Reflecting Poems & Authors with a Mirror

             The two poems I chose both dealing with memories, disappearance, and a reflective instrument. The first choice, “Please Come Late”, by Hugo Williams concerns the narrator not wanting someone to arrive with the other on time. The second choice is “In the Rear-View Mirror”, by Robert Shaw is about thinking about someone who has gone. The poems describe about memories that come up as they are both moving around. The reflective object in both stories is a mirror which is used to see things and yourself. The mirror I believe is a major part even though in “Please Come Late” it is not as mentioned as much as the other poem. These two poems aren’t ones you can look at once and tie in together as similar. Once the poems are read not once, not twice, but more it is understood how they are similar in their own way.

           The poem by Hugo Williams, “Please Come Late”, goes on about this person not wanting the other to be there or even be in their lives. At first it was come late and it will be fine, then later on it says don’t come at all. The feelings change. In the poem “In the Rear-View Mirror” by Robert Shaw the poem starts off talking about the memories before realization comes into play. Throughout this poem and the first poem, the point of view of the mood and sight changes for the author.  The ending of the two poems end with satisfactory. In the first poem it says,

“I know it is all over between us,

but I go on sitting here,

reading a newspaper, not understanding a word.

if you came in now, I wouldn’t recongnise you.

Don’t come anywhere near me

until I have gone slightly madly in love with you” (24-30).

Then in the second poem it says,

“… no matter how far down the road you’ve gone

to bring them back in view as large as life,

putting yourself in the picture, too, which makes

thinking about them as you saw lasting” (20-23).

The two poems start off different and end differently even by comparing the two poems together. The first poem by Hugo Williams mood goes from I don’t want you there, to I don’t like you, to I don’t want you at all, then to I do want you there but to give the author some time to fall in love. Hugo Williams starts off with the poem with a vibe that there is no chance, and then it changes to her concluding that there is a chance. Even though the chance may not be easy, it still is a chance. The second poem by Robert Shaw began the mood off sad by explaining how goodbyes may be with someone close to you. Then the poem changes and just talks about any other person that may come on by, loosing care for what would go on. At the end the poem changes again to only focusing on those important. It says that no matter how far one of them may get they will never lose the feeling they have for each other.  

                The two authors of the poems have much in common too, considering their poems are revolving around some of the same ideas. Hugo Williams appears to be young because of how much his feelings change and the same goes for Robert Shaw. From reading the poems I can also conclude that they have both lost someone before because they know the feeling.

                These two poems can connect in little ways, in a general form, or even by the author’s experiences that we can conclude.