poetry quotes

• The Manhunt by Simon Armitage - loving language implies that the couple's happiness is undermined by a problem that will soon be explained.

  "passionate nights and intimate days"
• The Manhunt by Simon Armitage - the repeating 'p' sound is alliterative and plosive, to reinforce the idea of violent injury.An unusable, damaged parachute is an appropriate comparison. The soldier is also damaged and feels similarly useless.


  ''the parachute silk of his punctured lung.
• The Manhunt by Simon Armitage - is ironic as a foetus is the start of life and affects a parent's life positively. However, a bullet can kill, can spell the end of life.


  ''the foetus of metal beneath his chest/where the bullet had finally come to rest.
• The Manhunt by Simon Armitage - war permanently affects people — not only the soldiers who have direct experience of the fighting, but also their families.

  
  

  Note that this final line is the only short sentence in the poem. It is a partial conclusion because the resolution is incomplete. It suggests that she can never fully understand the trauma that her husband has suffered.

  ''Then, and only then, did I come close.
• 1) Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barret Browning


  ''How do I love thee? Let me count the ways... depth and breadth and height
• 2) Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barret Browning

  ''I love thee purely
• 3) Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barret Browning


  ''I love thee with the passion put to use/In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
• 4) Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barret Browning

  ''if God choose,/I shall but love thee better after death.
• London by William Blake

  The streets were controlled by the rich, but the Thames was simply polluted and filthy. Blake originally used the word 'dirty' instead of 'charter'd'.


  ''where the charter'd Thames does flow,
• London by William Blake

  emphasizes the point that these manacles, while a direct result of religious, social, economic, and political forms of control, are also perpetuated by our own limitations. In other words, we create our own internal mental prisons.

  ''mind-forg'd manacles
• London by William Blake

  the "palace walls" form a border between the rich, privileged men in power and the poor soldiers. In a corrupt military system the 'leaders' refused to take responsibility for the deaths of the soldiers.

  ''Runs in blood down Palace walls.
• London by William Blake

  Blake's main point is in the final line: her curse calls down judgment on the poor state of marriage at the time (infidelity was taken for granted by many men) and turns the carriage ridden by newlyweds into a hearse.

  ''youthful Harlot's curse... plagues the Marriage hearse.
• 1) The Soldier by Rupert Brooke

  ''In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;/A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
• 3) The Soldier by Rupert Brooke

  ''A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
• 2) The Soldier by Rupert Brooke

  ''blest by the suns of home.
• 4) The Soldier by Rupert Brooke

  ''In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
• 1) She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron

  ''cloudless climes and starry skies
• 2) She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron

  ''Which Heaven to gaudy day denies.
• 3) She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron


  ''Had half impaired the nameless grace
• 4) She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron

  ''A heart whose love is innocent!
• 1) Living Space by Imtiaz Dharker


  ''Nothing is flat/or parallel.
• 2) Living Space by Imtiaz Dharker


  ''Nails clutch at open seams.
• 3) Living Space by Imtiaz Dharker


  ''squeezed/a living space
• 4) Living Space by Imtiaz Dharker


  ''even dared to place/these eggs in a wire basket,
• 1) As Imperceptibly as Grief by Emily Dickinson


  ''The Summer lapsed away -
• 2) As Imperceptibly as Grief by Emily Dickinson


  ''Nature spending with herself/Sequestered Afternoon
• 3) As Imperceptibly as Grief by Emily Dickinson


  ''without a Wing/Or service of a Keel
• 4) As Imperceptibly as Grief by Emily Dickinson

  ''Our Summer made her light escape/Into the Beautiful.
• 1) Cozy Apologia by Rita Dove

  ''the glossy blue/My pen exudes, drying matte, upon the page.
• 2) Cozy Apologia by Rita Dove

  ''teenage crushes on worthless boys/Whose only talent was to kiss you senseless.
• 3) Cozy Apologia by Rita Dove


  ''Who's satisfied simply with what's good for us,/When has the ordinary ever been news?
• 4) Cozy Apologia by Rita Dove

  ''I fill this stolen time with you.
• 1) Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy

  ''It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.
• 2) Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy


  ''blind you with tears/like a lover.
• 3) Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy


  ''fierce kiss will stay on your lips,/possessive and faithful
• 4) Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy

  ''Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding ring,/if you like. Lethal.
• 2) A Wife in London by Thomas Hardy

  ''waning taper
• 3) A Wife in London by Thomas Hardy

  ''Flashed news is in her hand
• 4) A Wife in London by Thomas Hardy


  ''His hand, whom the worm now knows.
• 5) A Wife in London by Thomas Hardy

  ''And of new love that they would learn.