Poetry - Power And Conflict Flashcards
Main themes and context of ‘ozymandias’
- Shelley disliked the monarchy wnd disliked imposed control by those in power, also againgst religion.
- Power - doesn’t last forever, it changes over time
- written as a sonnet, 14 lines highlighting how ozymandias is in love with himself.
Written in iambic pentameter, second hand story which distances reader from dead king
The end is describing an enormous dessert, showing insignificance of the king - a sonnet continually changing, not consistent a representation of power, always changing.
- ‘king of kings’ a bible quote given to God, shows ozymandias’ arrogance snd perhaps shelley thinks religion will crumble as did ozymandias.
- ‘cold command’ creates an aggressive tone ( alliteration) illustrates his cruelty and the poem critizises these types of tyrannical rulers.
- COMPARE : ‘ extract from the prelude’, ‘my last duchess’, ‘kamikazee’, ‘tissue’.
Main themes and context of ‘London’
-blake often wrote about rebelling againgst the miuse of power and class
- narrator describes a walk through london in 1794
- everyone seems sad and troubled, poem suggets this is caused by oppressive institutions
- repetition of ‘chartered’ refers to everything being privately owned, we see human power and control onto nature, the thames.
- the repetetive stansa structure and rhyme scheme shows the overwhelming troubles of those who live in London, also written in a ‘cyclical structure’ showing the inescapable fate of those in London
- ‘marks of weakness’ ‘marks of woe’, the line is weakened to illustrate the weakness of all.
- Blake moved away from London showing his dis taste of the institutions
- ‘runs in blood down palace walls’ - the poor are suffering because of abuse from the church, monarchy.
- ‘the marriage hearse’ ( oxymoron ). A powerful endomg to a challenging poem crticising institutions.
Context and main themes of ‘ extract from the prelude’
-wordsworth was a romantic poet, it is a dislike of urban life and an embrace of the natural world
- describes taking the boat as an ‘act of stealth’ has a connotation of being sneakyand sly, a morally wromg action but there is no sense of this. Use of ‘positive imagery’gives a sense of power.
- positive imagery : ‘circles glittering’, ‘sparkling light’ gives a celestial quality to the moment.
- we see the poets ego is growing in the way teh description of the boat changes goes from a ‘little boat’ to a ‘elfin pinnace’ gives a sense of magic , hes feeling omnipotent.
-‘heaving through the water like a swan’ (simile) shows the ego
-things change, a shift in language, a state of shock and basic definition of what he sees.
- repetition of ‘huge’ shows its clunky and doesn’t flow well unlike beforehand with the ellaborate vocab. Shows the imoact the mountain has had, showing nature is overwhelmingly powerful.
- one long stanza, almost overwhelming as the poet was by the mountain.
- enjambment, adds to the sens of the overwheling effect of the mountain.
- COMPARE : ‘ozymandias’ ‘kamikazee’ ‘exposure’ ‘tissue’
Context and main themes of ‘my last duchess’
- a dramatic monologue, focusing on the perspective of the duke of ferrara. This presents him as powerful as he dominates and controld the dialogue. Written with rhyming couplet reflects the tight control from the duke.
- ‘my’ (repetition) suggets hes self obsessed and possessive
-duke is keen to point out hes socially superior and powerful - the dukes questions are actually demands.
-‘notice neptune’ neptune was roman god of the sea, a metaphor of the duke as his role over women to dominate and control - set in the victorian era where women became property of her husband, so the poe, could be a crtisicm of victorian society of women being seen as disposable and as property.
- enjambment reflects he may mot have complete control as he keeps blurting out emotion
- one stansa representing how he doesn’t representing a lack of power and control.
-COMPARE with ‘ozmandias’ ‘extract from the prelude’ ‘kamikazee’ ‘tissue’
Context and main themes of ‘charge of the light brigade’
- battle of balaclava
- questions the leadership blunder leasing to the deaths of many
- ballad - tells a story with a refrain ‘ six hundred’ at end of each stansa. Also things we shouldn’t forget, soldiers and leadership errors.
- ‘someone had blundered’ criticising the leadership error which led to this suicidal mission.
- biblical imagery, ‘valley of death’ quote in the bible, praising the bravery and how it should luve on forever as should the bible. Also david and galliath, both containing an underdog taking on a powerful enemy. Light brigade take on the russians - literally illusion to evejts in the Bible
- repetition of ‘honour’ demonstrates the poet glorifying the men.
