Poetry quotes, connotations and context
Ozymandias Context
-written by Percy Shelley who was a romatic poet
-he was anti-monarchist and supported social justice
-inspired by archeological finds in Egypt in 1817
-archeologists found a statue of Rameses 2 who the greeks called Ozmandias
-Ozymandias thought his statue would stand forever but crumbled over time
-Shelley uses this to show how the power of nature and time is more potent than the power of man
"I am Ozymandias, King of Kings"
Shows Ozymandias's arrogance. "King of Kings"suggests Ozymandias sees himself as equal to God.
"Look on my works, ye Mighty and despair!"
Capitalisation of "Mighty" suggests Ozymandias sees himself as God. Ozymandias thought his statue would last forever and so saw himself as more powerful than time itself.
"Nothing beside remains."
Time beat Ozymandias and so time will beat all power of man. Full stop to emphasise this idea.
"Round the decay of that colossal wreck...The lone and level sands stretch far away."
the sand symbolises time. "Colossal wreck" shows the statue is a shell of what its used to be and so is Ozymandias power. In fact the adjective "level" suggests despite all his power Ozymandias made no severe changes in the course of time.
Exposure context
-Written by Wilfred Owen in 1917.
-depicts the horrible conditions in war especially WW1
-Poem shows Owen's own experiences at war which contrast with British propaganda.
-in 1917 there was a very cold winter- it was so bad many men froze to death in the trenches and that is what is happening in the poem.
-anti-war.
"but nothing happens"
refrain repeated throughout the poem to emphasise it. Shows futility of war and that the soldiers in the trenches waiting for the German attack achieved nothing despite their severe suffering.
"what are we doing here?"
questions the reasoning behind war- saying it's futile. Rhetorical question.
"For love of God seems dying."
Refrain. Saying conditions soldiers are facing are so bad they are making them question their faith in God.
"the merciless iced east winds that knive us..."
personifies the weather and shows that it is killing the soldiers. Also shows natures power over man.
"Pause over half-known faces. All their eyes are ice."
"eyes are ice" is for the dead soldiers which we learn frozento death. Also for burying party- "eyes are ice" symbolises their insensitivity to death caused by the horrors of war.
Remains context
-written by Simon Armitage who was poet laurreate
-Armitage is an unconventional poet and he uses a lot of colloquial language and humour in his poems- he does not use humour in this poem to show its seriousness.
-based of a specific soldiers experiences in the gulf war and is a monologue.
-highlights in particular the suffering of soldiers after conflict i.e ptsd
"I see every round as it rips through his life"
graphic imagery to help show the magnitude of suffering soldiers witness.
"he's here in my head when I close my eyes,dug in behind enemy lines"
symbolic of ptsd.military terminology also used to help show wars lasting impact on soldiers- even when they get home still using military language.
"his blood shadow stays on the street".
"blood-shadow" is symbolic- mans death stained both the street and the soldiers mind. The soldier is forced to look at the blood shadow on patrol and relive memories of the death.
"his bloody life in my bloody hands."
shows soldiers guilt. "bloody hands" references macbeth- Lady Macbeth becomes obsessed with washing blood off her hands in the play which shows her guilt. possessive pronoun "my" also shows how the soldier takes sole responsibility for the mans death even though he was in a group with other soldiers when it happened.
The Emigrée context.
-Written by Carol Rumens
-Rumens has always been obsessed with the idea of elsewhere.
-Rumens wrote poem to show the struggles of refugees.
-the poems speaker and homeland remain anonymous so it can be applies to any refugees experiences.
"I am branded with an impression of sunlight."
"branded" has negative connotations of permanence."sunlight" has positive connotations of joy. The speaker, depsite what she may hear in the news, sees her country as beautiful and amazing still because of the power of her memories.
"it tastes like sunlight"
repetition of "sunlight" to emphasise the positivity associated with speakers homeland. "taste" shows memories are so powerful she can taste them.
"That childs vocabulary i carried here...banned by the state"
"childs vocabulary" suggests innocence and it is contrasted by "banned by the state" which connotes negative seriousness. Language is a big part of identity and so the fact the speakers old childs language is lost shows she has lost some of her identity. it also shows the speakers change over time in identity from a childs language to an adults.
