Alright, I just recently received my Literature essay results :D The good thing is my results were better than in my Qualifying Test. The bad news is, I didn't get an A :(
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Question:
"Some poets writing about home explore the theme of memory."
Using Alfred Lord Tennyson's Mariana (Oxford Anthology of English Poetry) as a starting point, compare and contrast how poets explore the theme of memory in at least one other poem.
Answer:
Some poets writing about home explore the theme of memory. Such poems which portray that theme would be "Mariana", by Alfred Lord Tennyson and "To My Mother", by George Barker.
In Alfred Lord Tennyson's "Mariana", the persona remembers details of her home. For example, 'with blackest moss the flower-pots were thickly crusted, one and all: The rusted nails full from the knots that held the pear to the gable-wall. The broken sheds looked sad and strange: unlifted was the clinking latch; weeded and worn the ancient thatch upon the lonely moated grange'. The setting of her home becomes her greatest ally in remembering what home feels like and allows the poem to build up from there.
Similarly, in "To My Mother", George Barker has the persona recall details of his home, no matter how minor. For instance, the persona remembers that his home houses a cellar where his mother may 'scuttle' to. Little details like such become a strong trigger when writing about a person's home.
Apart from that, poets use specific words which act as some form of specificity. In "Mariana", Alfred Lord Tennyson uses the word 'the' to emphasise on this specificity. For example, in the fifth stanza, he writes: 'In the white curtain, to and fro, she saw the gusty shadow sway'. The word 'the' was not substituted with 'a' or any other term that may suggest vagueness or the assumption that it might not be there at all. Rather, it provided finality that there was indeed a white curtain which would billow to and geo in the persona's home.
The word 'the' is also used fairly often in George Barker's "To My Mother". For example, in the first stanza and second line, the persona says: 'Under the window where I often found her'. Once more, the persona did not say: 'Under a window', because it was not the exact window he was referring to in which he often found his mother under. This shows how precise one's memory of home can be.
Thirdly, Alfred Lord Tennyson used life to explore the theme of memory. In "Mariana", the example would be in the sixth stanza where he writes: 'All day within the dreamy house, the doors upon their hinges creaked; the blue fly sung in the pane; the mouse behind the mouldering wainscot shrieked'. This would normally suggest a high degree of repetition in the persona's life and therefore provides the monotonous feeling of forever being present at home.
As with Alfred Lord Tennyson's "Mariana", George Barker's "To My Mother" also uses life to explore the theme of memory. For example, 'the lame dogs and hurt birds that surround her'. The persona remembers these certain things that reinforce his memory of home.
While Alfred Lord Tennyson and George Barker share some similarities in that sense, there are also differences between their methods on exploring the theme of memory. For instance, in "Mariana", Alfred Lord Tennyson was a great deal of nature to highlight his memories of home. Examples include the persona narrating: 'Upon the middle of the night, waking she heard the night-fowl crow' and 'And ever when the moon was low, and the shrill winds were up and away'. The environment plays just as important a role as life does in memory, which is present in "To My Mother", by George Barker.
In "To My Mother", George Barker uses the persona's mother as the embodiment of 'life'. By recalling the little habits that his mother used to do, like 'lean on the mahogany table like a mountain', the persona is able to remember his home, such as the existence of the 'mahogany table' his mother can 'lean on'.
In actual fact, it is the main source of our recollection of home. Memories of our childhood, memories of us growing up; they resolve around our home and that is why when poets write about home, the theme of memory becomes an irreplaceable asset.
Marks: 31.5
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Alright, so this is about it for the poem part. I'll be posting the prose part after this :D
CIAO!!
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