Love Poetry

Question 1

who wrote ‘When we two parted’?

Answer 1

Lord Byron

Question 2

what was the name of Christina Rossetti’s poem?

Answer 2

‘I Loved You First: But Afterwards Your Love’

Question 3

who wrote ‘Sonnet 43’?

Answer 3

Elizabeth Browning

Question 4

what two poems did Shakespeare write that we have analysed?

Answer 4

1) ‘Sonnet 116’

2) ‘Sonnet 130’

Question 5

what is a good topic sentence for ‘Sonnet 116’?

Answer 5

Through Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 116’, the poet emphasises the permanence of love, despite the presence of destructive forces like time and adversity.

Question 6

what is a good topic sentence for ‘Sonnet 130’?

Answer 6

Shakespeare uses ‘Sonnet 130’ to subvert the stereotypical manor in which other writers of the Elizabethan Era wrote their poems.

Question 7

what is a good topic sentence for ‘Sonnet 43’?

Answer 7

In the Petrarchan ‘Sonnet 43’, Browning connotes the intensity of her marital love for Robert Browning, her husband and partner.

Question 8

what is a good topic sentence for ‘I Loved You First: But Afterwards Your Love’?

Answer 8

Through this poem, the writer, Christina Rossetti portrays love as a spirit of undying unity that can bring two people together.

Question 9

what is a good topic sentence for ‘When We Two Parted’?

Answer 9

Through ‘When We Two Parted’, Byron suggests that the death of his love had brought him a cycle of anguish that he can never escape.

Question 10

what is semantic field?

Answer 10

When several words that connote a specific idea are used in sync with each other instead of synonyms.

Question 11

what is structure?

explain your answer using an example.

Answer 11

The way that the poet organises the poem on a page- this includes concepts of rhyme scheme and meter e.g. we can tell that ‘Sonnet 116’ is a Shakespearean sonnet because it is split into 4 quatrains with an ABAB rhyme scheme.

Question 12

what is alternate rhyme?

Answer 12

When every other line endings in a poem rhyme e.g. ABAB.

Question 13

what is coupled rhyme?

Answer 13

When a poem is built up of rhyming couplets where the endings of every two lines rhyme e.g. AABB

Question 14

what is a Petrarchan sonnet?

Answer 14

Sometimes called an Italian Sonnet, a Petrarchan sonnet is made up of an octave (8 lines) and a sestet (6 lines) and is put together as 14 lines.

Question 15

where does the volta usually come in a Shakespearean sonnet?

Answer 15

Before the rhyming couplet (in the rhyming couplet or the third quatrain)

Question 16

what is onomatopoeia?

Answer 16

When the name for a sound matches up with the noise itself e.g. splash, bang, cuckoo

Question 17

what is juxtaposition?

Answer 17

When a word and its antonym are used together in one same context for poetic effect

Question 18

what is repetition?

Answer 18

When a word or phrase is rewritten more than once in a poem or story to draw emphasis on its meaning

Question 19

what is free verse?

Answer 19

When a poem does not have a set rhyme scheme or regular rhythm

Question 20

what do we mean by a poem’s ‘metre’?

Answer 20

The pattern of rhyme in a line or segment found in a poem e.g. iambic pentameter, where every other syllable is stressed

Question 21

what is form in a poem?

Answer 21

Form refers to the type of poem that follows certain rules (the layout)

Question 22

list three examples of metaphors covered in this unit

Answer 22

‘…’, ‘…’, ‘…’

Question 23

list three examples of personification covered in this unit

Answer 23

‘…’, ‘…’, ‘…’

Question 24

list three examples of similes covered in this unit

Answer 24

‘…’, ‘…’, ‘…’

Question 25

give 2 things (quotation/ structure/ volta) from Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 116’ that could be written about in an analytical paragraph

Answer 25

1) ‘it is an ever-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken’
2) ‘the star to every wand’ring bark’

Question 26

give 3 things (quotation/ structure/ volta) from Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 130’ that could be written about in an analytical paragraph

