Unseen Comparison (‘Women Work’ and ‘Overheard in County Sligo’)
Plan:
The speaker sees nature as a saviour, her freedom, the only thing that she enjoys.
In the beginning the stanza is greater in size which shows the large number of
chores she has to do portraying the tension and stress that’s consuming and
overwhelming her. The 1st stanza also has a regular rhyme and rhythm
suggesting it’s something she does regularly. It also has enjambment and barely
gets time to breathe, implying it’s very overwhelming. When she’s talking about
the weather, the stanzas are small, and they’ve got a calming and slower pace
which suggests it’s one of the few things she finds enjoyable and is a stress
reliever.
1) The speaker in this poem is a woman, this is similar to the first poem as it talks
about how her life is uneventful and repetitious, which entails of many chores.
2) The speaker wanted to be an actress, wanted someone to write a book about
her, see posters of herself and have fame.
3) Her life now is mostly cooking and cleaning.
4) “And the road runs down through the open gate and freedom’s there for the
taking.”
5) We usually associate nature with tranquillity yet adventurous, however her life
contrasts it as it is very monotonous and consists of chores, only.
6) The structure of the poem is set and regular which reflects her life. It also has a
cyclical structure suggesting her life isn’t moving, she’s stuck doing the same
thing without an escape, implying she’s trapped in this circle of life.
Compare the methods the poets use to present the speakers’ lives:
In her poem, Clarke uses natural imagery, for example in the lines “the road runs down
through the open gate and freedom’s there for the taking.” This shows the life that one
could have. The use of the alliteration “road runs” suggests it has no end and no limits to
where life can lead you, it has no cage – it doesn’t trap you in one place because it
“runs”, it takes you to places faster than you’d have thought as it doesn’t say the road
‘walks’ or ‘leads to’. Furthermore, the idea of life being free is emphasised through the
use of the noun “freedom”, which has connotations of a bird being able to fly. Birds have
no responsibilities no chores but to survive, they can roam freely, fly where they wish.
Clarke uses this natural imagery to show what life the woman can pursue and what life
the woman has. It shows the contrast – might suggest the woman is a bird with clipped
wings, trapped in a cage, shows how monotonous life as it is stuck in one place.
Similarly, Angelou also uses natural imagery for example “Storm, blow me from here
with your fiercest wind… ‘til I can rest again”. The use of the personification “blow me
from here” emphasises the feeling of her life being confining and limiting, which
opposes the idea of nature. Nature is associated with tranquillity yet is adventurous, it
symbolises freedom. The use of the adjective “fiercest” shows the extent to which she
wants to leave her life behind, fierceness has connotations of a force which is great and
, overwhelming – she needs the “fiercest wind” to “blow” her from there, this suggests it
is so imprisoning, only the strongest of forces can get her out. Furthermore, the use of
the verb “rest” suggests she’s constantly burdened with responsibilities and chores to
the degree she receives no time to relax. Angelou also use natural imagery to show the
life and the freedom the woman pursues and how contrasting it is to her current life as
Clarke does.
Compare how the poets present the damaging effects of war in ‘Poppies’ and
‘Exposure’:
Poppies and Exposure both present the damaging effects of war as leading to long-
lasting physical and emotional pain that the soldiers feel but also the loved ones of those
who go to war and never return. They also demonstrate this has resulted in the pain
becoming a norm to all those who have experienced war.
Poppies presents the damaging effects of war as causing emotional pain to those who
lost dear ones. This is shown through Weir displaying a mother unable to overcome the
emotional effects of war. A mother who is unable to forget the memories of her son, is
re-enacting the moment she had with her son before he left to go to war and the
moment she knew when something devastating had happened to her son, which had
been his death. Poppies shows that war does not only affect the soldiers but their
families and friends too. Weir describes the mother’s stomach ‘making tucks’. The verb
‘tucks’ has connotations of being flipped over, it suggests her world has turned upside
down. The mother remembers the feelings and thoughts with such accuracy it suggests
the moment is embedded and engraved into her mind so deeply, she’ll never be able to
forget it and it has become part of her everyday life. Similarly, in Exposure Owen
highlights how conflict leads to emotional pain so intense it kills soldiers mentally. This is
shown through the quotation ‘all their eyes are ice’. The metaphor suggests their eyes
may literally be ice due to being exposed to the weather for a long period of time. Or
another interpretation could be that they’re desensitized, they’re emotionally numb as
it is the only way to cope, or they’ve seen death and conflict so frequently they have
normalized it; the reader knows this due to the noun ‘ice’ having connotations of being
cold-hearted and hard. Owen has done this to ‘expose’ the reality of war and show the
consequences ordinary people have to face and the misconceptions of the government
has spread, in order to get men to fight in the war. Overall, it suggests the soldier's
emotional pain is so extreme they are now unable to feel any emotion and a mother’s
emotion pain is so extreme she is constantly feeling the pain of losing her son, every
second of the day. This suggests the pain has become a norm to anyone who has
experienced war, although they cope with it in different manners.
Both Exposure and Poppies also show the physical pain war inflicts on people who have
experienced war. In Exposure Owen states ‘merciless iced east winds … knive us’, this
demonstrates the physical pain they are suffering from. The metaphor has violent
imagery and suggest it is deliberate and those higher in power do not care of what the
soldiers are suffering from. The adjective ‘merciless’ suggests that the government and
the weather are both vindictive towards them and don’t care about the torture they are
Plan:
The speaker sees nature as a saviour, her freedom, the only thing that she enjoys.
