Example unseen poetry Q2
essay 2

In both ‘A Day in Autumn’ and ‘The washing never gets done’, the poets present ideas about daily life and connecting with the natural world. What are the similarities and/or differences between the methods the poets use to present these ideas?

In ‘A Day in Autumn’ there are two stanzas, however in ‘The Washing Never Gets Done’ there is one long stanza. RS Thomas may have used two stanzas to emphasise the difference between the natural world and daily life, however he still links them with enjambment to show they are intertwined. Jason Kaplinski doesn’t use enjambment to connect the two concepts; instead, he has both the ideas in one stanza to emphasise how important they are working together and how they are closely connected. In ‘A Day in Autumn’ RS Thomas has the speaker say the leaves are “braiding the cuffs of the boughs with gold.” Here he uses personification to emphasise the intricacies and detail of nature, but he also uses the metaphor that the bough is being done with “gold”, which also emphasises the perfection and luxuriousness of nature. The verb “braiding” connotes detail and pattern, which also references the intricacy of nature. Jason Kaplinski also presents these ideas – however he uses images of the “drop of dew on every blade of grass” that again conveys immense detail like the “braiding”, and also ideas of awe and wonder like the intricacies in ‘A Day in Autumn’. In ‘A Day in Autumn’, RS Thomas uses caesura and end-stop to imply the importance of acknowledging nature. “From the last cherries, I pause a minute” – the phrase “pause a minute” is separated from the daily chore by caesura and end-stop to both move the reader and speaker of the poem to pause too and acknowledge the poem’s message. Jason Kaplinski also uses caesura and end-stop – “at one end, / it collapses at the other, the roof leaks” – the line makes the poem sound disjointed and unpleasant to read, contrasting the serenity and pauses in ‘A Day in Autumn’. Both poems use the same method, but Thomas’ method ripens the piece of connecting with nature, and Kaplinski’s method presents the destruction of daily life through the unpleasant pauses.