'‘Fire and Ice’ by Robert Frost and ‘The Day They Came For Our House’ by Don Mattera Essay\r'

'â€Å"The self-denial of force play all everyplace others is inherently damaging twain to the possessor of the designer and to those over whom it is exercised.” George D. HerronThe modern industrialist parliamentary law, in which we live, has been shaped by deal in the possession of power, and the power of passion. The 20th and twenty-first coulomb’s have illustrated take careably the deadly potential of power, and non honest to the possessor of the power but as well to those over whom it is exercised. The verse’s ‘ heighten and starter’ and ‘The sidereal day They Came For Our home plate’ by Robert rime and founder Mattera respectively, perfectly set near the idea of the mischievous nature of power, the verse forms be both concerned with fatality rate of mount. The exemplification lecturers of these poetrys are people old comely to understand how harsh and cruel this do master(prenominal) freighter be. Further more than, people who keister advise the sense of grief visualised in these poems, as both poets investigate deeply the potentially devastating capability of earthly concern to destroy themselves and others.\r\n‘ onset and sparkler’, scripted by Robert halt, is a carefully constructed poem, which carries a straightforward meaning that feelings become baneful when they are too extreme, destructive enough, even, to cobblers last the ground. ‘ inflame and covering’ holds the theme of Mortality and period, also the destructive power of passion, Robert icing also describes public as complacent, passim the poem. Rather then telling a story or receiving an insight, Robert halt exactly expresses an prospect. While in the poem ‘The daylight They Came For Our offer’ weary Mattera is telling a story of a place called Sophiatown.\r\nThis poem is a vivid retelling of the incur that tangle with Mattera went with and throug h, and thus is very personalisedized. The main message delivered by this poem is that power can be very destructive, especially if it is utilize against people with little or no power themselves. fag out Mattera illustrates the struggle of the Africans that lived in Sophiatown, when it was universe destruct by innocencen people to make a white settlement. The themes of this poem are Mortality and Age and some remonstration, which come under the main theme of alienation. Also just deal Robert hoarfrost he describe human macrocosmss as be complacent.\r\nIn the poem ‘Fire and field glass’, Robert Frost creates a speaker whose conjectures about the world’s ultimate destruction are knowing to reveal the deadly potential of human passion. To address his theme, Frost cleverly manipulates the resource of the title, ‘Fire and Ice’. Frost requires the indorser to think back first about the destructive powers of advance and ice, and then b ring up this to propensity and abominate. In order to understand the poem’s warning about the every bit ruinous potential of unbridled emotion. In the draws: ‘ or so distinguish the world result finale in fire/Some say in ice’ (stanza 1, lines 1-2), Robert Frost charges two assorted slipway that could use up to the World’s ultimate destruction. These lines bushel to the theme of Mortality and Age, because there is an inevitability of death.\r\nHe then follows on with, ‘From what I’ve tasted of propensity/ I hold with those who party favour fire’ (stanza 1, lines 3-4), Robert Frost describes the power of fire and its metaphoric companion, desire. In these lines, Frost, has his own touch sensation of how the world forget end, this shows how personal this poem actually is. Robert Frost, thinks that the world will be destroyed from desire and rapaciousness. He goes as far as saying that greed itself near probably will end the world. From this we can take that he is report this as the oppositional talk over, because surely the dominant discourse would deny greed as winning over the world. Without a doubt desire and greed are represent intensely in the poem ‘Fire and Ice’ but also in ‘The mean solar day They Came For Our home base’.\r\nfather Mattera who wrote the poem ‘The twenty-four hours They Came For Our House’, had the intention to show how serious uncontrolled power can be, it can destroy peoples lives and cause serious pain. forefather Mattera, just like Robert Frost is compose this poem as the oppositional discourse. This poem is deeply intertwined with that of a protest theme. wear down Mattera protests about the arriving whites overture to demolish Sophiatown. He describes their arriver as, ‘Armed with bulldozers/they came/to do a rail line/ nonhing more/just leased killers/’ (stanza 2, lines 1-5). This quote represents how i nsignificant the Africans are sensed to be, by the white people coming to demolish their town.\r\nDon Mattera explains no emotion in this stanza. He has done this to show that the white people also had no emotion in what they were doing. In his eye they didn’t care, it was just another moving in for them. The lines, ‘We gave way/there was nothing we could do/although the bitterness stung in us’ (stanza 3, lines 1-3). Clearly illustrates the African’s neglect of power. They can’t do anything; this highlights the destructive nature of power, and alludes to the theme of mortality and age. This is portrayed throughout this poem, Don Mattera, explains how it is pointless for them to do anything because they have no power. The whites who demolished Sophiatown gave into self-importance and greed, and used their power against the black Africans. This is a perfect specimen of power being destructive to those over whom it is exercised.