2013
Study Unit: THL8234 (Advance Theory of Poetry)
Assignment Number: 02

Part 1: Textual Analysis of Poetry

Question 1:

Sketching a Thatcher with metaphors

It is certainly true that one of the distinguishing features of poetic texts is the use of figurative or non-literal language – this essay highlights the fact that metaphors do contribute to the understanding of a poem. Ted Hughes’ poem, Sketching a Thatcher, is loaded with vivid imagery and ample metaphorical constructions which aids to validate this fact. In order to uncover the message behind this poem, one must take a closer look at the arguments, focus expressions and tenor/vehicle constructions of at least six local metaphorical constructions of the text …show more content…

We have come to learn that the poet has linked his portrayal of the thatcher (also considered the global tenor of the poem) to nature and numerous kinds of animals and their habitats. The global metaphor of the poem, therefore, implies that the old man has spent many a day on rooftops (his natural habitat) doing the thing he does and loves best, thatching. Beside his passion for working meticulously on rooftops, the old man is still working at the fragile age of seventy eight and shows that (like animals) he goes on with life doing what he is meant to do, the same way that birds continue to nest on rooftops or the same way that squirrels run up and down trees. This clearly indicates that figurative language is foregrounded in poetry, and is an important factor in uncovering the message behind a poem.

QUESTION 3(b):

Naked truth: A woman’s perspective of her aging body

Antjie Krog’s book of poems, Body Bereft, is a collection of her perceptions and emotions pertaining to issues such as fascism, feminism, patriarchy and the aging female body. There are numerous facets of female problems that the author explores with her poems; she explicitly emphasizes her pessimistic view of being a maturing woman. In this essay we will take a look at how the body is represented in terms of Antjie Krog’s poetry, the naked photograph on the cover of her book and Adele Nel’s paper, the vocabulary of aging: