De-construct-ing a poem?

[Samzon]

Poetry is one my weakness in english haha, just need to de construct too Australian poems
reckin you can help me?

A Brown Slouch Hat​

There is a symbol, we love and adore it,
You see it daily wherever you go.
Long years have passed since our fathers once wore it,
What is the symbol that we should all know?​

It's a brown slouch hat with the side turned up, and it means the world to me.
It’s the symbol of our Nation—the land of liberty.
And as soldiers they wear it, how proudly they bear it, for all the world to see.
Just a brown slouch hat with the side turned up, heading straight for victory.​

Don't you thrill as young Bill passes by?
Don't you beam at the gleam in his eye?
Head erect, shoulders square, tunic spic and span,
Ev'ry inch a soldier and ev'ry inch a man.​

As they swing down the street, aren't they grand?
Three abreast to the beat of the band,
But what do we remember when the boys have passed along?
Marching by so brave and strong.​

Just a brown ....





Not a Hero​

The ANZAC Day march was over - the old Digger had done his best.
His body ached from marching - it was time to sit and rest.
He made his way to a park bench and sat with lowered head.
A young boy passing saw him - approached and politely said,
"Please sir do you mind if I ask you what the medals you wear are for?
Did you get them for being a hero, when fighting in a war?"​

Startled, the old Digger moved over and beckoned the boy to sit.
Eagerly the lad accepted - he had not expected this!
"First of all I was not a hero," said the old Digger in solemn tone,
"But I served with many heroes, the ones that never came home.
So when you talk of heroes, it's important to understand,
The greatest of all heroes gave their lives defending this land.​

"The medals are worn in their honour, as a symbol of respect.
All diggers wear them on ANZAC Day - it shows they don't forget."
The old digger then climbed to his feet and asked the boy to stand.
Carefully he removed the medals and placed them in his hand.
He told him he could keep them - to treasure throughout his life,
A legacy of a kind - left behind - paid for in sacrifice.​

Overwhelmed the young boy was speechless - he couldn’t find words to say.
It was there the old Digger left him - going quietly on his way.
In the distance the young boy glimpsed him - saw him turn and wave goodbye.
Saddened he sat alone on the bench - tears welled in his eyes.
He never again saw him ever - but still remembers with pride,
When the old Digger told him of Heroes and a young boy sat and cried.​

any metaphors or smilees ( how ever its spelled ) and ther other techniques.


Please help me!


Sorry if wrong section, i'm new here.

 

[bhaisahab]

Poetry is one my weakness in English haha, just need to de construct two Australian poems
reckin you can help me?

A Brown Slouch Hat​

There is a symbol, we love and adore it,
You see it daily wherever you go.
Long years have passed since our fathers once wore it,
What is the symbol that we should all know?​

It's a brown slouch hat with the side turned up, and it means the world to me.
It’s the symbol of our Nation—the land of liberty.
And as soldiers they wear it, how proudly they bear it, for all the world to see.
Just a brown slouch hat with the side turned up, heading straight for victory.​

Don't you thrill as young Bill passes by?
Don't you beam at the gleam in his eye?
Head erect, shoulders square, tunic spic and span,
Ev'ry inch a soldier and ev'ry inch a man.​

As they swing down the street, aren't they grand?
Three abreast to the beat of the band,
But what do we remember when the boys have passed along?
Marching by so brave and strong.​

Just a brown ....





Not a Hero​

The ANZAC Day march was over - the old Digger had done his best.
His body ached from marching - it was time to sit and rest.
He made his way to a park bench and sat with lowered head.
A young boy passing saw him - approached and politely said,
"Please sir do you mind if I ask you what the medals you wear are for?
Did you get them for being a hero, when fighting in a war?"​

Startled, the old Digger moved over and beckoned the boy to sit.
Eagerly the lad accepted - he had not expected this!
"First of all I was not a hero," said the old Digger in solemn tone,
"But I served with many heroes, the ones that never came home.
So when you talk of heroes, it's important to understand,
The greatest of all heroes gave their lives defending this land.​

"The medals are worn in their honour, as a symbol of respect.
All diggers wear them on ANZAC Day - it shows they don't forget."
The old digger then climbed to his feet and asked the boy to stand.
Carefully he removed the medals and placed them in his hand.
He told him he could keep them - to treasure throughout his life,
A legacy of a kind - left behind - paid for in sacrifice.​

Overwhelmed the young boy was speechless - he couldn’t find words to say.
It was there the old Digger left him - going quietly on his way.
In the distance the young boy glimpsed him - saw him turn and wave goodbye.
Saddened he sat alone on the bench - tears welled in his eyes.
He never again saw him ever - but still remembers with pride,
When the old Digger told him of Heroes and a young boy sat and cried.​

any metaphors or smilees ( how ever its spelled ) and ther other techniques.


Please help me!


Sorry if wrong section, I'm new here.

This looks like homework. We don't do your work for you.

 

[Rover_KE]

Poetry is one of my weaknesses in English. [STRIKE]haha,[/STRIKE] I just need to deconstruct two Australian poems.
Reckon you can help me?

(Poems omitted.)

Any metaphors or similes or [STRIKE]ther[/STRIKE] other techniques?

Sorry if wrong section; I'm new here.

Rover

 

[Samzon]

Its not homework, i just need to descontruct and find similies etc.

