Written response to Tangi
The poem “Tangi” written by Hone Tuwhare is about the writer in the story attends a funeral then a tangi. The writer in the story is describing his feelings towards the occasions. The main idea in the poem is how different cultures deal with death. The techniques he uses are negatives and contrasting.
The important idea in the poem is how different cultures deal with death and the author’s technique to showing this is using negatives. When negatives are used, it is usually used to make a negative statement. When the writer was attending the funeral, he was in discomfort. He shows this when he says, “I did not meet her on the bordered path”. This meant that he did not fit in being at the funeral. As the poem, progresses the negative words are replaced with positive and comforting statements. One case the writer said, “Muted to a softer pain in the calm vigil of hands”. He is describing how he feels comfortable being at a tangi it is a result of how he fits in. These quotes helps me understand the main idea because of how they use negatives to create a negative idea and when the writer starts feeling like he fits in being at a tangi he starts writing more positive words and creates a positive mood.
The author also uses contrasting to show the main idea of how different cultures deal with death. At the start of the poem, we know the writer is at a European style funeral when the writer said “nor detect her fragrance in the frolics of violets and carnations”. This means that flowers surround the person who passed with violets and carnations, which is usually present in a European funeral. At the funeral, he felt a parted when he says, “She did not stroll riverward”. This meant that the writer and the passed one did not share common interests. A tangi is similar to a funeral but people in a tangi take a much calmer, softer way of mourning a passed one. The writer felt more comfortable expressing his grieving and more belonging than when he was at the funeral, he show us when he says “ In the calm vigil of hands in the green leaved anguish of the bowed heads of old women”. This quote tells us that he belongs there how the old women bowed their head when he was there, as a sign of respect to him and the dead loved one.
The writer’s purpose of the poem was to look at death generally rather than being a poem about a specific person’s death but showing it within two cultures. Using negatives and contrasting, it shows us the way the writer wanted us to interpret the poem.
The poem “Tangi” written by Hone Tuwhare is about the writer in the story attends a funeral then a tangi. The writer in the story is describing his feelings towards the occasions. The main idea in the poem is how different cultures deal with death. The techniques he uses are negatives and contrasting.
The important idea in the poem is how different cultures deal with death and the author’s technique to showing this is using negatives. When negatives are used, it is usually used to make a negative statement. When the writer was attending the funeral, he was in discomfort. He shows this when he says, “I did not meet her on the bordered path”. This meant that he did not fit in being at the funeral. As the poem, progresses the negative words are replaced with positive and comforting statements. One case the writer said, “Muted to a softer pain in the calm vigil of hands”. He is describing how he feels comfortable being at a tangi it is a result of how he fits in. These quotes helps me understand the main idea because of how they use negatives to create a negative idea and when the writer starts feeling like he fits in being at a tangi he starts writing more positive words and creates a positive mood.
The author also uses contrasting to show the main idea of how different cultures deal with death. At the start of the poem, we know the writer is at a European style funeral when the writer said “nor detect her fragrance in the frolics of violets and carnations”. This means that flowers surround the person who passed with violets and carnations, which is usually present in a European funeral. At the funeral, he felt a parted when he says, “She did not stroll riverward”. This meant that the writer and the passed one did not share common interests. A tangi is similar to a funeral but people in a tangi take a much calmer, softer way of mourning a passed one. The writer felt more comfortable expressing his grieving and more belonging than when he was at the funeral, he show us when he says “ In the calm vigil of hands in the green leaved anguish of the bowed heads of old women”. This quote tells us that he belongs there how the old women bowed their head when he was there, as a sign of respect to him and the dead loved one.
The writer’s purpose of the poem was to look at death generally rather than being a poem about a specific person’s death but showing it within two cultures. Using negatives and contrasting, it shows us the way the writer wanted us to interpret the poem.
