How does U.A.Fanthorpe create different personalities within the poems ‘Not My Best side’ and ‘Old Man, Old Man’? Essay

non My better(p) Side and elder creation, of age(predicate) populace, twain by U.A.Fanthorpe, create incompatible personalities and changes inside these through bug out the songs. Fanthorpe uses toughness, incompatible styles of run-in, imagery and stereotypes to put her point across. not My Best Side is found on Uccellos painting from the Renaissance period, of St. George and the Dragon. Fanthorpe has in military personnely slipway reversed the personalities portrayed in the characterisation, and utilize forward-looking stereotypes to show how sturdy it is to work shift out of stereotypes created by society. Old homophile, Old military personnel focuses to a greater extent than on change. It uses the stereotypes of an hoar human beingskindhood and a successful businessman. A narrator, who dissolve be taken to be the of age(predicate)(a) mans missy, tells the verse Old Man, Old Man. The rime uses imagery and contrasting poetical techniques to strengt hen the imagery and personalities.One of the main techniques use in twain verse forms is enjambment. In Not My Best Side it involves the referee and encourages them to guess what is nearly to happen. Alternatively, in Old Man, Old Man it creates an element of confusion, giving the closingorser an in-sight into the sexagenarian(a) mans feelings.Now you ramble / In your talk of the town around London districts, fretting / At how to find your way from Holborn to Soho.This highlights the confusion an old man is feeling as he begins to forget things that were erstwhile wellspringhead known, and realises he is non as independent as he once was. The insignifi keistert memory lapse with use of enjambment persuades the reader to wear out and feel empathy for the old man, similarly enjambment emphasises the word fretting. Enjambment uniformwise creates suspense in Not My Best Side, in the potassium hydrogen tartrates case.I dont mind dying / Ritu e re solelyyy, since I will o f all time rise again,In Old Man, Old Man Fanthorpe uses the change of pronoun to show the proximity amid the old man and the narrator. Fanthorpe talks in the first half of the poem about the old man when he was younger. It is much slight personal than in the second half, when he is an old man and their birth has run much closer.He was always/ A man who did-it-himself.We can tell this is less personal because Fanthorpe has used the pronoun he whereas later in the poem, as the relationship is possibly closer, the narrator is talking directly to the old man and so uses you. He is used to distinguish between former(prenominal) and present. It shows how the render miss relationship has become closer in the mans old age because he actually needs his female child. Fanthorpe proceeds to change the pronoun he to you. This shows how the old man has altered, as well as reflecting the change in the relationship with his daughter. He, macrocosm less personal, also lead storys at how the daughter debates of her father as a young man and her father now he is old as two comp allowely different mint when in frankness they are the identical. In Not My Best Side if the change in the fathers personality was less important I stock Fanthorpe would hand over used you were.When I left you tried not to call offHere the use of you shows up the new, personal relationship between father and daughter. The daughter is talking directly to her father about who he has become. In the present, where you is used, the father has become weaker and, even so though he dislikes admitting it, needs his daughters support.Fanthorpe also uses the descriptions of objects in Old Man, Old Man to hint at this new weakness. recalcitrant / Things in bottles, describes not l 1(prenominal) disorderly things in bottles, but could also address the possible disobedience of his daughters, the memory loss and ageing which he cannot control either.In Old Man, Old Man Fanthorpe used a variety of colloquial and poetic language. The poetic language is mainly towards the end of the poem and involves the reader as he tries to comprehend it, as well as show the old mans confusion as he comes to terms with his amnesia.So obdurate in your contracted worldshows how the old man is compose stubborn, selfish and too proud to be truly thankful for his daughters assistance. The much sticky poetic language conveys confusion, through the readers feelings towards the language, as well as the physical change in the old man. I am unless a cloud suggests he is going blind, so that his daughter is a cloud in his vision.The course of instruction of the poems varies totally. Both are free verse, therefore having no specific metre. Not My Best Side particularly relies on the layout because of its significant three stanzas. on that point is no other way that this poem could be laid out without confusing the characters points of view, or making the meaning of the poem unclear. If the stanzas were all stuck together in wholeness long verse, the characters whitewash would not stand out and the appearance of the poem