Poem+Comparison

2. Carving A Name

I wrote my name upon the sand, And trusted it would stand for aye; But, soon, alas! the refluent sea Had washed my feeble lines away.

I carved my name upon the wood, And, after years, returned again; I missed the shadow of the tree That stretched of old upon the plain.

To solid marble next, my name I gave as a perpetual trust; An earthquake rent it to its base, And now it lies, o'erlaid with dust.

All these have failed. In wiser mood I turn and ask myself, "What then?" If I would have my name endure, I'll write it on the hearts of men,

In characters of living light, Of kindly deeds and actions wrought. And these, beyond the touch of time, Shall live immortal as my thought.

8. Erosion

It took the sea a thousand years, A thousand years to trace The granite features of this cliff, In crag and scarp and base. It took the sea an hour one night, An hour of storm to place The sculpture of these granite seams Upon a woman's face.

Both of these are beautiful deep poems with hidden and on the surface meaning. While they are different in many ways, when you take in the meaning that is evident, they may sound quite similar. “Erosion” and “Carving A Name” are both related to carving. In “Carving A Name”, the man is determined to preserve his name, to have it always remembered. However, when all of his attempts at physically writing his name in different ways do not work, the man realizes that to have the world always remember him, he must do good deeds, thus writing his name on their hearts. “Erosion” is also about carving. This meaningful poem talks about how long it takes for the harsh ocean waves to cut into granite, yet how easily one storm can bring so much grief to a woman and “sculpture granite seams” into her face. It is evident that on the surface, these poems appear to be rather alike.

When digging deeper, we find that the true meaning of these poems have nothing similar as the carving is used rather metaphorically in both poems. “Carving A Name” does literally use the word carve for cutting into stone, in the beginning. As the poem goes on, it talks of carving the man’s name on the hearts of men. However it does not really mean carving it into hearts as that would be cruel and un-human. The poet is trying to say that the man will be lovingly remembered for all the good things that he did and thus his name will always remain in the hearts of those who love him. “Erosion” has hidden meaning also. It talks of how much easier it is for a stormy sea to bring grief to a woman by sinking the boat he is on and carve her face with “granite seams”, or wrinkles, than it is to erode a granite cliff. Humans are fragile, and the poet explains this very well.

These poems only seem similar, but when translated, have nothing in common. One talks of humans and how easy it is to bring us emotional pain, the other of making your mark on this world to be remembered. There is a lesson here, do not just take what is written. Read between the lines, as what may seem easy and ordinary at first glance, may be much more complex, just like these two touching poems.