Poem Summaries Flashcards
1
Q
Summarise “When We Two Parted” by Byron
A
- narrator recalls the day he and his lover parted because she had no affection for him
- he hears people talking about her affairs with other men
- he can’t talk about his grief because she was having an affair with him
- Byron may have been writing about Lady Frances Webster (rumoured they had a relationship when she was married to Byron’s friend)
2
Q
Summarise “Love’s Philosophy” by Shelley
A
- narrator is adressing a woman to persuade her to be with him
- narrator gives examples of how everything in nature is connected in an intimate/ loving way and that this is god’s law which should be obeyed
- he asks the woman why she’s ignoring god’s law by refusing to have a relationship with him
- he asks what use all bonds in nature are worth if he can’t be with her
3
Q
Summarise “Porphyria’s Lover” by Browning
A
- man is in a cold cottage on a stormy night when his lover arrives, making the cottage warm and comfortable and sits next to him
- he ignores her flirting with him and he seems upset with her
- he decides that she loves him and she belongs to him
- he wants to preserve this moment so he strangles her with her hair
- he opens her eyes and spends the rest of the night sitting with her dead body
4
Q
Summarise “Sonnet 29” by Barret Browning
A
- narrator tells her lover how much she thinks about him when they’re apart
- she is worried that these thoughts will obscure the reality of what he’s actually like
- but she reassures him that her thoughts do not compare to the reality of him and she wants him to have strong presence in her life rather than just thinking about him
5
Q
Summarise “Neutral Tones” by Hardy
A
- narrator has an unpleasant memory of a day when he and his lover stood by a pond (it’s clear their relationship was failing/ about to come to an end)
- he describes how he believes she found him boring and had fallen out of love with him
- whenever he’s been hurt by love since, he remembers the day by the pond
6
Q
Summarise “The Farmer’s Bride” by Mew
A
- a farmer’s been married for 3yrs but his bride is frightened of him and other men
- he tells the story of how the relationship went wrong but doesn’t question wether he has any responsibility for his wife’s fear
- he finds her rejection unbearable because he desires her
- by the end, he is struggling to resist taking her by force
7
Q
Summarise “Walking Away” by Day lewis
A
- a father remembers his son play his first game of football on his first day of school
- father is worried about his son as he watches him walk uncertainly away from him
- this memory still affects the father 18yrs later
- then he understands that all children must gain independence and every parent must let go
8
Q
Summarise “Letters From Yorkshire” by Dooley
A
- a man is working in his garden and sees his first lapwings of the season and writes to the narrator about it
- narrator reflects on their different lives- the man lives in yorkshire spending his time outside whereas she lives far away in a city and spends her time writing
- narrator wonders if the man’s life is more fulfilling because he’s close to nature
- narrator feels like she lives in a different world but the letters he writes helps her feel connected to him/ his way of life
9
Q
Summarise “Eden Rock” by Causley
A
- narrator imagines his parents are young again (mother 23, father 25) on the bank of a stream and his mum is preparing a picnic- idyllic scene
- narrator is on the opposite bank and they encourage him to cross the river to join them
- this setting could be bases on a real memory OR an imagined scene of before the narrator was born/ when he’s near death
- his parents could be beckoning him to join them in life, or in the afterlife
10
Q
Summarise “Follower” by Heaney
A
- narrator describes his father’s expert ploughing whcih he admired when he was a boy
- boy followed his dad around the farm, sometimes stumbling and falling so his father would carry him on his back
- he wanted to grow up to be like his dad
- but all he ever did was follow his dad around being a nuisance
- now theyre both older, relationship has reversed and the father now “follows” his son
11
Q
Summarise “Mother, any distance” by Armitage
A
- narrator’s mum comes to the house he’s moving into to help measure things like walls and doors
- she holds the end of the tape measure while he walks away to measure things
- this makes him think about how she’s always looked after him but now she has to let him go
- narrator looks forward to independence but is also scared- he doesn’t know if he’ll succeed without mum
- however, there are hints that she’ll always be there for him if he needs her
12
Q
Summarise “Before You Were Mine” by Duffy
A
- narrator is looking at a photo of her mum having fun with friends and she imagines her mum when she was younger
- she says her mother was happiest during the 10yrs before she was born
- she remembers glimpses from her childhood of her mum’s fun-loving past
- she remembers her mum teaching her to dance and she wanted her mum to be like this more often but realises she was only really fun-loving/ glamorous before she was born
13
Q
Summarise “Winter Swans” by Sheers
A
- a couple walk around a lake after two days of bad weather, not talking to eachother and far apart because their relationship is troubled
- they stop at the sight of swans tipping underwater, righting themselves, then swimming away
- this display seems to change the mood between the couple
- they carry on walking holding hands- reconciles
14
Q
Summarise “Singh Song!” by Nagra
A
- british indian narrator talks about his life in his father’s corner shop
- he’s just married and keeps sneaking out of the shop to spend time with his wife who is indian but dresses in british clothes and acts i a modern, western way
- narrator neglects shop duties and customers complain that he’s bad at running the shop
- when the shop shuts, they sit and talk and he tells his wife how much she means to him
15
Q
Summarise “Climbing My Grandfather” by Waterhouse
A
- narrator imagines climbing his grandfather using an extended metaphor (he is a climber, grand dad is a mountain)
- narrator could be imagining/ remembering himself as a child, playing with his grandfather and observing things about him OR he could be using this climbing metaphor for getting to known him as an adult
