Easy passage + To my 9 year old self comparison

My english lit class and I need help ASAP. We did our first poetic comparative essay last week and got the grades back today (we're in the middle east, school is from Sunday to Thursday). The thing is, we have ANOTHER comparative essay due in on Tuesday and no one is sure about what to do for the essay because our teacher was never thorough in her explanation. Could someone help compare 'An Easy Passage' by Julia Copus and To My 9 Year old self by Helen Dunmore and how they explore the shift from childhood to adulthood.

Reply 1

OrangePeelOK

'An Easy Passage' and 'To My 9 Year Old Self' both have detached observations - although are written in different narrative perspectives. 'An Easy Passage' has a mostly detached observation, (except for the rhetorical question mid poem, which gives the only glimpse of the narrator/persona) and presents an almost omniscience, sharing the gaze and perspectives of the secretary. 'To My 9 Year Old Self' uses second person pronouns, and uses the past tense in her descriptions of her past self "I have spoiled this body we once shared", to imply that the narrator does not view the body as herself any more.

'An Easy Passage' is also a narrative poem, as a vignette in one stanza, capturing one moment in time. 'To My 9 Year Old Self' instead uses the second person to bring it back to the present (adulthood)

Could also compare:
- Use of light/darkness to represent transition and the situation
- Attitudes of the adults to the children? (Secretary and 9 year old's behaviour)

I hope I helped a little bit, good luck with your essay, just ask if you need more help with it! :awesome: