poetry quotes

Question 1

antique land

Answer 1

metaphor here compares his empire to a hsotircal artifiact, something old and often recognised for its historical importance at best, but not something that holds any current relevancy

Question 2

shattered visage

Answer 2

draws connotations to broken croquery, an rpny as he would want to be viewed as a timeless strong leader and here not only is he fragile but he has been broken down

Question 3

frown, wrinkled lip, sneer

Answer 3

irpnic because he would want his dictatorship to be seen as a wanted positive thing, yet here his character is villainized by his true persona, he has no hubris

Question 4

king of kings

Answer 4

term used for jesus biblically, he sees himself so highly he is a divine figure
enscribed on ramases iis tomb- shows a realism to the message

Question 5

bondless and bare, lone and level

Answer 5

both these alliterations excentuate the vast nature of the dessert and the overwhelming power of nature in comparison to the finite and forgotten empire he once ran

Question 6

cold command

Answer 6

the frickative alliteration here creates a discomforting phrase that implies a sense of arogancy and agression, shows how shelley is mocking the king and rulers for this harsh personas

Question 7

merciless iced east winds that knive us

Answer 7

iced and east create a hard ending that shows the discofort
merciless sets a harsh tone that shows the unforgiving
behaviour of nature in contrast to the vacant enemy
knive is a harsh verb that highlighst the persoanl nature of the attack in comparison to the ‘rumour’ of the enemy

Question 8

love of god seems dying

Answer 8

this would shock any christian audience or propaganda followers as the montone and torturous aspect of war is so tormenting that there cannot even be a perception of a divine prescence, questions the problem of evil and the concept of benevolence
jesus died at the cross to atone for humanities sins and in many ways the soliders are dying a matry like death too for societal wrongs
Christianity is associated with a high moral compass

Question 9

like some dull rumour of some other war

Answer 9

detachment from the battle, shows the unimportance of the actual battle in comparison to the natural and phycological torture hes enduring
auditory imagery

Question 10

sudden successive… streak the silence

Answer 10

heavy sibilance and a continuation of fricative alliterations throughout the stanza audibly mimic the sound of bullets, very violent

Question 11

air shudders black with snow

Answer 11

unnerving metaphor, used in compairson with the audible bullets accompanied with sibilence and the fact something so visually violent is discarded in comparison to nature enlarges the serverity of it
shadders ppersonifies nature to show how cold and unconmfortable the surroundings are, mimicking the freezing of the soliders
black with snow is avery unnverving metaphor as snow is something often associated with homliness and festivities whilst black has dark and evil connotations, juxtaposing its typical angelic white tone

Question 12

her melancholy army

Answer 12

nature is sad, reflective the monotonous anture of war as even the war with nature in bland and empty
the perosnfiiecation of nature and not the enemy shows it to be a much more imminent threat, her plays into typical ideals of mother anture and hence a nurturing figure sent by a benevolent god, but here rather she is the dictator of the real enemy

Question 13

we are prepared

Answer 13

we creates a sense of community and shows how togetherness is highlighted in a time of terror and is needed to endure horrors
it is also ironic as they have had tp have become adapted due to the constant atrociities of nature
they also have a false sense of security proving the hopeless nature of man against nature, he cannot ever have a real control over the naturla world

Question 14

pummels
strafes
salvos

Answer 14

miliatistic verbs
usage of plosives and sibilence that mimic both a very persoanl punching type of fight adn a war like flight of bullets
personfiies natures power against humanity as if it were in battle and juxtaposes the passive nature of the humans

Question 15

like a tamed cat turned savage

Answer 15

simile likens nature not as something physically violent but as something traitorous
it was docile and can hugely help man prosper, but it can also switch to become a storm
theres enjambment in this line which highlights the distain and horror at the betrayal

Question 16

we just sit tight

Answer 16

at the climax of the play theres a lot of milaristic and movement filled langauge, but theres a stark contrast here as the humans are completely passive and unable to have any conflict with the strength of nature

Question 17

led by her

Answer 17

the brackets imply that he later is reflecting on his autonomy and conluding he has no power of movemnet compared to what nature dictates for him

Question 18

act of stealth vs stole

Answer 18

this is the cyclical structure of the poem, the shift in wording highlights the phsycological change in the man as he begins with arrogance and a perception that his mission is justiifed and in good fun, whilst later he feels the serverity of his tresspasing and has been humbled

Question 19

glittering idly/ sparkling light

Answer 19

light motif, these two represent a comforting and static type of beauty much like glitter, it is dazzling and submissive to mans control

Question 20

elfin pinnance

Answer 20

theres a heavy usage of fairytale and elloquent language that exaggerates the beauty of nature, he is sbeing surreal and has no perception of natures power

Question 21

unswerving line vs i struck and struck again

Answer 21

at first he views nature as submissive to his dictations and he does nto struggle to make it abite, but later upon the volta he realises its great size and becomes very aware of the greatness he faces

