Poetry Anthology

A memory of the day his lover left him. He's still upset about it as she hurt him. 

"silence and tears" is repeated at the beginning and end of the poem. Circular structure emphasises how hurt he is and how he's going around in circles trying to get over her - Not going anywhere. 

The word "long" is repeated to emphasise how long he'll feel regret.

"Why wert thou so dear?" He questions why he cared for her so much. How much he loved her.

There is lots of violent imagery which relates to death and suggests he feels dead without her. The end of the relationship was a death for him. 

Structure

ABAB rhyme scheme 

4 octaves. The regular form suggests control.

Attitudes - Grief, anger, regret

The whole poem is how nature is all interconnected and joined. The narrator gets frustrated because everything is joined together except him and the woman he loves. 

At the end of each stanza, there is a rhetorical question which shows the narrators frustration. There are 5 syllables in each question which separates them from the rest of the poem just like how the lovers are separated. 

The word "mingle" is repeated twice to emphasise how nature 'mingles'. Personification to draw parallels and connections between nature and his lover. "Love" and "clasp" are repeated which reflects the narrator's belief that humans should mirror nature. 

The colons and hyphens show the speaker trying to continue and drag the line on and the love.  

Structure

Uses a regular structure to make his argument stronger. 

ABAB rhyme scheme mirrors the meaning of the poem. It suggests they are supposed to be together like the rhyme pairs.  Shows unrequited love.

A man is sat in his cottage whilst his wife does chores for him. He ignores her as she tries to get his attention. He then strangles her with her own hair and sits with her dead body. The fact he "propped her head up as before" could mean he regrets it.

The first 5 lines describe a storm "It tore the elm-tops down for spite" which is pathetic fallacy. Threatening, angry, ominous. Porphyria is described as very graceful and elegant which contrasts the weather. "Glided"

He ignores her when she talks to him "no voice replied"

The word "and" is used a lot and it emphasises his child-like immaturity. He doesn't act like an adult but the fact he's silent and doesn't hesitate suggests it was a calculated murder. 

"she was mine, mine, fair" is disturbing repetition.  Shows possession. 

"I am quite sure she felt no pain" He is a psychopath and he tries to make it not seem as bad.  

Structure

Enjambment could represent the certainty and builds up to the murder. Similes and caesura. 

The narrator talking about how much she thinks of her lover when they're not there.

Lots of natural imagery - "twine" "bud" "vines" "tree" "leaves" "boughs" "trunk" "wood" "greenery" Extended metaphor. The lover is a tree and she is the "wild vines" that "twine and bud" around him. It's also a metaphor for how her thoughts are always growing and developing.

"Who art dearer, better!" Caesura shows change and exclamation mark shows frustration. 

"burst, shattered, everywhere!" Reinforces her excitement for him. Caesura contributes to the dramatic effect.  

Structure

Sonnet - 14 lines, one stanza

First 8 lines are an octave. 

The poem starts off with her saying "I think of thee" and ends with her saying "I do not think of thee" which suggests they are together again and she is "too near thee"

A breakup of a couple. A memory of a day when he and his lover were at a pond and their relationship was failing. The phrase "Over tedious riddles of years ago" shows that it hadn't been good for a long time. "Riddles" shows negative game imagery - "played" and "lost"

Negative bird imagery ("Like an ominous bird-a-wing" Simile) Bird flying away like the end of a relationship. 

Pathetic fallacy - "winter day" is cold and depressing. Death of relationship and happiness.

"The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing" is an oxymoron - contradicting, bitter. emphasises the lack of feeling towards him. 

"keen lessons that love deceives" He's against love and he thinks its a lie. The past relationships have affected him having another relationship. He makes a pessimistic generalisation. 

Structure 

There are 4 quatrains which are very regular. Iambic pentameter makes is sound neutral and uninvolved and reflects the mood of the speaker. The poem ends where is began - circular structure means nothing has changed. 

