Comaprison of methods and effects of "The Pond" by Michael Schmidt and "Rising Five" by Norman Nicholson

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The authors of the Poems 'The Pond' and 'Rising Five' use different methods and effects to get across their theme of passing time. Michael Schmidt uses a different style and structure in 'The Pond' than Norman Nicholson does, although the two have a similar tone and theme in the poem.

The theme of the poem, "Rising five" by Norman Nicholson is that humans, adults and children, like nature are impatient and are always looking to the future and, in effect, are dead if they do not spend a moment to appreciate what is around them at present. To demonstrate the theme of impatience the poet begins the poem by quoting the boy when he says "I'm rising five, not four" which also introduces an irony that one so young should measure his life in terms of numbers and look forward to the future when he should have no need to do so.

"We drop our youth behind us like a boy throwing away his toffee-wrappers" Shows us how Nicholson also focuses on the fact that we throw away the precious things of life and that we take advantage of the things we get without appreciating it, and when we do get the things we want we only see the faults that it has, "Never the fruit, but only the rot in the fruit."

The theme in 'The Pond' is reflected by the poet, Michael Schmidt, looking back at his own life. "Deep into a seeming light" He is remembering his childhood and the times that he used to spend at the pond with his mother. He also focuses on the life of the carp that live in the pond, "As I grew older, so the carp grew large". He does this not to simply imply that fish are important...