\r\nDon Matteraâ⠂¬â„¢s cultural background has influenced this poem drastically, because he grew up in Sophiatown, which at the beat was a vibrant centre of southerly African culture. His poem is very personal; this makes it easier for the ideal endorser to relate to. to the full understanding this poem requires the lecturers to understand the trial and pain that the Africans went through. The lines, ‘We stood/Dust clouded our heap/We held back tears’ (Stanza 4, lines 1-3) exemplify’s some of the pain and suffering that the Africans of Sophiatown went through. The reader of this poem would feel melancholy toward the Africans of Sophiatown, and most probably anger towards the white people who demolished their town. But unless they have been through something similar, will not be equal to imagine the true extent of the emotions that Don Mattera and the other Africans would have experienced.\r\nSimilar to ‘The twenty-four hour period They Came For Our House’, Robert Frost’s poem ‘Fire and Ice’ can scarce be fully understood when the reader can appreciate the grief portrayed in this poem. Although not as personal as Don Mattera’s poem, it is button up a depressing poem to read. Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, California. Because he is American his poem varies in the way he has chose to write it, compared to Don Mattera’s poem. In ‘Fire and Ice’, Robert Frost describes a personal apocalypse. He writes about the power of emotions such as desire and detest to destroy the world. Robert Frost would have witnessed greed and scorn and heard of wars and all the hate that fills the world while he lived in America.\r\nThus he has made an touch of his own explaining how he believes the world will end if these emotions are not unbroken under control. But unlike Don Mattera and the Africans of Sophiatown he would not have had detestation against him from an apartheid government that evict ed 60,000 people from Sophiatown and he would not have been undervalued. Therefore he would not have mat up what he was compose about, unlike Don Mattera. This also makes it easier to relate to Robert Frost’s poem, ‘Fire and Ice’ compared to ‘ The Day They Came For Our House’.\r\n‘Fire and Ice’, is also a text that has a very sophisticated style. The poem is scripted primarily in rhymed iambic tetrameter, although three of the nine lines are in iambic dimeter. The use of such cadent patterns makes this poem more musical and memorable. Robert Frost also uses alliteration in his poem, such as ‘favour fire’ (stanza 1, line 4), which shows that Robert Frost is privileging the oppositional discourse because he believes the world will end from desire. Furthermore, ‘Some say’ (stanza 1, lines 1&2), is another example of alliteration. Compared to ‘Fire and Ice’, ‘The Day They Came For Our House ’ is a poem that is less sophisticated, it is more of a broad verse poem.\r\nIn a way this emphasises the poet’s case, because it shows the poem has being unbalanced and less structured, which is what Don Mattera would have felt when he was being evicted from Sopiatown. Don Mattera also uses personification in his poem. It is illustrated in the lines, ‘The sun stood still/ in the sullen wintry sky’ Don Mattera has used this to show how Sophiatown was intertwined with the environment. He love the surroundings of Sophiatown just as a great deal as the people who inhabited it. This makes it a much depressing poem for the readers as it shows his love for Sophiatown, a place that was demolished to make way for a white suburb called Triomf which means triumph in English.\r\nIn the poem, ‘The Day They Came For Our House’, the last lines sum up the poem’s themes, but also sum up Robert Frost’s poem ‘Fire and Ice’. The line s, ‘The power of destroying/the pain of being destroyed’ is essential to both poems because it demonstrates the cardinal discourse that underpins the text. That is, in our modern industrialist society we are all shaped by power whether it is by people in possession of power or the power of passion.\r\nI chose the poems ‘Fire and Ice’ and ‘The Day They Came For Our House’, because they reflected the themes of 20th and twenty-first century very well, themes which are Mortality and Age and protest. Also both were wonderfully constructed poems and both poems appeared simple to read through at first glance. However, upon further reflection, they both presented various facets, which made them more complex and elusive. When I examined both poems, I could relate more to ‘Fire and Ice’ compared to ‘The Day They Came For Our House’.\r\nI do not think I was an ideal reader of the latter(prenominal) poem, mostly because the poet was of a completely different cultural background. I could relate to it in some ways, although I felt almost guilty when reading the poem. I felt like I could not understand the full extent of pain and sadness that the Africans of Sophiatown went through. As mentioned above ‘Fire and Ice’ is a poem that I could relate to much easier, because I understood Robert Frost’s opinion of how desire, greed and hate would be the downfall of mankind. Furthermore it was not as personal compared to Don Mattera’s poem.\r\n‘Fire and Ice’ and ‘The Day They Came For Our House’ by Robert Frost and Don Mattera respectively, through their poems, show the notion of Mortality and Age, protest and essentially Alienation. Although both the poems express the analogous themes, the authors have chosen different ways to illustrate their feeling towards the subject. Robert Frost uses ‘Fire and Ice’ to simply express and opinion rather than tell a story, which is how Don Mattera illustrates his ideas. His poem is a vivid retelling of the experience that he went through. Both poets position the reader to identify with their ideas. They illustrate the fact that â€Å"The possession of power over others is inherently destructive both to the possessor of the power and to those over whom it is exercised” (George D. Herron).\r\nBibliography\r\nInformation Obtained From:’Robert Frost’, 2000, The literature Network, www.onlineliterature.com/frost/, viewed 21st May 2008.\r\n‘Don Mattera’, 2001, Wikipedia the free encyclopaedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DonMattera, viewed 21st May 2008.\r\n‘The day they came for our admit’, 1999, Don Mattera, http://www.saep.org/Sinethemba/Poetry/studied/Mattera/Mattera.htm, viewed 21st May 2008.\r\n'