what poems contain

poems about killing and murder

Salome

the narrator is a women whos had a one night stand, then killed the man she slept with.
she does not tell us what she has done straight away.
she desciribes the "reddish beard" and "crimson mouth" which should sound innocent until we found out that she has murdered him
she doent regret what she has done, as she says sarcastlicaly "aint life a *****" then jokes about the head on a platter.
her calm attitude to the murder is shocking

1 of 5

on my first sonne

poet expresses the grief he feels over losing a child "farewell thou child of my right hand and joy"
he tries to find something +ve in sons death - he has escapes misseries of aging and lifes troubles
pays tribute to son "best piece of poetrie" - best work, says never love anything too much again incase he loses it

Novemeber

seeing the old people in the home makes the poet think about his own death
old people appear very close to death - "pasty bloodless smiles" and "stunned brains" suggest already parts of body that are dead
the thought of death depresses him "feel the terror of dusk begin"
but at the end says, "somethimes the sun pangles" and this makes him determines to get as much out of life as possible

2 of 5

Mother any distance greater

person in this poem is moving into his own house. Becoming indempendant from his mum
mum helps him measure up things, tape measure "unreeling/years between us" becomes a metaphor for all the shared memories that they have shared together
mother finds it difficult to let go of him completely "your fingertips still pinch the last 1 hundreth of and inch"
at the end, he faces up to life without his mum, ready to "fall or fly"

on my first sonne could also be used...

3 of 5

Before you were mine

the poet imagines her mother as a glamorous person
she likes to think of her mother as a bit of a rebel who put pleasure first. She imagines her staying out late, not caring that she would get a "hiding" when she came home
she remembers as a child, playing with her mums red high heelied shoes "relics" of her frivolous past and her mum teaching her to "cha cha cha" on the way back from church
she realises the sacrifices her mother has made since her birth. With the "loud possessive yell" of a young baby, she took over her mothers life.
she no longer had time to go out and have a good time

Homecoming

the person being talked to in this poem is about how she/he regaredes their parents - family.
after the argument that it had with them it left her with the inability to talk or trust them any more.

4 of 5

Sonnet 130

it is written as a sonnet, (14 lines long), howevs. Shakespeare goes against readers expectations and is quite rude about his mistress "her eyes are nothing like the sun"
on line 9 is the first hint that he loves her "i love to hear her speak"
in the last 2 sentances the tone canges, he decleares that his mistress is just as wonderful as any women whos praised with silly compliments "i think my love as rare"

Anne Hathaway

poem is a sonnet, describes the love with her husband
love between them was almost too good o be true . She uses romantic, magical words to describe it "lovers words/ were shooting stars to these lips"
says their love was "romance / drama played by touch by scent, by taste" i was so passionate she passionate she felt as if they were caracters in one of her husbands plays

5 of 5