English Poem Techniques

Question 1

Remains language (4)

Answer 1

Imagery
“ legs it up the road” colloguial language
“ hes here in my head when Inclose my eye/ dug in behind enemy lines” metaphor: war in his head, PTSD is entrenched
“ his bloody life in my bloody hands “ guilt

Question 2

Remains structure (5)

Answer 2

Monologue
Flashback
First 4 stanzas set in Iraq, last 3 at home, shows aftermath
Enjambement: conversational tone, fast pace
Repetition “ probably armed possibly not “: guilt

Question 3

Exposure language (6)

Answer 3

” brains ache “ suffering physically and mentally
Semantic field of weather ( enemy )
“ iced east winds knive us… “: personification, sibilance, ellipsis ( never ending )
Repetition of “ we “ “our”, collective suffering
“ tugging on the wire “ personification

Question 4

Exposure structure (4)

Answer 4

Contrast of cold,warm,cold imagery, hypothermic soldier
Repetition of “ nothing happens “ never ending suffering
Rhyme scheme ABBA and hexameter gives poem sense of monotony
Pararhymes (half rhymes ) barely hold poem together, like the men

Question 5

Poppies language (4)

Answer 5

Contrasting semantic fields of home/ childhood “ cat hairs, bedroom “with war/ injury “ blockade, bandaged “
Imagery through sounds “ my words flattened, rolled, turned into felt “ pain and inability to speak
“ hoping to hear playground voice catching on the wind “ longs for dead son
“ I was brave, as I walked you to the front door “ shows different bravery in conflict

Question 6

Poppies structure (6)

Answer 6

Elegy, poem of mourning 
Strong sense of form despite free verse 
No ryhme scheme 
Enjambement 
Lots of caesuras - trying to hold it together , can't speak fluently 
Lots of time shifts

Question 7

Charge of the light brigade language ( 4)

Answer 7

Biblical imagery
“ jaws of death, mouth of hell “ animalistic
“Honour light brigade, noble 600” glorifies soldiers
“Shot and shell” sibilance, whooshing sounds of battle

Question 8

Charge of the light brigade structure (3)

Answer 8

Dactylic dimeter: horses galloping
1st stanza tightly structured, last stanza awkwardly structured mimicking chaos
Balld: poem to remember historical events
Only dialogue is the general who “ blundered “

Question 9

Bayonet charge language (4)

Answer 9

” patriotic tear”, “sweating like molten iron “: sense of duty has turned in fear and pain
“ cold clockwork of stars and nations “ soldiers part of uncaring machine of war
“ his foot hung like statuary midstride” frozen with fear
“Yellow hare rolled like a flame “ impact of war on nature, hare echoes soldiers

Question 10

Bayonet charge structure (4)

Answer 10

In media res: shock and pace
Enjambement maintains the momentum of the charge
Time stands still in second stanza: bewilderment
Contrasts soldiers mind to imagery of the battle

Question 11

War photographer language (4)

Answer 11

” he has a job to do “ like soldier, photographer has a sense of duty to let the world know what is happening
“Running like children in nightmare heat “ emotive imagery, conotes hell
“ blood stained into foreign dust “ lasting impact of war - empathy for the person
Compared to “ priest “ shows monotony in a chaotic war ( desensitized )
“ ordered rows “ coping mechanism
“ rural england “ described by it not being a warzone

Question 12

War photographer structure (4)

Answer 12

Enjamement: world is out of order
Specific stanzas he is trying to bring order to a chaotic world but “ they don’t care “
Contrast: imagery of rural england and warzone, england is defined as not being a warzone
Third stanza: “ something is happening “ specific memory appears before him “ ghost “
Cyclical structure: “ the aeroplane “

Question 13

Emigree language (5)

Answer 13

“I left it as a child” ambiguous –either she left when she was a child or the city was a child
“I am branded by an impression of sunlight”: imagery of light - it will stay with her forever. Hope
City personified “I comb its hair” loves city like a child
“My city hides behind me”: it is vulnerable although she had to flee
Semantic field of conflict: “Tyrant, tanks, frontiers”

Question 14

Emigree structure (4)

Answer 14

First person
Last line of each stanza is same “ sunlight “ overiddinf positivity “ sunlight clear “
First 2 stanzas have lots of enjamement conveys freedom
Final stanza has lots of full stops: she is trapped “ city of walls “
Ends with “ sunlight “ which suggests hope

Question 15

Ozymandias lanuage (3)

Answer 15

” sneer of cold demand “ sculptor recognises the arroagance of the king
“ look on my works, ye mighty, and despair “ imperative, stressed syllable, commanding tone
“ lone and level sands stretch far away “ desert is vast and lasts far longer than a statue

Question 16

Ozymandias structure (3)

Answer 16

Unconventionally structured sonnet - more ahis love for himself and power rather than someone else
Iambic pentameter disrupted this reflects hiw human structures can be destroyed
Final 2 lines huge desert described to emphasise insignificance of human power
Ozymandias’ voice has to be read out which contradicts that dialogue presents power

Question 17

My last duchess language (5)

Answer 17

“Looking as if she was alive “ sinister tone
“ she liked whate’er/ her looks went everywhere “ she took undescriminated likings to his gifts and a bow of cherries
“ my gift of a nine hundred year old name “ she was beneath him in status
“ i gave commands; then all smiles stopped together “ euphemism for wifes murder
“ notice neptune, though “ points out othee painting, also about control - he has a taste in objects because he can control them
“ will’t please you rise “ control - imperative masked with interrogative
“ stoop “ repeated suggests he felt above her

Question 18

My last duchess structure (6)

