This blog entry should have been posted earlier. Sorry! Please post the FINAL DRAFT of your essay on "Nature Sonnets" here. Though I understand that posting this late may result in some confusion and delay, I hope to see EVERYONE's final drafts here within the next couple of days!
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Nature Sonnets
ReplyDeleteThe poems “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” by John Keats and “Report to Wordsworth” by Boey Kim Cheng are at complete contrast to each other. Keats gives the reader a sense of nature still being very much alive, opening his poem with “Poetry of the earth is never dead”. Kim Cheng makes it clear that nature has “been laid waste”. Both poets develop their themes in the body of the poem.
Keats introduces the poem by referring to birds, which are a great symbol of nature. What do they do when “faint with the hot sun”? “They hide in cooling trees.” The voice of nature will speak up, “a voice will run from hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead. Keats introduces the grasshopper to “summer luxury”. The grasshopper plays and finally “he rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed”. The poet says that “the poetry of earth” never “ceases”- it never ends. Even on a “lone winter evening”, even when the “frost”- cold “wrought a silence”. The cricket’s song is heard warmly. Keats ends the poem by going back to the grasshopper “among some grassy hills”; he does this to prove that nature has no seasons.
In contrast Boey Kim Cheng makes it understood that nature is practically dead, “smothered by the smog”. So much so that the “flowers are mute” and the “birds are few”. This is a vast difference compared to Keats poem were birds are lively. Kim Cheng refers to death again “in a sky slowing like a dying clock”. Proteus the Greek God of the sea has no hope of “rising from the sea” as they “have sunk” implying that it is no longer possible for him to “rise from the sea” as he is not only sunk but he has been “entombed in the waste we dump”. Referring to pollution.
Kim Cheng continues “Triton’s notes struggle to be free”, Triton is another great Greek God, and he is messenger of the sea. His “notes struggle to be free” this may be referring to wisdom lost. “Neptune lies helpless as a beached whale” referring to whale extinction. Kim Cheng may mention the Greek Gods to show that these Gods who have been around so long cannot survive this. Kim Cheng further emphasizes his point of nature’s death by saying “Nature’s mighty heart is lying still”. He continues by saying “the wound widening in the sky” possibly referring to the hole in the ozone layer. He ends by saying “God is laboring to utter his last cry”- God is struggling to give us our last warning.
The contrast in the poets’ approach is evident throughout the two poems. The only similarity is they both deal with nature.
Valentina Spiteri
FINAL DRAFT
ReplyDeleteWell, "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket", written by John Keats, and "Report To Wordsworth", by Boey Kim Cheng, present nature in two different ways, but the theme of nature is quite prominent. The two poems are almost complete opposites, seeing as how On The Grasshopper and the Cricket John shows how alive and great the world is, whereas in Report To Wordsworth, the earth is dying.
In "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket", nature is prominently shown with how he (John Keats) talks about animals, and other living organisms, and how they go about throughout the seasons. But it is mainly focused on the grasshopper and the cricket. Another way nature is shown is how he seems to describe the earth itself as poetry, how the nature of the earth is poetry. “The poetry of earth is never dead: When all the birds are faint with the hot sun, And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;” this poem is clearly shown as being about nature itself, be it animals or the actual trees and ground, and perhaps about the beauty of the world. So, “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” deals with nature by going about it from a different perspective, and how it could be used differently. It deals with the theme ‘nature’ by showing how it is used as a home to many creatures, and how alive it is.
