question 2 comparative anthology

Question 1

PBB form

Answer 1

The poem is a dramatic monologue written from the perspective of an unborn child, who is pleading to God (or a higher power) for protection from the corruption and horrors of the world.

Question 2

PBB line length

Answer 2

here is no fixed stanza length or rhyme scheme. The poem is written in free verse, which reflects the unpredictability and chaos of the world the child fears entering.

Question 3

PBB structure

Answer 3

The repeated use of “I am not yet born” and imperative phrases like “protect me,” “forgive me,” “guide me” emphasize the speaker’s vulnerability and the prayer-like form.

Question 4

PBB mood

Answer 4

Because the speaker is an unborn child, there is a sense of extreme vulnerability and isolation. The repeated pleas show fear and powerlessness in the face of an overwhelming, corrupted world.

The repetition of “I” statements and commands like “protect me,” “guide me,” “hear me” create an anxious, almost desperate mood. The reader feels the intensity of the speaker’s anxiety and the urgency of their plea.

Question 5

PBB tone

Answer 5

There’s a critical tone toward the state of the world. By listing horrors and moral failings, the poem subtly condemns society’s inhumanity, violence, and lack of conscience.
The tone also reveals fear and distrust—the speaker anticipates betrayal, violence, and the loss of identity. The references to being manipulated or controlled (“blow me like thistledown,” “dragoon me into a lethal automaton”) show a deep concern for being used or corrupted.

Question 6

PBB imagery

Answer 6

“Bloodsucking bat or the club-footed ghoul”
→ These evoke horror and evil, suggesting that the world is filled with monstrous threats.
“Dragoon me into a lethal automaton”
→ Suggests being forced into becoming a mindless killing machine; fear of losing one’s humanity.

Question 7

SFMT mood

Answer 7

At the beginning of the poem, the speaker expresses confusion and emotional pain about losing her native language. The mood is unsettled, reflecting her internal struggle:
As the poem progresses, the mood shifts to hopeful and empowered when her “mother tongue” starts to grow back:

“it grows back, a stump of a shoot / grows longer, grows moist, grows strong veins”
→ The imagery of growth brings a positive and uplifting mood, symbolizing cultural resilience and personal strength.

Question 8

SFMT tone

Answer 8

Early in the poem, the tone is slightly defensive, as the speaker is responding to someone questioning her sense of identity:
The repetition of “you ask me” and the explanation of how her language feels lost shows frustration at having to explain this deeply personal experience.

Question 9

SFMT imagery

Answer 9

“it grows back, a stump of a shoot / grows longer, grows moist, grows strong veins”
→ The tongue is compared to a living plant that regrows. This imagery suggests natural resilience, vitality, and the deep-rooted nature of language and identity.
→ Words like “moist”, “veins”, and “shoot” make the tongue seem alive and physical, emphasizing how essential it is to the speaker’s being.
“your mother tongue would rot”
→ The word “rot” evokes decay and loss, creating a disturbing image of cultural identity dying or being forgotten.

Question 10

SFMT language

Answer 10

The tongue is used as a central/extended metaphor throughout the poem. It represents language, but also cultural identity, communication, and self-expression.
The metaphor allows the speaker to explore how identity is deeply tied to language, and how losing or regaining a tongue is more than just a linguistic process—it’s a personal and emotional experience.

Question 11

SFMT form

Answer 11

Dramatic monologue causes This makes the poem feel intimate and confessional, drawing the reader into the speaker’s internal conflict.

Question 12

SFMT structure

Answer 12

The poem is written in free verse—no strict rhyme or meter. This mirrors the freedom and complexity of identity and the blending of languages.
The irregular line lengths and lack of punctuation at times reflect emotional spontaneity and fluidity of thought.

Question 13

HP2 mood

Answer 13

At first, the mood is gentle and naive, capturing a child’s limited understanding of time and the adult world:’Something Was Very Wrong’
When the teacher leaves the child alone as punishment, the mood becomes more lonely and disoriented:
As the child begins to observe the world in his timeless state, the mood shifts again to something calm, reflective, and almost magical:

Question 14

HP2 tone

Answer 14

The nostalgic tone reflects a fond remembrance of childhood, with all its confusion, innocence, and wonder.
There’s also a light critique of authority, especially in how the teacher punishes the child without realizing his lack of understanding.

Question 15

HP2 language

Answer 15

These phrases reflect the child’s misunderstanding of adult language and time, and how grown-ups impose vague ideas that don’t make sense to him.
The capitalisation turns these into big, abstract ideas, showing how confusing and mysterious adult instructions feel to a child.
Ironic The teacher assumes the boy knows how to tell the time, but he doesn’t – which is humorous, yet also a quiet critique of adult assumptions.

Question 16

HP2 imagery

Answer 16

This metaphor turns the clock into a personified, surreal figure, showing how the child makes sense of the world through imagination.
The child’s experience becomes magical and peaceful, as if he’s escaped the adult world.

Question 17

HP2 form

Answer 17

The poem is written in free verse: it has no set rhyme scheme or regular meter, mirroring the child’s unstructured, nonlinear perception of time.
This lack of formal structure reflects the central theme of timelessness—the boy doesn’t understand how time works, and so the poem itself avoids strict rules.

Question 18

HP2 structure

Answer 18

The poem is made up of 11 stanzas, mostly 3 lines each (tercets), though some vary slightly.
The short stanzas reflect the fragmented, scattered thoughts of a child trying to make sense of the adult world.

Question 19

Piano tone

Answer 19

The tone conveys a deep sense of longing for the past, especially through the speaker’s vivid memories of listening to his mother play the piano. The music evokes an intense emotional response, as seen in phrases like “I weep like a child for the past,” reflecting the speaker’s emotional connection to his childhood and the memory of his mother.

