Power and Conflict Poetry Quotes Flashcards
Ozymandias: the hubris and narcissism of a tyrant with ‘wrinkled’ and ‘sneer’
‘wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command’
Ozymandias: talking about his name
“‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings”
Ozymandias: power of humans decays over time and is forgotten
“Half sunk, a shattered visage lies”
London: chains shows society is trapped to oppression
“The mind-forged manacles”
London: is in a bad state with religious connotations and colour symbolism of sin and the industrail revolution with soot and how London is becoming unclean and unholy
“Every black’ning church appalls”
London: Oxymoron tells us life span is short for the poor showing an unfair society and ‘plagues’ shows how it is running through the whole of London like a curse
“And blights with plagues the marriage hearse”
The Prelude: slight nod perhaps to a first sexual experience showing naivety and innocence in nature
“I dipped my oars into the silent lake”
The Prelude: Oxymoron shows mixed emotions showing he enjoyed it but knows what he has done is wrong, perhaps further implying a first sexual experience. Act of boldness as he knows its wrong but he does it anyway
“It was an act of stealth/And troubled pleasure”
The Prelude: Power of nature over human power, innocence and naivety of humans towards nature, quote referring to the mountain. Shift in tone (volta) as he starts to become frightened
“a huge peak, black and huge”
The Prelude: signifies the speaker’s return to the familiar, but now with a sense of fear and humility after realizing the power of nature, contrasting his initial boldness
“And through the silent water stole my way/Back to the covert of the willow tree”
MLD: Fragility of human power as the duke becomes paranoid that the duchess cheats on him so it is implied he gets her killed. Dukes jealousy and fragile ego. He expects to be her entire life
“called that spot/Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek”
MLD: Power over people as he compares himself to a god and references taming women like a ‘sea-horse’. Wants to control others
“Notice Neptune, though,/Taming a sea-horse”
MLD: Power of the material (human construct) semantic field of control in ‘my’ and treating women as if she was only a possession
“That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,/Looking as if she were alive”
The Charge of the Light Brigade: religious imagery and repetition foreshadows and emphasises the large amount of lives lost and their heavy mistake
“Into the valley of Death”
Charge of the Light Brigade: repetition emphasises fast pace and how they are surrounded and the how far they have gone and the struggle they had to ensue
“Cannon to right of them,/Cannon to left of them,/Cannon behind them”
Charge of the Light Brigade: Imperative closes poem which glorifies the soldiers and the repetition of ‘Honour’ glorifies war and is perhaps a means of propoganda to fight for your country. Rhyming couplet emphasises worthiness of respect and pride
“Honour the charge they made!/Honour the Light Brigade,/Noble six hundred!”
Exposure: nature is personified creating fear and sinisterity and showing the power of nature and futility of war
“the merciless iced east winds that knive us”
Exposure: optography eyes record the last image before death showing they are close to death. Branded by the trauma of war so horrowed and haunted forever. Trauma corrodes their minds.
“all their eyes are ice”
Exposure: Repetition shows pessimism as they wait for the worst and perhaps want to die
“But nothing happens”
Storm of the Island: Plosive language reveals a tone of violence and aggression towards the power of nature as it attacks the island
“when it blows full”
Storm on the Island: Believed they tamed nature but they were mistaken as nature is always more powerful. Enjambment shows how they are constantly bombarded by information revaling how nature never ceases
“spits like a tame cat/Turned savage”
Storm on the Island: tonal shift (volta) to fear from optimism showing how they realise the power of nature and how it never ceases
“we are prepared”
To
“we are bombarded by the empty air”
Bayonet Charge: Repetition shows a sens of desperation and ‘raw’ shows the lack of humanity in war. Enjambment further shows this desperation and the fast pace of the poem
“raw/In raw”
Bayonet Charge: Metaphor shows the tense and violent atmosphere which is almost choking as the soldier is out of breath and winded
“Bullets smacking the belly out of the air”
