Poetry: quotes + analysis

Question 1

“I met a traveller from an antique land”

Answer 1

• 2 speakers in the poem
• distances Shelley from the critique of autocracy to avoid allegations of treason by George III
• OR distance created by “antique” as antique = old, ancient, archaic
• this distance implies that Ramses II is not common knowledge in the years after his rule despite his belief that his influence will last forever

Question 2

“vast and trunkless legs of stone”

Answer 2

• “vast” = power stretched far and wide, intimidating, autocrat (had absolute power)
• “trunkless” = without a body; over time power has diminished so that only fragments remain
• trunkless here could also imply that his power had no real meaning in the first place and was transient (no body - no substance)
  [] human power is not true power and is not rooted solidly in the earth (nature) - romanticism

Question 3

“half sunk, a shattered visage lies”

Answer 3

• “half sunk” = worldly memory of Ozymandias is nearly gone, covered by time and nature (society is transient -> Romanticism)
• “shattered” = power destroyed and Ozymandias’ delusions of grandeur shattered by the reality that he means nothing in the grand scheme of things
• fragile things such as glass shatter
• human power and society’s influence are fragile whilst nature’s influence and power is strong and eternal
• “visage” = literally a face, figuratively a symbol of one’s identity
• his “visage” being “sunk” shows that the image of his power has been broken
  [] can read as a forcible sinking of human power by nature - romanticism
• even the most key aspects of Ozymandias(‘ power) are transient and mean nothing in deference to nature

Question 4

“sneer of cold command”

Answer 4

• harsh c in “cold command” reflects sculptor’s negative view of Ozymandias
• he was a harsh ruler
• sneer = derives joy from being viewed above all else even though isn’t

Question 5

“its sculptor well those passions read”

Answer 5

• Ozymandias’ harshness and cruelty described as “passions”; derived joy from cruelty
• illustrates the Romantic idea of how power and society corrupt the inherent goodness of humans
• describes the sculptor as in control of Ozymandias’ image centuries into the future; power of art and responsibility of artists to portray the truth
• societal power is transient, the power of the arts live on as they are based in feeling (Romantic idea of feeling over logic)

Question 6

“the heart that fed”

Answer 6

• Ozymandias “fed” on the joy he derived from being cruel to his subjects
• presents autocrats as being so corrupted by power that they lose any sense of empathy or compassion for other people in pursuit of power and control over things
• irony; heart is supposed to be representative of love/compassion/morals instead is corrupted

Question 7

“pedestal”

Answer 7

• pedestals raise statues up
• represents Ozymandias’ delusion of his absolute power
• contrast of his visage being sunken and his statue formerly standing on a pedestal
• could also represent the breaking down of his power over time

Question 8

“king of kings”

Answer 8

• reference to Jesus/God in the Bible
• views himself as a god
• god is eternal
• irony, as Ozymandias’/autocrats’ power is transient in comparison to God

Question 9

“Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

Answer 9

• “look” = modal verb, wants to control people even when he is not physically present
• “ye Mighty” = thinks that even “Mighty” people who have lots of power will revere him and look small in relation to him; delusion of ultimate power
• “my works” = insinuates creation, again comparing himself to God perhaps; ignores that other people have built “his” works for him and takes credit - selfish, corrupt
• “despair” = believes he has so much power that it would send others into a state of extremely strong emotional turmoil when they realise how insignificant they are in comparison; irony

Question 10

“Nothing beside remains”

Answer 10

• “Nothing” = not even a small symbol of his previous power remains; he is extremely insignificant
• short sentence reflects the short-lived nature of Ozymandias’ influence

Question 11

“The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Answer 11

• “lone” = nature outlasts everything
• “level” = the power of nature is unwavering and undisturbed by humans such as Ozymandias
• “sands” = sands of time perhaps, simply nature or a result of the location, or a reference to the stability of natural power as sand is not technically living yet makes up much of the world in deserts, beaches, ocean beds etc.

Question 12

“chartered street”

Answer 12

• chartered = to map out anf legally define an area of land
  [] restricts nature and creation
  [] forces human convention on nature
  [] could also be read from Marxist pov as bourgeoisie’s way of controlling proletariat; their lives are also chartered in a sense
  [] criticism of society - romanticism

Question 13

“In every… In every… In every”

Answer 13

• anaphora
  [] could represent next generation being affected by previous plights of London
  [] emphasises how widespread London’s problems were and how deeply they affected society

Question 14

“mind forged manacles”

Answer 14

• consonance of “m” sound creates monotonous atmosphere
  [] demonstrates how society’s rules stifle individualism and freedom - romanticism
• “forged” = to shape metal (strong material”
  [] usually refers to weapons - shows how the rules of society harms people
• “manacles” = handcuffs/chains
• “mind” = the chains and rules of socuety placed on humans are completely societal constructs, not real things that have any substance besides the meanings that we give them
  [] shows how society brainwashes people into caring about such trivial things and thus shaping their lives around these rules, benefitting the bourgeoisie (MARXISM)
  [] ideological state apparatus
  [] from a feminist perspective; patriarchy

Question 15

“chimney sweeper’s cry”

Answer 15

• chinney sweepers are poorly paid
  [] the poor are more vulnerable and live worse lives simply based on the lack of money - another human construct that rules people’s lives and harms people despite being imaginary
• “cry” = misery, ALSO loudly crying out for help
  [] the fact that the poor who ask for help are not given it shows how society’s rules dictate even the smallest details of life
  [] poverty is inescapable for many
  [] marxism

Question 16

“black’ning church appalls”

Answer 16

• “black’ning” = evil, Church becoming corrupt due to avarice and inclusion of politics in religion OR literally turning black from all the soot of factories
  [] romantic criticism of institutions
  [] romantic criticism of industrialism
  [] rise of science and complex societal rules killing religion in its true form
  [] church not supporting people who go to Church, keeping money for themselves instead of helping people as they are supposed to

Question 17

“hapless soldier’s sigh”

Answer 17

• sibilance is both onomatopoeic and tonal
  [] replicates sound of sighing
  [] creates bitter tone towards the institution (the Crown) forcing soldiers to go and fight and risk their lives only for more land or power - made up rules of society having adverse affect on individual lives
• “hapless” = hopeless
  [] London is so deep in corruption and violence and rules that there is no hope for improvement; romantic criticism of society and ALSO Marxism

Question 18

“runs in blood down palace walls”

Answer 18

• blood running down palace walls as death of soldiers is monarchy’s fault
  [] criticism of institutions
  [] blood stains walls easily; monarchy’s reputation and legacy stained by the blood of the innocent - power not natural, forcefully taken and harms humans which people simply accept due to made up rules (marxism)
  [] blood is red, red = violence, passion etc. ; could also be a criticism of patriotism (red is a big feature in English and British flags)

Question 19

“youthful harlot’s curse”

Answer 19

• “harlot” = prositute
  [] loss of innocence
  [] criminalised despite often being forced into the profession - Marxism, repressive state apparatus
• curse = long term ailment as a repercussion of something that one did
  [] at the time STDs could be deadly due to lack of scientific/medical development
  [] criticism of society; people became harlots when they had no money due to unequal distribution of wealth between classes - Marxism
• youthful = innocence, purity, positive word generally
  [] children forced out of childhood fun and innocence to raise money (mind forged manacles, ideological state apparatus)

Question 20

“Blasts the new-born infant’s tear”

Answer 20

• plosives = harsh sounds
  [] emphasises speaker’s anger at the injustice of society - the fact that the poem ends badly and nothing changes however shows that the state apparatuses and societal rules are so carefully crafted and strong that they last forever - POWER OF HUMANS
• “new-born infant’s tear”
  [] newborn children can inherit STDs from their parents
  [] deadly to newborns and “blasts” their first tears (babies cry when born to start their lungs working - by “blasting” thus destroying their first tear, kills immediately)
  [] alternatively, can demonstrate how every person’s misery in life is laid out in front of them from the very beginning and due to the societal rules cannot stray from this path
  [] Marxism

Question 21

“plagues the marriage hearse.”

Answer 21

• STDs picked up by partners about to marry
  [] high rates of prostitution in London
  [] both partners contract the disease and both die
  [] marriage is supposed to be happiest day ever of life, and is a religious ceremony - adultery via prostitution goes against religion etc.
  [] critism romantically
• “plagues”
  [] literal plague; emphasises widespread nature of STDs in London
  [] adultery could also cause many tensions during marriage and plague the marriage emotionally
  [] corruption of individual moral centres also can be considered a plague
• juxtaposition of “marriage hearse”
  [] both partners die quickly
  [] last word is “hearse” so all ends inevitably in death and misery; no escape from misery of London
  [] marriage is both the start and end if society carries on in the same way

Question 22

“led by her”

Answer 22

• “led” reinforces caring/guiding/gentle aspects of nature
  [] Jesus in New Testament directly guides humanity through selecting apostles etc.
• “her” = personification of nature as feminine
  [] motherly, gentle, nurturing, innocent etc. - hegemonic femininity
  [] from feminist reading, bad

Question 23

“nor without the voice of mountain-echoes did my boat move on”

Answer 23

• power of “mountain” helps speaker (representing humanity) to move on and progress as well as the gentle aspects
  [] represents God in the Old Testament; shows how people should take lessons not ONLY from the NT
• “echoes” = faraway, softer version of the voice
  [] humans took immense power of OT God and distanced themselves from him because of scared of power they cant control or natural power - should listen to God OT more
  [] romanticism
• presentation of of God as nature reveals Wordsworth’s pantheism
  [] back to nature movement
  [] romanticism

Question 24

“small circles glittering idly in the moon”

Answer 24

• “small circles”
  [] links to femininity and boat descriptors as gentle etc.
  [] circles = God’s power and thus nature is eternal and will last much more than human powers
• “moon” = romantic symbol, celestial body (God)
  [] NT God
• “glittering”
  [] present continuous tense shows eternalness of God and nature
  [] reference to light = Jesus = light of the world; also truth - perhaps a comment on how Christians tend to only view NT God as the “true” nature of God despite a whole other Testament with different ignored aspect of God and natural power
  [] glittering -> sparkling -> diamonds -> precious; nature is beautiful and precious

Question 25

“She was an elfin pinnace; lustily I dipped my oars”

Answer 25

• “pinnace” = boat, described as “elfin”
  [] could refer to elegance typically associated with elves - hegemonic femininity
  [] elves are magical, so boat moves through lake in a way that the speaker feels a sense of magic through the journey and connection with nature
• “oars” = phallic symbol whilst the lake is a yonic symbol
  [] shows the duality of nature and Wordsworth’s feelings of connection with the physical world and nature
  [] links to God in the OT (“created them male and female”) initially HOWEVER shows how Christians tend to select the most gentle aspects of God such as God the creator (Marxism, romantic criticism of institutions like churches)
• “lustily” = physical attraction, a strong desire and passion for something
  [] sexual reading = sin, physical desire to connect with nature and God that may manifest in sinful ways; may be a subtle criticism of the Church trying to connect with God but becoming corrupt in the process
  [] desire reading = human desire for God but should be done in an INDIVIDUAL WAY via connecting with nature and not through corrupt churches and institutions

Question 26

“huge peak, black and huge”

Answer 26

• “huge” = power, intimidation
  [] suggests emotional human conflict between loving NT God and fearing OT God
• “black” = evil, powerful, all-consuming, obscures light
  [] symbolises Christian fear of facing OT God
• “peak”
  [] peak is the top of the mountain - highest point, closest to God/stars etc.
  [] God described through peak symbolises more violent, grim and powerful side of God as well as masculine aspects of OT compared to femininity of NT (harder to control, so scarier for humans who like to have power - institutions - romantic criticism)
  [] biblical allusion to God - associated with mountains in OT like the sermon on the mount

Question 27

“voluntary power instinct”

Answer 27

• “instinct” = primal, acting fast, power
  [] links to OT God
• “voluntary” = of one’s own will
  [] God chooses in OT to inflict chaos/harm to enforce power
  [] causes fear of God and humans don’t appreciate powerful aspects of God

Question 28

“towered up between me and the stars”

Answer 28

• “stars” = typically represent fate and divinity
• “between” = hugeness of the mountain blocks stars
• GOD DECIDES FATE OF EVERYONE, NOT SOME MYSTICAL OTHER FORCE, immense spiritual and physical power of God
  [] God is present through nature - pantheism

Question 29

“hung a darkness”

Answer 29

• “hung” = lingered
  [] portrays how people fet scared away from God and forget everything positive and so don’t return instead of having faith through troublesome times and trusting that God has a reason for the suffering (like in Job - biblical reference)
• “darkness” = negative association and evil

