This paper will discuss the similarities and differences in Frank O’Hara’s ‘morning’ and Sharon Old’s ‘The Promise’. It will also relate them to Dorothy Parker’s ‘Resume’. The center of attention will be on the themes, similes, tone, metaphors, diction and rhythm explored in the poems. To begin with is the similarity on the themes; the authors of all the three poems have deeply explored the theme of love. Love has been expressed with a lot of fear of losing the loved ones. The speakers in the poems are not sure whether death will separate their cherished moments. For instance, in O’Hara’s ‘morning’, the speaker says, “I think of it on grey mornings with death” he tries to visualize what the effect might be when he finds out that death has visited his love. The persona is deeply in love and keeps thinking about his love wherever he goes; in whatever he does and begs the love not to desert him in the last line of the poem.
Old also reminisces in her poem that, “You’re a little afraid I’ll chicken out”. These lines unveil the uncertainties the speaker and the addressee in Old’s poem have in their modern life. The persona in Old’s the promise tells us what the addressee worries about when his love deserts him. He fears lying in a hospital bed after getting the shock and also would not want to be tied to a chair like his grandmother. The speaker remembers the good moment they have had together as they have had intimate moments; eye to eye, nipple to nipple, sex to sex contact that has made them lose their consciousness. At the same time, the persona contrasts herself as she talks about killing the lover. This brings out sadness in the sense that the two lovers do not know one another in as much as they are in love.
A vivid picture is created in all the three poems through the use of metaphor and similes. The simile, ‘the buses glow like clouds’ has been used in O’Hara’s ‘morning to show us the real picture of the dark nights when the speaker is all alone on the harbor. Since a dark night is full of silence, the persona is able to think more and more about the lover and the only thing that gives hope are the glowing buses. However, Old also uses a simile to bring out the status that the persona’s love would not like to find himself in, “to be tied to a chair like your pedantic grandmother, cursing.”
In O’Hara’s Morning, the emptiness of the car is compared to the simplicity of a bicycle. Without his love, he feels a vacuum in his sole just like that of a car without a passenger. Also he compares music to simple crossword puzzles that do not attract much attention and interest as love could do. He says nothing destructs him from the thought of his love, not even the music. Old’s “The promise’ focuses on various metaphors. For instance, the speaker brings out the picture of the status they are in as they renew their promises once again. They see themselves as half dead when she says, “we are part soil already, and wherever we are, we are also in our bed, fitted, naked, closely along each other, half passed out, after love, drifting back and forth across the border of consciousness, our bodies buoyant, clasped.” These entail their numb lifestyle. They are lost in the world of love and the addressee cannot imagine what would become of him when his love chickens out. The speaker uses this inspiration to mock her love. Parker also uses the metaphors to bring out the pain that is caused by a razor. She does not mention directly that a razor causes pain when it cuts. In addition, she just reveals the dampness caused by water which automatically is from the running river.
However, the there is different tones brought out in all the poems. To start with is the satirical tone that exists in Old’s ‘The promise’. The speaker ridicules her love when she insists to him that he does not know her if he wouldn’t believe that she is in a position to kill her. The killing may not be that of physical action but it could be spiritual killing; chickening out. She mocks her love on how he might not want to be like his prim grandmother. It is apparent that the poem has two different tones that occur interchangeably. The satirical one as already discussed and a reflective tone whereby the speaker reminisces the fine moments they had had: The moments which drove them crazy about one another. We may also say that there is a divine tone at the end of the poem where the speaker utters how much she could sacrifice to save her love from a lion’s mouth. The divine tone can also be realized in O’Hara’s poem as the speaker describes his unending desire to be with his love. He does not imagine life in the gray mornings with death. At the same time, the sad tone of reminisces is portrayed in the poem as the speaker sadly lives his life without the love. He begs the love not to go if there is a place further from him. He is not happy with how the car is empty like a bicycle; not even the music can stop him from thinking about her. Parker’s ‘Resume’ highlights agonizing tone that creates the throbbing pain caused by a razor, cramps caused by drugs. The lines act as a ticket to depart from the agony as the speaker advices one to live.
Poetic diction is the choice of words used by a poet to express attitude tone and mood that exist in a poem. They are the unique words that have been used to communicate a certain message to the reader. For instance, in Old’s ‘The promise’, the poet has carefully chosen words to bring out the satirical tone in the poem, the following lines expresses the insensible state that the lovers had been as the speaker ridiculed the lover of his fears of loosing her, “we are part soil already’ ‘You’re a little afraid I’ll chicken out’, ‘the halves of a creature.’
O’Hara’s ‘morning’ does not forget to employ poetic diction as it chooses to use the line, ‘and look out the window, at the noiseless snow’ to reveal the snowy, silent atmosphere that exists at night when everything is quiet with only the speaker in the vicinity. The phrase, ‘parking lot is
crowded’ expresses the speaker’s resigned mood. He is bored stiff at everything around him. Similarly is the terrified mood brought out in Parker’s poem through the choice of words such as, guns, razors and acids associated with pain. (Parker 1926), (O’Hara 1926) and (Old 1980).
There are line breaks only in O’Hara’s and Old’s poems which gives various effects in the poems. The line break in line five deliberates more on the specific type of gin that the speaker means. The break in line nineteen-line twenty emphasizes the status in which the speaker’s lover is not ready to be in – that of the prim grandmother. Line twenty three and twenty four also has a brake that helps to give more description on how the outside environment looks like. While on O’Hara’s poem, the line breaks have simply been used for the purpose of emphasis. These line brakes on the other hand have been used to create rhythm in the two poems. Besides, rhythm has been created by the several repeated words and phrases in the two poems. For instance, ‘eye to eye, nipple to nipple, sex to sex,’ in, ‘The promise’. The phrase, ‘you always’ is repeated in O’Hara’s poem bringing out the rhythmic effect. Alliteration in all the poems has also contributed to flow in the poems. Old (1980) and O’Hara(1926).
In summary therefore, the three poems have exhibited a lot of similar poetic devices bringing out a common theme of love except for Parker’s poem that talks of love in a more susceptible manner. The two poems from O’Hara and Old have similarities in tone; the sad but resigned tone that is vivid in both. The three poems have differences in their structure and language used but the differences seem to be drawing a reader’s interest of comparing the ideas they communicate to us. However, the two poems in packet2 and 3 had a captivating stir up of either the desire to be with a loved one and the recall of sweet moments but coupled with the dread of losing a partner. Another significant feature on the two poems was the lyrical nature that they exhibited through the speakers.
Work cited
Chrys Ingraham, Thinking straight: the power, the promise, and the paradox of heterosexuality. Routledge, 2005 ISBN0415932734, 9780415932738Length243 pages
O’Hara. Frank, Morning, 1926 Retrieved from oldpoetry.com/opoem/show/20410-Frank-O- Hara-Morning
Sharon Olds, “The Promise” from Strike Sparks: Selected Poems 1980-2002. Copyright © 2004
Parker Dorothy, Enough rope: poems, Boni and Liveright, 1926 Original from the University of CaliforniaDigitized9 Jun 2008Length110 pages
