Expanded Comparisons of

English B Prescribed PoemsCSEC

Nature and Environment
Detailed Comparison: "An African Thunderstorm" (Rubadiri) and "South"
(Brathwaite)
Thematic Similarities:
● Both poems portray nature as a powerful, transformative force with cultural significance
● Both use nature as a metaphor for historical and social change
● Both connect natural phenomena to cultural identity

Stylistic Similarities:
● Both employ fragmented lines and stanzas that mirror the disruption caused by natural forces
● Both use progressive movement (wind/storm in Rubadiri, rising dust in Brathwaite) to create narrative
tension
● Both manipulate line breaks and spacing to control pacing and emphasis

Detailed Evidence:
1. Movement and Direction:
○ Rubadiri: "Clouds come hurrying with the wind / Turning / Sharply" shows directional force
○ Brathwaite: "the dust / is lifting / like a continent / towards the sun" similarly depicts upward
movement
2. Personification of Natural Forces:
○ Rubadiri gives the storm human qualities: "Pregnant clouds / Ride stately on its back"
○ Brathwaite personifies the landscape: "the sand / will heal / into glass / at the touch / of your
feet"
3. Cultural Context:
○ Rubadiri depicts African village life disrupted by the storm: "Women / Babies clinging on
their backs / Dart about / In and out / Madly"
○ Brathwaite references African heritage in the Caribbean: "the long / dusty walk / from the
mountains"
4. Transformation:
○ Rubadiri shows nature transforming the landscape: "Trees / Bend to let it pass"
○ Brathwaite depicts transformation through heat and pressure: "the sand / will heal / into glass"

Contrasting Elements:
● Rubadiri focuses on immediate, dramatic impact while Brathwaite explores slow, geological time
● Rubadiri depicts human response to nature while Brathwaite often presents nature without human
presence
● Rubadiri's storm represents disruption while Brathwaite's "South" suggests regeneration and return

Detailed Comparison: "Sonnet Composed Upon Westminster Bridge"

(Wordsworth) and "Landscape Painter, Jamaica" (Virtue)
Thematic Similarities:
● Both poems celebrate the aesthetic beauty of specific landscapes
 ● Both explore the relationship between human perception and natural beauty
● Both capture moments of profound connection to place

Stylistic Similarities:
● Both use rich sensory imagery to evoke specific locations
● Both employ contemplative, meditative tones
● Both position the observer/artist as interpreter of landscape

Detailed Evidence:
5. Aesthetic Appreciation:
○ Wordsworth: "Earth has not anything to show more fair; / Dull would he be of soul who could
pass by / A sight so touching in its majesty"
○ Virtue: The entire poem focuses on the act of capturing Jamaica's beauty through art,
suggesting the landscape's aesthetic value
6. Sensory Experience:
○ Wordsworth: "The beauty of the morning; silent, bare, / Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and
temples lie / Open unto the fields, and to the sky"
○ Virtue: Describes the visual elements of the Jamaican landscape that the painter seeks to
capture
7. Moment of Stillness:
○ Wordsworth: "Never did sun more beautifully steep / In his first splendour, valley, rock, or
hill"
○ Virtue: Focuses on the painter's attempt to freeze and capture a moment of natural beauty
8. Human Connection to Landscape:
○ Wordsworth: "Dear God! the very houses seem asleep; / And all that mighty heart is lying
still!"
○ Virtue: The painter becomes the medium through which the landscape is interpreted and
preserved

Contrasting Elements:
● Wordsworth observes an urban landscape temporarily transformed by morning light, while Virtue
focuses on natural Jamaican scenery
● Wordsworth is the observer while Virtue's poem focuses on the artist as creator
● Wordsworth's poem is structured as a formal sonnet while Virtue's has a more contemporary form

