20th century poetry Essay

We have been giving to 20th century meters to examine. They are Evans by R. S Thomas and oddment in Leamington by Sir John Betjeman. both poems are about death, but in two very distinguishable situations. I will examine the poem Evans first of all. Evans was written by a man called R. S Thomas. He lived from 1913-2000. he was born in Cardiff. He became a clergyman and taught himself welsh so he could operation with the people in the hills, because not many of them spoke English at this time. Evans is a 20th Century poem. The poem begins as if the writer is talk of the town to somebody else.It looks like the other person has asked him something like, Do you remember a man Evans? and the writer replies, yes, many a time. The first verse of the poem describes Evans house. It talks about the bare stairs and the gaunt kitchen. We can depict from the first verse that Evans was a poor man, his house is not at all wholesome furbished, and he doesnt have much to his name. Everything that Evans owns has a dull, dispirited adjective attached to it, like stark put up and blue kettle. His kitchen must be filthy because crickets can be heard.The last draw in of this verse tells us that he lives on a lone farm upon a hill. From this verse we have found out that this man is poor, alone(predicate) and doesnt really care much about what his house looks like. The second verse tells us that something appals the speaker. He says that it isnt the darkness around him, which seems to foregather his mouth and that it isnt the shoetree that the rain drips off. I think the tree is symbolism, because the speaker says, of rain like blood form that one tree, brave tortured. I think he is really describing Evans appearance.The speaker says that its the veins of Evans. He sees darkness in them, and that it is silting them. Silt is the thick sandy substance at the bottom of rivers. I think it means that the darkness is trapped in Evans veins and that it is slowly killing him . The writer says, I left stranded upon the capacious and lonely shore of his bleak bed. The writer believes that he has failed is his job, which is to comfort the black if they are going to die. The writer feels that he is inadequate and that he hasnt done what he wanted to.Again we see another dreary adjective attached to one of Evans possessions, his bleak bed. The word lonely is utilise again here. The writer wants to get the point across that Evans has no one, no family or friends to comfort him, that is why the writer feels so bad that he cant do this for him. This poem is about the bad way to die, all on your own and no one to comfort you. The next poem, Death in Leamington, is about the other way to pass on. Death in Leamington was written by Sir John Betjeman. Poets of his day liked to write poems fashioning fun of the middle class people.The first verse tells us that soul has died, and that it is a woman. It has happened in the late evening. She has died in her bedro om. The room has a scurf glass window, which means this place wherever she was staying must has been pretty well off. The second verse gives us a little more sagacity to the woman. She owned a crochet, which means she must have been quite old. It arrange beside her bed, which means she cant have been too old because she was all the same able to walk. Again the writer tells us that she is dead.