Question 30

“call it solitude or blank desertion”

Answer 30

• “solitude” = loneliness, isolation, abandonment
  [] bad experiences in life + increasing corruption of the church results in feeling disconnected from God and thus abandoned, so lose faith
• desertion
  [] God = love, so the absebce of love -> desertion
• “it” pronoun for God as opposed to prior “she” shows disconnection and dehumanisation of God once becoming scared/in awe of the sublime (awesome and fear-inspiring aspects of nature)

Question 31

“no pleasant images of trees, of sea or sky”

Answer 31

• “trees, of sea or sky”
  [] Wordsworth is a pantheist and believes that God is in all nature; if all nature is God and God is now terrifying to the speaker due to the one unpleasant experience, only the negative view of God remains, nothing about the love and care shown initially
  [] nature is ruined by man’s perception of it as a thing to be conquered; criticism of society and relates to the back to nature movement
• “pleasant images”
  [] no fond memories of God/nature remain due to the terror experienced via the sublime
• sibilance shows speaker’s distrust and bitterness towards God/nature

Question 32

“huge and mighty forms, that do not live like living men”

Answer 32

• “huge and mighty” = intimidation, fear of speaker portrayed
• “forms”
  [] speaker doesn’t recognise the “forms” that move about; unfamiliarity causes unsettled atmosphere
  [] speaker is now distanced from God/nature as a result of wishing to have power over it and failing to (HUMAN POWER, NATURAL POWER) - to rectify, should re-familiarise with nature (back to nature movement pioneered by Wordsworth and taken on by many other Romantics)
  [] emphasises non-human nature of OT God (NT God in Jesus is described as both fully human and fully divine) - makes God seem less kind/loving and more frightening
• “do not move like living men”
  [] makes humanity the standard when everyone should conform and strive to be like God instead of the reverse
  [] makes God seem unnatural; religious institutions and society make humanity engage with religion in an unnatural and deeply unnuanced manner, integrating politics and corruption of society into religion; criticism of society

Question 33

“were a trouble to my dreams”

Answer 33

• psychoanalytic reading
  [] repressed unconscious is expressed in dreams
  [] speaker is repressing acknowledging OT God in favour of the scripture read in church which almost solely focuses on NT God, and so the fear and terror associated with OT God and that more awe-inspiring aspect of God resurfaces within nightmares, revealing how society and religious institutions have convinced people that the more primal/powerful aspects of God are bad or should not be celebrated as much as the NT God, preventing nuanced religious views

Question 34

“My Last Duchess”

Answer 34

• “last”
  [] Duke was married before
  [] poem discusses his previous duchess
  [] gives a flippant tone towards his previous wife - shows that he views women as dispensable - SEXISM FROM FEMINIST READING
• “my”
  [] sees as if he owns her - PATRIARCHY SEXISM FEMINIST POV AAAAA
• despite all this, duchess is an esteemed position; shows disparity between power between men and women
  [] Robert Browning’s idea of the moral responsibility of poets to expose evil; Romanticism

Question 35

constant focus on speaker through “I”, “myself”, “my”

Answer 35

• egoism
  [] from FEMINIST perspective he is a powerful man and so patriarchy benefits him and society conditions powerful men to believe they are the most important individuals, above all others specifically women
  [] imbalance of natural power
  [] may be a metaphor for the power of man over nature (ROMANTICISM)
• perhaps the prevalent narcissism of the Duke demonstrates his insecurity in his power and masculinity
  [] has to FORCE the reader to remember him as the most important through constant reassertion of himself as important, as well as emphasising his power and also masculinity
  [] shows that this extreme power is not NATURAL - everyone should have equal power; goes against patriarchy (feminist pov) and monarchy and institutions (Romanticism and Marxism)

Question 36

“Fra Pandolf”/”Claus of Innsbruck”

Answer 36

• name-dropping artists
  [] only monarchs could afford art/portraits at the time
  [] reasserts his social status and makes himself appear more cultured and respectable by having knowledge of the arts

Question 37

“none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you but I”

Answer 37

• strange syntax to make sure that “I” is the last word
  [] emphasises his narcissism and need to be the most important; the last word in a sentence is often the most remembered by the reader
• “I” is also repeated, drilling it in
• the fact that he has “drawn” the curtain for the person he is speaking to shows his control of the situation
  [] MARXISM - bourgeoisie controls everything via repressive + ideological state apparatus
  [] Romanticism - disproportionate control
• the last duchess’ portrait is HIDDEN behind a curtain
  [] Duke couldn’t control her actions in life so now seeks to completely control her image in death

Question 38

“seemed as they would ask me”

Answer 38

“seemed” = no one actually asked the Duke about the painting
- imagines that people ask because of the way they look at the painting
[] delusions of grandeur; thinks that he is the centre of attention and people care about him - self importance
- insecurity in power; unnatural

Question 39

“twas not her husband’s presence only, called that spot of joy”

Answer 39

Believes people think he was a cuckold when his wife was alive as shee looked ‘too happy’ in the painting to just have her husband
- cuckolds were seen as inferior in terms of masculinity - shows Duke clinging to his masculinity and thus power because of men’s power under patriarchy
- suggests Duke didn’t trust his wife; paranoid and sexist (women can’t control baser urges so men have to do it for them; this idea was prevalent in the 1800s - if the patriarch of a family died (father), the responsibility for controlling the daughter’s urges shifts to the next male relative)
- also shows the Duke’s insecurity in terms of how satisfactory he is as a husband AND his control over his wife, causing him to overreact to stamp out any rumours of cuckolding or a lack of his power
- ALTERNATIVELY Duke obsessed with maintaining image of power and thus paranoid about losing it due to society’s obsession with power - if he appeared weak, he likely may have been overthrown or challenged for power by others
[] Romantic criticism of hierarchy and organised control of people, as it leads to huge power imbalances that favour cold logic such as assassination to maintain ot gain power instead of feeling, freedom and love and peace

Question 40

”- how shall I say? - too soon made glad”

Answer 40

• suggests Duchess’ childishness due to perceived lack of emotional regulation or understanding of what “should” or “shouldn’t” be important in life
  [] from feminist perspective, this is infantilisation of the Duchess as it indicates that women are unable to discern “actual” importance and thus can’t be trusted in positions of political power and authority

Question 41

“My favour at her breast, the dropping of the daylight in the West” etc. (listing is key focus)

Answer 41

• listing nakes all gifts sound less important and all of the same “rank”
  [] also makes the Duchess seem dismissive or ignorant of the gifts themselves - links to perceived inability to discern between importance
• these gifts are all things that many would deem thoughtful or lovely, but the Duke’s cynicism conveyed by the listing make them seem lesser
  [] likewise, prrhaps Browning suggests that the equal importance of individuals is overshadowed and tainted by the societal rules forced upon people to view some as more important via institutions etc. - AGAINST ROMANTICISM

Question 42

“She thanked men - good!”

Answer 42

• from feminist perspective, SEXIST - suggests Duke thinks that women should be subservient and grateful to men as a default
• could also be read as the Duke thinking that she “thanked men” with her body thus cheating on him

Question 43

“ranked my gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name with anybody’s gift.”

Answer 43

• his “gift” is separated from the previous list, showing that he believes it is of a much higher and more important rank
  angry bc thinks wife isn’t grateful enough that he married her and gave her his last name
• feminist pov: sexist, expects subservience
• shows narcissism (should be grateful for his presence alone)
  [] places him in position of power
  [] delusions of grandeur; how power can mess with even things that are supposed to be emotional like relationships
• last name carries social status
  [] Romantic criticism of power imbalances among royalty and normal people also men

Question 44

“to make your will quite clear… and say ‘Just this or that in you disgusts me’… e’en then there would be some stooping”

Answer 44

• “will” = command, not question
  [] does not respect women or those socially inferior enough to ask them for something, but only to command it
  [] Marxism, sexism (feminism) etc.
• “stooping” = to drop to a level lower than oneself
  [] thinks that wife should be so perfectly submissive that she understands what he wants her to do without him even asking - views asking as annoying or stooping
  [] suggests that views wife as inherently below him even though she also has much social status in terms of class - from feminist pov, this is a clear mark of his sexism

Question 45

“This grew; I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together.”

Answer 45

• sibilance “all smiles stopped”
  [] smiles are a physical representation of happiness and thus freedom, however the sibilance suggests that the Duke hated his wife’s happiness; feminist pov, wants to control wife (sexism)
  [] sibilance also makes Duke sound jealous and bitter towards his wife’s freedom
• listing makes Duke sound as if killing his wife was insignificant to him
  [] power corrupts human emotion - should feel terrible (ROMANTIC)
• short list also emphasises his own power as it makes it seem easy for him to kill people in only 3 events etc.
  [] wife was a MEDICI - IMPORTANT AND RICH FAMILY; more significant to Duke’s power as even powerful people aren’t near his level of power so he can’t be challenged and can essentially do what he wants (dangerous)
• could also be an intimidation tactic for the Count of Tyrol’s servant, as is a marriage negotiation and making him afraid of his power makes it easier for him to get what he wants
  [] power imbalance used to control and extort people - Marxism

Question 46

“We’ll meet”

Answer 46

Controls situation

Question 47

“his fair daughter’s self… is my object”

Answer 47

• “object”
  [] controlling, feminist pov = sexist, objectifies her and shows sees women as not even human
• “fair”
  [] sees Tyrol’s daughter purely for her appearance - sexist and objectification

Question 48

“Notice Neptune, though, taming a sea-horse”

Answer 48

• “Neptune” = roman god of the sea
  [] is so vain that he sees himself as a God
• “taming” = training, controlling, conditioning
  [] reflects his attitude to women and how they should be treated, from feminist pov, sexist
• “sea-horse” representative of women

Question 49

“Half a league, half a league, half a league onward”

Answer 49

• repetition emphasises length needed to charge across
  [] also glorifies charge as makes more memorable
  [] mimics sound of galloping horses

Question 50

“Light Brigade! Charge… Rode the six hundred”

Answer 50

• punctuation creates sense of tension and excitement
  [] adds to glorification of war
• orders coupled with imagery of willingly riding into “valley of Death” makes soldiers seem righteous/courageous etc.

Question 51

“valley of Death”

Answer 51

• biblical allusion to Psalms 23 “though you walk through the valley of death, you shall fear no evil”
  [] use of bible quote suggests war is mandated by God and God is on soldiers’ side (protected in war)
  [] implies charge is holy and right and God will treat them well in Heaven for following his “orders” for war
  [] religion v/important at the time, so including religion was a good way for Tennyson to incite support for war amongst the British after the failed Battle of Balaclava

Question 52

“was there a man dismay’d?”

Answer 52

• rhetorical questions don’t get answered
  [] soldiers don’t answer back; have no say or right to question orders or the right to be “dismayed”
• “dismay’d” = disappointed
  [] suggests that soldiers HAD REASON to be dismayed by the orders; KNEW they were bad orders and fumbled but followed regardless due to military chain of command and commitment
• from an anti-war reading, could be used to criticise the strict rules and lack of rights that soldiers have instead of glorify the soldiers’ bravery but this was not Tennyson’s intention

Question 53

“soldier knew some one had blunder’d”

Answer 53

• “some one”
  [] vagueness of indefinite pronoun DESPITE knowing it was the commander who made the mistake creates sense of camaraderie/loyalty/brotherhood among soldiers
  [] glorifies the supposed closeness of an army, appealing especially to young men
• blundered = foolish mistake

Question 54

“Theirs not to” x3 at start of 3 lines

Answer 54

anaphora again shows that it’s not in the soldiers’ roles to question orders or save themselves

Question 55

“Theirs but to do and die”

Answer 55

• soldiers accept that they WILL die as a result of following the botched orders
  [] STILL not scared; emphasises and glorifies commitment and courage of soldiers and makes seem worthy of celebration instead of pity and indignation towards the commander
• shouldn’t question God - biblical allusion

Question 56

“Volley’d and thunder’d; Storm’d at with shot and shell”

Answer 56

• sibilance of “storm’d at with shot and shell” creates violent/negative tone
  [] glorifies suffering of the soldiers in war
• semantic field of weather
  [] shows turbulence of war and how skillful and brave the soldiers were for taking it on
  [] also, weather often linked to God, and so shows that God has a plan for the soldiers’ suffering AND IT ISN’T POINTLESS

Question 57

“Boldly they rode”

Answer 57

again glorifies war and patriotism

Question 58

“Into the jaws of Death, into the mouth of Hell”

Answer 58

• “jaws” = animalistic, dangerous, contain teeth (sharp)
  [] again shows suffering of soldiers and bravery for facing something so visibly dangerous head on
• “mouth of Hell”
  [] biblical allusion to the Harrowing of Hell; makes readers hopeful that the soldiers would be saved by God/Jesus for their sacrifice for the country and God
  [] comforts relatives of the Light Brigade who may be the most inclined against war after the Battle

Question 59

“Flash’d”

Answer 59

• flash = bright light, quick
  [] light may be biblical allusion to Jesus (light of the world)
  [] implies doing God’s work
  [] quickness may imply the speed and thus skill of the soldiers in striking the Russian army and fighting even with the botched orders, or the fact they carried out the orders without thinking first; glorification

Question 60

“All the world wonder’d”

Answer 60

shows whole world should be in awe of the Light Brigade and promotes glorification of patriotic death in battle and war

Question 61

“Plunged”

Answer 61

• quick, w/o thought prior
• highlights unquestioning acquiescence of soldiers

Question 62

“not, not the six hundred”

Answer 62

• “six hundred” consistently talked about as a single unit, emphasising and glorifying the brotherhood and camaraderie amongst them
  [] when lost most of their ranks, returning soldiers lose their identity as part of the six hundred - shows great sacrifice and strength in dealing and fighting for God/country despite losing their fellow soldiers
• emphasises how many deaths occurred; sacrifice

Question 63

What is significant about the semantic field of weather in cotlb ?