Identity and Heritage

Detailed Comparison: "Dreaming Black Boy" (Berry) and "West Indies, U.S.A."
(Brown)
Thematic Similarities:
● Both explore the formation of identity under colonial/imperial influence
● Both address the tension between indigenous culture and external forces
● Both consider the future possibilities for authentic identity

Stylistic Similarities:
● Both use first-person perspective to personalize larger social issues
● Both employ repetition to emphasize key concerns
● Both use everyday references to ground abstract concepts
Detailed Evidence:
9. Colonial/Imperial Influence:
○ Berry: "I wish my teacher's eyes wouldn't go cold when I enter the room" shows the impact of
racism on education
○ Brown: "we carry America within us" directly addresses cultural imperialism
10. Cultural Hybridity:
○ Berry: The boy dreams of acceptance across cultural boundaries
○ Brown: "we wear America like a style" shows how external culture is adopted but remains
somewhat separate
11. Aspiration and Future:
○ Berry: "I wish...I wish..." structure throughout the poem expresses aspirations
○ Brown: The poem questions the future identity of the Caribbean with American influence
12. Personal Impact of Systemic Issues:
○ Berry: "I wish classmates wouldn't find it funny / the way I pronounce words"
○ Brown: "we carry America within us / like a virus in the blood"

Contrasting Elements:
● Berry focuses on racial identity while Brown emphasizes cultural imperialism
● Berry's poem expresses individual aspirations while Brown examines collective identity
● Berry uses direct statements of desire while Brown employs more metaphorical language

Detailed Comparison: "Ol' Higue" (McWatt) and "South" (Brathwaite)

Thematic Similarities:
● Both draw on Caribbean cultural elements and folklore
● Both explore cultural memory and preservation
● Both use distinctive Caribbean linguistic patterns and references

Stylistic Similarities:
● Both employ Caribbean dialect and rhythms
● Both use supernatural/mystical elements to explore identity
● Both create distinctive voices that embody cultural perspectives

Detailed Evidence:
13. Cultural Preservation:
○ McWatt preserves folklore through the voice of the soucouyant/old hag
○ Brathwaite's "South" preserves connections to African heritage and Caribbean landscape
14. Linguistic Patterns:
○ McWatt: "But is a serious thing / to be a woman and old / and ugly too besides" uses
Caribbean speech patterns
○ Brathwaite employs distinctive line breaks and rhythms that reflect Caribbean oral traditions
15. Transformation:
○ McWatt's Ol' Higue transforms from human to vampire: "slipping through the crack / of the
closed jalousie"
○ Brathwaite describes transformation of landscape: "the sand / will heal / into glass"
16. Cultural Memory:
○ McWatt's poem keeps alive traditional folklore figures
○ Brathwaite's poem maintains connection to African origins: "the long / dusty walk / from the
mountains"
Contrasting Elements:
● McWatt uses a specific folklore character while Brathwaite employs broader cultural references
● McWatt's poem has narrative elements while Brathwaite's is more lyrical and abstract
● McWatt focuses on a specific Caribbean figure while Brathwaite connects Caribbean to African
heritage

Social Issues and Injustice

Detailed Comparison: "This Is the Dark Time, My Love" (Carter) and "Dulce et
Decorum Est" (Owen)
Thematic Similarities:
● Both confront political violence and its human cost
● Both challenge patriotic narratives that justify suffering
● Both document the intrusion of violence into everyday life

Stylistic Similarities:
● Both use stark, visceral imagery to convey horror
● Both employ contrast between propaganda and reality
● Both create immediate, urgent tones through present tense

Detailed Evidence:
17. Military Presence:
○ Carter: "Red flowers bend their heads in awful sorrow / This is the dark time, my love, / All
round the land brown beetles crawl about"
○ Owen: "Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling, / Fitting the clumsy helmets just
in time"
18. Dehumanization:
○ Carter: "The man comes to the door / His hand is on his gun"
○ Owen: "If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood / Come gargling from the froth-corrupted
lungs"
19. Contrast with Propaganda:
○ Carter: "It is the festival of guns, the carnival of misery" juxtaposes celebratory language with
suffering
○ Owen: "The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est / Pro patria mori" directly challenges patriotic
rhetoric
20. Sensory Impact:
○ Carter: "The shadowy figure of doom / Passes slowly through the room"
○ Owen: "the white eyes writhing in his face, / His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin"

