The Soldier by Rupert Brooke and Colonization in reverse by Louise Bennett comparison.

When authors write poems, they have an aim, which most of the times is achieved, an aim that is wanted the most is the reader identifying himself with what he is reading. Poems such as The Soldier, written by Rupert Brook, who lived from 1887 to 1915, are well understood by people who fight against their country’s benefit.  Colonization in reverse, written by Louise Bennett, demonstrates how people should work harder to get what they want; in this case she refers to her country's failure, and people emigrating so they can get opportunities. What similarities and differences are there in these two poems? Let's find it out.

We can see how in both poems, the authors refer to their countries as a powerful factor in life. In The soldier, Rupert Brook analysed death, he romanticized and glorified it.  Moreover we can see how Louise Bennett refers to how people should fight against a country’s failure so they get opportunities in life. In both poems we can see how the authors indirectly talk to people who in that time were having trouble; we can notice how Brooke is talking about a soldier, and in those times the World War II most of the people were identified with these cases, since they could either be soldiers or know someone who was having trouble with this difficult situation. Both of the countries were having trouble, they were actually different kind of problems, but one similarity that exists between both poems is the way they expresses about the beautiful love they have for their country. On the other hand we can see how Bennett writes about Jamaicans, trying to survive to what their country difficulties have to offer them; She is looking to what people is going through and she writes this poem so when people read it, they make conscience of what they are doing wrong and what they should be doing; she refers and make a good point on why they should fight, ant in this case it is not the benefit of their country but the benefit of themselves.

A point that marks both, a difference and a similarity of the poems is LOVE. They both include love for their country, but what we can analyze is the fact that in the soldier poem, the author is completely going through unconditional love to their country, through his poetry he is somewhat building up this romantic relationship that he has with England, and encouraging others to have this same relationship as perhaps a release of fear of dying. And when reading colonization in reverse we perceive how she refers to personal salvation so the country stabilizes and people reach their goals in a way they can help their own country. The similarity would be the love they have for their country even though at the same time is a difference since they both give different solutions to a problem the readers might be facing.

We discern in both poems how the tone differs, because in The Soldier poem the author draws a magic image of what death is, otherwise in Colonization in Reverse Bennett states a formal tone in which she refers to life bluntly, which gives the reader the capacity to overview what she is expressing. Both methods achieve the aim of the author and that is what counts. There is another difference in the structure the poems are written and those are the sonnets; since The Soldier was written as the fifth part of the continuation of other sonnets, this was the last poem written a year after Brooke died, the structure is as far as rhyme scheme; the octave is rhymed after the Shakespearean / Elizabethan form, while the sestet follows the Petrarchan / Italian pattern. This difference exists since in Colonization in Reverse, the poem is actually written almost as a song, it has rhythm and the suffixes it has, evolves in every single sonnet.

So both poems are meant to express the authors kind of love for their country, they are both meant for the reader to elaborate an image of the country, but they talk about different kinds of love and it differs in what people might think. We could noticed in this essay how both authors used different tones and formality to express their thought and even when the tone nor the formality was similar at all, they both talked about the same thing; and that is COUNTRY LOVE.

Word count: 747

WORDS WANT TO BE FREE.
by: Gio Maggi

Tongue-tied taxi drivers could face English tests

Sep 7 2010 by Abby Alford, South Wales Echo


Recommend TAXI drivers could be ordered to take English tests as concerns grow over some drivers’ grasp of the language.



Councillors were due to decide today if they should make cabbies take a special course if passengers complain about their ability to communicate.



A report due to be considered by Cardiff council’s public protection committee states concerns have been expressed about existing licence holders’ understanding of English, especially where it is not their first language.



The new rule would apply to black-and-white hackney cab and private hire drivers who obtained their taxi licence before January this year.



Since then all new drivers are required to sit a BTEC course in taxi and private hire driving which, while not a test of English skills, requires drivers to be able to communicate to a high level.



In his report to the committee, chief officer Sean Hannaby said: “Where the authority has concerns about the English language skills of an existing licence holder it may be appropriate to require that individual to provide satisfactory proof of having undertaken an English language course.



“There are many courses being offered in English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). It is recommended that where an existing licence holder is reported to the committee and there are concerns about their understanding of the English language it would be appropriate to require them to undertake a Skills for Life ESOL course to a minimum of entry level three.”



Entry level three requires students to know enough English to feel comfortable talking to people and reading simple texts.



But Mathab Khan, chairman of the Cardiff Hackney Association, which represents hackney drivers, has written to the committee’s chairman, Councillor Ed Bridges, stating “linguistic difficulties” between drivers and their passengers are rare.



He said only a small number of local authorities across Wales and England have language policies as tough as Cardiff.



“According to my own research, out of 380 local authorities there are as many as 368 that do not include BTEC course level two as a mandatory requirement to grant licences for transporting passengers by taxi and private hire vehicles.



“However, on January 1 the BTEC course was introduced to overcome the linguistic difficulties felt by the committee in a very negligible number of cases.”



In his submission Mr Khan asks that councillor Bridges and his committee evaluate the success of the BTEC course and consider scrapping it before introducing further measures.