The Poems Ways of Talking by Ha Jin in 1996 and Bright Copper Kettles by Vijay Seshadri in 2010 have many similarities when you analyze the two. Each and every reader can relate with each reading in one way or another and both have the same type of core conflict. In this paper we are going to cover the type of core conflicts in these two pomes. After covering the conflicts that are present in each poem we are going to look at the literary techniques that help highlight and defined the conflict in each poem. Finally we will finish up by covering the similarities and the differences in the two poems.
Starting with the core conflict in the Poem Ways of Talking, we find ourselves looking at individual verses self. This form of conflict is an internal conflict with one’s self trying to transform a way of thinking or a type of behavior that has been performed in one’s life. In this poem, it tells how two people have been having conversations about grief. The first part of the poem states “we used to like talking about grief our journals and letters were pack with losses, complaints and sorrows” (Jin 1996) indicating the core conflict of individual verses self will be transformed and resolved at the end of the poem. This type of clue given early in literature is called foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is defined in our PDF handout as “A technique a writer uses to hint or suggest what the outcome of an important conflict or situation in a narrative” (Deutsch 2014).
In the second poem Bright Copper Kettles The core conflict is as well individual verses self. In this poem the individual his having an internal struggle with the death of family and friends that has taken place. It is apparent that this conflict is a continuing struggle for this person because they speak of family and friends which leads you to believe that he adds the ghost like figures to the dreams each time someone passes to the other side. The conflict is obviously apparent at the beginning of this poem when the writer states “Dead friends coming back to life, dead family, speaking languages living and dead” (Seshadri 2010). The conflict for this person is taking place in their sleep showing a deep internal conflict that may not be as visible when the person is awake, but that must still carry over to their conscious daily activity.
In the first poem Ways of Talking there is resolve to the conflict by the end “after losing a land and then giving up a tong, we stopped talking of grief, smiles began to brighten our faces” (Jin 1996). Now remember we were given that clue at the start of the poem that this change would happen. Another technique used is figurative language which is language used in a non-literal way to convey images and ideas (Deutsch 2014) an example of this in the poem is when the writer stated “words lined up in our throats for a good whining” (Jin 1996) and when they described grief as an endless river (Jin 1996). The use of figurative language is a very powerful tool in writing, it grabs the reader’s attention and at time refocuses the reader into the story. A third technique used is limited omniscient point of view because this poem is expressed by one person but the poem is about two people and their conversations that have taken place in the past. The PDF hand out defines limited omniscient point of view as occurring when a narrator has access to the thoughts and feelings of only one character in a story (Deutsch 2014).
In the second poem Bright Copper Kettles the first technique I saw was simile which is defined as a figure of speech that compares two objects or ideas that are not ordinarily considered to be similar, linked by using like or as (Deutsch 2014). This was the case when the writer linked footprints and butterflies in this poem when he stated “their footprints like a butterfly’s, mercy shining from their comprehensive faces” (Seshadri 2010). The second was “the perspective of the narrator who will present the action to the reader” (Deutsch 2014) also known as point of view. This is important because this is a description of the character’s dream state for the setting of this poem. The third is the actual conflict, I thought this was very important because I feel that the conflict was never resolved at the end of the poem. While the character was waking up, the conflict was never resolved and would return to struggle with it again the next night.
Now that we have explored each poem there are some similarities that need to be pointed out. The first and a major similarity of these two poems is the core conflict of individual verses self. Both of the characters were dealing with an internal struggle that was effecting their lives in some type of fashion. Another similarity is the view point, in each poem the writer only takes in account one point of view, again this is Limited omniscient point of view. The third is that a transformation of the characters has taken place. Lastly the two poems have the same type of style to them using many of the same techniques such as metaphors, conflict, and figurative language as defined by Deutsch’s 2014 PDF file.
While the two poems have similarities they also have differences, the biggest in my opinion is that the conflict in Ways of Talking was resolved but was not in Bright Copper Kettles. In the first poem the narrator verbally walks you through the change. In the second poem there was no resolve. The second is the transformation that has happened to the characters in the poem. While both had a transformation they were very different in the Ways of Talking the writer matured and found that grief and misery was not worth wallowing in and has learned to find the better in things. In Bright Copper Kettles the transformation has taken place before the story but continues to change as each loved one passes. The transformations could not be any more different, the first is for the better while the second is digging deeper into their conflict.
In conclusion the Poems Ways of Talking by Ha Jin in 1996 and Bright Copper Kettles by Vijay Seshadri in 2010 had many similarities when you analyze the two. Each and every reader can relate with each poem in one way or another and both had the same type of core conflict. In the paper we covered the type of core conflicts in the two pomes. After covering the conflicts that were present in each poem we looked at the literary techniques that help highlight and defined the conflict in both poems. Finally we considered the similarities and the differences in the poems.

REFERENCES :
Clugston, R. W. (2014). Journey into Literature. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUENG125.14.1 Deutsch, A. (2014). List of literary techniques. Retrieved from https://bridgepoint.equella.ecollege.com/curriculum/file/4a41ba21-19c6-4ac8-9311-ea3b0c49ee82/1/ENG125%20-%20Literary%20Techniques.pdf Jin H. (1996). Ways of Talking. Retrieved from http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/28203 Seshadri V. (2010). Bright Copper Kettles. Retrieved from http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/240830