Contrasting Elements:
● Carter addresses colonial oppression while Owen focuses on World War I
● Carter uses more metaphorical language while Owen employs graphic realism
● Carter's poem has a more intimate tone ("my love") while Owen addresses a broader audience

Detailed Comparison: "The Woman Speaks..." (Goodison) and "A Stone's

Throw" (Mitchell)
Thematic Similarities:
 ● Both examine moral judgment and hypocrisy
● Both present female perspectives on social injustice
● Both challenge readers to reconsider conventional moral positions

Stylistic Similarities:
● Both use powerful imagery to evoke emotional responses
● Both employ narrative elements to explore ethical questions
● Both give voice to marginalized female perspectives

Detailed Evidence:
21. Female Perspective on Judgment:
○ Goodison presents a mother's complex feelings about her son's criminality and those who
employ him
○ Mitchell reimagines the biblical story from the perspective of the woman caught in adultery:
"They have the right to punish sin, / these righteous ones."
22. Moral Complexity:
○ Goodison: The mother recognizes her son's wrongdoing but questions the employer's greater
culpability
○ Mitchell: "Which of them / has not desired / her body?" challenges the hypocrisy of the
accusers
23. Power Dynamics:
○ Goodison explores the power relationship between employer and employed, rich and poor
○ Mitchell examines gender power dynamics: "She might have been a child, / a child of eight or
nine / for all they cared."
24. Vulnerability:
○ Goodison: The mother is vulnerable as she watches her son enter a dangerous world
○ Mitchell: "She cowers / in her thin shift, / expecting the first blow" shows physical
vulnerability

Contrasting Elements:
● Goodison addresses contemporary social issues while Mitchell reinterprets a biblical story
● Goodison focuses on mother-son relationship while Mitchell examines gender-based oppression
● Goodison's poem has a more personal, specific context while Mitchell's has broader allegorical
implications

Relationships and Family

Detailed Comparison: "Little Boy Crying" (Morris) and "My Parents" (Spender)
Thematic Similarities:
● Both explore parent-child relationships and their complexities
● Both examine the tension between protection and freedom
● Both reveal how parental actions shape children's development

Stylistic Similarities:
● Both use contrasting perspectives to create tension
● Both employ imagery that emphasizes vulnerability
● Both reveal internal thoughts/motivations behind actions
Detailed Evidence:
25. Parental Protection vs. Discipline:
○ Morris: "The hurt your easy tears can scald him with" shows the father's pain at disciplining
his child
○ Spender: "My parents kept me from children who were rough" shows protection that becomes
limitation
26. Child's Perspective:
○ Morris: "You must not make a plaything of the rain" shows the father's reasoning that the
child cannot understand
○ Spender: "I feared more than tigers their muscles like iron" reveals the child's perception of
the "rough" children
27. Emotional Complexity:
○ Morris: "But still you think it was for your delight / He rushed into the rain" shows
misunderstanding between generations
○ Spender: "I longed to forgive them, yet they never smiled" shows the child's conflicted
feelings
28. Learning and Development:
○ Morris: The father knows the boy must learn difficult lessons about life
○ Spender: "I feared more than tigers their muscles like iron / And their jerking hands and their
knees tight on my arms"

Contrasting Elements:
● Morris presents a father's perspective while Spender writes from the child's viewpoint
● Morris focuses on a specific incident while Spender examines a pattern of upbringing
● Morris explores necessary discipline while Spender questions overprotection

Detailed Comparison: "The Woman Speaks..." (Goodison) and "