Answer 63

Weather = unpredictable, powerful, awe-inspiring, attributed to God
- mimics nature of war and glorifies soldiers for facing it anyway and sacrificing themselves for country and God
- link to God suggests God is present on the battlefield
[] God looking out for soldiers
[] has plan for suffering, not letting them suffer for no reason; will reward in Heaven

Question 64

“While horse and hero fell”

Answer 64

Soldiers explicitly glorified as heroes who “fell” from greatness for their country and God

Question 65

“When can their glory fade?”

Answer 65

• rhetorical questions have no answer; their glory WON’T fade and will be remembered in history forever
  [] glorifies soldiers and makes war attractive to those seeking glory and a sense of importance
  [] again makes point that war is not futile and those who die in it are remembered forever

Question 66

“Honour… honour the Light Brigade, noble six hundred!”

Answer 66

• command to “honour” repeated; emphasises importance of remembrance
  [] incites glorification of the soldiers
• “honour” is a sign of respect; if people honour the soldiers who died in the battle, promotes soldiery and implies that people will struve to continue their legacy and continue what they started (patriotism in war etc.)
• “noble” = glorification

Question 67

“merciless iced east winds that knive us”

Answer 67

• “east winds”
  [] poem set in England, and front for WW1 to the east of speaker’s regiment
  [] the “winds” representing the fighting and strife shows the coldness of war and fighting and how it can affect those not even directly in battle
• sibilance used is onomatopaeic, mimicking the sound of the wind
  [] also shows the bitterness of the speaker towards the wind as it is figuratively attacking the soldiers and they cannot defend themselves
• “knive” = violent, sharp stabbing pain
  [] wind characterised as merciless and violent thus

Question 68

“Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous”

Answer 68

• “worried by silence”
  [] silence is usually peaceful, but makes soldiers anxious as war is usually littered with constant noise of bullets, fighting etc.
  [] shows flipping of nature and how war can upset nature (power of humans)
• sibilance again is onomatopoeic (sound of whispering, creates tension)

Question 69

“But nothing happens”

Answer 69

FUTILITY OF WAR
- if you die w/o fighting at all, pointless, so war is futile
- fact that is a refrain no MATTER what the stanza is about shows that war is indiscriminately futile
- ALTERNATIVELY, nothing of note happens as a result of war anyway; every side loses soldiers, money and stability, people from every side lose family and their lives, so no matter the outcome of war, it is inherently futile and the violence is pointless

Question 70

“mad gusts tugging on the wire… twitching agonies of men among its brambles.”

Answer 70

• “mad gusts”
  [] madness = crazy = personified as intentionally evil and twisted for making conditions harsh for the soldiers and triggering their PTSD
• describes the soldiers with PTSD having flashbacks to seeing people struggling to escape barbed wire when wind moves the barbed wire
  [] mental pressure, damage and tumult of the soldiers caused by war and poor care for their mental health; criticism of war
• “brambles” = natural
  [] describes nature as harming the soldiers even though barbed wire is man-made
  [] WAR TURNS THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN - damages natural and healthy life to the point that it is unrecognisable and indiscernible from man-made horrors and is viewed equally as the “enemy”

Question 71

“Far off, like a dull rumour of some other war.”

Answer 71

• Germans fighting “far off” whilst speaker’s regiment just fighting to survive in the conditions
• “far off” emphasises how detached a lot of soldiers in the speaker’s position feel from the overall war effort and how war seems even more futile from that perspective
• “other war” could also represent MENTAL war between whether war is actually futile or not, as well as if God is real/protecting them or not (war of faith)
  [] demonstrates mental and ethical exertion of people during war when deciding what is wrong/right to do

Question 72

“Attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of grey”

Answer 72

• “attacks”
  [] snow and wind/weather characterised as the enemy army so that the soldiers appear literally to fight the harsh conditions
  [] gives intention to harm the soldiers to the weather - emphasises brutality of war
• “ranks” = military term
  [] snowflakes like nature’s army against the soldiers
  [] could be read as nature revolting against human war enterprises - power of nature
• “grey”
  [] connotes monotony, hopelessness etc. of the soldiers in face of the harsh conditions

Question 73

“Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence”

Answer 73

• “dd” sound in “sudden” sounds like shuddering of guns firing, or people shuddering in the cold
• sibilance is onomatopoeic, mimicking the whistling of bullets through air; Owen likely used so much onomatopoeic devices to place the reader deeper into the horrors of war and to mimick the experiences of soldiers with PTSD who must re-experience their trauma in war over and over

Question 74

“black with snow”

Answer 74

• snow literally black because of smoke from bombs
• snow figuratively black because black connotes death, evil and even the corruption of the idea of war as good or glorious in the soldiers’ minds due to the realities of the adversity they face
  [] this corruption of ideals is potentially more deadly than the bullets themselves as topples whole worldview; shocking, leaves with chronic condition (PTSD) which affects whole life if survives

Question 75

“flowing flakes that flock, pause and renew”

Answer 75

• mimics the actions of an army firing on the enemy
  [] personifies the snow
  [] turns the soldiers against the weather/nature; perhaps a comment on how easily people can turn against one another in war despite everyone being people and not every soldier sharing the beliefs of their leaders
• fricatives mimic sound of shivering; emphasises cold of the snow

Question 76

“littered with blossoms”

Answer 76

• litter = rubbish, man-made, eyesore
• blossoms = beautiful, natural
  in war, things like bombs/weapons/litter are more common than beauty/beautiful things like blossoms and so can seem more natural than actual nature

Question 77

“our ghosts drag home”

Answer 77

• “ghosts”
  [] soldiers feel so mentally drained that they are mere ghosts of themselves and don’t feel like actual people
  [] could also demonstrate the defeatist attitudes of soldiers, wishing for death or believing they may as well already be dead and won’t survive war
  [] COULD ALSO be ghosts in terms of society; have left their homes for so long that they are not remembered by their children and their families and friends (in the same way) upon their return after the war finally ends
• “drag” illustrates exhaustion of soldiers both mentally and physically

Question 78

“crusted dark red jewels”

Answer 78

• only the embers are left of fires in their homes; have left home for so long
  [] fire also = passion; people in their families have lost their love for the soldiers due to long separation, or at least it is not the same as before
• embers described as “jewels”; very precious to the soldiers as provide warmth after the prolonged cold
  [] the fact they are only embers and yet are still precious emphasises how starved for warmth the soldiers were during war (this warmth can be literal warmth or the warmth of family/love)

Question 79

“mice rejoice: the house is theirs”

Answer 79

• earlier, soldiers sheltered in “holes”, whilst now mice shelter in their houses
  [] soldiers so dehumanised by war that they have swapped places with mice, regarded as vermin or pests in the eyes of civillians
• “house is theirs” because of death of many soldiers and the prolonged distance from home to fight

Question 80

“all closed: on us the doors are closed”

Answer 80

soldiers turned away from safety of home by people ignorant to their experiences in war
[] many veterans after returning from war found it hard to find employment, mental health support, housing etc. so had to resort to going back to military work to support themselves, which only killed them or made their situations worse
- “doors” represent opportunities; closed to the soldiers

Question 81

“We turn back to our dying.”

Answer 81

• “turn back” = had no other choice but to return to war even though didn’t want to
  [] many veterans after returning from war found it hard to find employment, mental health support, housing etc. so had to resort to going back to military work to support themselves, which only killed them or made their situations worse

Question 82

“we believe not otherwise can kind fires burn”

Answer 82

• soldiers seemingly not bitter about prospect of death itself due to faith in God, but rather the violence snd futulity and hatred of war
• “kind fires” = warmth
  [] Heaven = place filled with God’s love; soldiers longing for God’s love when rejected by other people and during war
  [] God appears as fire to Moses in the Bible
• propaganda often uses religion as a driving factor for war, making soldiers believe that (support for) war in God’s name is necessary for eternal life, “otherwise” they too will be cast aside without the “kind fires”

Question 83

“Nor ever suns smile true on child, or field, or fruit”

Answer 83

• “suns” = warm, God’s love, necessary for plant growth etc., happiness
  [] if God’s love never falls on Earth, it appears missing, and without sunlight plants/nature dies/freezes
  [] soldiers feel like they will die without eternal life because God has abandoned them
• “child or field or fruit”
  [] all are representative of new beginnings
  [] God turning his back on the world because all of the new things have been killed in war

Question 84

“For God’s invincible spring our love is made afraid”

Answer 84

• “spring” = new beginnings
  [] God turning his back on the world because all of the new things have been killed in war
• “invincible spring” = when God first made world; new life, prosperity etc. were there
  [] could also be Heaven
  [] when humans began war n conflict n stuff the spring died
• “our love is made afraid”
  [] afraid will be turned away from God in death as well as life (due to causing suffering or just abandonment fears)
  [] could also be fear of abandonment altogether

Question 85

“love of God seems dying.”

Answer 85

• can feel God’s love less (it’s dying for humans)
• OR humans love God less because they feel abandoned by him or are drawn to war/death etc.

Question 86

“Pause over half-known faces.”

Answer 86

• caesura mimicks soldiers pausing to look at the people
• “half-known”
  [] knew vaguely because fought together; otherwise forgotten (disillusionment of glory promised by propaganda)
  [] could also be referencing horrific facial injuries sustained by soldiers meaning they’re only half recognisable

Question 87

“All their eyes are ice”

Answer 87

• God = warm, people devoid of God, so eyes are “ice”
• “eyes” are window to soul - if eyes are ice, souls are ice (not saved by God)
• died of the cold and now have BECOME the cold (“are” metaphor), it’s like an infection
  [] soldiers living in trenches often suffered infections

Question 88

“Storm on the Island”

Answer 88

• “Stormont” can be found in the title
  [] stormont is the government building of Northern Ireland
• “storm”
  [] turbulent, can harm, unpredictable
  [] power of nature
  [] represents state of government in Ireland (the Troubles)
• “Island”
  [] sounds like Ireland

Question 89

“We are prepared: we build our houses squat.”

