Poems Flashcards
In Praise of Creation, Elizabeth Jennings
Plot: Summary: Themes: Structure/Form: Key annotations:
Plot:
- Bird - order
- Sky - time
- Tiger - Sin
- The world/Earth - Purity
- Man
Summary:
- Everything in nature happens naturally
- Order and precision of nature
- biblical
- awe and appreciation of creation
Themes:
- Nature
- Natural beauty, rhythm, precision, order
- Purity
- Creation
- Destructive nature of Man
Structure/Form: - 5 stanzas - 4 lines per stanza (quatrains) - end rhyme (representative of the patterns and uniform structure of events in nature) - volta in paragraph 3 and 4
Key annotations:
- “one” and “pure”, innocence and purity
- “without ceremony”, not in need of glorification just is
- “How the”, x2 awe
- “cut thinly”, ref to passing of time
- “cage of skin”, metaphor (trapped feeling of life on earth)
- “turning, turning”, repetition of nature
- “Man”, first and only reference to man (negative)
The Poplar-Field, William Cowper
Plot: Summary: Themes: Structure/Form: Key annotations:
Plot:
- The poplar field being cut down
- Reminiscing on past and loss of trees
- The loss of birds
- Passing of time, death
- Pessimism and reflecting on mans flaws
Summary:
- The loss of Poplar trees
- Loosing happy memories with time
- Parallels between life and death, man and nature and past and present
- Things change with time as well as perspective
Themes:
- Destruction (Man)
- Ageing
- Loss
- Grief
- Mortality
- Parting
- Man connecting with nature
Structure/Form:
- 5 stanzas
- 4 lines per stanza (quatrains)
- End rhyme
- Anapaestic tetrameter
- volta in last 2 lines
Key annotations:
- deceiving title
- “felled farewell”, fricative alliteration
- “whispering sound”, onomatopoeia
- “elapsed”, passing of time
- “favourite field”, fricative alliteration
- “black bird”, connecting human emotion with nature
- “charming” and “sweet-flowing ditty” positive nature
- “fugitive years”, wanting to hide in youth
- “long lie…”, consonant “l” sound
- “stone at my head”, tombstone
- “perishing pleasures”, oxymoron
Ode on Melancholy, John Keats
Plot: Summary: Themes: Structure/Form: Key annotations:
Plot:
- Danger and warning not to give in to Melancholy
- The depth and sadness of Melancholy in contrast with some natural imagery
- The wonders of all emotions
Summary:
- Melancholy is a burdening and powerful emotion
- Poisonous nature of it
- Melancholy has its own course that must be taken and there is no way to avoid it
- Getting through it is a long process
- Melancholy must be experienced and embraced to understand the positives in life
- All things good and bad will come to an end eventually
Themes:
- Death
- Extreme sadness and suffering
- Grief
- Loss
- Suicide
- Complexity of emotion
Structure/Form:
- 3 stanzas and 10 lines per stanza
- 3 stanzas representative of journey through Melancholy and its stages
Key annotations:
- Poison (Wolf’s bane, wine, nightshade, beetle, death moth)
- Proserpine (Goddess of underworld)
- Sibilant hushing sound “shade” author calming reader
- Positive imagery “heaven”, “flowers” “green hill” “rainbow” “salt sand-wave”
- assonance “feed, deep, …” elongated “e” sound represents longevity and depth of melancholy
- Capitalisation of emotions shows the power and strength of all emotions and how they are intertwined
Coming, Philip Larkin
Summary:
Themes:
Structure/Form:
Key annotations:
Summary:
- Battle between sinister dark tone and positive light hearted tone
- Spring is “Coming”
- change associated with a change of season
Themes:
- Childhood innocence and naivety
- Hope vs. false hope
- Love
- Change
- Mystery
- Nature
Structure/Form:
- 1 stanza
- 19 lines
- No rhyme scheme
- Lack of form and structure
- Conversational
- No iambic pentameter
- Normal, dull boring cynical tone
Key annotations:
- “Coming” title suggests change but gives a sense of mystery as it doesn’t reveal much
- Alliteration of “l” longevity representative of time passing slowly “longer” “light” “chill” “yellow”
- “It will be spring soon” x2 repetition could be sinister or simply like a child excited for spring to come
