Poems of the decade Flashcards
Chainsaw Versus the Pampas Grass
Summary: Poem suggests a gender imbalance between male and female as well as the superiority of nature over human technology- failure of chainsaw= failure of himself and his manhood- critical of society’s gender expectation
Structure:
inconsistent- no specific rhyme scheme and stanzas are irregular to show perhaps how the narrator has lost control of the situation.
Significance of Title:
‘Chainsaw’ as a phallic symbol versus nature
Techniques/symbols:
-Personification of chainsaw to show lad culture and hypermasculinity
-Semantic field of military/weapons
-feminine language
-anaphora (‘felt’) creates heartbeat
-metaphors to convey sexual violence
Eat Me
Summary: emotional abuse, control and feederism within a relationship
Structure:
It is in the form of a dramatic monologue.
Uses tersits to represent the three people in the relationship: the feeder, the feedee and the food
Controlled poem to show controlling relationship
enjambment- free flowing desire
Significance of Title:
‘Eat me’ from Alice in Wonderland when the cookie makes her bigger
Techniques/symbols:
-Cake
-Water imagery- drink me=reverse
-metaphor of shipwreck
- anaphora (‘too fat’)
History
Summary: Delves into 9/11’s aftermath, blending personal reflection on the narrators lack of control with a broader look at human nature and loss
Structure:
Broken/erratic Structure reflects the broken buildings and confusion of the poet following the event
Change in structure reflects a change in state of mind
minimal punctuation
When turned to the side, stanzas look like waves on a beach/city skyline
Significance of Title:
‘History’ juxtaposes the poem itself being set in the now, perhaps reflecting how this moment will become history
Techniques/symbols:
-the Kite- illusion of control, distance, liminal transitional states of being between the sky and beach
-gathering shells as metaphor for the rubble
An Easy Passage
Summary: Follows a teenage girl’s precarious climb as she tries to sneak back into her house, contrasting her exciting and perilous struggle with the monotonous routines of adulthood
Structure:
Lack of punctuation creates a sense of panic and mimics a stream of consciousness
Free verse- one long stanza
To show one long journey
Significance of Title:
Ironic- shows how the transition from girlhood and womenhood is not an easy process
Techniques/symbols:
-feminine language to show girlhood and sweetness
-The fact that she is ‘halfway’ to the window and ‘crouching’ a position halfway between sitting and standing further reflects the fact that she is inbetween being an adult and a child
The Deliverer
Summary: incorporates ideas and issues surrounding adoption and gender of babies, particularly in the Indian state of Kerala
Structure:
Poem broken up into different sections with subheadings to show contrasting settings.
Use of asterisk liken the format of the poem to that of receipt or an announcement board, demonstrating dehumanising process.
short lines used to demonstrate cyclical nature of poem or demonstrate the tragically short lives many girls have. Initial consistency of end stopped lines breaks down
Significance of Title:
Deliberately ambiguous, ‘The’ lacks a personal tone.
Deliverer could be seen as the women who gave birth, the adoption agency or another person altogether
Techniques/Symbols:
Violent/matter of fact verbs
Tone of poem lacks emotion, relatively formal, ensures a lack of judgement
Lack of figurative language in general helps to ensure that the imagery remains simple and realistic
The Lammas Hireling
Summary: A farmer hires a young man to help on his farm. The speaker initially adores this ‘hirelling’ as do the cattle but soon kills him on suspicion of being a warlock-male witch.
Structure:
Enjambment occurs between all stanzas to create the effect of ongoing quick and frantic speech- helps to increase level of confusion
Tone shifts in second stanza to become more mysterious
Variation in line length- adds to confusion and makes narrator seem erratic and unreliable
Significance of Title:
Relates to an Old Harvest festival in which farmers would do into towns to hire people to help bring in the harvest.
Draws attention to the poem-fact that it focuses on one person
Techniques/symbols:
- moon as a ‘yellow witness’
-semantic field of the supernatural
-light
-oxymoronic ‘light from the dark lantern’
To My Nine-Year-Old Self
Summary: explores childhood. considering the regrets and nostalgia that an adult may have when looking back on their past experiences
Structure:
Frequency of commas and therefore breaks in rhythm throughout help add layers of emotion, readers interpret these as moments of reflection.
Punctuation initially more strict then more loose- narrators growing emotion and lack of clarity as they become overcome with nostalgia and memory.
Differences in line length- shows growing and changing of stories and feels more personal
Significance of Title:
‘my’ and ‘self’ helps to communicate that it’s a personal poem
Shows that the poem may be presented as a dialogue or conversation between one person, developing a nostalgic tone
Techniques/symbols:
Frequent use of pronouns to give personal tone
Imagery- eg summertime which has connotations of happiness versus contrasting imagery of scars
The Gun
Summary: Tells of the changes that came over a relationship after a gun, shooting and then hunting were introduced into the household.
Structure:
Changes in stanzas- normal 6/7 lines then single lines- attention grabbing
Punctuation shapes rhythm can be interpreted as creating the sound of shooting/bullets.
