Poetry Flashcards
Who wrote Ozymandias
Percy Shelley
How does Shelley distance himself from the subject of his poem
Uses a different speaker
“I met a traveller from an antique land…”
Who is Ozymandias about
Rameses II - but actually about current king, George III
“Whose frown and…
…wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command”
“On the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ “
How is irony shown in Ozymandias
“Nothing beside remains”
Human power and empire has been destroyed by time and nature
How is the king in Ozymandias presented as egotistical
“Despair” - tyrant who rules by fear
“King of kings” - connotations of God, he believes in his own ultimate power
“Round the decay…
…of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away”
How does Shelley present the power of art
“Its sculptor well those passions read”
Praises skill of the artist who made the statue - art is powerful and lasts throughout time (fits with ideas of romantic era)
How does Shelley present the power of nature in Ozymandias
Nature ultimately powerful over humans
Nature has become the next tyrant - the statue is “half sunk” as though in a burial and the “boundless” sand stretches “far away” like it has conquered the land
Ozymandias is an example of ekphrasis, what is this?
Written description of visual art
What meter is Ozymandias written in
Iambic pentameter
How does Shelley use alliteration to mirror how the sand has taken over the statue
“Half sunk, a shattered visage lies” - sibilance reflects the sound of sand
What does sand symbolise in Ozymandias
Power of nature and time itself
What does the statue symbolise in Ozymandias
The might of human power
The fragility of human power
The power of art
How does Shelley use enjambment
To mirror the sand stretching away into the desert
What form is Ozymandias written in and why is this significant
Sonnet- normally associated with love which shows his love of himself
Significance of Ozymandias’s rhyme scheme
Shelley deliberately breaks the rhyme scheme multiple times which reflects the way nature and time have broken Ozymandias’ statue and empire
Who wrote London
William Blake
What meter is London written in and what is its significance
Iambic tetrameter (8 syllables per line)
Mirrors the way he is walking
“Marks of…
…weakness, marks of woe”
“Mind-forged…
…manacles”
Significance of “chartered” in London
Mapped - implies constraint or lack of freedom
Significance of “mind-forged manacles”
Minds with no imagination or freedom - people trapped in their own minds
Repetition of “every” in London
Emphasises his message and creates a monotonous rhythm implying sense of tiredness or lethargy
“The chimney-sweeper’s…
…cry every black’ning church appalls”
Link between “black’ning church” and “chimney-sweeper’s cry”
Chimney sweepers were children and church was supposed to be responsible for poor children
Significance of “black’ning church”
Physical blackening of children covered in soot
Their symbolic blackening as being drawn closer to death
Blackening of the church as it becomes more evil for not doing its duty
What institutions does Blake criticise
Church and monarchy
“The hapless…
…soldier’s sigh runs in blood down palace walls”
“The youthful…
…harlot’s curse blasts the newborn infant’s tear, and blights with plagues the marriage hearse”
What were Blake’s religious beliefs
He was very spiritual - believed in God and had visions of angels
Disliked organised religion
Significance of “chartered Thames”
Even natural features like rivers have had their course mapped out for them - no freedom
What is the significance of referencing young people, children and babies in London
Joy of new life has become an initiation into poverty and hopelessness
Cyclical nature of London’s poverty
People don’t have the freedom to escape the oppression urban setting
What does London say about the corruption of childhood and how does this link to Blake’s beliefs / ideas
Blake believed everyone is born with what they need for a good, happy life but the adult world corrupts this
Songs of Innocence and Experience
The children are miserable since birth and many are chimney sweepers - what should be happy childhood has been destroyed
How does Blake use alliteration to show how institutions are directly responsible for people’s suffering
Chimney sweeper = Church
Black’ning = Blood
What is the significance of the oxymoron “marriage hearse”
Love cannot exist in an oppressive place like London - marriages doomed
The youthful harlot’s curse blights with plagues the marriage hearse - presence of prostitutes destroys the sanctity of marriage
Context for London
Blake = romantic poet
Writing during Industrial Revolution - this represented to him physical and mental enslavement
What form and meter is The Prelude written in
Blank verse
Iambic pentameter
“Straight I…
…unloosed her chain, and stepping in pushed from the shore”
How is nature presented as beautiful in the Prelude
“Small circles glittering idly in the moon, until they melted all into one track of sparkling light”
Nature beautiful / peaceful at first
What does the journey across the lake mirror in The Prelude
Wordsworth’s own spiritual journey of reflection
How is Wordsworth presented as arrogant in the Prelude
“Like one who rows, proud of his skill, to reach a chosen point”
“I dipped my oars into the silent lake” - first person possessive pronouns
Hubris
“A huge peak…
