Poetry quotes Flashcards
‘I ______ through each _________ street’
London
I wander through each chartered street
- ‘chartered’ = privately owned
- Repetition of chartered in the next line suggests Blake is critical of the increasing ownership in London
‘The mind ______ manacles _ here’
London
The mind forged manacles i hear
-Alliterative imagery
-shows self limitation placed on those who are at the mercy of capitalist ideology (they lack human imagination)
‘_____ black’ning ______ appalls’
London
Every black’ning church appalls
-‘Black’ning’ denotes a place of death/sin
- Shows Blakes view of the church =helpless and corrupt
‘The ________ harlot’s _____ Blasts the ___ ____ infants tear’
London
The youthful harlot’s curse Blasts the new-born infants tear
- ‘Harlot’ = prostitute (auditory image of a cursing prostitute)
- Shows the sin and criminality associated with society
- Juxtaposes the idea of an innocent and happy baby
‘Two ____ and trunkless ____ of stone’
Ozymandias
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
- ‘Vast’ and ‘Trunkless’ are juxtaposed
- The size of the statue contrasts the fact its broken - its been destroyed by nature and time
‘____ on my _____ , ye mighty and _______!’
Ozymandias
‘Look on my works ye mighty and despair’
- A futile threat (pointless)
- ‘Despair’ = ironic as art lasts but not power
‘Round the _____ Of that ________ wreck _________ and bare’
Ozymandias
Round the decay of that colossal wreck boundless and bare
- ‘boundless’ ‘bare’ plosive alliteration (aggressive sound)
‘decay’ shows the power lost by the pharaoh - there’s nothing left
‘The lone and _____ sands stretch ___ ____’
Ozymandias
The lone and level sands stretch far away
- Imagery of eternity
- The desert outlives the statue - the statue outlives the leader = power of nature
-The leader is ultimately irrelevant
‘Since none puts by ___ _______ I have drawn ___ you, but _ ‘
My last duchess
Since none puts by The curtain I have drawn for you, but I
- No one is allowed to draw the curtains in front of the painting but him
-Controlling and nasty
‘Twas not her ________ presence ____, called that ____ of joy into the Duchess’ _____’
My last Duchess
‘Twas not her husbands presence, called that spot of joy into the Duchess’ cheek
-He is angry that she blushed when speaking to other people
‘___ had a _____ - how shall i ___?-too soon made ____’
My last Duchess
She had a heart-how shall i say? - too soon made glad
-Rhetorical question - Duke struggles to express his irritation
- ‘too soon made glad’ suggests the Duchess is promiscuous but could have just been friendly
‘__ gift of a ____ _______ years old ____…who’d stoop to _____’
My last Duchess
My gift of a nine hundred years old name…Who’d stoop to blame
-He sees his high status as a gift = snobby
- Verb ‘stoop’ is used 3 times - he felt his wife was to lowly to be married to him
‘This ____ I gave _______;’
My last Duchess
This grew i gave commands
- Duke had his wife murdered cause of his paranoia
- Short and blunt lines contrasts rest of the poem
‘That’s __ ____ Duchess painted on the ____ Looking __ __ she were _____’
My last Duchess
That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall looking as if she were alive
- Sounds like he owns both the painting and her
- ‘alive’ creates a sinister tone
‘________ armed ________ not’
Remains
Probably armed possibly not
- undermines the severity of the situation
If he wasn’t armed should he have been shot = constant questioning in the soldiers mind
‘One of my _____ goes by and ______ his ____ back into his ____’
Remains
One of my mates goes by and tosses his guts back into his body
- ‘mate’ makes it appear like a night out
- the nature of what’s happening is a killing - juxtaposed to the relaxed way he talks about the event
‘His _____ ______ stays on the street’
Remains
His blood shadow stays on the street
- metaphor for the memory f the events
- memories don’t leave him
’ And the _____ and the _____ won’t flush ___ out’
Remains
And the drink and the drugs wont flush him out
- cliche ‘flush’ connotates getting rid of something unwanted
- no longer a matter of war but everyday life
‘His ______ life in my bloody _____’ Remains
His bloody life in my bloody hands
- Pun = bitter dark humor
- Soldier is at conflict with dead man and his own mind
‘Suddenly he _____ and was running ___’
Bayonet charge
Suddenly he awoke and was running raw
- Alliteration of ‘R’ and ‘H’ sounds gives sense of hard work
’ _______ smacking the belly out of the ___’
Bayonet charge
Bullets smacking the belly out of the air
- Personified bullets
-Blurs the line between weapon and man
’ He _______ past ____ his bayonet’
Bayonet charge
He plunged past with his bayonet
- ‘plunged’ = he dived in and can’t return
- He’s made his decision to carry on and can’t return
‘King, ______, human dignity, ________’
Bayonet charge
King, honor, human dignity, etcetera
- listing key motivations of war
- their lives are second to the rush of battle
‘There once was a _______… I left it as _ _____ but my ______ of it is sunlight clear’
The Emigree
There once was a country… I left it as a child but my memory of it is sunlight clear
