Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
English Lit Poems - Coggle Diagram
English Lit Poems
The Prelude by William Wordsworth - 1850
Context
Romantic poet
Autobiographical poem describing skating on a frozen lake as night is falling.
Wordsworth was born and lived in the Lake district. This background heavily influenced his writing and appreciation of nature.
His collection of poems, The Lyrical Ballads, marks the beginning of the Romantic movement in literature.
Like other romantic poetry, this excerpt explores the relationship between humans and nature.
An excerpt from the first of 14 books that make up The Prelude.
Structure
The use of blank verse and enjambment ('When the sun/Was set') create a regular rhythm, which makes the poem sound like natural speech.
Two main sections - 1) focuses on the fun, tone is light & carefree 2) distinct change when the focus turns to nature, tone is more serious as the narrator shows a greater awareness of nature ('Meanwhile')
Quotes
Language of movement: 'flew' 'wheel'd'. Increase the poem's pace - monosyllabic verbs. Reflects the speed of their movements and their youthful energy.
Animal Imagery: Narrator compares himself to a horse and the group of children to a "Pack" of hunting dogs. - close connection to nature.
Use of sounds: Onomatopoeia "tinkled" allow the reader to imagine the sounds in the poem. Sensory imagery contrast humans and nature - humans are noisy "resounding horn", nature's sounds are more delicate
Mametz Wood by Owen Sheers- 2005
Context
One of the bloodiest battles of WW1. Part of the Battle of the Somme.
Soldiers of the Welsh division were ordered to take Mametz Wood and succeeded but their bravery & sacrifice were never really acknowledged.
Sheers wrote this poem to honour them.
4000 casualties & 600 dead.
Welsh novelist, poet & playwright
Learned how war relics are still being unearthed all the time along with the remains of soldiers.
Structure
Written in tercets.
Written in 3rd person which creates a sense of distance and detachment. "found them"
Long sentences & enjambment establish a reflective tone "sung/have only now"
Moves forward chronologically. In the 5th stanza, the poet describes finding a mass grave that morning.
The thoughtful tone "what happened" and slow pace don't change, which emphasises the lasting effects of war.
Quotes
Personification: "tended the land back into itself" "earth stands sentinel" "like a wound"
Images of brokenness: Details injured body parts "broken mosaic of bone" "socketed heads" in a list in the second stanza. Shows how war can dehumanise people.
Contrasting Images: The narrator often contrasts violent images of war "nesting machine guns" with images of human fragility "blown""broken bird's egg of a skull" - reminds the reader of the soldiers' humanity and horrifying conditions they faced.
Ozymandius by Percy Shelley - 1817
Context
About the remains of a statue of the Egyptian Pharoh Rameses II who built extravagant temples.
Romantic poet.
Shelley's criticism of people who act as if they're invincible is inherent as he describes the ruined statue.
Well known as 'radical' during his lifetime and some people think Ozymandius reflects this side of his character.
Not a supporter of the Royal family.
Structure
A sonnet - Doesn't follow a regular sonnet rhyme scheme, perhaps reflecting the way that human power and structures can be destroyed.
Uses iambic pentameter, but this is often disrupted. (Line 5 only has 9 syllables).
Second-hand account, distances the reader even further from the dead king.
Quotes
"I met a traveller from an antique land/Who said'" - second hand account
Irony - "shattered visage" even a powerful human can't control the damaging effects of time
Language of power: Having"survive" and "lifeless" on the same line hints at how art can outlast human power, but the ruined statue shows that ultimately art can't immortalise power.
Angry language: "sneer of cold command" "king of kings" Tyranny of the ruler is suggested through aggressive language
Cozy Apologia by Rita Dove - 2004
Context
Autobiographical poem
Married to husband Fred, fellow writer, "Twin desks"
Experienced Hurricane Floyd, which hit the east coast of the USA in September 1999.
From the collection 'American Smooth'
1993 - US Poet Laureate
Structure
Written in free verse - sound conversational.
Number of syllables in each line varies, creating the sense that it reflects a train of thought. Line 2 =10. Line 3= 12
First stanza uses regular rhyming couplets "you" "blue" - reader expects a traditional love poem. Rhyme scheme disrupted in middle of 2nd stanza "boys" "senseless" - reflect disorder brought by the hurricane.
Begins with a personal description of the speaker's feelings. Describes ordinary happy relationship.
Quotes
"for Fred" dedication to husband - personal
"This lamp, the wind-still rain" - ordinary, domestic images contrast with imagery found in traditional love poems.
Humour - "any hero, any cause or age" cliche of romantic hero. "shooting arrows to the heart" cupid
Colloquial Language: "Melancholy (call it blues)" contrast between formal and colloquial language. Make the poem seem personal. Contribute to poem's humour and stop it from being too serious.
