An examination of her body after death

By Glen Colquhoun
The poem “An examination of her body after death” by Glen Colquhoun is about the authors mourning of the death of a friend. The author is examining the dead body but still in denial and despair. I will be writing about the author denying her death and how he used negativity to show this, and how he used metaphors to show what he remembered about her.

One of the important ideas in the poem is the author denying his friends death. Colquhoun used negative words to show his denial. The repeated statements of denial are the language technique which helps to show this for example at the beginning of each stanza he uses a statement of denial such as “You are not her belly”. Colquhoun uses the phrase "you are not her" at the beginning of each stanza. This is showing that he doesn’t believe this is her and that she is dead, he is upset, angry and full of despair over her death.” I refuse to understand”. The author refuses to accept the fact that his beloved friend is now gone and out of his world. 

Another important idea in the poem is remembering his friend and comparing her to the dead lifeless being in front of him the author shows this by writing about what she should look like, not what she now looks like. A quote from the text showing how he remembers her is “You are not her eyes! Someone has slipped up! These are the broken headlights on a car”. This is showing what her dead eyes are like and that he remembers them as bright and beautiful eyes but he is not seeing this. “The sound of birds has gone away. So bold! These two fat worms now hungry for the dirt.” one of the metaphors used here is the author comparinig the sweet beautiful sound of a bird singing to his friends voice. the second metaphor "These two fat worms now hungry for the dirt ”  is saying that her lips are now big, bloating and dry.

In conclusion the authors’ purpose was to get the message about him loosing a loved one across to the reader. The main ideas were remembering and denial over his friends’ death, Colquhoun used metaphors and negativity to portray this.  

By Callum


Tangi

By Hone Tuwhare

The poem “Tangi” by Hone Tuwhare is about the author talking about his two experiences at the Tangi and the European funeral, and the cultural differences between them. The main idea of the poem is grief over a loved one at a Tangi and a European funeral. The two language features used in the poem are the use of negatives and the contrast between the Tangi and funeral.

The main idea of the poem if grief. The author uses negatives to portray the idea of grief by using words like “not”, “death” and “nor”. Because the poems main idea is grief it shows sadness and despair. A quote like “death was not hiding between the cold rags” enforces grief on the poem and along with sadness and despair it helps me understand the main idea of grief. By using words like “death” and “not” as I mentioned before, make the quote negative and depressing.In "Tangi" there are negatives while Tuwhare is at the European Funeral for example "not" and "nor". And changing to a more positive sense at the tangi with words like "beauty" and "calm". All these quotes help me to understand the main idea by the saddness and negativity of the quotes and the affect they have on the poem.

The second language feature used in “Tangi” was the contrast between the Tangi and the European funeral. The two funerals symbolised two different cultures and how the author reacted to each one. The first funeral Tuwhare went to was the European funeral, he feels like he doesn’t belong and that he is excluded just because is a Maori at a European funeral. Tuwhare is less comfortable at the European funeral than at the Tangi. We no this is a European funeral because of the flowers used in the poem “the frolic of violets and carnations”. These flowers are very English proving this is a European funeral. Using the quote “frolic of violets” is saying there are a lot of violets at this funeral and you wouldn’t tend to see violets at a Tangi. Tuwhare then went to the Tangi where he feels more comfortable and included with his own Maori culture and has a sense of closure. “Green leave anguish on the woman’s head”, this quote shows that the author is at a Tangi because this is what the women wear on their heads, a green leaf ring hat. The green leaf anguish is showing the difference in culture and what Maori wear at a funeral. Another quote showing the act and behaviour is “the calm vigil of hands”. This is the way the people sit and behave at behaviour. These quotes help me understand the main idea of grief by the way the quotes describe the depressing situations of both funerals.
 
In conclusion the main idea of the poem is grief. The two language features used were the use of negatives and the contrast between the two different funerals. The author’s purpose was to show the cultural differences between a Tangi and a European funeral.

By Callum