The main theme of the poem Cynddylan Essay Example

The main theme of the poem Cynddylan Paper John Betjemans Slough is centred around the town of Slough and is a poem used to express strong political opinions and has discreet commentary on modern life, whereas the two poems by R. S. Thomas are concentrated on ideas about religion and technology but are put forward by using agricultural examples. Both poems by Thomas are slightly irregular in structure; Soil is written in Blank verse and has no rhyming and Cynddylan on a Tractor has no particular structure, but has slight rhyming of the end words at changing intervals. The structure of Slough is more organised, set out in equal verses with a regular rhyming pattern, with the rhyme of the final line continuing into the next verse. This is done to create and enhance the feeling of an on-going routine and almost entrapment throughout the poem. Thomas uses all five senses in his poetry (The soil is all: his hands fondle it, and his bones are formed out of it ) and in doing so gives the reader vibrant and realistic imagery. Formal yet emotive language is used throughout both of his poems, and in a descriptive context. This is seen especially in Soil where each object is described effectively as how it actually is, Plying mechanically his cold blade. Slough uses less formal language, but is again very emotive, bitter, descriptive and almost spits the lines at the reader, Their wives frizz out peroxide hair and dry it in synthetic air showing the falsehood of society, everyone trying to be something or someone they are not; Its not their fault they often go to Maidenhead And talk of sports and makes of cars In various bogus Tudor bars A bitter, satirical type of humour is used throughout Slough, We will write a custom essay sample on The main theme of the poem Cynddylan specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The main theme of the poem Cynddylan specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The main theme of the poem Cynddylan specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Come, friendly bombs and fall on Slough It isnt fit for humans now Slough almost welcomes the idea of being bombed, hence friendly bombs, or the author does Perhaps he thinks it will improve it. Full of sarcasm and resent, it isnt funny as such, more critical or comedy of manners style. Slough is very critical about the actual town, which is defined as basically a hole Mess up the mess they call a town. The two poems by Thomas are neither humorous nor sarcastic but occasionally in Cynddylan, a slight sense of resent is apparent because it is dealing with progress and change. It may be that Thomas is somewhat unsure about advancing technology and perhaps is afraid of change. Thomas was a reverend in a small farming community in Wales, so any changes such as a member of the village acquiring a tractor would have a big affect on everyone. As he was a religious man, God and parallels from the bible appear in his poetry especially in Soil as poetry would have been a way of expressing his opinions and views. Slough was written around the time of the second world war whereas Thomas poems are dated earlier than that. Although this is the case, there is no generation gap between the poems. Of course, apart from the fact that the war referred to in Slough had not occurred when Soil and Cynddylan were written. Again, Thomas was a religious man and this is reflected in his poems, for example, his opinion that man came from the soil and will ultimately return to it is shown with the line the blood seeps home to the warm soil from which it came. The main theme of the poem Cynddylan is progress and it is likely that Thomas felt threatened by this subject. This may be because he thinks people might neglect their faith when things like technology influence them and that they might prefer the new tractors of the world to religion Hes a new man now, part of the machine. Machines such as the tractor do not rely on the things that say, the plants in Soil do (mainly the sun) and because of the independence of the machines they are above nature, like God. In Slough the author is apparently un-threatened by progress, although he does comment on the possible affects of it; Tinned fruit, tinned meat, tinned milk, tinned beans, Tinned minds, tinned breath.