- “feel like a child” the happiness and joy of a child but also the lack of understanding and blindness
- “understand nothing” the tension of parents trying to mask an argument from a child
Stormcock in Elder, Ruth Pitter
Plot: Summary: Themes: Structure/Form: Key annotations:
Plot:
- Being alone in a cottage and finding spiritual fulfilment
- Catching sight of the stormcock
- Seeing the bird from afar
- Idolising the bird and its features
- Appreciation and description of the bird
- Bravery and courage of the bird (reflective)
- Praise and learning from the bird
Summary:
- Finding sustenance through a spiritual awakening
- Strength and courage of bird
- Appreciation of stormcock
- Studying and examining the details on the stormcock
Themes:
- Splendor of Nature
- Faith
- Spirituality
- Resilience
- Optimism
Structure/Form:
- 6 lines
- 7 stanzas
- ABABCC rhyme scheme symbolic of bird song
Key annotations:
- Title revealing thrush and its home in a large tree
- “found celestial food instead” spiritual journey awakened by sighting of thrush
- “loud loud” suffering coming to an end like silence
- “breast”, “tongue”, “bill” listing birds features in awe
- consonant “f” sound in 4th stanza representative of bird song
- “bright” “colour” “silver” colour imagery listing
- “bagpipes crack” personification of bird being like a sturdy strong soldier
- “Gabriel” religious reference bird like a spiritual messenger
The Caged Skylark, Gerard Manley Hopkins
Plot: Summary: Themes: Structure/Form: Key annotations:
Plot:
- Courage of skylark and skylark and bird being trapped
- Taste of freedom
- Freedom once leaving soul and earth (cage)
Summary:
- Earth is like a cage
- Feeling trapped and restricted by cage or body
- Industrial revolution (work like imprisonment)
Themes:
- Relationship between body and soul
- Human connection with nature
- Freedom through art (singing)
Structure Form:
- (octet) 8 lines, 3 lines, 3 lines
- 3 stanzas
- volta from 8 line stanzas to 3 line stanzas
- octet problem (negative) , sestet response (solution)
- ABBA, CCD rhyme scheme (end) B and D lines indented
Key annotations:
- “dare-gale” skylark like daredevil
- “bone-house” skeleton/ribcage/cage trapping
- “day-labouring” ref to industrial revolution
- juxtaposition between “sing” “droop” pos/neg
- “sweet-fowl…” sibilance shows of feeling of freedom
- “wild” v “prison” juxtaposition
- line 12, man and bird free when soul not caged by body
Cetacean, Peter Reading
Plot: Summary: Themes: Structure/Form: Key annotations:
Plot:
- Leaving the wharf
- Observing whales
- Precision of whales
- Great size of whales
- Leaving of whales
- Whales gone
- Mystery of whales
Summary:
- Nature is great and powerful in comparison to man
- Colossal size and grace of whales
- Whales as a collective
- awe of whales
Themes:
- Relationship between human and nature
- Mystery and wonder of nature
- Awe of nature
Structure:
- first 4 stanzas 3 lines
- last 3 stanzas 2 lines
- lineation (long) representative of whale size
- no rhyme scheme (whales free and wild)
Key annotations:
- Cetacean and other specific language showing poet not romanticising whales very matter of fact (factual)
- “some 63 feet” boat size insignificant compared to whales
- “rose … angle” sibilance grace and calamity of whales
- “simile “straight… columns” precision and skill of whales
- “they” whales a collective
- “Then” recount style anaphora
- “shallow angle” link to stanza 2 whales left as quick as they appeared
- “deep” mystery masters of their own destiny
Kraken, Alfred Lord Tennyson
Plot: Summary: Themes: Structure/Form: Key annotations:
Plot:
1. Not much of a plot (description of Kraken and its size and mystery)
Summary:
- Mystery of Kraken
- Kraken is unknown
- Kraken the antagonist and something to be feared
- Kraken’s vast size, monster and ancient
- Kraken a mythical creature that may or may not exist
Themes:
- Eeriness of unknown
- History of the sea
- Power and strength of nature
Structure/Form:
- 1 stanza (representative of Kraken’s size)
- short poem, keeping it unknown?
