Advice To A Teenage Daughter Poem

The two poems “City Friends Advice” by Benjamin Zephaniah and “Advice to a Teenage Daughter” by Isobel Thrilling are both giving advice of some form or an-other. In Zephaniah’s poem he is giving advice to the reader directly telling them to be careful in the city. In Thrilling’s poem she is giving advice to her teenage daughter telling her that if she wants to impress a boy she has to compete with Cars, computer games, cricket, football, motor cycles and a plate of chips.

In this essay I am going to compare the two poems and see which one I think is better but also to tell you, the reader, a bit about the poems.

Differences

The two poems both have similarities and differences. In this part of the essay I am going to tell you about the differences. In City Friends Advice the poem rhymes whereas in Advice to a Teenage Daughter it doesn’t rhymes. Here are some examples:

City Friends Advice: Advice to a Teenage Daughter:

Teenage Daughter Poem

Beware of the cars You have found a new war-game

And beware of the knives, Called Love.

Beware of the guns Here on your dressing-table

And take care of your lives, Stand arrayed

Brave ranks of lipsticks

It also in Thrilling’s poem is saying love is like a war game, whereas Zephaniah is saying that the city is dangerous. They are two completely different poems.

Similarities

Next I am going to talk about the similarities. In the poems they are both giving advice to different people.

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They are both saying that it is dangerous to do what is explained in their poem. The structure of the poems are clearly laid out, the lines re raped round each other, the lines could almost be bullet points, the sentence is continued on to 2 some times 3 lines. So the structure is the same. The language techniques are the same they are both talking in 21st century English. They aren’t talking in slang and they are definitely not talking Shakespeare. This is also to see.

The meaning is different Zephaniah is saying the city can be a doggy ,doggy world meaning it is very dangerous with people holding knives waiting around every corner and men are more vicious than dogs. To me this doesn’t sound like city’s I know off. And Thrilling is saying that love is hard to win over because you have to compete with all the things the boys love. Thrilling is also saying that it may seem easy to win but you just have to be your self. You don’t need to wear make up and skinny tight tops and trousers that make your bum look small, all you have to do to win the boys over is be your self and don’t try to compete with football and all the rest you just need to be your self.

My aspect

Finally I am going to tell you which poem I prefer out of the two I have been speaking of in this essay. But to start with I am going to say whatever else I think is important in the poems. These poems have both been published which means the poets might be quite famous. In the poems the poets seem to have linked there story/ poem together because if you think about it, if you wear too much make-up and look really skinny because you are wearing tight tops and skinny jeans you are going to look cheep and if your walking around an city looking like a slut then suspicious people are going to start talking and maybe even picking on you.

Now to which poem I think is more effective. I think Advice to a Teenage Daughter is more effective because it is telling you to be patient boys aren’t going to be interested in what girls do to try and get their attention. All the boys want to do is watch football, play cricket or even own a vehicle. So all you need to do is slow down and be your self and just wait for them to notice you at their own time.

But now that I have got what I thought about the poem out the way I am going to say what how the two poems are linked. They are liked by both giving advice and because when you try to win a boy over you may end up looking tarty and you will then get inappropriate people trying to get your attention when you don’t want it. This is just how the boy would feel.

I find both the poems very useful and informal. I just want to say that if I had to choose a favourite poem of the two I couldn’t. I hope the comparison is what you needed and helpful and educational for you.