Poems Flashcards
Ozymandias structure
- written as sonnet, Shelly romantic poet- like he’s telling a story especially as it’s a second hand account
- no regular rhyme scheme and iambic pentameter is regularly disrupted- reflects human power can be destroyed
- focus shifts conveying the vastness of the desert
Ozymandias language
He’s powerful- “Ye mighty and despair!”
-“!” Conveys his power was authoritative and commanding because it emphasises what he’s saying but ironic as no ones listening
-“despair” conveys ozymandias is telling people to scare him because they can’t cope with the size and grandeur of his works. Ironic as he should despair because power is temporary and unimportant
-“mighty” he’s arrogant and believes he can challenge other rulers, like he’s the top of the bunch. No one can touch him, believes he’s invincible but time shows him he’s not
Undermines his power- “half sunk, a shattered visage lies”
-“half sunk” still got further to fall, if you build yourself up u allow for a larger fall, he’s been blinded by arrogance- time shows him who’s boss
-“shattered” conveys he’s unrecognisable so his identities been lost and his years of power have come to nothing, nature and time have won because they did this, they’ve made him lose his purpose
-identity link to “visage” as it’s your face that makes u who u r and his has been damaged- links to it was his mouth that belittles people and now he’s been belittled by time
-irony shows his attempt at being most powerful has failed
-“lies” connotates he can’t move so he can’t do anything with his power, ultimately it comes to nothing because everyone does
Ozymandias Context
- Shelley was a romantic poet, Romanticism had a big influence on art and literature during 1700-1800
- they believe in emotion, intense experience and power of nature
- Shelley didn’t like power and the oppression of ordinary people
- his political views were inspired by French Revolution where the monarchy was overthrown
- inspired by recent earthing of an Egyptian pharaoh who believed themselves God in mortal form and their legacy would last forever
- the statue is a link to the sculptures which were unearthed from the Egyptian time period because on the the base is written “King of Kings, I am osymandias”
My Last Duchess structure
- 1 stance like a story
-it’s a dramatic monologue, portraying power as he doesn’t let the person he’s talking to speak
-written in Iambic pentameter giving it rhyme an structure suggesting the dukes in control
-rhyming couplets link to being romantic poet and give it structure
-caesuras and enjambment convey the duke gets carried with his anger and passion creating an unstable character who needs to be in control
They also convey his thoughts are jumbled because the lines run into one another suggesting he’s got a lot to say, like he wants to explain himself and his actions to the counts master, like he’s EE,I guess forgiveness
-his obsession of power is unhealthy
My Last Duchess language
“I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together”
- euphemism suggesting she was killed
- ”;” adds to this, giving finality to the statement implying her life has ended
- the imperative “gave” conveys his power as people do what he says
- “I” suggests solely responsible , like he wants to be praised by saying it was him who did it
- ironic as it actually undermines his power because now he has no one to control. He has a lust for power because he has now resorted to controlling who sees her picture
- “smiles stopped” alliteration he now has control because she can’t stare at everyone which he didn’t like, smiles conveys what a cheerful person she is but he’s taken her away
My Last Duchess context
- a dukes wife died of suspicious circumstances, there were rumours she’d been poisoned - inspiration for poem
- the poet left England to go to Italy and a marry another poet who had a controlling father
- he was also from a wealthy family and didn’t fit in so both of them had experience with being controlled
- women were inferior to men and thought to be like possessions
London Structure
- dramatic monologue in 1st person and the narrator is very passionate
- rhetoric language enforces how awful it is because the narrator can’t quite believe it himself and it’s a persuasive technique
- the regular rhyme scheme is unbroken suggesting the cities relentless misery or the regular walking pace of narrator as he goes around the city
London language
“Marks of weakness, marks of woe”
-repetition “mark” sets angry tone because there’s no relief from the misery, highlights the number of people who are affected and why society needs to change. Or the author can notice the “marks” like a sign, the people may be “marks” on a map, permanent
-the verb “mark” can be a metaphor for a brand, like they’re branded to show their place in society. Cone yes everyone has they’re own mark of experience so there’s different stories to tell, that why the stanzas are all different
-alliteration, sounds like wailing child emphasising the extent of the problem- even affects the innocent
-“weakness” could be physical (pain) or mental (flaws)
“Runs in blood down Palace walls”
-symbolic metaphor suggesting the monarchy isn’t being hurt, only the symbol of what they represent.
