Poetry

• Ozymandias - "antique land", "desert", "Look on my works"

  Legacy is so insignificant it is known only by travellers - Egypt is seen as an antique land (failed in trying to increase influence). Suggests a lifelessness and lack of culture. The king clearly expects his empire and kingdom to survive, which is dramatic irony.
• Ozymandias - "shatter'd visage"


  Irony: a king who believed so strongly in his own power and superiority and who tried so hard to present this image of greatness through his statue, has now been forgotten and destroyed by time other than the visage that has been intended to show he was unforgettable.
• Ozymandias - "wrinkled lip"


  Conjures the image of someone grimacing in disgust and contempt, thus displaying the king's disregard for his subjects, viewing them as inferior and below him. This antipathy is then paired with immense power, which enables him to exploit and tortue the people he rules with no empathy or remorse. Shelley can use this to show the danger of a single individual having unlimited power invested in them (be it political or religious), as it enables them to see all other people as inferior and thus derive an ability to oppress them
• Ozymandias - "sneer"


  Contemptuous / mocking smile, remark or tone, which connotes malicious cruelty and heartlessness. It's like he's mocking his subjects and how his insolence and contempt for subjects that he views as below him. This presents the king's arrogance, confidence and sense of superiority.
• Ozymandias - "king of kings"


  Irony: readers only know via the report of a traveller. Ozymandias' pride and arrogance led to his perception of himself as the 'king of kings': criticises leaders and their ideas of themselves and ability to rule suggests he views himself as omnipotent.
• Ozymandias - "lone and level"


  Level - monotonous and featureless; no sign of his legacy. Lone - isolated; statue is all that remains; his cruelty is his only remembrance. These are also alliterative for emphasis
• Ozymandias - "far away"


  The statue is in a 'far away' place, where it stands insignificant and unrecognised that only travellers know of its existence. Ozymandias had tried so hard to extend and empower Egypt, but his pursuits were condemned to fail when the insignificance of Egypt allowed it to be dismissively deemed 'far away'.
• London - "marks"


  The repetition of 'marks' demonstrates that this is a permanent impact of a place's power with a wide-reaching and exception-free extent. Also suggests they cannot remove the impact of the suffering they have experienced (weakness), and like the branding of cattle, the citizens are branded too by their experiences.
• London - cyclical structure


  Suffering is never ending and implies that it will remain until they break the cycle and rebel.
• London - "charter'd"


  They all have been 'chartered' so they are effectively owned and controlled by the wealthy.
• London - "In every infant's cry of fear"


  Children are supposedly born innocent and shouldn't have to suffer. The phrase incites sympathy in the reader and also shows pessimistically how every life is destined for misery.
• London - "mind-forged manacles"


  Internal oppression and weakness, also a culmination of the suffering experienced in the preceding fines.
• London - "black'ning church"


  Adjective 'black'ning' is at surface level an acknowledgment of the soot and smoke that (produced by industrial factories) polluted every part of London during the 1700s. Figurative interpretation can be found through the negative connotations of immorality and evil derived from 'black'ning'. It is the moral blackening of the church he is referring to. This can be perceived as a criticism of organised religion and its failure to provide for the disadvantaged members of society.
• London - "appalls"


  Connotes dismay/horror and reflects the lack of action of the church, which should offer support and help the poor, but instead focuses more on its own wealth. A lack of morality appalls those who (like Blake) believe in the true meaning of the bible's importance of loving caring for others taught by Jesus. It juxtaposes the purity and love expected of the religious institution.
• London - "youthful harlot's curse"


  Juxtaposition of innocence of youth with immorality of harlot.
• London - "marriage hearse"


  Juxtaposed connotations of new beginnings, joy and happiness of weddings with the end of life and grief of a hearse. Societal criticism of how marriage was like death to women - rights and property lost.
• The Prelude - "(led by her)"


  Can be considered an allusion to the idea of Mother Nature and nature can be seen as female in that it is responsible for the feminine task of creating, sustaining and nurturing life - just as a mother does. By using personification, Wordsworth is able to contrast the role of nature to the role of a human whilst women nurture a single child; nature nurtures an entire planet, thus demonstrating its superior power.
• The Prelude - "troubled pleasure"


  Oxymoronic phrase shows he knows he has no right to be stealing the boat but feel entitled to enjoy nature and arrogance of believing he was in control.
• The Prelude - "her"

  Continues to refer to nature using the pronoun 'her', which could suggest he views himself as equals with nature, which later becomes his downfall when he realises the true power of nature.
• The Prelude - "reach a chosen point"


