English Poems Flashcards
The Manhunt - Simon Armitage
Themes: War and Passage of time
Quotes:
“Then and only then did i come close” - Feelings are closed off, he is all alone.
“Rungs of a broken rib” - Symbolises a hard to climb ladder, his wife is struggling to help.
“Porcelain collar bone” - Porcelain is very fragile just like the man’s body and mind.
“a sweating unexploded mine” - Demonstrates the physical suffering and difficulty to diffuse situation.
“Only then” - repeated 4 times demonstrating the slow process of communicating with the man.
Context:
Told from the perspective of the soldiers wife. Deals with the stress of PTSD and its impact on the Soldier.
Message: War is brutal and can affect people for long periods after it has finished.
Rhyme Scheme: Starts as AABB but fades to show that the man’s mind is damaged. Some couplets rhyme where as others don’t. Perhaps suggesting the struggle.
Sonnet 43 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Theme: Love
Quotes:
“My soul can reach” - Suggests God’s approval of love and it’s purity.
“Most quiet need” - Love is a necessity of life.
“How do i love thee?” - Creates and immediate connection between reader and writer.
Message: Love is a necessity of life.
Rhyme Scheme: ABBA in octave and ABAB in sestet.
Context:
Her brother drowned at a young age and as a result her father was over-protective. Went against her father’s wishes and married Robert Browning. Her farther then disinherited her.
The Soldier - Rupert Brooke
Theme: War
Quotes:
“there is some corner of a foreign field that is forever England” - Represents dying for your country as good.
“In that rich earth a richer dust concealed” - Symbolises the remains or ‘dust’ as a sign for a hero.
“In hearts at peace, under an English heaven” - Patriotic and religious view on death in war.
Context:
He was a soldier during WWI and died of blood poisoning. He was buried in a “foreign field” in Cyprus. He was never involved in active service but this poem shows his patriarchy about England.
Message: It is noble to die for your country.
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB.
Cozy Apologia - Rita Dove
Theme: Love
Quotes:
“I could pick anything and think of you” - Her love is at the forefront of her mind.
“a hurricane” - A metaphor for other aspects of life beyond relationships.
“I fill this stolen time with you” - Refers back to the message of the opening line displaying her as confident in her love.
Context:
It is set against the arrival of Hurricane Floyd, that hit the east coast of the USA in 1999. She is American and married the writer Fred Viebann. Possibly the Fred in the poem.
Message: Everything in life refers to love.
Rhyme Scheme: AABB.
Valentine - Carol Ann Duffy
Theme: Love
Quotes:
“I give you an onion” - Extended metaphor for love.
“It is a moon wrapped in brown paper” - Represents love as something you need to work for to sustain.
“It’s scent will cling to your fingers” - The scent will last just like emotions do.
Context:
She likes to break conventions and criticises society’s views of being materialistic. Her poetry is often feminist in it’s themes and approach.
Message: You need to work for love.
Rhyme Scheme: N/A.
Death of a Naturalist - Seamus Heaney
Theme: Nature
Quotes:
“Bubbles gargled delicately” - Oxymoron (two contradicting statements) used to show age of boy.
“But best of all was the warm slick slobber of frogspawn” - Displays the curiosity of the boy and his youthful fascination.
“Invaded” and “mud grenades” - suggests a war between the frogs and the poet and displays how he lost his innocence as he then “sickened, turned, and ran”.
“Death” - In the title - Suggests the poet’s loss of innocence as he grew up.
“Rotted” - Suggests it is decaying just like his innocence.
Context:
His four year old brother died in a car accident. The death affected him badly which is shown in many of his poems as they are about loss of innocence. He grew up on a farm and is reflected in his poems.
Message: Nature is curios but should not be messed with.
Rhyme Scheme: N/A.
Hawk Roosting - Ted Hughes
Theme: Nature or Power
Quotes:
“I sit in the top of the wood” - Represents a hierarchy in nature.
“I hold Creation in my foot” - Refers to religion due to the capitalisation of Creation.
“I am going to keep things like this” - Displays absolute control and confidence. Arrogant tone reinforces the hawk’s need of power.
“No arguments assert my right” - Links to a dictatorship in the sense that no one else can oppose him.
Context:
He was a poet laureate until his death in 1984. He wrote many poems about the natural world. He said the poem isn’t about cruelty and is about the hawk’s natural way of thinking.
Message: Nature is a powerful aspect of life.
Rhyme Scheme: N/A.
To Autumn - John Keats
Theme: Nature
Quotes:
“Season of mists” - Represents autumn as a season of change.
“Close bosom friend” - Suggests that autumn works with summer to create beautiful changes.
“The sitting careless on a granary floor” - Personifies autumn and depicts that it works (like a person) due to “granary floor” however “careless” suggests that it is effortless.
“Drowsed with the fume of poppies” - Implies that autumn is intoxicating and overwhelmingly beautiful
“Soft-dying days”, “mourn”and “lives or dies” - language associated with death is used to represent the change from autumn to winter. He was suffering from tuberculosis so could represent an end of his life as well.
Context:
He was a romantic poem and wrote a lot about nature and the natural world. He died at the age of 25 and was afraid he would leave no lasting impression of the world. This poem could be his attempt to leave his mark. Died of tuberculosis after 2 years of illness.
Message: Autumn is a great, enjoyable and beautiful season.
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB.
Dulce et Decorum Est - Wilfred Owen
Theme: War
Quotes:
“Bent double, like old beggars under sacks” - Creates irony as it contradicts title.
“He plunges at me, guttering, chocking, drowning” - isolated phrase to symbolise vivid memory.
“Pro patria mori” - Only uses these words after he has displayed exactly what they mean to a WW1 soldier.
Context:
- Killed in action exactly one week before the end of WW1 on 4 Nov 1918.
- His mother received the telegram on Armistice day during the celebrations.
Message: War is brutal.
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB - Alternate line rhyme to represent the marching of the soldiers.
Mametz Wood - Owen Sheers
Theme: War
Quotes:
“china plate of a soldier blade” - Portrays the fragility of the body.
“nesting machine guns” - Links to nature as birds nest not machine guns.
“A broken mosaic of bones linked arm in arm” - Represents brutality of war as well as comradery.
Context:
- Mametz Wood was one of the bloodiest battles of WW1 (part of the first Battle of the Somme in 1916).
- Welsh Division lost 4,000 men in the 5 day attack.
- Sheers was brought up in Wales and wrote the poem in 2005 as he felt their bravery was never acknowledged.
Message: War can affect people for long periods after it has finished.
Rhyme Scheme: N/A.
London - William Blake
Theme: People
Quotes:
- “I wander thro’ “ - Poem is structured as a journey.
- “The mind-forg’d manacles” - Suggests people are trapped emotionally in society. Manacles = handcuffs.
- “Runs in blood down Palace walls” - Blake blames the monarchy for the deaths of soldiers in pointless wars.
- “Blights with plagues” - The word “plague” implies that there is no cure for the suffering in London.
Context:
- Lived and worked during Victorian era.
- Reflects the more negative aspects of his life.
Message: Power and Welfare
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB
She Walks in Beauty - Lord Byron
Theme: People
Quotes:
“Of cloudless climbs and starry skies”- Imagery is romantic and mysterious like the woman. Suggests she is lighting up the darkness and unobtainable.
“Raven tress” - Suggests an element of danger. He breaks the conventions of beauty by by showing the appeal and intrigue of darkness and mystery.
Context:
- Byron was a leading figure of the Romantic movement and liked to break conventions.
Message:
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB. At the beginning of the poem, he expresses his love for the woman, then speaks about her inner ‘goodness’. He ends the poem with the idea of ‘love’, bringing together both the external and internal beauty.
Living Space - Imtiaz Dharker
Theme: People
Quotes:
“Crookedly” and “leans dangerously” - suggest the building is unsafe
“thin walls of faith” - Imply that the optimism of the people protects them however it is fragile and could break easily.
Context:
- Born in Pakistan but raised in Scotland, she has an interest in representing a different culture.
Message:
It doesn’t matter if your rich or poor as no one can take away your beliefs and religion.
Rhyme Scheme:
As Imperceptibly as Grief - Emily Dickinson
Theme: People
Quotes:
“Summer” - Imagery could symbolises happiness or the peak of life.
“Dusk drew earlier in” - With each day getting shorter it depicts her life fading away.
“harrowing Grace” - Suggests that everything that should be gentle and kind is painful and frightening.
Context:
- Emily Dickinson lived in Massachusetts, USA, 1830-86. She was recluse so did not leave the house often.
- Before she wrote this poem several family members and friends had died.
Message:
Rhyme Scheme: N/A - gives a depressed tone to the poem which sums up her life when it was written.
A Wife in London - Thomas Hardy
Theme: War and People
Quotes:
“tawny vapour” - Depicts the dull, brown and foggy London. The ominous language could suggest the darkness of the tragedy about to happen and how her world is filled with gloom.
“He – has fallen – in the far south land” - Breaks in the sentence suggest how her life is broken now that her is gone.
“And of new love that they would learn” - Highlights the tragedy of his death as the cannot rekindle their relationship. Used as it is more powerful than describing the widow’s grief.
Context:
- He was a novelist (story teller)
- Most likely related to the Boer wars but the fact she is a “wife” represents the tragedy of all wars.
Message: War doesn’t only affect those that are in it.
Rhyme Scheme: ABBAB