“Report To Wordsworth” shows nature in a different view. Here, nature is being personified as a ‘she’. “She has been laid waste. Smothered by the smog,” as shown here. But, unlike the other poem, it is being shown as nature DYING, rather than centering in on its beauty and poetic-ness; “The flowers are mute, and the birds are few in a sky slowing like a dying clock.” The picture it paints in my mind, for me, is the world in grayscale. Everything would be dark and gloomy, and basically I feel like if I even touch a blade of grass in that state it would crumble. This poem also has a hopeless tone to it, as “All hopes of Proteus rising from the sea have sunk;” which shows that there is no hope for Proteus to rise from the sea. “Neptune lies helpless as a beached whale,” that line shows both how whales are becoming extinct, and how helpless so many animals and creatures of the earth are as “insatiate man moves in for the kill.” In that way, the earth is defenseless, and helpless. Boey uses the greek gods in his poem , as Wordsworth did, to show how even gods could not survive what the earth is going through. “Nature’s mighty heart is lying still,” further proves how nature is, in fact, dying and how “the wound widening in the sky” is the result of pollution and things that we couldn’t bother to have prevented, that were very well preventable.
“Report To Wordsworth” and “On The Grasshopper and the Cricket” deal with two very different things, but both of them contain a theme about nature. One of the differences is how one focuses on how alive and beautiful nature is, whereas the other focuses on how it is dying and how it will not continue to be that way if we do nothing about pollution and the other environmental problems at hand. But also considering that the difference between the time written is quite large, seeing as "On The Grasshopper and the Cricket" was written in the 18th Century, whereas Report To Wordsworth was written in the 1950s. Many things would have changed from the time in between.
-Tatiana T
I had no Constructive Critism so thankyou all ;)
ReplyDeleteFINAL DRAFT!
In both of the poems they have a lot of nature in it; they deal with the natures in a different way. The poem ‘report to wordsworth’ is written by Boey Kim cheng and the poem ‘on the grasshopper and cricket' is ’written by John Keats.
In the poem report to Wordsworth he describes the theme of nature in a way of bad environment and what happened to the nature. In the first sentences the poem tells about that we have to stop with making the world bad. For example we participate in the greenhouse effect. In the sentence ‘ the flowers are mute and the birds are few’ he says that the world is going to die there are almost no birds and ‘in a sky slowing like a dying clock’ he tells us again about that nature is ‘going to die’ also it says us about the environmental things what is going around these days in ‘ All hopes of Proteus rising from the sea have sunk; he is entombed in the waste we dump’ he is telling us that the god Proteus cant rise from the sea because he is entombed in the waste what we dumb, our waste. In the five next sentences it is about the gods who are dying and on the last sentences in the poem you see that the nature is stopping ‘as a Natures mighty heart is lying still’. He talks further with ‘ the wound widening in the sky’ he is maybe saying with that that there is coming an hole in the ozone layer and on the end he is saying that God wants us to say that this is his last warning.
The second poem from ‘On the Grasshopper and the Cricket’ Is showing something different with the nature. It begins with ‘The poetry of earth is never dead’ while the other poem was saying that nature is dying. This poem is telling ‘when all the birds are faint with the hot sun’ they will do something about it and they will ‘hide in cooling trees’. And he is telling more when ‘the Grasshopper takes the lead’ ‘In summer luxury’ the luxury of the summer. And when is ‘tired out with fun’ he can ‘rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed’. In the next sentences it tells about the winter how it is, and when the ‘frost has wrought a silence’ ‘from the stove there shrills’ that there is something nice and happy about it ‘The crickets song, in warmth increasing ever’ and the last two sentences show that if it is a bit lonely or half lost, ‘the grasshopper among some grassy hills’. It is bringing back to the Grasshopper and that it is beautiful nature.
So the two poems talk both about the nature but then in a different way. Report to Wordsworth is talking about how the nature dies and he is blaming us what we are doing against the nature that it is bad. Poem ‘on the grasshopper and cricket it is about the things what happened in nature when it is to warm for the birds they are hiding in the trees who are cool(ing), So that one is more positive.
Nature Sonnets – Final Draft
ReplyDeleteThe two sonnets are “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” by John Keats and “Report to Wordsworth” by Boey Kim Cheng. These are both showing the spirit of nature in them. Report to Wordsworth mentions a lot about nature and how it is all around us and how it has need of somebody as it is dying and humans are destroying it “ She has been laid waste”. This sonnet also uses a lot of personification. John Keats on the other hand is showing nature through poetry. “The poetry of earth is never dead:” proves this.
