The link between poverty and death
The major theme in “William Street” is the link which exists between poverty and death. He people who live on William Street have to suffer a lot because they do not have access to basic elements which the rest of the population does and as a result sickens is ever-present in their lives. This translated into a high mortality rate among the people living on the street which is presented as being a direct result of the poverty in which the people were living. Unfortunately, these events are described as being natural, an integral part of the everyday life of those living on the street. This normalization only makes things worse in the long run but as the narrator points out, there is little anyone can do to make things better.
The passing of time
In “Out of Time”, the narrator personifies time and describes it as a ruthless person who cares about nothing and no one. Time is presented as being external, something which no one can control or change. In this sense, time is compared with the Sun, which, no matter how much a person will try, will never change its path and stop its journey. Time is also linked with despair and suffering, mainly because of its association with imminent death. Still, the narrator points out the two are not necessarily linked and that death is not produced by time but rather humans started to keep track of time when death first appeared.
Coping mechanism
The poem “Snowdrops” analyzes the reasons why a person may be tempted to use drugs in their lifetime. One of the reasons why some people may choose to do this is because they are trying to cope with a tragic event in their life. The author knew about drug use as a coping mechanism firsthand since many soldiers during the First and the Second World War self-medicated to deal with the stress of knowing they could die at any moment or dealing with the trauma of seeing their comrades die a gruesome death. These practices were hard to let go and many continued to use drugs after they return home, causing other problems to themselves and their families. Because of these reasons, drug use if portrayed in a negative way and as something which has the potential to destroy a person’s life.