In the first stanza, there is a man working in his garden. It's about a long distance relationship and he lives in Yorkshire and she lives somewhere else.

She is a journalist and he's a gardener. "Is your life more real because you dig and sow?" Rhetorical question. Is his life more important because he's outside and she's less because she works inside on a computer. Contrast.

Lots of nature references." first lapwings return" He's connected with nature and experiences it on a daily basis. He hoped for her return just like the lapwings. 

"Seeing the seasons"Enjambment imitates the changing seasons.

Structure 

There are 5 stanzas with three lines each (tercet). The first 3 stanzas show how they live separately. The last 2 stanzas show how connected they are. 

Free verse and enjambment. The odd number of lines in the stanzas shows how disjointed and unconnected they are. 

About a farmer who was married to a young girl for "Three summers". The girl is scared of her husband ("when us was wed she turned afraid") and other men ("so long as men-folk keep away"). She eventually runs away, everyone looks for her and they find her ("We caught her, fetched her home at last" Described like an animal) Hunting imagery. 

She is very shy and a simile is used to describe her "like a mouse".

The phrase "I've hardly heard her speak at all" shows she doesn't trust him and he upsets her. She doesn't love him but "She does the work about the house" anyway. 

The rhetorical question "But what to me?" shows how he knows she means nothing to him. The question breaks his happy thoughts of her in springtime and takes him back to winter. Pathetic fallacy. 

Structure

The farmer talks about how the marriage is a failure in the first 2 stanzas and the rest of the poem is about how his wife is now and how he feels about her.

A memory of when a son walked away from his father. 

It was a very important memory that affected the father deeply due to how well he remembers it. He eventually comes to an understanding that all children must grow up and away from their parents. He remembers it "almost to the day" which emphasises how important it was to him. 

Pathetic fallacy - "leaves just turning" Autumn which is a time of change.

The simile "Like a satellite wrenched away from orbit" shows the son being taken from his father.

"And love is proved in the letting go" If you love someone you have to let them go. 

"pathos of a half-fledged thing set free" The son looks lost like a newborn bird trying to keep up.

Structure 

4 stanzas with 5 lines.

Stanzas 1 and 2 are about the memory. Stanzas 3 and 4 are about understanding to let go.

About someone looking back on a specific memory of his parents when they were young. It could be real or it could be an imagined scene of him crossing over into the afterlife and joining his parents. 

There are lots of little specific details which show how clear and special the memories are ("HP sauce bottle" He remembers the details well) Good memory. 

Natural imagery - "straw", "grass", "stream", "colour of wheat" and "stone along the water"

The simile "as if lit by three suns" could mean heaven but there' too much light and it's too good to be true. Three suns - family of three reuniting. Unnatural, not real, otherworldly. 

"They beckon to me from the other bank" separation and distance. Crossing into heaven. 

Structure

The first stanza is about his father and the second is about his mother. The first 4 stanzas are quatrains which shows certainty but the fifth is three lines and is talking about him crossing into heaven and going to his parents. The last stanza is one line and shows a realisation. Ambiguous. 

About a son that follows his dad when he's ploughing the fields. The son is annoying but he's learning. By the end of the poem, they have swapped places and the dad is following the son "It is my father who keeps stumbling"

There is lots of nautical imagery - "full sail strung", "breaking" and "dipping and rising" The simile "Like a full sail strung" shows how strong the father is and that like sails harness the power of the wind, the father harnesses the power of the horses. 

The father is described as "An expert" and he's good at what he does. It also shows the sons admiration. The nautical imagery describes the father as the sails, the captain and the ship - he's everything to his son. 

Structure

The first 4 stanzas talk about the father and the last 2 talk about the speaker. 6 quatrains.

There is a shift in the last stanza because the father and the son switch roles. 

Regular structure - repetition of generations and time going on. 

A mother helps her son measure things in his new house. The mother is always there to help him even as he grows up but that could also suggest the mother s holding him back.

