WJEC/Eduqas GCSE Poetry Anthology

• The poem Sonnet 43 was written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning for her husband Robert Browning as a secret way to express her love.
• The last six lines of Sonnet 43 form the sestet.
• The first eight lines of Sonnet 43 form the octave which sets out the theme of the poem.
• The conditions and instances of human suffering that the poet witnesses in London could spark a revolution in the streets of his own capital city, as per William Blake's views.
• The poet in the poem London is walking through the streets of London writing about what he sees around him.
• In the poem Sonnet 43, the poet uses the quote 'For the ends of Being and ideal Grace'.
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning ran away to Italy with Robert Browning to escape her father's disapproval.
• The poet in Sonnet 43 is describing her love for her future husband, Robert Browning.
• The poem Sonnet 43 is written in the form of a traditional Petrarchan sonnet.
• The poet describes the intensity of her love, which is powerful and all-encompassing.
• Robert Browning published the poem Sonnet 43 as Elizabeth Barrett Browning had no intention of doing so.
• The poem "Afternoons" by Philip Larkin is about young mothers watching their children play on the swings.
• The poem "Hawk Roosting" by Ted Hughes is about a hawk sitting at the top of a wood, symbolizing political leaders who have too much power.
• The poem "Death of a Naturalist" by Seamus Heaney describes a child who is amazed by nature and frogs in the pond, but as he grows up he loses this sense of wonderment and now fears the frogs.
• Philip Larkin is known for writing rather negative poems and never got married, never had children, never travelled abroad and worked as a librarian in Hull for thirty years.
• Ted Hughes published "Hawk Roosting" in a collection of poems about nature and animals.
• When "Hawk Roosting" was first published, people thought it was about a dictator and the symbol for the Nazis was an Eagle on top of a wreath.
• Seamus Heaney is an Irish poet who grew up in the country side, constantly surrounded by nature.
• The poem "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley describes the ruined statue, found in a desert, of a once great and powerful king, Ramesses the second.
• Percy Bysshe Shelley was part of the Romantic movement and his criticism of people who act as if they are invincible is inherent in the poem "Ozymandias".
• The poem "To Autumn" by John Keats describes the changes in nature during the season of autumn.
• There is no set rhyme scheme in As Imperceptibly As Grief.
• Lord Byron was a leading poet of a group called the romantics, known as 'mad, bad and dangerous to know'.
• There is a volta (a shift in message) between the first and second stanza of The Soldier.
• Each stanza of She Walks In Beauty has six lines and a steady rhyme scheme.
• The structure of London is simple as it was written for kids.
• In Cozy Apologia, the poet expresses her love for her husband, Fred, whilst there is a storm approaching, apologising for being so content with her husband over such a simple life.
• Rita Dove refers to her struggle with society's opinion on who she should love and also refers to Hurricane Floyd which caused $6 billion worth of damage.
• In Valentine, the poet writes about giving an unusual valentines day gift-an onion, criticising the conventional and cliched symbols of romance and relationships.
• The structure of Cozy Apologia consists of each stanza focusing on a different aspect of their relationship, with enjambment between stanza two and three showing that the storm is breaking things up.
• In As Imperceptibly As Grief, the poet writes about her initial regret about the passing of time and the changing of the seasons, and about the grief of losing someone.
• Emily Dickinson was a reclusive poet who did not leave her house for thirty years, enjoying the company of others and not liking when they had to leave.
• All stanzas of London are four lines long to make it sound like a song, as it was released in 'Songs of experience'.
• Carol Ann Duffy was asked by a radio producer to produce a unique poem for valentines day, choosing to criticise the conventional and cliched symbols of romance and relationships.
• Byron describes the unusual beauty of a mourning woman he saw at a ball in She Walks In Beauty.
• The structure of Valentine is a Dramatic Monologue, with language that is straight forward and simple like her message.
• The poem She Walks In Beauty is wrote in iambic tetrameter because it was published in 'Hebrew Melodies'.
• In The Soldier, the poem is written in the form of a sonnet, usually associated with love poems, to show love for his country.
• The rhyme scheme of London is ABAB to maintain a pessimistic tone.
• The structure of Sonnet 43 is: ABAB CDCD EFEF.