Seamus Heaney was an obvious choice because the language of his poetry is accessible and sounds magnificent whether read aloud or to oneself. Irish poetry evokes imagery that is particularly distinctive. The poem about the memory of peeling potatoes with his mother on a Sunday morning reflects the pain of loss and his enduring love. Knives dipping into water, the sounds of potatoes dropped into water and the feel of a breath all conjure up the full repertoire of sensory experience that feeds into memory.
Tony Harrison’s poem about his father is a starker look at mortality. His poem about his father’s death – the oven’s effect on the corpse and a tongue that blazes – is powerful stuff. The opposite views towards an afterlife make Tony Harrison’s uncompromising atheism a bleak contrast with his father’s faith .
Death haunts Tupac’s gangster rap, a comment on life in an urban ghetto and a premonition of his own violent death. His lyrics deliver more than the banal macho mantra. The issues of race, drug culture and the violent struggle to survive are expressed as a matter of fact – that’s just the way it is. Heaven offers hope and Black Power will find meaning in the hereafter.
odespinner 