Physically, the mother is holding onto one end of the tape measure but metaphorically, she won't let go and no matter how far he goes, she will always be there for him. The tape represents their history. Extended metaphor. 

The phrase "Acres of the walls, the prairies" suggests the son is intimidated and daunted. It could also present ideas of adventure and exploration as the son grows up and away from his mother. Irregular rhyme scheme shows uncertainty. 

The mother is an "Anchor" and the son is a "Kite." He's a kite starting to fly, but his anchor mother still keeps him secure. 

"to fall or fly" to succeed or fail, the reader is left unsure. Bird imagery - "hatch" and "fly"

Structure 

The son needs his mother in the first stanza, the second his is exploring his independence and the third he realises "something has to give"

This poem contains lots of happy memories about the narrator's mother. The mother was happier before she was born and the child wishes for the person she was before she was born "I wanted the bold girl winking in Portobello"

The "high-heeled red shoes" that are now "relics" shows that her mother's glamour is precious like "relics" but the word "ghost" suggests it's in the past and isn't coming back. 

"Clear as scent" because the scent provokes strong memories shows how vividly she remembers it.

"before you were mine" is repeated twice within the poem which emphasises the change and develops possessive language "mine" Exciting, possessive and colloquial language.

Structure

The poem starts and ends with her mother on a pavement. The beginning shes having fun with her friends but the end shes walking with her child. The emphasises how much has changed and creates a division. 

4 stanzas with 5 lines which is regular. 

A poem about a couple who have been fighting ("Two days of rain" Pathetic fallacy). They go on a walk by a pond with swans in. By the end of the poem, they have reconcilliated ("hands have swum the distance between us" Metaphor)

The swans are an extended metaphor for the couple's relationship. "gulping for breath Sad - unhappy. Natural imagery. 

"Like a pair of wings" simile. "pair" shows how they are no longer two separate people. 

There is a lot of bird imagery and the birds symbolise love. "wings" "feather" "swum" "flight"

The metaphor about the "iceburgs" demonstrates how icesburgs have more underwater than above water which could imply that the couple has a strong relationship or that they are keeping things hidden from each other. 

Structure

The first 6 stanzas have 3 lines (tercet) and the last is a couplet. The couple are apart in the first 5 stanzas and come together in the last 2 ("swum the distance between us" Metaphor)

The narrator is from an Indian family and he talks about working in his father's corner shop. He's newly married and he often sneaks out of the shop to see her. 

His wife wears "a tartan sari a donkey jacket and some pumps" which is a mixture of British and Indian culture. 

"She effing at my mum" He finds his wife's swearing funny even as she makes fun of his parents. One of the attitudes is rebellion and when the wife makes fun of his parents, he finds it amusing and endearing. The son goes against his father's rules by sneaking off all the time and neglecting his responsibilities in the shop. 

Singh is somewhere in all Sikh men's names. 

Dialogue is included in this poem. 

Structure

The poem switches between talking about the shop and the customers and his wife. This highlights how often he switches between his duties. No rhyme scheme contributes to this idea.

An extended metaphor of a boy 'climbing his grandfather' The narrator could be remembering him as a child or as a metaphor to show him "discover" things about him as an adult.

The grandfather is compared to a mountain and is presented as being important, strong and inspiring. The grandfather is a part of the landscape - physically and mentally - grandson looks up to him. The son grows up as he climbs up. Semantic field of climbing. 

The simile "like warm ice" is an oxymoron. A child-like simile and creates an affectionate image as his grandfather isn't cold like ice is but still strong. 

The phrase "At his still form shoulder" shows he's reliable and always there for him. 

The last line "the slow pulse of this good heart" could mean he's dying and that he's a good person. Its simple language and simple sentence. 

Structure

As we read down the poem the speaker climbs up. Follows the climber's progress. Could represent the family tree - the grandfathers at the top and the child at the bottom. One stanza mimics the grandfather's physical appearance - like a mountain.