Answer 26

1) ‘my mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun’
2) ‘if hairs be wires then black wires grow on her head’
3) volta- ‘as any she belied with false compare’

Question 27

give 3 things (quotation/ structure/ volta) from Elizabeth Browning’s ‘Sonnet 43’ that could be written about in an analytical paragraph

Answer 27

1) repetition- ‘I love thee’
2) ‘I love thee to the depth, breadth and height’
3) ‘I shall but love thee better after death’

Question 28

give 3 things (quotation/ structure/ volta) from Christina Rossetti’s ‘I Loved You First: But Afterwards Your Love’ that could be written about in an analytical paragraph

Answer 28

1) ‘outsoaring mine’
2) ‘and loved me for what might or might not be’
3) pronoun- ‘both of us of the love which makes us one’

Question 29

give 4 things (quotation/ structure/ volta) from Lord Byron’s ‘When We Two Parted’ that could be written about in an analytical paragraph

Answer 29

1) semantic field- ‘sever’, ‘pale’, ‘sorrow’
2) alternate rhyme scheme
3) repetition- ‘silence and tears’
4) ‘a knell to mine ear’

Question 30

analyse: ‘it is an ever-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken’

Answer 30

• Compares love to a lighthouse
• This introduces connotations of light, guidance and strength against erosion
• Is able to stand strong through adversity

Question 31

analyse: ‘it is the star to every wand’ring bark’

Answer 31

• Stars can navigate the lost and pained to salvation
• Stars are associated with fate
• Love is a single beacon of light amongst the night and the dark, open waters

Question 32

analyse: ‘my mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun’

Answer 32

• Her eyes don’t shimmer with the same light or grace
• She has dim eyes that are not inviting or beautiful in any particular way
• Her eyes lack allure

Question 33

analyse: ‘if hairs be wires, then black wires grow on her head’

Answer 33

• Her hair is tangled

- She does not have particularly beautiful hair

Question 34

analyse the volta: ‘as any she belied with false compare’

Answer 34

• Although his lover is flawed, Shakespeare’s love for her is authentic
• It is different to the artificial love that other poets have with their partners
• Other men only love their partner for her feminine beauty

Question 35

analyse the repetition: ‘I love thee’

Answer 35

• There are more than one ways in which she loves her partner
• She is listing all the reasons for her affections
• Shows how her love is strong because there are many ways in which she loves him

Question 36

analyse: ‘I love thee to the depth, breadth and height’

Answer 36

• there are no bounds for her love
• the intensity of her affections transcend the limits drawn by time and space
• her love is immeasurable
• her emotions are inescapable

Question 37

analyse: ‘I shall but love thee better after death’

Answer 37

• with God’s permission, she is willing to continue loving him through death
• even despite death, her love is unbound and there are no limits to how long and how strong her affections will be

Question 38

analyse: ‘outsoaring mine’

Answer 38

• her suitor’s love is exceeds her own

- she did not necessarily love him as much as he loved her

Question 39

analyse: ‘and loved me for what might or might not be’

Answer 39

• their love is authentic because she is loved despite her flaws
• he takes chances with her despite their future being clouded

Question 40

analyse: ‘both of us of the love which makes us one’

Answer 40

• their love unifies them
• her use in pronouns changes
• uses ‘us’ to emphasise the togetherness brought by their affections

Question 41

analyse the semantic field: ‘pale’, ‘sever’, ‘sorrow’

Answer 41

• uses semantic field
• ‘pale’ suggests the life and the joy has been drawn out of his dead affections
• ‘sever’ suggests that the parting was unexpected and sharp
• ‘sorrow’ shows the grief experienced by Byron due to his lost love

Question 42

analyse the alternate rhyme scheme in ‘When We Two Parted’

Answer 42

• there is something blocking their relationship
• no matter how hard he might try, there is no way of escaping his pain
• agony drags him back into the cyclical loop of never-ending pain

Question 43

analyse: ‘a knell to mine ear’

Answer 43

• the memories of his past love are dead
• she is dead to him
• he does not recognise her anymore