Use of colons creates strong caesura, jars poems flow showing the unnatural effects guns and killing have on world
Significance of the Title:
Ominous title makes reader feel apprehensive.
‘A gun’ has strong negative connotations
‘the’ gives additional emphasis to the destructive object
Techniques/symbols:
Short and sudden sounds eg ‘grainy polished wood stock’ uses harsh consonants and plosive sounds
Semantic field of death and guns
Doesn’t focus on the first person narrative- makes readers question themselves
The Furthest Distances I’ve Travelled
Summary: A personal poem recalling the thrill of backpacking across the world, wondering how they ended up settling into a more ordinary life- explores both physical and emotional journeys
Structure:
short lines- two long lines at the end- indicates a transition in thought
Frequent hyphens acting as caesura,
In first few stanzas the rhyme is inconsistent and unclear but then gains clarity to show freedom when travelling versus restrictions and patterns of life being imposed
Significance of title:
Immediately shares with reader that it’s going to be a personal poem
Techniques/symbols:
‘simile’ curved under it like a meridian’
Giuseppe
Summary: Draws on the grim history of WWII. Set in fascist dictator Mussolini’s Italy, the poem uses dreamlike imagery to explore what happens when people manage to persuade themselves that other people aren’t human
Structure:
Written in free verse- lack of specific rhythm makes the poem sound more like something that would naturally be spoken aloud in conversation- confessional tone, makes it more believable
caesura used to show the narrator is reluctant and guilty
Mix of line/stanza length makes story more confusing
Significance of Title:
Impersonal feeling by calling him just ‘Giuseppe’ and not uncle
Techniques/symbols:
Confessional tone/ factual tone due to simplicity of language
Mermaid- represents warfare or women?
Out of the Bag
Summary: Illustrates the power and potency of an innocent child’s imagination with Heaney reflecting on his own childish misconceptions on childbirth.
Structure:
Split into 4 sections- to show transition in the narrators life from childhood through to adulthood
Individual stanzas only 3 lines
Stanzas fragmented- childhood confusion
Free verse structure- emphasises free flowing memories
Significance of Title:
common colloquialism ‘et the cat out of the bag’
Techniques/Symbols:
semantic field of Ancient Greece and Latin- birth as an ancient ritual
use on adjectives and listing- gives an ‘overwhelming’ sense of setting
Genetics
Summary:
Speaks on the composition of ones body and how one is made of their mother, father and their combined history. How even when a marriage breaks down, children act as a permanent union.
Structure:
Strict rhyme scheme- idea of link over the gap of a stanza- how the child is the link in the relationship, could suggest the relationship is forced and unnatural
Significance of Title:
More specific than other titles, has a range of connotations such as science and research. 3 syllables= three people in family unit
Techniques/symbols:
Frequent repetition eg with ‘fingers’ and ‘palms’ feels almost like a childish rhyme
Regular use of verbs- add a feeling of continuation and movement to the poem as well as the relationship
From the Journal of a Disappointed Man
Summary: Explores the contrast between the narrator and the workmen and the effects of disappointment as well as the role of men.
Structure:
Very repetitive- solid blocks/chunks of texts- links to masculinity
Varied use of punctuation
Significance of the title:
‘Journal’ shows its going to be personal/ true/authentic feelings
‘From’ helps it feel as though it is a letter addressed to the reader
‘man’ perspective shared by many people not just one.
Techniques/Symbols:
-workers performing a physical action, in contrast to the more intellectual thoughts of the onlooker- forms an ‘us versus them perspective’
-Use of personal pronouns such as ‘I’- distance between descriptions of men and ‘I’ which could be interpreted as the narrator not feeling a part of this type of man
Look We Have Coming To Dover!
Summary: The poem tells of the arrival of immigrants to England and of their lives filled with hard work, fears and dreams
Structure:
Stanzas progress from short lines to long lines- creates effect of waves or movement of people across the world and different cycles of immigration
Very even- 5 line stanzas- could be reference to 5 oceans of the world- vital traditionally to movement
Frequent use of commas and hyphens- show struggle to a non native speaker
Significance of Title:
Poorly phrased language and mix of tenses is intriguing- suggests someone that speaks poor english or mocking of immigration. Immigration made clear through cultural reference to ‘Dover’
Techniques/Symbols:
Use of non-english words such as alfresco, champagne, camouflage that aren’t immediately recognised shows importance of immigration
Epigraph-British patriotism
Please Hold
Summary: the Speaker tries to navigate an automated phone system only to find themselves growing ever more frustrated
Structure:
All one stanza- never ending- reflects the feeling when phoning a customer service helpline
short lines- shows breakdown of developed communication
repetition- used to make poem feel more monotonous
Significance of Title:
Phrase is synonymous with phone calls and customer support helplines
poem title is repeated throughout poem
Conveys a sense of action and sets up tone of frustration
Techniques/symbols:
- Satire- able to anticipate humor of poem
- Pronouns- personal versus the robot, personal pronouns encourage the reader to think of when they have had a similar experience
-plosives to convey emotional and negative feelings eg p in please- could sound like static on a telephone line.
