Post 2000s poetry Flashcards
What is the poem ‘Eat me’ - Patience Agbabi entered around?
Eat me is a dramatic monologue with a confessional tone focused upon the Idea of a ‘feeder’ role within a relationship.The titles relatively ambiguous at first, but offers a variety of interpretations.
- It is typically stylised in capital letters, which can be seen as signifying the growth of the woman throughout the poem as a result of the constant feeding.
- While there can be a physical interpretation, there is also the notable metaphysical interpretation with the idea that the man is mentally devouring her spirituality.
- It is also interesting to consider the way that the narrator could be seen as encouraging this behaviour with the use of “me”. Can also be seen as sexually and pycscialist and the different forms of abuse. The interest + toxicity within her submissive nature + a willingness which makes the control worse + the layers of consent are precisely what the poem explores + questions
Explain how Patience Agbabi structures ‘Eat me’
Eat me contains an unusual structure of tercet stanzas and a notable semantic field.
The very rigid form of the poem helps to represent the strict regime imposed by the feeder, and how it has become commonplace. There are a total of ten tercet stanzas, which adds to the overall regimented mood.
There is assonance between the final words on the first and third lines of each stanza, such as “cake” and “weight”, with an alternative form of assonance in each line which breaks from the traditional idea of using rhyme.
Interesting is the use of consonance on each corresponding line, for example the first line of each stanza has the “k” sound “d” on the second and “t” on the third
The only point in which this is broken in the poem is at the end of stanza six, but even this is largely negated by the fact that the next word is “too” so therefore continues the overall consonance. These strong sounds once again evoke ideas of force and control, showing
State the key poetic devices Patience Agbabi utilises within ‘Eat me’
- Possessive language + Imperative verbs
- Exaggeration used for effect
- Synonyms + physical thinks symbolised to represent her emotions
- Metaphors
- Comparative adjectives
- Repetition
- Dramatic irony
What is the poem History - John Burnside entered around?
History’ is a striking poem which considers the significance of historical events, particularly the World Trade Centre attacks in September 2001.
Burnside is a Scottish poet, born in 1955 + the motivation for writing is the “rhythm of the world” around him, which he sees as the essence of writing. The titles an ordinary word, and as such is open to a variety of interpretation, failing to give much indication of the meaning behind the poem. Burnside reflects on the historical significance of that day. This unlocks the initial overarching meaning of the poem, however it is important to note that there is a range of deeper ideas.
How does John Burnside structure ‘Histroy’
Theres a highly irregular structure throughout the poem
- Free verse being used to its full effect with no particular consistency in stanza or line length whatsoever which is effective as it helps to convey the confusion + strong changes in emotions that could be felt by hearing news ie how thought process becomes erratic as they attempt to process the information. It could also be interpreted as being a visual representation of the destroyed and damaged twin towers, or as a broader representation of confusion and shock within society.
- Occasional stanzas which seem more deliberate and structured, showing small sections of collected thoughts and helping to convey important meanings and points from the poem, such as the links people share in society described in the line beginning “At times I think”.
- Poems structure causes it to feel dominated by vague ideas which show the confusion and uncertainty felt by the narrator. The mix of condensed and fragmented stanzas could be interpreted as showing the way in which different elements and parts of society could be seen to have disintegrated and been damaged over time, as a result of the gradual loss of collective memory of important past events.
- Loss and confusion is further emphasised by the unfinished feeling that many lines have as a result of enjambment, with multiple lines flowing over each other. This helps to encourage a strong feeling of uncertainty because a reader is never sure as to when a line will end or pause,which could help with slowing the poem
State the key poetic devices Burnside utilises in ‘History’
- Anaphora
- Juxtaposition of ideas
- Semantic Field
- Alliteration + Consonance
- Metaphors
- Philosophical language
What is the poem An Easy Passage - Julia Copus entered around?
An allegorical poem that looks at the future of two girls who were on the cusp of adulthood.
The poem begins with the speaker describing the past actions of a young girl in a bathing suit on the porch roof of a house. She was climbing up the house and the speaker is now able to feel and relay what the girl felt then. There was the warmth of the sun and the strain as she tried to reach up towards a window.
The title itself alludes to many passages - It can be interpreted as a safe passage or the right passage which are commonly associated with the idea of maturing + transitioning. Readers possess a general attitude towards the poem before understanding it however ‘easy’ can be deliberately misleading.
How does Julia Copus structure ‘An Easy Passage’
The lines do not have a specific pattern of rhyme, nor is there a metrical pattern.
The poem is written in free verse. The lines follow one another quite quickly in what is almost a stream of consciousness style.
- This makes it seem as if they are building up towards something while navigating through all the emotional and physical barriers the young female characters face.
