Compare How the Poets Convey a Sense of Loss in Three Poems from the Anthology and Three Poems You Have Studied

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Compare how the poets convey a sense of loss in three poems from the anthology and three poems you have studied The theme of loss is often presented in literature. It can be seen as an emotional trigger, and it can bring out feelings of regret, sorrow and overwhelming grief. This can allow it to be such an effective theme, connecting with the readers’ emotions and memories. The poems ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’, ‘A Mother in a Refugee Camp’ and ‘Piano’ may be viewed as clear examples of this. In ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’ the speaker feels frustrated and saddened that his father will not fight to survive his fatal condition and “…rage against the dying of the light”. ‘A Mother in a Refugee Camp’ focuses on a refugee mother who is tenderly holding her son in his final moments of life. Finally in ‘Piano’ the speaker is nostalgically reminded of his childhood by a woman singing and he weeps “for the past”. ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’ is written by Dylan Thomas and from the speaker’s perspective, it is addressing their dying father. The poem is written in very specific form, a villanelle. Villanelles have nineteen lines divided into five three-line stanzas and a sixth stanza with four lines. In literature, villanelles are often written in the common pattern, iambic pentameter. An example of this: “Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,” This use of the technique adds a steady, rhythmical quality to the poem. Poets often create fictional characters who they imagine to be speaking in their own poems; not everything written is the poet’s actual beliefs and thoughts. However, in this poem it is very difficult to determine whether the speaker is Dylan Thomas or a make-believe character. One could see it as Dylan using the speaker of the poem to say things to an imaginary father that were too difficult for him to say to his own

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