- ‘while horse and hero fell’ - furthur glorification (noun) ‘hero’
Context and main themes in ‘exposure’
- owen born in 1893, joined army in 1915, died in battle 1918.
- poetry focused on the pointlessness of war
- he structures each stansa in the same way and ends with an anti climax ‘ but nothing happens’ reflecting the building momentum and anticipation of battle which doesn’t happen reflecting the soldiers repetetive and futile situation.
- he uses personification to highlight how weather is more dangerous then ‘ less deadly’ bullets
‘Winds that knive us’ ‘mad gusts’
-written in a cyclical structure, ends where it began, ‘nothing happens’ highlighting the futility of war. - COMPARE, ‘bayonet charge’ ‘ charge of the light brigade’ ‘remains’ ‘war photogropber’
Context and main themes in ‘bayonet charge’
- poem about a ww1 soldier, based on a imagened account
- focuses on the reality pf war and how the true horror is indescrible
- he uses enjambment, even through stanzas which creates a disjoinnted disorientated effect on the reader
- hughes uses caesura causes the reader difficulty a it forces the reader to stop amd think.
- the repetition of ‘raw’ makes it clunky and doesn’t flow well and illustrates the soldiers panic as he cant express the moment, showing the horror of war.
- theres 6 similes ‘like a flame’ ‘numb as smashed arms’ ‘ like statuary in mid-stride’ the use of the similes show how indescrible the moment actually is so hughes can only compare it to something he can describe.
- ‘etcetera’ the tone is mocking, criticising the patriotic values soldiers supossedly have, can be interpreted as a critique of war
-‘his terrors touchy dynamite’ alliterative metaphor perfectly sums up the danger he can inflict on others. - COMPARE : ‘Exposure’ ‘The charge of the light brigade’ ‘remains’ ‘war photogropher’ ‘kamikaze’
Context and main themes in ‘remains’
- presents the horror of war and the effects on conflict on domestic life
- he uses repetition to refelct the sense of guilt the soldier feels ‘somebody else’ deflects the blame from just himself, minimising his role in the event.
- ‘his bloody life in my bloody hands’ (personal pronoun) ‘my’ marks a change in his perception, poem ends with soldier taking responsibility.
- armitage uses enjambment causes the reader to stop and realise the moment the soldiers life was ruined.
- his use of sentence length shows how traumitized the soldier is, ‘then im home on leave.’ This suggests the soldier will be able to forget the event but we know this isn’t true.
- written in a cyclical structure suggesting the trauma the soldier experiences is inescapable
- vague language ‘hes on the ground, sort of inside out’ this reflects how impossible it is to describe the true horror of war.
- ’ drink and drugs wont flush him out’, the word ‘flush’ suggets hes unclean and sidk because of the incident.
- war imagery, ‘dug in behind enemy lines’ this reflects the impact war has had on him he can only think about war and it shows how its inescapable.
- COMPARE: ‘charge of the light brigade’ ‘kamikazee’ ‘exposure’
Context and main themes of ‘storm on the island’
- by seamus heaney, a poem about a how nature is more powerful then humans.
- his poetry focused on rural life, identity and ancestry
- the poem is made up of one stanza snd long sentences symbolizes the overwhelming power of nature
- the enjambment creates a constant barrage of info, symbolising the storm barraging the house.
-he uses the language of conflict to represent the power of nature, ‘blast’ ‘pummels’ ‘exploding’ ‘bombarded’ he uses this language to describe the storm as dangerous and threatening - every day langauge, ‘you know what i mean’ used to suggest this is every day life to the narrator
- ‘exploding comfortably’ (oxymoron) reflect the storm filled world he lives in.
- the poems lack of control and rhyme represents the uncontrollable storm.
- cyclical structure, suggesting powerful storms will occur again and again and again.
-COMPARE: ‘Extract from the prelude’ ‘exposure’ ‘kamikazee’
Context and main themes of ‘poppies’
- a dramatic monologue docusing on a single person giving a speech, writing from the perspective of the soldier.
- highlights the fact the son isn’t there, heightens the sense of loss for the mother
- jane weir is a textile designer
- free verse, doesnt rhyme or have a rhythm, also enjambment. This chaotic structure represents the chaotic impact of conflict at home.
