Half Caste and Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes :: John Agard Lawrence Ferlinghetti Culture Essays

Half Caste and railroad cardinal Scavengers in a Truck, Two attractive People in a MercedesOf the cardinal poems from the other cultures booklet, I have decided tocompare Half-caste by John Agard and Two Scavengers in a Truck, TwoBeautiful People in a Mercedes by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. In thisessay I will discuss the meaning of the dickens poems and what the poet istrying to get the endorser to think and / or realise.The poem describes four people held together for a moment at a redtraffic light. There are two scavengers, garbage men on their bureauhome after their round, and two beautiful people, an elegant coupleon the way to his architects office. The garbage mens day endswhere the young couples begins. The poet compares the two pairs indetail, and then seems to ask - at the end of the poem - whetherAmerica really is a democracy.The poems structure is fairly free. The poet doesnt use punctuationinstead, he begins a new line when he wants us to pause in ourreading. This slow s the poem down and gives us time to appreciate eachidea. The poem appears very disunited on the page. This might suggestthe fragmented or broken nature of society? The language used inthis poem is used in different ship canal to convey his ideas. For examplethe title shows us straight away that the poem will be about thecontrasts between two pairs of people. Scavengers is a belittling marge for the garbage men because it suggests that they live off therubbish of others - a scavenger beetle lives off rotting flesh.However, Beautiful People is a compliment. So, right from the start,we whole step the garbage men are at a disadvantage. In line 7 Ferlinghettiwrites the garbage men are looking down into the Mercedes. This isliterally because the garbage truck is taller than the car there is ahidden ironic message too. You might have expected the rich couple tolook down on the garbage men, not the other way round.The descriptions of the four people are very visual, making it easy toimag ine the scene. Appearances tell us a lot. The rich couple are verystylish he has an expensive hip three-piece linen suit (line11) while her blond hair is casually coifed (line 13). On the otherhand, the garbage men are grungy (line 17). The younger integrity hassunglasses & long hair (line 24) just like the Mercedes driver, whichforces us to compare the two. The poem wants us to seriously considerhow different two people of the very(prenominal) age and race could be so