Comparative Analysis of Two Poems: At 84 and Mother in a Refugee Camp

by: Mary Eugenie Joy C. Orozco

Poems are artistic and connotative. The readers understand them according either to how
the author expresses himself/herself or how the readers react on a specific piece. The poems “At
84” by Sophie Bamwoyeraki and “Mother in a Refugee Camp” by Chinua Achebe illustrates the
similar thoughts or feelings of losing a person but they are contrasting in a way that the subject
of the former is an old person and the latter, a child son.
The two poems discuss the same theme and message which is death and the pain of
losing someone dear in your heart. In the poem “At 84”, although the old person being talked
about is not dead yet, the persona is like showing an acceptance that his/her addressee is about to
pass away. The persona dedicates the poem to an old person reminiscing his/her past memories
and admiring their good old days together. The persona also recalls all the attributes of the old
person and comparing them to the old objects that are also found in their abode. In the “Mother
in a Refugee Camp”, the agony of the mother is also shown. This poem expresses in a discreet
but hugely effective means on how the misfortune of the problem and the outcome on civilians,
specifically the children.
The “At 84” centers an old person who was deeply adored by the persona. However, the
persona sounds like he is already accepting the fate of the subject. In “Mother in a Refugee
Camp,” it is about the death of a child son. Although accepted already by the mother in the end,
there is still a moment of the mother that was shown that she finds it hard to let go of her son and
finally rest in peace.
Although situated in different time and place, the two poems have both shown the
contrasting ideals and similar situations brought by the effectively conveying the emotions
through symbolic metaphor on the things around the place.