‘She has been laid waste. Smothered by the smog,
the flowers are mute, and the birds are few’. These are some lines from Report to Wordsworth and they do tell us a lot about this sonnet. Firstly I noticed that the writer is referring to somebody, a hero or some saviour who can save them to come and save nature as ‘She has been laid waste’. It seems there is nothing anyone else can do but they need somebody to save the earth. From the line ‘the flowers are mute and the birds are few’ which probably refers to the fact that flowers are dying and colourless or are literally mute. He also mentions that the birds are few which probably means there are none or very few left. Birds are also a very symbolic part of nature and life. ‘As Nature's mighty heart is lying still.’ This line shows how strong the missing of nature is. Boey Kim Cheng really shows strong emotion and description as he is referring the Heart of Nature as lying still or in other words lifeless or nearly lifeless. Its like nobody cared about nature but now they care again as they have seen what they have done to it. ‘All hopes of Proteus rising from the sea, Have sunk; he is entombed in the waste, we dump’. These 3 lines mean a lot in this sonnet as it shows that Proteus a Greek god has been entombed in the waste we humans dump. It shows how powerful the creatures were to practically kill a Greek god. It shows that we have destroyed all nature and there is no hope left. Not even the Greek gods can save Nature. All their hopes have sunk… God is labouring to utter his last cry.’. This is the last line of the sonnet and I think it is a very powerful line as it shows how desperate the people are and how god, maker of the world they live in is having to go down to the earth and save them or see what shall happen to their faiths. He is going down to clear the human’s mess.
‘The poetry of earth is never dead: When all the birds are faint with the hot sun, And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run’. These are the first 3 lines of “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket”. This shows how Keats is portraying poetry as part of earth, the poetry of earth. He is also showing nature through the birds, sun and trees. This really gives the reader that there is nature there. It also shows that nature will never die and that it is happy there. ‘From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead; That is the grasshopper'-s he takes the lead In summer luxury,- he has never done With his delights; for when tired out with fun’. These few lines are showing that there is a lot of nature in the area and the grasshopper is having lots of fun in the great luxury of summer. The grasshopper has had so much fun he is tired and needs a rest. It us that summer is a great season for nature. The mention of luxury must mean that it is very nice and beautiful.
Final Draft - Part 2
ReplyDeleteThe first line shows that there is much nature in that place with lovely grasses and hedges. ‘He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed. The poetry of earth is ceasing never: On a lone winter evening, when the frost Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills’. These 4 lines show that in the winter there is a silence and everything is cold, it is like the nature took a break. It shows though that nature is never ending and that nature will live forever unlike in Report to Wordsworth. ‘The cricket's song, in warmth increasing ever, The grasshopper's among some grassy hills.’. These few last lines show that the grasshopper is warm and comfortable thanks to nature and that the grasshoppers move in the hills again. It shows that nature is everywhere and for anything even the smallest grasshopper or cricket.
soz its l8 sir, I couldn't access the blog last night :P
ReplyDeleteNature Sonnets
The two sonnets, Report to Wordsworth by Boey Kim Cheng and On the Grasshopper and Cricket by John Keats both deal with the theme of nature but in contrasting ways.
Report to Wordsworth is about Boey Kim Cheng addressing Wordsworth (a famous English poet) about the state of the world we live in. He talks about many environmental issues which affect the modern world such as pollution when Boey writes “She has been laid waste. Smothered by the smog”. He also mentions about people disposing their rubbish in line 5 when he writes “he is entombed in the waste we dump”. Apart from mention of pollution there is reference to contamination when Kim Cheng talks about 'Trition's horns being chocked and his eyes being dazed.' I believe that Boey is trying to say that even the sea gods can't save man as they are stuck in the waste and choking. In the penultimate line 'O see the wound widening in the sky' this could be Boey talking about the ozone layer fading away due to impact on the planet as a result of what humans have been doing. In the line 'poetry and piety have begun to fail' Boey implies that neither poetry or religion (righteouness) can save man from what he has done. The poem posts a depressing and grim theme. It is based around what we have done to the world and that nature is suffering because of it. The gloomy images help to emphasise the impact of the meaning of the poem.
