Poetry quotes Flashcards
A Song
He gave me all me all his heart - hyperbole -1st stanza
Hyperbole emphasises the degree to which the poetic voice loves her partner - shows her gratitude
– how she feels about his love - how he values this more than anything -
“His soul sincere his generous worth” - alliteration creates a calm tone, tone of admiration of his good attitude and morals - 2nd stanza
Semantic field of a modest, non decorous lifestyle
“frugal”, “lowly”, “simple”, “humble” when describing her lover’s possessions creates the impression/cements the idea that love is more important to her than material wealth/doesnt care about material wealth 4th stanza
My tears but vainly flow: Is pity in the faithless waves -
hoplessness, sadness - shift in tone - 5th stanza
personification
The night is dark, the waters deep,
Yet soft the billows roll; - contrast of ideas create tension - synonymous with the adventure her lover is taking
6th stanza
Pathetic fallacy: “The storm is in my soul,” reflecting the speaker’s inner turmoil.
Metaphorical storm - “storm” metaphor - anguish 6th stanza last stanza
Form: Ballad -takes you on a journey of her feelings
Bright star
Robert Browning
Form - sonnet
Structure
Rhythm - regular rhyme scheme is used to show completeness, to complement the poet’s ideas on eternal, unchangeable love
Poem outlines two types of steadfastness
‘Bright star, would I steadfast as thou’
“Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night “ - Fig. Lang. creates imagery - image of isolation and lonliness - the poetic voice rejects these qualities
“watching … like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite” - Simile - doesn’t want live a solitude and
No - yet still steadfast, still unchangeable
Shift in tone - repetition of still - reinforces the qualities he wants to have
The sensory language used by the poet ‘pillow’d’ ‘ripening breast’, ‘soft’, ‘tender-taken’ one interpretation - these things may be taken literary - however subtext implies this description acts a metaphor for his longing for an unchanging, everlasting and true relationship
alliteration - ‘tender taken’
I want to live that way forever—or I want to die. - REPITITION - anaphora - the ending is extreme. The poetic voice wants this at all costs
the voice in Keats’s
poem sees life as meaningless without that relationship
And so live ever - or else swoon to death
Now
“Out of your whole life give but a moment! - deperation, urgency, longing - imperative
Hopes for one moment of perfect between hinself and his lover
all of the life that has gone before
all to come after it - so you ignore
Describes this perfect time as ‘The moment eternal’ - Oxymoron - suggests that this short period of time would stay with him forever
Uses the article ‘The’ instead of ‘a’ shows the importance of this one moment - not any moment/insignificant period of time
Thought and feeling, and soul and sense - Merged in a moment
Sonnet but breaks the rules
- The wild form of the poem portrays that the love he has for his partner is so intense and passionate that it cannot contain the normality of the form of the poem
In Now there’s a thing called a petrachan conceit ‘rapture of rage for perfections endownment’ which is basically like a hyperbole on him suffering if he isn’t with his lover (i think, this is off the top of my head tbf) so its like an expression of pleasurable pain
while cheeks burn, arms open, eyes shut and lips meet
thought and feeling and soul and sense
you around me for once, you beneath me, above me
Love and friendship
Emily Bronte
Love is like the wild rose briar,
Friendship like the holly-tree
Comparisson - Love is compared to as a wild flower, that springs up in spontaneous bursts - it is fragile, it is not a human experience that is as developed - can waver/fall easily
Holly-tree due to the fact that a holly is ever green suggests that friendship is a relationship that can become everlasting and constant (doesn’t lose its flowers -
the holly is dark when the rose briar blooms’
But which will bloom most constantly? - Rhetorical question - implies that friendship is
which is more reliable - which will give you a more sustained hapiness
The wild rose-briar is sweet in spring - alliteration - metaphor -
‘its summers blossoms scent the air’ - sibilance - sensory language of taste and smell - at the beginning
saying that love is great at the start however as “winter comes again … who will call the wild-briar fair?”
winter is a symbol for hardship, misunderstanding and falling out - uses this symbol and the links these flowers have to the natural world to suggest that love can die - and those feeling will be replaced by hatred and resentment
‘again’’ - suggests a sense of inevitability - that these different emotions are bound to come to test lovers - just as the winters test a plant which struggles for survival
Shift in tone
Then scorn the silly rose-wreath now - telling readers not just to choose and embrace the power and sustained happiness friendship can bring, but to mock love for its frailties in nature
Sibiilance brings a more sinister tone
frivolous tone -silly
Form: Narrative poem -
Flirtation
“An orange, peeled and quartered,” - imagery - visual attractiveness between two lovers.