"They accuse me of being dark in their free city,My city hides behind me. They mutter death"
Shows us that the speaker faces discrimincation in her new city and was happier in her old one. Also shows how the speakers identity of a refugee and being from a violence stricken country negatively affects her.
Checking out me history context
-Written by John Agard who grew up in Guyana and moved to Britain in his adulthood.
-when he was in school, he was not taught black history- instead he was taught white british history, which was almost irrelevant to him. This enraged him.
-the poem is a declaration of the speakers determination to discover his own identity and his history- it is written in creole to support this idea.
"Dem tell me bout 1066 and all dat, dem tell me bout Dick Whittington and he cat"
speaker mentions a british historical event in combination with a nursery rhyme. This shows that the speaker does not care for the british history (about as much he cares about the nursery rhyme). It also ridicules the curriculum he was taught as it makes no sense he was taught nursery rhymes rather than about important historical figures like Mary Seacole.
"Bandage up me eye with me own history, Blind me to me own identity"
Metaphor saying that he has had his history hidden from him and it has not allowed him to fully express his identity.
"I carving out me identity"
The speaker is resolute to find out his history for himself. The verb "carving" however, suggests this will take a lot of effort which should not be necessary but is.
London context
-Blake was born in 1757 in London and spent most of his life there.
-Blake respected the bible but hated organised religion like CofE
-Blake often wrote about rebelling against the misuse of power and class both of which are explored in London
-London is part of 1 of Blakes collections "songs of experience" which focus on the world being corrupted by humanity
-London is a critique of human power and looks at the difference in power between classes and the suffering of the lower classes
-The city London had grown rapidly due to the industrial revolution
-The industrial revolution brought about suffering for the working class as conditions in factorys were awful (children often worked in them) and the poor were often forced to live in awful conditions
London cyclical structure repetitive rhyme scheme and repetition of words "every" "chartered" "mark"
reflects how the suffering of the working class in London is repetitive, never ending and inescapable
"I wander through the chartered street near where the chartered Thames does flow"
-anaphora of "chartered"- this links to how the rich divided up London into poor and rich areas
-"Thames" shows the power of the rich as they can fully control london even river thames
-"Wander" has a casual tone which shifts towards end of poem
"And mark in every face I meet marks of weakness, marks of woe"
-semantic field of suffering
-anaphora of marks to show how people visibly affected by state of London
-alliteration to highlight "weakness and woe"
"The mind-forged manacles I hear"
-metaphorical to show how the upper classes have the lower classes on lock
-alliteration emphasises "mind-forged manacles"- they aren't tangeable, but exist through laws against the poor
-"manacles" are heavy chains and show how the poor are restricted and suffering
"Every blackn'ning church appalls"
-symbolism to show church is corrupt
-"blackn'ning" says church is physically black. We associate black as the antonym of purity so this emphasises blakes point
-"appalls" show us that the church is just horrified by the situation and doesn't actually do anything to help
"How the youthful Harlot's curse Blasts the new-born infants tear And blights with plague the marriage hearse"
-"marriage hearse" is an oxymoron which states all love will end at some point, creating even further dispair in London
-"plague" shows how everything in London is corrupt
-everyone is suffering even babies and times are so bad women have to become prostitutes
The Prelude context
-Written by William Wordsworth who was a romantic poet born in 1770
-The prelude is a reccount of an event that happened to wordsworth when he was a young boy
-For the exam we use and extract of the poem where Wordsworth steals a boat and takes it on the lake
-Wordsworth is on the lake having a good time before he sees a huge mountain and he flees. He's then troubled by the memory for days. This shows natures power and how it can change easily
-The poem was published after Wordsworths death
epic poems (the prelude)
-epic poems are long narrative poems which tell of heroic actions and focus on a single heroic character
- Wordsworth recognising the power of nature to him is such a profound and significant moment he believed it was worthy of being written about as an epic poem
-nature is the hero in this epic poem
"One summer evening (led by her)"
-nature is personified here
-shows the power it has over man
"Small circles glittering idly in the moon, until they melted into a tack of light"
-semantic field of the celestial to show nature is greater and more mystical than humans
-relaxed and beautiful feel
-false sense of secuirity created which fuels arrogance of the writer
"She was an elfin pinnace; lustily I dipped my oars into the silent lake"
-semantic field of magic continued
-"elfin pinnace" is a very elegant and heroic boat and links to epic poetry
-shows how the writer is enjoying his time on the lake so much and that he seems to be conquoring nature
"When, from behind that craggy steep... a huge peak, black and huge"