On the Grasshopper and Cricket deals with nature in a different way. It talks about the beautiful side of nature, a time to celebrate and rejoice.There is reference of two seasons. The first 8 lines are about the summer. There is clear mention of the hot climate when Keats says 'When all the birds are faint with hot sun'. After this the birds ' And hide in cooling trees' to retreat from the heat. This is our first contact with actual nature in the sonnet. There is a general reference to the beauty of nature. There is a lot of mention of the scenery .In the second half of the sonnet, the poet talks about winter. This part doesn't mention nature as much as before. However, it is more implied such as 'when the frost has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills ...' At the end of this section, the temperature begins to rise which has an effect on the nature. In the end there is a mention of nature when he writes 'the grasshopper's among some grassy hills'. I think that Keats believes that the beauty of nature is never-ending no matter what weather.
Both Sonnets seem to deliver their intended message well. They provide a strong message with a lot of meaning. They emphasis this by adding clear imagry and striking vocabulary especially in Report to Wordsworth.
Even though both sonnets deal with the theme of nature in different ways. Both are very powerful in how they deliver their messages.
Throughout the year we have studied the "Report to Wordsworth" poem which is written by Boey Kim Cheng and the the poem “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” which was written by John Keats. These two poems speak clearly about nature expressing each and one of their beauties they have and disasters. They are both very different from eachother, but very smilar aswell. As, one poem speaks about its positive sides and the other poem speaks about it's negatives. Both writers were meant to send a strong message across to readers - which they have achieved great success in.
ReplyDelete"On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" John Keats speaks mostly about birds who are in the sun, and about the general facts of nature. Then he compares it to the grasshopper and then uses other similar things to compare it to. I believe there is no rhyme in any of these lines and don't consider it as a proper poem.
where as, the poem 'Report to Wordsworth' the writer speaks about the danger facts of nature, for instance - global warming. It is mostly about how people of different parts of the world destroy mother nature and wants to make people realize that they are in need of doing something to this fact. It is the total opposite of the poem "Grasshopper and the Cricket".
Both of these poems have strong ideas of mother nature and both poems are saying this in different ways. There is no rhyme in both poems and their way of writing and expressing it's beauty is different from the poems that rhyme as it is harder for the writer to come up with words what would mean and be understandable to the reader.
I believe it it very important to all of us, to realize what damage we are causing to the environment with the littlest things we do not even think of. It is important to understand that we are ruining our environment and are in need of getting to work on this fact. If to compare both poems, they have much in common as for instance - Nature. They both address the strongest points to us, readers, and are trying to send a message across to mind what we are doing to the environment without even noticing it. It is also important to know what the real mother nature is like to us and how much it should mean. I believe we are capable of changing the future if we do something about global warming which is slowly destroying our beautiful environment!
How do the two sonnets "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" and "Report to Wordsworth" present and deal with the theme of nature?
ReplyDeleteBoey Kim Cheng and John Keats both had nature in mind when they were writing these two sonnets, despite their similarities in that aspect we find that their two views of nature are very different.
Report to Wordsworth is wholly about nature and how we mistreat it; in fact just the very first line mentions Nature. This poem presents nature as a female person, personifying it with the word ‘she’ in the second line. By saying ‘Nature has need of you’ in the first line, Boey makes nature sound desperate considering nature is a huge force that the very world is based on and thrives off of, it certainly would take a lot to make it desperate. The picture that Boey continues to paint is not a pretty one, nature is cited as being ‘smothered by the smog’, smog being a man-made pollutant that is harmful to nature. Another powerful phrase is when Boey makes reference to the Greek gods and how in their previous natural splendor and power they were now ‘entombed in the waste we dump’, ’choke…dazed’ all very strong phrases and words with strong negative connotations.