-however the poor are wasting life without getting anywhere- juxtaposing wealth
-“palace walls” suggests where the laws are made so the establishment is to blame for death, but it also conveys the “walls” offer protection
-“palace” links with “blackening church” because it’s all forms of power which are being targeted
-“down” could suggest the dead are going to hell because hell is below and they’ve gone against the king which is the ultimate sin
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London Context
- time the poem was written poverty, child labour and unemployment were high
- large divide between the rich and poor
- the French Revolution was happening which inspired working class to get change
- poem comes from collection “songs of innocence and experience” it’s from experience showing how innocence is lost and society’s been corrupted
- Women had no rights, death rates from disease and malnutrition were high and the industrial revolution has resulted in many large oppressive factories
- many though London was the best city but Blakes views were strongly against that
Exposure structure
- regular rhyme scheme conveying a monotonous experience which doesn’t stop because rhyme is constant
- also could convey the misery is constant or the order of the military
- however at parts the rhyme is disrupted conveying the chaos of war and reflect their confusion and fading energy
- 8 stanzas showing no progression because first and last lines at same
Exposure language
“But nothing happens”
-repetition conveys the soldiers are waiting for something, but nothing happen
-this is the first and last line conveying even death doesn’t change anything and there’s suffering everywhere because the cycle never breaks and the constant rhyming
-only a half line conveys their boredom and tension
-connective “but” is unexpected giving a sense of anticipation however repetition juxtaposes this suggesting the soldiers quickly grow accustomed to everything going on
“Our brains ache in the merciless iced winds that knive us…”
-nature as well as man made conflict. Nature is personified seeming like it’s attacking the soldiers
–violent verb “knive” adds to this
-this juxtaposes the poem because repetition conveys nothing happens but it’s unexpected because war is usually between soldiers not nature
-sibilance captivates the sound of the wind making it sound lonely and biting, again hurting the soldiers bit also engaging the readers senses
-first person plural “our” conveys the experience was shared between the soldiers as a collective and there now sharing it with the audience
- the ellipsis “…” hints the soldiers are waiting for something but never happens
Exposure Context
-Owen was a soldier and officer in World War 1 therefore seeing the horrors of war especially on the front line however he did not make it home at the end of the war
-he wrote lots of war poems like this sharing his experiences with the people back home
The war was criticised because of its huge loss of life with very little gain
-Owen was angry that soldiers had to live in dangerous muddy trenches while generals behind the line lived in comfort
-he wasn’t angry with the fighting but with the poor living conditions
Storm on the island structure
- 1 stanza long giving it a story feeling and showing the relentlessness of nature and the power of the storm
- suggests there’s no respite - it’s a constant phenomenon
- or written like this to convey the houses- sturdy and compact
- written in blank verse mirroring speech like it’s conversational
- enjambment adds this and creates confusion surrounding the narrator because he doesn’t know what to think as he sneer seen this before
- unrhyming structure makes nature seem chaotic and anarchic suggesting the storm is everywhere
- however the use of some iambic pentameter juxtaposes the chaotic idea because the storm regularity - like it has rules
Storm on the island - language
“It is a huge nothing that we fear”
-oxymoron suggests nature can’t be become because it’s “nothing” so it’s invisible
-paradox because says we have nothing to yet it leaves reader feeling scared especially by adjective “huge” because it suggests we’re in the presence of something great
-The idea of it being invisible juxtaposes the solid rock mentioned in line 2 because physical objects can’t be used to combat something so powerful.
It takes away any advantage humans have and leaves a sense of fear
-1st person plural “we” implies the experience is shared and how unity and togetherness can’t bring down the storm, it only adds to its power
“Spits like a tamed cat turned savage”
Enjambement
Simile- poet uses everyday image to convey power and majestic, undermines the storms strength because it’s only fearful if we choose it to be
Juxtaposition between what they thought it’d be like and what it actually was like
Storm on the island context
The first 8 letters of the title spell STORMONT which was a political argument in Ireland, the conflict between man and nature could represent this
He grew up in in Ireland in a farming community
His poems were homely and used agriculture natural images for metaphors of nature