- the volta of the extract
-nature is now scary and dangerous
-monosyllabic words contrast with former descriptions and makes the words seem out of place like the mountain in the scenery
-anaphora of "huge shows panic"
-"craggy" ruins previous delicate presentation
"No familiar shapes remained"
- the idea of "familiarity" shows how natures been tainted by this experience for the writer
-Written by Browning and published in 1842
-Browning was married to another poet Elizabeth Barret but their marriage was kept secret for a while as Barret had a controlling father similar to the duke in the poem
-In victorian society, views of women were changing with the sufferage and other gender equality movements rising
- Women were still limited in society though- when they married they became legal property of their husbands
-My last Duchess criticises the way in which some men abuse their power against women
-Poem was set in Renaissance Italy in Ferrara. It is believed to be based on the 5th duke of Ferrera Alphonso II who's first wife died in suspicious circumstances
My Last Duchess context
"my last duchess painted on the wall"
possessive pronoun "my" makes it sound as though he thinks he owns both the painting and the actual duchess
"None puts by the curtain I have drawn for you"
-curtain is metaphorical and shows hos control he had over her life
-can even control who looks at her now but he couldnt do this when she was alive
"too soon made glad, too easily impressed"
-annoyed she was a cheerful happy person
-"too" anaphora makes it seems like she was imperfect and not good enough
"then would be some stooping; and I choose never to stopp"
-anaphora of "stoop"- he's too proud to correct his wifes behaviours
"I gave commands then all smiles stopped together"
-sibillance to emphasise that point, that he had her killed
-too powerful to kill her himself had someone else do the dirty work
"notice Neptune taming a seahorse"
-symbolism- the duke is Neptune and his next duchess is the seahorse. Shows he believes that he expects his women to act in a certain way and treat him as her master
The Charge of the Light Brigade context
-Written by Alfred Lord Tennyson who was poet laurreate when he wrote the poem
-The poem was written about the crimean war, which the british public did not support. Britain was involved in the war out of fear of Russia's growing power which they feared would influence trade routes
-The poem is a true story, written about the battle of Balaclava- The russians were being beaten so started to retreat but while retreating began to steal heavy artilery. The light brigade where then ordered to ride after them into a valley to stop this-however- the light brigade charged down another valley (the wrong 1) which was surrounded on 3 sides by russians with their own artilert which shot at the light brigade. The light brigade didnt retreat and most of them were shot to bits
-the poem criticises the upperclassmen like Lord Lucan, who was the leader of the light brigade and blamed for the fatal charge
-War reporting had just begun and the fatal charge was reported uncensored back to the British public who were outraged
Charge of the Light Brigade and dactylic dimeter
-causes syllable rhythm that sounds reminiscient of horses hooves
-causes falling rhythm to create sombre tone
"Half a league, half a league, half a league onward"
Repitition and rhythm sounds like galloping horses- gives impression they are unstoppable
"Rode the six hundred"
-repitition at the end of first 3 stanzas to emphasise their numbers
"Storm'd at with shot and shell"
-sibilliance to emphasise how they're being shot at
-"storm'd" makes the gunfire seem like a mighty tempest
"Into the jaws of Death, into the mouth of hell"
-personification of death and hell to make them seem monsterous
"Honour the charge they made! Honour the light brigade"
-imperitive "Honour" to make the reader realise that they in fact acted nobly despite what they went through
Storm on the Island context
-Written by Seamus Heaney who was northern irish. A lot of his poetry focused on rural life and identity
-The troubles-Britain invaded Ireland and small migrations began there. The irish people didn't like this and there were lots of small conflicts and uprisings across the country. Things got worse for the irish in the 60's when huge areas of land began to be taken over by the British and their culture was enforced here, chipping away at irish culture.The irish began a large scale uprising and claimed back most of the land apart from some in the north of the country, which today is Northern Ireland. In NI there were protestants who thought they were british but there were also catholics who thought they were irish and didn't want to be part of Britain. Catholics faced discrimination from the police in NI too. In the 60's there was a civil rights movement for NI catholics but the protestants didn't like it, so the catholics set up the IRA to protect the catholics,however, the IRA also tried to drive the British out of Ireland with bombing and terror campaigns. The first letters of Storm on the island spell stormont, the parliamentary building in Belfast. Additionally there is a lot of military imagery in this poem to make reference to the troubles and so the troubles are and underlying theme in the poem
-The poem also looks at remote island communities of the coast of ireland and how they manage to survive in their harsh environment, particularly in storms
"we are prepared: we build our houses squat, sink walls in rock and roof them with good slate."
