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Comparison between 2 poems

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The poem 'Long Distance' has strong themes throughout on family and love, and these also take on the main themes in 'The Sick Equation', as this poem also shares the two themes as well. However these strong themes may link the two poems together so we can compare, but there are still many other contrasts too, which is what makes the two poems so different. One of the most important and obvious contrasts is how the two poets have extreme contrasting views of love and relationships. On one hand Harrison has grown up with a very close family loving life, and therefore his poem shows the side of love that is important and what we should all have because of the feeling of happiness it gives us, even if we do have to cope with the loss of family and friends. ...read more.


Another main contrast between the two poems, is guilt. In both poems the poets both feel guilt, but in different ways. Harrison, who had a good and loving family life, felt guilty about the way he treated his father when mourning. His father couldn't get over the fact that his wife had passed away; he carried on life as it was before, his father 'still went to renew her transport pass', as if his wife was still there living with him. Whilst his father was in denial, Harrison played along with his father, instead of trying to help him come to terms with his loss. His father then later passed away too, Harrison felt the same way his father had when his mother had died. ...read more.


They both use the same structure of their verses, Patten writes the whole poem in past tense, telling the reader what happened earlier on in his life, as does Harrison. But the interesting point is that, they both conclude their poems in the present tense telling the reader what they have learned and how they have changed. They also both use simple and understandable English language, apart from the odd one or two phrases that confuse the reader and may have many different meanings. The only contrasts of the style that they both write in, is that the rhyming pattern is different and that Patten uses more similes and metaphors. He does not only use this style of writing for the reader to ask questions, and have to think about what the poem means; he also does this to avoid writing so freely about his past and some of the more serious matters, he probably still finds it difficult to talk about. ...read more.

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