POETRY Flashcards
structure of exposre
very bleak and monotone five line stanzas, reflects the futility of war with an anticlimactic anaphora in ‘but nothing happens’
elipses in the first lines create pauses that slow the pacing and prove the boring nature of warfare
cylical structure emphasies the boredom
how power is conveyed through langauge in exposure
the men in the trenches are completely passive to the outisde natural powers wearing away their religious faith and overall sanity, its clear the other men are but a’dull rumour of some other war’ however the nature that ‘knives’ at them, a very upclose verb in compairosn to bullets, is very imanent and real
theres a comparison between the bullets, which are used with a disturbing sibilance in ‘sudden successive; streak the silence’ that mimics the brutal sound of gunfire and yet is disregarded to the fear of the air ‘black with snow’- this imagery is deeply offputting as snow usually comes with homelike connotations however balck is remeniscent of darkness, a loss of sanity and consiousness.
Indeed its unnverving to the home reader the passive nature of the first person narrative in comparison to the HEAVY frickitive alliterations
how is nature depicted through language in exposure
nature is depicted as the true enemy compared to the undisclosed enermy and the passive men, showing the useless nature of man made hate and life itself- shocking for audience
He contrasts the useless sibilence of bullets and tje ‘dull rumour’ of the patriotic war they were deemed to be fighting with the ‘merciless’ and avidly active nature that ‘knives’ at them- this personification is outwardly visual and also incredbly close
also the compairosn between the heavy usage of frickative alliterations and sibilence in ‘suddden successive’ with the passing of of this compared to the air that is ‘black with snow’ is unnvering as snow suually drives connotations to beauty and homeliness not black- soulness, concious and sanoty losing
at the end nature is personfiied to be a great beast of some kind, havinng feasted on them and the mud in a grotesque manner, with visual descriptions of the dead soliders with ‘eyes are ice’- here this metaphor depicts the solider as enveloped by nature, this is the true battle
persepctive and effect in ozimandias
shelley techincally speaks in first person but only uses the phrase ‘i’ pnce before passing the view onto an undisclosed unknown traveller in order to give his political voewpoint and pass it off as literature
the unreliable and disulted aspect of the poem as it is passed between perspectives also shows the diluted nature of the power held by ozimandias
rhyme scheme and effect in ozimandias
the irregular rhyme scheme contrasts the regular proper nature of the sonnet structure, highlighting the contrast between societal opinions on heirachy and tyrany
structure and effect in ozimandias
there is a blend of the typical sonnet structure woth the petrachan lines, shelley is highlighting the longevity and timeless nature of the arts and literature that defies time and can consantly be modernised
power shown in ozimandias
the king is blinded by a false sense of power due to his selfish ambitions, shelley is using him as a metaphor for past and present leaders in an expanding imperialist era who are thinking of power before sanity
he uses mass irony to mock ozimandiases false preteces and foolishness, he tells his subjects to ‘look upon’ his kingdom that has become so knoiwlegably weak that its only revived through diluted whispers of mulitple perespectives
his callous persona, such as his ,sneer,- the last visable section of his career to the sands, representitive of the sands of time, villainise his persoanlity and make him and the rulers he represents painted in a bad light, even his subjects have a false repsect for him, his sculptor mocks him either purposefully or his vile persona seeps into his representation
his percived powers are ultimately insignificant and have been diminished to whipsers of an ‘antique land’- antique shows it as an outdated historical artifiact rather than atimeless memory and ‘shattered visage’ links his perosna to broken croquery, the juxatapositon of the unbreakable character he aimed to show
nature presented in ozimandias
nature is a far greater power undermined by miopic and naive rulers of past and future
his once great empire has been reducede to being somewhere ‘far away’- inspeicifc and insignificant- we know not only is the land disregarded as ‘antique’- only knwon for its history and outdated natuere, but its also in a vast dessert, somehwere uninhabitbale
he uses two alliterations in ‘boundless and bare’ and ‘lone and level’ to excentuate the sheer size of the natural world in comparison to the complete loss of any power held by the ruler
ozimandias context
came from readings of ramanses II- ozimandias was a nickname for him- he standsa s a metaphor for miopic rulers past and present, the temple of ramses bore the king of kings inscription
he resembles george 111 and neopole in shelleys era, shelley a romantic was v anti rulers
exposure key message and context
owen was a very famous war poet who when wounded and suffering ptssd published this in hospital, he was a first perspective tragic hero who died just before armastice, he was very brutally anti war and its propagnda
storm on the island cyclical structure
there are half rhymes at the beginning and end of the poems, showing how the storm cannot be prevented and will inevitably return
perspective of storm on the island
it is written in dramatic monolouge which reflects like a conversation in a very colloquial tone to relate the irish strugglers to broader readers, but ultimately the conversation is one sided showing the isolated nature of the storm
there is abig use of collective pronouns to autobiographise irish culture as a whole and to relate to all
structure of storm on the island
it is in a very controlled iambic pentameter which when mixed with the colloquial language gives a very involving conversational tone- shows the community aspect of the collective perpective and how groupwork is needed to endure a storm
however theres enjambment which implies a barrage of information and perhaps a rush during the storm, the reader will become bretahless which mimics the overpowering nature
rhyme scheme of storm on the island
incredibly sporadic and uncontainable, shows the omnipotence of nature in juxapoision to that of the controlled structure of the people witholding it, momentary half rhymes show break through of power to the people
nature in storm on the island
nature has complete controll over the speaker not just in the future but in the present as they struggle to survive in a isolated island community. the colloquial style of the peice impleis that there is a conversation ongoing but due to the one sided monoluge its clear the islanders are alone. their lives are completely controlled, they feel preppared for it yet every time nature betryas them, their houses adn lives are dictsted by the storm.
