The poems ‘At the Border, 1979’ and Out of the Blue both demonstrate the effects of conflict on peoples lives, logically we that conflict is negative and its not loved by anyone. In between each stanza both poem have similarities and differences, one of these similarities is strong emotions which is emitted by the people and narrator. ATB is a more pleasant and happy atmosphere, because all of the refugees are returning and they are relieved to back to there homeland. There a refugee who shows his emotions more than anyone”A man bent down and kissed his muddy homeland”, there was a civil war in there country and the muddy ground suggests devastation and that the war was intense. OTB there’s a contrast in strong emotions, as the narrator is the person stuck in one of the twin towers during the 9/11 tragedy, one of the emotions is desperation because hundreds of people are trapped, squashed and running out of oxygen. The strong emotions used, gives pity for them people “small in the clouds but waving, waving. Does anyone see a soul worth saving?” and the people at that time couldn’t do anything to rescue the people as it was an unexpected occurrence.

Another similarity used in both poems is imagery, this technique increases the interest of the reader. Whistle both poems use imagery, the emotions are completely different. The imagery used is day to day things that we can relate to like in OTB ” A man shaking crumbs or pegging out washing”, the narrator is trying to tells us that 9/11 is not an ordinary thing or something that we can give very little importance to. The mothers ATB display images of their homeland to their children, this settles the nerves and creates satisfaction “the landscape is more beautiful and people are much kinder”, this quotation also tells us that the refugees suffered and had difficulties in the foreign country. Conflict effects peoples negatively and when they return it’s like heaven and during the conflict it’s hell.