"Metaphors" & "Not Waving But Drowning"

There are certain things in life that happen, and you can not do anything about it. Unfortunately that is just the way life goes, sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose; either way, people have to learn to deal with the realities of life. In the poem "Metaphors" by Sylvia Plath she write a riddle to something that is occurring in her life that she can not do anything about, "Boarded the train there's no getting off." The tone of this poem is a little silly. She uses very figurative language, and metaphors. What ever she is describing is either big, or is growing because of the metaphors she is using, for example she uses words such as elephant, melon, and makes statements like, "This loaf's big with its yeasty rising." Maybe she is having a baby, or taking care of a pet?

Sometimes, people do things, and others take it the wrong way. In Stevie Smith's poem "Not Waving but Drowning," an old man had been at sea for a while, and every time he called for help everyone had mistaken his helpful wave, for a friendly wave. This poem has a more serious, and sad tone. Everyone in the town thought they knew about the man, but they really had no idea. The people in the town said "Poor chap, he always loved larking." but the old man replies "Oh, no no no, it was too cold always." proving that they were wrong. The tone is sad because his whole life the man was lost looking for direction but no one ever stopped to help.