Answer 89

• is a declaration; islanders feel secure and confident in their own preparations
• caesura may represent the islanders’ intentions to stop either the storm or the adverse effects of it
  [] if first, can be read as willingness to do conflict resolution as an allegory for the troubles in Ireland
• poem starts with inclusive pronoun “We”
  [] implies poem is about community
• “prepared”
  [] shows that they are expecting to be attacked/harmed
  [] creates tension but not anxiety, as they are prepared for the storm
• “squat”
  [] stable; houses built specifically for stability in preparation for a storm
  [] people squat in trenches
  [] if read as an allegory for the Troubles, can be said that the houses perhaps represent the islanders’ own small communities (eg. families, friends, etc.) being closed off to protect themselves from the guerrilla terrorist war and being attacked by the opposite side
  [] could also represent Irish “laying low” to avoid conflict bc squatting gets you closer to the ground

Question 90

“rock and roof”

Answer 90

• alliteration emphasises solidness of the structures of the buildings/preparations etc., adding to the sense of preparation and safety from the coming events of the storm

Question 91

“wizened earth”

Answer 91

• “wizened” = shrivelled, old, etc.
  [] the earth in Ireland is barren and not easily used for agriculture
  [] people are used to harsh conditions
• could also be read as calling the earth wise, as “wizened” refers to old age
  [] with old age comes lots of experience
  [] the earth has seen many such “storms” prior to these people - slightly more sinister reading as implies that the people had not triumphed in the past conflicts
  [] this is a less likely reading however

Question 92

“never troubled us with hay”

Answer 92

• ironic; hay would be a good thing, yet is referred to as a trouble
  [] shows that the island doesn’t produce anything useful
  [] Heaney’s father was a farmer, and farming in Ireland produced many “troubles” for his father due to the unyielding land
• “troubled”
  [] could be a reference to the Troubles in Ireland
  [] could also be foreshadowing for the trouble that the islanders will face later in the poem; their preparations aren’t in fact sufficient, and they are taken by surprise (power of nature tops power of humans and can’t be controlled - Romantic READING, though Heaney could be considered a neo-Romantic)

Question 93

“no stacks or stooks that can be lost”

Answer 93

• sibilance demonstrates bitterness of speaker towards the harsh conditions of the island
  [] Heaney’s father was a farmer; likely bitter towards the harsh Irish land (hard to grow on) and thus grew up poor as dad couldn’t make too much money off of his crops
• “stacks” and “stooks” are technically preparations; without stacks or stooks could be said to be unprepared but is preparation as have nothing to lose; poverty in Ireland

Question 94

“Nor are there trees… company”

Answer 94

• “trees” are natural, and provide shelter
• “company” connotes friendliness and comfort in times of crisis
  [] if trees provide company, speaker takes comfort in nature usually but the weather is dangerous
• if there are no trees, there is no comfort to the speaker
  [] the trees may represent the lack of protection that ordinary people have from the political and terrorist troubles
• lack of company = during the troubles, everyone on different sides and can’t risk being open with anyone out of fear; makes people feel isolated
• in this line, the lack of company and safety shifts the tone of the poem from one of preparation to one of imminent danger and tension

Question 95

“blows full/blast”

Answer 95

• plosives create feeling of impact
  [] impact of storm
  [] onomatopoeia BUT not for wind, for BOMBS; further proof for it being an allegory to the Troubles in Ireland
• enjambment means that “blast” is on its own line
  [] enhances potency of word

Question 96

“you know what I mean”

Answer 96

• conversational tone
• personal pronoun “you” draws reader closer into the poem
• use of personal pronoun also implies that the danger that the islanders faced could happen to ANYONE; it isn’t detached but could directly affect you too
  [] also could make reader reflect on own experiences with catastrophe or storms either literally or figuratively because they “know” what the speaker is talking about

Question 97

“leaves and branches can raise a tragic chorus”

Answer 97

• “tragic chorus” refers to a tragic Greek chorus
  [] pleasant sound; songs - islanders use as a distraction to the storm from the safety of their homes (guard down)
  [] poem follows course of a Greek tragedy; starts off at “aristeia” with islanders prepared - their hamartia is perhaps being too confident in their preparations/being detached from the danger around them - the peripeteia is when the storm finally hits and there are no trees for shelter etc., and ends in tragedy with being bombarded etc.
  [] in a Greek tragedy, tragedy is inevitable - tone of doom at nature’s hands
• “leaves and branches”
  [] debris
  [] literally raising a chorus due to the noise in the wind of being torn off of trees etc.
  [] natural barriers to break impact of the storm broken down by sheer strength of storm
  [] storm is unstoppable (both in allegorical sense and literal)

Question 98

“you can listen to the thing you fear, forgetting that it pummels your house too.”

Answer 98

• “thing”
  [] though storm is portrayed as dangerous, it is NOT personified
  [] indiscriminately harms - doesn’t choose people to harm but “pummels” everyone’s houses
  [] suggests that the threat the islanders/Irish are facing is not human or natural but abstract and thus harder to control
  [] references the Troubles being a conflict of ideology and religion - both abstract concepts
• “pummels” = to strike repeatedly with the fist
  [] “bullying”/repeatedly and relentlessly hitting the islanders - no repose
  [] harsh sounding word - harshness of storm and emphasises its impact
  [] plosive sounds like bomb again
  [] conflict-based word creates more tension and AAAA yk ?
• “forgetting”
  [] they are detached and off-guard and so are more vulnerable when the storm hits them hard too

Question 99

“might think the sea is company”

Answer 99

• “might THINK”
  [] unsureness shows how unsafe it was to be open and comfortable and off-guard even with family and friends during the storm/Troubles
  [] during Troubles, didn’t know who supported which side so if was open could be targeted by the opposite side
• “sea” = temperament changes day to day
  [] sometimes calm, sometimes rough
  [] unpredictable - storm has power to take something that’s supposed to be comfortable and make it feel like a threat

Question 100

“exploding comfortably down on the cliffs”

Answer 100

• oxymoron of the violence of explosion and comfort demonstrates confusion and chaos caused by the storm/Troubles
• “exploding” has connotations of bombs - the Troubles
• “cliffs”
  [] often represent a tipping point when standing on the edge of a cliff
  [] thus could be used to show how unstable the country/island feels during the storm/Troubles

Question 101

“the flung spray hits the very windows, spits like a tame cat turned savage”

Answer 101

• caesuras lengthen and slow the pace of the reading
  [] conflict seems to stretch on for ages
• “spray”
  [] spray of the sea when hitting the cliffs, but also spray of debris from bombs
• “windows”
  [] the very thinnest barrier between the outside world and the safety of one’s home
  [] if the “spray” hits the windows, gives tone of warning that the danger is getting closer to them and they should be prepared so they don’t fall into the trap of “forgetting” that they too can be harmed by the storm
• “tame cat turned savage”
  [] even domesticated aspects of nature are not safe for the people anymore and have turned against them
  [] “cat”s are often kept as pets; when they turn savage would be inside someone’s house
  [] are not safe from the danger even inside their homes; the turbulence has spread and swept up even animals into it (Troubles impacted everyone BECAUSE it was an ideological and religious conflict and so everyone had to have opinions on it bc its inside their heads not a real-world tangible threat/enemy)
• “savage” = primitive; this conflict has always existed (power of nature and neo-romanticism)
• SIBILANCE IS ONOMATOPOEIA OF THE SPRAY OF THE SEA, WHILST ALSO PORTRAYING BITTERNESS THAT THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE VIOLENCE

Question 102

“space is a salvo… bombarded by the empty air”

Answer 102

• “salvo” = sudden discharge of gunfire
  [] militant language reminds of warzone
• the space that the islanders live in suddenly becomes so hostile and all are hit by the “salvo” all at once
  [] could be reference to terrorism; it is okay one moment, then a bomb is dropped the next and there is no warning
  [] you only know of a storm when it hits you (without the use of technology) and so when a storm hits it can feel very sudden
• “space” is also empty; demonstrates further the abstract and guerrilla nature of the conflict with no clear targets until they hit you
• “bombarded”
  [] violent language - plosives = bombs, no rest from attack
• sibilance in “space is a salvo” = bitterness/anger at situation and increasing violence
• frequency of sibilance and plosives increase through the poem, conveying the escalation of violence

Question 103

“it is a huge nothing that we fear.”

Answer 103

• oxymoron of “huge nothing” again shows the confusion created by the conflict
• “nothing” implies that there isn’t anything to actually fear despite this being untrue
  [] nature and family/friends are supposed to be safe, but this idea is wrong in the context of a storm/the Troubles
• end word is “fear”; contrasts with the very beginning of the poem where the speaker declares that the islanders are “prepared”
  [] shows that they weren’t in fact prepared enough
  [] confusion and uncertainty creates more fear than normal conflict - nature of the Troubles was different than anything experienced prior despite the same base conflict existing for many years so much so that they thought they knew how to prepare for it

Question 104

“Suddenly he awoke”

Answer 104

• poem opens in media res, confusing the reader and conveying the soldier’s bewilderment and inability to make sense of the dire situation he has been placed in despite propaganda’s promises that war was a great and glorious enterprise
• “awoke” = to first wake up, open one’s eyes, become aware of surroundings
  [] soldier first realised the true horror of war now; before had been effectively “dreaming” via propaganda’s promises of war
• opening line means that war is so horrid that the realisation thus is IMMEDIATE

Question 105

“hot khaki, his sweat heavy”

Answer 105

• caesura here mimics his stumbling pace
  [] allows reader to place themselves further in the narrative and engage more deeply with the speaker’s thoughts and emotions
  [] implied unsteadiness could suggest a shaking of his worldview, or the unbalanced and chaotic nature of war in actuality
• caesura also may be read as the soldier reeling in shock and thus pausing
• sensory imagery of “heavy” sweat makes reader feel uncomfortable
  [] sweat is also a sign of exercise and panic
  [] could be symbolism as to the soldier’s newfound horror of war - sweat is sticky and seems to never go away, and neither does his new realisation of the horror of war (he sees it everywhere now); further, the khaki uniform is what is making him sweat, demonstrating the fact that it is indeed the military’s actions and situation during war that cause the horror, not even the enemy (tenuous reading)

Question 106

“towards a green hedge”

Answer 106

• “a”
  [] there are many hedges on the battlefield and yet is risking his life for this one hedge
  [] portrays the futility of war
  [] may be a metaphor for how political leaders force their citizens into war (one of the green hedges, representing solutions in this reading to tension) instead of the countless other options like peace talks, negotiations, sending delegates to diplomatically resolve issues and so on
• “green” = bright, vibrant, life - thus providing the soldier protection from the violence

Question 107

“bullets smacking the belly out of the air”

Answer 107

• “smacking”
  [] not targeted, usually open-palmed strike; portrays the damage done to many in war indiscriminately (not just soldiers) and thus the ultimate brutality of war
  [] sensory imagery; makes reader imagine the sound of a smack, mimicking the sound of bullets
  [] personifies bullets as directly opposing the soldier; the fact that no human opposition is present in the poem may be due to the fact that Hughes could be aiming to demonstrate that it is no one’s fault that they are fighting a war; it is ultimately down to political leaders, as everyone fighting a war is simply trying to survive - FUTILITY OF WAR AND CRUELTY
• “air”
  [] the fact that the bullets can harm something as lifeless and untouchable as air conveys the extent of the violence endured by soldiers during war, eliciting feelings of pity and horror towards war in the reader
  [] could very possibly be a metaphor for British power after WW1 - after WW1, began to lose much of its empire and the Gallipoli campaign’s defeat by the Ottomans in WW1 in particular made Britain seem weaker globally (air - Britain’s power, bullets - WWs)
  [] futility of war in attempt to gain or maintain power and land etc. (which most wars are for), as not only harms people but may backfire also

Question 108

“the patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest-“

Answer 108

• suggests an actual tear in the soldier’s eye due to the pain, fear and exertion experienced
• “brimmed” = threatened to overflow
  [] once filled with pride to fight for his country - propaganda
• “molten iron” = incredibly hot
  [] on skin, painful; the feeling of his patriotic views shifting once realising the reality of war feels so shocking that it is painful
  [] may suggest emotional pain that his country would lie to him and manipulate him (Marxism)
• “centre of his chest”
  [] chest is where heart is
  [] heart is symbolically representative of where one’s loyalties lie and their pride etc.
  [] patriotic tear now hurting his chest because his loyalty to his country now feels like it was used against him by the propaganda
  [] hurts to feel betrayed
  [] feels bitter towards his country now and his pride is being sweat out
• “sweating”
  [] literally sweating bc of the hot uniform and exertion
  [] pride is exiting body DUE to fighting in war and the struggle in the hellscape of the war

Question 109

“bewilderment”

Answer 109

• comes after enjambment
  [] creates structural confusion, mimicking the confusion and overwhelm experienced by the speaker in war
• could also be read as confusion as to why he is on the battlefield in the first place
  [] futility of war; there is no reason for war that anyone can find
  [] patriotism isn’t considered as a reason since it is simply a manipulative tactic used by governments

Question 110

“cold clockwork of the stars”

Answer 110

• harsh consonance portrays speaker’s view of fate and the war and the government etc.
• “cold”
  [] says fate is cold and thus uncaring about the feelings and sensibilities and lives of people affected by it
• “stars” = fate in literature (particularly Shakespeare etc.)
• “clockwork”
  [] clocks keep track of time - lives are timed and have an “expiration date” and could represent soldier wondering how much time he has to live and if he will survive the war
  [] clockwork is usually used to convey how smoothly and efficiently something runs; if fate runs like clockwork it is inevitable

Question 111

“running like a man who has jumped up in the dark and runs”

Answer 111

• metaphorical “dark”
  [] clueless to realities of war, relying on propaganda’s image of war
  [] ran out of fear of the realities when he first saw the actuality
• “jumped” = sudden
  [] no mention of the speaker having time to process the danger, simply having to act on instinct to survive
  [] mimics how many people react when first placed in war or a dangerous situation; constantly running on adrenaline etc.