Boey deals with nature as a once strong and glorious thing that has since been weakened by the actions of man, even going as far as calling man in satiate. Boey strategically uses the last parts of the poem to deliver the message of a dying helpless nature with its ‘mighty heart lying still’, and ‘the wound widening in the sky’. Overall Report to Wordsworth does not present nature as a beautiful and wonderful property of the earth, not because he doesn’t think it isn’t beautiful or that it isn’t beautiful, but because the actions of man are affecting it adversely.
“On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” by John Keats presents a refreshingly different image of nature, one of joy and of ‘not having a care in the world’. The very first line is a direct contradiction to what Boey Kim Cheng was saying in his poem, ‘The poetry of Earth is never dead:’ shows that the poem believes that nature, the very basis of life and earth itself and which is here referred to as poetry, is never ceasing so it will always be alive.
Keats describes nature in 'On the Grasshopper and the Cricket' as a beautiful and joyful experience. The insects enjoy the warmth and fun of the summer, seeking relief in the cool natural shade. Although the second part of the sonnet is less joyful, the nature is still alive and running just in a much colder environment. Overall Keats presents nature positively and with joy whereas Boey Kim Cheng focuses mainly on the destruction and attack on nature from humankind. They have two very different views.
Both Sonnets are very much to do with nature, and they both represent strong images of nature however they have very different presentations of nature. "Report to Wordsworth" on one hand talks about how nature is dying, and "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" about how it is joyous and never ending.
INAL DRAFT: Nature Sonnets
ReplyDelete“On the grasshopper and the cricket” by John Keats and “Report to Wordsworth” by Boey Kim Cheng are two beautifully written sonnets with one similar theme: Nature. However, these two poems express this theme in very different ways.
“On the grasshopper and the cricket” presents and deals with the theme of nature in several, peaceful ways. Keats gives references to how the animals and insects cope with nature like for example when ‘the birds hide in cooling trees’, ‘the cricket sings and rests beneath some grass”. They all show how the connection of nature and the animals habituating it is a system and that it will last forever on this earth. Sadly, this is not the case. But in this sonnet, Keats presents Nature’s beauties and wonders, other than what is happening to it in the present and what horrible things we are doing to it as portrayed in “Report to Wordsworth”. But its definite main theme revolving nature is about the cricket during seasons of summer and winter. In the last four lines it includes how winter is cold and dark, mentioning “The frost has wrought a silence” expressing how quiet it is. But in the next line it says, “From the stove there shrills the cricket’s song, in warmth increasing ever”. This tells how its song is everlasting, even during winter when there are ‘lone winter evenings’ the grasshopper and cricket’s song will still be heard. It seems like Keats is trying to point out to the readers that the grasshopper and the cricket are representations of nature all in all. As I mentioned before, Keats indicates that Nature will surround us forever on Earth and will always be seen, heard of, and thought of in our environment.
“Report to Wordsworth” presents and deals with the theme of nature by referring to the parts of nature that is being destroyed. It tells of what we are doing, what is happening and the whole issue of global warming. It reminds us how we are decreasing our time, second by second, of having nature remaining on this earth. The sonnet revolves around the whole theme of selfish humans extracting innocent parts of nature for our own good, and above that, wasting it away. There are examples from the sonnet giving reference to what disastrous things we are doing to the Earth and the causes of it, which include ‘flowers going mute’, ‘smog’, ‘endangering birds’ etc. This whole sonnet is mainly about how the Earth is ticking away and we don’t have much left of Nature until it is all gone. This is conveyed in line 4; “In a sky slowing like a dying clock” stating how the sky is, through time, collapsing and becoming intoxicated by all the greenhouse gases let out. There is nothing we can do to stop global warming from happening, but we can keep it from happening sooner as well as making our last years on this Earth a comfortable and peaceful one with the magnificent Nature surrounding us in every corner. Cheng points out the ghastly actions we are pressuring and ruining nature with. This is shown in one line; “and Neptune lies helpless as a beached whale while insatiate man moves in for the kill”. This sonnet as well adds the nature of the Greek gods Proteus, Triton and Neptune; "All hopes of Proteus rising from the sea have sunk" telling the reader how Proteus will never come out of the sea because of what we have done, "Triton's notes struggle to be free" expressing how Triton feels captivated from the horrors we've put on this Earth so that he cannot speak out in any way. These two quotes show the reader how these gods are as well being affected by our monstrous actions. Nonetheless, “Report to Wordsworth’s” main message is how Nature and we need help as everything is happening with rapid increase. Cheng implies how Nature is slipping off of this Earth sooner than we thought. That said, the message of “Report to Wordsworth” is The Call to the gods and spirits to give us some sort of miracle that can help us fix our precious Earth.