may be less appealing, look more like a long mass of words. pander is used in Not My Best Side to make the poem more gratifying while having a serious underlying point. The humour is successful because, although the poem is based on a medieval story, the language is rattling modern and gives the verses a comical twist. Fanthorpe refers to modern day issues, like acne, to give the poem humour,I mean, / What was he like underneath all the demandingware? / He might have acne, black heads or even / Bad breath for all I could tell,I find the olfactory sensation of this statement humorous because looks are a definite issue at once, and a medieval initiatory deliberateing like that is it normal? The fact that looks, acne and icky breath are such big issues today, helps present the point that it is very difficult to get by out of the stereotypes set by soc iety, as well as making the characters seem real to the reader. These modern stereotypes allow the characters to break out of the stereotypes set by the painting and so, I think, Fanthorpe is trying to ordinate that we should get to know the real person and not be judgmental and discriminatory.In the picture of St. George and the dragon there are three stereotypes the cruel dragon, the helpless maiden and the horse cavalry in luster armour. Fanthorpe has changed those in the picture to a new and modern, but equally stereotypical set. tho the characters cover in the same event the maiden is nonetheless the captive, the dragon is electrostatic the captor and the horse cavalry is saving the maiden. Therefore Fanthorpe has merely changed their personalities, not the situation.why should my victim be so / unattractive as to be inedible,Shows how today the maiden is no longer considered beautiful, thus presentation the change of perceptions, especially of the dragon.While chan ging the stereotypes set by the myth, the poem challenges them at the same time. In the poem the horse is vain and ladish, You cant / Do better than me at the bite and is not the gymnastic horse in shining armour as represented in the picture. The dragon comes across very differently in the poem, he appears to be shy and self-conscious shown in the first line by Not my best side, Im afraid. The dragon is more of a victim than the maiden, being used by the knight (having killed him) and the artist (having cut off two of his legs). However he seems to sympathise with the artist as he refers to him as silly chap perhaps because he also sees the artist as a victim collect to his inability in painting. The dragon is actually a kind character and can not sympathise with the ostentatious people in society namely the knight,Why, I inviteed myself, should my conqueror / Be so ostentatiously beardless,I think the dragon is also jealous of the knight and would rather be popular without h aving to fulfil history. The dragon knows his destiny, death, and knows there is no escape, however it is make clear that he would rather die by and by a fight and by a more dangerous looking knight. The maiden is also definitely not a victim,Its hard for a girl to be sure if / She needinesss to be deliver.She is very prior and knows her own mind and we can see that she didnt really want to be rescued. She states how she didnt much fancy him (the knight) and preferred to know what equipment she was acquiring at a glance. Through this Fanthorpe is contrasting modern society and the traditionalistic mythical roles. However, even though the maiden is against being rescued, Fanthorpe shows how, even though women are more dominant and opinionated than in the past, there is a certain conclusion women still go back to the safety of a husband,And a girls got to think of her future.This shows how, to some degree, women are still confined to their roles set by society.In comparison Old Ma n, Old Man uses stereotyping much less. It confronts two common stereotypes in men the sizeable businessman, who does little for his family, and a forgetful old man, who is longing for the good old days but is too stubborn to ask for the help and lovemaking he wants from his daughter who loves his helplessness.I love / Your helplessness you who hate being helpless.Shows how the old man finds it extremely difficult to come to terms with the changes he has gone through. He wishes he were still as independent as he once was and dislikes his dependence on his daughter. However he still appears to be stubborn and proud as suggested in the final stanza byLet me find your hammer. Let me / Walk with you o Drury Lane.It demonstrates how the daughter has to ask to be allowed to do anything to help him with let showing the pleading in order to be allowed to do so. The stereotypical businessman contrasts with the allusion to his organisation, which is perhaps muzzy by age,as you forget / If youve smoked your timetabled cigarette?The old man was once well organised (also shown by the labelling of bottles) but has become feeble and forgetful not even remembering the simple things which once control his life. This transformation from businessman to old man explains the alterations in the man due to ageing.The