ρoᥱtrყ - ᥴomρᥲrιsoᥒ Flashcards
What is the context of Papa T?
Explores the poet’s thoughts as he recalls his Grandfather’s reciting of the famous Tennyson poem ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’.
What is the form of Papa T?
Regular rhythm and rhyme reflects acceptance of authority but the irregular free verse questions authority.
What is the analysis for the Papa T quotes “tin soldiering”, “drums”, “arrows” and the quote from ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’?
The childlike imaginings of warfare metaphorically dehumanises the soldiers, likening them to toys.
Implied propaganda that dying for your country is noble, yet verb ‘disobey’ teaches the new generation to reflect blind obedience.
What is the context of Thirteen?
Narrates a 13 year old boy being stopped by the police and comparing said incident with an unrelated, anecdotal school visit.
What is the form of Thirteen?
Conversational form and free verse echoes Femi’s confusion and the lack of logic present in racial prejudice.
What is the analysis for the Thirteen quotes “supernovas” and opening in the second person?
The extended astrological metaphor reinforces the idea that destiny is written in the stars and fate is already decided.
Forces the reader into the experience which makes them more vulnerable to the emotional topic.
What is the context of the Destruction of Sennacherib?
Written in 1815 and based on the 1612 Reubens painting. It narrates the Old Testament story of the Assyrian army’s attack on the holy city of Jerusalem and how God sends an angel who destroys said army.
What is the form of the Destruction of Sennacherib?
It’s a ballad. The quatrains echo the galloping of horses whilst the anapaestic tetrameter convey the rapidity at which the Assyrian army are dying.
What is the analysis for the Destruction of Sennacherib quotes “like the wolf”, “like the leaves”, “melted like snow” and “Angel of Death”?
The use of similes in various ways represents the predatory nature of the army, the numbers of the army and the powerful nature of God.
The dichotomy alludes to God’s omnipotence and is reinforced by gentle verbs “glanced” and “breathed”.
What is the context of Songs for the People?
Written by an African American poet campaigning for racial equality and explores the power that music has to motivate people towards peace and justice.
What is the form of Songs for the People?
It’s a ballad. The extremely regular rhyme and rhythm paired with clear quatrains mirrors a song.
What is the analysis for the Songs for the People quotes “clashing”, “strife”, “sabres” and “pure and strong”, “jangle and discords”?
Creates an image of war to be juxtaposed by song through the use of onomatopoeia and sibilance.
“Pure and strong” is monosyllabic and gentle whereas “jangle and discords” is duosyllabic and harsh.
What is context of Colonization in Reverse?
Two Jamaican women gossip over the demise of the British empire.
What is the form of Colonization in Reverse?
The quatrains, regular rhyme and rhythm convey logic in her argument and allow her to explore the serious topic in a lighthearted, inoffensive way.
What is the analysis for the Colonization in Reverse quotes “big-time job an settle in de motherlan” and the use of “Jane”?
Portrays her as cynical and disbelieving. It explicitly appears reverent but implicitly illustrates derision and potential contempt.
Compacts the colony into one person representing it and depicts the irony that England is being used as not all of them will work.
What is the context of Envy?
Compares the emotion of envy to a rose tree through an extended metaphor.
What is the form of Envy?
The structured versification of the sestets and the relatively regular rhyme are deceivingly pretty, like a rose, but her logical argument is arguably undone by the half-rhyme “are” and “rare”.
What is the analysis of the Envy quotes “vain”, “blind”, “senseless” and the patronising overtones?
The adjectives highlight envy as a futile, unintelligent emotion to argue how it is inescapable on a base level.
The patronising overtones make the poem disturbingly feminine and reflect the implicit deceit of the two overlapping arguments.
What is context of Boat Stealing?
Depicts an extended metaphor which explores the journey from childhood to adulthood through a boat journey across a lake.
What is the form of Boat Stealing?
The free verse reflects the confusion and growing insecurity but also the freedom of childhood. The half-lines echo the erratic journey that the boat takes.
What is the analysis of the Boat Stealing quotes “elfin pinnace”, “like a swan” and “a huge cliff”, “upreared its head”, “I struck, and struck again”?
The ‘fairy boat’ represents childish imagination and the simile portrays the innocence and purity of childhood.
The introduction of adulthood is suggested through continuous phallic imagery and the presentation of such as a threat through the repeated, aggressive verbs.
What is the context of We Lived Happily During The War?
Written by a deaf, Jewish man who migrated to the USA and was persecuted as ‘an enemy of the state’, it depicts an imaginary war describing the fall of America and how people, in response, do nothing.
What is the form of We Lived Happily During The War?
The overall disjointed irregularity reflects the chaos of conflict and the repeated use of enjambment and caesura arguably echos the pauses between explosions common in warfare.
What is the analysis of the We Lived Happily During The War quotes “I took a chair outside and watched the sun” and the mid-sentence opening with collective pronouns?
The simplistic compound sentence represents the conscious decision to not be involved in the war. This is propounded by the unemotional tone, which is ironic considering the sensitive topic.
The mid-sentence opening creates an ongoing war and the collective pronouns equate to a simplistic, binary interpretation of war with an unidentified enemy.
What is the context of Lament?
Responds to the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War, describing the effects of oil spills and oil fires on the wildlife.
What is the form of Lament?
The poem is an elegy (expression of loss). The anaphoric (repetition at the start of each line) use of “for the” reflects an individual focus on those affected but also contrastingly can be argued to imply a vast extent of those affected.
What is the analysis for the Lament quotes “the cormorant in his funeral silk” and “the sun put out”?
The cormorant (formerly a white bird) is personified to wear funeral silk. The mournful imagery can be interpreted as the death of wildlife, but the adjective ‘silk’ also illustrates the coating of oil upon the bird.
The monosyllabic phrase represents the totality of the destitution which is then reinforced by the elemental juxtaposition in the next line: “scalded ocean”, “blazing well”.
What is the context of Flag?
Explores the power of flags with a deceptively simplistic yet captivating interpretation, echoing the blind reverence of a nation.
What is the form of Flag?
The tersets are written to emphasise the childish simplicity and lack of complexity whilst the half-rhyme is quick to reveal the grave truth of conflict beneath the surface - it could also allude to bleeding out, the attempted rhyme reflecting the attempt of remaining alive.
What is the analysis for the Flag quotes “just” and the direct address towards the reader?
The reducer ‘just’ assigns a low value to the flag. This is then juxtaposed by the personification via the verbs in the next line, leaving the reader to question the value of the flag and the heightening dominance of it as the poem progresses.
The direct pronoun ‘your’ insinuates how nobody is exempt from total control and forces the reader into this position.
What is the context of Honour Killing?
A response to the 1999 Birmingham honour killing where the restrictions surrounding dress are rejected by the poet.
What is the form of Honour Killing?
The uneven, free-versed stanzas illustrate the freedom from restriction and the anaphora further propounds this by the continued removal of cultural, gendered items of clothing.
What is the analysis for the Honour Killing quotes “I wore more out of habit” and “faith”, “faithless”?
It can be interpreted as a pun for it could imply a ritual or a nun’s clothing.
The juxtaposition represents how the poet is caught between two cultures, which is then explored further with aggressive, violent verbs “tied” and “muffled”.
