Hey! Down here! Listen! Would you just pay attention?
Your everyday poems are shaping your morals – so don’t be oblivious listen.
By Rosanna Nobile TURNITIN FINAL
Poetry is simply the most beautifully impressive and widely effective mode of saying things -Matthew Arnold
This is just one of many quotes that define the power of poetry. Poetry is an effective tool used to persuade readers such as yourself - to help challenge your attitudes towards everyday contemporary issues.
Poets writing choices are what make poems so real as they use a variety of language techniques that persuade the audience of their social criticism.
The poems below are examples of how poets both persuade readers that people are oblivious to the poor, downtrodden and ignored …show more content…
To illustrate, Mbuyiseni Mtshali Uces’ writes “by the marauding beast let loose by cruel nightfall from his cage of death.” This here is a powerful metaphor as the author makes his audience think about what he is trying to convey. He also uses powerful language to strike fear into his audience that as in this line, he is describing that when night arises the guards strike in the torture rooms with equipment used to kill or harm the South Africans, hence the use of words such as cage of death.
The second way Mbuyiseni Mtshali makes his poems effective is by the uses of rhetorical questions. These are the questions asked but have no reply, just silence from the reader as they ponder their thoughts. As the end of the poem nears, Mbuyiseni Mtshali Uces’ asks many questions which drastically gets readers to come back with an answer that leads to overthinking. For example, “Where is my refuge? Where am I safe?” can be translated as a cry for help and a cry for survival, which is important to understand as it is giving those who can’t be heard a voice. A second example are the last three lines “But why were you ever created? Why can’t it be daytime? Daytime forever more?” These lines also make the reader think a translate them to see that the poet is asking “why can’t you not be a racist government?” because as a poet he is aware of issues whereas others are …show more content…
A line states “break in the action for a full symphony.” This is an example of enjambment as throughout the poem Dawe breaks the normal poetic rules and doesn’t put a full stop at the end. This is quite ironic as he breaks the English rules while demonstrating that modern society break the rules by not helping the less unfortunate.
We may not want to or are ignorant and oblivious to what is happening in society.
Lastly Dawe uses within the last stanza the powerful language technique of ellipses to grab the attention of his audience. The last line of the poem is effective by “wiping out in a blue flash and a curlicue of smoke, 600 million Chinese without a trace . . .” The ellipse in this line is strikingly influential as it is a dramatic pause when used within the middle of the poem yet in this case, being used at the end makes the poem more vivid as it leaves the reader on a cliff hanger and wanting more.
But overall how does all of this help a poem and make it effective? Well it is the use of language features that help poets dissect the issue of ignorance people have and to challenge them to assist and realise their issues in the society we live in. Poetry is the motivation people need in the world to make a
Your everyday poems are shaping your morals – so don’t be oblivious listen.
By Rosanna Nobile TURNITIN FINAL
Poetry is simply the most beautifully impressive and widely effective mode of saying things -Matthew Arnold
This is just one of many quotes that define the power of poetry. Poetry is an effective tool used to persuade readers such as yourself - to help challenge your attitudes towards everyday contemporary issues.
Poets writing choices are what make poems so real as they use a variety of language techniques that persuade the audience of their social criticism.
The poems below are examples of how poets both persuade readers that people are oblivious to the poor, downtrodden and ignored …show more content…
To illustrate, Mbuyiseni Mtshali Uces’ writes “by the marauding beast let loose by cruel nightfall from his cage of death.” This here is a powerful metaphor as the author makes his audience think about what he is trying to convey. He also uses powerful language to strike fear into his audience that as in this line, he is describing that when night arises the guards strike in the torture rooms with equipment used to kill or harm the South Africans, hence the use of words such as cage of death.
The second way Mbuyiseni Mtshali makes his poems effective is by the uses of rhetorical questions. These are the questions asked but have no reply, just silence from the reader as they ponder their thoughts. As the end of the poem nears, Mbuyiseni Mtshali Uces’ asks many questions which drastically gets readers to come back with an answer that leads to overthinking. For example, “Where is my refuge? Where am I safe?” can be translated as a cry for help and a cry for survival, which is important to understand as it is giving those who can’t be heard a voice. A second example are the last three lines “But why were you ever created? Why can’t it be daytime? Daytime forever more?” These lines also make the reader think a translate them to see that the poet is asking “why can’t you not be a racist government?” because as a poet he is aware of issues whereas others are …show more content…
A line states “break in the action for a full symphony.” This is an example of enjambment as throughout the poem Dawe breaks the normal poetic rules and doesn’t put a full stop at the end. This is quite ironic as he breaks the English rules while demonstrating that modern society break the rules by not helping the less unfortunate.
We may not want to or are ignorant and oblivious to what is happening in society.
Lastly Dawe uses within the last stanza the powerful language technique of ellipses to grab the attention of his audience. The last line of the poem is effective by “wiping out in a blue flash and a curlicue of smoke, 600 million Chinese without a trace . . .” The ellipse in this line is strikingly influential as it is a dramatic pause when used within the middle of the poem yet in this case, being used at the end makes the poem more vivid as it leaves the reader on a cliff hanger and wanting more.
But overall how does all of this help a poem and make it effective? Well it is the use of language features that help poets dissect the issue of ignorance people have and to challenge them to assist and realise their issues in the society we live in. Poetry is the motivation people need in the world to make a