- end rhyme but interesting rhyme scheme
Key annotations:
- “thunders” auditory imagery threatening
- “faintest sunlight flees” personification of sunlight , sun afraid of kraken too
- “sleepeth” archaic language showing age of kraken
- “sickly light” oxymoron
- “giant arms” anthropomorphism
- “man and angels” viewed by man and spiritual being (sight of kraken powerful enough to send you to the angels)
- “roaring” auditory prolonged cry, link to “thundering”
Watching for Dolphins, David Constantine
Plot: Summary: Themes: Structure/Form: Key annotations:
Plot:
- Describing setting leaving for dolphin watching
- Everyone searching for dolphins
- Loosing hope but looking for signs of dolphins
- Desperation to see them
- What it would’ve been like seeing the dolphins
- Returning without seeing dolphins
Summary:
- disappointments in life
- searching for purpose meaning
- spiritual enlightenment through viewing dolphins
- universal experience
- negative tone
Themes:
- Role of imagination in daily life
- desired meaningful encounters with nature, connection
- Nature
- Spirituality
- Purpose
- Isolation and longing
Structure/Form:
- 6 stanzas of sestets (6 lines)
- enjambment flow of poem like story and disappointment
- volta in last stanza too negative and grief stricken tone
Key annotations:
- sibilance in first stanza sets positive tone mood
- “lovers…fat man…children” universal experience
- “gulls a sign” desperation for help from above to see dolphins
- “reverberate…cymbal etc.” auditory imagery, violent sounds, cacophony harsh sound
- “on the climax” building to height of desperation
- “smiling,,,” all the positive happening at once
- “on grace” magical movement of dolphins (dolphins spiritual)
- “black water” reinforcing disappointment, negative tone
- “B” plosive harsh sound symbolic of returning to the harsh reality
Afternoon with Irish Cows, Billy Collins
Plot: Summary: Themes: Structure/Form: Key annotations:
Plot:
- Noticing the cows outside
- Further acknowledgement of cows and description
- Beginning to introduce their struggles and suffering
- Pain and suffering of a cow
- Return to peace, fading cows suffering (death of cow)
Summary:
- Simplicity of nature
- Resistance of man vs. nature
- Mundane and monotonous routine of cows
- Lack of excitement and emotion except suffering
- Plain calmness
Themes:
- Observing nature
- Mindsets and perception
- Simplicity and plainness
- Admiration of nature
Structure/Form:
- 5 stanzas
- 7 lines per stanza
- no evident rhyme scheme
- 1st person narrative
Key annotations:
- “ft” flowing sound suggests peace and calmness as well as lack of happening
- “as … taken wing” boring attempting to add excitement
- “munching”, “waiting”, “lying” “facing” the sense that everything is moving but the cows
- “sound so phenomenal” attempt to add excitement
- “knife, cutting, spear, torched” brutal harsh, unpleasant language suggesting the negative nature of going “inside”
- “bellowing” strong sense of power
- “darkness of her belly” mysterious element
The Buck in the Snow, Edna St Vincent Millay
Plot: Summary: Themes: Structure/Form: Key annotations:
Plot:
- Introducing setting and Buck, hinting danger
- Death of Buck
- Power and mystery of death, Doe now free of Buck
Summary:
- Speed and power of death
- Unescapable and unstoppable force of nature , death
- Mysterious ways death acts
- Sneaky cunning nature of death
- Beauty of nature, Buck
Themes:
- Life is fleeting and unpredictable
- Death is sudden merciless
- Beaty of nature
- Power of death
Structure/Form:
- 3 stanzas
- 5, 1, 6 lines
- consistent rhyme scheme in first stanza
Key annotations:
- Title misleading
- “hemlocks bowed in snow” poison masked by pure innocent white
- “antlered buck and his doe” , strength and vast size of buck and his doe, his possession
- “l” alliteration symbolic and grace and beauty of Buck
- 1 line second stanza showing speed and power of death
- “How strange a thing” x2 emphasis of mysteriousness of death
- last line, shock death of Buck brings to doe
London Snow, Robert Bridges
Plot: Summary: Themes: Structure/Form: Key annotations:
Plot:
- Dawn snow beginning to fall
- Snow covering the impurities of London
- Snow slowing down time and the people’s routine
- Children enjoying the snow
- Sun slowly melting away the snow
- Revealing the impurities once again and going back to normal
