english literature

• Sonnet


  A type of love poetry that typically admires or adores something
• Sonnet


  • Typically about 14 lines
  • Often used to reflect on love, the self, or the lack of love
• Ozymandias (the poem)


  Reflects the egotistical love Ozymandias has for himself and his hubris/pride
• Ozymandias (the poem)


  Mocks and ridicules the lack of love that Ozymandias had from his people due to his tyrannical rule
• Ozymandias (the poem)


  Contrasts the transient nature of human power with the enduring power of art and nature
• The poem links to the "Human Condition" - the idea that every society will have tyrants
• Ozymandias (the poem)


  Links to the power of nature, showing that nature will continue even after the fall of tyrannical human power
• Key people in Ozymandias


  • The tyrant Ozymandias
  • The poet Shelley
  • The artist who created the statue
• Ozymandias (the poem)


  Compares the tyranny of ancient Egypt to the corruption in Shelley's contemporary Britain
• Form in "Checking Out Me History"

  Uses a nursery rhyme-like rhythm and rhyming quatrains to mock the Eurocentric view of history
• "Checking Out Me History"

  Links to themes of power struggle, as the poet tries to regain control over the narrative of his own history and identity
• "Checking Out Me History"

  Can be compared to war poems, as it metaphorically depicts a "war" against the oppressive Eurocentric view of history
• "Checking Out Me History"

  Contrasts the poet's places of cultural significance with the Eurocentric focus on Europe and Britain
• Form in "Exposure"


  The pararhyme structure reflects the incomplete, undeveloped lives of the young soldiers sent to war
• Title "Exposure"


  Dual meaning - exposing the harsh realities of war, and the soldiers being physically and psychologically "exposed"
• "Exposure"


  Links to the theme of identity, as the soldiers' masculinity and sense of self is eroded by the harsh conditions of war
• "Exposure"


  Explores the power of nature and how it can emasculate and dehumanize the soldiers, in contrast to the expected masculine warrior identity
• e exposing he is exposing that these men are being emasculated it's be lesser of a man by the weather which seems to be such a contrasting belief that the weather can make men less powerful but he is showing how these men are being emasculated by even the snowflakes that are falling they literally rotting in the trenches they're becoming less of men and they believe that because now they're being completely tortured not by the war itself but by Nature it them the letter of a man so this is how we can link war and identity and their emasculation by the weather
• the final one all their eyes are ice: 'and so he's talking about them losing their identity so their eyes are now just ice they're no longer human beings but also it's a homophone so it's a pun their eyes their identity are now no longer people they're just ice'
• Dawn massing in the E her Melancholy Army


  The dawn, the coming of a new day, is now symbolic of death and destruction
• Every new day that unravels is another day for them to be destroyed and emasculated by the weather
• The place that's really being criticized is back home, where the readers are living in luxury while the soldiers suffer
• Poem number four London

  • Written in quatrains with an ABAB rhyme scheme
  • The quatrains and rhyme scheme reflect the oppression and lack of freedom being described
• Blake was obsessed with simple, childlike rhyme schemes to make his protest messages more memorable
• This poem is from Blake's 'Songs of Experience' collection, exposing the realities of people in London under oppression from the government and church
• The monarchy and church


  Enforce 'mind-forg'd manacles' upon the people of London
• Blake is not anti-religion, but anti-establishment - he criticizes the hypocrisy of the church and government
• The poem ends with the 'harlot's curse', suggesting the hypocrisy and transmission of disease from unfaithful men
• Themes in the poems

  • Power and control
  • Identity of the individual
  • Place (London)
  • Time
  • Nature
• The poem ends with the 'marriage hearse', pairing new beginnings with a bleak end
• Kamikaze is written in free verse, reflecting the pilot's desire to break free of social and cultural expectations
• Culture both unites and oppresses

  The family is united in their beliefs about the kamikaze mission, but the pilot is then ostracized for surviving
• There are two interpretations of the poem - the conventional one where the pilot is rejected, and an unconventional one where he is brought back into the family through the daughter's perspective</b>
• Themes in Kamikaze


  • Identity
  • War
  • Place and time
  • Power of nature