Poetry_Comparative_Analysis_Paper

Poetry Comparative Analysis Paper Eng/120 August 12, 2010 Poetry Comparative Analysis Paper Throughout time people have expressed emotions through many ways, some write books, create paintings, and others express themselves through poetry. However, a poem holds many hidden meanings throughout its words, and through analyzing a poem people can understand what the poet is relaying through his or her work. Through this analysis the relationship between the poetic techniques and workplace themes, are shown through using examples from the following poems “The Song of the Factory Workers” written by Ruth Collins, “5000 Apply for 100 Jobs” written by Jim Daniels, and the poem “Factory Work” by Deborah Boe. The poem “The Song of the Factory Worker” is about a women working in a sewing factory and told from the characters point of view. Gathered from the information in the poem the theme is a woman coping with her job doing piecework in a sewing factory. The woman dislikes everything about her work but cannot break free of the factory because of the chilling reminder of no other usable skills. Throughout the poem, the poet has also used personification giving the red brick building a voice to speak to the woman with. For example, “Oh, you may leave/ But you’ll come back” (Collins, 216). In addition, the poem compares the red brick building to a vampire. In many movies and books, vampires contain the power to drain people of life, or obtain powers of hypnosis to bring their victims back repeatedly, the same power portrayed through the red brick building. The majority of the lines in this poem are a quote from the red brick building speaking to the woman. The building is telling the woman if she were to leave that she would inevitable return because she has grown accustom to everything around her, the same surroundings that make the woman feel like she cannot succeed without, surrounding she will miss. For example, “You’ll miss/ The whir, whir of the machinery/ The click of the tacker/ The happy laughter of the girls, / Telling jokes” (Collins, 216). This poem captures the readers attention by emphasizing the lack of options available to a worker who has maintained the same position in the same environment for many years. Many workers in any workforce begin to form addictive qualities in their working environment, people grow comfortable with their workplace surroundings, and they grow attached to their job they may have once enjoy. In the Poem 5000 Apply for 100 jobs by Jim Daniels, the character realizes the opportunity to obtain the job he has been standing in line for to receive a better opportunity in a crumbling society is no longer available. Through figurative language, the poet sets up the surrounding picture for the reader, for example, “Hundreds danced slowly in front of me/ Hundreds behind” (Daniels, 257). However, the employer informs all the applicants to leave because currently all the positions have been filled successfully. Many people in today’s society can relate to the characters situation because many people face the brutal reality of no job, and face the competition with what seems like thousands of people for just a few job opportunities. However, the character realizes through his other job that he is better off than most even though the money is not much it is better than nothing. “At least I have another job minimum wage” (Daniels, 257). Another technique in this poem is the, “smile” usually considered a common figure of speech comparing two different places, or emotions. For example, “So I found a bit of joy inside that big sadness, / like Happy Hour at the Goodwill Store” (Daniels, 257). Even though, this character has suffered emotionally and financially, he knows in the back of his conscious everything will be all right and because the character has another job, he knows he will survive. The poem “Factory Work” by Deborah Boe, is about a woman who works in a factory and enjoys her work all the ends and outs of the day, and even the people who work with her. For example, “My machine ate up my shirt once/ I tried to get out, the wheel/ spinning on me, until someone with a brain/ turned it off” (Boe, 243). Currently the factory is going through seasonal cutbacks and has begun lay offs throughout the entire company. However, the poem illustrates how the character is one of the fortunate employees because of her abilities and knowledge of her work. The factory held a contest to show the reader the characters true abilities and that she is the best at what she does in her position. The character also illustrates a sense of pride for her job in the lines “Last week they ran a contest/ to see which shankers shanked fastest. / I’m not embarrassed to say/ I beat them all” (Boe, 244). Many people can relate to this situation because seasonal jobs are in almost every working environment. Many people, who obtain seasonal jobs, usually lose their jobs at the end of the working season, and begin the process of looking for new work. The employees who keep their jobs usually have a sense of pride and accomplishment for all their hard work and because their employers recognized all their hard work, their employment remained. Poetry speaks a language that nearly everyone can identify with, whether through metaphors, figurative language, or even personification. The words and phrases that people choose can express any personal life experiences in the workplace; it also can be an influence from the observation of any individuals’ surroundings especially in their every day life. References Boe, D., (1996) Factory Work. In The art of work: Anthology of workplace literature. Christine La Rocco & James Coughlin (Eds.) South Western Educational Publishing: Cincinnati OH. Collins, R., (1996) The Song of the Factory Workers. In The art of work: Anthology of workplace literature. Christine La Rocco & James Coughlin (Eds.) South Western Educational Publishing: Cincinnati OH. Daniels, J., (1996) 5000 Apply for 100 Jobs. In In The art of work: Anthology of workplace literature. Christine La Rocco & James Coughlin (Eds.) South Western Educational Publishing: Cincinnati OH.