Summary:
- Soft flowing peace of snow
- Nature masking grit and grime of London
- Snow slowing time and allowing the people to stop take it in and enjoy it
- Snow bringing London to a standstill
Themes:
- Effortless beauty and awe of nature
- Human destruction of beauty and nature
- Restoration beauty
- Nature’s power and harmony
Structure/Form:
- 1 stanza
- poem like narrative or story line
- End rhyme, A B A B C D C D…
Key annotations:
- “stealthily, perpetually” continuous flow of snow
- “deadening… incessantly” snow fall starting to set in, the silent nature and tranquility
- “unaccustomed brightness” rare new, abnormal sight for Londoners and beauty
- “No” “nor” obstruction of monotonous normal routine
- “O look… trees” x2 excitement of a child pleasantness
- “l” alliteration lightness and beauty and flow of snow
- “white deserted way” v “long brown path” effect after snow has left
- “charm they have broken” charm gone with snow, return to normality
The Sea Eats the Land at Home, Kofi Awoonor
Plot: Summary: Themes: Structure/Form: Key annotations:
Plot:
- Sea description
- Destruction of sea
- Impact on humans
- Loss of individuals
- The sea has taken away
Summary:
- Chaos
- Destruction
- Impact on people
- Loss, invasion
- Empty, nothing, gone, lost
Themes:
- Colonialization
- Destruction
- Raging power of the sea
Structure/Form:
- 1 stanza, destructive force of relentless sea coming and going all at once
- no rhyme scheme, chaos lack of pattern, predictability
Key annotations:
- entire poem extended metaphor British Empire rain
- refrain, sea eats the land at home, whole (consumption, simple language, sea has left nothing behind)
- “Home” safe place
- “Running.. Collecting.. Sending” happing now present tense
- “town” “cooking places” domestic
- “day at the dead of night” juxtaposition, narrative suggests sea consciously decided to come at night
- “raging, struggling” present participles
- “and…and” continuous pain and suffering
- “dowry, joy” future hope robbed too
- “Aku” “Adena” affected everyone empathy , personal
You Will Know When You Get There, Allen Curnow
Plot: Summary: Themes: Structure/Form: Key annotations:
Plot:
- Mystery of beach at night
- Developing contrast between light and dark
- Boys exploring
- Man and tide as one
- Powerful abrupt violent end (death)
Summary:
- Incomprehensiveness and ambiguity
- Water and light imagery
- Contrast - confusion
- Sinister ending, powerful violent and ominous
- Solitude and darkness
Themes:
- Isolation
- Loneliness
- Desertion
- Solitary journey
Structure/Form:
- no rhyme scheme
- 11 stanzas
- all stanzas couplets
Key annotations:
- “nobody” begins with isolation
- “late” time beach mysterious at night
- “nobody.. down” cycle with in it self time rotating ticking
- “shower.. shredding.. light” contrasting ideas light rain with light and violence
- “dammed reservoir” builds up contrast between man and nature
- “sun” positive hopeful connotations and ref to time
- “earth rolling back and away” continuous movement of earth and cyclic nature of the passing of time
- “three point seven meters” cyclic precise nature of tides
- “hour’s light left” time passing and signifying the ending
- “slams., heavy, shudders” , “down alone surge-black” sinister dark eerie ending
- contrast between unpredictability of life and predictability of tides and time passing
Written Near a Port on a Dark Evening, Charlotte Smith
Plot: Summary: Themes: Structure/Form: Key annotations:
Plot:
- Description of time and place
- Sea and watchmen
- Doomed voyage
Summary:
- Life is unpredictable and unknown
- Disorienting mysteries of the ocean and night
- Good things won’t last
- Ocean associated with remoteness and distance
Themes:
- Life’s uncertainty
- Limitations of human reason
- Loneliness
Structure/Form:
- 1 stanza
- end rhyme
- calm iambic rhythm
Key annotations:
- Pathetic fallacy “vapours brood” establishes tone mood
- “Night ocean settles” contrasting emotions created in the reader night ocean disturbing, settles calming
- “repercussive, roar, drowsy rugged” r sound replicates violent lapping sound of waves
- “Of” anaphora symbolic of cyclic nature of waves and time passing
- “lucid, line, light “ assonance representative of hope or calm in the near future
- “life’s… way” hope of light in the distance creates uncertainty and false hope