all legendary obsticle and the skunk"
Compare and contrast the methods which the two poets use to explore the theme of love in “All Legendary Obstacles” and “The Skunk”.
John Montague and Seamus Heaney both come from very similar background and they both write about rural Ireland and write from the same period. They are two of the most famous Irish poets and they both write about their experience in Ireland and write about the memories from there. I am comparing two love poems which both take a different view on love, the two poems are ‘all legendary obstacles’ by john Montague and ‘the skunk’ by Seamus Heaney.
The title of both of these poems are quite ambiguous, when we first hear the title neither of them suggests to us that it has anything to do with love. Only after reading the whole poem we understand why the poem is called “The Skunk” and that it is to do with his wife. The title of “All legendary obstacles” suggests some kind of difficulty and the word “legendary” suggests something magical and unrealistic.
“The skunk” explores how living away from home caused Heaney to miss his married life. The opening of the poem is sudden and dramatic which might tell us that he is impatient about something. There are two settings in this poem. The first stanza are memories of California nights. The last stanza is a recent memory of waiting in bed for his wife to get changed into a nightdress. His sense of longing for his wife is clearly showed through the enjambment used between stanzas three and four, perhaps to extend the memory of his wife.
In contrast to “The skunk”, in “All Legendary Obstacles” it is unknown whether the relationship is based on fact or fiction. The four-six lined stanzas tells us that the narrator is waiting for the arrival of his lover. However there do seem to be some flaws in this relationship as the full stops between each stanza break the continuity of the poem and it also makes the relationship seem quite disjointed.
Both the poems are written in past tense. Both narrators
John Montague and Seamus Heaney both come from very similar background and they both write about rural Ireland and write from the same period. They are two of the most famous Irish poets and they both write about their experience in Ireland and write about the memories from there. I am comparing two love poems which both take a different view on love, the two poems are ‘all legendary obstacles’ by john Montague and ‘the skunk’ by Seamus Heaney.
The title of both of these poems are quite ambiguous, when we first hear the title neither of them suggests to us that it has anything to do with love. Only after reading the whole poem we understand why the poem is called “The Skunk” and that it is to do with his wife. The title of “All legendary obstacles” suggests some kind of difficulty and the word “legendary” suggests something magical and unrealistic.
“The skunk” explores how living away from home caused Heaney to miss his married life. The opening of the poem is sudden and dramatic which might tell us that he is impatient about something. There are two settings in this poem. The first stanza are memories of California nights. The last stanza is a recent memory of waiting in bed for his wife to get changed into a nightdress. His sense of longing for his wife is clearly showed through the enjambment used between stanzas three and four, perhaps to extend the memory of his wife.
In contrast to “The skunk”, in “All Legendary Obstacles” it is unknown whether the relationship is based on fact or fiction. The four-six lined stanzas tells us that the narrator is waiting for the arrival of his lover. However there do seem to be some flaws in this relationship as the full stops between each stanza break the continuity of the poem and it also makes the relationship seem quite disjointed.
Both the poems are written in past tense. Both narrators