There are many hyphens, commas and semi colons used
- This is to be expected for the longer sentences, as many of these examples could be seen as replacing full stops and full caesura so as to not break the continuous feel of the poem.
- While there is not one specific pattern of rhyme there are moments in which rhyme occurs at the end of, within the lines themselves. For instance, in lines seventeen and nineteen the words “know” and “grow” rhyme. This helps to create a feeling of unity, and increase the lyrical nature of some passages. It feels as though these “coincidental” rhymes occurred naturally, but that is probably not the case.
State the key poetic devices Corpus utilises within ‘An Easy Passage’
The way that the poem begins with the conjunction ‘once’ implies that there is a story that comes before this narrative, but the reader just has to assume what the story was. The use of the possessive pronoun ‘she’ does not definitely tell us that she is a young girl, but the use of the attributed adjective ‘halfway’ represents that she is ‘halfway’ between childhood and adulthood.
- Allegory
- Enjambment
- Symbolism
- Imadry
- Semantic field
What is the poem The Lammas Hireling - Ian Duhi entered around?
Its a dramatic monologue allegorically telling the story of a farmer who hires a young hireling.
The title relates to an old harvest festival, traditionally on August 1st. This would be the day in which farmers went to their local town or village to hire farm hands to help bring in the harvest, which at this point would be reaching peak output.
By focussing on a single unnamed individual, it would immediately bring a sense of intrigue and mystery to the poem, and indicate that the subject matter is specific to one person rather than to anything else. The hireling proves uncannily good + sudden tone shifts throughout creating tension + a sense of supernatural presence.
How does Ian Duhi structure ‘The Lammas Hireling’
There are four stanzas in total in the poem, each made up of six lines.
Enjambment occurs between all of the stanzas to create the effect of ongoing quick and frantic speech, with little opportunity to pause for reflection on what has been said.
There is a wide mix of different sentence lengths throughout ‘The Lammas Hireling’, varying from several lines to only one line or less. Again, this helps to encourage the feeling of confusion and make a reader see the narrator as erratic.-
By ending the poem on one final line a contrast is shown in comparison to the preceding lines because it feels much more rigid in structure. This can be seen as reflecting the idea of conforming to the ideas of church and religion, which are shared through this idea of “confession”.
State the key poetic devices Duhi utilises within ‘The Lammas Hireling’
- Metaphor
- Semantic field
- Allusion
- Symbolism
- Oxymorons
- Juxtaposition
- Personification
What is the poem The Gun - Vicki Feaver entered around?
The ominous title would likely make a reader feel somewhat apprehensive for what may be described in the poem.
A “gun” has strong negative connotations associated with it, including violence and death, and the use of “the” gives additional emphasis to the object, indicating that it will be integral to events.
The poem’s speaker is at first wary when her partner brings a hunting rifle home, believing that its ominous, dangerous presence “changes” the house but soon gets used to the gun, she revels in the new energy it gives her and her partner.
As the pair shoot and eat animals, they experience the intoxicating allure of power: the gun has given them a gleeful mastery over death. The speaker doesn’t just get used to the power that the gun symbolises, but begins to revel in it.
Cooking the animals her partner kills, the speaker experiences a primal delight, as if the gun has given her and her partner command over the natural world. Her newfound enjoyment of power, it seems, has done away with her aversion to death and violence.
How does Feaver structure ‘The Gun’
The poem is divided into stanzas of varying lengths. They range from one line up to six or seven. It is clear from the start that the shorter stanzas and the single lines are meant to catch a reader’s attention.
- Many Poems of the Decade focus on a first person narrative, but ‘The Gun’ breaks this pattern with a much stronger use of “you” with their own inclusion only in the very last stanza. This is very effective at making a reader feel part of these events, which could easily evoke guilt. However, the persistent use throughout the poem accompanied by positive descriptions such as “your eyes gleam” could in fact begin to make a reader feel a sense of enjoyment and satisfaction.
The first two lines bring attention to what a gun can do to a household. The phrase cuts off unnaturally, after “house.” and the utilisation of enjambment forces a reader down to the next line, prolonging the conclusion and emphasising the final two words, “changes it.”
- Punctuation also has an important role to play in the poem, because this helps to shape the rhythm and can be interpreted as creating the sound of shooting and bullets, or alternatively the abrupt changes in situations as a result of using gu
- The use of colons, such as “the cooking: jointing” in the final stanza, acts as a strong caesura and ‘jars’ the poem’s flow and rhythm, which could be interpreted as showing the unnatural impact that guns and killing has on the world.
- The semantic field of death and guns works simultaneously with specific sounds to help reinforce the destructive imagery and highlight the power of guns.
State the key poetic devices Feaver utilises in ‘The Gun’
- Synonyms
- Caesura + Enjambment
- Rhythm + disrupted rhythm
- Breaking of 1st person narrative
- Positive + negative connotations + language.
