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[SMARTYPANTS_SINGH]

The primary text my school chose was 1984. But my teacher is being absolutely special, and says since 1984 is a novel/book our related text can’t be a novel/book in general. So I told him I’d do Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a dream,” and he said speeches are way too common in standard and usually don’t do well, so I had to ditch that idea. He said songs never do well too, and movies he doesn’t want us to do either. He’s pushing poems, can someone recommend any poems/poets that actually have some correspondence to the themes in 1984.

 

[jimmysmith560]

I think that, despite the fact that your teacher is limiting the variety of texts that you consider as potential related material by restricting your focus to poems only, there are still numerous poems, many of which may be suitable as related material. A couple of poems that I would suggest having a look at as potential related material for 1984 are:

• If We Must Die - a poem by Claude McKay (1919)
• Hotel Room, 12th Floor - a poem by Norman MacCaig (1968)

"If We Must Die" is a poem that has the aim of encouraging oppressed people to do their utmost to resist their oppressors. It primarily focuses on themes such as dignity, resistance and violence. The fact that 1984 encompasses themes such as resistance and revolution indicates that there may be a strong link between the two texts, allowing for in-depth analysis. A potential disadvantage of this poem is that it is rather short, which could limit the avenues for in-depth analysis, especially when compared to other poems. If We Must Die is publicly available here.

"Hotel Room, 12th Floor" is a poem that describes a visitor's impressions of New York City from their perspective, being from a high hotel room. This poem focuses mainly on themes such as the darkness of human nature as well as civilisation, which could also suggest a potentially strong link with 1984. This poem is also slightly longer than If We Must Die, which could allow for slightly more in-depth analysis. Hotel Room, 12th Floor is publicly available here.

I hope this helps!