Poem Comparison Essay
Hove you ever wondered how it would feel to have the courage of your ancestors? In the two poems "Lineage" and "Courage" the authors Margret Walker and Edna St. Vincent Millay uses descriptive words to describe their ancestor's abilities. There are several similarities and differences contained in these two poems.
To begin, both of the speakers desire to acquire something that they do not have, but exists in their family. The speaker in "Lineage" values the fact that her grandmothers were strong (l. 1, 11). Clearly this strength is something that speaker remembers about her grandmothers; she ends her poem with the question, "why am I not as they?" (p12) but it is not strength that the speaker of the other poems wants. Though their ancestors had strength and courage, the two speakers, indeed, lacked the ability.
Secondly, these two poems are differentiated from one another because they include female speakers that bring compassion into the poem.
Photograph of Edna St. Vincent Millay
Portrait of Edna St. Vincent Millay (1933-01-14)
English: Main house at Steepletop Farm, home of Ed...The speaker in "Lineage" repeats "My grandmothers were strong" (l. 1, 6) to show how strong they once were and how she, today, lacked strength. When their ancestors existed, women were not given any rights or privileges depriving them of freedom. The speaker says "They moved through the fields sowing seed" (l. 3) representing they had no privileges but they still worked hard and strong, standing up for what they stood for. Although women had no rights, they had still stood tall and worked their way up to freedom.
Finally, both speakers' ancestors had left something behind, whether it is an item or a memory, it encouraged them to use what they have and forget about what they want. In the poem "Lineage" the speaker says "They were full of sturdiness and...