Dusting the Phone is about infatuation and the frustration of love. The poem鈥檚 content, ideas, language and structure are explored. Comparisons and alternative interpretations are also considered.
You can discover a lot about a poem by comparing it to one by another author that deals with a similar subject. You could compare features such as theme, form, structure, rhythm, language and figures of speech.
The key thing to do when comparing poems is to note the points where they are similar and the points where they differ. You could make a list noting similarities and differences between the two poems.
Comparison of 'Cozy Apologia' by Rita Dove and 'Dusting the Phone' by Jackie Kay
Similarities
Both poems deal with love.
They have a first-person narrative.
Both poems have an irregular metreThe pattern of stresses in a line of poetry, which make up the rhythm of the line. that does not fall into a sustained pattern and attempts to capture the style of everyday speech.
Both poems have a conversational style, with digressionA passage or section that deviates from the central theme in speech or writing. and sentences that finish abruptly part of the way through a line.
Both poems use metaphor and personificationA type of imagery in which non-human objects, animals or ideas are given human characteristics.: 鈥榌Hurricane] Floyd鈥檚 cussing up a storm鈥 in Cozy Apologia and 鈥楾he future is a long gloved hand鈥 in Dusting the Phone. The effect for the reader is to get sudden glimpses of an imaginative world of dream and fantasy within the poems, despite them both using everyday phrasing and language.
Differences
Cozy Apologia is about a person happy in a relationship but Dusting the Phone is about an unhappy relationship.
Rita Dove uses occasional rhyming couplets and 10-line stanzas. Jackie Kay uses three-line unrhymed stanzas.