POEMS Flashcards
(15 cards)
From Long Distance II
Written by Tony Harrison 1937.
Context: this poem was inspired by Harrison’s personal experiences after losing both of his parents. He had a particularly difficult and distant relationship with his father however, after he died, Harrison use poetry as a way to connect with his parents and a way of forming a ‘closer bond’ with them.
Meter: I am big pentameter, however, the poetic meter taken from lines 2 and three and following the iambic pentameter as line 3 has one extra syllables making it 11 instead of 10, which shows how to love from his father is unpredictable and unstructured as he’s been grieving the death for two years.
Form: Meredithian sonnet (16 lines) doesn’t follow the 14 lines of the sonnet which shows how the poem expresses the love the father has for his wife and how it is unconditional as she is already dead.
Rhyme scheme: The first three stanza followed the ABAB rhymes scheme. This shows that they are distant and the structure rhymes the formal relationship between them as they have to follow a set of rules however, in the final stanza the rhyme scheme is ABBA which shows that he’s as far away as he can be from his statement of accepting the death of his father.
Themes:
Harrison demonstrates how the experience of grief changes from person to person.
Harrison shows how grief affects us al and can be nonsensical and irrational, but this is what makes ti relatable.
Harrison reassures us that there are no rules on how ot grieve.
Ozymandias
Written by Percy Bysshe Shelly in 1818
Context: This poem was based on the statue of the ancient pharaoh Ramese II who was discovered and brought to the British Museum by Giovanni Belzoni. It was believed that Shelley wrote the poem as an allegory was hidden messages and critiques towards the monarch at the time, King George III who was a corrupt and tyrannical leader. The main message of the poem is that power does not last forever and you have to be a good person for your legacy to be well remembered and cherish.
Form: is a sonnet 14 lines which combines the Shakespeare and sonnet which follows the iambic pentameter with rhythm of 10 syllables per line with stress and unstress syllables and the Patrachan sonnet which is the split between eight and six line within a sonnet - Octa Volta structure.
Rhyme scheme: The standard Shakespearean sonnet uses an ABAB-CDCD-EFEF-GG rhyme scheme. The first three quatrains have steady, predictable alternating rhymes. The final couplet offers a punch at the end. In Ozymandias, Shelley uses a very different scheme: ABAB-ACDC-EDE-FDF. In some cases these are are slant rhymes—“appear”/“despair”—and resist detection. This scheme, with its less memorable rhymes, supports the poem’s theme of inevitable oblivion: just as every person will be forgotten, so will every work of poetry.
Theme:
Shelley shows how time and decay have the power to & Shelley destroy everything.
Shelley illustrates art has the power to record and endure long after the subject si gone.
Shelley suggests human beings are insignificant when faced with the passage of time.
Funeral Blues
Written by W.H. Auden 1938
Context: the poem was written in 1936 as a political satire mocking the death of an unpopular political leader. It was rewritten in 1938 and 1940 as no longer mocking patrol of grief, although the contextual influences are non-specific or linked to audience personal life it is the portrayal of the power of Greek that has an effect on anyone at any time which makes a poem relevant in time, the resurgent of its popularity followed its inclusion in four weddings and a funeral.
Form: Meredithian sonnet (16 lines) more about grief than love - unconventional, anti-romantic poem
Rhyme scheme: Rhyming couplets (iambic pentameter)
Assonance creates a soft flowing tone which makes it sounds like a Eulogy - natural process of grief
The beat and rhythm is a soft and slow - matches a funeral
Themes:
Auden explores how grief can separate us from the rest of the world.
Auden illustrates immensity of grief.
Auden explores how death impacts an individual’s perception of the world, yet the world itself does not change or stop.
The Planners
Written by Boey Kim Cheng in 1992
Context: Singapore has seen its population rise from 1 million people in 1950s to nearly 6,000,000 people into 2021. The increasing people have become been reflected by the increase in infant structure which many view as a positive development but Kim Cheng was born in Singapore in 1965 but immigrated to Australia 1997 when he became frustrated with the changes happening in his country he felt frustrated and disconnected from his country and its history from the changes happening like how to speak of the poem feels the sense of displacement against the back of urbanization like how to speak of the poem feels the sense of displacement against the backdrop of urbanization - art imitating life.
