needed poems

Question 1

London

I wandered through each chartered street
The mind forged manacels I hear
Every blackening church appalls
Runs in blood down palace walls
And blights with plague the marriage hearse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w-Vg9xbUzU

Answer 1

1. Simplistic form, like a poem written for children, written as a protest and in order to get it across it is meant to be memorable
2. The streets have been expanded, complaining about urbanisation destroying which is natural - the river
3. The streets are owned, so everything is owned by people
4. Contrast - he wanders so he can still be free if you start looking at London in different ways
5. Metaphor of people being owned by something else, which has been done by yourself
6. Condemning how the society is built like it is with layers, saying it is just how it organised in our minds, but if we stop believing then we will be free
7. The forge is a factory a blacksmith ownes. It is also to fake things. Shows our belief in the social heirarchy is a fake system and built by us.
8. Churches are turning black as there is smog, also pointing out how chimney sweepers are dying
9. He is trying to get the church to do something about it, he is saying the church has lost its way
10. Appalls means shocked so saying the church should be shocked at what is happening to all the children being exploited
11. However he is complaining the church does not do anything so attacking it for its complacency
12. Appall also a material put over a coffin, every church is wearing one and becoming black showing the church is dead and has turned away from Christs teaching
13. Asking us to imagine the French revolution, where the nobles are all executed suggesting this kind of revolution is imminent on the UK
14. Suggesting the soldiers will die defending the King
15. Focuses on instution of marriage
16. He is not condemning it as it benefitted him as he believes in equality for marriage
17. Complaining about men killing off their marriages due to STDs and that therefore literally kills their wives over times
18. Also can harm the child as it will mean they are born with disabilities

Question 2

Remains

On another occasion we got sent out
I see every round as it rips through his life
One of my mates goes by and tosses his guts back into the body
And the drinks and drugs wont flush him out
His bloody life in my bloody hands

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xTfizAjH-8

Answer 2

1. Begins in media res
2. Incident that had a great effect but it was one of many
3. However it is the occasion that had the worse physocological effect on him so he saved it till last
4. Language for deployed, doesn’t sound like a job for the soldier but a punishment, which can show war is a part of exclusion and it is negative
5. Dramatic pause before it, as he swears, cursing himself as he remembers the memory
6. Volta as he begins to blame himself, moving from we to I
7. Emphasised by the violent imagery and the metaphor of it ripping
8. Sees it in the present tense as when the soldier imagines it it is traumatising
9. Uses round instead of bullet, giving idea of circularity which is reflective of him mind always coming back to it so he cannot escape
10. Colloquial language, he does not want to stop at the memory so he ‘goes by’
11. He tosses, casual action which juxtaposes the horror described
12. Sibilance, with repetition of ‘s’ sound, emphasising the casual action and adds a sinister mood while the narrator tries to downplay it and go past quickly
13. Tosses guts is to be sick, which shows how he feels ill looking back while at the time it was a casual action, reflected by the colloquial language
14. Sense of repetition, where he is turning to depression or addiction trying to escape the memory
15. Armitage is not describing one induvidual but many as the soldiers remain with experiences as they return
16. Flushed out metaphor, using language soldiers would use to expose an enemy as they would flush them out of hiding place
17. Flush is also with toilet, which gives us the idea of excrament, which this image is what he wants to get rid of
18. This excrament is how he now sees himself after his part in the killing, he now believes he is worthless
19. Final admission of his own guilt
20. Hands ends with, which structural with land and sand, which describes the dead looter
21. No rhyming couplet for the actual ending which shows discordance. Also emphasises with hands ending with s and not land and sand, showing his lack of control
22. This is a literary illusion, referring to Macbeth and Lady Macbeth representing his guilt and showing that the looters life was just as prescious as the kings
23. The consequence of killing the looter was just as tragic as Macbeths and Lady Macbeths
24. Change in personal pronouns, where he sees himself as the guilty party, giving him a motive for self destruction and suicide
25. Seems like he is talking to someone so if reporter it may be self destruction but it could be to a medical army person, where he is getting a cure by accepting and understanding what he has done

Question 3

Storm on the Island

Sink walls in rock and roof them with good slate this wizened earth had never troubled us
So that you listen to the thing you fear, forgetting that it pummels your house too
You might think the sea is company, exploding comfortably down on the cliffs
Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37cCEMpOn-k

