Poems - Lit

Question 1

Form of “If”:

Answer 1

Father’s advice to son

Regular rhyme pattern - self-control

Question 2

Form of “Prayer before birth”:

Answer 2

Free verse
- randomness/chaos of life

Prayer format “O hear me”

Question 3

Form of “Blessing”:

Answer 3

Free verse
- spontaneous event
- different people’s actions

Question 4

Form of “Search for my tongue”:

Answer 4

Free verse
- fluid movement from one language to another

Mid section - Gujerati
- Visual representation of how different languages are

Question 5

Form of “Half-past Two”:

Answer 5

Free verse
- lack of strict form - child able to break free

Question 6

Form of “Piano”:

Answer 6

Lyric poem
- expresses emotions

Regular rhythm - 3 quatrains
- calm & ordered

Rhyming couplets

Question 7

Form of “Hide and Seek”:

Answer 7

Continuous single stanza
- suggests speed of transition between childhood nativity & bitter adult knowledge

Question 8

Form of “Sonnet 116”:

Answer 8

Shakesperian sonnet form

3 quatrains

Regular patterns - sense and control

Question 9

Form of “La Belle Dame sans Merci”:

Answer 9

ballad - written 18th century

set medieval times

Quatrains - regular patterns

Circular structure - trapped by obsession with woman

Question 10

Form of “Poem at 39”:

Answer 10

Free verse
- reflects nature of memory as it moves from past to present

Question 11

Form of “war photographer”:

Answer 11

Regular shape - 6 line stanzas
- creates order from chaos of war

Question 12

Form of “Tyger”:

Answer 12

Rhyming couples

Equal length lines - tetrameter

Question 13

Form of “My Last Duchess”:

Answer 13

Dramatic monologue

Continuous single stanza
- doesn’t allow others to speak

Question 14

Form of “Half-caste”:

Answer 14

Free verse

Performance poem

Question 15

Form of “Do not go gentle”:

Answer 15

Villanelle - 19 lines

• 2 repeatign rhymes

Question 16

Form of “Remember”:

Answer 16

Petrarchan sonnet

Octave

Question 17

Theme of “if”:

Answer 17

navigating life and its dangers/hardships

building character

gender and masculinity

parental advice

Question 18

Theme of “Prayer before birth”:

Answer 18

War & man-made violence

man’s inhumanity to man

powerlessness of individual

Question 19

Theme of “Half-past Two “:

Answer 19

Power of the imagination

Time - artificial construct

Child & adult relationship

Teachers as adults with authority

Question 20

Theme of “Piano”:

Answer 20

memory & revisiting past

childhood

mother & child relationship

power of music

Question 21

Theme of “Hide and Seek”:

Answer 21

Loss of childhood innocence

Friendship & betrayal

Isolation & loneliness

Loss of hope & aspirations

Complexity of adult world

Question 22

Theme of “Sonnet 116”:

Answer 22

Idealised love

Marriage

Time

Permanence

Question 23

Theme of “la Belle Dame sans Merci”:

Answer 23

Dangerous love

Dangerous woman

Power & powerlessness

Imagination & dreams

Sickness & death

Question 24

Theme of “Poem at 39”:

Answer 24

Father & daughter relationship

Past memories

Loss & death

Building character

Question 25

Theme of “War photographer”:

Answer 25

Death

War & suffering

Politically powerless & invisible

Question 26

Theme of “Tyger”:

Answer 26

Creation

Power

Danger

Question 27

Theme of “My last Duchess”:

Answer 27

Power & tryranny

Jealousy & pride

Marriage

Death

Question 28

Theme of “Half-caste”:

Answer 28

Language

identity

Racial prejudice

Challenging attitudes

Cultural tensions

Question 29

Theme of “Do not go gentle”:

Answer 29

Death & dying

Living life to the fullest

Father & son relationship

Strength & weakness

Question 30

Theme of “Remember”:

Answer 30

memory

Death and loss

Romantic love