Second Line The Poet example essay topic

COMPARISONS OF ABERFAN and RHYDCYMERAU by Gwennallt Jones These two poems, Aberfan and Rhydcymerau, are written by Gwen allt Jones who lived from 1899 to 1968. They are both based on true stories. Aberfan was a national tragic accident and Rhydcymerau was a storey about the Forestry Commission taking over private land. Both these poems have been translated from Welsh into English; this may have an effect on the poems as they may have changed through translation In 'Aberfan' the first line starts with - 'Through curtains of fog the spoilheap looked down', this is a personified sentence because it is giving the spoilheap human characteristics. This stanza is about when the tragedy happened and what happens during its collision with the small village - what it sounded like when the mudslide came down the mountain. We know it was noisy during its destructive path through the village as the writer describes it as a 'low flying jet'.

In the second stanza it talks about the damage the mudslide caused - 'it dragged down fences, shinned up walls and it entered the primary school through the windows and roof'. The mudslide killed all the children and many teachers in the school. The rest of this stanza talks about how the mudslide 'stopped dead in silence'. It also talks about the 'awful stench' of the mudslide. 'Everything is silent and you could smell the awful stench' are very descriptive and powerful words. In the third stanza the poet talks about how the people of the village helped to rescue the victims of the awful disaster - 'Everybody pulled together but all they could find were dead or disfigured children and adults, the dead were covered with blankets and taken the Bethani'.

The author reinforces the tragedy of this event by using the words - 'taken to the quietest Sunday school ever'. The fourth stanza talks about Herod. Herod was a cruel man who killed children - the poet compares Herod to the mudslide as both were killers of children but the mudslide was even more destructive as 'it left no features to identify the children'. The poet also intimates the mud was crueler as it killed everything in its path and spared nothing. In stanza five, there is a sense of loneliness as the poet write 'To stand, waiting for the dream to end'.

In the first three lines there is a repetition of the word 'to' the poet does this to reinforce the point that there is much anger. In the second line the poet write about 'the children that have died and have gone to heaven' These children didn't want to die, we know this because the poet writes 'to be jealous of the children still alive'. It conveys the anger of the parents who have lost their loved ones and they feel bereft. In the sixth stanza the poet writes about how Kier Hardy wanted to fill the mines with the spoilheap - this would have prevented the accident from happening and would have saved all the young people and children from death when working in the mines [the dangers of working underground - gas - rock falls etc].

Nobody listened - we know this as the poet writes 'listened - who listens' This is to show that those in authority did not listen to Kier Hardy, but they should have and they still didn't in later years. In the first of the last two stanzas, the poet uses a simile to compare the Coal Board to the USSR; this is because the USSR is unreliable, ruthless, distant, and uncaring. The last stanza talks about one child who had to go to the doctors on the fateful morning and the comparison is made to the child being like Jesus who escaped from Bethlehem into Egypt - the child did not have to suffer the ultimate price - death - unlike his classmates who had attended school on that fateful day. The poet writes [assuming the place of the child] 'why have you left me hanging from nails and broken. ' This sentence brings home to the reader the utter desolation felt by the child who escaped. In my opinion this is an effective poem as it makes people feel sad and reminds them of the terrible tragedy with occurred.

The poet also used very effective and descriptive words, which help the reader understand the happening. The poem 'Rhydcymerau' concentrates of the land - Esgic-c eir. The importance of the woodland and the reason for its existence comes to mind - why is it here, and what has been done to the land. The second paragraph talks about the poet's grandmother and how the land looked in her day long ago. The poet also describes the grandmother - this shows us how things / people have changed over the years; He also talks about how welsh the poem is as in two lines he mentions the words Welsh and Wales three times. The poet then goes on to talk about his grandfather [although he did not see him]; he describes him as a 'character - a brisk twinkling little creature'.

The poet's grandmother is altogether totally different to his grandfather! The poem then goes on to the homestead - it is quite descriptive - 'There are now trees; where there once was farmland', in the fields the animals have changed, 'they have gone from lambs grazing in the fields to foxes barking in the woods. Comparison I would now like to compare 'Rhydcymerau' to 'Aberfan' a. The most obvious comparison is that both poems were translated from Welsh into English. b. Both poems deal with Welsh issues; they are not exactly the same issues - one is to do with a national disaster and the other is to do with family issues. c.

Both poems are very religious - I think this because the poet writes such words as puritan, scripture in Rhydcumerau and refers to Jesus, Bethlehem, and Sunday school in Aberfan. [Sunday school is also mentioned in Rhydcumerau. Personal comments I found the poem Aberfan very emotional - probably because so many young people lost their lives in a tragedy, which should never have happened.