Answer 3

1. Sibilance giving a sinister mood, important as both the storm and conflicts are sinister
2. Consonance give harsh sounds, which shows how harsh the suffering is
3. Earth begins with wisdom but ends with age, giving the impression the society is wizened and shrivelled up, showing politics is making them old and frail
4. Instead of building walls, sinking walls so when you make your identity as protestant or catholic, you are diminishing your experiences
5. Contrast between building house and sinking, shows that he thinks what is going on is a huge mistake juxtaposition
6. Structural feature - direct adress, grouping both protestant and catholic together, showing their division is not real but an illusion
7. He groups them together through their fear and says they have that in common
8. However, if they get rid of fear then they live in peace with each other
9. Metaphor is if you stop fearing the storm then the storm will have no power over you
10. Pummels your house too, any violence shown to one side is violence shown to yourself as well due to the conflicts in Ireland, with ‘tit for tat’
11. Uses symbol for house, the violence in Northern Ireland is destroying everyones daily life even though people think they are protecting it
12. Feels angry through use of fricitaves, where it is forceful. Also sense of anger from him to people who listen to their own fears to listen to the voice in the poem, that everyone is equal
13. Personifies the sea, bizzare image as it is huge and surrounding. Juxtaposes reality of Ireland being surrounded by the sea and the perception of the Northern Ireland’s conflict between Catholic and Protestant being the whole world but in fact it is just them, so they are isolated and should change
14. Juxtaposition of the sea exploding comfortably, symbolising how they used to use bombs in territory and showing how we should not be comfortable around bombs as they are inhumane
15. Saying they are far away at the moment at ‘cliffs’ but warning that the explosions will become closer and closer to home
16. May also be closer to home in Britain as at the time of writing they were not operating in Britain but soon would be
17. Added a predictive nature as the violence will only get worse and closer
18. His moral lesson is there is a huge fear but nothing to be afraid of
19. He is asking the reader to question if the conflicts are strange
20. Oxymoron with huge and nothing suggesting that the nothing they fear has a huge impact but if we realise it is a fight over nothing then we can stop
21. Also suggesting that Christian beliefs are there because people fear death without a God
22. Ending is 4 lines long, so he could be asking readers to write the final line as there would be then a solution to the conflict
23. Ends with a half-rhyme giving us a feeling of unease and things not being resolved properly, inviting us to write the final line

Question 4

Exposure

Our brains ache in the merciless iced east winds that knive us
Dawn massing in the east, her melancholy army attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of grey
So we drowse, sun-dozed, littered with blossoms trickling where the blackbird fusses - Is it that we are dying
Therefore not loath, we lie out here; therefore were born, for love of God seems dying
All their eyes are ice, but nothing happens

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JQ5_koeI8U

Answer 4

1. Upsets our expectations about war from the nature attacking using knives
2. May be seen as a reaction of nature turning against the barbaric nature of man and punishing them
3. Assonance of repeated ‘i’ s slowing down the rhythm of the lines and increasing the exposure that would be felt
4. Personification of weather from the east, weather arming itself and being better armed than the enemy. More danger from weather than enemy
5. Pathetic fallacy, reflecting the emotions of the men, the nature also reluctantly attacks in order to get rid of war
6. Repetition and assonance showing the attack is endless and unstoppable
7. Ranks of clouds, conveying shivering of soldiers on the ground
8. The soldiers escape in their minds, it is descriptions of summer but it is the things he can see now blossoms - snow, wind - blackbird. These are not pleasent but are irritating
9. Even his happy memories are irritating, showing war flips everything flips upside down
10. Blossoms littered, it is rubbish, negative vs the positive image of flowers
11. Moment of peace in the sunshine, being sleepy in the sun but that it not good as it will cause you to be available to be killed and also freeze to death
12. Sibilance used subductively, as nature is seducing him to go to sleep in the cold in order to kill him, why he asks if he is dying
13. He can feel his mind slowing down with the illusions, he is not thinking straight
14. Also thinking the brain is thinking of happy memories as they are the last ones he will have
15. In a way they are happy to make the sacrifice as it is the reason they are born. However saying countries are turning away from Christianity by killing but it is good as it is worthwhile
16. Other connotations is they are lying about saying there is a good reason about fighting
17. War is the proof of if we love God, we would not go to god as he does not support killing so the war feels like an attack on his Christian fate
18. Description of how the men are literally and metaphorically dying
19. Half known may be that they have died quickly over a month or two are they have not had time to get to know them
20. However deliberatly not got close with each other as the pain of their deaths would be less damaging to brain
21. Dead soldiers being dead with eyes open, the eyes are frozen still
22. Also describes the burying party as they are completely unfeeling
23. Eyes also a homophone as their identifies have become ice as they are unable to feel due to cold and their horrific experiences
24. But nothing happens - the death of the winter is worse than dying to the cold
25. He wants a political thing to happen
26. It could be a call for death as it is preferable to the ongoing suffering

Structure - lots of syllables showing the never ending exposure to weather. Half rhymes throughout which unsettles us and is the problem as they want a solution to war but they never get there as the rhyme doesn’t get there. Soldiers under attack then the weather making the attack worse. Then soldiers try and retreat to memories but find there is no justification for war.

He does not use hyperbole as it all happened.