- Ellipsis = caesura indicating flashbacks
- sunlight creates positive image = juxtaposes her view of it now as an adult
’ __ may be at ___ it may be sick with ______’
The emigree
It may be at war it may be sick with tyrants
- Personifies the city
- Sense its been infected but can be recovered
’ as ____ rolls its tanks and the _______ rise between us, ____ like waves’
The Emigree
As time rolls its tanks and the frontiers rise between us, close like waves
- war like language
- aggressive imagery of ‘frontiers’ juxtaposes ‘waves’ and the purity of nature
‘but i can’t get it ___ my ______. It ______ of sunlight’
The emigree
but I can’t get it off my tongue. It tastes of sunlight
- synthaesthesia (blur between the senses) = confusion of memories
‘My _____ falls as _______ of sunlight’
The emigree
My shadow falls as evidence of sunlight
- contrast of dark and light
- shows speaker coming to terms with the two separate identity’s
‘___ tell me’
Checking out me history
Dem tell me
- repetition shows the speakers frustration at the restraints on education
‘___ never tell me bout _____ de maroon’
Checking out me history
Dem never tell me bout Nanny de maroon
- She was a leader of runaway slaves and Jamaican resistance against the British
‘Now i checking out __ ___ history I ______ out me _______’
Checking out me history
Now i checking out me own history I carving out me identity
‘_______ I unloosed her chain, and ______ in/Pushed ____ the shore’
Extract from the Prelude
Straight I unloosed her chain and stepping in/Pushed from the shore.
- Both lines start with stressed syllables ‘straight’ ‘pushed’ - shows speaker doesn’t hesitate
-enjambment shows there’s no time to question
‘I fixed my ____ Upon the ______ of a craggy _____, The horizons utmost ______’
The prelude
I fixed my view Upon the summit of a craggy ridge, The horizons utmost boundary
- image suggests the speaker has complete dominance over his environment
’ The ________ bound a huge ____ black and huge
The prelude
The horizons bound a huge peak black and huge
- He thought he was in control over nature but he’s not
‘____ a living thing _____ after me’
The prelude
Like a living thing Strode after me
- Mountain now becomes overwhelming and nature is in control
‘There ____ a darkness, call it solitude Or _____ desertion’
The prelude
There hung a darkness, call it solitude/Or blank desertion
- Enjambment (experience is indescribable and ongoing
’ __ are prepared: We _____ our houses squat’
Storm on the Island
We are prepared: We build our houses squat
- ‘We’ shows a sense of community
- Perhaps the Irish people
‘it _______ your house too. ___ there are no _____ no natural shelter’
Storm on the island
It pummels your house too. But there are no trees, no natural shelter
- nature is a metaphor for the power governments have over people
- creates image of barren exposed area
‘Spray hits The very windows , _____ like a ____ cat Turned _____’
Storm on the Island
Spray hits The very windows ,spits like a tame cat turned savage
- personification of sea as friendly but simile to show how it changes
‘It is a ____ nothing that we ____’
Storm on the island
It is a huge nothing that we fear
- Oxymoron (words with opposite meanings)
- Reinforce conflict is over - insignificant when compared to life and death
’ Her _______ embarked at ______’
Kamikaze
Her Father embarked at sunrise
- Imagery connected with Japan - land of the sun
‘little _______ _____ strung out like ______ on a green-blue ________ sea’
Kamikaze
‘little fishing boats strung out like bunting on a green-translucent sea
-simile
-image of natural beauty - he doesn’t want to miss out on this
‘___ dark shoals of ______ flashing silver as their _______ swiveled towards the ___’
Kamikaze
The dark shoals of fishes flashing silver as their bellies swiveled towards the sun
- sibilance
- reflects the smooth movement of water and beauty of nature (shows why he doesn’t want to kill himself)
‘__ mother never _____ again in his _______’
Kamikaze
My mother never spoke again in his presence
- ‘my’ = switch in perspective to new person
- the speakers conflicted opinion of her father as she tells the story to her children
’ He must have ________ which had ____ the better way to ___’
Kamikaze
He must have wondered which had been the better way to die
- Piolet finds himself metaphorically dead and questions which way would have been better to die
‘_____ that lets the light ____ through, this is what _____ alter things’
Tissue
Paper that lets the light shine through, this is what could alter things
- paper has connotations of fragility
- light evokes religious imagery = Gods correct path
- ‘could’ = a conditional verb = shows hesitation
‘Fine _____ from grocery _____’
Tissue
Fine slips from grocery shops
- reference to paper in economic circumstances
- we are tied down by money and its temporary nature
‘with ______ tissue, raise a _______ never meant to ____’
Tissue
with living tissue raise a structure never meant to last
- volta = turning point (referencing to human tissue = importance of humanity)
- enjoying life is more important than recording it on documents
’ ____ a league ____ a league _____ a league onward!’