Question 112

“listening between his footfalls for the reason of his still running”

Answer 112

• enjambment between “runs” and “listening” and “reason” and “of” mimics pause of soldier listening between his footsteps or perhaps taking a breath whilst running
  [] places reader deeper into the events of the poem, making more vivid imagery
• “listening” to the events of war around him trying to find a “reason” for it
  [] questioning reason for war again and desperately trying to justify it to himself to make it more bearable

Question 113

“threw up a yellow hare that rolled like a flame”

Answer 113

• “hare” died on battlefield
  [] hares symbolise luck - the fact that a hare has now died = soldier has run out pf luck; doomed
  [] hares also are notoriously fast - if dead, soldier can’t outrun his fate/death
• the hare is the only other living creature mentioned in the poem
  [] isolation of war
• the hare is an innocent animal dragged into the violence of the war
• “rolled”
  [] literally rolled perhaps, as its legs may have been injured by the gunfire
  [] could also be description of the smooth movement/spreading of fire - the fact that the hare now moves like the fire could be read as a metaphor for the hare being affected greatly by the fire and thus becoming it
• “flame”
  [] fire = destruction
  [] the hare being decsribed as a flame makes it seem like it is burning and dying because of the fire
  [] the fire could represent the violence of war, or the devastation caused to nature and the world by war
  [] the hare has been affected so much by the “fire” that it has become a physical representation of the devastation

Question 114

“crawled in a threshing circle… open silent, its eyes standing out”

Answer 114

• “crawled”
  [] slow movement; implies frailty or injury
  [] could also be read as harking to the image of an infant, connoting innocence
  [] innocent natural creature has been injured and killed by human violence, reminding that war and violence is NOT natural and is actively harming the surrounding environment
• “threshing circle” = where wheat is beaten against the ground to extract its seeds for food
  [] food = sustenance and life
  [] hare crawled to a place supposed to sustain life but still couldn’t be saved; emphasises how hostile the environment is, and how war takes safe places and makes them dangerous
• “open silent, its eyes standing out”
  [] expression is one of terror; the hare spent its last moments scared, alone etc.
  [] mimics the last moments of many soldiers on the battlefield and emphasises how futile war is in face of the death and fear it causes
  [] the hare may be a euphemism for human death
• “eyes standing out”
  [] eyes used to see; hare has seen horror of war and can’t close them
  [] literally can’t close because died, metaphorically can’t close because the realities of war are so shocking and poignant (perhaps a nod to PTSD, a chronic condition)
  [] parallel to soldiers
• “open silent”
  [] mouth open to scream/protest against the war
  [] silent because died before could
  [] parallel between veterans who otherwise might have advocated against war upon their return to save other people possibly under the influence of propaganda, but can’t because died

Question 115

“King, honour, human dignity, etcetera”

Answer 115

• things typically harped on in propaganda to brainwash people into war
• listing makes them seem insignificant
  [] demonstrates how Hughes believes these things to be meaningless and futile in comparison to one’s life and peace

Question 116

“Dropped like luxuries”

Answer 116

key values emphasised in propaganda described as “luxuries” - the ONLY relevant thing in war is staying alive, whilst these values are just a means for the government to manipulate patriots into fighting in the army

Question 117

“his terror’s touchy dynamite”

Answer 117

• soldier full of adrenaline and fear (“terror’s”)
• feeling for his dynamite or bayonet
  [] WEAPONS designed to kill
• could be read as the soldier being so dehumanised that he is now no more than a killing machine running off of instinct to survive
  [] shows the mental toll that war takes on soldiers, forcing them to kill out of self-preservation
• dehumanisation reminds of “lugged rifle like a smashed arm”, as the bayonet/weapon has become so integral to his survival and so heavily used by him that it is like his limb

Question 118

“Remains”

Answer 118

• “remains” means the only thing left of something; NOT whole original thing
  [] all that is left of soldiers after war is fear, guilt and the traumatic memories of war
  [] when going to war, soldiers lose a large part of themselves

Question 119

“we get sent out”

Answer 119

• colloquial phrasing, like speaker is talking to reader as friend
  [] emphasises soldiers need for company after returning - often feel alone in their experiences
  [] reminds of the camaraderie + brotherhood between soldiers talked about in war in propaganda
• collective pronoun “we” also does this
• us vs them rhetoric
  [] alienates “them” (the enemy) even though both sides are equally human
  [] nods to mindset of soldiers during war, who often dehumanise the enemy to make it easier to kill and survive instead of be killed
  [] could also nod to racial prejudice of white soldiers in Iraq (poem focuses on Battle of Basra)

Question 120

“tackle looters”

Answer 120

• “tackle”
  [] presents looters as just another inanimate problem, not human
• “looters”
  [] groups enemy together as one
  [] comment on how people see the enemy as a monolith in war; eg. if one person from the opposite side believes something, all people from the opposite side must also

Question 121

“one of them legs it up the road, probably armed, possibly not.”

Answer 121

• “them”
  [] us vs. them rhetoric of soldiers in war
  [] dehumanises the looters
• “legs it” vs. “we get sent out”
  [] tense changes from past to present
  [] could portray how PTSD can confuse reality for some people
  [] flashbacks w/PTSD
• “probably” vs “possibly”
  [] probably is more likely than possibly, so it makes sense for the soldiers to be on guard or assume that the looter is armed for their own safety (if assume he isn’t, then might get injured)
  [] despite this, the vagueness implies that there is still a chance of the looter being unarmed; if the soldiers killed him, would feel lasting guilt - PTSD
• caesura in “probably armed, possibly not” mimics the soldier pausing and debating whether the looter is armed or not

Question 122

“myself and somebody else and somebody else are all of the same mind”

Answer 122

• “somebody else and somebody else”
  [] indefinite pronoun used to refer to other soldiers
  [] could be read as soldier literally not remembering who else was there
  [] could also be read as soldier shifting blame so that he can’t be solely responsible for the looter’s death (often a coping mechanism used by people who struggle with intense trauma, esp. PTSD)
  [] could also be read as the soldier trying to protect whoever else was present by obscuring their identities (brotherhood in war, propaganda etc. - good comparison to cotlb)
• “all of the same mind”
  [] presents soldiers as a unit
  [] us vs them OR brotherhood in military
  [] could also be a comment on how the military trains people to think in the same way and in violent ways - brainwashing/mind control, criticism of violence being the first option
• “are”
  [] present tense is like Guardsman Troman is still experiencing it/re-experiencing the event (PTSD, the Not Dead)
• sibilance could portray the soldier’s disgust towards the situation despite trying to justify it to himself
  [] repression of own feelings to try and make self feel better - can use psychoanalytic theory here

Question 123

“letting fly”

Answer 123

• carelessness of soldiers
  [] no proper aiming of gun, don’t care if only hit him and hurt him many times before death
• acting on instinct, no proper plan
  [] criticism of military training
• “letting”
  [] removes any personal tone
  [] thus removes guilt from himself - self-comforting with PTSD
  [] passive voice, not active

Question 124

“I see every round as it rips through his life - I see broad daylight on the other side.”

Answer 124

• “round”
  [] literally bullets
  [] figuratively, could refer to the cyclical nature of the thoughts and flashbacks of someone with PTSD
• “it rips”
  [] violent, intentional
  [] the bullets themselves are referred to as “it”, making them seem less personified, but the verb is certainly personification; could perhaps suggest that the soldier himself feels as if he is entirely responsible for “ripping” through the looter’s life ?
• “round”/”rips”
  [] repeated “r” makes the line sound harsh and violent
• “other side”
  [] allusion to death
• “broad daylight”
  [] literally can see daylight as there is a hole in the looter’s body
  [] light = truth, innocence
  [] sees once looter is dead that he was innocent and unarmed
  [] feels guilty for killing the looter

Question 125

“sort of inside out”

Answer 125

• “sort of”
  [] hedging
  [] shows doubt of soldier - perhaps because he couldn’t stand to look at the dead looter for long enough to confirm exactly what he was seeing (felt too guilty)
• “inside out”
  [] euphemism to describe the gore of the scene takes away too much vividness
  [] could nod to soldier trying to suppress image in memory so PTSD isn’t triggered
  [] colloquialism also means that the sentence talking about the serious death of a person can be taken more lightly - soldier trying to comfort himself and remove intense guilt (PTSD)

Question 126

“tosses his guts… carted off”

Answer 126

• lack of respect or care for the looter
• undignified death of looter
  [] dehumanisation; “us vs them” rhetoric
• colloquial language removes guilt and sombreness
  [] self-comforting + repression

Question 127

“But I blink/and he bursts”

Answer 127

• enjambment mimics blinking and builds tension
• also mimics suddenness of the looter’s memory bursting through
• line starts with “and”
  [] there was no proper end to the conflict for the soldier; keeps going around and around in his head via flashbacks due to PTSD

Question 128

“Sleep, and he’s probably armed, possibly not. Dream,”

Answer 128

• “probably armed, possibly not”
  [] the incorrect decision that caused them to kill an innocent person
  [] the guilt makes him linger on that thought process, wondering what would have happened if he gave the looter the benefit of the doubt and didn’t shoot
• “sleep”/”dream”
  [] trying to escape the flashbacks and mental struggle by sleeping (repression) but the memory of the looter just resurfaces in his dreams anyway
  [] can apply psychoanalytic theory - because has repressed the memories, resurface as dreams, emotional outbursts etc.
  [] “sleep” is supposed to be restful and “dreams” are supposed to be nice, whilst nightmares are supposed to cause stress and terror, however the fact that the traumatic memories have infiltrated even peaceful things demonstrates how the soldier has no reprieve from his trauma and his decisions in war
  [] decisions in war follow for whole life and most of time is military training’s fault and kill or be killed mindset - criticism of war’s impact on the mental health of veterans and the lack of professional mental help available to veterans upon return from war
  [] the fact that he still describes the nightmares as “dreams” can imply that it has been so long since he has had a proper, peaceful dream that there is no difference between dreams and nightmares any more

Question 129

“the drink and the drugs won’t flush him out”

Answer 129

• alliteration could mimic how hard the soldier is trying over and over to relieve himself from the immense trauma of the situation and the constant flashbacks due to his PTSD
• hard “d” gives bitter or desperate, even angry tone (hard hitting sounds”
  [] could also hark back to the shuddering sound of a gun firing - PTSD, flashbacks
• “flush”
  [] you flush a toilet to get rid of your waste; dehumanises looter in desperate attempt to stop feeling guilty
  [] doesn’t care how immoral he seems for dehumanising looter anymore, just wants to be free
  [] flushing takes an immense amount of water, and so emphasises how heavily the soldier is relying on self-medication and substance abuse to give himself at least some short term relief from the memories
  [] however, like the water in a toilet bowl, the memories keep resurfacing after stops “flushing”/abusing substances
• “drink and the drugs”
  [] resorts to substance abuse
  [] criticism of the lack of mental help available to veterans struggling with PTSD and how this often leads to decline in their lives in general
  [] in “The Not Dead” documentary, Guardsman Troman explains how he was laughed at when he went to his military supervisor to ask if the army offered any counselling services to veterans; criticism of toxic masculinity in the army and how this shaming pushes many veterans to keep to themselves and not let anyone know they are struggling until it is too late and they commit suicide (suicide rates amongst veterans are very high)

Question 130

“his bloody life in my bloody hands”

Answer 130

• “bloody”
  [] common British swear word
  [] angry at himself for allowing the situation, cursing his hands which shot the gun in the first place and cursing the fact that he’s responsible for taking lives (criticism of the weight of the violence that the army thrusts upon people after brainwashing them into joining the army with propaganda and promises of brotherhood and glory)
  [] also literally bloody - looter’s body covered in blood once shot
  [] hands figuratively bloody, as the looter’s death is his fault and his blood is metaphorically on his hands
  [] literary allusion to Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”, who also appears to experience PTSD and has a mental breakdown at the end of the play where she cannot wash a spot of the blood of King Duncan (who she encouraged her husband to kill) off of her hand
  [] implies that the soldier feels as if he will never get rid of the guilt OR the memories of the dead looter

Question 131

“sun-stunned, sand-smothered”

Answer 131

• sibilance
  [] bitterness
  [] onomatopoeia of bullets whistling through air (PTSD)
  [] guilt

Question 132

“spasms of paper red”

Answer 132

• “red”
  [] colour imagery; passion, sacrifice, blood
• “paper”
  [] easily damaged; son’s life
  [] criticism of how so many lives can be ruined by the participation in war, criticism of propaganda also
  [] paper is what propaganda is written on
• “spasm”
  [] often referred to as quick, sharp pain
  [] also refers to muscles spasming - often happens when one is dying
  [] quick movement, jolting; implies that her son was taken away from her too soon
• plosives in “spasms” and “paper” make speaker sound bitter towards the poppy
  [] poppies are a symbol of remembrance for dead soldiers, but can be argued to be a method of glorification and even propaganda, which is responsible for the speaker’s attraction to joining the military and thus his death

Question 133

“a blockade of yellow bias binding around your blazer.”

