Comparisons you can make - links between poems

Comparisons & Contrasts you can make: Nature

1.      PRELUDE

·         CF Exposure- both explore the harsher sides of nature, although Exposure is about the cruel, relentless aspect of nature (indifferent to man’s suffering) whereas Prelude is more about nature’s potential for evil and superiority due to its power. Both also focus on first person narratives but Exposure is immediate, in the midst of war and exposure to terrible weather, whereas Prelude is calm and more connected to the psychological impact nature can have on man through memory. Both poems personify nature as a dominant force over man, one to be feared as well as marvelled at. In Exposure, it seems that Owen questions a higher power and authority (God? Nature? Officers?) and sees soldiers as insignificant (‘nothing happens’ even though many evidently die and are buried) whereas Prelude, the narrator sees himself as insignificant (and by implication, all of mankind) and nothing really happens to disturb his calm experience other than the manifestations of his own guilt and fear.

·         CF Ozymandias – both explore the powerlessness of man and time in relation to nature. In Ozymandias, man’s power (even tyrannical, arrogant and connected to monarchy) pass with time whereas nature endures and seems indifferent to man’s suffering or superiority. This is a common belief held by Romantic poets. Both use imagery to under-line the beauty of nature (the boundless sands, the exotic ‘antique’ land suggesting history and time enduring in Ozymandias; the ‘elfin’ magic of the boat in Prelude and the calm stillness of the water where he dips his ‘lusty oars’. The effect of time is explored through memory and the effect of the boat stealing incident in Prelude, whereas in Ozymandias time is the enemy of the King and reduces his might and kingdom to insignificance. All of us are equal in the eyes of mother nature / God? It is nature we should worship, not self-indulgence. Man’s reputation is transient and ultimately we are all isolated and alone. Ozymandias can also be compared to Exposure because the two are about the passage of time and the linking of nature to a more enduring force that ultimately seems indifferent to the suffering / pride of mankind.

·         CF Storm on the Island – Both feature nature’s unpredictability and penchant for cruelty. Storm on the Island uses juxtaposition between emptiness and lack (‘nothing’ and ‘n’ and ‘nor’ and the words ‘empty’ and ‘space’) with words suggesting action and invoking military imagery: ‘salvo’ and ‘explode’ and ‘strafe’ and ‘bombard’. This suggests that the islanders waiting for a potential storm to hit is an allegory for a real war (the ‘troubles’ in Ireland). The irony of the situation is the ‘huge nothing’ that they fear – fear itself which is controlling their lives just as war does. The waiting element of Storm on the Island could be compared with Exposure and the idea of numbness (nothing) and emotional hardening of men who spend a long time in fear. The use of the collective pronoun ‘we’ is used both in Exposure and Storm…to suggest the collective identity / sense of community / emphasise that it is man versus nature. One long stanza emphasises the storm – preparation and then waiting for it to attack – just as Prelude keeps one long stanza to act as a narrative and reflect the narrator’s lack of control.

·         CF Kamikaze – The different narrative strands / layers of Kamikaze shroud this narrative in mystery – we are never quite sure who is talking or how reliable they are. The use of memory is prevalent (as in Prelude) and how this has psychologically affected the speaker and her mother (the tales of the glory of war are lived through one individual but he is now remembered through the prism of stories rather than knowledge of his own feelings- there is speculation ‘he must have felt…’) Use of natural imagery to capture the wonder of the world that perhaps helped him to turn back – also the idea of child versus adult world ‘we too learned to be silent’ and now she regrets treating her father in this way. The isolation of man from nature (Prelude) and from community and belonging (Kamikaze). How one experience can shape your life and perceptions, and the perceptions others have of you. Reputation is also explored along with honour and glory in Ozymandias.