- the enjambment, the break in structure between 2 stansas, ‘all my words flattened, rolled turned into felt, slowly melting’ shows how the mother is breaking emotionally
- written with every day language. ‘Graze’ ‘bandaged’ shows how the idea of her son in conflict means conflict is always on the mothers eyes,nleading her to use this type of language.
COMPARE:, War photogropher, remains
Context and main themes in ‘war photogropher’
- carol ann duffy
- a poem about how we fail to grasp the reality of war
-its structured into 4 stansas and 6 lines, being controlled representing the photogrophers job trying to impose order on the chaos of war - the structure contrasts war as it is chaotic, the unchanging structure may show how the war photogrophers efforts are insignificant as nothing changed making us realise the reality of war but everything will go on as normal.
- cyclical structure, highlights the futility of the photogrophers job as people only take a glimpse and eventually forget
- biblical quote ‘all flesh is grass’ highlighting the fragility of life
- plosives ‘belfast.beirut.phnom penh’ break the language and acts almost like gunfire.
-caesura, full stops force us to think about belfast and these places, as the poem critiques societies inability to stop and reflect on war.
Context and main themes of ‘tissue’
-Dharker was born in pakistan and grew up in glasgow
- explores how thin paper can alter things and has power
- it has power in commerce through receits however its all an illusion, the reality is humans give paper power but its fragile, just the power we let it have
-as humans have tissue as well, the title explores the idea that we are fragile as well like tissues
-‘paper that lets the light shine through can alter things’ could be a reference to bible paper as its see through and could be commenting on the power of god as it can alter things
-‘paper’ is a metaphor used throughout the poem for nature, ‘light’ ‘sun’ ‘daylight’
- ‘ capitals ans monoliths’ represent human government and power
- ‘maps too’ they segregate and divide the world through humanitys power, creating divides which arent’t actually there
- ‘fine slips from grocery shops’ a reference to receipts made by humans and made to control suggests money controls us also backed up by ‘fly our lives like paper kites’ but these are easily destroyed as they are fragile
- so dharker shows human power isn’t permanent, it will eventually break but the power of nature will not be destroyed, seen through ‘daylight breaks through capitals and monoliths’
-COMPARE: to ‘exposure’ ‘extract from the prelude’
Context and main themes of ‘the emigrée
- rumens is a poet and translater
- emigree is a women forced to leave her native contry, often for political reasons
- conflict in the poem is a inner conflict, conflict between heart and head
Seen through juxtoposition of positive and negative in the poem - the structure is often chaotic and enjambment is used and caesura, the ellipsis between the line causes the reader to slow down and think.
- chaotic structure represents chaos experienced in place she loves and lack of power she has in being able to go there.
- despite this there is some structure with each stanza being 8-9 lines showing she has control over her memories.
- positive imagery ‘sunlight-clear’ ‘it tastes of sunlight’ emphasises how she feels positive
- juxtoposition, ‘sick with tyrants’ ‘they mutter death’
Shows how in her head she knows its bad but through the positive imagery and quotations shows the positive memories are more powerful then the negative knowledge - last line ‘evidence of sunlight’
Context and main themes of ‘checking out me history’
- by john argard, a poem about identity and about power
- oral poetry
- repetition of ‘dem tell me’ referring to governments and education systems also phonetic spelling
- the poem rhyms and builds up to emphasise the final exampls seen in the 5 stanza ‘nanny de maroon’
- has intertextual references, robin hood, dick whittington the presentation of history is seen as western history to the poet, seen as a dogmatic and narrow view of history, a clear critique of western eductation
- critiques punctuation by using a lack of it as we are forced to use it, he breaks these chains of being controlled by refusing to use it properly
- ’ i carving out me identity’, ‘carving’ an active task suggesting we have to seek out our true identity, it will validade us. His new found history has empowered him iwth a new sense of his identity
- ‘no dem never tell me bout dat’
COMPARE: Ozymandias, london
Context and main themes of ‘kamikazee’
- all 7 stanzas mase up of 6 lines, the tight structure may represent the tight control the military has over its soldiers and its expectations.
- contrast to this is it has free verse and has enjambment
- poem can be an exploration as the beuty of nature, “feathery prawns” “ a tuna, the dark prince”
The message of this moment is that human life is unimportamt when compared to the vast beuty of nature.
“One way journey into history” - pirpose is fo sjow that a culture can abandon life and glorify death
- war creates nihilism it also explores the importance of memory
