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GCSE ENGLISH LIT ⏱📚 > Poems > Flashcards

Poems Flashcards

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1
Q

Porphyria’s lover-

Porphyria is a hereditary disease symptoms include mental disturbances and sensitivity to light

A

Porphyria’s lover-

Title

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2
Q

Porphyria’s lover-
The only line which breaks the iambic tetrameter which is symbolic of his heart breaking
Suggests he knows he will kill her and mourns her before she’s gone he can’t stop himself because of mental reasons
Suggests real feelings for her

A

Porphyrias lover

I listened with a heart fit to break

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3
Q

Porphyria’s lover-
Personification of wind
Foreshadows how he will kill porphyria out of spite

A

Porphyria’s lover

‘It tore the elm tops down for spite’

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4
Q

Porphyria’s lover-
Repetition shows his obsession for her hair
Foreshadows the end of the poem

A

‘Her yellow hair’

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5
Q

Porphyria’s lover-
Suggests he still thinks of himself as her romantic lover and not her murderer
‘It’s’ Objectifies porphyria

A

‘And I it’s love’

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6
Q

Neutral tones
Gives the poem and emotionless feeling
Connotations of bland colours which reflects how only ‘white’ ‘grey’ and ‘greyish’ are used in the poem

A

Title- neutral tones

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7
Q

Neutral tones-
Contrast of pronouns that have connotations of togetherness at the start to pronouns that symbolise solitude at the end shows how the breakup happened naturally without any direct speech

A

Start ‘we’ ‘us’

End ‘you’ ‘I’

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8
Q

Neutral tones
Symbolism of how everything is bare with no leaves to cover it including their emotions
Sibilance and personification of the grassed earth

A

‘Few leaves lay on the starving sod’

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9
Q

Neutral tones-

Juxta position of a positive and negative thing doesn’t makes sense which symbolises how the couple don’t make sense

A

‘The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing’

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10
Q

Neutral tones
He will find it hard to love anyone else again because he is skeptical of how he could be head over heels for someone like that
Suggests an affair

A

‘Love deceives’

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11
Q

When we two parted
A phrase which doesn’t make sense and cannot stand alone
It’s vague because this was a real affair and he cannot give too many details
This draws us in

A

When we two parted- title

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12
Q

When we two parted-
That morning he knew something wasn’t right
‘Dew’ is a metaphor, dewy mornings are the sign of the beginning of winter

A

‘The dew of the morning’

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13
Q

When we two parted
Alliteration of ‘sh’ symbolise secrecy
He feels guilty as he wasn’t found out but she was and her marriage possibly ended

A

‘Share in its shame’

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14
Q

When we two parted
‘Knell’ is a bell at funeral services which symbolises death of relationship
However this is a hyperbole nobody has actually died- he is known for sleeping around and knew that it wouldn’t last

A

‘A knell to mine ear’

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15
Q

When we two parted

He feels he has been cheated on which is ironic as he’s had an affair

A

‘Thy spirit deceive’

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16
Q

The farmers bride-

Simile which symbolises the death of their love, rejection and coldness

A

Like the shut of a winters day

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17
Q

The farmers bride-
‘Fast’ means secure
Hunted like prey and locked up like a mad person which links to how the poet family had a history of insanity
‘Fast’ is locked up by a comma and a full stop

A

‘Turned the key upon her fast’

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18
Q

The farmers bride-
Simile to describe her, sounds vulnerable and attractive
Symbolises how she has strong roots with nature

A

‘Straight and slight as a young larch tree’

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19
Q

The farmers bride-
Repetition of hair shows how he is now becoming out of control which contrasts to how he has told the rest of the poem orderly
Shows his physical need
‘Brown’ is an animal description

A

‘The brown of her- her eyes her hair, her hair, her hair!’

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20
Q

The farmers bride-
Connotations of newly wedded and unused why isn’t she a wife
Could link to the pact the poet made with her sister never to have children for fear of passing on insanity

A

Title

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21
Q

Love’s philosophy
Rhetorical questions at the end of each stanza are reptile of the same idea
They are monosyllabic which could symbolise the situations simplicity- she should be with him

A

Why not I with thine?

If though kiss not me?

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22
Q

Loved philosophy-
Personification of the waves has a feeling of urgency and desperation
Clasp has a connotation of protecting a person

A

‘And the waves claps one another’

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23
Q

Loves philosophy
Religious language which makes her not being with him sound unforgivable
It means no flower would stand alone while surrounded by others- it doesn’t make sense
Less physical/ sexual description than the others

A

‘No sister flower would be forgiven’

24
Q

Singh song-

Shows he is childish and his father still is in control

A

‘one Ov my daddy’s shops’

25
Q

Singh song-
Shows she has western culture
The words are monosyllabic which imitates her heel
The harsh alliteration of the h’s gives the impression she is impatient

A

‘High heel tap di ground’

26
Q

Singh song-
Suggests she runs a dating site
This portrays her as rebellious because it contrasts to a Indian tradition of arranged marriage
However it could possibly mean she is using the site to flirt with other men

A

‘Her Sikh lover site’

27
Q

Singh song-
Could symbolise prison bars which emphasises how they are unable to leave and the father is controlling
However they seem unaware they are trapped as they ‘stare right past’

A

‘From behind di chocolate bars’

28
Q

Winter swans
Personification of earth Symbolises clogged up emotions
Alliteration of ‘g’ sounds guttural which conveys how they find it hard to talk like a stammer

A

‘Waterlogged earth gulping for breath’

29
Q

Winter swans
This metaphor is effective
There is much more below the surface than above on an iceberg
White feathers were a sign of cowardice in ww1