-sibilance resembles sound of wind. goes on throughout the text to symbolise how nature is always present and how you have to be wary and prepared for it
-"prepared" shows this too. Also makes the writer seem confident
"the wizened earth has never troubled us/ with hay"
-enjambement to show nature and the storms relentless nature
-indicates how hard the life of the islanders is
-"wizened" shows natures power as it had heavily weathered the island
"leaves and branches can raise a tragic chorus in a gale so that you can listen to the thing you fear"
-metaphor of tragic chorus being the storm wind- may also be symbolic of news from mainland about the troubles
"spits like a tame cat turned savage"
-simile to show the changing demeanor of nature
-"savage" and "spits" show natures aggression
"Space is a salvo"
- ties into semantic field of gunfighting seen earlier ("exploding comfortably")
-shows danger of the wind
-links into extended metaphor of the troubles
"Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear."
-complete contrast to confidence in beginning line of the poem
-oxymoron of "huge nothing" to show that wind itself shouldn't be feared, its the storm that causes it, as is the case with all nature
-perhaps symbolic of troubles in Ireland, the fighting (the wind) is not what should be feared, but the cause of it instead
Bayonet charge context
-written by Ted Hughes who grew up in the yorkshire countryside and was poet laurette for a time
-Hughes' dad served in WW1 but not Hughes himself. Bayonet charge is based off WW1 perhaps for this reason- the poem shows the horrors of WW1, which Hughes father experienced and lived the rest of his life emotionally affected by
-Hughes may of also wrote about WW1 because of how it had shocked his region of yorkshire so badly, with many young men being killed in the war from there. As well as this Hughes also admired Wilfred Owen's work, so this may have inspired him too
"Suddenly he awoke and was running- raw/In raw-seamed hot khaki,his sweat heavy,"
-fast paced start which makes the soldier seem a bit confused and that he's in a hectic environment
-"raw" emphasises discomfort of soldier- no comfort in war
- the alliteration of the glottal, fricative constant "h" mimics the soldiers breathing showing him to be panicked
-enjambement to show the relentless nature of war
"Bullets smacking the belly out of the air"
-onomatopoeia and violent imagery to emmerse the reader in the battle field and see and hear the sound and impact of the gunfire
"A rifle as numb as a smashed arm"
-simile to show the uselessness of his weapon and how it wont help him with whats about to come- foreshadowing
"In what cold clockwork of the stars and nations"
-shows the soldiers insignificance and lack of control
-alliteration emphasises "cold clockwork" which connotes fate. "cold" tells the reader that the soldiers fate has been decided cruely, by higher ups who don't really care about individual soldiers
"Threw up a yellow hare that rolled like a flame and crawled in a threshing circle,"
-symbolic of another soldier who has died before his eyes
-violent imagery to emerse reader in the horrors of war
"His terror's touchy dynamite"
-alliteration emphasies how scared the soldier is and how it is the only thing driving him
-"dynamite" shows the unpredictable nature of his fear and how soldiers are now weapons rather than people
Poppies context
-Written by Jane wier who was born in 1963. She lived in NI during the 1980's so had some experience of the troubles and the conflict there. She is both a poet and a textiles designer, which is likely why there is a lot of textiles related imagery in the poem
-poppies comes from a collection called "exit wounds" which focuses on war and how painful it is
-The poem is written not from a soldiers perspective but from the soldiers mother, and so with this war's effects on those not fighting in it can be explored. This has also been done as Wier had 2 teenage sons at the time of writing the poem, and so the notion of having a son die at war is very touching to her