Question 22

huge peak, black and huge

Answer 22

black continues the light motif except now it has fallen to darkness foreshadowed by the grey sky, nature is no longer passive but agreat body
the repeatition fo simpler vocab such as huge shows both the lack of elloquence as he cannot diminsih nor mock the size of nature, and also shows stuttering as he is at a loss for words

Question 23

strode after me

Answer 23

here nature is personfiied showing the readers new respect for it as a greater being
strode shows it is not chasing him but does not need to, it juxtaposes the panicked striking of his oars as nature is so much more powerful it can beat mankind somewhat lazily

Question 24

charge of the light brigade

Answer 24

charge is a double meaning as it can stand for the literal charging of the bridade in their suicide mission against the russians who had more power and a physicla high ground
charge could also refelct the poet charging the leaders will the mass genocide of the men

Question 25

beginning of charge- half a leagues

Answer 25

it is in media res meaning the poem begins at he center of the action, there is a sudden and abrupt feeling that means the reader enters the poem through a feeling of imminent threat and risk

Question 26

the valley of death

Answer 26

metaphor, uses slight euphamims to not brutally attack the goverment and raise anger for the loss
biblical allusion which describes god will be with people as a form of protection from harm, this is high irony as we know there was a suicide mission. it can also be seen as a metaphor for the fact that they did not have higher powers in their superiors and the goverment to aid them in times of help- signalling corruption as they cannot emulate the just behaviour of divine powers
the idea of a valley gives a sense of confied proximity showing sympathy as the tragedy was an inevitable suicide mission

Question 27

anaphora of theirs and refferal as the six hundred

Answer 27

theres no sense of indivualism as it would diminish from the sense of group unity and courage, also it was to honour the group obedience and perhaps to question it as as a unit they were utterly helpless to higher powers

Question 28

horse and hero fell

Answer 28

the alliterations in h draw sympathy as it makes a focus on this line, hero creates a sense of matrydom as they have sacrificed themselves for their country
its also a euphamistic tone as theres no mention of death or bloodshed, though fell alludes to the death it does not straight say it

Question 29

jaws of death
mouth of hell

Answer 29

both slightly euphamistic metaphors that create a violent and unsettling imagery whilst only really alluding to the demise of the soliders. jaws has very claustraphobic close proximity connotations as if they are being physically swallowed, shows the sad inevetability of the suicide mission

Question 30

someone had blundered

Answer 30

this is very passive and relaxed in comparison to what is a goverment homocide and pratcially a war crime. as the poet lauriet he had to be very careful with his wording especially in the very sensitive victorian era, so this was actually quite abold statement.

Question 31

all the world wondered

Answer 31

this is a bit of a hyperbole to exentuate their glory as if it were interantionally famed
if they did wonder its a bit euphamistic as many would have been critiquing the violent nature of the attack

Question 32

suddenly he awoke

Answer 32

this begins the poem in a sudden medias res which creates a startled tone that immediatly draws stress and tension to the reader
sleep would be the only occasion where you could find tranquility in war and to be visibly thrust out of that creates an uncomfortable imagery
moreover its likely this is a metaphor for the facade of chivalry and pride that caused many young soldiers to enlist into warfare, and its in the center of the atrocitiy that hes been jolted awake and come to understand the horrors of the war

Question 33

patriotic tear

Answer 33

tear is connotations to crying, sadness has likely been provoked as the soldier has come to abrupt terms with the futility of warfare and how there is no sense of nationalistic glory to be gained from it- hughes is criticisng the propaganda of the brittish goverment.

Question 34

bullets smacking the belly out of the air

Answer 34

plosives in b and s create a hard and violent noise that add to the chaotic tone in reading the poem
smacking is a violent personfiications of bullets however the semantic field of mixing charictarstics of humans weapons and nature creates a disjointed and confused atmosphere as its unsnure as to why the bullets are targetted at nature
throughthe smentic field hes exposing the useless nature of war and how there is no victor
we can also see the effect of warfare on the surroundings, constrast to exposure, we can feel sympathy for the destrction of nature as it wears human traits

Question 35

lugged a rifle numb as a smashed arm

Answer 35

lugged draws connotations to a physical struggle as he is unprepared and young, not fit for his position in war but mostly no one should be subject to the atrocities of war
numb and cold shows how commiting mass acts of vioelcen is uncomfortable and out of character for him
aso is an uncofortable metaphor that continues to blend the differnt positions in war

Question 36

king honour human dignity etc

Answer 36

here he uses an aeyndetic list to mock the traits that propaganda used to employ unwilling youths into warfare with the promise it would be ‘over by chritsmas’, etc shows a boredom as the true atoricites of warfare have revealed that these titles are insignificant

Question 37

cold clockwork of the stars and nations

Answer 37

humans are completely dehumansied here to pawns in a game betwen higher powers, the metaphor here exposes the useless loss of life in war and the corrupt nature of it
the hard constoance in the alliteration of c makes the poem more disjointed and puts a light on this section so the reader fully takes in the extremity of the soldiers suffering
clockwork draws connotations to the war being mechanical and calculated, further dehumanising the soldiers