  Thinks he controls where he is going despite being led by nature. Deceived into a sense of control, but nature chose the point as a destination where he would be humbled. This suggests that it is only when mankind tries to work against nature that it becomes arduous.
• The Prelude - "unswerving line"


  Still fixed in a narrow field if vision, he viewed mankind as united with nature - working together with humanity as the dominant power, thus enabling him to manipulate water to his benefit and control his journey to a 'chosen point'.
• The Prelude - "heaving through the water"


  The active verb 'heaving' connotes sustained, intense physical effort. The illusion of control is broken as the mountain rises from the water and nature's supremacy is apparent.
• The Prelude - "Upreared its head"


  Mountain seems to be living with intent - wanted to reveal itself. This phrase also suggests the reader can empathise with the speaker's fear and anxiety and it juxtaposes to how nature was working with him at first, but now has turned against him.
• The Prelude - "I struck and struck again"

  The true power of nature is now being revealed and the speaker is struggling to continue on his journey - nature has ultimate control.
• The Prelude - "like a living thing, strode after me"


  Use of simile here could imply that the speaker is now choosing to personify nature but to above his level; as something otherworldly. The verb 'strode' is very bold and implies a lot of strength, demonstrating the power of the mountain.
• The Prelude - "stole my way"

  Mirrors his actions earlier in the poem when he initially decides to steal the boat he uses to go and see the mountain - but he has now reversed roles with nature.
• The Prelude - "for many days"


  This line suggests that the encounter and what he has now seen has irreversibly changed him and his mind - this reflects the immense power of nature can have on both society and an individual.
• The Prelude - "There hung a darnkess"


  He has realised his own ignorance, seemingly he is in the dark and has limited understanding of the extent and power of nature.
• The Prelude - "But huge and mighty forms, that do not live like living men"


  The speaker thinks he is in control - reaching his 'chosen point' performing an 'act of stealth', but really he is just following nature - controlled by a greater force. Applying this to society, Wordsworth may be suggesting how mankind always thinks it's in control, but it is always subject to nature
• The Prelude - "trouble to my dreams"

  Nature transcends mankind and it's not bound by time or restrictions of life. Therefore, nature takes many forms to demonstrate its power and this phase shows the long term impact nature has on him, this transformative effect could also be considered humbling, yet haunting.
• My Last Duchess - "if she were alive"


  This line is ominous as it suggests the Duke viewing the subject of his dead wife as a piece of art rather than sentimentally as his wife, immediately suggesting she was only ever a possession to him.
• My Last Duchess - "Will't please you sit and look at her"


  The Duke forces his visitor to sit down with the rhetorical question, which implied that the Duke is in sole control of who sees her. The opening immediately sets up a sinister tone for the piece, as the phrase 'as if she were alive' shows that the Duchess dies.
• My Last Duchess - "Fra Pandolf"

  The Duke is emphasising and boasting about his wealth, with reference to the famous artists that painted for him - 'Fra Pandolf' / 'Claus of Innsbruck' to demonstrate his influence and wealth.
• My Last Duchess - "if they durst"


  Shows he has power over other and people are scared of him, so as a consequence wouldn't dare ask him about the painting.
• My Last Duchess - "Her husband's presence only, called that spot of joy into the Duchess' cheek"


  Unreasonable to expect her to only gain joy from her husband. He expects to be her entire life and purpose in life. Her life has the aim of pleasing and being pleased by him. Complete domination of her life. Also presents him as paranoid.
• My Last Duchess - "Fra Pandolf"


  Fra is the prefix for a monk - this shows how much envy has corrupted the Duke, as he believes it is possible his wife would flirt with a monk.
• My Last Duchess - "bough of cherries some officious fool"

  He wants his wealth and status to be more important. Shows his materialism - doesn't value natural beauty and natural pleasures of the earth. Sees her liking other things as a criticism of himself. Presents him as insecure. Expects her to reserve her joy and smiles for him alone. Hurts his pride if he is not unique. Reliant on controlling women to make himself powerful and desirable. Sense of underlying vulnerability.
• My Last Duchess - "nice-hundred-years-old name"

  Shows he holds status and power within society, boasting about this but also a reflection about how the woman is now owned by her husband, as she has to take his name and then loses all legal rights.
• My Last Duchess - "who'd stoop to blame"


  This line shows the Duke's male entitled pride: he won't lower himself to talk to his wife and confront her about what he fears, as it would show him as paranoid and weak. It also suggests there's no point in arguing with a woman as she is so far below him and incapable of rational thinking AND he shouldn't have to explain it to her - she should be meek and obedient and submissive.
• My Last Duchess - "I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together"

  Euphemism for her murder. Shows the power he has - can just kill her without consequence, but also shows an overreaction - murder is a sign of lack of control.