- What were your impressions of the last poem? (feelings, mood, like or dislike, difficult, easy, boring, interesting)
- Choose one quote from the poem that stood out to you and explain why
- Make one connection to something you have seen, heard, read or thought about.
- Come up with one question or idea from the poem.
- Choose one poetic device and cite examples and it explain why the author used that device in particular, what does it do for the poem?
Monday, 31 March 2014
Journal # 5 (Romantic)
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I feel like this poem has a lot to do with public unrest and protest against industrial powers. Overall I really liked how the author related this struggle to a battle field, the ultimate struggle against a higher, stronger power that doesn't look like it's going to stop. The quote that stood out to me the most in this poem was "In vain your pomp, ye evil powers,/Insults the land;". I believe this quote alluded to the fact that the industrial revolution was a massive power, that didn't really care about people that needed the land in order to live and make a living for their families. Industries ruined (or as Elliott said "insults") the land, and the people used this for their protest against the revolution. I can totally understand where these people are coming from in terms of wanting to save the land and protest industry or development. Where I used to live, there was a mountain a couple kilometres away from my house that was the best hiking area there was. When I went to visit this spring break, they were starting to develop huge mansions and housing complexes all the way up the mountain. I was mortified and livid at the fact they were ruining not only my favourite place to hike, but probably hundreds of animal's habitats. The question I had for this author is if he was speaking to a large crowd when he wrote or read this poem, because it seems that it would be read out at a public protest rally or something, its very powerful and convincing. The poetic device that Ebenezer Elliott uses throughout the poem is allusion. He refers to Attila the Hun in the line "What pension'd slave of Attila," and also refers to the Russian Czar. Both these lines represent powerful, merciless people that don't care about other people and what the effects of their actions may have on the communities and people. This helps create the pessimistic and protestant tone to the poem, which ties in with the theme.
ReplyDelete-Janelle Roberts April, 22, 2014
English 12 (Poem: Battle Song - Ebenezer Elliott)