Compare And Contrast Birches By Robert Frost And The Schoolboy byWilliam Blake

Differences:-
(1) Background. The poets share differences in territorial background; William Blake was an English poet born in Broadwick St. Soho, London. While Robert Frost was an American poet born in San Francisco, California.

(2) Plot. Both poems go different direction in terms of narration. The Schoolboy by William Blake talks about child who preferred informal education to the mandatory formal education enforced on him by his parents; while Birches by Robert Frost speaks of his delightful childhood experience of swinging birches

when he happened to find a bent birch tree in passing.

(3) Structure. Another difference can be seen in the craft of both poems. The Schoolboy is a 30 line rhyming poem of six stanzas (with end rhyme scheme of ABABB ACACC) while Birches is a 60 line blank verse with no stanza division.

Similarities:-
(1) Nature. They are romantic poets which makes the theme of nature so inevitable. Both persona found an undeniable delight in natural elements; "So was I once myself a swinger of birches/ And so I dream of going back to be" (says Birches by Robert Frost) "I love to rise in a summer morn/ When the birds sing on every tree" (say The Schoolboy by William Blake)

(2) Youthfulness. This is also found in both poems while the youthful schoolboy worried what his adult memories of youth would be if his childhood joy is caged like a bird, on the other hand, the speaker in Birches reminisced his youth at the sight of a bent birch tree.

(3) Freedom. The theme of youthful freedom and the importance of freedom to humankind cannot go unnoticed in the two poems. With the repeated use of rhetorical questions in stanzas 4-6, the schoolboy called for his freedom while Robert Frost in Birches did not only point out the freedom derived in swinging the birches, he also demand his freedom to act without imposition or criticism; "May no fate willfully misunderstand me/ And half grant what I wish and snatch me away/ Not to return. Earth's the right place for love" (says lines 51-53) he closed the poem by saying "One could do worse than be a swinger of birches".

(4) Diction. Another noted similarity is in the chosen words which are very simple to comprehend. Both persona spoke from the first person perspective "I".

[attitude of poet towards nature in birches]

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Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings flying)

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Analysis Of Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day

As we cherish and praise William Shakespeare for his sonnet 18, let's not forget Giacomo da Lentini, also known as Jacopo (il) Notaro, an Italian poet of the 13th century, who invented sonnet.

Like most of the 154 Shakespearian sonnets, sonnet 18 was also speaking of love. That is why the theme of love, the theme of immunity and the theme of immortality can be found in the poem.

Some new generation pupils might find it hard to understand the language of the poem because it's archaic. We refer to it as the Elizabethan English; except for those familiar with the old king James Version of the Holy Bible.

The language of this sonnet is said to be the simplest in comparison with other Shakespearean sonnets. The tone is calm with an optimistic mood of assurance.

Let's look at the themes:
The Theme Of Love:
Shakespeare revealed his love through the image of beauty, simplicity and certainty. He compared his lover to "...a summer's day?/ thou art more lovely and more
temperate" (line 1 and 2) because those qualities of hers, he cherished.

The Theme Of Immunity:
What is Immunity? The state of being insusceptible to something of having strong resistance. Few of the things human being cannot resist are death, aging, etc. Shakespeare made readers to realise in Sonnet 18 that his lover was immune to aging and death. From line 3-8, he wrote how summer, sun, flower, etc. come and later die or disappear; starting from line 9, he told the readers that his own lover will neither grow old, lose beauty nor die.
"But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,"(line 9-11)

The Theme Of Immortality:
"When in eternal lines of time thou grow'st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee."(line 12-14)
The poet made us to know that his lover will live forever as far as men live and eyes continue to see things written because he has immortalized her with this Sonnet 18; that's the power of poetry.

William Shakespeare (April 26, 1564-April 23, 1616) was 52 years old before death. An English poet and writer, he married Anne Hathaway with three children.

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