Power and conflict poetry anthology quotes with analysis of them and context

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  • Created by: a.keenen
  • Created on: 29-10-17 16:54
Ozymandias - "I met a traveler from an antique land"
Emphasizes that the narrator hasn't seen the statue, only heard of it. This shows how unimportant Ozymandias is.
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Ozymandias - "The hand that mock'd them"
'Mock' can mean to ridicule, or to create a likeness of something - perhaps the sculptor intended his statue to make fun of Ozymandias.
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Ozymandias - Context: Shelly was a 'Romantic' poet - 'Romanticism' was a movement that had a big influence on art and literature in the late 1700s and early1800s. 'Romantic' poets believed in emotion rather than reason, tried to capture intense
experiences in their work and particularly focused the power of nature. Shelly also disliked monarchies, absolute power and oppression of ordinary people. His radical political views were inspired by the events of the French Revolution.
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London - "blights with plagues"
Powerful language of illness and disease. Destruction is implied by "blights" and "plagues" hints at something that's uncontrollable and destined to affect lots of people.
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London - Youthful harlot's"
Contrast between innocence of youth and sordidness of prostitution
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London: context - Blake wrote and illustrated two volumes of poetry which explored the state of the human soul. The 'Songs of Innocence' are positive poems which focus on childhood, nature and love, whereas 'Songs of Experience' (including 'London')
look at how that innocence is lost, and how society has bee corrupt.
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The prelude: Stealing the Boat - "troubled pleasure"
Oxymoron hints at the narrator's guilt.
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The prelude: Stealing the Boat - "for many days"
The impact was long lasting.
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The prelude:Stealing the boat: context - This is an extract from the first of fourteen books that make Wordsworth's poem 'The prelude'. The book is entitled 'Introduction - childhood and school-time'. Wordsworth was a 'romantic' poet. Like other
'romantic' poetry, this extract explores the connection between nature and human emotion, and the way human identity and character is shaped by experience.
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My last duchess - "Wil't you please sit and look at her?"
Sounds polite, but he's really being quite forceful.
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My last duchess - "how shall I say?"
The duke struggles to express his irritation.
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The charge of the light brigade - "Rode the six hundred"
They're presented as one group with one purpose.
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The charge of the light brigade - "Was there a man dismay'd? Not tho' the soldier knew: some one had blunder'd"
Soldiers realize the order was a mistake but do what they are told because it is their duty to obey orders. The poet respects this.
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Exposure - "But nothing happens"
The last stanza ends the same way as the first stanza, suggesting that even daeth doesn't change anything.
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Exposure - "Our brains ache"
This is a shared, painful experience.
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Storm on the island - "We are prepared"
This is a very strong opening statement that creates a feeling of safety.
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Storm on the island - "it is a huge nothing that we fear."
The storm is invisible - there's nothing solid there. This contrasts with the solid rock mentioned in the second line of the poem.
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Storm on the island: context - The first of eight letters of the poem's title spell 'Stormont'. 'Stormont' is the name given to Northern Ireland's parliament buildings. This hints that the 'storm' could be about some of the violent political
disturbances that Ireland has experienced, e.g. between Catholics and Protestants, or Irish republicans wanting independence from Britain.
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Bayonet charge - "raw"
This has a double meaning - it suggests discomfort but also inexperience.
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Bayonet charge - "His terrors touchy dynamite"
The soldier seems to have become a weapon rather than a human being. #He's driven purely by his terror.
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Remains - "bloody hands."
Possible reference to Macbeth - after persuading her husband to kill King Duncan, Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and tries to wash imaginary blood from her hands. This allusion hints that the speaker has been unbalanced by his guilt, as Lady Macbeth was.
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Remains - "his bloody life"
There could be a double meaning to "bloody" - he's talking about the mans blood, but could also be swearing in anger.
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Poppies - "I traced the inscriptions on the war memorial, leaned against it like a wishbone."
This quotation serves as a reminder of the risks the speaker’s son faces. The reference to a “wishbone” demonstrates that the mother is vulnerable and fragile.
