QUOTES FROM ALL POEMS Flashcards
OZYMANDIAS
“I met a…”
“I met a traveller from an antique land”
OZYMANDIAS
“Two vast…”
“Two vast and trunkless legs”
OZYMANDIAS
“Frown and wrinkled…”
“Frown and wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command”
OZYMANDIAS
“Shatter’d…”
“Shatter’d visage”
OZYMANDIAS
“The hand that…”
“The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed”
OZYMANDIAS
“Stamp’d on…”
“Stamp’d on lifeless things”
OZYMANDIAS
“My name is…”
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings”
OZYMANDIAS
“Nothing beside…”
“Nothing beside remains”
OZYMANDIAS
“Boundless and…”
“Boundless and bare”
LONDON
“I wander through each…”
“I wander through each chartered street, near where the charter’d Thames does flow”
LONDON
“Marks of…”
“Marks of weakness, marks of woe”
LONDON
“In every infants…”
“In every infant’s cry of fear”
LONDON
“The mind…”
“The mind-forged manacles I hear”
LONDON
“How the chimney…”
“How the chimney sweepers cry every black’ning church appals”
LONDON
“Runs in…”
“Runs in blood down palace walls”
MAIN THEMES IN OZYMANDIAS:
- Power is only temporary
- You can’t beat time
- The power of art
MAIN THEMES IN LONDON:
- Anger
- Hopelessness
- Misuse of power
THE PRELUDE
“One summer evening…”
“One summer evening (led by her)”
THE PRELUDE
“It was an act of…”
“It was an act of stealth and troubled pleasure”
THE PRELUDE
“I fixed my view upon…”
“I fixed my view upon the summit”
THE PRELUDE
“Was nothing but the stars and…£
“Was nothing but the stars and the grey sky”
THE PRELUDE
“A huge peak…”
“A huge peak. Black and huge”
THE PRELUDE
“I struck and…”
“I struck and struck again, and growing still in stature”
THE PRELUDE
“There hung a darkness…”
“There hung a darkness, call it solitude or blank desertion”
MAIN THEMES IN PRELUDE:
- Power of nature
- Power of memory
- Fear
- Individual experience
THE PRELUDE
“For many…”
“For many days”
THE PRELUDE
“No pleasant images…”
“No pleasant images of trees, or sea or sky, no colours of green fields”
MY LAST DUCHESS
“That’s my…”
“That’s my last duchess”
MY LAST DUCHESS
“Will’t please…”
“Will’t please you sit and look at her”
MY LAST DUCHESS
“Twas not her husbands…”
“Twas not her husband’s presence only called that spot of joy into the duchess’ cheek”
MY LAST DUCHESS
“Half-flush that…”
“Half-flush that dies along her throat”
MY LAST DUCHESS
“Too soon made glad…”
“Too soon made glad, too easily impressed; she liked whate’er she looked on, and her looks went everywhere”
MY LAST DUCHESS
“She thanked men…”
“She thanked men good! but thanked somehow I know not how”
MY LAST DUCHESS
“I gave commands…”
“I gave commands, then all smiles stopped together”
MY LAST DUCHESS
“At starting…”
“At starting, is my object”
MY LAST DUCHESS KEY THEMES:
- Gender
- Power
- Inequality
REMAINS
“On another…”
“On another occasion”
REMAINS
“Probably armed…”
“Probably armed, possibly not”
REMAINS
“Well myself and…”
“Well myself and somebody else and somebody else”
REMAINS
“All three of us…”
“All three of us open fire. Three of a kind letting fly”
REMAINS
“Sort of…”
“Sort of inside out”
REMAINS
“Tosses his guts…”
“Tosses his guts back into his body”
REMAINS
“End of story…”
“End of story, except not really”
REMAINS
“But I blink and he….”
“But I blink and he bursts through the doors of the bank”
REMAINS
“The drink and drugs…”
“The drink and drugs won’t flush him out”
REMAINS
“He’s in my head when I…”
“He’s in my head when I close my eyes, dug in behind enemy lines”
REMAINS
“His bloody life…”
“His bloody life, in my bloody hands”
MAIN THEMES REMAINS:
- Guilt
- Memory
- Individual experience
CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE:
“Theirs not to make reply…”
“Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die”
CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE:
“Into the valley…”
“Into the valley of death”
CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE:
“Cannon to the right of them….”
“Cannon to the right of them, cannon to the left of them, cannon in front of them”
CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE:
“Stormed at with…”
“Stormed at with shot and shell”
CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE:
“Into the jaws of death…”
“Into the jaws of death, into the mouth of hell”
‘CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE:
“Then they rode back…”
“Then they rode back, but not the six hundred”
CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE:
“Honour the charge…”
“Honour the charge they made! Honour the light brigade”
EXPOSURE:
“Our brains ache…”
“Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us”
EXPOSURE:
“But nothing…”
“But nothing happens”
EXPOSURE:
“Worried by silence…”
“Worried by silence, sentries, whisper, curious, nervous”
EXPOSURE:
“What are we…”
“What are we doing here?”
