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
