A comparison between Keats
There is a definite likeness between these poems, as they are all thematically linked. An example of this is that in each, there is some sort of conflict between man and natures representations i.e. the knight and the faery, the boy and the rat, and also the man and the deer. Beyond the words of the poem, an on-going interaction between man and nature can be found. In 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci', this interaction results in man, or the knight in this case, losing out in a spiritual conflict to nature, or the faery's child, "And I awoke and found me here, On the cold hill's side". The quote itself actually is a good example of how Keats brings about a cold feel to the poem at this point, which is ironic as we associate cold temperatures with loss. However, this conflict takes a new twist in the Heaney poem, 'An Advancement of Learning'. This time the conflict goes one step further and is ironically portrayed in a militaristic style with "I established a dreaded bridgehead" and "This terror (the rat)...retreated..." and was actually won by man, or the boy in this case, "He trained on me. I stared him out". This is also a good example of Heaney showing that man, in this poem, is dominant over nature.
'An Advancement of Learning' shows the industrial revolution and its direct affect on nature, as nature has been corrupted with man's waste, which is why the rat is seen negatively. The style of writing also has a direct link to the time it was written, as the writing includes images of modernisation, "Hunched over the railing, Well away from the road now..." which, if compared to a similar line in 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci', "...sedge has wither'd from the lake, and no birds sing." again demonstrates the difference in the writing due to the time in which they were written. 'Roe-deer' however has a stronger use and need for imagery than the other two poems. This time nature is trying to get back to man. Hughes uses imagery here with the "curtain", which is used to draw up the fine line that nature and man have to pass to get back to each other. In order to 'get through' this curtain, man has to find the "password and sign" for nature, and therefore the poem takes a new twist as Hughes takes the reader back in time to find this password and sign where nature and man were content with being symbiotic, "To remember this password and sign...
Some common words found in the essay are:
Sans Merci', Advancement Learning', Belle Dame, Hughes Heaney, , Merci Hath, belle dame sans, dame sans, belle dame, 'la belle dame, 'la belle, Sans Merci's', Dame Sans, dame sans merci', sans merci', advancement learning', 'an advancement learning', 'an advancement, spiritual correspondence, Paul Harvey, Paul Harvey's, correspondence nature, spiritual correspondence nature, faery's child, nature trying,
Approximate Word count = 3096
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)
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