Answer 18

Dramatic monologue
Iambic pentameter
It is a conversation but only he speaks
Enjambement, he gets carried away with his anger
Heavy use of caesura , stuttering effect shows frustration, controls the punctuation shows he can manipulate the dramatic monologue ( control )
Dramatic irony
Sinister tone set which is masked by casual tone of the Duke - he feels that nothing was wrong to kill his wife

Question 19

Tissues language (3)

Answer 19

Semantic field of light “ paper lets light shine through”
Light represents hope - more paper seperates and reduces hope for future
Gentle verbs “ pages smoothed and stroked and turned “
“ fine slips…might fly our lives like paper kites” simile: we allow ourselves ro be controlled by paper - maps seperate us
“ turned into your skin “ people make the world

Question 20

Tissues structure (4)

Answer 20

The short stanzas create many layers, which is a key theme of the poem - many people make up the world - buildings blue prints
The lack of rhythm or rhyme creates an effect of freedom
All stanzas have four lines, except the final stanza which has one line “turned into your skin”: this line
Enjambment between lines and stanzas creates an effect of freedom and flowing movement

Question 21

The prelude language (4)

Answer 21

“Led by her “ nature personified
“ an act of stealth and trouble pleasure “: confident, oxymoron suggests he knows it’s wrong
“ huge peak, black and huge “ shocking image of mountain
“ measured motion” personified, like a living thing

Question 22

The prelude structure (4)

Answer 22

First person
Regular rhythm, enjambement add to natural speech and personal voice
Contrast in tone after volta

Question 23

Storm on the island language (

Answer 23

Violent verbs describe the storm “ pummels, explodinf, spits”
Semantic field of war
“Exploding comfortably” oxymoron
Wind is a fighter plane “ dives, strafes “

Question 24

Storm on the island structure (4)

Answer 24

Blank verse, lots of enjambement create conversational tone
“ we “ sense of community
Volta “ but no.” Caesura reflects final calm before the storm

Question 25

London language (5)

Answer 25

Sensory lanuage, immersive effect “ marks of weakness, marks of woe “
Aural imagery “ cry of every man “
“Mind forged manacles “ trapped in poverty
Emotive language “ infants cry of fear “
Attacks the powerful “ each chartered street” everything owned by the rich

Question 26

London structure (3)

Answer 26

Dramatic monologue
Simple ABAB rhyme, unrelenting misery
First 2 stanzas on people, 3rd focusses on institutes he holds responsible, 4th returns to people, people are the focus
Iambic tetrameter
4 quatrain stanzas show control - from upper class

Question 27

Kamikaze language

Answer 27

“dark shoals of fish flashing silver”: image links to a Samurai sword – conveys the conflict between his love for nature/life and his sense of duty. Also has sibilance
“they treated him as though he no longer existed”: cruel irony – he chose to live but now must live as though he is dead
“was no longer the father we loved”: the pilot was forever affected by his decision

Question 28

Kamikaze structure

Answer 28

Narrative and speaker is third person, representing the distance between her and her father, and his rejection by society
The first five stanzas are ordered (whilst he is flying on his set mission)
Only full stop is at the end of Stanza Five: he has made his decision to turn back

Question 29

Checking out me history language

Answer 29

Imagery of fire and light used in all three stanzas regarding black historic figures: “Toussaint de beacon”, “Fire-woman”, “yellow sunrise”.
Uses non-standard phonetic spelling (“Dem tell me wha dem want”, to represent his own powerful accent and mixes Caribbean Creole dialect with standard English.
“I carving out me identity”: metaphor for the painful struggle to be heard, and to find his identity

Question 30

Checking out me history structure

Answer 30

Dramatic monologue, with a dual structure.
Stanzas concerning Eurocentric history (normal font) are interspersed with stanzas on black history (in italics to represent separateness and rebellion).
Black history sections arranged as serious lessons to be learned; traditional history as nursery rhymes, mixed with fairytales (mocking of traditional history).
The lack of punctuation, the stanzas in free verse, the irregular rhyme scheme and the use of Creole could represent the narrator’s rejection of the rules.
Repetition of “Dem tell me”: frustration
Unconventional form when talking about black history to suggest them as unconventional ideas

Question 31

Bayonet charge links to power and conflict

Answer 31

Conflict with own equipment “ numb as a smashed arm “, “ molten iron “
Conflict between fighting for “ king, honour, human dignity etcetera “ and for survival
Power of enemy fire from “ slot slashed furrows “ he alone cannot take on
Power of war on nature: killed a “ yellow hare “

Question 32

Poppies links to power and conflict

Answer 32

Power to control son’s appearence fading as son grows up: resisted “ run my fingers through gelled black thorns “
Conflict between wanting to keep son safe and his possible desire to join the army and her seeing his name on the “ war memorial “
Poppy and dove lead her to war memorial suddenly “ without winter coat “
Feels strongly about this so she relates it to textiles

Question 33

War photographer links to power and conflict

Answer 33

Photographer goes to areas of conflict but has no power to directly stop the conflict
Instead he has the power to record the conflict and shows the western world in hope people will notice
Records misuse of power e.g phnom penh genocide
Conflict between the whole truth “ hundred agonies “ and the “ five or six “ which are used

Question 34

Emigrée links to power and conflict

Answer 34

Conflict between the emigree and the country she has been forced to flee
Power of the government in original country forces her to flee to freedom as it controls her “ banned by the state “

Question 35

Checking out me history links to power and conflict

Answer 35

Protests the power of white establishment as they leave out black heroes from history
Exclusion of black figures is a source of conflict as it deliberately excludes important figures from history

Question 36

My lasts duchess links to power and conflict

Answer 36

Duke exercises complete power in his palace “ will’t you rise “
His power is based on status “ gift of nine hundred year old name “, money
Paradox: he has all this power but cannot control wife’s behaviour
She is now a painting which he can control who sees her with a curtain