Answer 133

• plosives = speaker bitter/angry at propaganda for brainwashing her son into joining the army
• “bias”
  [] in terms of clothing, means the straight line exactly between the horizontal and vertical grain of the fabric (often used for clothing because it has more stretch/give)
  [] can correlate to how propaganda usually targets young men who are more susceptible to the promises of glory and brotherhood as they often have no solid direction in life as of yet due to young age (eg. no family of their own, no long-term career they have built yet, etc.) and also due to the societal expectations of young men to “prove” their masculinity (danger of toxic masculinity to men’s mental health)
  [] use of fabric imagery and thus sensory imagery (touch) shows how vividly the speaker remembers her son and how strongly she wishes him to be alive again
  [] bias also means a one-sided view on a matter, influenced by one’s own opinion or outside influences - not true neutrality
  [] propaganda portrays ONLY glorious sides of war, not the true horrors and reality, thus more easily brainwashing/drawing people into the army
• “blockade”
  [] military terminology
  [] speaker feels as if propaganda changed her son’s personality and what he felt to be important; before, it was spending time with his mother, now it was appearing “mature” and like a “man” and thus was more reluctant to spend time with his mother in the same way as he did in his childhood
  [] thus speaker is being blocked from connecting with her son as a result of the propaganda
  [] also being literally blocked from him in death - cannot speak to him, see him, etc. anymore because he is dead
• “binding”
  [] constrictive
  [] propaganda and society constricts young men’s personalities and abilities to express affection for their loved ones without being ridiculed or called immature
  [] constricts length of lives, as draws into war (where many die, or come back as veterans with highly raised probabilities of suicide due to mental health issues such as PTSD)

Question 134

“Sellotape bandaged around my hand, rounded up as many white cat hairs”

Answer 134

• “sellotape”
  [] not the best sticking agent; even fondest expressions of care etc. from mother or any pleas she makes are not enough to convince her son not to go to war and to stay home and safe, compared with the arguable “super glue” of propaganda
  [] impractical as bandages; the comfort the mother tries to bring herself by caring tenderly for her son one last time before he goes to war will not last for a long time
• “bandaged”
  [] bandages used to help wounds whilst they heal; tries to comfort herself
  [] bandages cover wounds; mother trying to hide her hurt at her son leaving and put on a brave face for him so that he can go without feeling guilty that he left his mother at home, conforms to image of “military mother” advertised in propaganda, supporting their sons going off to war
  [] could also be read as mother wishing to be there for her son when he is hurt in war to help
• “rounded up”
  [] sounds like a term used in military training
  [] harsher connotation applied to innocence of cat hairs sounds like son’s innocence is being trapped and cornered and not let out so as to appear “manly
• “white”
  [] purity, innocence, childhood
• “cat hairs”
  [] wiping away cat hairs to make him look more presentable for war
  [] pet cat was probably a childhood cat - wiping away its hairs is like removing his childhood memories once and for all, detaching himself from his youth to go off to war and prove himself as a “man”

Question 135

“steeled the softening of my face”

Answer 135

• “steeled”
  [] to make hard - not giving way to tears
  [] steel is cold - emotionally cold
  [] wants to appear less caring or emotional so that her son can go to war without feeling guilty and also to conform to the image of a “military mother” encouraged in propaganda at the time (mothers encouraging and supporting sons who want to be soldiers)
• “softening”
  [] sensory imagery again shows how vivid the mother’s memories are of the occasion and draws reader deeper into emotions of poem and how deeply the loss of a family member in war is felt - criticism of the effects of propaganda
  [] refers to mother wanting to cry

Question 136

“play at being Eskimos… when you were little”

Answer 136

• remembering her son’s childhood fondly
• “play at being”
  [] make-believe; pretending to be something one is not
  [] could be a nod to propaganda encouraging all young men regardless of their actual sensibilities or prospects or cares in life to care about the same things (glory, masculinity etc.) for the purpose of societal acceptance
  [] the make-believe has turned from a game into a serious threat to one’s life

Question 137

“All my words, flattened, rolled

turned into felt/slowly melting.”

Answer 137

• enjambment mimics melting from one stanza to another, or possibly the mother’s words being stifled when “rolled” over
• “flattened”/”rolled”
  [] suppresses emotions and pushes them down so far and with so much pressure that they are flattened
  [] again conforming to image of “military mother”
• “felt”
  [] military jackets made out of felt
  [] all of the mother’s caring words and actions overpowered by the strength of the propaganda the son has taken in
  [] sensory imagery
• “slowly melting”
  [] mother’s facade of steel is incredibly hard to keep up and slowly melts away, revealing her true emotions once her son is gone
  [] heavy crying can be referred to as a “meltdown”, implying that the mother is crying extremely long hours or extremely hard at her son’s leaving and then death
  [] melting = ice -> water, cold (emotionless) to liquid (tears)
• PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY; repression until can’t hold it in anymore and emotion resurfaces as emotional outburst (crying heavily)

Question 138

“the world overflowing like a treasure chest”

Answer 138

• “treasure chest”
  [] world is precious
  [] wants son to be able to see the beauty of the world instead of travelling to kill and take part in violence
  [] OR son’s life is precious like the world, both of which are being destroyed by war
• “overflowing”
  [] world/life offers so many riches in terms of opportunities, natural beauty etc. that can’t even be contained within a full lifetime let alone one cut short, and son will never get to experience them as war has taken his life from him; criticism of war and violence cutting lives short

Question 139

“a single dove… it has led me, skirting the church yard walls”

Answer 139

• “single dove”
  [] peace, Holy Spirit
  [] “single” = only hope/peace left in her life is religion, if that
• “led me”
  [] dove led her to Church, implying that the speaker may be able to take comfort in religion and the knowledge that her son is in Heaven now instead of the hell of the warzone
• “skirting”
  [] scared to fully process that her son is truly gone despite it being necessary for her to heal, so is in a sense “skirting” around the issue
  [] dove didn’t lead her inside the church, just very near to it
  [] up to the speaker to take comfort in religion; not forced
  [] could also imply that the speaker had been religious before her son’s death and gave up on her faith after his death due to the immense grief she felt and the indignance that God would allow such innocent people to be killed and to allow war to take place, and now she is thinking of returning to religion but is scared to trust in God again after what has happened

Question 140

“my stomach busy making tucks, darts”

Answer 140

• feels sick
• “tucks, darts”
  [] mimics movement of birds; the dove has made her feel sick by leading her to the one place where she must confront the reality of her son being dead and not simply away from home anymore
  [] also could refer to fabric; sensory imagery

Question 141

“inscriptions”

Answer 141

son is just one of many inscribed names
[] speaker feels as if her son is truly lost to the world, as there is nothing physical to remember his personality or childhood innocence by but her own memories, which aren’t shared by anyone else - isolation caused by grief
[] reduced to nothing more than his name

Question 142

“the dove pulled freely against the sky, an ornamental stitch”

Answer 142

• oxymoron; son is “free” and at peace in death (when bodily cannot go anywhere or do anything and is confined in coffin) but not in life
  [] criticises backwardness of war and how it ruins lives, so much so that dying is viewed as better than living in a warzone/in a world with. so much propaganda
• “dove”
  [] Holy Spirit/God - son in Heaven
  [] symbol of peace
  [] white; innocent, like mother’s view of her son
• “pulled freely against the sky”
  [] in death feels free from societal constraints of what it means to “be a man” or to be “masculine” and from the brainwashing of propaganda, and can be free and fly whichever way he wishes, even if it is “against” what is expected of him
  [] criticism of how society treats young men and shapes them into people who are toxically masculine and repeat the cycle of harm over generations
  [] criticism of how propaganda traps young men in a warzone in horrors they were never informed about due to propaganda’s glorification of war and its bias towards war
• “ornamental stitch”
  [] ornament = decoration, beautiful; saying son’s freedom even if going “against” societal expectations is what makes him beautiful and what makes life beautiful
  [] criticism of societal restraints and propaganda
  [] sensory imagery with the stitching again
  [] ornamental stitches tend to be raised and tactile, easier to feel if running a finger over them - shows how the son’s memory is more palpable when he was free to be himself (as a child) and how one can feel life more when they are free
  [] feels memory of son very vividly still

Question 143

“In his darkroom he is finally alone”

Answer 143

• “darkroom”
  [] literally a room where photographers develop photos
  [] colour imagery: darkness connotes negativity, sadness, death, evil - all of which are the subjects of the war photographer’s photos
• “finally”
  [] photographer so constantly busy in his work and the chaos of war that he hasn’t had time to process ANYTHING
  [] thus detached from his work in the moment as isn’t processing, is just acting on instinct and routine
• “alone”
  [] time to think, process feelings and mourn the deaths in his photos despite not knowing the people personally
  [] silence is rare in war

Question 144

“spools of suffering set out in ordered rows”

Answer 144

• sibilance creates tone of bitterness
  [] war photographer realises how important his work is to stopping war etc. but hates the fact that his job exists in the first place as it revolves around suffering
• “spools”
  [] long wound-up reels of photos; emphasises how MUCH suffering there was to photograph and the extremity of human suffering in war
  [] length and circularness implies that the suffering is never-ending
• “ordered”
  [] war is inherently chaotic and so is human suffering, so seeing them ordered and neatly laid out in clear-cut images is eerie in a sense, or unnatural
  [] photographer trying to make sense of the chaos and horrific events
• “rows”
  [] like soldiers lining up in war

Question 145

“The only light is red and softly glows as though this were a church”

Answer 145

• “light is red”
  [] in a darkroom, the light must be red as natural light will ruin the photos and mess up how they develop
  [] colour imagery: “red” = evil, blood, suffering, agony etc.; the entire room is bathed in red
  [] the only colour that the photographer can see thus is red - can only see the amount of bloodshed, suffering and evil etc. when looks at the darkroom where he develops the war photos
• “softly glows”
  [] “softly” = gentle, soothing - opposite of what is felt by the photographer and makes his emotions seem more jarring/disturbing in the quiet and peace of the room itself
  [] “glows” = soft light, divinity, peace - biblical allusion to God and perhaps taking the gentle souls of the innocent into heaven

Question 146

“Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh.”

Answer 146

• caesura makes reader stop to process the significance of each place and how much blood was shed in war across these locations
  [] criticism of how widespread and normalised war and violence is
• “Phnom Penh”
  [] very famous photo of little girl called Kim Phan taken here during the Vietnam War, running naked because napalm had burned her clothes
  [] when published, caused global outrage at the war and sparked many protests in and outside of America, and contributed to the end of the chemical warfare of the US in Vietnam
  [] demonstrates the importance of war photographers in opposing violence by shocking people with the true horrors of war and dispelling the lies about war spread by propaganda

Question 147

“All flesh is grass.”

Answer 147

• biblical allusion to the Old Testament, where the transience of human life is emphasised
  [] power of nature in face of human power
• could be read as photographer taking comfort in his faith, believing that all the suffering people in his photos will have eternal life and peace in Heaven
• could also be read as the photographer criticising his faith’s flippancy and carelessness towards the value of human life even if it IS transient
  [] feels guilty that can do nothing more to help than photograph them

Question 148

“Solutions slop in trays”

Answer 148

• sibilance = bitter tone, disparaging towards the nature of his work
• “slop” = crude adjective; his work is crude and is the subjects of his photos treated by most as mere entertainment once his photos are published in papers etc.
• “solutions”
  [] solution literally = liquid used to develop photos
  [] figuratively, his photos ARE the solution to ending violence or at least rallying people to combat it, if they are taken seriously and not with detachment/taken lightly

Question 149

“his hands which did not tremble then though seem to now”

Answer 149

• “tremble” = fear, disturbance, intense emotion
  [] hands don’t tremble whilst taking his pictures on the battlefield as is desensitised to the violence treating it as just a job to get through the day - also because the chaos and disorder of war means that he has no time to process his emotions unlike when he is in the darkroom and alone with his thoughts

Question 150

“half-formed ghost.”