When an orange is peeled, it’s inner beauty and freshness is revealed to the beholder, this is reflected between two lovers, as flirtation, reveals what they are really like
the use of enjambment, almost replicates the smooth motion of peeling an orange - reflects the easiness of
” flares like a tulip on a wedgewood plate” - simile
“My heart is humming a tune I haven’t heard in years” - suggests the poetic voice hasn’t had these emotions in a long time
- personification+ hyperbole
“There are ways to make of the moment a topiary” - metaphor compares the moment of flirting to topiary - topiary is art of clipping shrubs into different shapes - poet is saying that flirtation is also an art/skill. If it is done in the wrong way, it could take you years to regain and build a new, not-broken relationship. For example with topiary if you cut of a branch it could take years to grow back
Cyclical structure - consistent tone
Form: Free verse - to highlight the lack of constraints the
“Anything can happen” hyperbole - highlights the range of possibilities and outcomes to flirtation. Sense of unknown
“Night strewn salt across the sky”
personification - metaphor
Randomness of stars in the night sky - helps to convey a sense of carelessness and haphazardness in flirting with others
Sibilance - creates a gentle, peaceful atmosphere.
Poem for my love
How early passions settles into peace
Where are the stars that show us to our love inevitable- Question creates uncertainty - Doesn’t include a question mark since she wants to believe that there is still passion and flair in this love - she doesn’t want to come across as being doubtful
‘stars’ - create a symbol of destiny and fate - allusion to a cliche of love poetry - sounds disapointing
this is also emphasised by the noun ‘inevitable’ which has been placed on its own line. This is to further emphasise her strong belief that the love is certain to happen and ‘stars’ only help them
Outside the leaves flame usual in darkness - petrachan conceit - expresses hidden burden in love
further highllighted by ‘darkness’ which evokes her dismal mood
Semantic field “amazed by peace”, “breathing in the quiet air” - of peace from the rest of the poem - “quiet air” transferred epithet - magical peace
FORM - takes advantage of free verse - less band by feeling
shift in tone - i am amazed by peace - a statement of tranquility
“waiting on the corner for a womanly mirage” -metaphor - bitterness
Lullaby
Argument - the speaker appearing as a young child copes with grief by making believe that her parents have lives after death
“A man buried in pakistan a woman buried in new york city” - “a man” “a woman” - indicate a sense of fairy tale - their lives mirror each other
the planet opens a tunnel where they meet - personification - idea that they are still together after death - use of pathos - lullaby soothing style
“the lovers dance all night” imagery of fairy tale and magic - dance gives a happy, joyful tone
“my fathers fingertips pressing against my mothers crooked smile” - sensory language shows a tender relationship - reinforced by alliteration - fathers fingertips - sense of peace/calm
enjambment makes the poem seem song-like, almost mimicking a lullaby
“her henna-dyed hair light the underworld” - personification light of the afterlife
“the mole on his lip’s left side winks the dark” - personification drifting into unison with darkness
Her parents
“oxymron” - dirt sky & worm stars - creates imagery of interesting and unusaul image of the place where her mother and father meet after they are dead
The meaning disintegrates as thoughts reflect going on the verge of sleep
Persevarance
“The PERSEVERANCE spits him out for a minute” - metaphor - he is a victim of the pub - the pub is using his father
50 p to make me disapear … disappear like a coin in a parking meter before the time runs out” - father seems curue (“make”) and sees the child as a nuisance
Form is a SESTINA - (6 words repeated in different combinations) - the form creates circularity an
Repitition is an important part of the poem method to emphasises ideas and to look at the ideas from multiple perspectives (e.g. perseverance, laughter at the pub, attempt to love, bad habit)
“TV spilled canned laughter’ “sofa in his council flat” - atmosphere of his flat is warm, bubbly and happy
‘I am still outside the perseverance, listening for the laughter - he still relives the memory
“We lose our fathers before we know it” - double meaning - death
love after love
“The time will come, when with eleation” - optimistic and assured tone - the experience of rediscovering will be enjoyable acording to the poetic voice
Imagery of a romantic date - “each will smile at the other’s welcome”, “sit here”, “eat” - however the person “new person” you will discover and understand more after your former heartbreak is yourself.
“Give wine. Give bread” - biblical allusion to the Holy Communion and the breaking of bread in Christianity - image of a fellowship and enjoying the moment of rediscovering yourself is displayed as a holy, spiritual activity - emphasising the importance of rediscovering and knowing what you did not know about yourself before
“You will love again the stranger who was your self” - juxtaposing ideas - “stranger” “yourself” - you will discover the part of you you have ignored to be with someone else
Take down the lover letters from the bookshop, the photographs, the desperate notes” - rule of three - get rid of these things and move on with your life
Sit feast on your life - enjoy life - imagery - metaphor - as one might enjoy a delicious meal - richness, abundance
Free verse poem and enjambment - creates fluidness and continuity alluding to the idea that fully moving on from a relationship is a sustained, perpetual process rather than a swift occurrence.
