English Literature Poems

Structure

• 4 stanza of 4 lines; wants to be organised, is superficially
• Enjambment; fragmented mind
• Caesura; slow down poem
• Cyclical; begins and ends in 'B'

Language

• 'Beloved sweetheart *******'; oxymoron, alliteration, plosive
• 'green pebbles for eyes'; metaphor, jealousy, cold
• 'spinster'; outcast, never married, sibilance, caesura, fragmented, isolated
• 'stink and remember'; observation, present tense
• 'Nooooo'; neologism, new word created to express pain, negative imagery
• 'white veil'; innocence, purity, concealed
• 'a red balloon bursting'; her heart, violent, plosive, shattered dreams
• 'b-b-b-breaks'; heart beating, onomatopoeia, crying breakdown, cyclical

Attitude

• Angry
• Aggressive
• Bitter

Purpose

• Shows her deterioration
• Mental affect

Themes

• Anger
• Revenge
• Hatred
• Depression
• Death
• Women

Structure

• Epigraph
• Like a sonnet; 14 line but no rhyming couplet
• 1 stanza
• Enjambment

Language

• 'we loved...we would'; past tense
• 'clifftops'; peak of sex, excitement
• 'dive for pearls'; explicit act of love, metaphor
• 'shooting stars'; sibilance, smooth, dreamy
• 'my body now a softer rhyme' metaphor, sex
• 'by touch, by scent, by taste'; sensory image
• 'living laughing love-; rule of three, alliteration, caesura

Attitude

• Soft
• Loving
• Reflective

Purpose

• Remembering her husband

Themes

• Love
• Romance
• Dreams

Structure

• 4 stanzas of 5 lines
• Enjambment
• Caesura

Language

• 'I'm'; first person narrative, personal tone
• 'Marilyn'; Marylin Monroe = glamour, fame 
• 'right walk of home could bring'; thrill of unknown 
• 'Ma'; mums mum/nan, tradition, family pattern
• 'my hands in those high heeled red shoes'; memory, poet as a child, sentimental
• 'relics'; symbolic, old
• 'whose small bites on your neck, sweetheart?'; love bites, passion, role reversal, rhetorical question
• 'That glamorous love lasts where you sparkle and waltz and laugh before you were mine'; repetition, Marilyn Monroe

Attitude

• Assertive
• Affectionate
• Tender

Purpose

• What her mother did before she was born
• Family traditions

Themes

• Trust
• Generosity
• Happiness

Structure

• Dramatic monologue
• Enjambment
• Post modernism style

Language

• 'The most unusual thing I ever stole?'; kleptomaniac, post modernism style, rhetorical question
• 'Midnight'; romantic, mysterious, scary, evil
• 'Midnight...magnificent...mute...moon...mate...mind...my'; alliteration
• 'I started with the head'; clinical, obsessive
• 'giving...taking...piercing...knowing'; verbs, violent, cruel
• 'a fierce chill'; contradicting
• 'Again, again'; repetition, malicious, premeditated
• 'sick of the world';  displacement, childhood trigger
• 'eat myself'; cannibalism
• 'You don't understand a word I'm saying, do you?'; vague, mysterious

Attitude

• Isolation
• Depressed
• Colloquial language

Purpose

• Childhood problems
• How he feels stealing makes it better

Themes

• Boredom
• Anti-social behaviour
• Possessions
• Incoherence

Structure

• Dramatic monologue
• Enjambment
• Split in 3rd stanza

Language

• 'Mother'; archaic, formal, respectful, direct address, ultimate force
• 'windows, pelmets, doors'; metaphor for features of life, imagery
• 'unreeling'; leaving gradually, less dependent
• 'Anchor. Kite' opposites, free, protective, oxymoron
• 'breaking point'; tension between them, split is inevitable
• 'sky'; freedom, opportunity
• 'hatch'; life outside, real world
• 'fall or fly'; on his own

Attitude

• Unemotional 
• Tension

Purpose

• Moving out
• Independence

Themes

• Relationships
• Love
• Independence
• Domestic role

Structure

• Enjambment; unsure
• Stanzas vary in length
• Caesura; final word

Language

• 'Think'; imperative verb
• 'trust'; abstract noun-cant be touched
• 'free-fall backwards, blind, and those behind take all the weight.'; lack of control, alliteration, internal rhyme, physical and psychological pressure
• 'canary yellow cotton jacket'; fashion icon once, now outdated, extended metaphor for support
• 'model of a model of a mother'; mocking, trying to be perfect
• 'You seeing red. Blue murder.'; juxtaposed colours, primary colours, cold
• 'Bed'; caesura, imperative verb, mother has final word
• 'Step backwards'; trust exercise, lack of trust
• 'It still fits'; nothings changed, support is always there