A Wife In London by Thomas Hardy - 1899
Context
Hardy was a novelist
Related to the Boer War.
The fact that she is 'a' wife reflects the tragedy of how many lives were lost during many wars.
Against the war - presents war as pointless and destructive
Structure
Speaker in the poem is an observer "She sits" - use a detached tone, which presents the wife's grief as an inevitable fact of war.
Dashes "penned in highest feather - "and irregular rhythm create pauses, forcing the reader to focus on the tragedy.
Regular ABBAB rhyme scheme "vapour" "uprolled" "fold" is broken once showing struggle to take in the news.
Present tense "knocks crack"- happening now, dramatic
Structured in two halves "I - The Tragedy" "II - The Irony" : Titles create anticipation.
Quotes
Irony: "hoped return" "new love" - husband's hopes and youthful energy are contrasted with his wife's grief. Man's future and potential have been cut short.
Imagery: "whom the worm now knows" - death & physical decay.
"The street-lamp glimmers cold" like a "waning taper" - warmth in her life has gone
"fog hangs thicker" - weathery imagery, pain and distress have intensified
Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen - 1920
Context
Saw active service as an officer in WWI.
Fought on front line and was killed a week before the end of WW1.
Described the horrors of trenches & gas warfare, shocking readers.
Against the war: sent the poem to Jessie Pope, a pro-recruitment journalist.
Mentored by Siegfried Sassoon (WWI poet)
Owen's poetry challenges earlier poetry which communicates a pro-war message.
Structure
Uses alternate rhymes "sacks" "backs" to reflect relentlessness of soldier's suffering.
Enjambment "hoots/ of gas shells" and caesurae "if you could hear," create a disjointed rhythm and a variable pace.
Irregular stanza length (8 in stanza 1, 6 in stanza 2) & metre add to sense of uncertainty, reflecting war's unpredictable nature.
Tone of poem is serious at the start as the narrator paints a picture of his memories of war "men marched asleep" and later explains how they still affect him "guttering, choking, drowning".
Poem becomes an appeal directly at reader, "you would not tell", and adopts an ironic tone to put opinion across.
Quotes
"Bent double" "Knock-kneed" - soldiers have been physically broken by war.
"like old beggars" "coughing like hags" - similes show how they have been affected by war - lost their youth. "hags" takes away masculinity
Personal pro-nouns: "we" "all" "you" - confrontational
"all went lame, all blind" - repetition emphasises widespread suffering
"devil's sick of sin" - connotations of evil
Graphic imagery: "Obscene as cancer" - shocks reader and aims to remove the honour associated with fighting for your country by showing horrific reality
"Drunk with fatigue" - metaphor emphasises exhaustion and inability to function properly
Afternoons by Philip Larkin - 1964
Context
Born in Coventry
Worked as a librarian for 30 years in Hull.
Never married - against the idea
Part of the collection - The Whitesun Weddings
Much of his poetry explores the ordinary events that occur in people's lives.
1960's Britain: Society quite different from how it is now. Gender roles were more defined - Women expected to dedicate themselves to raising children and looking after the home, while men were typically expected to have a job and provide for the family.
Structure
Split into 3 equal stanzas.
No regular metre - makes poem feel stilted, suggesting a lack of excitement in the mothers' lives.
Narrated in the third person "Behind them", but tone is unclear - speaker could be belittling the women or pitying them.
Quotes
Natural Imagery: Arrival of autumn suggests that a new phase in the women's lives has started and the best part is over.
"in ones and twos" - change is irregular and uncontrollable.
"Summer is fading"
The way that the wind ruins their "courting places" makes it seem as though nature is actively working against them.
Domestic Imagery: Reinforces gender roles of the era. "Setting free" - language of imprisonment suggests domestic life is restrictive.
"hollows of afternoons" - daily routine is empty - emptiness implies to all afternoons due to plural.
"lying/ Near the television" - love has become ordinary and neglected.
To Autumn by John Keats - 1820
Context
Romantic poet
Inspired by a walk - highly personal
Died from tuberculosis, in 1821, aged 25
Published 6 odes in 1820
Structure
An ode - a serious poem, usually written in praise of a person or thing.
Iambic pentameter. - first 4 lines of each stanza always have an ABAB pattern but the rest of the 2nd and 3rd stanzas is different to the first.
Keats other odes have 10 lines per stanza, but this has 11 - reinforcing the plentiful nature of autumn.
