Comparison Between “The Red Sweater” and “The Lanyard”

Both these poems The Red Sweater by Joseph O. Legaspi and The Lanyard by Billy Collins have several similarities and differences. Firstly, most obviously, these poems both have an object in the title. In addition, the speakers are both children talking about their mothers. From several subtle details, the speaker of The Red Sweater appears to be at a mature age, and the speaker of The Lanyard is a man looking back to when he was a small boy.

To compare the structure of both poems, both authors use enjambment to break their first lines. However, a major difference are the stanzas, because The Lanyard has a constant pattern of 6 lines in every stanza, while The Red Sweater only has one stanza break towards the end of the poem.

The tone of both poems are slightly different. In The Red Sweater, the author uses specific diction and descriptions of the mother such as “In a twenty hour period my mother waits on hundreds of customers,” to convey an understanding and maybe even a slightly regretful tone. The child (gender isn’t specified in the poem) sees their mom work so hard to afford a sweater that “everybody in school is wearing,” and even notices how she owns a clean, new red sweater while her mom wears the same uniform that smells. In The Lanyard, the author has a bit of a humorous tone, specifically where they write, “And here is your lanyard, I replied, which I made with a little help from a counselor.” The author uses humor and sarcasm to exaggerate how much the mother has done for the boy, while the boy has only given a useless lanyard back. In the end of the poem, the speaker, who seems to be the boy when he’s older, seems to shift the tone to nostalgia, because he’s talking about the past and his affection for his mother.

In conclusion, both The Red Sweater by Joseph O. Legaspi and The Lanyard by Billy Collins share some similarities but also have differences.