English Literature- Poetry Flashcards

1
Q

What is the overview of ‘Ozymandias’?

A

The speaker is telling an anonymous traveler’s description of a ruined statue of a once great ruler.

Poem can be seen as an analogy: time will challenge any great ruler.

Statue can be a metaphor for the foolishness of the ruler.

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2
Q

Name some key quotations from ‘Ozymandias’.

A

‘Two vast and trunkless legs of stone’

‘Half sunk, a shatter’d visage lies’

‘Sneer of cold command’

‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings!’

‘Colossal wreck’

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3
Q

What is the form and structure of ‘Ozymandias’?

A

Form: a sonnet written with iambic pentameter, but doesn’t follow regular sonnet rhythm. (May reflect how power can be destroyed.)

Structure: Speaker begins with description of statue, ends with the description of the enormous description. Reflects insignificance of statue.

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4
Q

What poems can ‘Ozymandias’ be linked to, and how?

A

‘My Last Duchess’- human power and pride and life represented in art.

‘The Prelude’, ‘Exposure’, ‘Storm on the Island’- power of nature.

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5
Q

What is the overview of ‘London’?

A

Written in first person.

Poem describes a walk through London.

Describes the imbalance in quality between the poor and the rich.

Describes suffering of the poor, lack of individual freedom.

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6
Q

Name some key quotations from ‘London’.

A

‘I wande thro’ each chartered sreet’

‘Marks of weakness, marks of woe’

‘In every cry’

‘Mind forg’d manacles’

‘Every black’ning church appalls’

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7
Q

What is the form and structure of ‘London’?

A

Form: Dramatic monologue- speaker tells us about the suffering the man walking sees. ABAB rhyme scheme echoes the misery.

Structure: Relentless imagery of poor people. First two stanzas focus on people, third stanza switch to the institutions responsible and last stanza returns to how people are affected.

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8
Q

What poems can be linked to ‘London’, and how?

A

‘Checking out me history’- feelings of anger.

‘The Prelude’, ‘Emigree’- experiences of a place.

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9
Q

What is the overview of ‘Exposure’?

A

Poem is based on Wilfred Owen’s experiences (the poet) in the trenches of World War 1. It is the winter of 1917- winter was freezing. Soldiers are waiting at night out of fear of an attack. Nature is the real enemy.

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10
Q

What are some key quotations from ‘Exposure’?

A

‘Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east wind that knifes us’

‘But nothing happens’

‘Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the air’

‘Pale flakes with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces’

‘Shrivelling many hands, puckering foreheads crisp’

‘All their eyes are ice’

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11
Q

What is the form and structure of ‘Exposure’?

A

Form: Poem is written in present tense using the first person plural ‘we’, ‘our’, ‘us’. Shows it was a collective experience between soldiers. Regular rhyme scheme (ABBAC) reflects the monotonous experience of the soldiers.

Structure: Eight stanzas, but there is no progression. Last stanza ends with same words as the first reflecting the dull life in the trenches.

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12
Q

What poems can be linked to ‘Exposure’?

A

‘Charge of the light Brigade’, ‘Bayonet Charge’- reality of war.

‘Storm on the Island’- power of nature.

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13
Q

What is the overview of ‘Storm on the Island’?

A

Speaker describes how a community is well-prepared for a storm that is coming. Storm develops, their confidence disappears. Power and sound of the storm are described.

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14
Q

What are some key quotations from ‘Storm on the Island’?

A

‘We are prepared’

‘When it blows full blast’

‘Exploding comfortably’

‘Spits like a tame cat turned savage’

‘We are bombarded’

‘It is a huge nothing we fear’

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15
Q

What is the form and structure of ‘Storm on the Island’?

A

Form: Poem is written in blank verse which mirrors everyday speech, makes the poem feel like a conversation. First person collective, ‘we’, used to show a collective experience.

Structure: Poem shifts from security to fear. ‘But no’ is the volta- start of the storm.

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16
Q

What are some poems that link to ‘Storm on the Island?

A

‘Bayonet Charge’- fear

‘The Prelude’- fear, the power of nature.

‘Exposure’- the power of nature.

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17
Q

What is the overview of ‘Remains’?

A

The speaker is a serviceman who is returning home from Iraq. During his service, he had to kill a man. He struggles from PTSD and that spirals into other issues.

18
Q

What are some key quotations from ‘Remains’?

A

‘On another occasion, we get sent to tackle looters’

‘Probably armed, possibly not’

‘It rips through his life- I see broad daylight on the other side’

‘Image of agony’

‘Blood shadow’

‘Dug in behind enemy lines’

‘His bloody life in my bloody hands’

19
Q

What is the form and structure of ‘Remains’?

