Poetry Question Plans

Question 1

Power of nature:

Answer 1

Exposure + Storm On The Island

Thesis:
- Both present nature as powerful, threatening and unfeeling
- The response to this threat is slightly different as seen in the poems: endure vs avoid
- This is used as a tool to convey a deeper political meaning, as suggested by each title

1: Titles
- Titles imply meaning

2: Presentation and response to nature:
- They are both being threatened as a collective/community (‘our brains ache’, ‘we build our houses squat’
- Structures present nature and how it is responded to. In exposure it is consistent, repetitive and they can’t protect themselves from it; they must endure it (half-rhymes, four-line stanzas, refrain, long lines). In Storm On The Island, nature is unpredictable (random enjambment, end-stopped lines and caesura) which means they seem alert; they prepare and avoid the dangers of nature as they can.

3: Both subvert expectations of nature and present it as unpredictable:
- ‘poignant misery of dawn’, ‘less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow’ vs ‘exploding comfortably’, ‘like a tame cat turned savage’

4: This subversion is used to convey a message and demonstrate that things in society are not what they seem:
- Exposure: war is not what propaganda makes it out to be
- SOTI: the Irish government are not as in control as they seem: they are avoiding and hiding from the onslaught of terror attacks, of which they have no control.

Question 2

Power of memory:

Answer 2

The Emigrée and Remains:

Thesis:
- Both show the overwhelming way in which memory leaves its mark
- The Emigrée shows this influence in terms of positive memory, and Remains in terms of negative

1: Both use repetition, along with sensory imagery to present the ever-present, vivid nature of memory
- Structure of circular narrative (repetition) vs motif of sunlight (repetition)
- Sensory imagery surrounding sunlight vs cinematic ‘I see every round…’, enjambment of ‘But I blink…’

2: The difference of attitudes to their memory
- Remains – detests memory (plosives ‘But I blink and he bursts again through the doors of the blank’)
- Emigrée – cherishes memory (‘I comb its hair and love its shining eyes)

3: Different perspectives
- Remains is based on a true person, emigrée is not.

Question 3

Governments and societies:

Answer 3

Thesis: Both COMH and MLD criticise societal structures through their poems, although whereas MLD criticises the patriarchal structure of Victorian society, COMH criticises the European-centric education system of today. Their poems, while both similar in intent, come from entirely contrasting voices: in MLD, from the voice of the oppressor; in COMH, from the voice of the oppressed.

1: Voices
- COMH: three different voices while reading out the poem: Agard’s personal voice, the nursery-rhyme voice and the celebratory voice, ‘like casting a spell’. Here, we get to hear from those who have been unheard.
- MLD: once voice (self-centric) dramatic monologue. There is another person present (the ‘you’, the envoy) but we don’t hear from them. Furthermore, we never hear anything from the Duchess’ point of view – both of these signify how people’s voices are unheard.

2: Both use irony to criticise society

• MLD: self-questioning, self-contradiction (‘a heart – how shall I say? – too soon made glad’, ‘she thanked men –good! but thanked somehow – I know not how…’, ‘in speech – (which I have not) –…’)
• COMH: mockery of historical events mixed in with nursery-rhyme material, spoken like a nursery rhyme (‘1066 and all dat … Dick Whittington and he cat’) and irony of creole subverting schooling (dem tell me)

3: Conclusion – continuation vs change
- ‘Now I checking out me own history/ I carving out me identity’ accusative to nominative, tediousness of ‘carving’
- The Duke’s ‘next’ Duchess: ‘his fair daughter’s self […] is my object’

Question 4

Ideas of identity:

Answer 4

COMH and The Emigrée:

Thesis: Both poems talk about the different ways people’s identity has been covered up by society, criticising this by demonstrating how central ones identity is to ones life.

1: While in COMH his identity is not talked about at all, in the Emigrée her identity is contrastingly lied about. However, both poems use irony to criticise the unjustness of this.
- COMH: nursery-rhyme voice, use of creole, nursery rhymes mixed in with historical events.
- Emigrée: not so obvious, implied. ‘Although it is now a lie, banned by the state’ – how can something ‘now’ become a lie if it wasn’t before? ‘They accuse me of being dark in their free city’ – this could be implying an issue of racism, which is ironic as the city is described as ‘free’.

2: Both use the semantic field of hope, showing the redeeming qualities of identity
- COMH: ‘freedom river’, ‘hopeful stream’ – nature also has connotations of freedom.
- TE: motif of ‘sunlight’ with all sensory imagery.

3: Both speak with a tone of admiration and awe
- COMH: contrasted against the nursery-rhyme voice. The lack of structure in the celebration stanzas conveys an element of wonder – being unable to put into correct sentences.
- ‘I comb its hair and love its shining eyes’