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Courage in Poetry

            Courage can be defined as "the power or quality of dealing with or facing danger, fear or pain." Each poet portrays the meaning of courage differently and uses varying techniques to present their ideas. In "One Day", Bobbi Sykes sees courage as inner strength whereas John Foulcher views courage as the determination it takes Harry Wood to sacrifice his life. In "Falklands Hero", Tom Masters believes courage to be as it is defined above.
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             Tom Masters portrays courage as "the power or quality to deal with or face danger, fear or pain." The man faces all three in the second stanza when he risks his own life to save his dying friends from the blazing fire. He deals with the emotional and physical pain of having his whole face reconstructed and the fear of having his life dramatically changed forever. .
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             Tom Masters uses immense imagery to portray the man's courage. .
             "He went through flames and torment.
             With burning hands and head.
             His friends were trapped and dying,.
             He tried to drag them free.".
             This quotation uses vast images to describe the fear and pain the man faced in order to save his dying friends. Masters uses rhetorical questions in the last stanza to address the man's pain.
             "Dare he look in the mirror?.
             And does it make him cry?".
             These two lines make the reader realise that the man was courageous in saving his friends and also makes them realise that his courage has not ceased and that it would take a lot of strength for him to continue to face that pain and fear day after day for the rest of his life.
             In the poem "One Day", Bobbi Sykes portrays courage not as facing fear or danger but dealing with the pain of feeling alone. Sykes believes that it takes courage for a black man to live alone in a white society and that courage is inner strength. The black man needs courage in order to break through the emotional barriers and hold his head up high. When he sees another black man he feels as though he doesn't need to be as courageous anymore as he is no longer alone in a white society.


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