SKBS 1023 CRITICAL APPRECIATION

NAME : FARAH SHAZLEEN BINTI SHAHARUDIN

MATRIC NUMBER : A141426 PROGRAM : TESL POEM : LAZARUS HEART

Lazarus Heart by Gordon Sumner @ Sting

Lazarus Heart is an interesting poem that has touched my heart about the love of a child towards his mother. In this essay, I would like to discuss on what the author is trying to convey from the words that he has chosen to use in this poem, which is of course, those literary elements are the one that make this poem appealing. Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, or also known as his stage name, Sting, is the author of this poem. He is an English musician, a singer, a songwriter and a producer. He has been very active in music since 1971 until now. He has skills in playing many types of instruments such as guitar, piano, harmonica, drum machine and many more. He has won many awards, such as in Grammy Awards and in Oscars, as a result for his success in his career as a musician. Why is he named the poem as Lazarus Heart? From a story in the Bible, Lazarus was died due to a sickness. When he was still in the tomb, Jesus called out his name and made him alive again. So, 'Lazarus' in this poem symbolizes resurrection or an eternal life. To sacrifice a life for yours, I'd be the the blood of the Lazarus heart. From this line, in stanza two, we could understand that the persona would like to be like Lazarus, so that he could save her mother and let her stay alive. The persona of this poem might be someone who is very close to the author, such as a cousin. From my point of view, as someone who is very close to the persona, the persona chose to share his feelings to the author. This can be seen from how the author knows everything that happens to the persona, from how the persona has had a disagreement with his mother until when the personas mother died. The authors attitude in this poem is gloomy. This tone is displayed through the repeated words that are used such as wound, death and pain. The author shows this attitude by telling how the persona is hurt by the small fight that he had with his mother, and how hard he needs to accept his mothers death after all the disagreements that they had been through. Nevertheless, there is a shift of tone in this poem. The tone of this poem starts with gloomy and shifts to the tone of willingness and bitter. The persona is facing a painful situation when he is being hurt by his own mother. But at stanza three, he realizes that the pain that has caused by his mother has thought him something useful. There is where the tone of the poem

changes from gloomy to willingness. The tone of the poem shifts again at stanza five. Having to accept the fact that we have lost the one that we love is such a painful truth. Although the persona had a small fight with his mother, he still loves his mother as she is the one who brought him to this world. She counts all her children as a shield against the pain, lifts her eyes to the sky like a flower in the rain, these last two lines in stanza five show how bitter it is for the persona to face the fact of his mother's death. We could feel it ourselves, the feeling of bitterness that the persona felt. Literary elements are one of the most important things in a poem. In this poem, the author has used some literary elements such as symbol, simile and repetition. The symbol that can be found in this poem is at stanza five when the author writes, Birds on the roof of my mother's house. 'Birds' in this line symbolizes death, in which in that line, what the author is trying to say is that the persona's mother is dying. Simile is a figure of speech that involves the comparison of one thing with another. In this poem, the author used simile in stanza five at the two last lines, ...............as a shield against the pain and ...............like a flower in the rain. The repetition that the author use in this poem is at stanza two, four and six. We could see that the author is emphasizing on the persona's hope to have his mother back even if he needs to sacrifice himself. There are a few issues highlighted in this poem. The first issue is about the wisdom behind every word or action of a mother. But the sword that cut him open, was the sword in his mother's hand are the two last lines in stanza one. These two lines show that the persona's mother is the one who has hurt him with her words or her actions. And after reading these lines, we could feel that the persona is surprised and disappointed with her mother. But in stanza three, the persona is trying to tell us that the pain that his mother had caused him are the kind of pain that is worth it. She said the wound would give him courage and pain and From the wound a lovely flower grew are the lines in stanza three that have proven the truth of the benefit of every word or action of a mother towards her children. The next issue is about the fact that everybody cannot escape from death. In this poem, the persona is hoping for his mother to come to life again, but he knew that he could not do that. Referring to stanza five, Birds on the roof of my mother's house, I've no stones that chase them away, these lines have shown that the persona said it himself that he could not stop death from taking his mother away from him as death is one of the phases of life. Just like other poem, Lazarus Heart also contains a conflict, in which the

conflict in this poem is Man versus Self that is portrayed by the persona. By referring to stanza two, four and six, the persona keeps repeating about how he would do anything as long as he could save his mother and keep her alive, even though he knows the reality that he could not save anyone who has died. To name this poem as Lazarus Heart is one good decision. To understand the poem completely, readers should know the story about Lazarus first. This is what makes the poem interesting and unique compared to other poems. Other poems are understood by their title, but not this poem. An eternal love of a son towards his mother is the theme of this poem. We could obviously see this theme from how the persona wished he could make his mother alive back, just like Lazarus. We knew that the persona has had a small fight with his mother about something, and that has caused the pain that the persona felt. But, he still loves his mother because he realized that the pain that his mother gave him has taught him something that he has never thought would be useful to him. From my opinion, I do not really understand this poem from my first reading. I did a little bit studies and after doing this critical analysis about this poem, I find it very beautiful and fascinating. I love my mother, and this poem has touched my heart. I do feel the same thing like the persona sometimes. I do have times when I disagree with my mother's words and they sometimes make me feel down and sad. But I do find that my mother did tell me the right thing after all and that makes me realize that I cannot deny the fact that mothers know best. Losing a person that is very important in your life is the most painful feeling ever that I know I could not accept it well myself. I read this poem and imagine myself as the persona. I do admit that I could feel the sadness deep in my heart. This makes me realize that we should always appreciate the one that we love before we lose the chance to do so.