In each stanza, introduces an aspect of autumn in the first line, and expands on it in the remaining 10 lines. "Seasons of mist" "maturing sun"
Passage of time: first links morning with early autumn "maturing sun", sleepy mood in the 2nd "hours by hours" could stand for mid-autumn and the afternoon, final stanza hits at both the approach of winter and sunset. "soft-dying day"
Quotes
Personification: Speaker personifies autumn in 2nd stanza. "Thy hair" - directly addresses
Sensory language: Each stanza appeals to a different sense - showing abundance of autumn 1st=touch, 2nd=sight, last=sound.
"fume of poppies" "loud bleat"
moss'd cottage trees - rich with adjectives, abundant
hours by hours - slow pace time passing
Death of a Naturalist by Seamus Heaney - 1966
Context
Northern Irish poet who won the Nobel Prize of Literature in 1995 and died in 2013.
Eldest of 9 children - 4 year old brother died in a car accident. Death affected him badly and many of his poems are about the loss of innocence.
Grew up on a farm.
Structure
First person narrator who is reflecting on their childhood. "I would fill jampotfuls"
Written in blank verse- conversational.
Lack of rhyme scheme - change is not always predictable.
Two stanzas, each presenting a different attitude towards nature. First stanza = narrator's childish enthusiasm makes relationship with nature seem secure. 2nd stanza = troubled relationship with nature presented as unfamiliar and threatening "loose necks pulsed like sails"
Quotes
Use of senses: Use of sensory imagery lets reader become immersed in the poem and focuses their attention on the poem's setting - 'jampotfuls of the jellied" alliteration emphasises stickiness
Contrasts: "spotted butterflies" "warm thick slobber" - juxtaposition. Also used in title
Military language: "cocked" "invaded" - threatening atmosphere - narrator's innocence has been lost
Onomatopoeia: "slap" "plop" stand out and sound threatening
Childlike language: "nimble/swimming tadpoles" - enjambment shows narrator's excitement
Hawk Roosting by Ted Hughes - 1960
Context
From 1984 until his death, he served as the British Poet Laureate.
Born in Yorkshire and grew up in the countryside. Lots of his poetry about the natural world.
Studied archaeology and anthropology at Cambridge.
Poem caused controversy when published. Some people thought it was an allegory for human nature. They thought the hawk could symbolise a murderous tyrant who rules using violence and fear. Hughes denied this and has explained that he intended the voice in the poem to be nature expressing itself.
Makes links between animal behaviour and human nature.
Structure
Dramatic monologue from the point of view of a hawk. His audience could be mankind.
`First person narrative - gives hawk authority over poem's ideas
Use of end stopping gives several lines a decisive feel, reflecting hawk's complete control. "I am going to keep things like this." gives statement a matter-of-fact tone.
Quotes
Violent language: "my manners are tearing off heads" "or in sleep rehearse perfect kills"
Language of power: "convenience of the high trees" "upward for my inspection"
The Soldier by Rupert Brooke - 1914
Context
A soldier during WW1 but died of sepsis.
Never made it to war
Buried in a 'foreign field' in Cyprus.
Written to praise the men who went to war to save and defend such a great country.
Stucture
A sonnet - traditionally used for love poetry, usually written about another person but here the object of the narrator's love is England. - elevates his emotions and shows how strong they are
Brooke followed conventional structure of a sonnet. Octave - speakers shows how England has enriched his life. Sestet - considers how, after his death, he will return the 'gifts' given to him by his country.
Quotes
Opening line: "If i should die think only this of me" - acceptance of death. Uses a modal verb shows willingness to die for his country.
Personification: "England bore" - nurturing mother - shaped speaker as a person
Religious language: feels "blest" by England, refers to "eternal mind" (God), "heaven" gives him comfort
Language of nature: "flowers" "air" "rivers" part of his devotion to England
Alliteration: "sights" "sounds" & "laughter" "learnt" create echo effect; happy memories won't disappear
As Imperceptibly as Grief by Emily Dickinson - 1865
Context
Dickinson was a recluse and did not leave her home.
inspired by nature
prior to writing this, several family members and friends had died
Structure
Poem's rhythm mirrors everyday speech, making it sound like her honest thoughts.
Long dashes "sequestered afternoon - " create pauses and enhance the poem's slow reflective mood.
Series of natural metaphors, reveal her feelings about the way grief fades away gradually - summers "escape"
One full stop - grief is continuous but there is an end "Into the beautiful."
Use of a single stanza adds to sense of gradual change - not any stanza breaks to split ideas up.
Tone changes after line 13 "And thus" becomes more decisive - coming to terms with grief ending.
Quotes
Tone is melancholic - "Twilight long begun" grief is overtaking her happiness.
Use of light imagery through "dusk" highlights cyclical nature of time. Life & death part of cycle
"Quietness distilled" comforting rather than isolating.
Personification: summer's "escape" an extended metaphor for what happens to her grief.