In the beginning the stanza is greater in size which shows the large number of
chores she has to do portraying the tension and stress that’s consuming and
overwhelming her. The 1st stanza also has a regular rhyme and rhythm
suggesting it’s something she does regularly. It also has enjambment and barely
gets time to breathe, implying it’s very overwhelming. When she’s talking about
the weather, the stanzas are small, and they’ve got a calming and slower pace
which suggests it’s one of the few things she finds enjoyable and is a stress
reliever.
1) The speaker in this poem is a woman, this is similar to the first poem as it talks
about how her life is uneventful and repetitious, which entails of many chores.
2) The speaker wanted to be an actress, wanted someone to write a book about
her, see posters of herself and have fame.
3) Her life now is mostly cooking and cleaning.
4) “And the road runs down through the open gate and freedom’s there for the
taking.”
5) We usually associate nature with tranquillity yet adventurous, however her life
contrasts it as it is very monotonous and consists of chores, only.
6) The structure of the poem is set and regular which reflects her life. It also has a
cyclical structure suggesting her life isn’t moving, she’s stuck doing the same
thing without an escape, implying she’s trapped in this circle of life.
Compare the methods the poets use to present the speakers’ lives:
In her poem, Clarke uses natural imagery, for example in the lines “the road runs down
through the open gate and freedom’s there for the taking.” This shows the life that one
could have. The use of the alliteration “road runs” suggests it has no end and no limits to
where life can lead you, it has no cage – it doesn’t trap you in one place because it
“runs”, it takes you to places faster than you’d have thought as it doesn’t say the road
‘walks’ or ‘leads to’. Furthermore, the idea of life being free is emphasised through the
use of the noun “freedom”, which has connotations of a bird being able to fly. Birds have
no responsibilities no chores but to survive, they can roam freely, fly where they wish.
Clarke uses this natural imagery to show what life the woman can pursue and what life
the woman has. It shows the contrast – might suggest the woman is a bird with clipped
wings, trapped in a cage, shows how monotonous life as it is stuck in one place.
Similarly, Angelou also uses natural imagery for example “Storm, blow me from here
with your fiercest wind… ‘til I can rest again”. The use of the personification “blow me
from here” emphasises the feeling of her life being confining and limiting, which
opposes the idea of nature. Nature is associated with tranquillity yet is adventurous, it
symbolises freedom. The use of the adjective “fiercest” shows the extent to which she
wants to leave her life behind, fierceness has connotations of a force which is great and
, overwhelming – she needs the “fiercest wind” to “blow” her from there, this suggests it
is so imprisoning, only the strongest of forces can get her out. Furthermore, the use of
the verb “rest” suggests she’s constantly burdened with responsibilities and chores to
the degree she receives no time to relax. Angelou also use natural imagery to show the
life and the freedom the woman pursues and how contrasting it is to her current life as
Clarke does.
Compare how the poets present the damaging effects of war in ‘Poppies’ and
‘Exposure’:
Poppies and Exposure both present the damaging effects of war as leading to long-
lasting physical and emotional pain that the soldiers feel but also the loved ones of those
who go to war and never return. They also demonstrate this has resulted in the pain
becoming a norm to all those who have experienced war.
Poppies presents the damaging effects of war as causing emotional pain to those who
lost dear ones. This is shown through Weir displaying a mother unable to overcome the
emotional effects of war. A mother who is unable to forget the memories of her son, is
re-enacting the moment she had with her son before he left to go to war and the
moment she knew when something devastating had happened to her son, which had
been his death. Poppies shows that war does not only affect the soldiers but their
families and friends too. Weir describes the mother’s stomach ‘making tucks’. The verb
‘tucks’ has connotations of being flipped over, it suggests her world has turned upside
down. The mother remembers the feelings and thoughts with such accuracy it suggests
the moment is embedded and engraved into her mind so deeply, she’ll never be able to
forget it and it has become part of her everyday life. Similarly, in Exposure Owen
highlights how conflict leads to emotional pain so intense it kills soldiers mentally. This is
shown through the quotation ‘all their eyes are ice’. The metaphor suggests their eyes
may literally be ice due to being exposed to the weather for a long period of time. Or
another interpretation could be that they’re desensitized, they’re emotionally numb as
it is the only way to cope, or they’ve seen death and conflict so frequently they have
normalized it; the reader knows this due to the noun ‘ice’ having connotations of being
cold-hearted and hard. Owen has done this to ‘expose’ the reality of war and show the
consequences ordinary people have to face and the misconceptions of the government
has spread, in order to get men to fight in the war. Overall, it suggests the soldier's
emotional pain is so extreme they are now unable to feel any emotion and a mother’s
emotion pain is so extreme she is constantly feeling the pain of losing her son, every
second of the day. This suggests the pain has become a norm to anyone who has
experienced war, although they cope with it in different manners.
Both Exposure and Poppies also show the physical pain war inflicts on people who have
experienced war. In Exposure Owen states ‘merciless iced east winds … knive us’, this
demonstrates the physical pain they are suffering from. The metaphor has violent
imagery and suggest it is deliberate and those higher in power do not care of what the
soldiers are suffering from. The adjective ‘merciless’ suggests that the government and
the weather are both vindictive towards them and don’t care about the torture they are
