Exam Poems. Flashcards
(poem is a painting)The mind’s edge sharpens the knife
The “knife” referred to here is a palette knife, used by artists to mix and apply paint.
In the same way, as a knife is sharpened, so the mind “sharpens” the words used in
poetry to make sense of them and give them the power to create images.
(poem is a painting)”slashing the canvas with savage rocks
twisting the trees and limbs into tortuous
shapes as Van Gogh did” hint: what does this metaphor do?
The metaphor continues here, with powerful diction capturing the forcefulness of
creativity. Words such as “slashing”, “savage”, “twisting” and “tortuous” all indicate
that creativity
( poem is a painting) “or bewitched by movement’s
grace, captures the
opalescent skirts of Degas’
ballet dancers. “ hint: what about the ballet dancers is “bewitching”?
The speaker continues the comparison by referring to the artist Degas, who painted
many works with ballet dancers as his subject matter. Their movement and the
beautiful colours in their skirts (“opalescent”) show how art can “bewitch” one by its
beauty.
(pioap)”i
He stood, a point
on a sheet of green paper
proclaiming himself the centre,”
The word “point” both shows his place on the “paper” (the green lands on which he
stands) and it is also that he is trying to “make a point” – to do something of
significance in this seemingly random place.
(pioap)”with no walls, no borders
anywhere; the sky no height
above him, totally unenclosed
and shouted:”
One of the problems he has is that there are no restrictions/order to this place in
nature. His need to draw borders is clear. Note the effective use of breaking the word
“unenclosed” as the “un” carries negative connotations for both lines.
(pioap)”Let me out!”
This seems ironic, as he cries to be “Let out” and yet there is nothing keeping him in.
Rather, it is that he wants to escape from this forbidding place of nature.
(pioap)”He dug the soil in rows,
imposed himself with shovels
He asserted
into the furrows, I
am not random.”
The words “imposed” and “asserted” both show how he is trying to force order into
the randomness of nature. Even digging soil into “rows” is bringing structure to the
“random” nature of the surroundings.
(pioap)”The ground
replied with aphorisms:”
An aphorism is a short, pithy statement expressing a generally held truth/wisdom. In
this case, the ground replies with its own wisdom about nature, which opposes the
man’s efforts to force structure and order onto it.
(anthem for doomed youth)”The type of poem is called a”
Elizabethan sonnet
(anthem for doomed youth)”The rhyme pattern is”
abab cdcd efef gg