Form and structure: the poem is written in free verse where there’s no clear rhyme scheme in the poem. The form is 27 lines of varying stanza length, again working no pattern. This can be linked to the planner to contradict the supposedly neatly lined up blocks of building, which is precise unlike the structure of the poem. It also show the planner kept on going with the urbanization, the poet is almost protesting against the calculated planners by making the poem creative and unorganized. We can, however make a comment regarding the short length of the lines, which is abrupt and to the point. The lines are almost consuming, which suggest how the planners are very calculated with their plans and kept on building and drilling. In the addition the short lines are well thawed out, which is strategic like the planners.
Lexical/Semantic field of power, urbanization, and history vs. modern.
Themes:
Kim Cheng explores issues of displacement upon the individual.
Kim Cheng argues that the relentless race for perfection and progress results in the neglect or erasure of the past.
Kim Cheng highlights how history works in cycles - everything wil be replaced.
The city planners
Written by Margaret Atwood in 1964.
Context: Critique technology and urbanization in the 1960s.
Form: The seven stanza along and has an uneven sets of lines. The stanzas get shorter at the poem progresses, which the plan is for control as the stanza gets more separated with suggest their futile power to control the neighborhood.
Meter & rhyme scheme: the poem is written and verse with nature or rhymes, which suggest that their plan is not sustainable as there is no structure or rigidity to it.
Themes:
Atwood criticises how nature has been stifled ni order ot create a perfect suburb.
Atwood argues that uniformity and conformity si soulless and bland.
Atwood reminds us that perfection is an illusion.
On finding a small fly crushed in a book
Written by Charles Tennyson Turner in 1873.
Context: Tennyson was a Victorian poet from 1836 to 1914. He was lesser known than his brother Lord Alfred Tennyson, who achieved great fame. He often lived in the shadow of his brother’s success and his worried about his own success and whether he’ll have a legacy that is left behind compared to his brother.
Form & structure: This is a Petrarchan sonnet the poem is split between an octave of eight lines and sestet of six lines. The reason this poem is considered a Petrarchan sonnet is because of the Volta taking place in line 8. It is written iambic pentameter.
Theme:
Tennyson Turner examines the fragility of life.
Tennyson Turner conveys the inevitability of death
Tennyson Turner argues that humanity wil not leave such a beautiful reminder of their existence.
The Telephone Call
Written by Fleur Adcock in 1986.
Context: From the 80s, call calls with common, which is a reflection and commentary on human nature and how people value money and scam. Human always want more and never appreciate life.
Form: No particular form follows his structure of six split into octaves, which is a strict plan and the scripted structure.
Structure : this poem is written and free verse, which is reflected of the chaotic and unpredictable like the nature of the call and the receiver’s emotions in her, not knowing how to feel.
Rhyme scheme: internal rhymes, which is rhyming within the lines connoting how everyone feels the same way.
Themes:
Adcock emphasises the idea that happiness is not something that comes from winning.
Adcock argues that society places too much value on wealth and material goods.
Adcock warns how we have al become obsessed with being given something for nothing.
A consumer’s report
Written by Peter Porter in 1970
Context: in post World War II, the world experience in economic, boom with major businesses, growing in popularity and consumers having money to spend. It was considered the golden age of advertising this involved men in suits, knocking on peoples doors, asking people to answer surveys about products. They became the ‘experts’. Peter Porter worked in themarketing industry in this era of postwar Britain, which inspired him to satirize the obsession for this, he stretches the idea to extreme life itself would become for sale if we carried on.
Form: Dramatic monologue, one person’s perspective and point of view. The parenthesis is where his emotions slip through. Tercet - it starts with three lines to open the poem and is written like an answer to a question.
Structure - Free verse, no order or detail which is in a lifeless and mechanical style symbolizing that the products are turned out with no individualism.
Themes:
Porter argues that life itself has become a product.