nature is very attacking and vioelnet in stark contrast to the pasive humans who speak colloqially, theres lots of miliatristic langauge such as attacking verbs in ‘strafes and salvos’- plosives that liken it to bullets flying, audible fear, juxtoposed by the passive and static– we sit tight
even though they begin the poem with the stable and confirmed, we are prepared- we emphasising the snese of community-no one can withhold the power of nature, reflected in the unstable rhyme scheme and usage of enjambment giving a snese of panic and breathlessness
despite the clear terror he likens it to a ‘tamed cat turned savage’ this simile creates a sense of betrayal as something propserous and mostly docile can equally become the source of destruction, this sentence is also split up using enjambemnt to highlight the disgusting and horrific nature of the betrayal
power shown in storm on the island
there is a clear conflict between the community of islanders and the miltraistic unstoppable nature of the storm
heany begins with a false sense of control when he states that they ‘are prepared’- communal pronoun indicates a sense of togetherness against nature, horror exentuates the sense of toegtherneness, whilst also a sad irony as they have had to endure the perils so many times tey have become accustomed
as the poem endures its clear the juxatpositon between the passive and fearful humans and the violent outburts of nature that humanity can never fully master. there are misitaristic verbs in ‘pummeks’ and ‘strafes and salvos’ p in pummel envokes a harsh noise similar to a punch, it is very close proximity, whilst strafes and salvos are sibilence that mimics the passing of bullets ‘blows full blast’ is another hard plosve
theres also a confict of power in the structure with the controlled and monitored attempt for humans being represented in the stanza, its iambic pentameter and a dramatic monolouge creating a conversational tone, whilst it is juxtaposed by the rhyme scheme which is non existent and throws off the traditional tone, symbolic of the unstoppable nature. both sides show their conflict by attacking eaches area, a small gain of power for the humans may be shown by a half rhyme whilst the usage of enjambment in the structure shows the overpowering of the storm making the reader breathless
prelude context
wordswoth was a key romantic poet who spent most of his childhood and time in the beautiful lake district to escape his hard childhood
the roamntic movement focussed on the importance of earthly beauty ina time of industrialism and were very anti vioence and institutions, the enlightenment period loved science andlogic but they saw nature as the great magic
perspective of the prelude
it is in first person past, a clear monolouge and a recount of an impactful event- so autobiographical. he also adds a few present participles such as leaving which show that the events are still prominent in his mind as if hapening still or currently
cyclical structure of the prelude
shows the change in mental state from the beginning and the end of the poem
first he says ‘stealth’ showing his arrgance as he beleives he is entitlted to the boat and to exploit nature as he pleases, but at the end it becomes clear that he views him coming back as ‘stole’ he has a new sense of humility for trespassing, hes more aware of natures omnipotence
rhyme scheme of the prelude
there is no rhyme scheme as it is an epic monolouge, only a conversational usage of iambic pentameter. its status as an epic poem is conterevesial as there is no clear hero as he does no good deed, rather it can be argued nature is the hgiher power herioic figure or even that its meant on a spiratual level and depicts him maturing and gaining the humility that moulded him to become a leading roamntic.
structure of the prelude
there is one huge stanza as is custom in an epic poem, the lack of breakage and pauses combined with the sweeping enjambement that disallows many breath pauses means that as the poem progresses so does the readers inability to continue to speak, this corresponds with the building sense of overwhelm.
power in the prelude
wordsworth wants to show the reader his spiratual awakening and intense gsain of humility during the journey he embarks on, beginning very arrogant.
theres a heavy usage of parralelism, first he sees himself pedling through the water in an ‘unswerving line’ as nature is completely abiding to how he wants to steer, juxtaposed with later when he has to ‘struck adn t=struck again’ in order to streer himself down, the repetition exentuating the severity and panic of his situation.
theres also a shift in the volta as first he sees himself through mytholigcal language such as elfine pinannce for his boat, but upon the ralisatation his humility means he looses a lot of eloquence and becomes much more grounded ‘huge peak black and huge’ shows the simplistic vocab rushed and panicked a bit
he adds ‘lead by her’ later showing his naivity at the beginning as he percived he was in control of his autonomy