Answer 150

• caesura mimics the person’s life being cut short/stopped in its tracks
  [] could also mimic the photographer pausing to remember the man pictured in the photo
• “half-formed”
  [] picture is starting to develop
  [] black, white and grey first visible in developing photos, so man looks like a colourless ghost
  [] lack of colour = lack of life
  [] could also be half-formed due to how recent his death was; photographer still shocked from the constant death in war - never stops

Question 151

“blood stained into foreign dust”

Answer 151

• biblical allusion of all people returning “unto dust”
  [] again could be photographer either criticising or taking comfort in his religion’s notation of the transience of physical human life
• “foreign”
  [] foreign used as an insult here, perhaps representing how people in other countries like England don’t care/are indifferent to the suffering in war-torn countries as they view it as “foreign” and thus not their problem - people are detached from the world around them and thus no one is doing anything to help those suffering instead
  [] foreign = unknown, alien - people died without comfort of their own home and family near them
• “dust”
  [] insignificant - suffering of these people viewed as insignificant by others
  [] dirty - dirt is to be cleaned, and people tend to look away from violence so that they don’t have to disrupt their own luxurious and idyllic view of the world, thus wiping the images from their memories
  [] biblical allusion
• “stained”
  [] the blood and violence of the wars will never be erased from the memory of the earth and from human nature (if humans came from dust can be argued to be dust and so blood staining the dust means that human history is forever stained with its own violence against one another)

Question 152

“a hundred agonies in black and white… for Sunday’s supplement”

Answer 152

• “agonies”
  [] intense pain, very serious
• “supplement”
  [] small part of a newspaper - emphasises how little people in developed countries or people in peace-time countries seem to care about those suffering DESPITE IT BEING A HUGE ISSUE WITH A LOT OF GRAVITY
  [] supplement = replacement for food and thus proper nutrition; the images being placed in the supplement is a mere replacement and facade of actually caring about the war and violence in other countries
• “black and white”
  [] don’t portray full gore and violence of images in colour so as to keep readers’ mental peace
  [] shows sanitisation of serious media for the comfort of viewers and how this reduces likelihood to take action as it is viewed as less visceral and less serious - easier to ignore

Question 153

“prick with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers”

Answer 153

• “prick with tears”
  [] not even full tears - shows people to be dismissive and barely caring about the dire situation of war
  [] prick = tiny small bit of pain, so small that it feels like an instant of sharp pressure; shows how quickly any care for the people and suffering pictured dissipates
• “bath” = luxurious, a showing off of how much time one has on their hands to do a menial task such as cleaning themselves
• “pre-lunch beers”
  [] again, luxurious lifestyle
  [] detachment from suffering in other areas of the world and unwillingness to engage with the realities and horrors of war and to protest against them so as to not give up own luxuries; selfishness of humanity

Question 154

“where he earns his living and they do not care.”

Answer 154

• “earns his living”
  [] forced to see his job as merely a means of getting paid so he doesn’t become overwhelmed with indignancy about the fact that no one cares about the astute suffering he works so hard every day to capture in full
  [] juxtaposition of him “living” off of others’ death and suffering emphasises how disturbing and cruel the job of a war photographer can feel and the mental toll it can take if professionalism is not of paramount prioritisation
• “they do not care”
  [] detachment of humans towards the suffering of fellow humans
  [] criticism of how the media portrays war in other countries as separate from the lives of their own country’s people and not as a wholly human issue
  [] criticism of war in general
  [] criticism of people’s detachment to other humans’ suffering instead of being empathetic and wanting to do something to help - frustration with society’s normalisation of global violence and the subsequent ignorance of it

Question 155

“Paper that lets the light shine through… could alter things”

Answer 155

• “light” = goodness, the truth, allusion to God/religion
  [] information written on paper usually viewed as legitimate/more serious/truth than digital manuscripts etc.
  [] links to how morality, religion and search for (personal) truth are often the three main driving factors in life
• “shine through”
  [] paper is transparent; easy to see through
  [] light (truth) shining through the paper = paper reveals truth, or at least appears to
• “alter” = to change
  [] sounds like altar - gives religious significance to paper
  [] altars used to make sacrifices to deities - the words on the paper can be viewed as the sacrifices or devotions to God; Dharker/the speaker may feel that she writes as a way to connect with her religion
  [] subtly alludes to 9/11 altering many people’s ideas of safety, legal processes and safety measures in airports etc.
  [] religion alters one’s perspectives on moral matters + alters how one interacts with the world
  [] signifies influence + importance of paper used in holy books and legal documents that thus have the power to influence people’s behaviour and makes up a large portion of their identity
  [] links to Pakistan in 1950s still struggling to find national ideas about religion and its influence on politics as was very new country and much tension was present (Imtiaz Dharker born in Pakistan)

Question 156

“where a hand has written in the names and histories, who was born to whom.”

Answer 156

• “a hand”
  [] commentary on how one person only could change one’s whole sense of identity by asserting that their account of history is the “correct” one
  [] could also be commentary on how biased media/journalism can affect how whole populations of people being reported on are viewed internationally
• “names and histories, who was born to whom”
  [] alludes to family trees and ancestors giving sense of identity
  [] being descended from someone who has done impressive things or even horrible things can influence how one feels about themselves and how proud they feel about their own last name etc.

Question 157

“pages smoothed and stroked and turned transparent with attention.”

Answer 157

• alliteration draws attention to the line, mimicking how people pay attention to pieces of paper with information important to them
• sibilance may be onomatopoeic to the sound of paper being “stroked”
• “smoothed and stroked… attention”
  [] affection - treating paper almost like a pet or loved one; shows how crucial people view paper to be and how attached people may get to books whether they are holy books, books read for enjoyment etc. all of which may shape one’s outlook on life and thus identity
• ” turned transparent with attention”
  [] “transparent” = allows truth to shine through
  [] “attention” = has spent a long time focusing on paper and analysing the words on it, interpreting in different ways etc.
  [] shows how truth is subjective and how people can find truth in anything as long as they look at in the right way and for long enough
  [] comment on how even in science etc., if more people agree with an interpretation of something based on evidence on paper, it is regarded as “truer” (peer review)
  [] despite this, truth is entirely subjective and just because not many people subscribe to the same interpretations or conclusions from information, doesn’t mean is any less subjectively true

Question 158

“If buildings were paper, I might feel their drift… a shift in the direction of the wind.”

Answer 158

• “might feel their drift”
  [] would more easily understand why buildings made of paper would be unstable, but doesn’t understand how buildings made of brick and stable materials are so susceptible to damage
  [] paper is fragile in comparison and easily blows in the wind
• “direction of the wind”
  [] often used as a metaphor for a change in political beliefs or socio-political atmosphere of a country - again could link to instability in Pakistan in 1950s whilst national identity was still being solidified after the 1947 partition of India into Pakistan and India
  [] could also link to shift in developed world from focusing heavily on religion to becoming much more secular
• “buildings”
  [] can be literal buildings being damaged/drifting by virtue of terrorism (9/11), natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes
  [] can be figurative “buildings” or schools of thought - even institutions like the importance of organised religion, certain political beliefs of a country, foreign policies of countries, how groups of people (usually minorities etc.) are viewed and so on

Question 159

“Maps… sun shines through their borderlines”

Answer 159

• “maps” = visual representation of the world geographically
  [] if maps aren’t objectively truthful, changes how whole WORLD is viewed; eg. at a point, America on the world map was portrayed as much bigger than it actually is
  [] depict what land belongs to which country even if these are human societal constructs - makes up ethnicity and nationality which is a huge part of people’s identities
• “borderlines”
  [] conflict arises via disputes over land
  [] borders used to separate people - detachment from other people in different countries just because of made up lines on paper
  [] if you are even a couple centimetres either side of a country’s or place’s border, can completely change your identity as people view nationality and ethnicity as extremely informing of their personal identity, even down to which sports teams they support, where they say they’re from on legal documents, their culture etc.

Question 160

“marks that rivers make, roads, railtracks”

Answer 160

• landmarks that allow people to navigate the world more easily
  [] identity and categorising oneself in different ways is similar to these landmarks - having a solid sense of identity can make one feel more sure of themselves and more comfortable in their skin
• mix of man-made and natural landmarks could be read as a comment on how the natural state of a region can often be equally as important in its history, culture and significance (identity) as human history
• “marks”
  [] both natural and human activity creates lasting marks on the Earth - power of nature could coexist with power of humans if there is a balance
  [] also shows how human creation emulates nature, as roads and rail tracks often take the same winding patterns and bends as rivers do
  [] maps often depict these three landmarks also, showing that the visual representation of both nature and human creations are important in establishing identity etc. - may be a comment on how it is important to look at what feels right to oneself when exploring personal identity, as well as what rules of religion and society instruct one to do in order to be “moral” or “good”
• repeated harsh “r” sound could link to showing how deeply these “marks” run in national identity and the depiction of the world
• listing draws reader’s attention to just how many landmarks and important geographical features are detailed in a map
  [] may be an allegory for explaining just how deeply complex identity itself is - cannot be contained in only a few words but needs to be navigated and explored like a map of the world

Question 161

“might fly our lives like paper kites”

Answer 161

• talks about receipt paper
  [] wealth is monitored very precisely and meticulously in society and dictates a lot about how people view you and how you view yourself even if it is completely unfounded
  [] people are often labelled as dumb, lazy or immature if they are poorer and cannot afford certain luxuries idealised by modern society, whilst people who are rich are usually labelled as hard-working, smart, and so on, even if they are only rich by birth
• “fly our lives”
  [] money controls the direction and freedom one has in life; if you have a lot of money, you are very free and are able to do more in life, whereas being poorer grants you much less of those freedoms and ability to explore the world as you wish
  [] could also be read as having more money allows one more control over their own life, whilst being poorer traps one into certain paths just to make enough money to survive
• “paper kites”
  [] money is made of paper
  [] paper is fragile and easily blown away; shows how easily wealth can change and one can lose control of their own life

Question 162

“never wish to build again with brick”

Answer 162

• paper has the capacity to contain human imagination, entire fictional worlds, histories of entire civilisations etc. - you don’t need to do the work of building with brick to realise a structure if you have paper to write or draw on
  [] keeping ideas on paper is also much safer than executing them in reality, as nothing can go wrong - comment on how people often say they will do this and that to better themselves and advance their identity and self but often their ideas stay figuratively on paper
  [] people often grow attached to ideas on paper and are scared of executing them “wrong” and so never even try

Question 163

“capitals and monoliths, through the shapes that pride can make”

Answer 163

• “capitals”
  [] viewed as the most significant region of a country
  [] often the richest areas of countries, or at least the most economically developed
  [] demonstrates how paper can contain/be the “capital” in someone’s identity, thus marking out the most important parts
  [] shows paper to be strong in the ideological sense, but extremely easy to alter - the paper isn’t powerful, the words are (just like human identity)
• “monoliths”
  [] groups of people are often seen as monoliths (ie. as all having the same beliefs, actions, values, struggles, experiences etc.) by those who don’t take the time to learn properly about their identities and so their individual identities are often ignored or suppressed
  [] again comment on how journalism and societal stereotypes may influence views about people and thus contribute inadvertently to their identity - eg. “all transgender people are attention seekers”, or “all Muslims are terrorists” (link to 9/11 and sharp rise of Islamophobia and hate crimes towards Muslims afterwards)
• “the shapes that pride can make”
  [] people can be caused to have false grandiose impressions of themselves due to pride in a certain aspect of their identity which is idealised by society (for example, wealth or an “elite” job, which doesn’t actually make them better than anyone else in reality)
  [] this pride can also change how one acts - eg. if someone becomes famous, they may become more egotistical or arrogant than they were beforehand, giving them a different “shape” in terms of their personality

Question 164

“living tissue… never meant to last”

Answer 164

• tissue is the thinnest common form of paper and thus the most vulnerable
  [] human identity and flesh (also known biologically as tissue) being described as the most vulnerable to damage, warping or change in general emphasises the frailty of human identity and how tenuous it is, based in one’s own interpretations of words on paper and creation of personal truths instead of based solely in solid facts etc.
  [] also may convey how easily hurt someone may be if their identity is insulted or attacked in any way
• “never meant to last”
  [] human identity and life is transient and extremely easy to change
  [] may be biblical allusion, as the Bible continually stresses the transience of bodily life, eg. “all flesh is grass” and “ashes to ashes, dust to dust” - taking comfort in religion if identity changes suddenly (which is very stressful to most individuals, as the very rock they have centred their perspective of themselves and the world around has shifted)

Question 165

“turned into your skin.”