…black and huge, as if with voluntary power instinct, upreared its head”
Significance of “the grim shape towered up between me and the stars” in the prelude
Stars symbolise innocence or purity
Dark symbolises guilt
Threatening - power of nature through personification of mountain
How is a sense of loss portrayed in the prelude
“No familiar shapes remained, no pleasant images of trees, of sea or sky”
Negative absence
Repetition of “no” - sense of loss
Nature as powerful enough to take things away from us
“No familiar…
…shapes remained, no pleasant images of trees, of sea or sky, no colours of green fields”
Significance of “huge and mighty forms, that do not live like living men… were a trouble to my dreams” in the prelude
Nature as actively living - but differently to humanity - a powerful force
Wordsworth haunted by experience
What may the mountain represent in The Prelude
Guilt of stealing boat
Fear of nature’s power
Symbolic of loss or grief
How is conflict presented in The Prelude
Between man + nature - nature overpowers man in the end
Caused by man’s attempt to manipulate nature
How is power presented in The Prelude
At the beginning the speaker appears to have power but by the end we can see nature is more powerful
How is the magic of childhood shown in The Prelude
The act of rowing the boat is described like a fairy tale - “elfin pinnace” (elf’s boat), description of water “glittering” and “sparkling”
Mountain causes childlike terror
Children are especially open to the beauty, adventure and terror around us
Significance of the boat in The Prelude
Starts out at one with nature - “tied to a willow tree within a rocky cove”
Also compared to a “swan” - part of the natural environment
After speaker’s fear of mountain, he leaves boat where he found it - restoring things to how they should be - literally, and also symbolises him being humbled by experience with power of nature
How can The Prelude be seen as discussing the theme of solitude, and its importance to spiritual growth
He has a vision of “huge and mighty forms” - divine connotations
His solitude allows him to be open to the spiritual power of nature
“That do not live like living men” - the forms have an aspect of divinity or supernatural to them
Significance of use of blank verse in The Prelude
Inspired by Milton’s Paradise Lost which was in turn modelled on ancient poets like Homer and Virgil
Wordsworth turns the language of these older poets inward to elevate internal experiences and the imagination to the level of an epic tale
Significance of enjambment in The Prelude
Lines flow into each other, it flows like a story
Could even mirror a river or stream, showing that nature pervades even his poem
Why is there a lack of rhyme in The Prelude
The poem follows the speaker’s wandering thoughts and experiences
Lack of rhyme allows the poem to follow Wordsworth’s train of thought - the poem is based on authenticity and perceptions of the mind - shouldn’t be structured or constrained
Context of John Milton for The Prelude
Wordsworth was inspired by Milton’s Paradise Lost which describes the fall of Adam and Eve / humanity
Wordsworth turns this theme inward to capture his thoughts during significant moments of his life
Who wrote My Last Duchess
Robert Browning
“That’s my last…
…duchess painted on the wall, looking as if she were alive”
“She had a…
…heart - how shall I say? - too soon made glad, too easily impressed”
“She liked…
…whate’er she looked on, and her looks went everywhere”
“As if she ranked…
…my gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name with anybody’s gift”
“E’en then would be some…
…stooping, and I choose never to stoop”
“I gave commands…
…then all smiles stopped together”
How does Browning criticise the objectification of women
The duke (speaker) tries to control his wife
He views her as an object that can be discarded - “my last duchess” is impersonal and casual, “all smiles stopped”
Doesn’t want her to be independent or have her own emotions
How does Browning criticise social status and elitism
Poem reveals how people in power can misuse their status to manipulate others
The duke is cruel and dominating
Significance of “Neptune taming a sea horse” statue
Mirrors the way the duke controlled his wife through force
What does the painting symbolise in My Last Duchess
Duke’s status
Objectification of women
Significance of the form of My Last Duchess
Dramatic monologue - allows Browning to explore the mind of a narcissistic tyrant - monologue only shows duke’s perspective
Significance of meter of My Last Duchess
Iambic pentameter - strict meter, control
Context of dramatic monologue form of My Last Duchess
Browning, along with Tennyson and others, was one of the Victorian innovators of the dramatic Monologe
These often reveal a troubling insight into their speakers - explore psychology
Historical context for My Last Duchess
Browning was criticising Victorian values around gender, class and power - critique of patriarchy
Significance of the meter of Charge of the Light Brigade
Dactylic dimeter - six syllables per line
Reflects marching / hoofbeats
Significance of form of Charge of the Light Brigade
No specific form
Uneven rhyme scheme / number of lines per stanza - sense of chaos
“Theirs not to…
…make reply, theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die”
“Came thro’…
…the jaws of Death, back from the mouth of Hell”
“When can their…
…glory fade? O the wild charge they made!”