(to be continued on next post..)
The two sonnets “On the Grasshopper and the cricket” and “Report to Wordsworth” both resemble two important issues of Nature that we need to keep focused on. It puts one to mind of what gruesome activities we are doing to the Earth as well telling how we are in great need of help as Nature is dying in our very own bare hands. But on top of that we need to remember the parts of nature we have left and how beautiful and important it is to remain on this Earth. Nature is too miraculous and rare to ever be destroyed and further on wasted. Mother Nature controls the earth and if we kill her, we kill our Earth and there will be no other way to get her back. We need nature and we need to put a stop to our horrid behavior, which we are exploiting on her. The sonnets give out very important messages, which we need to ponder about, analyze and make sense out of so that we will understand the writer’s full background of the poem. It is surely what Keats and Cheng would have wanted us to do.
ReplyDeleteHeh Sorry its late, havent had access to computer since i entered scotland.
ReplyDeleteNature Sonnets
Both Poems deal with the term ‘Nature’ in a different way, On the Grasshopper deals with nature by saying how great it is within the earth, whereas in Wordsworth it is saying how all things on earth are “failing” and that the world is dying.
“On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” by John Keats starts off saying how the birds are flying around under the heat of the hot sun and becoming so tired and hot that they take shelter under “Cooling Trees” it then moves onto how a voice in the wind presumably runs “From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead” and then it finally goes onto saying how the Grasshopper will take the lead and it then says how in the summers luxuries he is never done and when he is tired out he takes rest underneath some pleasant weed of the earth which presumably is a referring to the ‘weeds’ of the garden “rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.” The scenery then changes to the cold winter as “On a lone winter evening” states and how it brought silence to the summer’s heat “when the frost, Has wrought a silence” but now the Crickets song is bringing back that warmth to the earth and nature around it with every song, and finally takes place upon the grassy hills “The cricket's song, in warmth increasing ever, The grasshopper's among some grassy hills.”
“Report to Wordsworth” By Boey Kim Cheng deals with nature in a very different way to Keats poem as it describes that Nature has need of us, and that Mother Nature is being smothered by all of our pollution, “The Flowers and mute and the Birds are few” this is saying that the flowers are not producing pollen and that the birds are slowly dying out. The next part of Kim’s poem is about the Norse Mythology of Proteus, Neptune, Triton and then God enters at the end; “All hopes of Proteus rising from the sea have sunk” as he has been entombed in the waste that we have dumped into the beautiful sea, “Tritons notes struggle to be free” Triton is struggling to keep awake and alive cause of all the pollution that we are putting out. “Neptune Lies helpless as a beached whale” basically Neptune is no longer able to move from the sea, due to the pollution in the sea and out of it. Towards the end Boey says that “Nature’s Mighty Heart is lying still” and he is referring to that nature is being destroyed from the core and it’s ‘heart’ is ceasing to function. This poem deals with nature but in the sense that we as humans are destroying it and everything else because of our bad habits.
As I said before, both these poems tackle Nature in a different ways as Keats’ is about the luxuries of nature and how peaceful it is, but Kim’s is about how pollution is destroying all things that is nature and beyond like the gods, and keeps on repeating it throughout the poem and it is effective in my opinion.
バカ
FINAL DRAFT !
ReplyDeleteIn this essay I'm going to analyze and compare two nature sonnets "On the Grasshopper and The Cricket" by John Keats and "Report to Wordsworth" by Boey Kim Cheng. They are beautifully written sonnets about nature. However, they convey different ideas.
