Read the following poems by Thomas Hardy (‘The Oxen’) and Seamus Heaney (‘Cow in Calf’) in The Faber Book of Beasts (pp.195 and 62). In no more than 600 words, compare the ways in which the two poets represent cattle.

New forms of poetry, however radical they appear, almost always show traces of tradition. (Danson Brown, 2008, p.63) ‘The Oxen’ written by Thomas Hardy and ‘Cow in Calf’ by Seamus Heaney show significant differences but also share some common traditional qualities. ‘The Oxen’ is a narrative poem telling the reader a story about Christmas, and about the oxen, that according to folk tradition would kneel at midnight in Christmas Eve. It also follows the speaker’s, Hardy’s, belief of the tradition. ‘Cow in Calf’ is an Imagery poem which illustrates an image rather than telling a story. The poem represents a cow that is heavily pregnant, and the natural cycle of life. Traditional Styles of poetry, that include quatrains and rhyming lines can be seen in ‘The Oxen’, which follows an ABAB rhyming scheme. The rhyming words at the end of each alternating line create an almost song-like rhythm. Rhyming poems are easier to remember and allow the reader to connect to the poem through memory rather than just reading the words alone. The consistent rhythm of the poem can also represent the way cattle move at a slow steady pace. The absence of a rhyming pattern from Heaney’s poem not only avoids the traditional poetic forms, but enables him to use words freely to portray his subject. Without being restricted to any traditional structure Heaney not only uses his language skills to establish his images he can also use they layout of his stanzas to represent his pregnant cow by using enjambment. ‘Cow in Calf’ has three stanzas all of different length. The first stanza contains three lines, the second, six lines and the third stanza five lines. With fourteen lines