Modern poetry Flashcards
Eat Me - Patience Agbabi (themes and methods)
THEMES - power, gender, sexual taboo
METHODS:
JUXTAPOSITION - There are nice images and descriptions contrasted with the darker more abusive narrative. The nicer images are also undercut with resentment from the speaker, mimicking the progression of abusive relationships
METAPHORS & SIMILES: scattered throughout the poem, each has a different basic meaning, but taken all together they could be used to represent the uncertainty of relationships, and how they aren’t always what they seem on a surface level.
MULTIPLE DIALOGUE - the speaker’s partner also speaks in the poem, his speech is read with the underlying tone of the speaker’s previous words. This causes the reader to interpret them negatively, when the words he actually uses aren’t necessarily negative. The placement of his speech in stanza four has allowed Agbabi to establish the nature of the relationship first.
REPETITION - the word ‘fat’ is repeated several times, mirroring the speaker’s feelings surrounding the word, that it all people think and say about her.
ALLITERATION - conveys the feeling of excess and exaggeration. Also resembles the speaker’s feelings, again, that she is consistently told the same thing
SEMANTIC FIELD - there is a semantic field of water, this can be associated with the explorative depths of the speaker’s body throughout the poem. The ‘drowning’ at the end of the poem has significance because of this, the speaker finally takes ownership of the power of her body
Eat Me - Patience Agbabi (key quotes)
“when I hit thirty” - is this her 30th birthday or her 30th stone gained?
“hips judder like a juggernaut” - contrast between the speaker’s insecurities, however, a ‘juggernaut’ also means something of overwhelming force and power. Perhaps this links to the speakers inner powers?
“swell like forbidden fruit” - The forbidden fruit is part if the book of genesis. It is temptation sent from the devil. Does this symbolise the temptation of her body? Or does it show that the speaker sees her self as wrong and sinful?
“The bigger, the better” - harsh plosive sounds like this make the speaker’s partner seem attacking and aggressive
“soft girls” - contrasted with soft, long vowel sounds, makes the speaker seem gentle and delicate, weak. “burrow” again, long vowel sound, conveying weakness, but also as if she goes on forever, she has depth more than just her appearance.
“too fat” x3 - the message is being drilled into the reader, just as it is drilled into the speaker.
“bigger the better” “broad belly” “chubby, cuddly”
“tidal wave of flesh” - she is never ending, but also has a much deeper meaning than just what’s on her surface. She also has a lot more power than her partner realises.
History - John Burnside (themes and methods)
THEMES - nature, conflict, death, life, family, technology vs nature
METHODS:
ENJAMBMENT - places emphasis on certain words to portray their significance, also symbolises how some things are separate. The unusual structure also emphasises the uncertainty in the narrative
LISTS - lots of lists showing the many good things about life, creating a rich and overwhelming impact on the reader
METAPHORS - comparing the natural things on the beach to the things people experience
VIVID IMAGERY - brings the reader into the speakers experiences
SIBILANCE - soft and delicate, replicating life.
SYNAESTHESIA - creates a fuller picture of life and gives the reader a more intense reaction
History - KEY QUOTES
“our lines raised in the wind, our bodies axed and anchored to the shore” - liminality - being on the borderline of things but afraid of going further (have humans stunted their progress?)
“sometimes I am dizzy with the fear/ of loosing everything - the sea, the sky,/all living creatures, the forests, the estuaries” the line break represents the word fear and places emphasis on this emotion for the rest of the sentence. The dizziness is contributed to by the rich list that follows.
“finding evidence of life in all this/driftwork” the line break shows that the bad things in life ‘driftwork’ are separate from the rest, and shouldn’t contaminate the good things. This is also a metaphor for finding beauty within the chaos.
“the hum of the radio” synaesthesia, gives the reader a vivid reaction by creating a fuller picture of life and appreciating all aspects.