In the poem "On the Grasshopper and The Cricket" by John Keats we can see that the main idea of this poem is that poetry about nature can not die it will live forever. The author begins the poem by saying "The poetry of earth is never dead". Also later in the poem he says that "The poetry of earth is ceasing never". John Keats says that it doesn't matter what season it is the music and the "poetry of earth" will be with us all the time. The author describes amazing things that happen during different seasons. In the summer when "the hot sun" shines, grasshopper "takes the lead". In the cold winter "when the frost" comes, we can hear cricket's warm song "from the stove there shrills". Poet believes that beauty of Nature never ends. You can feel that the author really loves nature by the way he talks about the grasshopper and the cricket. John Keats uses personification when he describes those insects and what they do. For example, grasshopper "he takes the lead", "tired out with fun", "rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed." Also he shows that the cricket is singing a song.
In the poem "Report to Wordsworth" by Boey Kim Cheng we can also see author's attitude towards nature. Unlike Keats who believed that nature is eternally beautiful, Kim Cheng thinks that Nature changed and it's not so beautiful and peaceful. The environment is not as clean as it was before. The flowers and birds are "Smothered by the smog". Boey Kim Cheng also uses the personification "the flowers are mute" this shows that they are silent. He also uses the comparison on birds that they are "slowing like a dying clock". Nature "has been laid waste. Boey Kim Cheng thinks that "all hopes" to repair nature "have sunk" help will come from nowhere because all hopes are "entombed in the waste we dump". Boey Kim Cheng thinks that people "insatiate man" are "killing" our Nature. "You should be here. Nature has need of you" with this sentence poet shows that nature is in bad condition and needs help. I think he believes that people will understand their mistakes and start care about the Nature again.
These two sonnets are both devoted to the theme of nature.. John Keats on one hand believes that our Nature always will be beautiful and peaceful as it is now. Boey Kim Cheng on the other hand believes that our Nature needs help because it's already polluted and "destroyed" by people which don't care about anything except themselves. We can see that "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" and "Report to Wordsworth" express absolutely different ideas about the Nature.
Polina
Final Draft
ReplyDeleteBoth sonnets are about nature but have completely different meanings.
In On the Grasshopper and the Cricket, it is optimistic and he is showing the happiness in nature. The grasshoppers singing songs and that earth's poetry will never end. Even though he talks about winter being a time of hardship it is still in a optimistic way because it is the way it is supposed to be.
In Report to Wordsworth it is all very negative and hurts to read as you just realize what we are doing to our planet. He goes on about how even the Gods cannot help us and that earths heart is lying still so it is dying. It is very sad and it is all due to humans.
One poem discusses about the happiness on the planet and the other about the sadness. either this is because Keats did not know in his time that they were destroying our planet. Both poems are striking as they both are very strong in their opinion so it is interesting to compare them and to see the difference in the way different people see things.
kimberly Merten
The poems “The Grasshopper and the Cricket” by John Keats and “Report to Wordsworth” by Boey Kim Cheng are the opposite of each other. How are these differences shown?
ReplyDeleteThe differences of these poems are stated even from the very first line in “The Grasshopper and the Cricket” by where it says “Poetry of the earth is never dead” but in “Report to Wordsworth” Boey Kim Cheng says that nature is dying
In “The Grasshopper and the Cricket” nature is shown as a very pleasant thing, and he even brings up birds, that are also part of nature. When he says that “In Summer Luxury” he seems to me to say that nature is a lovely place where you can just relax in the hot sun, have no worries and that it will never go away/ change.
Unlike “The Grasshopper and the Cricket”, in “Report to Wordsworth” he shows nature as a completely different thing. I think that the poet is blaming humans for the destruction of nature and that we are making it “die”. Since nature is dead he says that the birds are dying and there’s not many left, the flowers aren’t coming out and everything is on like a stand-by mode and not actually making the world look like a beautiful place like it used to be. I think the way he relates to the Greek-gods not able to help is a way of him trying to say that it is out of hands and they can’t fix our troubles.
