Compare the Poems Still I Rise - Maya Angelou and Disabled - Wilfred Owen

In disabled the poem is divided into two separate sections; his life before the war began and the reality of life after the war. this is shown by the fact that the language in disabled changes from the joyous description of his youth to the more morbid diction of the present. In the last stanza of each poem the respective poets talk about the future.

The juxtaposition between thepejorative language in disabled and the ameliorative language in still i rise clearly indicates to the reader the direction of the lives of our protagonists and how they are choosing to move forward through life.

At the end of still i rise angelou islooking forward to the future leaving behind the nights of terror and fear in the past rising up filled with hope. While on the other hand in disabled the soldier will spend a few sick years in institutes the soldier does not look forward to the future and waits for dark which is a euphemism for death.

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Words have no power over her language expand on poetic devices used and how in conclusion both poems give us an interesting depiction of society and its views and morals at the time and even more interestingly still i rise by maya angelou and disabled by wilfred owen explore the theme of the past and its effects on the present and thefuture.

In disabled grief and loss is an underlying theme throughout the poemowen explores how the soldier feels his disability sets him apart from other people and how the soldier has mentally aged beyond his physical age due to the experiences he has suffered through.

owen takes the reader on a vivid journey ofimages of his present and his past to evoke strong emotion in the reader and his melancholic tone of loss leads the reader to feel exceptional empathy for the consequences of war and how foolishly we enter into war without truly appreciating where it can and will lead us.

This contrasts with angelou who uses her past and her suffering to motivate her. she uses several poetic devices in still i rise to paint a vivid picture to show how she has and will always rise above those who trod her in the very dirt and uses repetition of the phrase i rise to convey her strength. Still i rise is a positive and almost defiant piece of lyrical poetry refusing to allow the poets troubled past to affect her present. It shows angelous will power. angelous attitude of perseverance is in stark contrast with the soldier indisabled who is very melancholic and wondering why dont they come and put him into bed.

I chose maya angelous poem still i rise and disabled bywilfred owen to compare on the subject of past and present. I considered comparing still i rise with the poem an unknown girl by moniza alvi on the theme of heritage and culture because of the way that alvi creates sympathy within the reader for in this modern multinational world we often lose touch with the old traditions.

However i ultimately decided against it and chose the poem disabled because i felt it was an eye-opening poem. The way in which owen created emotion in the reader by showing them the thoughts and the story of an ex- soldier who had lost all his limbs is hard-hitting and heart-breaking. Owen makes you realise the foolishness and ignorance of society with regards to the consequences of war and what happened to so many veterans when they came back no longer whole.

I chose still i rise because i especially enjoyed it i feel rather strongly about the message of the poem to continue to rise in the face tribulations. Angelou really makes you think about this and yourself while you accompany her on her journey of defiance and hope as you read the poem. She also uses a number of poetic devices in the poem creating a thought provoking yet enjoyable and uplifting poem. I chose this combination of poems because they made both made me ponder my past my present especially now coming up to my last year of school year 11 before moving into sixth form.