Poems tell us about life experiences

Poems tell us about life experiences.

The poems of Theatre by Kate Llewellyn and Even If You Weren’t My Father by Camillo Sbarbaro express the different life experiences of individuals. The aspects of family, love and memory can be viewed in both positive and negative lights through these poems. By using a range of different experiences felt by the poet the audience can become connected to them by human experience.
The theme of family/relationship can be seen in the poems Theatre and Even If You Weren’t My Father. This theme explores the idea of how a family relationship can be positive of negative. Both these poems express the theme in a different way, Theatre for example is very cold and depressing for a family relationship. The poem ends with a strong, short line of “a stranger” to provide emphasis on the poem. This line can be interpreted in two ways: That he is s stranger to her, or that she feels like the stranger herself. The final line basically summarises the entire poem, it also sums up her whole relationship with her child, how distant she was, how clueless she was about the whole situation, about being a mother. The reader can almost feel a sense of sadness at the line, regret even and that after years of being apart she has finally realised that she didn’t achieve any kind of real relationship, a bond with her child and that she’s using this poem as a means to reach out and reconnect with her child one last time. Even If You Weren’t My Father is a much warmer relationship; they were close as a family. The final line “I would above all other men so love you.” strongly emphasis his loving emotion for his father, it highlights there whole relationship in a positive light. It conveys a much more personal relationship; you can feel the sense of awe and admiration he has for his father. Both these poems display the life experiences of belonging to a family.
The theme of love can be seen in the poems Theatre and Even If You Weren’t My Father. Theatre conveys love in a negative way, Llewellyn is very disconnected from her son, and she wasn’t a big part of his life and never made the effort to connect with him. “I feel glad but that’s all” is a single line that’s separate from the rest of the poem; it’s a single line to provide emphasis on the emotions she experienced during that time. The word “glad” is a bland adjective and it not a word you associate with having a child. Even If You Weren’t My Father shares love in a positive way, Sbarbaro uses “For your own self I’d love you” to express his love for his father. Throughout the entire poem he is constantly reminding us that he has this great affection towards his father. Sbarbaro uses “You.” in the poem, he is speaking directly to his father expressing the warm relationship and uses this to reinforce the love and admiration he has for his father. By portraying the human experience of love in these poems respectively we can establish the ups and downs of relationships.
The theme of memory/reflection can be seen in the poems Theatre and Even If You Weren’t My Father. Theatre is cold, distancing and regretful, she doesn’t have any positive memories associated with her son “I pushed you out – it was like a race” she is distancing herself from everything; she’s shunned her child from her life. The line helps the reader interoperate how Llewellyn feels about her family. The simile “It was like a race” is a stranger comparison when talking about the birth of your child, and it make us question where she is in the right mind to raise her child. Even If You Weren’t My Father shows much warmer memories “You chased my little sister through the house” is a great use of imagery creates immediacy; it brings us into his memory and give the reader a strong connection with the character. The ability to remember is embedded in the human experience and drives the individual to attain happiness in life.
Through the poems of Theatre by Kate Llewellyn and Even If You Weren’t My Father by Camillo Sbarbaro a greater understanding of human experience is achieved. By exploring the themes of family/relationship, love and memory/reflection they have been successful in presenting the different views, and Even If You Weren’t My Father has a more positive attitude when compare to the negativity of Theatre. Human experience can be defined as difficult or pleasant depending on the circumstances an individual finds themselves in.