How are significant experiences presented in the poems "Blessing" and "Hide and Seek"?

Written under test conditions in class, GCSE English Literature.

In this essay, I will be comparing how significant experiences are presented in the poems ‘Blessing’ and ‘Hide and Seek’.

The title ‘Blessing’ introduces the religious diction of the poem, because a blessing is a gift from God. Alternatively, it can refer to a prayer that is said before or after a meal or a feast. Both of these meanings are touched upon in the poem, and both demonstrate the significance of the ‘blessing’ of water that they receive – it is like a feast for them after a long  period of deprivation, a gift from the heavens. The title of ‘Hide and Seek’ also implicitly shows the significance of what will happen in the poem for the young boy. While it obviously refers to the children’s game of hide and seek that they are playing, it has the secondary meaning of showing that there comes a time in everyone’s life when they realise what human nature is – cruelty. ‘Hide and Seek’ narrates this experience for a child.

‘Blessing’ is written in free verse, with no fixed rhythm or rhyme scheme, but the sentences are cleverly constructed so that at the beginning, when there is no water, the lines are short and end with periods; but over the course of the poem, the lines become more enjambed, showing the effect of the water. While ‘Blessing’ begins with the short, depressed lines that represent the drought, ‘Hide and Seek’ begins with a double imperative, and direct speech. “Call out. Call loud: I’m ready! Come and find me!” gives off an excited tone to the poem, with children being children and playing a game. It is written in one long stanza, giving the reader a feeling of concentration, and the childlike excitedness degenerates until the boy realises that he has been the victim of a cruel prank.

‘Blessing’ says “There never is enough water”. The adverb ‘never’ underlines that the subsequent burst of the pipe, and therefore outpouring of water, is a truly significant event. The second stanza shows how precious it is to them by putting the reader in a position where they have to ‘imagine’ a lack of it. The imperative verb here is powerful because the reader probably takes water for granted but now has to “imagine the drip of it, the small splash”. The onomatopoeia of ‘drip’ and ‘splash’ being compared to the “voice of a kindly god” shows water as being a benevolent element like the god, here who is kindly. Later, therefore, when in the third stanza there is, “From the huts, a congregation”, the water itself becomes the god, and it is being worshipped by the people – a congregation is a religious term, that refers to the collection of people worshipping their deity.  

‘Hide and Seek’ features a third-person voice who speaks to the boy, and it is this voice that gives helpful and kindly advice to the boy, as well as reassurance, like “they’ll never find you in this salty dark”. This combines two senses, taste and sight, and highlights the fact that the boy’s other senses are heightened because it’s so dark in the shed that he’s hiding in. The fact that it is so dark, and clearly uncomfortable, as is repeatedly shown in blunt assertions like, “The floor is cold”, seems to hint that there are some stakes to this game, and it is important for him to win. This is underlined in the phrase, “Whatever happens // You mustn’t sneeze”. The modal verb that is contracted to ‘mustn’t’ (must not) generally shows possibility, and this in particular highlights that it is fully impossible to sneeze. Through use of language like this, both ‘Blessing’ and ‘Hide and Seek’ show that the narrated events, the sudden outpouring of water, and the seemingly innocent game of hide and seek, are important and significant.

            Both of these poems have at least a slight emphasis on children, and in ‘Hide and Seek’, a formative experience shows him the cruelty of human nature, whereas ‘Blessing’ features “naked children // screaming in the liquid sun, // their highlights polished to perfection”. This shows that a rare event for them is also likely to be formative and significant, and a particular emphasis is put on the joy that they feel. Indeed, ‘sun’ and ‘perfection’ is the only real rhyme in the poem, which attracts the reader’s attention, showing how the blessing has made them look glossy and perfect. It also refers to how “the blessing sings”; and this is also joyful and happy in tone, and the verb ‘to sing’ may also be indicative of the hymns sung in a place of worship. Therefore ‘Blessing’ clearly shows that when life is continually awful, it is worth continuing to try one’s best and survive and help during a drought, because you never know when the next pipe will burst. This particular line, “The municipal pipe bursts”, is somewhat ironic because for some people, the pipe bursting would be seen as a bad thing, a mistake that needs to be fixed. The metaphor comparing water to silver is effective because they both have a similar sort of look, glossy and pure, and because silver is a precious metal, that is worth a lot. In this way, ‘Blessing’ could be seen as illustrating that it is in human nature to benefit from others’ misfortune when possible, which is the same lesson learned by the boy in ‘Hide and Seek’. While the comparison seems trying, it is notable that the ones who pranked the boy in ‘Hide and Seek’ are almost certainly children too, and though they are presented as hostile, with verbs like ‘prowling’ and ‘scuffle’ suggesting the violent nature of a predator, they likely have little sense of ethics and morality, and merely abandoned the boy because it seemed funny to do so, and to laugh at his expense. The introspective nature of older readers means we are able to recognise this as cruel, and yet the poem shows that it is simply human nature to benefit where we can, paying little attention to others.

Therefore I think that significant experiences are shown in both poems to occur in the face of adversity. This includes ‘every man woman // child for streets around butt[ing] in, with pots, // brass, copper, aluminium, // plastic buckets, // frantic hands,” showing that a whole community can unit to rejoice a blessing from God, and the boy in ‘Hide and Seek’, who is shown at the end of the poem to be all alone, with the poised rhetorical question, “But where are they who sought you?” Being all alone in the face of adversity has taught the boy a significant lesson about human nature, in contrast to the significance of a blessing causing a community to come together following deprivation in a drought.

Result

Mark: 29/30

Feedback:

Excellent.

Perceptive comparison of the poems with discriminating choice of evidence