relationship between the two characters in Old Man, Old Man, the man (old and young) and the narrator, who we can assume to be his daughter as she knows his past with disinherited children and failures with daughters unusually well, develops during the poem. Fanthorpe shows his incompetence produced by old age in the second half of the poem. Let me find your hammer. sums up the relationship at the end of the poem between the father and daughter especially showing the old mans helplessness he can not even find his own hammer. At the start of the poem the old man, in his youth, is make out to have a bad relationship with his daughters, not good with daughters and t o be very caught up in his business. I have a feeling that the daughter may have been one of his disinherited children or not far off from being so. I think she was very frightened of him when he was younger and is still despairing to be accepted and/or forgiven by her father, which is why the word let is repeated.Many of the characters in the two poems are similar. Comparisons can be made between the old man and the maiden and the knight due to situation and character (respectively). The knight and the old man in his youth link to each other due to many similarities in character. I think it is hinted that the old man in his youth was self-centred, arrogant and powerful. The old man being described as captain shows us his power and control.Lord once of shed, garage and garden,Lord suggests that he was in control and looked up to by his employees, etc. which is similar to the knights character and situation. The knight is also respected by most people because of his profession and sanction (he does not care what other people think and in more ways than one). However with him boasting of his diplomas, etc. and wishes of becoming a hero, one could say that he is a typical lad,So why be difficult? / Dont you want to be killed and/or rescued / in the most contemporary way?He thinks that people can not do better than he can at the moment therefore he gets to make decisions for other people which of course are favoured by him. Fanthorpe also uses his character to relate to the issue of sexism. He assumes that all women should stick to the roles set by mythology and tradition, and obviously doesnt look upon those who break out of line kindly (Sara Cox being a modern day ladette).The old man is also similar to the maiden because of their rough-cut dislike of being helped. They are both intensely headstrong characters and only consented to the aid offered under serious circumstances. The old man grudgingly allows his daughter to help him because he is old and helpl ess. Likewise the maiden only allows the knight to rescue her once The dragon got himself beaten by the boy and when she earn that a girls got to think of her future. In the end both are forced to give in to their designated social roles and stereotypes.From closer interrogative we can see that the relationship of characters within the poems actually compare between the poems. In both poems we can see that one of the characters is competing against something in the poem and one comes out the victor. In Not My Best Side the knight is competing against the dragon to see who will die, and in Old Man, Old Man the daughter is competing with her fathers business for love and attention. In the end we see that the knight has won because he has killed the dragon and saved the maiden in Old Man, Old Man the daughter wins but by patience. As her father grows old, he needs his daughters help and can no longer run his own life, let unaccompanied a business, efficiently. The daughter has waite d her whole life to be able to do something for her father and it is only in his old age she is allowed to do so. inwardly both poems there are many contrasts and comparisons between characters. I think Fanthorpe has managed to create the different characters extremely well through many different methods. She has incorporated poetic techniques to make characters and their feelings stand out, and language to show how personalities have developed. Humour is used to make Not My Best Side enjoyable whilst putting across a serious point of view, and imagery to take away Old Man, Old Man to life. As well as the different stereotypes employed, Fanthorpe has used the relationships between characters to create many strongly formed personalities within the poems.I think my favourite poem out of the two is Not My Best Side, purely because of the humour and the light-hearted way of conveying a serious point. I also feel I can localize better with it because it covers many common, modern day i ssues, which have affected me more than the effects of old age.I feel that Fanthorpe, in both poems, has made a lasting impression on the reader. The humour of Not My Best Side, has certainly moved me, and I admire the ingenuity of taking a picture and changing the personalities of the characters. Fanthorpe adds depth to Old Man, Old Man by subtly suggesting the old mans confusion on a level below the everyday situations. In this way the poem conveys the difficult changes of ageing in a touching manner.