POEM CONTEXT Flashcards
(14 cards)
The Manhunt – Simon Armitage
Context: Written for a documentary about soldiers returning from the Bosnia war. Based on a real soldier, Eddie, and narrated by his wife.
Themes: PTSD, war trauma, love.
Sonnet 43 – Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Context: Victorian era. Written to her husband (Robert) as part of a series of sonnets.
Themes: Deep, spiritual, and eternal love.
London – William Blake
Context: Romantic poet, critical of industrialisation and corruption. Lived during the French Revolution.
Themes: Oppression, poverty, loss of innocence.
The Soldier – Rupert Brooke
Context: Written during WWI. Brooke died of sepsis before seeing combat.
Themes: Patriotism, idealised death, national pride.
Propaganda Tone: Glorifies war, ignoring its horrors.
She Walks in Beauty – Lord Byron
Context: Romantic poet, inspired by seeing a woman at a party in mourning.
Themes: Physical beauty, inner goodness, admiration.
Romanticism: Focus on beauty, nature, and individual emotion.
Living Space – Imtiaz Dharker
Context: Inspired by slums in Mumbai. Dharker often writes about social issues and identity.
Themes: Poverty, hope, human resilience.
Modern Poem: Highlights inequality and faith in chaos.
Cozy Apologia – Rita Dove
Context: Autobiographical. Written during Hurricane Floyd. About her husband Fred.
Themes: Everyday love, comfort, security.
Valentine – Carol Ann Duffy
Context: First female Poet Laureate. Challenges traditional views of love and gifts.
Themes: Love’s reality, honesty, pain.
Death of a Naturalist – Seamus Heaney
Context: Reflects Heaney’s Irish rural upbringing. Part of a collection on nature and childhood.
Themes: Loss of innocence, nature’s power, change.
A Wife in London – Thomas Hardy
Context: Set during the Boer War. Hardy was anti-war.
Themes: Grief, irony, futility of war.
To Autumn – John Keats
Context: Written in 1819. Celebrates the season and nature’s cycles. Keats died young from tuberculosis.
Themes: Transience, nature, mortality.
Dulce et Decorum Est – Wilfred Owen
Context: Written in WWI trenches. Owen aimed to expose the horrors of war.
Themes: Brutality, anti-war, disillusionment.
Latin Title: “It is sweet and proper to die for one’s country” — shown to be a lie.
Ozymandias – Percy Bysshe Shelley
Context: Romantic poet. Based on an Egyptian statue. Critiques power and pride.
Themes: Power’s impermanence, human arrogance.
Historical Allusion: Ozymandias = Rameses II.
Mametz Wood – Owen Sheers
Context: About WWI battle in France where many Welsh soldiers died. Written decades later.
Themes: Memory, sacrifice, uncovering the past.
