Power and Conflict Flashcards
Kamikaze
Form:
Divided into sestets (6 line stanzas) which can be grouped in two
The first 4 describe the story of her father mission , Final 2 explore his return
compresses years after his return to be far shorter than his flight that wouldve been minutes/hours
Metre:
Initially the poem is free verse to allow it to unfold quickly mimicking flight
The end is in iambs reinstates a steady melancholic tone, mirrors a elegy
Garland immerses herself in others perspectives “I spend a lot of the day listening to other peoples words”
Japan’s military attitudes were founded on codes of honour and self sacrifice , Typically kamikaze pilots were volunteers which conveys how firmly people believed in these propagandic values enough to sacrifice their own lives
Noun “Father”: imbues the poem with a sense of intimacy. Garland’s ability to see the person beneath the facade of a soldier suggests that she is questioning the ethics of patriotism and how it disregards identity
Juxtaposes military role as a “kamikaze pilot” : military expectations corrupt familila life and strip a person of agency, disparity between asigned role with title of “kamikaze” and his personal role “her father”
“Full of Powerful Incantations”
Image on “incantations” suggests how pilot was under an indoctrinating propaganda spell. It portrays the influence of propaganda as hypnotic and bewitching. This is contextually important japanese soliders were taught that self - sacrifice was the only means by which they could win the war
Irony on “powerful”: the use of power is bitterly ironic as the pilot is powerless to the propaganda enforced upon him and his dehumanisation and marginalisation when he goes back home
London
Form:
Quatrains paired with regular ABAB rhyme to emulate the mass oppression and restriction the lower classes were subject to
Iambic tetrameter:
The consistent iambic tetrameter heightens the motif of oppression that permeates the poem; no freedom to escape this control
Blake provides glimmer of home when he breaks iambic tetrameter “marks of weakness, mark of woe” implying hope to break free. If London united against establishments (revolution)
Blake was a Romantic Poet - believed nature was awe - inspiring. He was a anti establishment (Church, Gov)
2 Poetry collections: “songs of innocence” and “songs of experience” - this is “songs of experience” - laments loss of innocence in the face of corruption
“Mind forged manacles”
Semantic field of oppression: their oppression is so deep it has formed these “manacles” around individuals minds , thus they are confined to the misery that the authorities have imprisoned them too
Symbolism: Manacles” are made of metal bands intertwined together mimicking how the people in London are inextricably intertwined with their misery and oppression - the “manacles” are inescapable as they are “mind forged” making them impossible to physically escape
“In every infant’s cry of fear”
Anaphora: mimics the cyclical and sempiternal torturing the citizens in London are subject to in every crevice of London there is mass suffering the “infants not being exempt from this
Oxymoron: “infant” and “fear”. These Juxtaposing images shows how the innocence of youth has been corrupted and stolen as they have already been tainted by this exploitative setting
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Ozymandias
Form:
Mix of petrachan and Shakespearean Sonnet
Mirros Ozymandias’ love and obession he had with himself due to his hubris
ALT Ridicules the lack of love Ozymandias’ people had for him due to his tyrannical and callous rule
Iambic Pentameter:
It is used as a motif of control Iambic Pentameter is used throughout the poem in order to demonstrate the frightful regularity of the oppression by those in power on those they rule
It’s used so regularly may also suggest that there is no way to break free they are constrained by the oppressive tyrant that rules them
Shelley was a Romantic Poet - believed in power of nature + Spiritual connection to it
Anti Monarchy + Pacifist
“Half sunk, a shattered visage lies”
Irony: of the kings hubris and vanity in his appearance and “visage” leading him to commission a statue that, instead of reflecting his desired image, embodies his cruelty and indifference
Diction on “shattered”: Now, only fragments of the shattered statue remain symbolising the collapse and decay of tyrannical authority
“Lone and level sands” “Nothing beside remains”
**Alliteration: **emphasises the vast and mighty extent of nature. Whereas the human sees his power eroded and chipped away by time, nature enjoys transcendent power, serbing only to show the futility of human power
Metaphor: of the passage of time. The statue becoems engulfed by desert sands. it parallels Ozymandias’ memory being gradually obscured by the relentless march of time
Checking out me history
Form:
Written in free verse, use of rhyming quatrains
Could be a metaphorical act of breaking free from Euripean convention as he abandoned poetic tradition to give voice to the past that is oppressed by this very tradition
Rhyming Quatrains
Each reference to black history comes at the end of each stanza perhaps critiquing how white history was prioritised
However, by it being the final image of the stanza it remains more pertinent in the reader’s mind, So Agard is now giving them the acknowledgement they deserve
Growing up in British Guyana, John Agard received a British Education
After living in Britain for 30 years and seeing the flawed and oppressive education system COMH was published in a collection named “Half Caste- and other poems” which explored the issues of race and identity
“I carving out me identity”
Personal Pronoun: he is taking personal charge over his identity, a power denied to him through the systematic exclusion of black history. This omission perpetuated a cycle where his identity was constantly stifled
Colloquialism: celebrates his regional dialect and refusal to conform to the lexis of those who educated him - clear deliberate act of defiance against literary norms
“Mary seacole” “fire - woman struggle” “a healing star”
Motif of Light: Agard pairs a motif of light with black historical figures
“star”: quintessentially provides a source of direction, it also characterises someone with a divine quality. This could be emblematic of how these historical figures carved out passage to freedom and illuminated a route out of colonialism
Exposure
Form:
“knife us” “nervous” Half Rhymes evoke a sense of unease and dissatisfaction
in the reader, as they anticipation of conflict, their minds unsettled by the nervous tension of awaiting battle
Cyclical Structure
“But nothing happens” used to frame the poem as well as being interspersed throughout
Shows the continuous vicious cycle of war and suffering as well as highlighting that there is no true end to the soldiers plight
Owen wrote the poem while in the trenches in 1917 - he wrote poetry to express the horrors of war opposed to internalising it
inspired by writers like siegfried Sasoon who critiqued partriotism and jingoistic attitudes
“Dawn massing in the East her melancholy army”
**Personification **: “dawn” being a belligerent (aggressive) and systemic violent army juxtaposes traditional views of Mother Nature as nuturing
Ironic: “dawn” typically heralded as a symbol of renewal, offers no such promise their future appears as bleak and unyielding as the predawn darkness they emerge from
“We turn back to our dying” “for love of God seems dying”
Semantic field of death and decay:
Despite the semantic field, fear is notably absent replaced instead by a sense of grim defeat - the soliders have learned to accept the inevitability of death. having constantly waiting for it
Disillusionment: They have become disillusioned with the idea of religion due to being subject to such dehumanising conditions. The previous indoctrination and jingoism of sacrifice for your country and God seems meaningless in such conditions
