Matthew Davis
Comparison between the range of emotions felt by the speaker in ‘Sister Maude’ and ‘Brothers’.
In Both ‘Sister Maude’ and ‘Brother’ a range of language devices are used in order to portray the different emotions and the varied relationships the poem focus on.
Both poems use structural elements in order to portray a certain effect on the reader and to make them feel certain emotions just based on the way the poems are structured. In ‘Sister Maude’ the enjambment between each of the lines emphasises the jealousy of ‘Maude’ herself and the continuation of the jealousy she undergoes for her sisters lover. The Rhyme scheme could also symbolise the continuation of the poem as the scheme is in a ‘A,B,C,B’ formation throughout each stanza continuing the jealousy of Maude. In ‘Brothers’ the use of enjambment is still apparent throughout the poem. In the first stanza we see the possibly the main use of enjambment to show the continuation of the Brothers to the bus stop and therefore show the continuation of the relationship, However the enjambment is broke further on in the poem with the use of a full stop; ’Bus fare.’ The break of the enjambment here is viewed significantly as the continuation has stopped along with the boy who ‘froze’ and realised he had forgot his bus fare. However the enjambment used in ‘Brothers’ makes it appear as a ‘story’ and the breaking of the enjambment acts as the breaking of the continuation of a book when everything stops flowing properly.
The Symbolism in both poems various significantly due to the different relationships in each poem and the different emotions the reader feels. In ‘Sister Maude’ the symbolism is based around the jealousy portrayed from Maude about her sisters’ lover who she kills. The shock of this is portrayed as we find Maude’s sister in disbelief; ‘cold he lies, as cold as stone’. This disbelief of the incident is repeated throughout the poem to portray