasting. Overall I like the poem because of the descriptive language.
