Poetry

• London- quotes

  "mind-forged manacles i hear"

  • distressing noises highlighting a vivid hellish experience
  • people are trapped in every way

  "blasts the new born infants tear,"

  • innocence contrasts its surroundings and is lost immediately
  • society damages its members
• London-context/ structure


  • 1794
  • questioned church teachings and believed in social and racial equality- radical thinking
  • use of senses
  • rhetoric- to persuade you reflecting blake persuading you in real life
  • dramatic monologue-ABAB is broken showing relentless misery
• The prelude - quote

  "The horizons bound,a huge peak,black and huge"

  • Volta-threatening and breakdown of safety
  • Darker and more threatening

  "the horizons utmost boundary far above was nothing but the stars"

  • contrasts previous line-used to shock the reader and show how nature can change whenever it wants to go against man as seen here
• The prelude-context/structure


  • autobiographical poem
  • after his death
  • show natures beauty and power
  • blank verse- importance
  • 4 courses of language-beautiful->confident->dramatic->fearful
• My last duchess- quotes

  "My"

  • repetition- possessive
  • self obsessed deeming his wife his rather than a person after death

  "will't please you sit and look at her"

  • social superior demanding something from an inferior

  "Notice neptune, taming a sea horse"

  • metaphor and symbolic of duke thinking of himself as this god whose role is to tame women like he has down the duchess showing the dehumanisation of women at the time as they are seen as something to conquer
• my last duchess-context/structure

  • lived in italy
  • renaissance
  • attitudes to women at the time
  • 1842
  • iambic pentameter
  • rhyming couples show desire for control
  • dramatic irony of dukes innocence
• charge of the light brigade-quote

  "valley of death (..) jaws of death mouth of hell"

  • religious imagery-more solem and significant
  • repetition
  • personification-monsters they cant escape

  "honour the charge"

  • change in the repeated line
  • rhetorical question to make readers doubt if their sacrifice was even worth it
  • dramatic and daring rather than a blunder by a general
• charge if the light brigade context/structure

  • 1892
  • poet laureate
  • tribute of patriotism
  • crimean war
  • blunder by a general yet still fought
  • heroic language
  • repetition- inevitability
  • falling rhythm
  • rhyme broken by soldiers falling
• exposure- quote


  "the merciless iced east winds that knive us..."

  • personification of nature attacking man
  • ellipses- waiting for something to stop it but nothing comes
  • conflict

  "shutters and door,all closed: on us the doors are closed,-"

  • creates a division
  • reflective of men not being able to return home due to physical injury and death
  • Alternatively shows mental trauma as men are turned away due to their state as people lost interest in them as war was dragged on
  • Physical and mental pain nature can cause on mankind
• exposure- context/structure


  • 1917-18
  • in trenches of ww1
  • waste of life and horrific conditions war brings
  • danger everywhere
  • first person plural-collective nature
  • half lines and half rhymes reflect the insanity of war and the disorder of it
  • monotony of life in the trenches and the absence of change
• ozymandias- quote


  "King of kings"

  • arrogance- power over god himself which resulted in his inevitable downfall to nature some some conscripted by god for challenging him
  • challenging even the readers

  "of that colossal wreck"

  • Ruined state highlights human achievements are insignificant compared to the passing of time and nature around it will always outshine
  • colossal reinforces this by no matter the size of the achievement it will always be overlooked
• ozymandias- context/structure


  • romantic
  • 1817
  • italian explorer
  • power of nature over mans achievements
  • sonnet
  • volta
  • disordered rhyme scheme shows how human structures can be destroyed
  • irony
  • language of power
• Storm on the island-quotes

  "spits like a tame cat turned savage"

  • simile used to show how familiar things have turned dangerous
  • animalistic imagery reflecting natures desire for destruction

  "can raise a tragic chorus in a gale"

  • greek tragedy chorus
  • no trees suggest that islanders are left on their own to face and interpret the storm
• storm on the island-context/structure

  • northern irish
  • themes such as homeland and troubles
  • blank verse
  • shifts from security to fear
  • violent imagery throughout
• Bayonet charge- quotes


  "king ,honour human dignity, etcetera dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm"

