'Rising Five' by Norman Nicholson and 'The Great Lover' by Rupert Brooke are two poems that reflect the passing of time. They both surround the idea of needing to live in the moment and not letting time pass by without appreciating everything life has to offer. Different language techniques are used to convey these impressions, this includes using parallels between man and nature, using enjambment and the rhyme and rhythm scheme to emphasise particular ideas.
The Latin idea 'Carpe Diem' is a significant idea in both poems that reflect the passing of time. It translates to 'seize the day' which is what Nicholson and Brooke try to convince people to do in their poems. This impression is firstly shown in 'Rising Five' when the young boy shows his impatience, wanting to grow up as soon as possible. He says "I'm rising five, not four", this is very ironic because the speaker tells us that the boy is actually only four as he says, "he'd been alive fifty-six months".
Rupert Brooke
English: A statue of Rupert Brooke in his birth to...
Grave of Rupert Brooke on the Greek island of Skyr...The phrase spoken by the boy: "I'm rising five, not four" is repeated at the end of the stanza however this time it is inverted: "not four, but rising five". The inversion emphasises the negative: "not" so it shows the speakers judgment towards the boy's perception of life. The speaker seems to be older and wiser than the boy and therefore he knows how fast time can pass by so he feels the boy should seize every moment and opportunity and not wish for the future.
Repetition of parallel sentence structure is used throughout 'Rising Five' for example: "not May but rising June" and "Not now but rising soon". This emphasises Nicholson's impression that man is unable to appreciate the moment. It shows that we are only waiting and wishing for the...