“The sand spinning off in ribbons along the beach/ and that gasoline smell” sibilance creates the soft sound of the sand and exaggerates the synaesthesia in this sentence. The juxtaposition of the sand and gasoline also shows the clash between humans and nature
An Easy Passage - Julia Corpus (themes and methods)
ENJAMBEMENT - shows flowing and unknown path of life
SEMANTIC FIELD - there is a semantic field of vunerability, which exaggerates the vunerability of youth and the naivety of young girls, especially. Also, foreshadows a harsh future world.
QUESTIONS - one question directly asked directly to the reader from the narrator’s perspective. Engages them more intimately and gives the narrator an opinion, suggesting the message is wider than just the two girls and their story
An Easy Passage - KEY QUOTES
crouched in her bikini” vulnerability, nakedness and body language
“she must not do is to think of the narrow windowsill, the sharp drop of the stairwell” naturally, now all the reader can think of is the window sill and drop
“crouching” more vulnerable body language
“a square of petrified beach” it is her who is petrified, but this is exaggerated through personifying her surroundings
“What can she know of the way the world admits us less and less the more we grow?” strategically placed in the middle of the poem to represent a change from this zoomed in perception, to the wider picture of how women are treated in the wider world.
“five neat shimmering-oyster-painted toenails” shimmering imagery exaggerates the delicacy of these girls, the name of the nail varnish exaggerates their girlishness, and the silver of the nails exaggerates the idea that older women are threatened by younger women. - “flash of armaments” (amour/weapon) this could also suggest that women put up a shield against the world.
The Lamas Hireling - Ian Duhig (themes and methods)
THEMES - nature, magic, rural life, guilt, sexual desire, violence, religion
METHODS:
IMAGES - naked man in a trap suggests sexual attraction and also the power dynamic between the two; the power of the farmer, and the vunerability of the hireling. Yet there is also the idea of danger in the attraction, is the hireling trapping the farmer?
- contrast between light and dark suggests allure vs danger
- transformation of man to hare mystery and magic, questioning mans relationship with nature? mans relationship with tradition?
WORD CHOICE - semantic fields of magic and witchcraft, and the tradition of folk law. Biblical language. Farming and rural life. Duhig has replicated the tradition his poem is based on through his language choice.
TENSE - past&present past tense all the way through until the very end. The use of present tense at the end shows how his guilt still resonates with him
PERSON - first person and addresses the reader as the priest as if we are being confessed to. This encourages the reader to make a judgement on the farmer.
LACK OF NAME - the hireling is never given a name, rather called things like warlock or hare. This furthers the idea of mystery, and suggests the guilt the confessor feels for killing and being attracted to the hireling
The Lamas Hireling - KEY QUOTES
“I hunted down her torn voice in his pale form” The farmer sees his wife in the hireling
“Stark-naked but for the fox trap biting his ankle” The hireling is vulnerable and trapped.
“I knew him a warlock, a cow with leather horns” has he bewitched the farmer, or is this just an easy way of directing his blame/guilt? In Irish folk law a cow with leather horns is also a term for hares.
To My Nine Year Old Self - Helen Dunmore (themes and methods)
THEMES - childhood, mortality, transience of life, ambition, memory, age
METHODS:
VERB CHOICE - “run”, “climb”, “leap”, “jump” all active and reminiscent of youth
ENJAMBEMENT - “gone; //” “move;//” - represents an irregular flow of thought
LINE LENGTH - lines all differ in length, irregular flow of thought
QUESTIONS - “summer morning?” engage the reader, encourage reflection
CAESURA - “-“ natural feeling of pauses and blanks in memory
LISTS - “ice-lolly, a wasp trap and a den” shows her memories are a collection of snapshots
SYNAESTHESIA - “taste it on your tongue” appeals to senses, engaged reader allows them to feel the speakers experience
CLIFFHANGER - “I leave you” - as children there’s and endless amount of possibilities ahead, and an unknown world
SEMANTIC FIELD - of summer, shows how we often rose tint our past
To My Nine Year Old Self - KEY QUOTES
“You must forgive me” - forceful opening, ‘must’ is powerful language, direct use of ‘you’ makes the reader apprehensive. ‘you’ and ‘me’ introduces the idea of dialogue
“I have spoiled this body we once shared” - ‘I’ blames the speaker, although they are also the one being addressed, “spoiled” is not only a term for destruction, but also the idea of being good once and now bad
“I shan’t cloud your morning” - ‘cloud’ contrasts the summery images described throughout, indicating a continued presence from the narrator will undermine the happiness of childhood memories. There is also a homophone between ‘morning’ and ‘mourning’ showing nostalgia felt.
