English Poetry

In this essay, I will be comparing four poems: Checking out me history; Singh Song; The Ruined Maid and Give. ‘Checking out me history’ By John Agard is a strong piece which shows a hint of anger and almost betrayal as he enlightens us on his knowledge of unknown history. The second poem, ‘Singh Song’ by Daljit Nagra has a stereotypical Indian man who runs one “ov his daddy’s shop” bit it has the theme of romance added. Thirdly, The Ruined Maid by Thomas Hardy, the poem is a conversation between two female friends, the poem depicts a young country girl who has become a rich man’s mistress or a prostitute to escape her own poverty and the friend seems to envy her. Lastly, ‘Give’ by Simon Armitage, the poem is about homelessness and the way society reacts to beggars, the poem is in the eyes and voice of a beggar. I will be exploring the ways these emotional voices are presented and used to challenge the stereotypes.
Society tend to judge stereotypes by ones accent, what they wear and how they look; the four poems mentioned previously all challenge a stereotype and most of them have a theme of currency.
The theme of currency/money is a mutual theme in three of the four poems. In The Ruined Maid the theme of currency is portrayed practically throughout the whole poem, in ‘Melia’s eyes money isn’t everything and we know this as she sounds like she doesn’t care about the fact that she has got a lot which is worth a lot, however on the other side of the conversation, in the eyes of her friend, money is everything and she is jealous and shows envy towards what Amelia has. Also, the poem depicts how much of an effect money can have on one’s life, as she goes from being a farm worker who used to pick potatoes to someone who is walking around with “gay bracelets” and now is getting picked up by men. However, currency was depicted differently in Singh Song: currency is presented twice during this poem which is when he says “half price” and “priceless” Half price depicts a