Mother In A Refugee Camp Poem Analysis

Several poems explore different reactions of family or society during a difficult time of childhood. Each poet portrays a range of fearful and painful situations a child is currently going through. Poets such as Vernon Scannell in ‘Nettles’ stress how parents cannot always protect their children during times of threat. Similarly, Chinua Achebe in ‘Mother in a Refugee Camp’ both shockingly and graphically conveys how parents are occasionally powerless about their children’s future. Likewise, William Blake emphasises in ‘The Chimney Sweeper’ the lack of protectiveness displayed by adults and society towards the children. Contrastingly, ‘Hide and Seek’ by Vernon Scannell highlights the lonely vale of childhood. Additionally, ‘Brothers’ by Andrew

In ‘Nettles’, the father is portrayed as very caring, attempting multiple times to protect his child. Scannell uses the poem to show that it is better for a parent to accept the fact that they cannot always protect their children rather than act thoughtlessly. ‘My son would often feel sharp wounds again’. Here the narrator accepts defeat after realising he is in a war he cannot win due to his lack of power. Equally, Chinua Achebe conveys a similar message in ‘Mother in a Refugee Camp’. ‘And in her eyes the memory’. Here Achebe is conveying to the reader that she once lived a normal life mother and was able to protect her child; the reader, therefore, becomes conscious that regardless of how much the mother yearns for her child’s welfare, it is at times impossible to achieve it. Contrastingly, ‘The Chimney Sweeper’ by William Blake is juxtaposed with both of these poems. Blake describes the society as not only cruel and careless, but also the reason for the boys’ suffering, by taking advantage of vulnerable children. The chimney sweeper undoubtedly receives little protection from society; this is clarified from the beginning of the poem, as the reader learns that the boy has been ‘sold’ by his father. This is evidence that from the young age, the boy has never been cared

In ‘Brothers’ Andrew Forster depicts through his diction that growing apart from family has a negative effect on one’s life. The narrator claims that he was ‘unable’ to stop distancing himself from his brother, which evokes emotional distress to both of them. From the beginning of the poem, it is clear to the reader that for the narrator, his younger brother is a mere inconvenience who prevents his freedom. This is highlighted by the metaphor ‘saddled’, which suggest that it is against the narrator’s will to be with his brother. The last stanza is shorter than both the previous ones, therefore the reader never learns what happens subsequently, implying that the boy missed the bus and was not able to reach his brother. In this poem, Forster suggests that even though during his childhood the narrator was relieved that he was separated from his younger brother, the last stanza also suggests that ‘looking back’, the narrator is saddened by this event. This implies to the reader that although childhood is mainly described as a time of happiness, it can also be a time of agony. The reader learns that when the older brother looks back at this event, the physical ‘distance’ is actually a metaphor for emotional distance. Another example of childhood hardship can be found in ‘Hide and Seek’ by Vernon Scannell. In the poem,