Comparative Commentary

Comparative Commentary

  

   Rupert Brooke wrote the poem “The Soldier” in 1914 and in 1966, Louis Bennett wrote “Colonization in Reverse”. In this essay I will make a comparison between this two poems; comparing its structure, tone, images and stylistic devices. These two poems contrast in the simple way that is written; “The soldier” uses formal and understandable English with a rich grammar, while “Colonization in Reverse” is written with unclear English and poor grammar. Both poems are written with the use of stanzas, which helps to get a more accurate understanding of the readings.

   In both poems it is show a contrast in the way that the narrator describes the theme. In “The Soldier” the narrator seems to be a person of high society, because of the way that it uses his or her English. The narrator of this poem loves her nation, loves England, and every corner of it. Otherwise, in the poem “Colonization in Reverse” everything is different from the first one; in the second, the narrator reflects the hatred of England and hopes that the colonization would have been in reverse. The tone of both poems aren’t so understandable and coherent, because you must read it more than once or even make some research to get to know the idea of what the author wants to transmit. The structure of “The Soldier” is of rhythm and the last sounds of the last words in each sentences, coincide with a similar pronunciation and contains fourteen verses. In the other hand, the structure of “Colonization in Reverse” is of eleven stanzas with four verses.

   These two poems, as we read them, we can imagine many things, due to the specific way in which the author describes it. On the first poem we can imagine how beautiful England is with what these three verses says:

Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam;
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home. 

We can understand, with these following verses, how important England is for the narrator.

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; 

On the second poem, “Colonization in Reverse”, images are used with the type of language that they use and with the way the poem makes seem an interaction between people, for example:

What an islan! What a people!
Man an woman, old an young
Jus a pack dem bag an baggage
An turn history upside dung!

In this second poem we can appreciate that the Jamaican people don’t have enough money and don’t have the appropriate education, that the persons of the first poem have; the Jamaicans aren’t satisfied with their nations and are unhappy.

Wat a devilment a Englan!
Dem face war an brave de worse,
But me wonderin how dem gwine stan
Colonizin in reverse.

The stylistic devices of the poems is that the author can communicate and express many feelings like happiness, joyfulness, sadness, angriness, etc; with the use of many different words. Both poems have variables one could be the power that England has and the other could be the debility of the Jamaicans toward the poverty that they live and the issues that they have of finding jobs.

With these two poems we can conclude that the authors wanted to make a great emphasis on both readings, by making a big exaggeration in the representation of their nations. For example, in the first poem, we keep in our minds that England is a wonderful and beautiful place, that even a person could give his or her life for it. In the second poem, an exaggeration also occurs with the examples of finding jobs and the suiting of dignities. This makes and helps us perceive that they live in extremely poverty and that they do not have anything at all. I found very interesting these poems because it demonstrates a reality that today nations can face or that are facing. I liked the poems and the way the author showed each detail, so that we, as readers, could imagine each part of the poem.

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