poetry anthology Flashcards
who wrote ‘when we two parted’ and what were some key themes?
Lord Byron
- loss - heartbreak - longing - romantic love - death
who wrote ‘love’s philosophy’
Percy Shelley
- nature - unrequited love - longing
who wrote ‘porphyria’s lover’
Robert Browing
- possession - insanity - longing - death
who wrote ‘Sonnet 29 - I think of thee’
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
- desire - longing - obsession - passionate love - nature
who wrote ‘neutral tones’
Thomas Hardy
- loss - longing - heartbreak - nature -memory -
who wrote ‘letters from yorkshire’
Maura Dooley
who wrote ‘farmer’s bride’
Charlotte Mew
who wrote ‘walking away’
Cecil Day Lewis
who wrote ‘eden rock’
Charles Causley
- memory - family love - death
who wrote ‘follower’
Seamus Heaney
who wrote ‘mother, any distance’
Simon Armitage
who wrote ‘before you were mine’
Carol Ann Dufy
- parental bonds - admiration - nostalgia - guilt
who wrote ‘singh song’
Daljit Nagra
who wrote ‘winter swans’
Owen Sheers
similarities between ‘when we two parted’ and ‘neutral tones’
both use imagery of grey and coldness to reflect sadness and illustrate the end of a relationship
“pale grew thy cheek in cold”
“they have fallen from ash, and were grey”
they both compare the end of a relationship to death
differences in ‘when we two parted’ and ‘neutral tones’
in wwtp to ABAB rhyme scheme emphasises certain syablles and words like ‘cold’ ‘kiss’ ‘tears’
whereas in neutral tones the ABBA rhyme scheme is used to reflect how memories from the past continues to haunt him in the present
what is the significance of the form and structure in when we two parted?
- cyclical structure to show that the pain is everlasting and also that he will never stop loving her
“silence and tears” is repeated at the start and end - ABAB rhyme scheme to emphasis certain words like ‘cold’ ‘kiss’ ‘tears’ highlights the persona’s pain
- consistent line and stanza length to show his constant pain and longing for her
- the poem moves through time, this juxtaposition of past and present emphasises that there’s no change in his feelings
what is the significance of language in when we two parted?
there is a lot of language about death
byron describes her lover as dead to show how her feelings for him had died
“pale grew thy cheek and cold” - the violent imagery shows that the parting was painful and traumatic for the narrator
use of the personal pronoun “thee” he constantly addresses her creating the impression that he is still pre-occupied with her
what can you say about context in when we two parted?
byron was famous for having lots of relationships with women, and it is thought that this poem is about his relationship with a married woman: Lady Webster
byron is used to being the one to end it when he got bored but it obviously really hurt him when she ended it perhaps it hurt his ego as much as his heart
similarities between eden rock and before you were mine
- both subjects are possibly deceased through nuance; ambiguous use of past tense verbs such as ‘wanted’ in Before You Were Mine, as well as the noun ‘ghost’ used when describing the mother.
- religious imagery is used in Eden Rock through the sky being ‘whitened as if lit by three suns’; symbolises heaven opening. ‘Crossing’ may have the double meaning of crossing over to the afterlife
- They are both in equal stanza lengths; in Before You Were Mine, this seems to suggest that the narrator’s thoughts are a slow and balanced process. In Eden Rock, it creates a similar image of serenity in the consistency of it.
- Semantic fields are used in both for similar effects. The imagery of the sky whitening; the mother’s ‘wheat’ hair and the ‘blue’ cups suggest an image of heaven, which supports the interpretation that the parents are both dead.
- There are deeper meanings to both. Duffy’s poem has undertones of remorse, and may be a letter to her dead mother; Causley’s poem is still about death and passing over, despite the serene imagery.
- Both narrators have close relationships with their parents, as shown by the conversational tone and lack of rhyme scheme in Before You Were Mine, and the fact that Causley’s parents are ‘waiting for him’.
differences between eden rock and before you were mine
Before You Were Mine contains direct address, to carry a conversational tone; on a deeper level, it may also make the poem an apology to her mother.
The last stanza is broken up into a quattraine and a single stanza in Eden Rock, to show the jarring reality of the narrator’s life, or perhaps him being snapped back to reality.
The tone of the pieces are different. In Eden Rock, the adverbs ‘slowly’ and ‘leisurely’ convey his crossing to the afterlife as a peaceful one; ‘Before You Were Mine’ carries a more conversational tone, that also has undertones of remorse- she describes her mother as “stamping stars from the wrong pavement
Duffy uses glamorous imagery to paint her mother as a ‘bold’ and ‘sparkling’ woman, which stresses the endless potential that the narrator snatched away from her. Causley’s parents are described as more passive figures, with his mother’s ‘hair… taking on the light’.
In Before You Were Mine, the narrator remains alive with her remorseful thoughts; in Eden Rock, the narrator passes over to be reunited with his parents. In this sense, you could say that the ending of Duffy’s poem is sadder, despite the death present in Causley’s.
how is structure and form significant in love’s philosophy?
- short and simple to reflect the simple truth
- regular ababa rhyme scheme but two lines in each stanza don’t fully rhyme - reflects the way that all of nature is in harmony except for the narrator and his loved one
- tightly structured to be persuasive lots of evidence using nature, ends both stanzas in rhetorical question - this line stands out to emphasise the contrast between nature and the narrator situation
- some half rhymes ‘river, ever’ ‘heaven, forgiven’ to show discord
how is language significant in love’s philosophy?
- nature - personification to show the natural world giving, receiving and benefitting from love - love is natural and a necessity ‘fountains mingle’ ‘ocean’
- religious language love isn’t just natural it’s also godly
what can you say about context in love’s philosophy
religious language is ironic since he was an atheist
romantic poet - poems focused on the power of human emotion and the natural world
