English - Anthology

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Brendan Gallacher

MeaningAbout a child's imaginary friend and the child living/creating a more interesting life, possibly poorer life, and then the loss of innocence.

Imagery: Loads. Cat burgler, image of the childhood innocence, imagery of poverty, imagery of Brendan.

Tone/Themes: The past, loss, innocence, childhood, chance and poverty.

Structure: Regular 5 line stanzas, some rhyme, some repetition, shorter lines in the last stanza.

Form: Dramatic monologue, 1st person.

Language Points: Scottish dialect, possessive pronoun 'my'; repetition; alliteration and ryhme; adjectives of 'spikey' and 'impish'

Poems to compare to: 'Hunchback...' for imagination; 'On a portrait of a Deaf Man' for loss; 'Les Grandes Seigneurs' for change.

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Casehistory: Alison (head injury)

Meaning: About a girl who has brain damage cause by an accident. She looks at a photo of herself, thinking it was someone else.

Imagery: A constrast between the past and present Alison.

Tone/Themes: Past, present, loss, damage.

Structure: 9 3-lined stanzas with the middle line longer.

Form: Dramatic monologue.

Language Points: Caesura, enjambment.

Poems to compare to: 'Hunchback...' for diability; 'On a portrait...' for past and present.

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Give

Meaning: About homeless people and how people see beggars.

Imagery: "To make a scene" is negative.

Tone/Themes: Identity; sarcasm "That's big of you"  

Structure: 5 regular stanzas of 2 or 3 lines.

Form: Dramatic Monologue.

Language Points: Semanic field, repetition of choice, romance and irony.

Poems to compare to: 'LGS' -Ironic tone.

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Medusa

Meaning: A women has been turned into a gorgon because of jealousy. Thinks her husband is cheating.

Imagery: Danger "bullet of tears", jealousy, turning poeple into stone.

Tone/Themes: Jealousy and power.

Structure: 7 stanzas of 5 or 6 lines.

Form: Dramatic monologue.

Language Points: Metaphors, seimic fields, repetition, alliteration, assonance and imperatives.

Poems to compare to: 'Clown Punk' -Visual imagery and 'Singh Song' -Alitteration and rhyme.

 

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Ozymandias

Meaning: About a man who sees the remains of a statue. 'Ozymandias' means 'to rule air'

Imagery: 'vast' structure and isolated from everything.

Tone/Themes: Power does not last forever, you cannot beat time, decay.

Structure: No separate stanzas, 14 lines split by puncuation.

Form: Sonnect, 14 lines.

Language Points: Metaphors, power of three and alitteration.

Poems to compare to: 'My Last Duchess' for power; 'River God' built around a character.

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The Horse Whisperer

Meaning: About a man who tames horses but gets driven away after believing they used witchcraft.

Imagery: Strong relationship between man and horse and superstition. 

Tone/Themes: Change, loss and negativity "my gifts were the tools or revenge".

Structure: Free verse composition, stanzas shorten by one line each time.

Form: Monologue

Language Points: Metaphors, caesuras and enjambment.

Poems to compare to: 'Medusa' for revenge; 'Checking Out Me History' for historical characters.

 

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Les Grandes Seigneurs

Meaning: The relationship between man and women and romantic love.

Imagery: Phallic "bedded" and romantic.

Tone/Themes: Courtly love 

Structure: Four stanzas, first 3 describe romantic love.

Form: 

Language Points: Power of three, alliteration, caesura.

Poems to compare to: 'Medusa' - Unexpected view on relationships.

 

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Clown Punk

Meaning: An acount of a tattooed, slightly tragic character.

Imagery: The man's inked skin and makes you sympathetic.

Tone/Themes: A character to fear or laugh out, dismissive tone.

Structure: Single stanza  24 lines.

Form: Shakepearean sonnet.

Language Points: Some of the vocabulary is 'Northen', "town clown" makes him sound comical.

Poems to compare to: 'Horse Whisperer' - unusual character, 'Give' - Physical details.

 

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Singh Song

Meaning: A young married man who manages his father's shop bu sneaks upstairs to his wife.

Imagery: Metaphors used to describe the wife, shop is romantic.

Tone/Themes: Love of a wife and husband, stereotypical views.

Structure: 13 irregular stanzas. 

Form: Song - Strong lyrical voice.

Language Points: Similes, Indian dialect, semantic field, metaphors.

Poems to compare to: 'Checking Out Me History' - Non standard spellings.

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On A Portrait of a Deaf Man

Meaning: About memories of his dead father, there is a contrast is positive and negative.

Imagery: Changes your mood from happy to sad, happy to sad.

Tone/Themes: Loss, lack of faith, death.

Structure: Eight stanzas in a ballad metre.

Form: An elegy - Sad poem about a dead man.

Language Points: Metaphors, power of three, alliteration.

Poems to compare to: 'Casehistory...' - Before and after.

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The Hunchback in the Park

Meaning: A man who spends his life in a park, isolated for being different mentally and physically.

Imagery: Sympathy for the main character. 

Tone/Themes: Sympathy, moral, mean children.

Structure: Looks regular but puncuation is irregular.

Form: 7 stanzas of 6 lines each.

Language Points: Similes, repetition, power of three.

Poems to compare to: 'Ruined Maid' and 'Casehistory'.

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The River God

Meaning: Not to underestimate the power of the river. 

Imagery: Language is like a river itself, "beautiful" is repetited.

Tone/Themes: Power of nature.

Structure: One stanza with irregular line structure.

Form: Dramatic monologue.

Language Points: Repetition and metaphors.

Poems to compare to: 'Ozymandias' - One clear, strong voice.

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The Ruined Maid

Meaning: A farm worker meets an old friend who became a prostitute.

Imagery: First parts contrast later parts.

Tone/Themes: Admiration, women in society.

Structure: Six, four-lined stanzas.

Form: Dramatic monologue.

Language Points: Metaphors, repeition.

Poems to compare to: 'River God' - Personal voice.

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Checking Out My History

Meaning: Challenging th view and teachings of history.

Imagery: Nature metaphors, references to nursery rhymes.

Tone/Themes: Rebellious, Celebratory.

Structure: Alternates between two structures, marked by different fonts.

Form: Dramatic Monologue.

Language Points: Words associated with light metaphorically illuminate the poets identity.

Poems to compare to: 'Give' - Both want change.

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