what 2 poems are in the theme of war/conflict (great eight)
Dulce, Wilfred Owens
The Soldier, Rupert Brooke
what 2 poems are in the theme of nature (great eight)
(also links to time/change)
excerpt from the Prelude, William Wordsworth
Death of a Naturalist, Seamus Heaney
what 2 poems are in the theme of love/relationships (great eight)
Valentine, Carol Ann Duffy
Cozy Apologia, Rita Dove
what 2 poems are in the theme of power/place (great eight)
Ozymandias (also links to time), Percy Bysshe Shelley
London, William Blake
what are 2 key quotes from the start, middle, and end of The Soldier?
start:
- “If I should die, think only this of me:” - imperative creates heroic/noble tone, not afraid of death, “die” juxtaposed with “only” (“only” not important), also “if” naïve to death in war
- “in that rich earth a richer dust concealed;” - “richer” England is better, patriotic, even English dirt is better
middle:
- “Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam, / A body of England’s, breathing English air,” - caesura emphasises words, personifies England as loving mother, pace slows down- dying for your country is peaceful & worth it
- “And think, this heart, all evil shed away,” - almost religious sacrifice, dying nobly/as a hero for your country will make you be pure
end:
- “And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,” - lullative alliteration soothing, semantic field of joy/peace
- “In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.” - even heaven is English, dying for your country will give you eternal peace
what is notable about the structure of The Soldier?
- sonnet: traditionally themes of love & contemplation, classical literature, 2 stanzas, 14 lines
- repetition of England/English: shows love for country & emphasises how important it is
what are some context notes for The Soldier? (5 points)
- was written to comfort those who’ve lost someone in the war & to get people to enlist
- written in 1915
- Rupert Brooke never actually fought - died of blood poisoning when serving as officer in British Royal Navy while awaiting deployment on 23rd April 1915
- The Soldier read at Easter service in St Paul’s Cathedral 1915
- he was seen as hero
what are 2 key quotes from the start, middle, and end of Dulce et Decorum est?
start:
- “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, / Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,” - simile, alliteration of “b”, contrasts with what should be young, fit men; evil, doesn’t sound like a hero, caesura emphasises “hags”
- “All went lame; all blind;” - hyperbole emphasises how no one exempt from horrors of war
middle:
- “Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! - An ecstasy of fumbling,” - volta, panic, brings us back to stark reality; “ecstasy” irony, happy to get it over with, reveals the infinite dread of soldiers when nothing happening
- “In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, / He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.” - on its own stanza to highlight the endless nightmare of war, juxtaposes “dreams happy as her day” in The Soldier, caesura slows pace down, tricolon
end:
- “And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, / His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;” - “w” alliteration sound unstable, sounds like baby crying, distress & emotionally unstable; sibilance snake-like, war even worse than Hell & even devil sick of it
- “Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, -“ - unveils how soldiers are innocent, war is a disgusting, incurable “sore” on humanity, killing innocent people horridly
- direct address: “you too”, “If you could hear”, “My friend” - forces reader to think about how they view war
what are some context notes for Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owens?
- it’s jingoistic (politically motivated/propaganda)
- published 1920, received v badly at time bc people not ready to know horrors of war
- autobiographical: written during Owens’ time in the war, enlisted in 1915 & got injured in 1917 - went back to front line though bc wanted to be true war poet, didn’t want to leave his fellow soldiers
- died week before armistice in 1918
what are 2 key quotes for the start, middle, and end of the Prelude by William Wordsworth?
start:
- “I heeded not the summons” - refused to go home, full of youthful excitement/rebelliousness, maybe feels like his home is in nature
- semantic field of joy: “happy time / It was, indeed, for all of us; to me / It was a time of rapture”, everyone happy, universal exhilaration
middle:
- “-All shod with steel, / We hiss’d along the polish’d ice, in games / Confederate, imitative of the chace” - sibilance, sounds like skates in ice; “confederate” united in their excitement & energy
- “So through the darkness and the cold we flew, / And not a voice was idle; with the din,” - images of childhood fun & games, lots of noise associated w joy (“bellowing” earlier too); everyone involved; however “darkness” “cold” & “din” negative connotations, shifting of mood
end:
- shift of time: “Meanwhile, the precipices rang aloud, and every icy crag / Tinkled like iron,” - nature feels lifeless & cold now, can’t get same joy from it
- “alien sound / Of melancholy,” - childish laughs being echoed, speaker doesn’t recognise sounds of “rapture” anymore; enjambment makes that line stand out, this feeling of melancholy both strange & unusual for Wordsworth
- “The orange sky of evening died away.” - end/death of innocence & childish joy, disappearing light; narrator’s feelings to nature changed - he observes vast scale of nature & how humans distant from it (sublime)
what is notable about the structure of The Prelude?
- no rhyme scheme - not easy to put childhood into order, could represent freedom of childhood at beginning
- all 1 stanza - time flowing, all blends in together, childhood in nature is a blur
what are some context notes for The Prelude by William Wordsworth?
