Carpet Weavers Poem Analysis

1199 Words5 Pages

‘Carpet Weavers, Morocco’ (‘Carpet Weavers’) by Carol Rumens and ‘Mid-Term Break’ by Seamus Heaney both explore the journey of children losing their innocence. ‘Carpet Weavers’ describes the suffering of children who are forced to weave carpets due to economic necessity. Rumens does this by repeatedly comparing what the children’s childhood should look like to the reality. On the other hand, ‘Mid-Term Break’ conveys the narrator’s experience in emotionally supporting his family after the tragic death of his younger brother. In this essay, I will argue that both poems portray the repercussions of children losing their innocence, however it is also important that we recognize the loss of innocence can be seen as personal growth towards maturity.
Throughout ‘Carpet Weavers’, Rumens emphasises the loss of innocence in Moroccan children by comparing their lifestyles with those more privileged. In the opening line, the children are “at the loom of another world”, suggesting that the children are trapped in a world where they do not belong. Utilizing double meaning in the diction "loom", which denotes the impending doom upon these children as well as the apparatus used to weaver carpets, …show more content…

When he goes to meet the brother alone he now uses “him” giving him an identity, in contrast to using “corpse” as done previously. As he is now in solitude with only his brother’s company, he allows himself to feel anger and grief as he does not need to emotionally support his family any longer. The negative lexical field earlier (“corpse”, “stanched” and bandaged”) is set in antithesis to that of peacefulness in the diction “candles”, “snowdrops” and “soothed” in stanza 6, reflecting on the narrator’s acceptance of his brother’s death. Due to his acceptance of death, he has also overcome the challenges of losing his innocence, allowing him to become

Open Document