-poppies are symbolic of those who have died in war, as they grew on battlefields after WW1. Poppies are worn around armistice sunday to commemorate those who die at war
"Spasms of paper red, disrupting a blockade of yellow bias binding"
-"Spasms of paper red" is a metaphor for a bullet wound but the noun "blockade" shows that the mother wants to protect her son. "disrupting" tells the reader this can't happen though
-semantic field of war and semantic field of textiles (representing motherhood) both seen here
"Steeled the softening of my face"
-alliteration and antithesis show how her soft and strong emotions have combined, indicating inner turmoil
-emphasised by juxtaposition of "steeled" and "softened" to show the inner turmoil but also how she has to hide her warm motherly nature for her son
"All my words, flattened rolled, turned into felt, slowly melting, I was brave"
-the son is still going to war
-shows how distraught she is inside but how she is repressing it
-semantic field of textiles to show motherly nature
"Released a song bird from its cage"
-metaphor-now the son's left she can release her emotions she's repressed- she's crying
"My stomach busy makinh tucks, darts, pleats...without reinforcements"
-semantic field of textiles and war which suggests she has gone outside with guilt feeling as though she failed her motherly duty to protect her son from war
-the verbs show she is physically sick due to how intense her emotions are
"Your playground voice catching in the wind"
-wishes she could turn back the time to when he was young
-metaphor to show the fleeting nature of life
War Photographer context
-Written by Duffy who was poet laurette. Duffy was friends with Don McCullin and Phillip Jones Griffiths who were both very famous war photographers. Duffy was very curious about their roles.
-War photographers were often seen as war fiends but in fact many were very scarred by their work with high PTSD rates amongst the trade
-Duffy looks at the dilemma war photographers have when taking war pictures, as they have to get the pictures but they also will want to intervein in the war and help people suffering but they cannot do both of these things
-Duffy also looks at how it is impossible to display the true horrors of war
"Spools of suffering set out in ordered rows"
-alliteration to highlight "spools of suffering"- they are pictures of horrible war scenes
-paradoxical language with the chaos of suffering being reduced to "ordered" rows
-spools would be set on a cylindrical convey which suggests endless suffering
-"suffering" tells the reader how the poem will be about pain from the get go
"The only light is red and softly glows"
-red light is symbolic of the tabernacle, which represents pain and despair
-"red" could also be symbolic of gore
"As though this were a church and he a priesr preparing to intone a mass"
-religious imagery continued to show war photographers dedication to photography and also because it connotes life and death
-simile also stresses the solemn nature of his work
"All flesh is grass"
-metaphor to show the temporary nature of life
-direct quote from the bible (Isaiah 40:6) and is metaphorical
"Solutions slop in trays beneath his hands"
-sibillance emphasises the motion of the fluids in the trays. Conveys dead bodies being handled and blood spolling
-mention of the photographers hands indicates how he thinks he has blood on his hands figuratively
"his hands, which did not tremble then but seem to now"
-irony that he was more collected when he was witnessing the event with his bare eyes but in peace and safety his thoughts about it affect him
-PTSD
"To fields which don't explode beneath to feet, of running children in a nightmare heat."
-compares rural farm landscapes to warzones to show the comfort of england compared to places suffering with conflict abroard
-"running children" is symbolic of human innocence leaving people and being eliminated in war
-reference to the Napalm girl photo
"Half-formed ghost"
-metaphoric- the photo has captured someone mid death in agonising pain
-also half formed because the picture is developing
"Blood stained into foreign dust"
-reminds reader everything in the poem occurs abroad.