Nature Sonnets: Final Draft
ReplyDeleteBoth the poems ‘Report to Wordsworth’ by Boey Kim Cheng and ‘On the Grasshopper and the Cricket’ by John Keats deal with nature in completely different ways. One is dealing with more along the line of happiness, and the other with sadness.
The poem ‘On the Grasshopper and the Cricket’ is dealing with nature as though it is very pleasant as Keats uses word/phrases such as ‘summer luxury’ and that it is so pleasant, the grasshopper is tired out with fun. Also, when John Keats is talking about how the ‘poetry of earth’ is never dead in the first line, he might be referring to the wonders of nature, and how it all fits together so perfectly with the site and scenery of it. In this poem, there is basically a positive side to everything that he is mentioning, whether it was in the hot summer (the first part of the poem) or the cold winter (the last few lines of the poem).
The poem ‘Report to Wordsworth’ is dealing with nature with more of a tragic scenery since Boey Kim Cheng starts it off as ‘You should be here, nature has need of you’. He is referring to it as though something had horribly gone wrong and nature is crying out for help. Also, on the 5th and 6th lines, he is mentioning how all hopes of Proteus rising from the sea have sunk and that he is entombed in the waste we dump. I think in these lines, it relates to global warming and how we are ruining nature’s wonders, as if there was no hope for it. Also, he is mentioning that Neptune, a powerful god of the sea, is lying as helpless as a beached whale, as if he can no longer move around in the sea as of the pollution inside it that is being caused by us. Boey Kim Cheng is also referring to death when he is mentioning the line “..The sky is slowing like a dying clock”.
By Kalean
Both Sonnets are about nature.
ReplyDeleteThe Grasshopper and the Cricket have a happy atmoshpere. The poem is about how nature is relaxed and calm and that the animals in it like the Grasshopper's, Crickets, birds and so on just enjoy the warm sun of spring.
Report to Wordsworth has a sad atmosphere and he tlaks about the world dying away because of human activities and we need to do something now to save it or else it will die. He is trying to get through to the readers by expressing his opinions thorough the negative asspects in his poem.
Boey is not happy with the way we are treating are planet and Keats seems to be happy with it. maybe because in his time he didnt know that we are destroying our planet and was just enjoying a nice day.
Nature Sonnets – Final Draft
ReplyDeleteThe poems “On The Grasshopper and The Cricket” and “Report to Wordsworth” are both based on Nature, although the poets write about nature in practically opposite views. One is based more on the beauties of nature while one is based more on the destruction of it.
When we look at “On The Grasshopper and The Cricket”, it seems to be expressing nature in a way that is more peaceful and pleasing, and actually puts a smile and good thoughts into the reader’s head while they are reading it. This poem expresses the beauties of nature by using words and phrases such as “The poetry of earth is never dead”, which is how the poem starts. This already creates a pleasant mood for the reader. “...And hide in cooling trees” suggests that nature is good because trees are part of nature and they are helping the birds. “...in warmth increasing ever” suggests that the cricket’s song is warm and friendly, and “The grasshopper’s among some grassy hills” suggests nature is good because it is saying that it is grassy which is a good image in the readers head.
“Report to Wordsworth”, on the other hand, expresses nature in a completely different aspect. The poet is telling the readers that humans are destroying it and getting in the way of its natural progress. Parts of the poem such as “She has been laid waste, smothered by the smog”, “The flowers are mute, and the birds are few, in a sky slowing like a dying clock” are the beginning of the poem and the poet is already describing how nature is becoming silent, slowing down, and basically dying. “...he is entombed in the waste we dump” explains how much waste we dump and how it is ruining nature again. “God is laboring to utter his last cry” is telling us that all the harm we are doing to the planet is actually overwhelming god himself and even he is struggling to survive in the damage we are causing.
These two poems have the same subject; nature, but it is expressed in two completely different ways. In my opinion, I think that “Report to Wordsworth” is a more interesting poem, particularly because it gives out a message to humankind and how they are really making a big impact on the planet Earth.