Commentary English Poetry Ib Sample Essay Example

A Commentary on Behavior of Fish in an Egyptian Tea Garden by Keith Douglas. *The description of the men drawn to her starts with the rich cotton magnate immediately establishing the hierarchy the author seeks to show*. This hierarchy is further developed*in the actions of the different suitors. The rich magnate ‘through the frail reefs of furniture swims out’, the inverted syntax* in the line* suggesting grace and power. *T*he self-assured manner in which he acts suggests that the rich man is above the petty rivalries* that the others have. H*e knows his wealth gives him an insurmountable edge* (and this is further shown in the last stanza)*. *Also, the* author shows this from the* fact that *though this* fish is far from pretty with ‘*eye pouches*’ *his ‘golden mouth’* makes everything else inconsequential*. The author here shows the shallowness of the woman through her choice of the* rich* man over* the* personality or look*s presented by the others. The crustacean man who sits beside her however is riddled with fear and though he finds the woman beautiful is unable to talk to her and the immense impact that the woman and her charade of finesse has had on the men is evident in this. Also the image of the old man staring with his teeth parted shows the ‘cruel loss of control the woman has brought in the man and how no matter how much he ‘loves ‘her love alone is not enough to have her. The seductive power of the woman that has made this man cold has however had no effect on the rich man who is ‘idling’ showing the self assurance and power money awards. “Behavior of Fish in an Egyptian Tea Garden” consists of seven stanzas of four lines each. The rhyme scheme followed is inconsistent as the first stanza has an ABAB scheme while the second and third have ABBA and ABBC respectively. While this adds variety the poem is mostly of 9-10 syllables per line, which is noticeably constant. The poem is also in a narrative form and is chronological. The author uses these to