Porter highlights the corruption inherent in consumerism.
Porter attacks capitalist ideology and argues that we have internalised the myth of capitalism.
Rain
Written by Edward Thomas in 1916
Context: Edward Thomas died at age 37 at the battle of arrest in 1917. He never saw his work published. He signed up as in infantryman during the first world war in 1915 the following year he wrote the poem rain from hut 51 in his training barracks.
Structure: written and blank first with no rhymes scheme
Meter: follow the iambic. Potter breaks from this at times I am stress and unstressed with 10 syllables. Spondee (a foot consisting of two long (or stressed) syllable) reflects the heaviness of the storm and his mental state that is unpredictable.
Polysydenton - the use of the word and which breaks the rhythm reflecting his overreliance on connect and unpredictability of thoughts.
Themes:
Thomas suggests rain can be seen as a cleansing force that washes away the tragedy of war.
Thomas presents a realistic, non-romanticised view of war.
Thomas illustrates the experience and struggle of constantly living with the prospect of death.
He never expected much
Written by Thomas Hardy in 1928
Context: Thomas Hardy (1842-1928) wrote he never expected much as a poem for his last posthumous collection published in 1928. He was 86 when he wrote this poem in which she may be talking about his life experiences and reflecting on the past.
Meter - I am big rhythm of 2/3/4 beats at a time almost like a song. Lines 1,3,5-7 of each stanza is set in iambic tetrameter (generally follow a da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM rhythm) lines 4 and 8 are in iambic trimeter and line 2 is in iambic diameter (da-DUM, da-DUM).
Rhyme scheme: AAABCCCB octaves of 8 lines symbolizes how life follows the same pattern. The rhyme uses the same words to rhyme which is repetitive. The ‘B’ at the end of the rhyme scheme makes the line stands out.
Themes:
Hardy suggestsallivescontainamixtureofpleasure and pain, success and failure.
Hardy argues the world doesn’t owe us anything, nor can we expect anything.
Hardy emphasises how we are not infallible and wil al die.
Request to a year
Written by Judith Wright in 1955
Context: She didn’t believe that art could change the world, but wanted to break away from the social expectation which she has achieved from writing this poem.
Rhyme scheme: this poem is written in reverse in which she is reflecting that overtime her crafts will be perfected with the rhymes team developing it until the rhyming couplet.
Themes:
Wright wsohs how the power of art ot preserve memory and forge connections between people separated yb time.
Wright highlights the value and significance of art.
Wright displays the legacy of familial connections.
The Spirit is too Blunt an Instrument
Written by Anne Stevenson in 1969
Context: and Stevenson became a mother for the first time in 1957. She felt restricted by the domestic expectations of women at the time falling to a depression where she couldn’t eat read or right, not wanting to abandon her creative ambitions like her mother, she divorced her husband and pursued poetry. She’s telling herself and reinforcing it to herself, trying to be a mother without being overly emotional. If she focuses on being domestic, she can do what she loves. Woman were restricted from doing what they love in which she is trying to trick the man that she’s being a mother and is writing about what she’s ‘supposed to write’ showing her intelligence.
Structure: this poem is written in a precise structure with nine lines per which appeared like spines and hands due to the concise and well structured nature of the poem.
Rhyme scheme: the first and last line of each stencil rhymes which suggest that you have to take deep to find the complexities in life and it isn’t something that can easily be spotted. The details are always there, but we don’t always appreciate our look for it encourages people to appreciate the physical forms of life.
The use of sounds - Stevenson was fond of the use of sounds in her work, particularly when she began to fall death which is reflected by the use of alliteration, which makes the poem sounds almost like a song.
Themes:
Stevenson remindsu sthat life is something to be respected and admired.
Stevenson admires the ability of habit and instinct to create life.
Stevenson argues creation is so complex that ti could not be merely created by the spirit.
