Characters, theme, dialogue, the setting, symbolism and narration are both part of a short story and a poem. On the other hand, unlike poems, stories do not have features of sound and tone. A short story is written in a narrative form but is made of fiction, just like the story of Aladdin and the wonderful lamp, as opposed to poems that captivate emotions (Compare and Contrast Short Story and Poem, 4). However, both lyrics and short stories have a systematic flow and order. They contain a plot, theme, characters, and style. For example, in the poem, the characters are the woman and the god-like character. In the short story, the characters are the genie, Aladdin, the mother, the prince’s daughter, and the sorcerer.
Aladdin refuses to venture into trade and gets to play with his friends. When playing with his friends, he is introduced to a sorcerer who teaches him magic that sorcerer promises to make him rich. This is like a god to Aladdin, for it grants all their wishes “What would you wish for?” Similarly, in Sappho’s poem 31, we are introduced to two characters who seem equal to gods (Giampaolo et al. 5). He is more hero in the persona’s eyes, and he is like one who has descended from the gods- appearing as god himself “He is more than a hero/he is a god in my eyes.”
Additionally, in both texts, the love toward these two god-like subjects encounters a lot of trouble. In the text of Aladdin’s wonderful lamp, the fight between Aladdin and the vizier’s son for the prince’s daughter is a tragic scene led by many encounters. Aladdin is in trouble, and he is under pressure to find the princess’s daughter. In Sappho’s poem 31, the woman gets intimate with the god-like subject and gets to the point of disparity (Giampaolo et al. 5). The increasingly overwhelming love in that the speaker’s body is systematically failing, from the sense of touch, sight to hear, describes how Sappho uses the senses to describe the speaker “listening close.”
In the poem, the subjects relate to each other instead of the story where they only request their wishes. The speaker likes the god-like subject in the poem, and they even get intimate. This is opposed to the story, for they are granted only what they want by the genie. The wealth makes them intend to approach the prince’s daughter and even what the prince is given the genie provides (Marzolph 280). Unlike in the story where the god-like issue is magical and is more like a genie, he does what the speaker wishes for; the god-like subject in the poem is not evil and does not act as the speaker wishes.
Additionally, in the poem, there is no mention of the location in the story. In the poem, there is no precise reference to the place; readers can envision the space the subjects are in and how the act of the poem is captivating. Even the narrator is looking at the issue from a distant point, and they are no direct interactions (Marzolph 290). This is contrary to the story where there is mention of location. Aladdin is more of Arabic as opposed to Chinese origin. The sorcerer, although referred to as, originated from Africa.
The story also presents a world where women have no choice of who they will marry. They are therefore sold to the wealthy individual just like the sultan does. He chooses Alladin or his vizier son to marry his daughter, depending on who will give an expensive gift. This happens even without the girl seeing the men. This is unlike the poem where women themselves fall in love with me. In the poem, the woman is the one who gets to like the man and gets intimate with him. He gets even more personal to the extent of his body parts failing and getting uncomfortable (Giampaolo et al. 3). This presents a woman as an individual who gets intimate quickly instead of the man.
In addition, the poem presents the theme of jealousy, ecstasy, and dissociation. The narrator is closely on the lookout for her cherished one and tries her thoughts toward her knowledge of self-context. The refrain of delight is intensely articulated over the phrase “makes my heart flutter in my breast,” in which Sappho used the image to refer to the bodily feeling of a love-struck emotion. This is contrary to the story of Aladdin’s wonderful lamp that teaches the importance of friendship in the context of good and evil (Marzolph 285).
This is evident when the sorcerer betrays Aladdin and uses him. The brother also seeks revenge for the killed sorcerer. This also teaches that we should not be greedy, for it was the cause of all the conflicts experienced. The love between the princess and Aladdin is restored, and they left happily ever after, and even Aladdin becomes best friends with the sultan again.
Works Cited
“Compare and Contrast Short Story and Poem.” Brilliant Term Papers. 2018. Web.
Marzolph, Ulrich. “Aladdin Almighty: middle eastern magic in the Service of Western consumer culture.” The Journal of American Folklore vol. 132, no. 525, 2019, pp 275-290.
Papi, Giampaolo, et al. “The ancient Greek poet Sappho and the first case report of the fight-or-flight response.” Hormones, 2021, pp 1-5.