Comparison of How Gillian Clarke in ‘Lament’ and Boey Kim...

Gillian Clarke and Boey Kim Cheng are both internationally recognized poets whom are most famous for their poems regarding environmental problems. Clarke’s ‘Lament’ focuses on the social and environmental problems occurring as a result of the Gulf War, whereas Cheng’s poem ‘Report to Wordsworth’ discusses environmental issues involving sea life. In ‘Lament’ Clarke uses a clear structure - every sentence begins with ‘for’ which combines with the title to form ‘Lament for [†¦]’ To lament can be an expression of sadness. In this day and age, people express grief and sadness all the time. Often by using the words ‘sorrow’ or ‘grieving’. As these words are used daily, we could say they are stripped from the depth of their meanings . By using†¦show more content†¦In this metaphor, silk represents the satiny, almost shiny look the oil has on the bird - the cormorant almost appears to be wearing silk. As the oil will most likely kill the bird, the last thing he will ‘wear’ is the oil that covers him. This also is a personification of the cormorant. The personification links in to the difference between humans and animals - when humans die funerals are held but when birds die mankind does little to nothing. By personifying the cormorant Clarke calls out to the readers to treat birds with more respect and care. A juxtaposition is also used in the extract ‘the cormorant in his funeral silk’. The word funeral and its connotations are very gloomy ideas, however silk is often thought of as a light, soft material which creates two opposites. The use of juxtapositions and oxymorons stirs the emotions of the reader as words that often have a positive meaning or connotation such as silk, are suddenly linked to negative expressions and ideas such as death. In ‘Report to Wordsworth’ Cheng also makes use of strong imagery. He mainly uses mythological Gods to stress the importance of what people are doing to nature. ‘All hopes of Proteus rising from the sea have sunk; he is entombed in the waste we dump’ is a good example of this use of language. Proteus is a Greek mythological sea-god who can change shape and who is, according to Cheng, entombed in our