Comparing Hurrican Hits England and Not my Business Essay -- Grace Nic

Comparing Hurrican Hits England and Not my Business The two poems I am to compare are Grace Nichols â€Å"Hurricane Hits England† a poem that shows that the whole world is one world and how a storm reminds a Caribbean woman of home. The author obviously misses her home country and feels it in the storm which she wrote about, the violence of the storm is harsh and causes some damage. The second poem, with which I will be comparing â€Å"Hurricane...† is Niyi Osundare’s â€Å"Not my Business†. This poem describes the violent and horrific nature in which the Nigerian Government treated those people who disagreed with the state. It describes the pain and suffering they forced upon these people and how the pain and suffering is then brought to the narrator. This poem is about shared responsibilities and the way that tyranny grows if no one opposes it. It is composed, simply, of three stories about victims of the oppressors, followed by the experience of the speaker in the poem, in which he has not done anything, but the fact that he knows makes him a target. The poet is Nigerian but the situation in the poem could be from many countries, there are words used like â€Å"yam†, and the names of the people which tell you this. The poem echoes, in its four parts, a statement by Pastor Martin Niemà ¶ller, who opposed the Nazis. Speaking later to many audiences he would conclude with these words, more or less: â€Å"First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak... ...oem. The last lines of this poem emphasise the confusion surrounding why they are there. The line, â€Å"The jeep was waiting on my bewildered lawn† is personification which suggests that no-one, not even his lawn, knows why it’s happening. And then a repetition of the word â€Å"Waiting† makes it seem as though the men have to do a lot of waiting and that time maybe seems to go so slowly because of these things that are happening. Both of these poems are excellent at enforcing their own point in their own ways, â€Å"Hurricane†¦Ã¢â‚¬  through tactile emotional words and beautiful yet violent images of the storm, and â€Å"Not My Business.† through blatant disregard for human life depicted through the eyes of a hunted man, who is hunted because he knows what is going on. All in all two excellent and well thought out poems, each with their own perfectly presented message.