English Literature Poetry Flashcards
1)
2) ‘Nothing beside remains.’
3) ‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings’
Ozymandias
1)
2) Volta (the turning point of the poem). Shows that your life can change in an instant. There is a caesura (full stop) which emphasises that nothing besides remains.
1)
2) ‘Shattered visage lies’
1) This is juxtaposed with nothing remaining. This is symbolic, as it symbolises a king who worships himself so much, he wants to appear Godlike. It is a hyperbole because he is on the top, exaggerating how powerful he is.
2) The adjective gives the impression that the statue is unrepairable and reflects the power of nature. Shows that ultimately nature has power over everything.
1) Explain the poem London
2) What is the form of the poem?
1) - London is a symbol of the British Empire - a symbol of power and progress.
- The poet juxtaposes of what people believe London is like, and what London is actually like.
2) - Form: London is a narrative poem. It is telling a story about the realistic aspects of London.
1) ‘Mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe.’
2) ‘Mind-forced manacles hear’
1) The adjectives and repetition emphase how everyone in London is controlled and looks as if they are week.
2) Manacles are chains. The people of London are not being physically controlled, but are being controlled by their minds. The verb ‘hear’ implies that he can hear everyone else’s manacles, but perhaps he is possibly so delusional and brainwashed that he is under control as well, but he doesn’t realise it.
1) What is the form of the poem The Prelude? What is could the message of the poem?
2) ‘Led by her’
3) ‘Troubled pleasure’
1) - Poem’s form: This poem is an ‘epic’, which describes an event where nature is putting man in its place.
- Similar to Ozymandias, the message could be: don’t get carried away and abuse your power or position, because nature will ultimately put you into your place.
2) An pronoun ‘her suggérât that the writer is personifying nature.
3) An oxymoron that shows the speaker know that he is doing what he should not be doing, but he is doing it anyway.
1) ‘The voice of mountain-echoes did my boat move on’
2) ‘Proud of his skill’
3) ‘A huge peak, black and huge…up reared its head’
1) It is as if he is in a stadium, and the nature is cheating him on.
2) At this point he is at the peak of his power and believes he is very good.
3) This is the voltra (turning point) that disturbes his view.
1) ‘I struck and struck again’
2) ‘I dipped my oars’, ‘With trembling ores’
3) ‘serious mood’, ‘No familiar shapes remained, but huge and mighty forms’
W)
2) His relaxed nature in the beginning juxposes after the voltra when he is trembling.
3) - He is now trying to run home. He is in a ‘serious mood’. ‘No familiar shapes remained, but huge and mighty forms’ This reflects possible PTSD from the events he has gone though.
1) What the form of the poem ‘My Last Dutchess’? What is the poem about?
2) ‘Since none puts by The curtain I have drawn for you, but I‘
1) - Poem’s form: this poem is a dramatic monologue, it a first person biased one-sided poem. We never hear his wife’s point of view.
- The duke wants to get married again, and a man from her house has come to see the duke. The duke is telling the man about his previous wife. He believed that she was having an affair.
2) The brackets indicate that the duke is talking directly to his wife in the picture. He is saying that no one else can cover or uncover you with the curtain accept me. He thinks that he is powerful and in control over her. However, the fact that she is always playing on her mind suggests that she is controlling him. The enjambement of this line illustrates her never ending continuous control.
1) ‘Too easily impressed’, ’Her looks went everywhere. Sir, ‘twas all one!’
2) ‘All smiles stopped together.’
1) - ‘Too easily impressed’ A hyperbole. ’Her looks went everywhere. Sir, ‘twas all one!’ ‘Shows that she treated all men the same, and did not treat the duke like he was special. He seems insecure in himself, and what his wife thinks about him, which juxtaposes patriarchy.
2) Sibilance which gives a sinister and dark tone, and a caesura which emphasises how her life came to a sudden end.
1) What is the form of the poem The Charge of The Light Brigade? What is the poem about?
2) ‘Into the valley of Death’
1) - Poem’s form: an epic. It is about an event.
- The poem is about an army battalion called the light brigade who were in a battle.
2) - ‘Into the valley of Death’ is foreshadowing what was going to happen to the soldiers. The ‘valley’ is a symbol of death, and indicates that the place they are going to is very small, and they are not coming back out.
1) ‘Theirs not to make reply/ reason why/ but to do and die.’
2) ‘While horse and hero fell They that had fought so well’
1) Soldiers had not choice. The soldiers did not reason and think. They just do as they are told, even if they will die. Propaganda is used to persuade the soldiers do what they are told, even if they die, as they are told that they will be remembered has a hero.
2) The volta, where people are beginning to die. It is juxtaposition because the poem is no holding anyone to account. These men are not dying because they are heroes, but because some one made a big mistake and sent these men to their deaths.
2) ‘Our brains ache in the merciless iced east winds // that knive us…’
1) - Form: a narrative poem, telling a story
- The poem is about a group of men waiting for a battle to begin. However, they are fighting a war with nature.
2) - ‘Our brains ache’ personnification shows how they’ve been thinking so much that their head is not hurting, but their brains are hurting a from all the thinking. They have been fed so much propaganda that they cannot think straight.
- ‘…in the merciless iced east winds // that knive us…’ Enjambment and sibilance. The sibilance mimics the movement of nature stabbing and destroying the men, showing that you cannot defeat nature.
1) ‘The mad gusts tugging on the wire’
2)
1) - ‘The mad gusts tugging on the wire’ the verb is personification. This implies that nature is angry and destroying people, tearing them apart.
2)
1) What is the form and the message of the poem Storm On The Island?
2) ‘We are prepared’
1) - Form: an epic, about the events in Northern Ireland
- The message of the poem is you cannot fully prepare for war because there are elements that you cannot control.
2) Talks about propaganda, telling people to prepare for a war Ireland vs Northern Ireland conflict. This starting line juxtaposes the ending line: ‘It is a huge nothing that we fear’
1) ‘We just sit tight while wind dives’
2) ‘Listen to the thing you fear // Forgetting that it pummels your house too’
1) - ‘We just sit tight while wind dives’ the volta of the poem. It shows the idea of being helpless, when the war with nature begins, you just ‘sit tight’ and hope that you are safe.
2) This is personifying and foreshadowing the person’s downfall. It is showing that the same people who you are listening to, telling you who to attack, there will be a time when there start to attacks you as well, so nobody is safe from the attack.