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Poppies - "After you’d gone I went into your bedroom, released a song bird from its cage"
The “song bird” could be a metaphor for the mother’s emotions. When he is out of sight, she can finally express her true feelings and the hurt/worry that she is feeling. It is evident that she is in distress when he leaves to go to war.
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War photographer - "spools of suffering set out in ordered rows"
The use of sibilance highlights this image, which creates a suggestion of graves or bodies ‘in ordered rows’. There is also contrast in this image: ‘spools of suffering’ which seems chaotic yet in ‘ordered rows’.
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War photographer - "A hundred agonies in black and-white"
The scenes in his negatives are compared to ‘agonies’, a powerful noun to tell us about the pain of conflict. Because they are in ‘black-and-white’ they have been made to seem merely factual or simplified.
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Tissue - all references to paper (e.g. "fine slips" and "luminous scripts")
Paper acts as a metaphor for life and the way we live it. It shows how paper can be so fragile yet be enormously powerful when it is used to convey information.
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Tissue - "might fly our lives like paper kites"
The simile suggests that our lives are not always in our control, but more like kites being blown by the wind. Connotations include a lack of control, but could be seen as a happy or childlike image.
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The emigree - "bright, filled paperweight"
The memory has no more value than a trinket with no lasting value.
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The emigree - "branded by an impression of sunlight"
‘Branded’ is a word torn with ambiguity: it is a sign of being owned, and it is a way of marking out as having a particular bad or shameful quality.
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Checking out me history - "Dem tell me"
The repetition of ‘Dem’ emphasises the separation the speaker feels between the British education system and himself.
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Checking out me history - "Dem tell me" (continued)
The use of the phonetic spelling supports this as it creates a sense of the speaker’s voice and suggests he feels pride in his heritage and background.
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Checking out me history - "Bandage up me eye with me own history Blind me to me own identity"
The use of the word ‘bandage’ here is ironic as bandages are associated with healing but here, it has been used to prevent him from seeing his own history and identity. It makes the attempt to prevent him from seeing his identity seem deliberate.
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Checking out me history - "Bandage up me eye with me own history Blind me to me own identity" (continued)
The fact he is them ‘blinded’ emphasises this and suggests a long lasting effect.
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Kamikaze - “Her father embarked at sunrise”
The first stanza describes narrator’s father getting ready for the battle, and how he was all embedded for the Kamikaze attack that Japanese used against the US Navy during the World War Two.
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Kamikaze - “Her father embarked at sunrise” (continued)
The use of verb ‘embarked’ in the very first line of this stanza has double meaning; first to board a plane and second to embark upon a new adventure.
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Kamikaze - "Her father embarked at sunrise" (continued)
This is a willingly done positive connotation, but reading through the whole poem it comes out the word ‘embark’ is suitably used in terms of the relevance of the poem’s theme.
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Kamikaze - "green-blue translucent" "pearl-grey"
The first section is full of vivid impressions of the senses. There is a semantic field of colour; 'green-blue translucent', 'dark shoals', 'flashing silver' and 'pearl-grey'. The senses of touch ('feathery') and taste ('salt-sodden') are evoked.
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Kamikaze - "green-blue translucent" "pearl-grey" (continued)
The impressions remind the pilot he is alive and life is for relishing. There is no mention of the senses in the section of the poem that deals with events after his choice. There is silence and it is 'as though he had never returned'.
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I got the quotes, analysis and context for poems up to and on 'remains' from the revision guide.
From 'Poppies onwards: https://www.carshaltonboys.org/_site/data/files/files/curriculum/year%2011%20revision/english/lit/D95D01402AE3773102A227025C60DDA1.pdf
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Ozymandias - "The hand that mock'd them"

Back

'Mock' can mean to ridicule, or to create a likeness of something - perhaps the sculptor intended his statue to make fun of Ozymandias.

Card 3

Front

Ozymandias - Context: Shelly was a 'Romantic' poet - 'Romanticism' was a movement that had a big influence on art and literature in the late 1700s and early1800s. 'Romantic' poets believed in emotion rather than reason, tried to capture intense

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

London - "blights with plagues"

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

London - Youthful harlot's"

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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