I have chosen three poems from the textbook and another three poems that all share the theme of human suffering. I have chosen Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka, Prayer before birth by Louis MacNeice, Piano by D H Lawerence, Mid-term Break by Seamus Heaney, Bread and Music by Conrad Aiken, Cruelty by Alisha Ricks. These poems all explore human suffering in various ways and in various circumstances. In this essay I am going to analyze each of these poems, comparing and contrasting them. The first poem which is Telephone Conversation shows the problem an African man, probably coming from Nigeria, facing racial discrimination when he wants to rent an apartment because the landlady of the house doesn’t want to rent the house to him due to his colour. The scene of the poem is the telephone box and the person speaking is either the poet himself or another man. The second poem, Piano, takes place in a concert hall and the voice is the poet himself. He suffers because the music in the concert hall brings back the memory of his mother playing the piano in his home when he was a small boy. The poet D H Laurence never got over losing his mother and the poem illustrates the suffering he faces in his life. The third, Prayer Before Birth shows an unborn child in his mother’s womb terrified of the cruel things that others will do to him when he comes to this cruel world and asking helplessly what should he do to deal with these suffering. The fourth poem, Bread And Music shows a