Morning song
“Love set you going like a fat gold watch” - shows she sees her new born as a beautiful and precious creation of life - however we feel a sense of emotional and intimate disconnection
“New statue in a drafty museum” - 2ND STANZA - it gives the sense that she is just an observer, she is just looking at the child, there is no interaction no emotional connection. Alienaition
“Your nakedness shadows our safety” - shows the parents fear of the task and parental responsibility of looking after a new born baby
“your bald cry” -
“We stand round blankly as walls” - these people don’t know how to handle this
Alienation lessens in the final half of the poem
“A far sea moves in my ear” - referring to when the baby opens its mouth
– sea - serene/more of a connection
far sea - metaphor for the distance she first had with her own child - but she grows into the role of a new mother - distance /alienaiton lessens
“Your handful of notes; the clear vowels rise like balloons - shows the baby is getting better at making noises - is developing - rise like abloons give the impression that these noises are cheerful which shows that there is an admiration from the poetic voice to her child
Theme of communication and motherhood - the mother has overcome the alienation felt in the first half of poem
dramatic monologue
Looking at your hands
Looking at books or coming to your house or walking in the sun -
walking in the sun know that I look for fire - metaphor - symbolism - look for power, hope, hapiness
I have learnt books… of men dreaming and living and hungering, in a room without ligt - image - In a room without hope/despair, desperation
lookifng at your hands - hands is an image of experience, deeds
I do not sleep to dream, but dream to change the world - sleep , escape - inactive = dreams - aspirations - active
free verse - the rules and set bounds of a poem, cannot tie this poem down
I wouldn’t thank you for a valentine
I wouldn’t thank you for a valentine
“should 10-red padded satin hearts arrive with sticky sickly saccharine /Setiments in very vulgar verses
- Sibialnce the speaker finds the sweetness of this Valentines gesture nauseating with the sibilance expressing ferocity as if the words are being spat out
“The whole Valentine’s Day Thing is trivial and commercial” - capitalisation to draw attention that valentines has become a show of material objects, not personal anymore - not central about feeling more gifts
I wouldn’t be again for anything, I’m glad I ‘m past it - believes 18 year old fall for the whole commercialisation of valentines, naive , susceptible to these cliches
27,28,29 - If you - repetition, builds tension to the reveal that she would be overcome with emotion
In Paris with you
I’m one of your talking wounded. Im a hostage. Im maroonded
I’m in Paris with you
Learning who you are, Learning what I am- “what” usually used to refer to objects, thinks of himself as an obejct
If we say sod off to the sodding Notre Dame - ironic
Ballad
Warming her pearls
Unrequited love
Dramatic monlogue
“All day I think of her” - Hyperbole
Next to my own skin, her pearls - the servant girl enjoys the experience of wearing her mistresses necklace
We have an immediate sense of the physical closeness between these women, although they are divided by class their daily lives are entwined in the intimate gestures they share
I dream about her in my attic bed … puzzled by my faint, persistent scent beneath her French perfume, her milky stone”
Stanza 3 - oxymoron - wants her mistress to be puzzled, to notice the servant girls scent
“milky stones” gives an image of femininity
“I watch the soft blush seep through her skin like an indolent sigh”
Sibilance - the soothing ‘s’ sounds suggests that the servant girl feels pleasure and enjoyment from the more intimate and closer jobs she does for the mistress
“my red lips part as though I want to speak” - wants to voice the feelings she has for the mistress
“taking off her jewels” - a sense of disconnection - this was the only was that there was indirect contact between the servant and the mistress
“I feel their absence and I burn” - metaphor - used to describe the the intense and fierce feelings she feels as she has no object to convey her feelings as the pearls “are cooling now” after they have been taken off
Dusting the Phone
Dramatic monologue - a woman yearning for a single phone call from the man she loves.
This poem explores how a person’s thought process can be so disturbed as a result of obsessing over one thing
“The phone rings heralding some disasters. Sirens” - 2nd stanza
“The future is a long gloved hand. An empty cup” - contrasts - these are the poetic voices hopes for the futures - marriage, decadence. Empty cup - unpredictability - 3rd stanza
“I assault the post man for a letter. I look for flowers” - obsessive nature” - hyperbole - emphasises the desperation she has to come into contact with her loved one - 4th stanza
“Silver service. I polish it. I dress for it” - she is expectant - 5th stanza
“Infuriatingly, it sends me hoaxes, wrong numbers; or worse, calls from boring people.” irony - - 6th stanza
Your voice disappears into my lonely cotton sheets. - 6th stanza metaphor - lonliness, emptiness, longing
I dont know what - last line
unrequited love
cyclical structure - goes back to uncertainty of the future poem starts of with the lady imagining the worst that could happen, the poem ends with the lady not knowing what else to do to make her partner call her