Question 5

Ozymandius

I met a traveller from an antique land
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed
Look on my works, ye mighty and despair!
Of that colossal wreck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUN2BmHjO3Y

Answer 5

1. Distance themself from the statue through both time and space by hearing from it. Time as they came from an ancient land.
2. He is doing this because he is writing against the political ruling in Britain as we were becoming ruled by the military as that could turn into turning into a dictatorship
3. Wants to show the desire for being a ruler is a part of history as now we can move away from this society as we have a democratic future ahead of us
4. The statue has a wrinkled lip conveying a sneer but also associated with age as wrinkles. This shows the power was already on its way out when it was made and he was already old when he was most powerful
5. Shows we cannot cling onto power even when we feel powerful and it can go away quickly
6. He is saying the rulers rule with no symapthy and we need a democratic power as people in power have no interest in the non powerful
7. Cold command, harsh ‘c’ sounds shows how emotionless those rulers are. Also sees the military leader of the one aboutn to become Prime Minister in the UK
8. Ambigious as it describes both Ozymandius and the sculptor
9. However there is a volta in the sonnet
10. Hand that mocked them is Ozymandius, showing he feels everyone else is inferior
11. Heart that feeds is nothing as he feels nothing, so the people get nothing
12. Also be read to be the sculptor as he is the artist that has survived Ozymandius as art is far more powerful than political power
13. The hand is the sculptors, making it look so much like he really is as he is unkind and selfish. However Ozymandius does not realise
14. His heart has fed, turning the leader into a work of art that will last into history, as he served his duty. Also going to spread the word about the ruler as it came from a traveller as well as Shelly using it and spreading the word through poetry
15. Ironic as we are studying Shelly and not the leader, showing art will outlive the rulers
16. Irony as he thinks people will be despaired about how powerful he is
17. However there is now nothing left as it is just desert
18. Also irony as ‘my works’ is used of talking about the artist, showing even as the leader thought it was a celebration of himself but instead one of the artist
19. The one who should be despairing is Ozymandius as he is not the one who lives long and he should be praising the artist
20. Shelly ends on a greek reference with the colossus of Rhodes as it was destroyed.
21. Even the most mighty symbols of power get destroyed over time.
22. We still know about the Collossus of Rhodes as it will be in education in the time. This is about the living on of art
23. However, Shelly wants the same as Ozymandius for his poetry to live on but it is not badly but to enjoy

Question 6

War photographer

In the dark room, he is finally alone with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows
A priest preparing to intone a mass. Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Pehn. All flesh is grass.
A half formed ghost. He remembers the cries of this mans wife, how he sought approval
The readers eyeballs prick with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers
From an aeroplane he stares impassively at where he earns his living and they do not care.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUN2BmHjO3Y

Answer 6

1. Begins with trochaic pentmeter where it stresses the first syllable
2. Then swaps to iambic pentameter, changing the rhythm, unsettling us
3. Dark room is symbolic of where the film was developed, suggesting his purpose is dark and the morals are good. Ambigious is he dark or recording dark events
4. He is pleased with being alone and he does not like humanity and could not think men are good due to what he sees in wartime
5. Spools are the unravelling and also spools could convey amounts of suffering
6. Sibilance used sinisterly, showing what he is doing is sinister by not interfering
7. It is an illusion to death as the semantic field is the graveyard and gravestones
8. Shows a conflict between if he profits from death or tries to prevent death
9. Half rhyme used to unsettle us, also switches from iambic to trochaic again
10. Priest preparing, consonance feels violent, plosive sounds linking us to how the people have died
11. This is a metaphor as when developing the photos he is someone who is godly as the priest is helping the sole into heaven while the photographer is just recording death and not doing anything good, suggesting it is ironic as God does not exist as there is mass slaughter
12. The conflicts get bigger and bigger, also an illusion to excuse death as the metaphor means we are born to die
13. However as Duffy suggested there is no God, treating all death is grass is showing humans are not mattering to the killers and perhaps to the photographer
14. This may be ironic as the photographer wants to feel the pain of death to make the reader feel the pain of death but a consequence is the fact he is no longer able to feel the pain
15. Another metaphor, as once it develops it looks like a ghost - semantic field of death reminding us the person in the photo is most likely dead
16. He cannot focus on the dead person but only the living wife
17. Cries at the end of the line to emphasise the pain, contrasts his views of asking for approval
18. This approval is never given but he takes the photo anyway , moral dilemma, is he taking it to show how horrific it is or is he doing it to intrude and steal something he does not own
19. Internal line, making the line feel jolly, done ironically as readers should be feeling shock and horror
20. She uses it to contrast with emotion as the tears and prick, conveys how little the tears are and there is no emotion and no result in the photo being shown to the reader
21. Emphasised as they wash it out taking a bath then get drunk, losing their memory, suggesting modern people depend on suffering of others but ignore the suffering.
22. May medicate through beer so they do not have to face social impacts
23. All of his efforts have been for nothing
24. Ends with a rhyming couplet, suggesting a sense of completeless, done ironically as there is nothing complete about what the photographer feels
25. Ambiguity at where he is staring - the war or Britian
26. It is impassive, he feels destroyed feels no pleasure in coming home and no pleasure at making the war effort better
27. Has desperation in making people at home change the war
28. Feeding limited amount of emotion in people is how he makes his living
29. He stays alive while the people he makes his living off die
30. Trochaic and iambic pentameter, making it even more unsettling