Power and Conflict Vocabulary- Year 11 Power Poems Flashcards
Tier 3
Context
Descriptions of events, people and background information that offers the reader a clearer understanding of what is happening in the narrative.
When reading the poem ‘The Prelude’, it is important to understand the context of Romanticism.
Tier 2
Ideal
A standard or principle to aim towards.
The Romantic ideal of nature is prevalent in Wordsworth’s poetry.
Tier 2
Hubris
Excessive pride or self-confidence.
The statue in ‘Ozymandias’ could be seen as a metaphor for the pride and hubris of humanity.
Tier 2
Perspective
A particular attitude or way of regarding something; a point of view.
In ‘My Last Duchess’, the Duke’s perspective towards women highlights his narcissism.
Tier 2
Landscape
The setting, often used to describe natural or countryside environments.
The landscape of ‘Storm on the Island’ is bleak and barren.
Tier 2
Sublime
A moment or description of something deeply awe-inspiring.
The speaker experiences the sublime when confronted with the cliff in ‘The Prelude’.
Tier 2
Contemporary
The time in which the text was produced.
A contemporary reader would have seen the impacts of the Industrial Revolution first hand.
Tier 2
Atmosphere
The feeling or sense evoked by an environment or setting.
Heaney creates an atmosphere of destruction and violence in the poem ‘Storm on the Island’.
Tier 3- Language
Non-standard English
The informal version of English, often containing slang.
Agard uses non-standard English in the poem ‘Checking Out Me History’ to show the difference between the speaker’s own culture, and the taught history of white culture.
Tier 3- Structure
Enjambment
A ‘run over’ from one poetic line to the next, without punctuation.
Enjambment may have been used in the poem ‘Tissue’ to represent the need to break barriers between humanity.
Tier 3- Structure
Caesura
A punctuated pause midway through a poetic line.
The use of caesura in the line “city of walls. They accuse…” in ‘The Émigrée’ could convey the isolation and segregation of the speaker.
Tier 3- Structure
Quatrain
A 4 line verse of poetry.
Blake’s ‘London’ is written in four quatrains with alternate lines rhyming.
Tier 3- Structure
Iambic pentameter
A line of verse composed of ten syllables arranged in five metrical feet (iambs), each of which consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
The sonnet form, written in traditional iambic pentameter, emphasises Ozymandias’ self-love
Tier 3- Language/Structure
Contrast
An obvious difference between two or more things.
‘Checking Out Me History’ contrasts a famous white character from history with an ignored black person.
Tier 3- Language
Oxymoron
Two words used together that seem to have opposite meanings.
The oxymoron “marriage hearse” in Blake’s ‘London’ reveals that he views marriage as death.
Tier 3- Language/Structure
Juxtaposition
Placing two elements/ideas near each other, often to show contrast.
Percy Shelley juxtaposes the idea of a powerful ruler and his forgotten memory in ‘Ozymandias’.
Tier 3- Language
Metaphor
A direct comparison of two unrelated things, typically by stating that one thing is another.
Heaney uses an extended metaphor to describe the storm as a military attack.
Tier 3- Language
Tone
The attitude conveyed by the narrator’s word choice in a story.
Blake uses an angry tone in the poem ‘London’ to convey his contempt with society.
Tier 3- Form
Dramatic monologue
A poem in the form of a speech or narrative by an imagined person.
‘My Last Duchess’ is written in the form of a dramatic monologue which provides readers with a direct insight into his thoughts and motivations.
Tier 3- Language
Possessive pronoun
A pronoun used to express ownership or possession e.g. ‘mine’ or ‘hers’
The possessive pronouns highlight the Duke’s narcissism and pride.
Tier 3- Structure
Rhyming couplet
Two lines of rhyming poetry.
In ‘My Last Duchess’, the rhyming couplets could represent the Duke’s desire for control.
Tier 3- Language
Assonance
The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in words or syllables that occur close together.
In ‘Storm on the Island’, the assonance intensifies through the poem as the storm gets worse.
Tier 3- Language
Semantic field
A group of words related to a common idea or theme.
Blake uses a semantic field of pain to expose the suffering in society.
Tier 3- Language
Imagery
Visually descriptive language.
In ‘Tissue’, imagery of paper is used to explore ideas about solidity and certainty, change and impermanence, fragility and power.
Tier 3- Structure
Volta
A shift that marks the change of a thought or argument in a poem.
After the volta in ‘The Prelude’, nature becomes more threatening and starts to overwhelm the speaker.
Tier 3- Structure
Reported speech
A sentence that reports the content of another utterance without directly quoting it in speech marks.
Shelley uses reported speech in ‘Ozymandias’ to further distance the reader from the leader’s memory.
Tier 3- Form
Lyric
A short poem, often with songlike qualities, that expresses the speaker’s personal emotions and feelings.
‘London’ is a lyric from Blake’s poetry collection ‘Songs of Experience’.
Tier 3- Form
Sonnet
A fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter, typically about love.
The sonnet form emphasises Ozymandias’ self-love.
Tier 3- Structure
Ellipsis
A punctuation mark consisting of a series of three dots representing a pause or omission of information.
In ‘The Émigrée’ ellipsis adds to the sense of the past being remembered.
Tier 3- Structure
Stanza
A group of lines in a poem; a verse.
Certain stanzas in ‘Checking Out Me History’ are italicised to draw attention to the Black history omitted from white British education.
Tier 3- Language
Dialect
A particular form of a language that is used by a specific region or social group.
John Agard uses a Caribbean dialect “lick back”, and phonetic spelling “dem… dat” which reflects the Caribbean accent, to create a clear character voice.
Tier 3- Structure
Anaphora
The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.
Blake uses anaphora, “in every/in every/in every” to convey his belief that all of mankind are controlled.
