poetry anthology structure Flashcards
Storm on the Island by Seamus Heaney
- Lack of stanza breaks and the long sentences represent the power of nature.
- Long sentences also mean there is a constant barrage of information, mirroring the constant barrage of the storm.
- The irregular line length represents the chaos of the storm.
- A half rhyme on the first two and last two lines of the poem, showing the storm will never end.
- Enjambment shows that the storm will never end.
- ‘We’ is repeated throughout the poem, from the first line - us against them.
Exposure by Wilfred Owen
- ABBA rhyme scheme, pararhymes - create discord and confusion.
- Half lines at the end of every stanza - Disrupt the structure creating confusion, symbolise dying hope and people, symbolises people’s lives being cut short early (young soldiers).
- No steady rhythm, creating discord and fear.
- Caesura used often - lives broken up, lives ending early
- ‘But nothing happens’ is repeated nearly every stanza - futility of war
- Cyclicical structure
Bayonet Charge by Ted Hughes
The entire second stanza has no punctuation (enjambment) showing the soldiers panic and the speed of the attack.
Lines have irregular lengths and it has an irregular rhythm, showing the soldier struggling through the mud and his conscience.
Never know the soldier’s name, only known as ‘he’ - to those leading he is a faceless soldier - his death means very little.
Opens with action, no lead in, jumpscaring the audience just like it shocks the soldier with the ‘suddenly’
Poppies by Jane Weir
Time frame is ambiguous, memories of the son’s childhood are mixed with memories of him leaving - but no memory of his return
No regular rhyme or rhythm, which makes it sound like the narrator’s thoughts and memories.
Long sentences and enjambment give the impression that the narrator is absorbed in her thoughts and memories, and caesurae is used to show that she is finding it difficult to cope (hold it together).
War Photographer Carol Ann Duffy
Regular rhyme scheme ABBCDD - reflects the care the photographer takes over his work.
Four stanzas of equal length - reflects the care the photographer takes over his work, and how important it is that people understand what occurs.
Meter, internal rhyme and enjambement create jolting shifts but do not interfere with the overall view of the ordered four stanzas of equal length - his life looks normal, he got ‘a job to do’ but is suffering from a tremendous amount of phsycological trauma.
Throughout the poem, it contrasts the peace and tranquillity of England and the horror and violence of war.
Remains by Simon Armitage
Speaker starts in first person plural, making it seem more like a story, and then turns into first person singular at the end of the second stanza, making it seem more like a confession - shows the speaker’s guilt.
At first the form seems very regular, with every stanza but the last having four lines, but ceasura and enjambment create chaos - speaker is trying to make it look orderly (and hold it together) but ultimately fails to do so.
Last stanza only has two lines, making the poem end before the reader expects - as if the speaker is so overwhelmed by guilt he cannot continue.
Kamikaze by Beatrice Garland
Kamikazes was a group of Japanese WWII pilots who flew on suicide missions. This was written in 2013, so couls also be a comment on other suicide bombers in more recent times, e.g. 9/11, to help people understand why people would want to die for something like this, and encourage the dismantlement of structures which can leave people so willing to kill themselves for a cause.
The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Tennyson
The use of dactylic metre imitates the sound of the cavalry, this steady rhythm shows the inevitability of the soldiers’ deaths..
Rhyming couplets and triplets creates a momentum that is then broken by unrhymed lines - mimics horses and soldiers falling and lives being cut short.
There is no overall rhyme scheme and an irregular structure - shows the chaos of war.
Ozymandias by Percy Shelley
Caesura throughout - suggests the shattered nature of the statue, and the shattered nature of the Pharoh’s power
Only hear the speaker’s voice in the first two lines, the rest are the words of a traveller - people do not know him, all information about him has been summarised to 14 lines.
Rhyme scheme is very irregular but used to add emphasis - lines 1 and 3 (stand/sand) creates a powerful image of the shattered statue - lines 12 and 14 (decay/away) ends the poem with a sense of destruction and emptiness.
London by William Blake
Very regular with each stanza representing a different aspect of the city, and a strict regular rhyme scheme. Steady rhythm makes it feel like a walk. Almost all rhymes are words associated with misery.
Extract from The Prelude
Epic poem - usually long, discussing heroic events like war or great exploration - the Prelude’s events are epic due to their great effect on the speaker. Written in blank verse with no stanzas, more like a story. Conversational language tone, repeated ‘and’ as if directly spoken to the reader.
My Last Duchess
Constant use of personal pronouns - selfish and arrogant, obsessed with possessions, saw his wife as a possession. Dramatic monologue (a style Browing was famous for), however it is clearly only one side of a conversation with an emissary - arrogant and egocentric. Perfect rhyming couplets the whole way through and iambic pentametre shows how manipulative he is.
Tissue
Nine irregular quatrains, with limited rhyme - changing nature of life and the fragility of paper/humanity. Enjambent - delicacy of paper/life, flowing nature of time and life. Occasional rhymes are scattered throughout the poem - people connected across time and space. Extended metaphor of a comparison between paper and skin - suggests that humans and paper are similar in their fragility.
The Emigree by Carol Rumens
Extra line added to the last stanza compared to the others - emphasizes the lasting impression the conflict has had on the speaker. First person, but no name, could apply to anyone. Some rhythm but a little changeable and isn’t fully established - mirrors the speaker’s mixed feelings (longing to return home, while also enjoying the freedom of new home), and the instability of her life.
Checking Out Me History by John Agard
Stanzas about British history include fairly regular rhyming couplets, lost in the stanzas about the major black historical figures, representing him finding out about his own history, different from any he was taught about. These stanzas also contain much shorter lines, reflects the loss of knowledge about these figures. Internal rhymes in the stanzas about black history, unpredictable and distinct, a separate voice from that of British colonizers.
Free verse - no metre - way to subtly rebel against the way poetry would have likely been taught within a British colonial education system.
