In Breaking the Chain Harrison Essay Example

In Breaking the Chain Harrison Essay Example In Breaking the Chain Harrison Essay In Breaking the Chain Harrison Essay I had a very loving upbringing; without question, a very loving, rooted upbringing. Education and poetry came in to disrupt that loving group and Ive been trying to create new wholes out of that disruption ever since. (Tony Harrison) Considering in detail one poem, or a passage from a poem, discuss the poetic methods Harrison uses to explore these conflicts. In the course of your answer: * Look closely at the effects of language, imagery and verse form. * Comment on how the poem you have chosen relates to other poems by Harrison that you have studied. In Breaking the Chain Harrison portrays how, although his parents wanted him to succeed, they only wished him to go up a rung or two but settle near. He had a loving upbringing where his mum, like the others, pushed him as bright. The mothers passed round a box of tools which is shown in the simile like a medal case to have been treasured. Yet, Harrison broke the convention and the chain something which he attempts to battle with in the cause, his literature. In the line, The gap his gift acknowledged then s as wide as /eternity enjambment creates a gap in sentence emphasising the gap between his family forced by education. There is also a lack of alternate personas and voices which diverges with his usual style when portraying guilt. This suggests that the guilt he feels here is purely his own for destroying the loving group, rather than influenced by others. This is also implied in the line still breaks my heart! where an exclamation mark is used to attempt to make light of the emotion and lessen the burden of guilt. In contrast, in the poem Bringing up, Harrison uses his mothers voice: you werent brought up to write such mucky books! to demonstrate her attitude towards his lifestyle. This implies that it was her voice in his head reminding him of his flaws. This effect is used in most of Harrisons poems concerning his parents. In Long Distance, when his father phones, despite the inevitable dismal course, Harrison listens to his father s sorrows: Them sweets you bought me. Albeit their new Long Distance relationship, Harrison cannot escape the voice of his father because of his need to create new wholes and return them to the closeness once demonstrated in the sacrifice of a whole weeks wage and drink. Another technique used in Breaking the Chain is the repetition of dad to stress their unity and relational bond shown in My dad bought it, from the last dad who still owed the dad before. It could also display the expectations which fathers at the time shared of their sons having the same place of work, but not blue-collar white, something from which Harrison dispersed. It is books, books, books repeated in Book Ends articulating the separation language caused and also, perhaps, how tiresome it was to Harrison that the only thing separating them was language. By applying the same technique to display two conflicting ideas Harrison suggests that their bond and separation are intertwined; the love will always be underlying the disturbance created by education. A pun used in Breaking the Chain in the line never passed on never used dividers. Here the dividers could simply be speaking of the tools from his dad. They could also symbolise the division made between them as a result of Harrisons differentiating culture and view on life; his interest in literature rather than sport. In Confessional Poetry the paronomasia lies in there were words between us where the words could be interpreted as the words said amidst conflict. On the other hand those words could be the many thousands written in Harrisons poetry which pushed his father further away in their inaccessibility. Harrison also makes use of puns with his imagery in Breaking the Chain such as in the line- polished box wrapped in the Sporting Pink. The Sporting Pink could signify the working class life which Harrison has turned his back on by moving up more than a rung or two. The tools of his dads trade are encased in the words of Harrisons however, unlike Harrisons words, those envelopin g the box are ones which his father might relate to. The imagery could be the literal gift of the tools and newspaper or the metaphorical suffocation of his fathers legacy by the new language. The fact that this memory is written about fondly suggests that Harrison wishes to sustain this legacy and he does this by dedicating so much of his poetry to him. This technique is used in Blocks also, blocks with letters, Lettered block of stone./ I had to move the blocks to say farewell. The alphabet cubes which he played with so innocently as a child become the block of stone which, although literally is the gravestone, metaphorically is his education and poetry blocking him from his mother. In both Breaking the Chain and Blocks the weaving of two images creates a complex analysis of his relationship with each parent. Another aspect of unifying two images by Harrison is his working class Leeds voice with his upper class one. In Breaking the Chain his dialect is portrayed in The mams pig-sick of oilstains whilst simultaneously displaying his new upper class voice in I was brought down out of bed to have bestowed. The battle of his two voices implies an inner conflict to find his identity. The conflict comes to a head in the line The gap his gift acknowledged then s as wide as/eternity where both accents are joined giving the effect that Harrison is both his fathers son and a poet who is breaking the chain. He desires his fathers pride and it still breaks (his) heart that instead he has his disappointment. This effect of contrasting two identities to emphasise the divide of his class is used in the poem Turns as well as if a bit of chequered cloth could bridge that gap. Here the gap, as in Breaking the Chain stands between him and working class. He attempts to close it by wearing his fathers hat. Th e imagery of the chequered cloth illustrates Harrisons relationship with his father as the squares are akin yet varying in small details. The fact that Harrison still cant bear to part with the tools shows that he dislikes the gap between them and wants it removed. Perhaps less obvious is Harrisons enjoyment of the sonnet form which is found in Breaking the Chain, Marked with D, and Book Ends I II. The use of such a traditional style might delineate his continuing love and respect for his family. Whilst the content, which appears to conflict with the form, could depict how Harrisons education and poems conflict with his familys traditional life. In Breaking the Chain unlike in Book ends Harrison maintains an alternate rhyming scheme throughout and does not break away into another pattern at the end as he does in Ive got to find the right words on my own/Ive got the envelope that hed been scrawling/mis-spelt, mawkish, stylistically appalling/but I cant squeeze more love into their stone. where the rhyming pattern adapts. His continuance of the alternate rhyme until the end suggests a desire to return to the traditional and not to break away or cause any further disruption Ultimately, Harrisons education and love of literature combined to cause destruction in what was once a loving, rooted family. Breaking the Chain is much softer than other Harrison poems using alliteration of w in whole weeks wage. In contrast Bringing up is brimming with plosives and harsh sounds suggesting anger and irritation. Breaking the Chain however, offers Harrisons remorse that he has not made his parents proud and he still cant bear to part with the idea that he might yet be able to make a whole once again. Harrisons frequent use of complex imagery and puns depicts a multi-layered relationship where emotions are jumbled under the strain of balancing poetry and love of family.