- Wordsworth lived 1770-1850
- English Romantic poet who lived in rural areas e.g. Lake District
- had v distant relationship w father, mother died when he was 7/8, sent to boarding school
- lived w maternal grandparents & uncle in rural Cumbria, didn’t get on, contemplated suicide
- spent lot of time in nature/outdoors, believed nature could be like parent or teacher
- poem focused on spiritual growth as a person
- started writing “The Prelude” in 20s, never finished it although 14 books long, autobiographical & focuses on his childhood & relationship w nature
what are 2 key quotes from the start, middle, and end of Death of a Naturalist by Seamus Heaney?
start:
- language related to death & decay: “All year the flax-dam festered in the heart / Of the townland; … Flax had rotted there,”, shows how disgusting it is but kids don’t mind, foreshadows death later in poem; “heart / Of the townland;” - personification, shows how nature embraced by community, however image of rotting heart not very fun
- “Daily it sweltered in the punishing sun.” - suggests nature is dangerous/a weapon, reference to death, makes abundance of nature imagery (“bluebottles” “dragon-flies, spotted butterflies” “frogspawn”) more threatening as nature dangerous
middle:
- sense of childish perspective & Irish perspective: “Miss Walls”, “daddy frog” “mammy frog”, repetition of “and” shows speaker’s childish excitement, mimics speech patterns of young children
- very abrupt ending to 1st stanza: “For they were yellow in the sun and brown / In rain.” - like v abrupt death of naturalist, childhood has to end abruptly/isn’t allowed to flourish; pathetic fallacy, rain negative connotations
end:
- nature as weapon/at war w nature: “angry frogs / Invaded the flax-dam”, … “Some sat / Poised like mud grenades,”
- “The great slime kings / Were gathered there for vengeance” - childish imagination, disgusted exaggerated image, they have control over him; feels like nature out to hurt him
- “and I knew / That if I dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it.” - final nightmarish image suggests change permanent, persona will never love nature again; if he goes back to his past might hurt him/be painful to remember, wants to shake off childhood/past but can’t
what are some key context notes from Death of a Naturalist by Seamus Heaney?
- Seamus Heaney Irish poet, born 1939, died 2013
- grew up in Northern Ireland on family’s farm, described his childhood as “an intimate, physical, creaturely existence… in suspension between the archaic and modern”
- younger brother died 1953, aged 4
- became father for first time in 1966, same yr as his book Death of a Naturalist
what are 2 key quotes from the beginning, middle, and end of Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy?
start:
- first word is “Not a red rose or satin heart.” - persona defines love as what they are not, wants her love to be different, negative word, aggressive/scornful/dismissive tone
- “I give you an onion. / It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.” - “I” self centred, underwhelming, condescending, focus on speaker; moon is big, bright, beautiful so wants her love to be like that - however is an archetypal symbol: while we want to see our love as different to others, there’s still normal archetypes (moon, wedding rings), not as different as we think - is it safe/sane?
middle:
- forceful/controlling tone: “Here. / It will” “It will” - monosyllabic, imperatives, forcing this emotional/intense love upon the other person, “Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips, / possessive and faithful / as we are,”
- “I am trying to be truthful.” - passive aggressive, sometimes you need to see through a persona - do they really love you or is it all about control?, being “truthful” sometimes screen for hurting others/manipulation
end:
- “Take it. Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding ring, / if you like. / Lethal.” - imperative, sounds like a challenge, not durable - will it last like the moon?; platinum more expensive than gold, long lasting/connotations of duration; might break your finger, hurts, want to take it off - challenge, not real love
- “Its scent will cling to your fingers, / cling to your knife.” - smell of onions makes you cry - not for joy but grief, the grief & pain of this intense, controlling love will stick w you forever; “cling to your knife” sounds like threat; could be deadly needing intensity all the time - presenting love as dangerous/possessive force
what is notable about the structure of Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy?
not consistent/irregular structure, visual layers like an onion, free verse, no rhyme scheme - shouldn’t conform to dull/tepid expectations, also wanting a different, intense love is unstable/inconsistent
what are some key context notes for Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy?
- appointed as Britain’s Poet Laureate May 1st 2009 - first woman to hold the position
- Scottish poet & playwright
- writes a lot of love poetry from feminist perspective
- experiences non-traditional love, she’s gay
- wrote Valentine as radio contest thing, takes on a persona: examines those who think their love should be different, always intense & passionate
what are 2 key quotes from the start, middle, and end of Cozy Apologia by Rita Dove?
start:
“I could pick anything and think of you - / This lamp, the wind-still rain, the glossy blue” - picks usual things, celebration of stable, normal love
- admirational, joyful tone: “Astride a dappled mare, legs braced as far apart / As standing in silver stirrups will allow -“, silver gleams, connotations of goodness/purity, also sibilance - soothing relationship
- Fred presented as knight: “One eye smiling, the other firm upon the enemy.” - Rita making a joke, mocks stereotypical idea that lovers should be heroic, Fred isn’t perfect but perfect for her
middle:
- “Today a hurricane is nudging up the coast, / Oddly male: Big Bad Floyd, who brings a host / Of daydreams: awkward reminiscences” - sarcastic, dismissive tone towards storm - Fred will keep her safe; storm dredges up her memories of old boyfriends
- “Of teenage crushes on worthless boys” “all had sissy names” “Were thin as liquorice and as chewy, / Sweet with a dark and hollow centre.” - speaking about them in negative way, saying that first loves are fun but hollow/not stable; “sissy” contrasts w knight for Fred, he has stability that’ll last, mature love
end:
- “We’re content, but fall short of the Divine.” - they’re not perfect, but she’s happy nevertheless
- “I fill this stolen time with you.” - stolen from storm Floyd, could do anything w time but chooses to spend it w Fred, reaffirms her love for Fred; emphasises how she wants to spend her time/life w him; ending of poem being pronoun “you” shows that focus in Fred (contrasts to the “I” in Valentine)
- celebrates ordinary love, Fred not perfect but will help her through the storms of life
what is notable about the structure of Cozy Apologia by Rita Dove?
regular rhyme schemes, stanzas, forms a pattern - stability, stable, loving relationship
what are some context notes for Cozy Apologia by Rita Dove?
- contemporary American poet, combines the historical w the personal
- Hurricane Floyd: v powerful hurricane on east coast of America, 1999 - ppl who lived as far north as North Carolina evacuated, 76 people died
–> hurricane deadly, but she feels safe w Fred