Charge of the light brigade
Half a league half a league half a league onward
- league is 3 miles = they have a long journey ahead
- they aren’t up to the challenge ahead
’ _______ to the right of ____ cannon to the ____ of them’
The charge of the light brigade
’ cannon to the right of them cannon to the left of them’
- cannon linked to war and conflict
- repetition to show the odds are against them
’ ____ the jaws of ____ Into the mouth of ____’
The charge of the light brigade
’ Into the jaws of death into the mouth of hell’
- personifies death - used to exaggerate he bravery of the soldiers
- they are going to die but through being bold
’ They ____ back but ____ the six hundred’
The charge of the light brigade
They rode back but not the six hundred
- changes the tone by showing most have died
‘_____ the charge ____ made! Honour the _____ brigade’
The charge of the light brigade
Honour the charge they made! Honour the light brigade
- imperative = ordering people to give their respects
- emphasises their bravery
’ spasms of _____ red, disrupting a ______ of yellow bias binding ______ your ______’
Poppies
Spasms of paper red disrupting a blockade of yellow bias binding around your blazer
- ‘blockade’ is linked to war and ‘blazer’ is linked to school = emphasises mothers feelings of nostalgia
- plosive alliteration (harsh sounds)
’ I _____ to graze my _____ across the tip of your ____…. I resisted’
Poppies
I wanted to graze my nose across the tip of your nose….I resisted
- reinforces the mothers resistance towards affection
’ the _____ overflowing like a _______ chest. A ____ second and you were away, _________’
Poppies
the world overflowing like a treasure chest. A split second and you were away, intoxicated
- simile
- ‘treasure chest’ = magical and child like ‘intoxicated’ (drunk) = more adult like
’ The _____ pulled freely against the ___…. I _______ hoping to hear your _______ voice catching on the ____’
Poppies
The dove pulled freely against the sky… I listened hoping to hear your playground voice catching on the wind
- The dove bit = metaphor - is the son dead?
- another example of the mothers hope that her son will return
‘he is finally _____ with spools of _________’
War photographer
he is finally alone with spools of suffering
- shows duel pain = those in war but also the photographer witnessing these horrific events
’ a ____ formed ghost.’
War photographer
a half formed ghost
- caesura (the full stop) thinking about those he’s taken pictures of - they are ‘ghosts’ (dead)
- haunting memories of conflict
’ _ hundred _______ in black and white’
War photographer
a hundred agonies in black and white
- imagery of war victims = sympathy for them
- sympathy for those in war and witnessing it like the photographer
- the editor only cares about the money not the actual events
’ he _____ his living and ____ do not care’
war photographer
he earns his living and they do not care
- image of those suffering and the lack of care for the photographer
- or a criticism to the readers who don’t see the pain behind the photos
Our ______ ache in the ___________ iced east ______ that knive us…’
exposure
Our brains ache in the merciless iced east winds that knive us
- personification of he weather = the weather is the enemy
’ worried by _______’
exposure
worried by silence
- constantly in the agony of waiting - lonely
’ her melancholy army _______ once more in ranks on ________ ranks of ____, but _______ happens’
exposure
her melancholy army attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of grey, but nothing happens
- rain is personified
- nothing happens is repeated to show the soldiers are beyond help
’ sudden ________ flights of bullets ______ the silence’
exposure
sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence
- harsh assonance and consonance of s and t sounds
- links weather with gunfire - the silence is broken temporarily
’ slowly our ______ drag home…. with _______ dark-____ jewels’
exposure
slowly our ghosts drag home….with crusted dark-red jewels
- metaphor for blood
- jewels = sees men’s lives a valuable