  • Been reduced to a basic level-desperation for life not moral principle
  • etcetera shows not even worth listing-futility of war
  • disposability of soldiers

  "Sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest"

  • patriotism has turned to fear and pain- heroic ideals have been replaced with the harsh reality of war and how it is glorified in the media
• Bayonet charge- structure/context


  • survived ww1
  • published post ww2
  • natural imagery show how violent things took place in nature
  • figurative language is used to question meaning of war
  • gives up at the end of poem after being dehumanised
• remains-quote

  "some distant,sun stunned,sand smothered land"

  • violent compound adjectives-place was affected by war
  • long line and sibilance show the pace and reflect the speakers lack of clear thought

  "his bloody life in my bloody hands"

  • allusion to macbeth- blood is a recurring symbol of guilt reflecting the speakers guilt hes feeling
  • double meaning of blood as well as swearing showing anger at the situation hes in
• remains-context/structure


  • not dead documentary exposed ptsd after war
  • becomes more personal reflecting a confession
  • repetition show how the day is still in the speakers mind constantly
• poppies-quotes

  "the world overflowing like a treasure chest"

  • simile highlighting the excitement from the sons perspective reflecting how he has been misled

  "intoxicated"

  • excitement contrasts his mothers sadness
  • hints at lack of control-giving up control of his life to the army
• poppies-context/structure

  • 21st century war poems
  • domestic imagery-war affects home as much as abroud
  • time frame is left ambiguous to show how quick it can be taken away from you
• war photographer-quotes


  "a hundred agonies in black and white"

  • emotive metaphor
  • pictures being printed confirm the suffering and how now it is solidified as real rather than a distant memory

  "running children in a nightmare heat"

  • vietnam war photo
  • photos can sometimes end the war but they have to be taken in the first place to get attention for the war which is wrong
• war photographer-structure/context


  • poet laureate
  • religious imagery-ceremony to his actionsas if a funeral
  • enjambment reflects the development of a photo
  • emotive language reflect the true horror that war provides and people need to do better
• Tissue-quotes


  "pages smoothed and stroked and turned"

  • gentle verbs and repetition show pages are treated with respect and affection
  • make them sound like a child or pet

  "drift" and "shift"

  • rhyme plays on the idea of movement
  • appear in different places on the line as if they have been blown by the wind
• Tissue-context/structure

  • born in pakistan but raised in glasgow
  • terrorist at my table shows how well we know people
  • homonyms create link between human and tissue
  • contructions comparable to humans
• the emigree-quote


  "i am branded by an impression of sunlight"

  • negative branded juxtaposes positive impression
  • suggests a permanence to her view

  "the bright filled paperweight"

  • metaphor suggests memories are bright and positive
  • solid and fixed--> holding her back from moving on
• Tissue-context/structure


  • translator--> peoples stories she has spoke to
  • memory grows as the poem goes on
  • war related vocabulary show how memory is not as perfect as she remembers
  • looks past the bad in sense of nostalgia
• kamikaze-quote


  "she must of wondered which had been a better way to die"

  • shorter sentence-comment on the destructiveness of patriotism
  • ashamed of him and treated him as if hes dead
  • wishes he stayed in the meeting, either way he ends in death

  "like a huge flag waved first one way"

  • flags are a symbol of national identity
  • simile hints at way flags are used to stop or direct something
  • shows his nation stopped his return to normal life
• kamikaze-context/structure


  • researcher for nhs
  • absence of pilots voice show he has been cut off from society
  • similes and metaphors used to show power and nature
  • ironic reminders show how pilot abandoning his mission
• checking out me history-quote

  "colombus and 1942"

  • european coloniser compared to native american culture that resisted slavery
  • restriction contrasted to freedom
  • always more than one version of history but hes only been taught one

  "bandage up me eye"

  • deliberate attempt to hide history
  • ironic as should be used to heal but they've caus blindness to the truth whilst concealing it as bad
• checking out me history-context/structure

  • born in guyana and moved to britain
  • metaphors of blindness to highlight how the truth is hidden from you by others
  • oral poetry phrasing it as lyric to represent a child like story
  • pride in his backround by using carribean phonetic
  • sounds childish