Poetry

• Envy Language: "violet blue, nor lily fair"


  - anasthrope

  - contrasts colours of previous line and shows how you are not supposed to be something you weren't meant to be.
• Envy Langauge: "ne'er seen its own red rose'


  - 'red rose' alliteration

  -shows this 'tree' had never recognised how beautiful it actually was; it's insecure and not confident
• Envy Language: 'like such a blind and senseless tree'


  -similie

  - 'senseless tree' is personification.

  - 'blind' and 'senseless' have negative connotations which help to convey a sense of disapproval of envious behaviour.

  -trees are normally stable but the positive connotations are subverted to mirror the state of mind of an envious person.
• Envy Structure


  - AABCC Rhyme scheme

  - All stanzas are in sestets which suggest that the narrator is secure with her self and herself juxtaposes the message of the poem.
• Boat Stealing Language - "I went alone into a Shepherd's boat/ A skiff"


  - Emphasises solitude and conveys a sense of pride

  -enjambment to show that the boat is as solitary as it is made for only one person.

  -William Wordsworth is explicitly stealing the boat
• With trembling hands I turned'


  -Nature seems to have all the confidence and power.

  -'trembling' adjective has connotations of nervousness and fear. This implies that nature is starting to get the better of him and William is starting to realise how powerful nature is
• It was an act of stealth

  And troubled pleasure'

  'Stealth' - abstract noun that has connotations of sneakiness and moving without getting detected which suggest danger and harm

  -troubled pleasure - oxymoron shows that he felt tempted and his instictive nature led him steal and he feels excited about this moment.

  - 'troubled' shows that he was aware that what he was doing was wrong.
• Boat Stealing Structure


  > iambic pentameter gives certain words power and give the poem a personal tone

  > caesuras

  > unrhymed - raw emotion - negative
• Papa T Language: "through the rugged country, picked off one by one"


  - Imagery

  - adjective 'rugged' suggests roughness and potential danger and sets the scene as a harsh reality.

  - sense of resilience in the face of adversity and there determination to survive

  -'one by one' symbolises the gradual destruction of communities and the way of life
• Papa T Language: " I goin ge yu a good licken an sen yu to bed'


  - Carribean Dialect

  -Makes the poem more personal in terms of the respecting the Carribean culture

  -idea that he is delivering a British Poem to his effect.
• Papa T Language: 'to hear, to disobey.'


  - imperative verb, 'disobey' shows that poet wants to challange the ideas and does not agree with the message of Charge of the Light Brigade
• Papa T Structure


  -sestets

  - Free rhythm

  - no rhyme
• The Destruction of Sennacherib language:

  "sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea"

  - sibilance

  -physical conflict

  -makes a hissing sound which stresses the evil power of forces and presents theme as negative.

  -similie emphasises the huge amount of weapons
• The Destruction of Sennacherib Language:

  "purple and gold'

  -imagery

  -highlights the wealth and glamour of the invaders which suggests an ungodly nature

  -sense of confidence because of the wealth advantage
• Angle of Death... blast and breathed'

  - Gods vengence

  -plossive alliterations which gives the sense of Gods destructive power.

  -religious conflict
• The Destructiton of Sennacherib Structure


  - Six Quadrin

  -regular beat to each stanza to echo the sound of the forces advancing

  -rhyming couplets, streghthens the structure of the poem reflecting the strength of the army
• There's a Certain Slant of light - Language

  "Heavenly Hurt"

  -alliteration and oxymoron

  -religious subtext

  -shows that the individual is trying to bring definition to their sense of spirituality.

  - it also gives a sense that life can bring suffering
• Seal of despair'


  - theme of religion

  -double entendre

  -possible reference to the seven seals in the Book of Reveloution which lead to war, famine and death amongst other things which can lead to despair
• Like the Heft of Cathedral Tunes'

  -similie

  - auditory imagery

  -concrete noun 'heft' has connotations of weight and of lifting a heaving weight.

  -religion
• There's a Certain Slant of Light Structure

  - Caesuras to show that there is much that has been unsaid which shows loss of thought and lack of order of feelings.

  - 4 Quardins.
• Songs For the People Language:

  'Till war and crime shall cease'


  - Physical Conflict

  - 'til' has temporal connotation which means that reducing war and crime is going to take time but it is a future goal to reach towards.

  -'cease' verb that underscores the desire to stop war and crime permanantly.
• Our world, so worn and weary'


  - alliteration

  -gives it a rhythmatic effect and emphasises the struggle, the sorrow and the the injustice

  -adds a sense of fatigue and exhuastion

  - 'our' is personal plural which helps to directly address it to who ever is reading the poem
• Let me make the songs for the people'


  - 'Let me' - imperative mood conveys a sense of urgency and agency. Emphasises the strong desire to fufil this role

  -singular pronoun - gives a sense of personal responsibility

  -collective noun people 'people' gives the poem inclusivity and emphasise the desire for a broader community.

