Comparing poems?

I am really at a loss at how to compare poems for an english assignment. The paper is due tomorrow and i dont know how to compare the poems "Birches" by robert frost, and "Daffodils" by Wordsworth.



can anyone offer some advice?

Comparing poems?
Well, there are a variety of things that you can compare. I hope this helps.



1. Format/Structure

Such as rhyme scheme, rhythm, amount of lines or stanzas, point of view, etc.



2. Word Choice

Is it more modern language or archaic? Are the words specific or vague?



3. Use of Figurative Language

Similies, Metaphors, Personification, etc.



4. Compare the poets and their lives. Compare the time periods during which the poems were written.



5. Surface level

What is the poem about? For example, in "Birches" he is observing birches.

Hidden level

What's the meaning beneath the surface? What are they really trying to say?

For example, "I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree" seems to me to really be talking about how he wants to die.



For looking at the meaning of the content and themes, you sometimes have to really take time to read them over and over again.



Anyways, these are just some ideas. I hope they help.
Reply:Here are two good links:



http://www.123helpme.com/preview.asp?id=...



http://www.bookrags.com/essay-2005/5/5/2...



But, they are both a part of the romantic movement depicting nature and a sort of nostalgia or longing for something beautiful. I think both writers are lonely and bored with the current period in which they wrote the pieces. Both poems are also about nature. I think both writers are isolated from other people because they probably find only discomfort in humanity. They also probably feel that life and love and pleasure and happiness are all very painful things to glimpse because they are all fleeting OR in other words...the universe is very temporal (constricted by time). Everything dies. Both writers thought back to when they were young boys. The poem is about the fleeting aspect of pleasure and beauty due to time. Anyway, that's what I got.