Comparisons Flashcards
If + Prayer Before Birth
Both: present speaker’s view on life
If = positive, optimistic view
PBB = negative, pessimistic view full of fear
If + Poem At 39
Both: father sharing life lessons with a child
If = parent to son advice
P39 = positive impact of parent on the child’s life
Do not go gentle into that good night + Remember
Both: individuals preparing for death
Dngg = passionate, dramatic tone (speaker is talking to dying person)
Remember = calm unafraid (speaker is dying)
Do not go gentle into that good night + Poem At 39
Both: losing a parent (father)
Dngg = begging father to fight death
P39 = reflecting on his positive impact on her life (after his death)
Blessing + War Photographer
Both: show poverty and struggle of deprivation
Blessing = focuses on benefits of help (water)
WP = focuses on photographer and people’s struggle, sense of hopelessness
Blessing = The Tyger
Both: explore religion, ideas about God (God’s creation and gift of water)
Blessing = God is kind, burst pipe is an act of divine mercy
Tyger = questions morality and nature of God
Search For My Tongue + Poem At 39
Both: explore memory and identity
Sfmt = explores identity through different languages
P39 = explores identity through speaker’s memories of her father
Search For My Tongue + Half-Caste
Both: explore cultural identity
Sfmt = explores identity through different languages
Half-Caste = focuses on identity through offensive/derogatory language
Half-Past Two + Piano
Both: explore childhood memories
Hpt = recounts memory from the child’s point of view
Piano = adult forced into remembering a childhood memory
Half-Past Two + Hide and Seek
Both: childhood experiences and resulting loneliness
Hpt = left alone by an adult as a punishment
H+S = abandoned during a game of hide and seek
Note - different types of loneliness (h+s is more permanent form and negatively impactful)
Hide and Seek + Prayer Before Birth
Both: focus on children, their experiences in life (vulnerable children and their fears)
H+S = fear of being found (in the game), then goes to fear of being alone
Pbb = fear of outside world, evils of the world, life
My Last Duchess + Sonnet 116
Both: ideas about love
Mld = love is controlling, dangerous
S116 = love is eternal, powerful
My Last Duchess + La Belle Dame Sans Merci
Both: complexity of love, its connection to death, passionate love that ends tragically
Mld = dramatic monologue about duke’s jealous and controlling nature, and his envy that stems from love
Lbdsm = romantic ballad about a deceived knight
The Tyger + Prayer Before Birth
Both: explore concept of evil
Tyger = explores idea of creation of evil
Pbb = asking to be protected from evil
The Tyger + War Photographer
Both: speaker highlights evil in the world
Tyger = speaker uses tiger as a symbol of evil
WP = speaker uses victims of violence of global issues to highlight the evil that exists
Piano + Remember
Both: explore ideas of nostalgia and memory through loss
Piano = grieves for his childhood
Remember = speaker accepted her fate (of death and being forgotten)
Half-Caste + If
Both: explore concept of strength/resilience
If = emphasises the qualities that contribute to building a strong/resilient person, and attach those concepts to an aspirational idea of masculinity
Half-Caste = individual’s resilience against societal pressures
Sonnet 116 + Remember
Both: explore eternal nature of love
S116 = love can endure the passage of time, overcoming all barriers
Remember = speaker fears her loved one won’t remember her after she dies, despite the depth of her loved one won’t