  
  

  - 'let me' is also repeated (anaphora)
• Songs for the people structure

  - seven quadrains which enhances the musicality in this poem by giving it a rhythmatic pace

  -ABCB rhyme scheme
• We Lived Happily during the War Language

  "in the street of money in the city of money in the country of money, our great country of money we (forgive us"


  - repetiiton of the word 'money'

  -emphasises the wealth and how rich the people where and they could have afford to do something about the war.

  -suggests that 'money' was the piority of some capitalist countries rather than standing up against war.

  'Our' -first personal plural wich widens the lens and suggest that people are all involved

  -sense of internal guilt (forgive us) in paranthesis
• And when they bombed other people's houses

  
  

  we protested.

  but not enough'


  'We' plural personal gives a sense of collective responsibility and the fact they all tried to do stand up to war.

  - enjambment makes the verb 'protested' stand out which implies that the protest we insignificant.

  - implys that the were opposing them but not really

  -physical conflict
• America

  
  

  was falling: invisible house by invisible house by invisible house'

  - personification with the verb 'falling' which had connotations of diminishing and getting destroyed as a country

  -repetition of the adjective 'invisible' reflects the large scale of the problem.

  - 'invisible' has connotations of not being seen which implies that people were unaware or wanted to see of how bad the war has become
• We Lived Happily during the War Structure

  - Irregular rhyme scheme and structure. Gives a sense of how fragmented the war scene was and how chaotic it was
• Vergissmeinnicht Langauge: 'dishonoured picture'


  - attrbutive adjective 'dishonoured' has connotations of ruins and destruction.

  - This implies that the war has drifted the soldier and 'Steffi' apart and has ruined their relationship and it is too late to make things right which makes the reader feel empathetic for the couple.
• Soldier sprawling in the sun'

  -sinister imagery

  - sibilance - aggressive sound

  - verb 'sprawling' normally has relaxing connotation which is positive which would imply less stress

  - describes a dead body which creates an uncomfortable sensation.
• the lover and killer are mingled"

  -ambiguity

  - suggest that one soilder had two different personality.

  -shows the duality of humanity and the fact that humans are complicated and have different sides to them
• Vergismeinnicht structure


  -repeated quadrains - reflects the cyclical nature of war and the fact that it was a relentless repetition of never ending violence.

  - it could also symbolise the regimented order and structured chaos of battle, echoing the rhythmic march of soldiers.

  
  

  caesura after the 'gun', which could be reflective of the death of the soldier since, like the causera, life stops.
• Colonization in Reverse language

  'Ah feel like me hear gwine burs-'


  similie

  -'gwine burs' - contributes to calypso.

  - the it could be ironic because she could be cautious of of the future for people in England.

  - it could also be a sarcastic tone because of her potential cautiosuness.
• Colonization in Reverse:

  'An settle in de motherlan'


  irony

  - 'mother lan' phrase used to describe to England at the height of the British empire

  - critique of historical colonization

  - Racial conflict through culture
• What an islan! What a people!'

  - exclamative to convey sincere excitement for the oppurtunites that the Jamacians could have been given in England

  -it could be sacarstic ethuesiasm to be a critique of England.

  - caesuras to hint that it could be overwhelming for Jamacians
• Colonization in Reverse structure:

  - Repeated Quadrians.

  -creole to make it more personal to the Jamacian culture

  -Dramatic Monolouge which gives it an informal tone to the poem as if it were a conversation
• What Were They Like? Language:

  
  

  -'Did they hold ceremonies to reverence the opening of buds'


  - 'Did they' is an anaphoric rhetorical question which shows the aspects of the the Vietnamese Culture due to conflict has dissapeared

  
  

  - 'opening of buds' - flower immagery that has cheerful connotations
• No more buds'


  - flower imagery is then subverted

  - 'buds' are metaphor for children and symbolic of growth and youth.

  -makes the reader feel sympathetic towards to victims of the war.
• When bombs smashed those mirrors

  - violent for metaphor for rice paddies.

  - also could represent the end of way of life and culture.

  - 'smashed' has connotations of being destroyed which is suggest about there culture

  - 'mirrors' have connotations of looking at something but if its gone. It could be symbolic of the culture the Vietnamese people have lost sight of due to war.
• What were they Like structure

  - The poem can be read from top to bottom or by reading each question and answer in turn.

  
  

  - The ambiguity of how best to approach the poem mirrors the discomfort and unease that it conveys.

  
  

  - past tense conveys a sense that they used to havre a culture but they don't because of the war.