A

Form: No regular line length o rhyme scheme- it feels like the poet is recalling an event or story. Speaker starts with the plural, ‘we’, but later changes into the singular, ‘I’, making the poem more personal.

Structure: Poems seems like it will begin with an amusing story/anecdote, but quickly turns into the graphic description of a man’s death. Volta is at the start of stanza 5, ‘end of story except not really’- shows the soldier’s guilt.

20
Q

What are some poems that link to ‘Remains’?

A

‘Kamikaze’- importance of memory.

‘Poppies’, ‘Bayonet Charge’, ‘War Photographer’- individual experiences of war and effects of conflict.

‘Exposure’, ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’- reality and horror of war.

21
Q

What is the overview of ‘War Photographer’?

A

The poem describes the experiences of a war photographer who is back home in England developing photos he has taken for a Sunday Newspaper Magazine.

22
Q

What are some key quotations from ‘War Photographer’?

A

‘In his dark room he is finally alone’

‘Spools of suffering set out in ordered rows’

‘His hands, which did not tremble though seem to now’

‘Of running children in a nightmare heat’

‘Blood satined into foreign dust’

‘A hundred agonies in black and white’

23
Q

What is the form and structure of ‘War Photographer’?

A

Form: Poem has four stanzas, each of equal length and have a regular rhyme scheme. Ordered structure reflects the actions of the photographer in line 2- taking care when developing his photos. Enjambment is used in stanza 3, reflects the emerging images as the photos develop.

Structure: Poem follows the actions and thoughts of the photographer. Change in stanza 3 when the photographer remembers a specific death Final stanza shifts to how the photographs will be viewed by others.

24
Q

What are some poems that can be linked to ‘War Photographer’?

A

‘Remains’, ‘Bayonet Charge’, ‘Kamikaze’- effects and experiences of conflicts, reality of war.

25
Q

What is the overview of ‘The Emigree’?

A

Speaker is describing leaving her country behind when she was a child. The speaker remembers the city and country of their birth positively- the memory of the place is comforting to her.

26
Q

What are some key quotations from ‘The Emigree’?

A

‘There was once a country… I left it as a child’

‘But my memory of it is sunlight clear’

‘It may be at war, it may be sick with tyrants’

‘It tastes of sunlight’

‘I have no passport, there’s no way back at all’

27
Q

What is the form and structure of ‘The Emigree’?

A

Form: Poem is written in first person. Stanzas 1 and 2 use enjambment which reflects the freedom of the speakers positive memories of her country of origin. Stanza 3 has end stops which reflects her restriction, especially in her new ‘city walls’.

Structure: Each stanza ends in ‘sunlight’- reinforces the idea that the speaker is seeing the city in a positive light. As the poem develops, the speaker’s memories of the city vanish. City becomes a physical presence in the last stanza.

28
Q

What are some poems that link to ‘The Emigree’?

A

‘London’- place.

‘Kamikaze’- memory.

‘Poppies’- memory and loss.

29
Q

What is the overview of ‘Kamikaze’?

A

The poem describes a kamikaze pilot setting off on his journey. About halfway through his journey, he remembers his brothers so he turns around and returns to his family. He is shunned for the rest of his life, as he would of brought dishonour on his family.

30
Q

What are some key quotations from ‘Kamikaze’?

A

‘Her father embarked at sunrise’

‘A shaven head full of powerful incantations’

‘But halfway there he thought’

‘Little fishing boats strung out like bunting on a green blue translucent sea’

‘Shoals of fish flashing silver’

‘And though he came back my mother never spoke to him again’

31
Q

What is the form and structure of ‘Kamikaze’?

A

Form: Mostly narrated in the third person, the pilot’s daughter voice. The pilot’s voice is silent because he has been cut off from society.

Structure: Fist 5 stanzas form 1 sentence which covers the pilot’s flights. The last two stanzas are 1 sentence long and shows the impact of the pilot returning home.

32
Q

What are some poems that link to ‘Kamikaze’?

A

‘The Prelude’- power of nature.

‘Poppies’, ‘War Photograther’- memory.

‘Checking out me history’- identity.

33
Q

Who wrote ‘Ozymandias’?

A

Percy Shelley

34
Q

Who wrote ‘London’?

A

William Blake

35
Q

Who wrote ‘Exposure’?

A

Wilfred Owen

36
Q

Who wrote ‘ Storm on the Island’?

A

Seamus Heaney

37
Q

Who wrote ‘Remains’?

A

Simon Armitage

38
Q

Who wrote ‘War Photographer’?

A

Carol Ann Duffy

38
Q

Who wrote ‘ The Emigree’?

A

Carol Runners

38
Q

Who wrote ‘Kamikaze’?

A

Beatrice Garland