Poetry comparison plans Flashcards
(13 cards)
Identitiy in search for my tounge and half-caste.
- Both writers use repetition to emphaise how angry they are. (this shows how much they value identity)
- while agard is proud of his identity bhatt is worried she is going to lose hers.
- society doesnt let you embrace full identity.
- both use extended metpahors to make a point.
Injustice in Blessing and Prayer before birth
- ending differently
- different tone
- listing
- talks about humanity
- repetition
- extended metaphors
What is the plan for a comparison between remember and DNGG?
- both structure - no control
- Both euphmisms
- accepting / not come to terms with death
- death = something to fight / unavoidable
What is the plan of a comparison between my last duchess and sonnet 116?
- relationships = guide / transaction
- constant / fickle
- comfort / suffering
- form = love / duke
What is the plan for a comparison between sonnet 116 and LBDSM?
- guide / trap.
- constant / fickle
- confidence / uncertainty
- both use strucute and form
power in the tyger and prayer before birth
- Both worry about misuse of power and its effects on the world.
- in PBB power is negative and speaker angry at lack of control but in tyger speaker is in awe and wonder of gods power.
childhood in half past 2 and childhood
- Both from childs perspective
- both use childish language to highlight naivety and evoke sympathy
- both poems use structure to emphaise mood
- hide and seek child in exposed to realities of adult world, half past 2 child stays in fantasy world to escape injustice of adult world. (half past 2 child never really changes)
parental relationships in Poem at 39 and if
- both about a father who shares life lesson with their child (want to see child prosper)
- both have different structure to mirror the different relationships (P39 more free verse- natural unrestricted emotions, realistic) but (If rigid ABAB, 4 stanzas, formality- idealistic veiw on life, not personal)
- both show love in different ways (but in P39 slightly more intimate, indirect lessons, mundane details) (explicitly intrucutional, goal is turning him into a good man).
relationships in my last duchess and la belle dame sans merci
- Both different unhealthy power dynamics
- MLD presents relationship as a bussiness transaction where LBDSM presents it as a trap
- In MLD men are dominering in LBDSM the man is at merci of the woman.
memories in search for my tounge and poem at 39
- both have the theme of loss : lost language and father
- both poems grow in strength: SFMT shows a stronger grasp on memory of her language and P39 finds strength in her fathers memory and who he has made her into
- both peoms are personal memories: hopes to share her experiecne with the reader, shows openess with even negative memories.
- both poems gain a sense of identity through memories: language and father
power of love/music in sonnet 116 and piano?
- Both forces are portrayed as powerful beyond control
- Sound and structure reflect emotional influence
- Link to memory and permanence (more powerful than time)
- Emotional vulnerability and masculinity - Shakespeare’s speaker asserts power over emotion, while Lawrence’s succumbs to it
masculinity in if and my last duchess?
- PARA 1 – Control and Power
If—:
“If you can keep your head when all about you…”
“If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you”
“If you can wait and not be tired by waiting”
My Last Duchess:
“I gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together”
“The curtain I have drawn for you”
“As if she ranked / My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name…”
Key Comparison:
If—: Power through self-control
Duchess: Power through dominance and status
- PARA 2 – Emotions
If—:
“If you can dream—and not make dreams your master”
“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / And treat those two impostors just the same”
“If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken / Twisted by knaves…”
My Last Duchess:
“I choose / Never to stoop”
“She had / A heart – how shall I say? – too soon made glad”
“bough of cherries some officious fool”
Key Comparison:
If—: Emotional resilience and balance
Duchess: Repressed emotion, jealousy, and overreaction
- PARA 3 – Symbolism and Gender
If—:
“Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, / And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!”
Focus on male development through inner values
My Last Duchess:
“Notice Neptune… Taming a sea-horse”
“That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall”
Key Comparison:
If—: Masculinity = internal growth
Duchess: Masculinity = control over women and status symbols
- PARA 4 – Structure and Form
If—:
Dramatic monologue
Iambic pentameter
One long sentence – continuous flow of advice
Only one end-stop at end
My Last Duchess:
Dramatic monologue
Rhyming couplets and iambic pentameter
Frequent caesura and enjambment – rambling tone
Personal pronouns: “my”, “I”, ends with “me”
Key Comparison:
If—: Structured, balanced, composed – mirrors message
Duchess: Formal control, but leaks emotion – mirrors insecurity
- Conclusion
If—: Masculinity as self-mastery and emotional intelligence
Duchess: Masculinity as insecure domination
Both explore power, but one through inner calm, the other through possessiveness
memory in piano and poem at 39
- Control & Power in Memory
Walker’s memories are grounded in legacy and empowerment.
Lawrence’s memories are involuntary and overpowering.
Both explore how the past still exerts emotional control over the present self.
- Emotion in Memory:
Both poems use powerful emotional language to show longing.
Walker’s grief is more balanced with admiration; Lawrence’s grief is destabilising.
Walker shows controlled emotion; Lawrence shows emotional collapse.
- Symbolism & Gender:
Both challenge traditional gender roles through memory.
Walker shows a father who is gentle and nurturing; she celebrates that legacy.
Lawrence shows memory breaking down male emotional barriers.
- Structure & Form:
Both reflect the emotional movement of memory through form.