Question 20

Piano mood

Answer 20

The mood is largely nostalgic, as the speaker is transported back to his childhood memories through the sound of the piano. The reader may also feel a sense of longing for a time when life seemed simpler and more emotionally raw.

Question 21

Piano imagery

Answer 21

“The mother, who is there, I see her, like a vision in the room.”
The visionary imagery of the mother reaffirms the speaker’s emotional attachment to his childhood, but the description also feels dreamlike and distant, adding a sense of longing and nostalgia.

Question 22

Piano language

Answer 22

“I weep like a child for the past” is repeated, underscoring the depth of his longing and grief. This repetition enhances the sad mood and the speaker’s inability to move beyond the emotional hold the past has on him.
symbol of the speaker’s lost childhood and the connection to his mother. It represents not just music, but also comfort, security, and a time of emotional innocence:

Question 23

Piano form

Answer 23

n some ways, the poem resembles a dramatic monologue because the speaker is alone in his reflection, and the poem feels like an inner dialogue or soliloquy. However, unlike a traditional dramatic monologue that addresses another character, here the speaker is talking to himself, evoking a sense of self-reflection.

Question 24

Piano strcuture

Answer 24

(quatrains). The regularity of the stanzas gives the poem a sense of order and stability, which contrasts with the emotional turbulence the speaker feels. ABAB rhyme scheme throughout. This regular rhyme pattern creates a musical rhythm that reflects the subject matter of the poem, the piano music. The structured rhyme scheme gives a sense of harmony and balance, which contrasts with the emotional discord the speaker experiences.

Question 25

LBDSM mood

Answer 25

The overall mood of the poem is melancholic and mysterious. The knight’s encounter with the beautiful, enigmatic lady creates an atmosphere of unsettling beauty and doom. The repeated references to the knight’s emptiness and desolation, as well as the imagery of “pale” and “death,” contribute to a sense of foreboding.

Question 26

LBDSM tone

Answer 26

The tone of the poem is somber and cautionary. Through the knight’s experience, the poem warns against the dangers of being entranced by beauty and desire. The knight’s tragic fate serves as a lesson about the consequences of yielding to temptation without understanding the deeper implications.

Question 27

LBDSM language

Answer 27

Keats uses descriptive and vivid language to bring the scenes and characters to life. The language is sensory-rich, engaging readers with sights, sounds, and emotions. For example, phrases like "haggard and woebegone" and "pale kings and princes too" are charged with powerful imagery and emotion.

Question 28

LBDSM imagery

Answer 28

The poem includes sensory details that engage the reader’s imagination. For example, the knight’s description of the lady’s "sweet" and "smooth" hair, or the “faery’s song”, gives a tangible sense of her allure and seductiveness. The gentle, soothing nature of the sounds contrasts with the underlying danger of the lady’s power, heightening the eerie feeling in the poem.

Question 29

LBDSM form

Answer 29

ballad form, a traditional poetic form that tells a story. Ballads typically feature simple language, repetition, and a narrative structure, all of which are present in Keats’ poem. The ballad form contributes to the oral storytelling tradition and helps convey the narrative of the knight’s tragic encounter with the beautiful lady.

Question 30

LBDSM structure

Answer 30

quatrains maintain a regular structure, which provides a sense of balance and symmetry to the poem, even though the story within is filled with disruption and mystery. This regularity contrasts with the unpredictable and chaotic emotions of the knight, emphasizing the tension between the structured form and the unsettling content of the poem.

Question 31

MLD mood

Answer 31

The mood of the poem is sinister and uneasy. The speaker, the Duke, reveals his control and manipulation over his deceased wife, the Duchess, in a casual manner, which creates an unsettling atmosphere. The way he speaks about her with detachment and possessiveness creates a sense of foreboding, suggesting that he might be responsible for her death.

Question 32

MLD tone

Answer 32

The tone of the poem is arrogant and self-important. The Duke speaks about himself with a sense of superiority and entitlement, as if he has the right to control and manipulate the lives of others. His pride in his status and wealth is evident throughout the poem, and he seems to view his wife’s life as secondary to his own desires and expectations. He describes the Duchess as if she were a mere object, and his tone reveals his belief in his absolute power over her.

Question 33

MLD language

Answer 33

“I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together” suggest that the Duke speaks as someone who is used to giving orders and having them obeyed without question. uses euphemisms and indirect language

Question 34

MLD imagery

Answer 34

The ironic imagery in the poem is particularly striking. The Duke, who presents himself as a benevolent and sophisticated figure, reveals his tyrannical nature through his description of the Duchess’s life and death. His description of the “spot of joy” on her cheek, which he could not tolerate, and his reference to her “all smiles stopped together” create a jarring contrast between the apparent beauty of the Duchess’s life and the violent reality beneath the surface.

Question 35

MLD form

Answer 35

The poem is written in iambic pentameter, giving it a steady, measured rhythm, but it also uses rhyming couplets (heroic couplets):This tight structure mirrors the Duke’s need for control and order, even in the way he speaks.

Question 36

MLD strcture

Answer 36

The entire poem is written in one long stanza of continuous speech, which reflects the Duke’s domineering personality. He doesn’t allow interruption or response—he controls the conversation, just as he tried to control the Duchess. This uninterrupted flow also mimics real speech, making it more personal and disturbing. Enjambment is used frequently, making the poem feel like a natural, flowing speech, but it also shows how the Duke's thoughts spill out rapidly, revealing unintended truths. Caesura (pauses within lines, often through punctuation) slows down key moments, emphasizing the Duke’s need for calculated control: