Poems:
- Created by: Cherice
- Created on: 11-04-17 16:18
Ozymandias Information:
Who wrote Ozymandias? What was their background?
- Percy Shelley
- Expelled from university, wasn't a popular poet when alive, drowned age 29, pacifist, political, wealthy.
What is the main message of the poem?
- The statue has fallen apart over time and no one cares, links to the idea that every powerful figure will be forgot about and will drift away eventually.
- An indirect attack on King George III.
What is the structure of the poem?
- An irregular sonnet - elements of Shakespearean (rhyme scheme) and Petrarch sonnets (octive - shows power and sestet - shows loss in power).
- Mix of forms to create a new form - a message that all power gives way to new power.
- Irregular rhyme scheme with 10 sylables per line.
Oymandias Quotations:
- "I met a traveller" - he detaches himself from the poem, so he can cririsise the monach without being in trouble.
- "Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare" - a metaphor of his big ego, yet nature has outlived the statue and him, shows irony that his legacy is isolated.
- "King of kings" - he thinks he is a 'God', yet ironic, that no one is listening.
London Information:
Who wrote London? What was their background?
- William Blake.
- Supported revolution, believed everyone without power is in misery.
What is the main message of the poem?
- London, the greatest city, yet so dirty and corrupt.
What is the structure of the poem?
- Rhyme scheme - reflects a walking pace, like he is walking through London.
- Last line in each stanza has an impact and sums up the stanza.
- Stanza 1: misery Stanza 2: refusal to stand tall Stanza 3: Sacrifice Stanza 4: Corrupt
London Quotations:
- "Chimney-sweeper's cry ... black'ning church appalls" - juxtaposition of a child's cry and church bells ringing, something in which has positive connotations.
- "Youthful harlot's curse" - corrupting the idea of childbirth with sexual exploitation and prostitution, women had no rights.
- "Marriage hearse" - oxymoron which juxtaposes the joy of marriage and misery of death, death rates were high.
- "Runs in blood down palace walls" - symbolic metaphor representing that we scarifice to protect the powerful.
Extract from The Prelude Information:
Who wrote The Prelude? What was their background?
- William Wordsworth
- A romantic poet (wrote about the world we live in), troubled relationship with parents, embraced nature as a method of relief.
What is the main message of the poem?
- Young William Wordsworth goes on a journey in a boat, the journey represents a spiritual journey. However, as he manipulates nature, the journey becomes hostile. It shoes the spiritual growrh of the poet.
What is the structure of the poem?
- Poem changes from euphony (pleasant words) to cacophony (harsh words) the more the journey goes on.
- Iambic pentameter - represents constant pace.
- One long verse without major breaks - reflects overwhelment of the poets journey.
Extract from The Prelude Quotations:
- "Led by her" - nature is given a gender and personified.
- "Glittering idly in the moon" - positive connotations at the beginning
- "The horizon's utmost boundary" - the horizon represents nature limiting the progress of the journey, it marks the shift in tone.
- "There hung a darkness" - dark, sinister tone as he reflects on the conflict in his mind.
My Last Duchess Information:
Who wrote My Last Duchess? What was their background?
- Robert Browning.
- Didn't fit into London society, had to marry his wife in another country because her father was overprotective.
What is the main message of the poem?
- The Duke shows off his power and suggests he controlled his wife's life; there is a conflict between the person he is and who he wants to be.
What is the structure of the poem?
- Dramatic monologue
- Enjambment - shows he doesn't have fill control, he can't control his anger.
- Tangents - he thinks we care about what he is saying, as if we should be interested.
- Iambic pentameter and rhyme scheme - ironic contrast between a love poem and domination.
My Last Duchess Quotations:
- We never hear the wife, this reflects Victorian society.
- "Fra Pandolf's hands" - vein as he shows off and values the artist more than the portrait of his wife.
- "Will't please you sit and look at her?" - Inferior demands.
- "The curtain I have drawn for you" - metaphor - the picture of her is hidden, so he is the only one who gets to control who sees her and when.
- "Dies along her throat" - sinister, did he kill her as an act of jealousy?
- "Notice Neptune ... taming a sea horse" - metaphor of neptune being dominant, like him.
The Charge of the Light Brigade Information:
Who wrote The Charge of the Light Brigade? What was their background?
- Alfred Tennyson
- Middle class family, was refused marriage due to poverty which created a hatred for those in higher class.
What is the main message of the poem?
- Hero's have been made from the Crimean War and he shows their bravery for going ahead with orders despite knowing the danger that higher archy had made a mistake.
What is the structure of the poem?
- Dactylic dimetee - mirrors the movement of horses and military nature.
- First half is about the valley, the second is the retreat.
- 6 stanzas to represent the 600 men.
The Charge of the Light Brigade Quotations:
- "Half a league, half a league, half a league onward" - repetition to emphasise a march and makes the reader feel weary, like the soldiers.
- "Valley of Death" - death is inevitable and is awaiting them.
- "Some one had blunder'd" - an attack on the higer archy for making a mistake, which caused many deaths, yet no man was scared.
- "Cannon to the right... cannon to the left... cannon in front" - despite being surrounded by weapons, they only have swords and still go on showing bravery.
- "Noble six hundred" - the poet commands us to remember those that died and were brave, a proud tone.
Exposure Information:
Who wrote Exposure? What was their background?
- Wilfred Owen
- Member of the British army, had a career in the church, but left.
What is the main message of the poem?
- Soldiers being exposed to poor weather conditions in war and us being exposed to the truth of war.
What is the structure of the poem?
- Filled with eclipses to enhance the idea of waiting for war.
- Para-rhyme to reflect the unsettlement in soliders.
Exposure Quotations:
- "Merciless iced east winds that knive us..." - eclipse suggests its never ending, sibilance gives an oppressive approach, personifies the wind to make it sound like an enemy.
- "But nothing happens" - repeated multiple times to enhance the idea that the reality of war wasn't always fighting, but most, waiting for war.
- "Misery of dawn" - traditionally, dawn is a time of hope, a new beginning, juxtaposed with the misery of war.
- "Her melancholy army attacks once more" - metaphor - the clouds are an army, he compares the weather to fighting the Germans.
- "For love of God seems dying" - questioning God's existance; old beliefs are fading.
- "Eyes are ice" - are they dead or emotionless to death?
Storm on the Island Information:
Who wrote Storm on the Island? What was their background?
- Seamus Heaney
- Poems are based on rural life, Northern Irish.
What is the main message of the poem?
- The relationship between nature and man. It is a metaphor for the conflict in Ireland.
What is the structure of the poem?
- Blank verse with unrhymed verses to give a conversational tone.
- Present tense.
- Enjambment - suggests we have no control over weather.
- Iambic pentameter juxtaposed with general Irish talk to represent conflict in Ireland.
Storm on the Island Quotations:
- "Storm on the Island" - first 8 letters spell "Stormont" which are the parliment buildings in Ireland.
- "This wizenend earth has never troubled us" - makes the earth sound like an old friend.
- "You know what I mean" - conversational tone.
- "Exploding comfortably" - oxymoron, makes it seems like storms are a normal thing.
- "Spits like a tame cat turned savage" - similie to suggest that weather is only scary if we let it.
Bayonet Charge Information:
Who wrote Bayonet Charge? What was their background?
- Ted Hughes
- Father served in WW1, obsessed with astrology and nature.
What is the main message of the poem?
- A solider running out of the trenches to attack and the indescribable horror of war.
What is the structure of the poem?
- Detailed, lengthy stanzas to represent thick mud.
- Complex sentences to enhance confusion of the soldier.
- Enjambment and caesura to give an erratic speed to the poem.
Bayonet Charge Quotations:
- "Suddenly he awoke... running - raw in raw-seamed hot khaki"- a sudden entry to the poem, makes the reader feel confused, like the soldier. The repetition of "raw", reflects the 'raw' emotions of the soldier.
- "Sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest" - the similie brings a sense of hell to the poem and the idea he is sweating suggests he is trying to get control.
- "Patriotic tear" - juxtaposition of being upset or scared with doing what is right for the country.
- "In what cold clockwork of the stars and the nations was he the hand pointing that second?" - the soldier is the clog in the clock, no one cares about him as long as the job is done.
- "yellow hare" - image of death and cowardness, he victimises nature to emphasise effect of war on nature.
- "King, honour, human dignity, etcetera" - moral justifications become meaningless because war has destroyed nature.
- "His terror's touchy dynamite" - he becomes a form of a human bomb, a weapon.
Remains Information:
Who wrote Remains? What was their background?
- Simon Armitage
- He has a collection of poems about discharged men, direct in his work.
What is the main message of the poem?
- The after effects of war on a soldier; the power his mind has when he remembers his experience.
What is the structure of the poem?
- Enjambment - to give a conversational format.
- Colloquial language - adds to the conversational tone and gives a sense of realism.
- Told anecdotally.
Remains Quotations:
- "Probably armed, possibly not" - a sense of guilt that he could have killed innocent. It is repeated later in the poem to enhance guilt.
- "Myself and somebody else and somebody else are all of the same mind" - the men lose their identity and respond to situations the same.
- "Three of a kind all letting fly...rips through his life" - metaphor of the bullets destructing the man and his life.
- "Sort of inside out" - he finds it difficult to describe what he has done.
- "One of my mates" - colloquial language.
- "Carted off in the back of a lorry" - disregards human life and dehumanises the victim, they are treated like an animal.
- "End of story, except not really" - contrast in what he wants to believe and what is reality.
- "Blood-shadow stays on the street" - he can't forget his actions, a metaphor that guilt remains.
- "His bloody life in my bloody hands" - refereance to MacBeth as Lady MacBeth struggled to remove the blood, representing her guilt, like his guilt remains.
Poppies Information:
Who wrote Poppies? What was their background?
- Jane Weir
- She uses everyday words but adds a deeper meaning to them, a textile designer.
What is the main message of the poem?
- A mother preparing her son for war and her development in emotions. When he is gone, she trys to reconnect by memories.
What is the structure of the poem?
- Enjambment - she is overwhelmed by emotions.
- Told chronologically, however, her memories are erratic showing confusion and vulnerability,
- Familiar nouns - enforces a motherly tone.
Poppies Quotations:
- "Before Armistice Sunday... before you left" - repetition to emphasise the parallel between national and personal mourning.
- "Spasms" - connotates an injured body, she thinks of the worst before her son has even left, foreshadows the danger.
- "Bandaged" - her choice of words shows she is emotionally wounded.
- "Smoothed down your shirt's" - a domestic, motherly image.
- "Play at being Eskimos" - revisits childhood memories.
- "Blackthorns" - a link to Jesus, suggests the sacrafices her son might have to make.
- "Like a treasure chest" - a similie to show the world from her son's perspective.
- "Intoxicated" - a mothers pain, but son's excitement.
- "Released a song bird from its cage... a single dove" - symbollic for her son leaving, a symbol of peace or mourning.
- "I traced the inscriptions on the war memorial" - a sense of touch shows the distance between them, is she visiting the war memorial because her son died or as a reconnecting moment?
War Photographer Information:
Who wrote War Photographer? What was their background?
- Carol Ann Duffy
- Inspired by her friendship with a war photographer.
What is the main message of the poem?
- A war photographer returning home to develop his photos, a contrast between the war zones and safety.
What is the structure of the poem?
- Tightly controlled structure shows the contrast with the chaos of war and saftey of home.
- Written as a narative - creates a sense of cynicism, the idea that people die and in the end, it results to a few photographs.
War Photographer Quotations:
- "Darkroom" - a place of sanctuary, contrasts with the warzone, represents the detatchment between the public and warzones.
- "Set out in ordered rows" - represents graves or bodies, comparing the warzone and effects of war with a few photos.
- "As though this were a church...Belfast, Beirut, Phnom Penh" - contrast in evil, sinister imagery, like listed warzones to religious imagery.
- "He has a job to do" - breaks the sanctuary.
- "A stranger's features...start to twist" - suggests he is developing the photo or someone is in pain.
- "Half-formed ghost" - ambiguous, no one remembers, a metaphor that they could be dead now.
- "Black-and-white" - photograph, good v evil, truth v lies.
- "Tears between...pre-lunch beers" - rhyming within a line to represent how quick people get over events.
- "They do not care" - effective last line to sum up the poem.
Tissue Information:
Who wrote Tissue? What was their background?
- Imtiaz Dharker
- She writes poems with multiple interpretations, has Pakistani origins, a lot of her poems look at religion, terrorism and global politics.
What is the main message of the poem?
- A reminder that nothing is meant to last. It is written from the view of someone looking at the negative things on earth.
What is the structure of the poem?
- Enjambment - reflects lack of control humans have over the world.
- Starts with looking at the simple things that cause joy, but, ends with a warning or hope.
Tissue Quotations:
- "Tissue" - paper, human tissue?
- "Paper that lets the light shine through" - referance to God or Allah, Bible or Quran, paper has power when used for religious purposes.
- "Pages smoothed...transparent with attention" - has been handed down, important in families
- "Maps...sun shines through their borderlines" - the segregation of the world by mankind, we try to control everything, even nature. However, nature's power is permanent and overpowers human power.
- "Roads, railtracks, mountainfolds" - listing to represent man's attempt to control nature.
- "Fine slips... paper kites" - we concentrate on receipts and economy, a man made concept, however, if we treated life with childlike ways, it would be a happier place. We cause our own problems.
- "Daylight break through capitals" - pathetic fallacy that nature will break through man's creation.
- "Turned into your skin" - links paper and human tissue.
The Emigree Information:
Who wrote The Emigree? What was their background?
- Carol Rumens
- Uses arresting imagery and symbolism.
What is the main message of the poem?
- The contrast between childhood and adulthood understandings. A metaphor for growing up.
What is the structure of the poem?
- Stanza 1: capturing memory Stanza 2: builds details Stanza 3: facing truth
- No particular structure - represents the uncertain understanding of the speaker.
- Enjambment - creates a flowing pace,
The Emigree Quotations:
- "Emigree" - an emigrant, someone who moves from a country because of political conditions. A feminine form, suggesting the speaker is a woman.
- "There once was a country..." - an idea that it is a fairytale.There is no specific country, suggesting this is a made up place or addressing to any other emigrants.
- "Sunlight-clear" - pathetic fallacy to show positive images of sunlight juxtaposing with adulthood understandings.
- "I am told" - distinction between what she is told and experience.
- "It may be sick" - personifying the town, as if it has been infected, but can be saved, a hopeful idea.
- "Sunlight" - repeated at the end of every stanza to reflect that she wants to be in the light.
- "As time rolls its tanks" - personifies time, that it is destructive, over time, the city has changed, destructing her memories.
- "It tastes like sunlight" - synaesthesia which blurs the image of vision and taste to show confusion.
- "My city comes to me in its own white plane" - personifies town, the idea that others have fled and will bring culture.
- "My city...dancing... city of walls" - juxtaposition of town identities, like her growth from childhood to adulthood.
Checking Out Me History Information:
Who wrote Checking Out Me History? What was their background?
- John Agard
- Born in Caribbean, but moved to Britain, taught about British history but not his own.
What is the main message of the poem?
- A conflict between with what we learn, which is irrelevant, to what we should be learning.
What is the structure of the poem?
- Enjambment - shows angry emotions.
- Italic - shows importance of Caribbean history.
- Uses structure to buld a rhythm to portray an oral tradition of stories.
Checking Out Me History Quotations:
- "Dem tell me" - repetition to emphasise the separation between himselff and education, phonetic spelling of Caribben spellings to show how he has brought over his culture regardless of what the system wants.
- "Bandage up me eye with me own history, blind me to me own identity" - shows deliberate attempt tp hide history, a metaphor of vision and blindness.
- "And all dat... dem tell me about **** Whittington and he cat" - he dismisses British history and makes it more trival.
- "Vision" - images of light when he talks about his own culture, yet contrasts with the image of blindness when talking about British history.
- "Napoleon, battalion" - rhyme to show the importance of oral communication in his own culture.
- "Cow who jump over de moon... spoon" - talks about nursery rhymes to show his education in Britain, he uses simple rhyme schemes to mock it.
- "Robin Hood" - uses falklore characters in comparison to his more relevant ones like Mary Seacole, who travelled to the Crimean War.
- "But now I checking out me own history I carving out me identity" - he creates his own identity based upon heritage and the final lines sum up the poem and gives a sense of celebration.
Kamikaze Information:
Who wrote Kamikaze? What was their background?
- Beatrice Garland
- She works in the NHS, has an intrest in why those gave their life for higher archy.
What is the main message of the poem?
- The idea of a soldier dying regardless of whether he completes the suicide mission or not; if he completes it, he dies in honour, but, if he doesn't, he comes back to a family who are disappointed and avoid him.
What is the structure of the poem?
- Italic font shows change in speaker, it enhances the idea that a daughter is passing on the story.
- Final couplet enables the reader to have their opinion.
- Only three full stops in the poem to show lack of control.
- Enjambment - reflects movement of plane.
- Lines have varied syllable patterns to reflect a sense of sickness in the kamikaze pilot.
Kamikaze Quotations:
- "Her father embarked at sunrise" - sets the scene that a father is going on an 'adventure', Japan is the 'land of the rising sun', sunrise is meant to be a time of a new beginning.
- "Enough fuel for a one-way journery into history" - highlights the honour soldiers recieved and enforces the idea of a suicide mission.
- "Must" - repeated modal verb as an attempt to justify his actions, shows bond between narrator and pilot.
- "Bunting...green-blue translucent sea" - usually associated with celebrations, shows what he will miss with vivid memories.
- "Figure of eight" - infinity symbol to suggest he is trapped in a cycle.
- "Dark shoals of fishes flashing silver as their bellies swivelled" - a metaphor for the aircraft doing the motion they use to hit targets.
- "Turbulent...safe" - contrast to show confusion.
- "Mackerel, black crabs...once a tuna" - fish represent freedom, but also weakness as they are the weakest in the food chain.
- "Which had been the better way to die" - contemplation whether suicide would have been better than returning.
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