A

Icebergs of white feather

30
Q

Winter swans
Slow stepping sounds like their walking precariously, links to treading on eggshells or could suggest dancing
Sibilance helps you to almost hear their shoes

A

‘Slow stepping in the lakes shingle and sand’

31
Q

Walking away

Sunny is positive but turns quickly to winter which is negative could symbolise the sudden change of child to adolescent

A

Sunny day with leaves just turning

32
Q

Walking away
Pathos- Greek word for sadness
Suggests a young bird which sets up the metaphor of him flying the nest

A

Pathos of a half fledged thing

33
Q

Walking away
Religious imagery
Comparison to god who had to also let his son go to show humans he lived them
But god is all powerful the poet feels powerless

A

‘What god alone could perfectly show’

34
Q

Follower
Unexpected simile which suggests strength
A boat uses a sail to harness the power of the wind
He harnessed the power of the horses

A

‘Like a full sail strung’

35
Q

Follower-
Shows he is an expert and it requires extreme precision
‘Narrow’ could suggest through farming he’s cut himself off from opportunities which could be why heany pursues writing

A

‘His eye narrowed and angled at the ground’

36
Q

Follower-
A triple which portrays clumsiness
‘Yapping’ brings to mind a puppy which can be irritating and needy but dogs have connotations of loyalty

A

‘Tripping, falling, yapping’

37
Q

Mother any distance-
He is testing his independence without letting go completely
‘Line’ could symbolise the umbilical chord which suggest he still needs nourishment from his mother

A

‘The line still feeding out’

38
Q

Mother any distance-
Abrupt one word sentences that sum up the poem
Anchor- mother will always be there as he soared away in case he falls
Kite they will always be connected
However connotations of being held back and then taught rope suggests tension in the relationship

A

‘Anchor. Kite.’

39
Q 
Mother any distance-
The ellipsis (...) is symbolic of him taking a final deep breath 
The hatch is ambiguous, it could symbolise a trap door or it could be a reference to himself as a hatchling about to fly the nest
A

‘… I reach towards a hatch’

40
Q

Climbing my grandfather-
Abrupt start to the poem in present tense which confuses the reader so we read on
Creates a sense of danger and sets up extended metaphor of grandfather as mountain

A

‘I decided to do it free without a rope or net’

41
Q

Climbing my grandfather-
Simile to describe his skin
‘Thick’ links to thick skin he doesn’t let things get to him
‘Warm ice’ is an oxymoron and suggests a complex personality
‘Ice’ can melt

A

‘Smooth and thick like warm ice’

42
Q

Climbing my grandfather-
It’s a far from simple relationship
He is sensitive and doesn’t stay there long, perhaps he knows what happens so he’s not curious

A

‘Gently in the old stitches’

43
Q

Eden rock
It is a biblical reference to the gardens of Eden which were a perfect place
Religious language links to heaven which foreshadows death

A

Title

44
Q

Eden rock
The specific details of things show the poet remembers it in great detail or has a detailed imagination of it
The ordinary things contrasts to the fantasy of the poem

A

‘An old HP sauce bottle’

45
Q

Eden rock
Imagery of a spiritual world like heaven
‘Three suns’ could symbolise the three people, or the trinity (links to spirits) or a parhelion a phenomenon caused by ice crystals which gives the illusion of three suns

A

‘The sky whitens as if lit by three suns’

46
Q

Eden rock
She masks her face from her son
Could suggest he is an angel and too bright to look at

A

‘My mother shades her eyes’

47
Q

Before you were mine
Possessive has connotations of ownership of the mother by the baby which contrasts to reality
Suggests she feels bad for dictating her mother’s life

A

‘My loud possessive yell’

48
Q

Before you were mine
Suggests her mother is dead
Clatter contrasts to how a normal ghost might glide which suggests her mother wasn’t average in life or death
Clatter also has connotations of chains which suggests she may have done wrong

A

‘Your ghost clatters towards me’

49
Q

Before you were mine
Could symbolise that she took the wrong path in life which contrasts to the quote ‘the right way home’ earlier in the poem

A

‘Wrong pavement’

50
Q

Letters from Yorkshire
Birds have connotations of freedom, he is more free
They are migratory birds which suggests he hopes she will return

A

‘The first lapwings’

51
Q

Letters from Yorkshire
‘Heart full’ suggests she lives what she does
Could symbolise the heart vs head poem
Alliteration of ‘h’ sounds like panting which suggests her work is also hard

A

‘Heart full of headlines’

52
Q

Letters from Yorkshire
Natural imagery in compressed into an envelope which is a physically impossible metaphor
This suggests it could be impossible for them to be together due to the distance

A

‘Pouring air and light into an envelope’

53
Q

Sonnet 29 ‘I think of thee’-
Simile
‘Tree’ presents him as stringer and more powerful’ and her as the vines makes her dependant on him as vines cannot exist without a tree
However vines can kill and smother a tree
‘Wild’ suggests out of control

A

‘As wild vines about a tree’

54
Q 
Sonnet 29 ‘I think of thee’-
It is a symbol of faith in Christianity 
They were exotic and desirable plants at the time- he is desirable 
Palm leaf represents victory 
And they can grow on barren landscapes
A

‘My palm tree’

55
Q

Sonnet 29 ‘I think of thee’-
Links to a breath of fresh air
Connotations of obsessiveness as she’s so close she’s in his shadow
However darker connotations of shadow, they represent a darker copy of a person which suggests he has changed her

A

‘Breathe within thy shadow’

GCSE ENGLISH LIT ⏱📚 (3 decks)

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