A Poem is a specific composition of words arranged in a way that the author can express his/her feelings through it. As in English language there are many variations among different countries, it happens the same among poems of different countries. There are many different “Englishes” that have been established through several countries, making this language almost completely different from formal English. This is why poems from different countries may sound different at a point of becoming almost unintelligible.
“The Soldier” is a poem written by Rupert Brooke, the poem is actually the fifth of a series of sonnets entitled 1914. Rupert Brooke was an English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War, he died the year after “The Soldier” was published. “Colonization in Reverse” is a poem written by Louis Bennett in 1966. Louis Bennett was a Jamaican folklorist, writer, and artist. She speaks a blend of languages called patois, which reflected the island's African roots, her unique dialect was part of Jamaica’s cultural heritage.
The communicative purpose can be seen in the way that the author transmits his/her message in a form that the viewers can understand their points of view. In this case we can see that Rupert Brooke, in his poem “The Soldier”, tries to express the heroism of the English soldiers who fought in World War I trying to write as if he was a soldier. England was his birth place and it shaped what kind of person he became, it influenced his thoughts and beliefs. In his poem, he talks about his country and his people, as Louis Bennett talks about hers. We can see, in her poem “Colonization in Reverse”, her description of the Jamaican experience of the racial inequality of South Asian people living in London. She was influenced from both Jamaican and South Asian cultures that shared a similar experience in their move to England for employment and a better life, so in her poems she wrote her experiences about that. She also refers that Jamaican people are assimilating England culture and leaving behind Jamaica. In both poems the authors highlight the cultural precision and identity of their biological country.
The tone takes an important role in a poem; it goes according to the different word choice, punctuation, rhythm, etc. In this case, in the poem “The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke we can see a formal tone, it is a serious poem; we can imagine that it is a letter from a soldier before dying. He also adds a patriotic and optimistic tone to the poem which makes it more representative of his country. On the other hand, in the “Colonization in Reverse” poem by Louise Bennett we can see a different tone from the first poem because of the differences of the Jamaican’s English Language. As we saw previously, changes in English language can occur because of the geographical differences. Her tone is also reflective because she expresses the changes among Jamaican people because of England’s influence. The poems are very different according to the tones, they’re written in a different form of English: UK English and Jamaican English.
The audience is the people of their countries that see the poems. The audience from “The Soldier” should be the British people because Rupert Brooke is from England, the audience would experiment a “goodbye letter” from a soldier of the WWI. The audience from the “Colonization in reverse” should be the Jamaican people because Louise Bennett is from Jamaica, the audience would experiment a kind of reflection about what’s happening to Jamaican people today, how they’re influenced by the British culture. In both poems, the words are pronounced differently because of the different accents from their countries. The authors uses different types of diction in their poems, we can see that by looking at the author's distinctive vocabulary choices and style of expression.
In conclusion the authors are able to express certain feelings through their poems by means of different elements that define a poem like for example tone, structure, language, style, etc. These poems have more differences than equalities, the authors are not from the same country, they have different cultures, different thoughts, points of view, different themes, etc. On the other hand we can see some similarities among them like both are poems, even though they’re arranged in a different way, both have stanzas, both express feelings related to their biological country, etc. Somehow these poems are related to each other. Poems will always be a way of expression for people through different countries around the globe and these may present differences in language like the one mentioned above.
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"Rupert Brooke: V. The Soldier | First World War Poetry Digital Archive." Oxford
University Computing Services (OUCS) Home Page. Web. 28 Sept. 2010. <http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/education/tutorials/intro/brooke/vsoldier.html>.
Hundred, By De. "The Hon. Louise Bennett-Coverley AKA Miss Lou 1919 - 2006."Distinctly Jamaican Sounds. Web. 28 Sept. 2010. <http://jamminjasounds.blogspot.com/2006/07/hon-louise-bennett-coverley-aka-miss.html>.