“Honour the…
…Light Brigade, noble six hundred!”
Historical context for Charge of the Light Brigade
Tennyson = poet laureate - wrote about real events
Crimean War - miscommunication sent light brigade in - many died
What does Charge of the Light Brigade suggest about bravery and heroism
The willingness to sacrifice themselves makes them brave
Heroism not just about bravery but also about duty - following orders no matter the cost
What lines are mirrored in charge of the light brigade
“Stormed at with shot and shell, boldly they rode and well”
“Stormed at with shot and shell, while horse and hero fell”
How does the rhyme scheme change throughout Charge of the Light Brigade
First stanza has least rhyme - chaos
More rhyming later - as soldiers move together (solidarity) + as actions become more heroic
What does “jaws of death” symbolise
Metaphor comparing death to ravenous creature ready to tear apart soldiers
Symbol for horrors of war - death inevitable
Significance of caesura in “then they rode back, but not / Not the six hundred”
“Then they rode back” sounds positive
Speaker pauses - reflects on human cost
Biblical context of “valley of death”
Psalm 23
Soldiers “fear no evil” though they enter this valley - bravery and faith
Significance of repeating “but nothing happens”
Futility of war
Psychological suffering of soldiers
Personification of nature in Exposure
“Feeling for our faces”
Nature having mind of its own
Nature as the real enemy
Symbol of dawn in Exposure
Traditionally symbol of hope
However here marks start of another day of suffering - “poignant misery”
Relentless agony of war
Sibilance in Exposure
Evokes sound of wind - “merciless iced east winds”
Hushed tension - “silence, sentries whisper”
Sound of bullets - “sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence”
Simile in Exposure
“Mad gusts tugging on the wire, like twitching agonies of men”
Presents nature as hostile force
Connects activity of wind with death
Form of Exposure
No traditional form
First 4 lines of each stanza share similar rhyme sounds, last line either repeats refrain or mentions dying
Structured - ordered, cohesive feel - fits military setting + monotony
Significance of title Exposure
Soldiers exposed to horrors of war
Exposed to nature
Exposing conditions of war to rest of world
Meter of Exposure
No consistent meter
Gives poem feeling of uncertainty and instability
Rhyme scheme Exposure
Relatively consistent rhyme scheme
Slant rhymes - not quite rhyming - adds to jarring, uncomfortable feel
“Our brains…
…ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us”
“Pale flakes…
…with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces - we cringe in holes, back on forgotten dreams, and stare, snow-dazed”
“Sun-dozed, littered with blossoms trickling where the blackbird fusses” - significance of change of tone
Escape into imagination - psychological horrors of war require mental escape
Dreamlike - symptoms of death from hypothermia
Significance of “on us the doors are closed”
Abandoned / rejected by home
Feel they can never return - literally (will die) or metaphor (won’t be same again)
Doors closed by those who sent to war?
“The burying-party…
…picks and shovels in shaking grasp, pause over half-known faces. All their eyes are ice, But nothing happens”
Literal themes of Storm On the Island
Power of nature over man
Metaphorical themes of Storm on the Island
Effect of conflict on communities - Troubles
“We are prepared:
…we build our houses squat, sink walls in rock and roof them with good slate”
“When it begins…
…the flung spray hits the very windows, spits like a tame cat turned savage”
“We are bombarded…
…by the empty air. Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear”
How is man vs nature explored in Storm
No community ever fully safe
People living in such inhospitable place - either strength or foolishness
Sense of isolation + community
Idea of nature’s power overwhelming - “huge nothing”
How is the theme of conflict explored in Storm
Metaphor for Irish Troubles
Semantic field of conflict - “bombarded”, “exploding”, “blast”
Storm on the Island
Significance of “tragic chorus” in Storm
Tragic genre - chorus used to foretell tragic events in Greek / Shakespearean plays - suggests weather ominous / foreboding
Significance of “tame cat turned savage”
Suggests a civilisation going backwards, descending into violence
Thought could control nature but can’t - consequences of human arrogance
Oxymoron of “exploding comfortably”
Contradictory state islanders live in - peaceful (no storm yet) but tense (anticipation of storm)
Oxymoron of “huge nothing”
Nothing doesn’t have a size or shape - description as “huge” oxymoronic
The fear of nature / conflict more powerful than the real thing?