Answer 165

• the types of paper in the poem are intrinsically part of human identity by virtue of society essentially forcing them to be
• skin contains a person’s vital organs, skeleton, brain and thus one’s identity also
  [] if paper is your skin, then paper contains human identity
• “your”
  [] personal pronoun used to emphasise how the conflict that can arise from differing interpretations of “paper”
• IN TIMES OF CONFLICT, LIKE TISSUES AND MEANINGLESS PIECES OF PAPER, HUMAN LIVES ARE OFTEN DISCARDED (BLOODHSED ETC.)

Question 166

“There once was a country”

Answer 166

• opens like a fairy tale
  [] fairy tales are stories told to children often containing magic or fantasy - makes reader immediately distrustful of the validity and objective truth of the speaker’s view of their home country
  [] illustrates speaker’s childish outlook on life and their home country, tying in with the overall semantic field of childhood
• children often described as innocent, naïve, and not knowing what is “truly” important and thus being immature
  [] makes speaker’s attachment to home country seem childish in a derogatory sense
  [] though, this childishness makes sense, as they left their country as a child and so all their memories of the place are by default through the lens of a child’s mind

Question 167

“it seems I never saw it in November”

Answer 167

• “seems”
  [] speaker KNOWS they have definitely seen their home country in November, as they left as a child but still have memories of the country (which only begin developing properly around 3-5 years old), however it seems as if they have never seen it in November because of how solely positive their memories of the place are
  [] PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY; HINTS TO SPEAKER KNOWINGLY SUPPRESSING ANY DARKER OR MORE NEGATIVE MEMORIES
• “November” = cold month, days begin shortening noticeably and it gets darker much earlier in the day
  [] pathetic fallacy - cold = struggling, miserable etc.
  [] colour imagery - darkness = evil, misery etc.
  [] if speaker never saw their country in November, implies that all memories were in figurative summer months, and that all memories of their country are positive, happy and feel comforting due to the metaphorical warmth

Question 168

“The bright, filled paperweight”

Answer 168

• “bright” = semantic field of light
  [] light = beautiful, pure, prideful
  [] speaker is proud of their home country BECAUSE IT IS
  A CORE PART OF THEIR IDENTITY
• “filled”
  [] they’re filled with memories/pride from their country
• “paperweight”
  [] if their own view of their country is described as a paperweight, it is so heavy that it holds down and suppresses any negative views of their country (PSYCHOANALYTIC READING CAN BE APPLIED HERE)
  [] could also be read as the fact that paperweights keep paper stable and in place, so speaker feels as if their positive view of their home country is one of the only things keeping them mentally stable and grounded and able to function in daily life without being overwhelmed by the grief of leaving their country

Question 169

“may be at war, may be sick with tyrants”

Answer 169

• “may be” = speaker’s denial of the fact that their country is war-torn and under a dictatorship even though there is evidence through photographs and film and first hand accounts in the media that it IS that way
• “sick”
  [] country is personified
  [] demonstrates speaker’s care for their country, as often when a child or a loved one is sick, many people’s first instinct will be to take care of them whilst they recover
  [] could also be read as speaker feeling sick or nauseous when facing the possibility of their country being an unstable place torn by conflict, not the idyllic paradise they think of it as
  [] could ALSO be read as speaker feeling sick or nauseous or angry at the people causing conflict in their home country (the tyrants) and thus ruining the perfection they viewed the country with beforehand
• “tyrants” = dictators, run country how THEY want, not how country is in the speaker’s memory and so speaker feels bitter towards the tyrants

Question 170

“but I am branded by an impression of sunlight”

Answer 170

• “branded”
  [] to be branded is to have a symbol burned into one’s skin; usually used regarding farm animals and is a way for farmers to know which animals belong to them
  [] the speaker’s view of their country as “sunlight” and idyllic and their close emotional attachment to their country has “branded” them as belonging to the country
  [] painful; speaker is holding on so tightly to their original view of the country that it begins to hurt them
  [] PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY; is trying so hard to repress any negative attitudes towards their country but there is so much evidence of their view being wrong that it gets harder and harder and the repression threatens to slip and explode as emotional outbursts etc. - repressing too much can damage oneself
• “impression”
  [] not actually there, just seems to be - demonstrates that the speaker’s positive view of their country is heavily biased
• “sunlight”
  [] semantic field of light
  [] sees country as idyllic, beautiful, so much so that their devotion to it seems religious (God as light of the world etc.)

Question 171

“tanks and the frontiers rise between us, close like waves”

Answer 171

• “tanks”/”frontiers”
  [] war -> speaker KNOWS about the war in their country despite denying it, and so this resurfaces in Freudian slips
• “us”
  [] thinks of country as a person
• “frontiers”
  [] borders between countries seen as warzones separating the speaker from their home country
  [] may be a comment on how placement of borders can cause conflict over land etc.
  [] also may be a criticism of how people tend to be detached or dismissive of violence in other countries - speaker cares about the violence in their home country though, so may feel as if they are on the wrong side of the frontier
• “waves”
  [] Biblical allusion to Moses and the Parting of the Red Sea
  [] sees themselves and their country’s people as the Israelites running from the control of the Romans/the “tyrants”
  [] Jewish people described as God’s “chosen people” in the Tenakh - speaker sees her country and its people as perfect and holy

Question 172

“child’s vocabulary… hollow doll”

Answer 172

• “child’s vocabulary” - speaker knows that their view of their country is childish, immature and not fully representative of the true nature of their country now
• “hollow”
  [] no substance; speaker knows that their view of their country is unrealistic and has no real-world meaning
  [] could also be read as the speaker feeling hollow when they finally confront the fact that their country isn’t the idyllic place they grew up believing it to be
• “doll”
  [] children’s toy - often can pose and act out imaginary stories with them - if speaker’s memory of their country is like a doll, it is mostly imaginary and a work of fiction and suppression of negative aspects of their country
  [] children often bring dolls on holiday or to unfamiliar places for comfort - the speaker’s memories of their home country are like a doll in this way when they emigrated
  [] dolls often taken care of by children - hair being brushed etc. - demonstrates speaker’s affection towards their home country

Question 173

“It may by now be a lie, banned by the state… it tastes of sunlight”

Answer 173

• “lie”
  [] viewed as immoral, wrong, untruthful
  [] ironic; speaker could be said to be “lying” about the state of their country by their constant refusal to acknowledge the suffering taking place there
  [] people are often punished for lying - speaker’s native tongue outlawed in their home country and anyone who spoke it would be punished
  [] could compare with Tissue, as Pakistan in the 1950s had many struggles in establishing a national language, as most of the Western side of Pakistan spoke Urdu, whilst the Eastern side spoke what is now known as Bengali, as well as some other languages prevalent in India
• “banned by the state”
  [] original tongue and thus identity outlawed, banned
• “tastes of sunlight”
  [] semantic field of sunlight (purity, goodness, warmth) combined with synaesthesia = speaker’s biased memories of their home country are still so potent that they feel physical

Question 174

“dancing through the city walls”

Answer 174

• “dancing” = freedom, carefree
• “walls” = prison, constriction
• speaker has trapped themselves in their own idealistic view of their home country and cannot escape without immense pain

Question 175

“being dark in their free city”

Answer 175

• juxtaposition between darkness (evil) and light (goodness)
  [] demonstrates disconnect between speaker’s own view of their home country and others’ view of their home country and thus the speaker themselves since ethnicity is a core part of identity
• “their”
  [] us vs them rhetoric - speaker so heavily identifies with their home country that they have stopped themselves from assimilating into their new country and view the people in the new country as alien to themselves in comparison to people in their home country

Question 176

“Dem tell me dem tell me wha dem want to tell me”

Answer 176

• repetition = speaker is tired of only hearing eurocentric history and views/perspectives on the world
• “wha dem want to tell me”
  [] white supremacy controls curriculum
  [] speaker’s range of knowledge is controlled by what the eurocentric curriculum devised by the government teaches him
  [] thus, knows very little about black history and the history of his own people
  [] brainwashing and erasure of black culture to remove black empowerment and allow institutional racism to run unchecked and unprotested
• “dem”/”wha”
  [] examples of Creole - poem written in Creole so that poet Agard (from Guyana) can celebrate his own dialect and thus indirectly other black dialects instead of adhering to British grammatical rules and thus white ideas of what is “proper”

Question 177

“Bandage up me eye… blind me to me own identity”

Answer 177

• plosives create bitter, angry tone towards racist educational system and the fact that he knows so little about his own heritage
• “bandage”
  [] bandages are supposed to cover wounds so they heal
  [] Agard’s black identity is seen by white supremacists and white society as a weakness and not a strength, and so help it “heal” by erasing his black identity further and making him versed in eurocentric history instead
  [] under guise of helping black people overcome a flaw, racists and institutional racism in Britain’s educational system cover up black history - the irony of using something meant to help to harm makes the sentiment more potent
• “blind”
  [] unable to see own history - has no sense of own black identity because of the erasure in the educational system
  [] could also be read as speaker being unable to see his black identity as anything but a weakness due to the conditioning of society to see it that way - has to work to undo this conditioning and begin to feel empowerment in being black again

Question 178

“a slave with vision”

Answer 178

• “vision”
  [] usually white people are described as visionaries, specifically religious leaders
  [] subverts expectations of white supremacists by dismissing eurocentric historical figures and praising black historical figures, thus reversing what racists in the educational system often do
• “slave”
  [] Britain’s history in the slave trade is often ignored due to it being an uncomfortable topic unpalatable to white supremacists, but by directly naming a black historical figure who was a slave, faces the issue head on
  [] makes it clear that he is sick of making his black identity palatable to white people unwilling to engage with ideas about black empowerment

Question 179

“the man who discover de balloon/and de cow who jump over de moon”

Answer 179

• AABB rhyme scheme is like a nursery rhyme and makes eurocentric history seem dismissed, putting white attitudes towards black history on white history
• references nursery rhyme
  [] white supremacists and proponents of institutional racism would rather teach meaningless nursery rhymes than black history
  [] as well as dismissal, reminds that black children are deprived of their own history and identity from the very second they set foot in an educational institution that only teaches eurocentric history or even mostly teaches eurocentric history
• “discover” = to find something that already existed but was hidden/hard to find
  [] makes sound like speaker is mocking white inventors, as white explorers often are described to have “discovered” non-white cultures even though they existed and were not hidden or elusive just in different places to Europe

Question 180

“mountain dream fire-woman struggle”

Answer 180

• “mountain”/”fire”
  [] symbols of natural power - black power is natural, not a new thing as racists may try to claim in order to oppose black empowerment
  [] symbols of God’s presence in the Bible, so may reference how white colonists and missionaries in Africa erased many black pagan religions, not just made them fall into disuse but FORCED their ERASURE and thus identity of many people
• “dream”
  [] may reference Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech where he talks about hoping that one day black and white people will live in perfect equality
  [] Nanny de Maroon had dreamed of a future in which black and white people were equal and worked towards it by leading slaves to freedom
• stanza uses vague language to emphasise the fact that very little is known about Nanny de Maroon due to eurocentrism in history

Question 181

“but” x3

Answer 181

repetition of but at the start of the lines emphasises how much black history isn’t taught to people in comparison to the amount of white and eurocentric history taught

Question 182

“even when de British said no… healing star… yellow sunrise to the dying”

Answer 182

• “said no”
  [] portrays British as controlling, domineering etc. (like how british education system controls black history and knowledge)
• “star”
  [] stars = fate
  [] if the star is healing, the fate of black people is healing the relationship between white and black people and thus gaining more equality
• “sunrise”
  [] new beginnings - no new beginning for the dead on Earth but in the afterlife
  [] new beginnings for interracial relationships = way forward to black empowerment and equality

Question 183

“now I checking out me own history I carving out me identity”

Answer 183

• “carving” = hard as it is hard to undo the many decades of social conditioning and institutional racism of the British educational system
  [] despite this, carvings are often art - black empowerment is beautiful
• “checking out” = to inform oneself
  [] informal language reflects how poet speaks and challenges expectations of using “proper English”
  [] has to inform himself because wasn’t taught his own history

Question 184

“sunrise”

Question 185

“shaven head”

Question 186

“one-way journey into history”

Question 187

“but”

Question 188

“Her father”

Question 189

“strung out like bunting on a green-blue translucent sea”

Question 190

“arcing in swathes like a huge flag… in a figure of eight”

Question 191

“dark shoals of fishes flashing silver as their bellies swivelled towards the sun”

Question 192

“their father’s boat safe - yes, grandfather’s boat - safe”

Question 193

“cloud-marked mackerel, black crabs, feathery prawns, the loose silver of whitebait”

Question 194

“nor did she meet his eyes and the neighbours too”

Question 195

“only we children still chattered and laughed/till gradually we too learned… to live as though he had never returned”

Question 196

“he must have wondered which had been the better way to die.”