EXPOSURE:
“Ranks on shivering…”
“Ranks on shivering, ranks of grey”
EXPOSURE:
“Black with snow…”
“Black with snow, with sidelong flowing flakes that flock, pause and renew”
EXPOSURE:
“Is it that…”
“Is it that we are dying”
EXPOSURE:
“For love of God…”
“For love of God seems dying”
EXPOSURE:
“All their eyes…”
“All their eyes are ice, but nothing happens”
WAR PHOTOGRAPHER
“In his darkroom…”
“In his darkroom, he is finally alone with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows”
WAR PHOTOGRAPHER
“A priest preparing…”
“A priest preparing to intone a mass. Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass”
WAR PHOTOGRAPHER
“A half-formed ghost…”
“A half-formed ghost. He remembers the cries of this man’s wife, how he sought approval”
WAR PHOTOGRAPHER
“The reader’s eyeballs…”
“The reader’s eyeballs prick with tears between the bath and the pre-lunch beers”
WAR PHOTOGRAPHER
“From the aeroplane, he stares…”
“From the aeroplane, he stares impassively at where he earns his living and they do not care”
STORM ON THE ISLAND:
“Sink walls in rock…”
“Sink walls in rock and roof them with good slate. This wizened earth never troubled us”
STORM ON THE ISLAND:
“So that you…”
“So that you listen to the thing you fear forgetting that it pummels your house too”
STORM ON THE ISLAND:
“You might think that the sea is….”
“You might think that the sea is company, exploding comfortably down the cliffs”
STORM ON THE ISLAND:
“Strange, it…”
“Strange, it is a huge nothing we fear”
POPPIES
“Spasms….”
“Spasms of paper red, disrupting a blockade of yellow bias binding around your blazer”
POPPIES
“Blackthorns…”
“Blackthorns of your hair”
POPPIES
“All my words…”
“All my words flattened, rolled, turned into felt, slowly melting”
POPPIES
“Threw it open…”
“Threw it open, the world overflowing like a treasure chest”
POPPIES
“After you’d gone I…”
“After you’d gone I went into your bedroom, released a songbird from its cage”
POPPIES
“The dove pulled…”
“The dove pulled freely against the sky, an ornamental stitch, I listened, hoping to hear your playground voice catching the wind”
KAMIKAZE
“A shaven head…”
“A shaven head full of powerful incantations and enough fuel for a one-way journey into history”
KAMIKAZE
“The little fishing boats…”
“The little fishing boats struck out like bunting on a green-blue transparent sea”
KAMIKAZE
“The dark shoals of fishes…”
“The dark shoals of fishes flashing silver as their bellies swiveled towards the sun”
KAMIKAZE
“The dark prince…”
“The dark prince, muscular, dangerous”
KAMIKAZE
“My mother never…”
“My mother never spoke again in his presence”
KAMIKAZE
“They treated him as though…”
“They treated him as though he no longer existed”
KAMIKAZE
“He must have wondered…”
“He must have wondered which had been the better way to die”
CHECKING OUT ME HISTORY
“Dem tell me wha…”
“Dem tell me wha dem want to tell me”
CHECKING OUT ME HISTORY
“Bandage up me…”
“Bandage up me eye with me own history”
CHECKING OUT ME HISTORY
“No dem…”
“No dem never tell me bout dat”
CHECKING OUT ME HISTORY
“But now I checking…”
“But now I checking out me history I carving out me identity”
BAYONET CHARGE
“Suddenly…”
“Suddenly he awoke”
BAYONET CHARGE
“Hot khaki…”
“Hot khaki, his sweat heavy”
BAYONET CHARGE
“Bullets smacking…”
“Sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest”
BAYONET CHARGE
“His terror’s…”
“His terror’s touchy dynamite”
BAYONET CHARGE
“Rolled like a flame and…”
“Rolled like a flame and crawled in a threshing circle”
BAYONET CHARGE
“Toward the…”
“Toward the green hedge”
BAYONET CHARGE
“Patriotic…”
“Patriotic tear” His patriotism has turned into fear and pain.
TISSUE
“Paper that lets…”
“Paper that lets the light shine through”
TISSUE
“Paper thinned by…”
“Paper thinned by age or touching”
TISSUE
“If buildings were…”
“If buildings were paper, I might feel their drift”
TISSUE
“Might fly our…”
“Might fly our lives like paper kites”
TISSUE
“A structure…”
“A structure never meant to last”
THE EMIGREE
“There once…”
“There once was a country”
THE EMIGREE
“My memory of it is…”
“My memory of it is sunlight-clear”
THE EMIGREE
“It may be at war…”
“It may be at war, it may be sick with tyrants, but I am branded by an impression of sunlight”
THE EMIGREE
“Branded by an…”
“Branded by an impression of sunlight”
THE EMIGREE
“Time rolls its…”
“Time rolls its tanks”
THE EMIGREE
“That child’s vocabulary…”
“That child’s vocabulary I carried here like a hollow doll”
THE EMIGREE
“I can’t get it off…”
“I can’t get it off my tongue. It tastes of sunlight”
THE EMIGREE
“They acuse me…”
“They acuse me of absence, they circle me. They accuse me of being dark in their free city”
THE EMIGREE
“My shadow falls as…”
“My shadow falls as evidence of sunlight”