Form of Storm on the Island
One unbroken stanza
Lack of stanza breaks could signal the ongoing tension
Meter of Storm on the Island
Blank verse - iambic pentameter
Creates conversational tone “you see”, “you know what I mean”
In media res - Bayonet Charge
Plunges straight into action - shows reality of war and is disorientating (like the soldier’s experience)
“He lugged…
…a rifle numb as a smashed arm”
“The patriotic…
…tear that had brimmed in his eye sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest”
“In bewilderment…
…then he almost stopped”
“In what cold…
…clockwork of the stars and the nations was he the hand pointing that second?”
“King, honour…
…human dignity, etcetera dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm”
Context for Bayonet Charge
Written 1950s but set WW1
Hughes’ father fought in WW1
War poetry had by then shifted from patriotism to questioning
Possible meanings of “raw” in Bayonet Charge
Inexperienced
Uncomfortable / in pain
Brutal reality
Possible meanings of “suddenly he awoke”
Literal - in media res
Metaphor - awakes from illusions and hopes into reality
Significance of the hare in Bayonet Charge
Symbol for soldier’s state of mind - fear overriding patriotic ideals
Links to rural semantic field
Hughes wrote a lot about animals
Context of Hughes - The Hawk in the Rain
Hughes’ first collection
Explored primal instincts, partly inspired by Freudian theories
Uses nature to explore themes of violence, war and primitive emotions
Form of Bayonet Charge
No strict poetic form
Second stanza stands out from other two - time stands still, he questions reason for being there - epiphany
Meter of Bayonet Charge
Free verse - unpredictable and chaotic
No rhyme scheme
Significance of 3rd person perspective Bayonet Charge
Pronoun “he” - could be any soldier
Use of 3rd person seems to distance the soldier despite exploring his thoughts / feelings - creates sense of tension - also links to soldier being cog in machinery of war
Significance of title “Remains”
Human remains - dead body
Horrific memories / PTSD
Significance of conversational tone in Remains
Casual tone + matter of fact statements - presents task as everyday part of soldier’s life
Humanises soldier - allows us to empathise - he is ordinary person
Significance of repeating “probably armed, possibly not” in Remains
Tries to justify act of violence but unsure if it was really self defence or murder
Why does the speaker of Remains use the pronoun “we” when referencing the act of violence
Tries to share the blame - guilt and trauma brings a need to distance himself from what he did
Significance of “blood-shadow”
Physical stain
Psychological impact / PTSD
Ghostly connotations - haunts him
Insubstantial - not really there but still impacts him
“I see every…
…round as it rips through his life”
“End of story…
…except not really. His blood-shadow stays on the street, and out on patrol I walk right over it week after week”
Volta in Remains
“End of story”
Shifts from literal / physical events to mental toll, and from past to present impact
“Sleep, and he’s…
…probably armed, possibly not. Dream, and he’s torn apart by a dozen rounds”
“And the drink…
…and drugs won’t flush him out”
Significance of “sleep” and “dream” in Remains
Times when he is vulnerable or not in control
“He’s here in my head…
…when I close my eyes, dug in behind enemy lines”
Sibilance in Remains
“Some distant, sun-stunned, sand-smothered land or six feet under in desert sand”
Evokes image of desert setting - makes the event feel more real to the reader
“Bloody” in Remains
Final image of guilt
Physicality of imagery symbolising impact of actions
Knows responsibility for what happened
Significance of couplet at end of Remains
Feels incomplete - shows trauma continues, reflects looter’s life cut off
Form of Remains
Seems relatively organised at first
Enjambment and caesura frequent, creates jerky, chaotic feel
Speaker tries to be orderly / logical but fails
Meter of Remains
Free verse - no meter or rhyme scheme
Conversational tone
How does Poppies explore the theme of parenthood
Domestic imagery reflects fact that speaker is a mother
Her son compared to child - “blazer”, “playground voice”
Wishes she could still protect her son
“The world overflowing…
…like a treasure chest”
Significance of dove in Poppies
Symbolises peace - she tries to follow it as she deals with grief and worry about her son going to war
“Ornamental stitch” - not functional - no peace for her / idea of peace doesn’t help with reality of conflict
“I listened…
…hoping to hear your playground voice catching on the wind”
“A split second…
…and you were away, intoxicated”
Form of Poppies
Free verse - follows speaker’s emotions / train of thought
“In his darkroom…
…he is finally alone with spoils of suffering set out in ordered rows”
