Religious Imagery
Throughout a different history, horses and pied beauty several striking religious images are presented to the reader. These range between from a battle between atheism and religion in A different history, how everything diverse is connected by god in pied beauty and the contrast between heaven and hell in horses. A different history expresses the contrast between Indian and European religious views. The Indians believe that nature is directly linked to their deities and so sacred that “it is a sin to slam books down hard on a table, it is a sin to shove a book aside with your foot.” these are both examples and superlatives of the Indians respectful attitude towards nature to the extent that it is so morally wrong to the Indians to mistreat a book that it is a sin in their religion. The first words in the poem are that “Pan” has “emigrated to India” this can be interpreted that Christianity, the main religion in European Countries, has driven out Pan, that it has driven out nature itself due its outlook on nature. However this can also be interpreted that Pan has moved due to the holiness of nature in India, that it is much more preferable for the nature go do be in India. The poem is written in free verse which is symbolic of the freedom of nature in India which one of the core beliefs in Hinduism and Buddhism, the main religions in India.
Contrasting this, Pied beauty does not represent two sides fighting, it represents how the wide range of wildlife is all connected by god. Alliteration has a heavy influence on this by representing links between words such as “swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim.” Alliteration connects these words even though they are polar opposites of each other, representing god and how he created everything. This device changes every animal into a symbol. The poem starts and ends with references to god creating a feeling that god surrounds everything and he is universal. The structure of the poem is also important as it seems irregular however it is a repeating pattern, representing how god is a part of everything providing a type of order.
Horses is a poem that, opposite to the other two poems, uses nature to represent other matters. The horses’ description is ambiguous and oxymoronic. The “majestic” and “bossy