Men in Chains
How do the words of the poem express the poet’s feelings about the prisoners?
The poet uses words and phrases in an attempt to express his sympathetic stirred up feelings towards the men’s suffering through accentuating the appearances of the men and the daunting environment. He does this by using both aural and visual imagery to clarify the description of the atmosphere of which the poem is drowned in.
Firstly, he starts of by defining the dull weather; frosty. He then comes to express his vision, explaining what his eyes see. “Men shorn of all human honour” he analyzes their appearance as a lack of honour. They were deprived of their own rights of human honour, it has been forcefully ripped out of their lives. He uses alliteration to describe the way of which they are being treated, “like sheep after shearing”, alliteration emphasizes on the quote, attracting the reader’s internal attention, making him more aware of the description. The word “shearing” clarifies how exposed the men were to the human eye. How very little privacy they own, again linking back to the lack of honour in their favour. Once again, the poet uses alliteration, “bleating at the blistering wind”, this time he talks about the inconvenient weather; the “blistering wind” that they are exposed to. One man as the poet puts it complains about being “naked”; this is not in a literal sense, but metaphorically. They are disclosed to the world, remaining unconcealed, their dignity invaded and taken away. “Bare feet” and “wrists handcuffed”, this creates a clearer perception of what force the prisoners are facing; handcuffing someone means taking away their freedom. Our hands are our connection to everything else, once they are taken away or limited to action, so is our connection and freedom. “Ankles manacled” is an extension to his already proposed point of a tie up of one’s freedom using force.
If we pay attention to the speed of the two lines, they have very short breakneck notes. This creates
The poet uses words and phrases in an attempt to express his sympathetic stirred up feelings towards the men’s suffering through accentuating the appearances of the men and the daunting environment. He does this by using both aural and visual imagery to clarify the description of the atmosphere of which the poem is drowned in.
Firstly, he starts of by defining the dull weather; frosty. He then comes to express his vision, explaining what his eyes see. “Men shorn of all human honour” he analyzes their appearance as a lack of honour. They were deprived of their own rights of human honour, it has been forcefully ripped out of their lives. He uses alliteration to describe the way of which they are being treated, “like sheep after shearing”, alliteration emphasizes on the quote, attracting the reader’s internal attention, making him more aware of the description. The word “shearing” clarifies how exposed the men were to the human eye. How very little privacy they own, again linking back to the lack of honour in their favour. Once again, the poet uses alliteration, “bleating at the blistering wind”, this time he talks about the inconvenient weather; the “blistering wind” that they are exposed to. One man as the poet puts it complains about being “naked”; this is not in a literal sense, but metaphorically. They are disclosed to the world, remaining unconcealed, their dignity invaded and taken away. “Bare feet” and “wrists handcuffed”, this creates a clearer perception of what force the prisoners are facing; handcuffing someone means taking away their freedom. Our hands are our connection to everything else, once they are taken away or limited to action, so is our connection and freedom. “Ankles manacled” is an extension to his already proposed point of a tie up of one’s freedom using force.
If we pay attention to the speed of the two lines, they have very short breakneck notes. This creates