“Home again…
…to ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel”
“To fields which…
…don’t explode beneath the feet of running children in a nightmare heat”
“Something is happening…
…A stranger’s features faintly start to twist before his eyes, a half-formed ghost”
“The reader’s eyeballs…
…prick with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers”
How are apathy and empathy explored in War Photographer
Readers are apathetic and move on quickly
Photographer is empathetic because he has experienced the horrors himself
Ethics of documenting war in War Photographer
Photographer believes “someone must”
Perhaps questions morality of his actions later - hands “tremble”
“Earns his living” from documenting it but does nothing to help the people
Symbolism of photographs in War Photographer
Both trigger and symbolise the trauma of what he’s seen
Significance of “all flesh is grass”
From the Bible (Isaiah)
Used in Catholic Mass to remind listeners of their own mortality
Death is inevitable but the suffering isn’t
Allusion of “running children in a nightmare heat”
Photo: The Terror of War (Napalm Girl)
References real photo and questions morality of documenting suffering
Form of War Photographer
Consistent rhyme scheme
Duffy plays with meter, sentence structure and enjambment - reflects way speaker’s life in England looks normal yet he suffers from trauma
How is the theme of memory explored in The Emigree
Memory can give people strength / comfort
Unreliability of memory - may lack specifics and be idealised
Memory indestructible
Limited and fallible - she left as child and never saw that “November”
How does The Emigree explore themes of exile and home
Effects of political turmoil on individuals
Forced to leave - trauma / impact of this (cannot return)
Symbol of light in The Emigree
Memory linked to light
Light symbol of moral goodness / virtue despite corruption
So much light - memory perhaps overly idealised in speaker’s mind
Significance of opening line in The Emigree
“There once was a country…”
Fairytale style opening - unreliability - focus on imagination
Phrase has equivalent in many languages - crosses cultural divides
Metaphor of time as an army in The Emigree
Relates to “war” and “tyrants” earlier
Speaker in opposition to those oppression her home country - opposition compared to refusal to forget - won’t let time be victorious over her
Personification in final stanza of The Emigree
City comes to speaker in white plane - memory / imagination
She combs its hair and sees its shining eyes - affection - intimate connection between speaker and homeland
Hides behind her - protects it by remembering it
Form / structure in The Emigree
Three stanzas of equal importance
First = discussion of city, struggle between reality + imagination
Second = language - child’s vocabulary
Third = keeping city alive in memory is an act of rebellion
Meter in The Emigree
Free verse - flows and changes as speaker’s thoughts progress
Setting in The Emigree
Deliberately vague
Applicable to many people - universal experience
Ultimately takes place in her memory
“It may be at war…
…it may be sick with tyrants, but I am branded by an impression of sunlight”
“That child’s vocabulary…
…I carried here like a hollow doll, opens and spills a grammar. Soon I shall have every coloured molecule of it”
“It may by now…
…be a lie, banned by the state but I can’t get it off my tongue. It tastes of sunlight”
“I have no passport…
…there’s no way back at all”
“I comb its hair…
…and love its shining eyes. My city takes me dancing through the city of walls”
“My shadow falls…
…as evidence of sunlight”
Theme of colonialism in COMH
Colonial education omitted significant Black / Caribbean figures eg Nanny de Maroon, Mary Seacole
“Blinds” him to real identity / history
Significance of rhyming couplets and mentions of folk stories in COMH
Sections about British / colonial education are rhyming couplets - childlike
Links to fact that he mixes history with children’s stories eg Robin Hood
Description of Mary Seacole in COMH
Traveled “even when the British said no” (act of rebellion - inspirational)
“Healing star” - guiding light, hope for wounded, did heal many
“Yellow sunrise” to “dying” men - comfort and warmth - could be seen as metaphor - “the dying” as Black people who feel oppressed, sunrise as symbol of inspiration and new beginnings - reclaiming history / cultural identity
Colloquialism in COMH
Creole dialect - Caribbean
Casual language such as “all dat” to dismiss British teachings
Dialect no less valid than standard English, much like his history no less important than colonial history
Lack of punctuation in COMH
Breaking with European poetic traditions
Metaphor in COMH
Metaphor and imaginative language used for Black historical figures
Simpler, plainer language for British