-referance to Christian teaching "to dust you will return", which shows how death comes for everyone
-"stained" suggests lasting impacts of war
"Sunday Supplement"
-Sibilant and plosive sounds make the reader almost spit out the words, indicating the frustration of the photographer that his photos aren't seen as important enough for main news
"They do not care"
-purposeful ambiguity- either refers to readers of the newspapers not being affected by the pictures or the whole world not caring about others suffering
Tissue context
-Written by Dharker who was born in Pakistan but brought up in Scotland
-Tissue is from a collection "The Terrorist at my Table" where Dharker focuses on conflict and religion
-Tissue is the first poem in that anthology and can be seen as a commentary on what causes fundementalism and terrorism in the modern day
-paper represents human power all throughout this poem
"Let the daylight break through capitals and monoliths"
-"daylight" is symbolic of all nature and it breakinh through the "capitals and monoliths" (which represent human power) shows how human power is temporary compared to the power of nature
"Never meant to last"
-shows temporary nature of human life, especially compared to the immortality of nature
-adverb "never" shows how this will forever be the way things are, man cannot overcome nature
"If buildings were paper... see how easily they fall away on a sigh"
-buildings are symbolic of human power, and how it can easily be destroyed by nature
"The sun shines through their borderlines"
-Borders are temporary and the nature (represented by the sun) is not affected by borders and lasts forever, longer than borders
-could be related to theism, which a core belief of is unity not division as with borders
"The back of the Koran...names and histories"
-Family and cultural identity is important and will affect how you live your life
-religous imagery
"Smoothed and stroked"
-identity is affected by everyone you meet who will change you and refine you to become who you are and at that normally a better person
-the sibillance indicates the soft nature of these changes
Kamikaze conflict
-Written by Beatrice Garland who was born in Oxford
-Kamikaze comes from an anthology called "The invention of Fireworks" which looks at life and death in the natural world
-Garland wrote the poem with an interest of exploring what drives young men to give up their lives fighting in a war, so its quite similar to tissue in that regard
-Kamikaze is narrated from the perspective of a mother, who's father was a kamikaze pilot who returned from war
-Kamikaze is written about kamikaze pilots, who were japanese pilots in WW2 who were sent on suicide missions, where they would crash their planes into enemy warships, killing everyone on board but also themselves. Being a kamikaze pilot was a great honour in Japan but returning was seen as extremely dishonourable and an act of cowardice
"Her father embarked at sunrise with a flask of water, a samurai sword... a shaven head full of powerful incantations"
- lots of imagery relating to Japan "sunrise" "samurai sword" to show the patriotism of the pilot.
-having his "head full of powerful incantations" shows he is being controlled by others by propaganda and not makinh his own choices
"one-way journey into history"
-irony for the pilots sought for remeberance, honour and respect, all of which he loses but he keeps his life instead
"a green-blue transclucent sea"
-imagery here to show beauty of nature and how peaceful it is
-pilot doesn't want to deny himself pr anyone else this beauty
-nature associated as a precious possession
"figure of eight"
-referancing the infinity symbol to represent nature
-this shows the eternal nature of nature, which is unlike the temporary existence of humanity and human constructs like war and honour. Nature will always remain
"shoals of fishes flashing silver as their bellies swivelled towards the sun"
-sibillance to show the grace of nature
-"silver"- referencing precious possessions saying nature is one
-increases poems pace to make it sound more emotional
"a tuna, the dark prince, muscular, dangerous."
-the tuna is symbolic of all nature and shows the power imbalance between man and nature- even the kamikaze pilot can sense it's strength.
-metaphor in "dark prince"- tells us nature is deserving of honour and respect (like a soldier)
-first full stop to make the reader notice it key message
"to live as though he never returned"
-Kamikaze traded rememberance and honour in death for a life of being forgotten and ignored
-simile to show how the pilot was recieved by the community as though he already died
"Which had been the better way to die"
-both options offered death for the pilot and it shows how soldiers are controlled by propaganda and used as tools for the government
-"die" is the last word of the poem and creates a sense of futility that everyone is destined to die like the soldier
-the soldier being destined to die tells the reader that conflict and patriotism deny humans the full enjoyment of life and nature