The Gun - Vicki Fever (themes and methods)
THEMES - power, death, nature, excitement, life
METHODS:
VERB CHOICE - ‘jutting’ ‘stretched’ describe the gun harsh ‘t’ sounds make the gun seem aggressive. ‘run’ ‘flown’ referring to dead animals, active, but past tense to exaggerate their death. ‘jointing’, ‘slicing’, ‘trampling’ describe human actions, violent and ing implies they are ongoing.
VIVID IMAGERY- “long metal barrel”, “casting a grey shadow” vivid images of the gun emphasise it’s importance, and contrast with domestic images of the home.
ENJAMBEMENT - shows how the gun becomes involved in the home, entwined in the speakers lives, not just in a separate sentence.
SHORT LINES VS LONG LINES - ‘just practicing’ second stanza is short lines ‘soon the fridge fills with creatures’ third stanza is longer lines, obsession grows.
SIMILE - reference of sex and youth implies the gun and power is likened to ‘like when sex was fresh’
REPETITION - ‘you’ is repeated over and over again, shows the speaker might be addressing the reader asking whether they have the same desires
JUXTAPOSITION - ‘alive’ the gun brings the house alive despite all the images of death
The Gun - KEY QUOTES
“At first it’s just practice:” - immediately gives the poem a negative tone and a sense of apprehension, the use of a colon allows the reader to fully consider this phrase and might assume the previous images of death will become reality.
“like when sex was fresh” - introduces the natural desire of sex, relating it to the desire to have power or be violent. It also adds an animalistic tone and could evoke images of raw meat considering the previous descriptions of dead animals.
“the King of Death” - specific choice of a male title feeds into traditional view of male power. The introduction of royalty also makes the reader consider the implications of wealth and social standing with regards to advantage and power.
Genetics - Sinead Morrissey (themes and methods)
THEMES - family, childhood, love, identity
METHODS:
REPETITION - the last stanza slightly repeats the first stanza, showing the cycle of life
I/WE - use of ‘I’ is a personal experience ‘we’ at the end makes it more universal
Genetics - KEY QUOTES
“My father’s in my fingers, my mother’s in my palms” simplistic physicality through words describes a common physicality which we all have. The comma in the middle also separates the two, he father on one side and her mother on the other. The present tense also implies that her parents and their love lives on through her.
“I know my parents made me by my hands” vs “We know our parents made us by our hands” personal vs universal meaning/experience.
“They have been repelled to separate lands” sounds mythical and fairytale, contributes to the overall optimism of the poem
From the Journal of a Disappointed man - Andrew Motion (themes and methods)
THEMES - masculinity, power, sex, emotion
METHODS:
REPETITION - lots of the words are repeated several times emphasising their importance and perhaps critiquing the closed minded values of some men with delicate masculinity. Also, the frustration of the speaker that he doesn’t possess these values.
CONTRASTING IMAGERY - the physicality of the workers and their job is contrasted with the passive onlooking of the speaker.
‘I’ - the use of I throughout the poem helps to create a personal experience for the speaker and give him a character further than just portraying the poets thoughts to the reader.
PLOSIVES - help to create a masculine tone mainly through words beginning with ‘p’ and ‘b’
