Comparing Hurricane Hits England and Blessing :: English Literature

Comparing Hurricane Hits England and Blessing The narrator in Hurricane Hits England is Grace Nichols who was born in the Carrribean and the narrator in Blessing is perhaps a person in a country suffering drought, probably in Central Africa. I know this by the way that she describes the conditions â€Å"‘silver’ crashes to the ground† and â€Å"the sudden rush of fortune† this suggests that water is given value (silver) And she or her friends or family must know and may have experienced these conditions earlier in her life. Hurricane Hits England has seven stanzas of variously numbered lines. They are very short therefore snappy and add impact to the piece. It keeps you drawn to the poem as it does not have long lines which sometimes have less meaning than these short lines in the poem. Blessing has four stanzas of medium length lines. The poem is laid out so that it carries on flowing; like water. Lots of devices attract you to the poem including: sibilance, alteration, personification, metaphors and onomatopoeia. These can appeal to the reader’s five senses and add impact to keep the reader interested in the piece. There are lots of rhetorical questions in Hurricane Hits England, as if the narrator is asking or pleading to Huracan, Oya, Hattie and Shango (Gods of wind, thunder. Hattie: A famous Caribbean hurricane. The language in both poems is very different; Blessing uses lots of devices and techniques to add imagery to the poem. Such as onomatopoeia: â€Å"The small splash† â€Å"Imagine the drip of it† â€Å"Silver crashes to the ground.† Blessing also uses similes â€Å"The skin cracks like a pod† personification â€Å"as the blessing sings† and a few times alliteration â€Å"flow has found† â€Å"sometimes, the sudden rush† â€Å"polished to perfection.† A metaphor is used in the middle of the poem â€Å"silver crashes to the ground† this is a good line as it also includes onomatopoeia. There is also sibilance â€Å"small splash† and some ambiguous lines. There are a few cases of enjambment and lots of cases of imagery in both poems. However, Hurricane Hits England uses a different approach, using carefully crafted pairs of adjectives to create lots of imagery and appeal to the reader’s senses. â€Å"howling ship† â€Å"gathering rage† There is lots of strong adjectives â€Å"reaping, ancestral, crusted, craving† There is also a simile â€Å"falling heavy as whales† Lots of rhetorical questions are asked â€Å"Tell me why you visit an English coast?† â€Å"Even as you short circuit us into further darkness?† What is the meaning of reaping havoc in new places?† These make you wonder who the narrator is talking to. She talks to Gods in the poem