Poetry from Other Cultures Essay

Poets who were natural in Britain dont usually write about thraldom or how measurable urine is to them. Many poets who are non originally into a traditional English culture use English in many different ways. Night of the scorpion, Limbo and Sacrifice all seem like they are numberss that have been written to represent beliefs or a way of life. They have all got cycles/seconds and beats and almost even use nursery rhymes or chants as a basis for the poem. Language is extremely important to any(prenominal) plurality especially poets. Sometimes you kindle see by looking at a poem that it is not written in Standard English.At the beginning of Night of The Scorpion, a tiddler is talking about how it remembers the night when its mother was stung by a scorpion. The youngster mentions Ten hours of energise rain has driven him to crawl beneath a sack of rice. Here, the electric shaver is describing the scorpion and the reason for its arrival. The child bespeaks out that the scorpion resolveed with its toxicant which literally means that the scorpion has stung someone. Throughout the poem, the scorpion is expound as an barbarous being The flask of diabolic tail in the dark room shows this.When the mother was stung, the villagers are described as swarming flies. This may mean they were running to help the mother or running outside(a) from the scorpion. The villagers chant the name of god to the mother, chanting the name of god in some cultures, is said to institute luck or hope to the person they are chanting for. In the poem it also states that the villagers apply torches and lanterns to try and find the scorpion. As the villagers moved most with the torches and lanterns, the scorpion left shadows on the mud baked walls. The villagers could not find the scorpion so they started to make a clicking noise to try and draw the scorpion towards them.In one part of the poem, it mentions that the scorpion was controlling the poison that was inner the c hilds mother. With every movement the scorpion made, his poison moved a meter the mothers blood. The villagers seem to believe that the scorpion controls the poison that is inside the mother so they think that if they capture the scorpion, the poison inside the mother bequeath also stop moving. They state that they want to stop the scorpion on livestock 18, May he sit still. After line 18, a series of destines are started with the articulate may. In Standard English, this word usually introduces a polite request.The villagers all sat round whilst the mother laid there. It is described that there is a look of understanding on all of the tribes faces, which shows that they are supporting the mother, hoping she will be fine. In some cultures it is believed that if you catch the scorpion that has poisoned someone, the victim will recover. This may be why the villagers were so keen to capture the creature. The poet then describes how everyone is trying to help the childs mother reco ver. My father, sceptic, rationalist, trying every curse and blessing, powder, mixture, herb and hybrid. He even poured a lesser paraffin wax upon the bitten toe and put a match to it.I watched the flame feeding on my mother this is one of the most effective quotes in this poem as its dramatic and metaphorical. Again, the poet describes how people are trying to help the childs mother by writing I watched a holy man perform his rites to tame the poison with an incantation. The p poet gives the effect that the poison has been inside the mother for a long time by saying After twenty hours, it lost its flummox The last three lines of the poem have had a large amount of thought go into them, as its unusual to normally end a poem like this.The poem Limbo, tells the degree of slavery in a rhyming, rhythmic dance. It is ambiguous and complex. There are two main narratives running in parallel the actions of the dance and the history of a people which is being enacted. Going down under th e limbo stick is likened to the slaves going down into the hold of the ship, which carries them into slavery. In Roman Catholic tradition, Limbo is a get off to which the souls of people go, if they are not good comely for heaven but not bad enough for hell, between this is Limbo. It has come to mean an unpleasant place or a state of mind or body from which it is difficult to escape.The story of slavery told in the poem is very easy to follow, yet to the full of detail and action. The poem has a very strong beat, suggesting the dance it describes. The rest of the poem tells a story enacted in a dance. These lines are greatly rhythmic and almost every syllable is stressed, until the very last line, where the rhythm is broken, suggesting the finish of the dance and the end of the narrative. This poem is suited to a dramatic performance there is the jump under the limbo stick and the acting out the voyage into slavery. The poem can be sing or sung with a rhythmic beat to give the best effect. The poem refers to a drummer which may be suitable.The poem is laid out on the page in a very unmatched fashion this is related to the poem being chant like. Parts of the poem are echoed or at least rhyming in a repetitive way to suggest that this may not be any song or dance, but one of an African like culture. From the start of the poem, it seems pessimistic, but as you read on towards the end of the poem, it gradually stats to change into an optimistic look onto what will happen. The music is obstetrical delivery me could mean that the songs of their cultures were what gave them hope or the fact that the drummer was beating a rhythmic beat was what got them to carry on.The start-off line of kick in is an unusual line to start with because describing a goat having a knife dragged crossways its neck isnt the sort of shape you would want to convey for the opening sentence. The persons point of view throughout the poem seemed to switch between two characters, a you ng boy and a goat being sacrificed. Two spadefuls of dirt will cover me up forever & I can feel its point on my throat.Many cultures bless their house or have some kind of ceremony once the house is built. Also, there are still some cultures today that sacrifice beasts to their gods. We stand in a tight circle around the animal to be sacrificed this short sentence is a great example of this. It seems that the child in question seems to dislike the conceit of animals being sacrificed. The awaken and the smell of the blood make me dizzy. Again, there is a whole paragraph describing just how the animal in question is sacrificed.The writer of the poem has made a strange choice by move both children and the theme of sacrificing together, as usually a poet would not normally do this. The children are transfixed by the tableau. Here, a drama convention is used. A tableau is a still image that can be used at the beginning, during or at the end of a piece of drama. Again, the idea of ce remonies are used A white bearded man chants something holy.The cameras click. This short sentence sounds price when put into context with the theme of the poem. The idea of people taking pictures of an animal that has just been sacrificed is disgusting. The ending of the poem is unusual because it seems that it is from the boys point of view because it describes the house as an unnecessary killing. We are not laying the foundations of a house but another dachau. A Dachau is a Nazi concentration camp where thousands of Jews were exterminated.