Night sweat
Written by Robert Lowell in 1969
Context: Robert Lowell was famous for writing, confessional, poetry, or things about himself and his life in an open and honest way. This poem is classed as an ‘Ars poetica’ which is a poem about poetry and the art of poetry, as a piece of confessional poetry we can view this poem as being his attitudes towards his writing as he suffered from depression and panic attack throughout his life, doubting his ability as a writer. He expresses concern for his relationship with his wife, which is a reflection of real life. A couple years after the poem he split his wife of 23 years Elizabeth Hardwick.
Alliteration: soft alliteration his thoughts is flowing as he is obsessed with the idea of his writers block and felt the pressure to produce a masterpiece or the sweat that keeps gushing out symbolizing his panic which flows out of him.
Rhythm and meter: the poem was written with two combined sonnets (duality of form) of 28 lines, which is a combination of the Patrachan sonnet, and the Shakespearean sonnet, suggesting that he can never achieve the ‘one ‘ in his life. His obsession to make one thing cause him to combine the two sonnets together, and when he tries to make one writing, he ends up using two structure this proves that his desires is unattainable and unachievable.
Rhyme scheme: no said rhyme scheme, but there is some which is shown in the last six line (ABCCBA Chiasmus reversed rhyme scheme) this shows that his wife is the one who saves him from his downward spiral.
The use of assonance shows that the words are flowing out of him in a rant.
The asydenton or missing connectives connotes the thoughts that are moving fast.
The line ‘I dabble in the dapple of the day’ is a perfect line which shows that if he puts the effort in he can produce perfect poetry as he is capable of being a great poet.
Themes:
Lowell presents how intense anxiety can destroy an artist’s potential.
Lowel explores the nature of complex relationships.
Lowel displays how self-doubt can spiral out of control and become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The Man with Night Sweats
Written by Thomas Gunn in 1992
Context: AIDs (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) was a disease that became prominent in the 1980s across the world. It started the decade as a relatively unknown threat, but became seen as the biggest dead to public health by the mid 80s where it began to affect 150,000 new victims every year and was commonly fatal due to the lack of understanding and effective treatment the disease was giving the nickname, ‘The gay disease’ as it predominantly affected them and was most commonly transmitted through intercourse. This stigma was, and arguably still is one of the greatest challenges that the gay community faced due to the persecution gay men faced by society who blamed them for the spread of the disease. Gunn, the man with the night sweats poet, was a gay man who lived in American during the AIDs epidemic of the 80s. He wrote the poem in 1992 part of a wider collection as a tribute to fallen friends who had been ‘cut off society’ from this disease, as well as to act as a coping mechanism for dealing with the threat of infection and death. It also acted as a way of acknowledging the issue in wider society, forcing them to engage with the topic that many view as a taboo.
Rhythm and meter: the rice scheme is a ABABAA with a rhyming couplet at the end that portrays the inevitability of the disease. This poem ships to a half rhyme after the Volta when he shifts to the present his past flows, but his present doesn’t shows his struggles and his cracking voice.
Trimeter with three syllables but changes when he has apologizing in the Volta. This represent his emotion being uncontrollable. It ends on an unstressed instead of a stress which goes down, reflecting the shift from power and strength to weak falling rhymes.
Soft Alliteration to hard, which shows his difficult difficulties and life becoming more painful.
It is a eulogy which is a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for death.
Themes:
Gunn presents the solitude of death and suffering.
Gunn shows what ti means ot sufer with a terminal illness.
Gunn explores human fragility and vulnerability.
Away, Malancholy
Written by Stevie Smith in 1957
Context: Stevie Smith ( 1902-1971) was an English poet who would use simple language and playful rhymes scheme to address big themes in this case, the prolong nature of melancholy and how to fight against it even if it is hard to get rid of. Was known to have suffered with depression and was class as a ‘bit different’ which can be reflected in this poem and how she can’t accept that she’s different, causing her to feel the melancholy. However, she is starting to be recognized later on.
Structure: free verse which reflects how emotions are unpredictable.
The enjambment suggests how emotions is taking over.
Themes: Smith encourages the reader ot embrace positivity rather than letting melancholy consume them.
Smith highlights that our strength lies ni our capacity for goodness and positivity.
Smith inspires the reader to appreciate nature.