Attitude

• Supportive
• Calming
• Observational

Purpose

• Story told by girls boyfriend
• Trusting others
• Support

Themes

• Relationships
• Trust
• Family
• Arguments

Structure

• 1 stanza
• Dramatic monologue
• 10 syllables per line
• Enjambment
• All lines end in 'er'; theme tune, fast paced

Language

• 'Batman, big shot'; plosive, aggressive, punchy, alliteration
• 'wild blue yonder'; perfect, cliché
• 'ditched me'; bitter, resentment, abandoned
• 'let the cat out'; secret affair, not a role model, retrospective, taboo
• 'Holy robin-redbreast-nest-egg-shocker!'; headline, catchphrase
• 'off the shoulder'; getting rid of identity, clothes
• 'without a shadow'; breaking away, only ghosts have no shadow
• 'winter you baby'; moving on, death, belittles Batman

Attitude

• Bitter
• Resentment
• Sarcasm

Purpose

• Seeing Batman in a different light
• Independent life

Themes

• Moving on
• Role models
• Growing up

Structure

• Enjambment; all events are running into each other
• 5 stanzas of 5 line; thrives on structure so when taken away because he is ill he becomes crazy
• Dramatic monologue

Language

• 'I'; first person narrative, convey feelings and emotions
• 'One more sick note mister and your finished. Fired'; fed up with job, pressure, responsibility, speech
• 'Vauxhall Astra'; cheap, popular, reliable, boring, similar
• 'west to east'; natural, casual, romantic, relaxed
• 'blowin' in the wind'; Bob Dylan, unoriginal, hippy movement, 70's
• 'I let him have it'; objectified, vague
• 'six times'; calculated, ruthless
• 'same age'; jealous of him/ his happiness
• 'moderate to fair'; feeling better, nature

Attitude

• Jealousy
• Ruthless
• Upset

Purpose

• He admits to murder
• Upset by how someone can be so carefree

Themes

• Death
• Sympathy
• Illness
• Jealousy

Structure

• Elegy; a poem mourning someone who is dead
• Epitaph; poem written on gravestone
• 1 stanza
• Rhyming couplets

Language

• 'Farewell'; closure, acceptance
• 'right hand'; Ben in Hebrew, name of his first son, close to him, precious
• 'lent to me'; belongs to God, return
• 'just day'; extended metaphor, all belong to God
• ''age'; escaped the pain of growing old, mercy, accepting
• 'Rest in soft peace'; imperative verb, death sound comforting

Attitude

• Upset
• Mourning

Purpose

• Fathers pain for sons death

Themes

• Death
• Sympathy
• Mourning
• God

Structure

• Monologue
• 1 stanza
• Rhyming couplets

Language

• 'That's'; objectified women
• 'alive'; dull, idle when she was alive
• 'look at her?'; rhetorical question, self obsessed, arrogant
• 'I'; possessive, protective, preserved
• 'everywhere'; lust, insecure, possessive
• 'white'; purity, fairy tale, clean
• 'thanked'; slept with men, betrayal
• 'nine-hundred-year-old name'; powerful, she has no respect, showing off
• 'I gave commands'; change in tone, control of life
• 'Then all smiles stopped together'; possessive, guilty, depressed
• 'Notice Neptune'; alliteration, power and dominance

Attitude

• Possessive
• Control
• Sinister

Purpose

• Shows visitors the painting of Duchess
• Talks about her infidelity

Themes

• Trust
• Relationships
• Family
• Death
• Love
• Sympathy

Structure

• Sonnet; 14 lines
• ababcdcdefgg rhyme scheme

Language

• 'mistress'; low status
• 'sun'; warmth, hope, light, source of life, centre of being, simile
• 'black wires grow on her head'; coarse,bland, boring, lifeless
• 'no such roses...in her cheeks'; pasty, unhealthy
• 'reeks'; disgusting
• 'treads on the ground'; heavy, not elegant
• 'heaven'; spontaneous shock, angels, love is elevated
• 'rare'; unique, hard to find, special
• 'false compare'; exaggerated, honesty, true love

Attitude

• Humorous
• Love
• Mocking

Purpose

• She is not as beautiful as nature but is only a human being

Themes

• Criticism
• Passionate
• Mysterious

Structure

• 12 stanzas with 4 lines; lots of punctuation, scatty
• Monologue
• aabb
• Anapaestic pentameter; jaunty 

Language

• 'smokes'; mysterious, dangerous
• 'poison to poison her, prithee'; alliteration, plosive, repetition, hates mistress
• 'tears'; antisocial, sympathy
• 'Grind away'; imperative verb, regain control, relaxed
• 'taste sweetly'; trick, sensory description, imagery, exotic
• 'just thirty minutes to live'; precise, feel the pain, ordinary
• 'Let death be felt and the proof remain'; vowels to slow down poem/torture, wants him to know why she did it
• 'Kiss me'; no boundaries, respected, desperate

Attitude

• Evil
• Sly
• Jealous

Purpose

• Speaker is killing their rival when the lover is present

Themes

• Jealousy
• Love
• Revenge