 

[Raymott]

Here's how the poems were written.
http://www.anzacday.org.au/anzacservices/poetry/slouch_hat.htm
http://www.anzacday.org.au/anzacservices/poetry/not_a_hero.htm

You shouldn't change the structure of a poem as it appears on the page. There are many poems that rely for their effect on spatial elements.

Why don't you identify and post the examples that you've found, and we can comment on them?
It might also be useful if you could explain how a need to identify metaphors and similes in two specific poems is not homework.

PS: 'Deconstructing' is a non-hyphenated word. Also, identifying figurative language is not technically deconstruction.

 

[Rover_KE]

I've no idea how you would deconstruct a poem.

I certainly wouldn't consider finding out how to do so if it hadn't been set as a homework assignment.

Rover

 

[bhaisahab]

I've no idea how you would deconstruct a poem.

I certainly wouldn't consider finding out how to do so if it hadn't been set as a homework assignment.

Rover

It looks to me as though it's GCSE English coursework, it's the sort of question that they had in last years exam.

 

[5jj]

I've no idea how you would deconstruct a poem.

I hadn't, either. It seems to be just analysing it to find out what it means. There are several guidesheets on how to do it if you google 'deconstructing poems'.

Dull. It appears to be a good way to destroy a young person's feeling for poems, in my opinion.

 

[bhaisahab]

I hadn't, either. It seems to be just analysing it to find out what it means. There are several guidesheets on how to do it if you google 'deconstructing poems'.

Dull. It appears to be a good way to destroy a young person's feeling for poems, in my opinion.

Last year they did the "war poets". Beautiful poems, many of them, it's a shame to analyse them to death.

 

[birdeen's call]

I hadn't, either. It seems to be just analysing it to find out what it means. There are several guidesheets on how to do it if you google 'deconstructing poems'.

Dull. It appears to be a good way to destroy a young person's feeling for poems, in my opinion.

This is the one thing people do at school that I could never understand. It doesn't seem to serve any purpose at all. Young people in Poland don't learn what a derivative of a function is, but have to know their pars-pro-totos and caesuras. I think it's completely misguided.

 

[Raymott]

'Deconstruction' (put simply) is the process of identifying the premises and biases of the author and the social milieu in which the text is written - to show how the poem says a lot about the social system which produced it. It's a political activity.

"A Brown Slouch Hat
There is a symbol, we love and adore it,"​

So a pacifist might deconstruct this poem by pointing out that it is a product of the military industrial complex. 'We' do not really love brown slouched hats at all, but it is in the interests of the warmongers to try to convince the reader that s/he does love them. By doing so, the reader is more likely to agree to sending their children off to war.​

"Don't you thrill as young Bill passes by?"
The image presented here is that the fate of a soldier is to return from war and to march proudly past the rest of society in his brown slouch hat. Bill is not presented as lying dead on the battle-grounds of France with blood staining his brown slouch hat, because that is not conducive to encouraging the war effort. This poem is propaganda, not art.

Deconstruction is pointing out how a text is an inevitable product of a certain ideology. Hence it has been a beloved activity of feminists, Marxists, left-wing English teachers, etc. Deconstruction is largely a product of French philosophers - Derrida, in particular. In particular, it does not simply mean 'analysis'.

More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstruction
Actually, the literature on 'deconstruction' can become extremely difficult to read and understand. But it has nothing to so with analysing figurative language in the traditional way. I personally don't think deconstruction is very useful in High School, because kids just don't have the life experience to understand it. It really belongs in post-graduate literature courses, or perhaps in specialist undergraduate Philosophy and Sociology of the Text courses.

 

[konungursvia]

'Deconstruction' (put simply) is the process of identifying the premises and biases of the author and the social milieu in which the text is written - to show how the poem says a lot about the social system which produced it. It's a political activity.

"A Brown Slouch Hat
There is a symbol, we love and adore it,"​

So a pacifist might deconstruct this poem by pointing out that it is a product of the military industrial complex. 'We' do not really love brown slouched hats at all, but it is in the interests of the warmongers to try to convince the reader that s/he does love them. By doing so, the reader is more likely to agree to sending their children off to war.​

"Don't you thrill as young Bill passes by?"
The image presented here is that the fate of a soldier is to return from war and to march proudly past the rest of society in his brown slouch hat. Bill is not presented as lying dead on the battle-grounds of France with blood staining his brown slouch hat, because that is not conducive to encouraging the war effort. This poem is propaganda, not art.

Deconstruction is pointing out how a text is an inevitable product of a certain ideology. Hence it has been a beloved activity of feminists, Marxists, left-wing English teachers, etc. Deconstruction is largely a product of French philosophers - Derrida, in particular. In particular, it does not simply mean 'analysis'.

More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstruction
Actually, the literature on 'deconstruction' can become extremely difficult to read and understand. But it has nothing to so with analysing figurative language in the traditional way. I personally don't think deconstruction is very useful in High School, because kids just don't have the life experience to understand it. It really belongs in post-graduate literature courses, or perhaps in specialist undergraduate Philosophy and Sociology of the Text courses.

I agree with Ray's last point. Incidentally, I find the 2 poems not to be very good. Here's a better one, if you are interested in war poetry. My opinion.
.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

- John McCrae
​