Contradictory images: description of morning as "harrowing"
Living Space by Imtiaz Dharker - 1997
Context
Born in Pakistan , grew up in Scotland
Writes about her multi-cultural experience and disparity between the rich and the poor.
Made documentaries in India, supporting work with women and children.
Critical of those in a position of power
Knows Mumbai very well
Structure
Irregular form, using stanzas and lines of different lengths, mirroring the sense of chaos and irregularity in the building the speaker describes.
Lack of regular rhyme and rhythm and the enjambment "place/these eggs" across lines and stanzas emphasise the disorder of the place.
Final 2 stanzas is one long sentence creates a growing sense of wonder.
Split into 2 parts: Opens with a description of unstable building, 2nd & 3rd stanzas, mood shifts - speaker begins to hint at optimism for the future.
Quotes
Building chaos shown through words suggesting instability. Lack of "straight lines" in building is highlighted by the ragged, uneven lines in the poem.
Eggs symbolise faith. Also "fragile" and easily broken
"The whole structure leans dangerously" : juts out beyond rest of the poem, mirroring the way the building hangs.
"miraculous" unexpected at the end of the stanza - hope
"slanted universe" reminds us of the large scale. hint at equality in the wider world.
"bright thin walls of faith" - stanzas 1 & 3 end with faith - what keeps people going
Light and dark: the "white" eggs stand out against the "dark edge" which could represent the dangerous nature of the living conditions. White associated with innocence - no ones to blame for the precarious situation
Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy - 1993
Context
UK's first female Poet Laureate in 2009.
Often assumes fictional personas in her poems
Wrote 'Mean Time' a poetry collection about damaged or difficult relationships
Politically=feminist
Private life=bisexual
Part of a long tradition of love poems that compare love to a thing
Duffy likes to break conventions and in Valentine she is criticising society's views of being materialistic.
Structure
very different to traditional love poems
written in stanzas of irregular lengths, several of only one line - makes poem feel disjointed
some lines made up of single word - gives emphasis to forceful tone of speaker
list of ways the onion symbolises love
Quotes
"not a red rose or satin heart" - stereotypical symbols of love - cliched and lack meaning
"onion" extended metaphor unexpected contrast with 1st line
"blind you with tears" "promises light" different emotions - layers of onion
"fierce kiss" described as "possessive and faithful" - sense of ambiguity - positive and negative language - different connotations for reader
She Walks in Beauty by Lord Bryon - 1813
Context
romantic poet
personal
byron is believed to have been inspired to write this poem after seeing a beautiful woman at a fashionable London party
originally intended to be set to music
Structure
regular rhyme scheme - reflecting the enduring nature of the woman's beauty and how she's a balance of different qualities "night" "bright"
Mostly in iambic tetrameter and uses a lot of enjambment "night/Of cloudless climes" - overwhelmed by the woman's beauty
3 stanzas of equal lenght - as the poem progresses focuses less on physical appearance and more on inner beauty
poet employs contrasts to show how she is a balance of opposites light and dark - uses antitheses "best of dark and bright"
Quotes
Contrasts: balance of opposites, notably light & dark "dark and bright" reinforced by repeated structure. "one shade more" or "one shade less" to reduce her beauty
Night imagery: "tender light" purity of night sky reflects innocent personality
Divine: "At peace with all below" above everyone else like an angel
Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning - 1850
Context
prominent Victorian poet
suffered from a lifelong illness
addressed to husband Robert
From sequence of 44 sonnets called 'Sonnets from the Portuguese' - pet name Robert used
Structure
following tradition by writing in a form of petriarchan sonnet - conforms to a specific rhyme scheme
iambic pentameter, metre disrupted by pauses & repetition "I love thee", making speaker sound passionate
First person "my soul" - personal feel
Octave - introduces main theme - idea her love is so intense , almost divine
Sestet - develops this theme by showing she loves him with emotions of an entire lifetime
Uses anaphora "i love thee"
Quotes
"How do i love thee?" intimate convo. bewteen lovers
"i love thee better after death" love is eternal
"smiles and tears" positive and negative emotionsloves him with everythung she has
"lost saints" replaced faith in god with love for husband
London by William Blake - 1794
Context
Blake was disillusioned with authority and industrialisation as ordinary people were controlled by landlords and institutions.
highly religious
rejected established religion because of the failure of the church to help children in London who were forced to work
lived and worked in London so experienced life there first hand
romantic poet
Structure
Alternate rhyming couplets "street" "meet" are unbroken and seem to echo the relentless misery of the city
Regular rhythm reflects the sound of his feet as he trudges around London - controlled:reflects controlled life in the city
first 2 stanzas focus on people he sees & hears "cry" "every face i meet" before a shift in stanza 3 to the institutions he holds responsible. final stanza returns to look at people "Infant's tear" - even babies are affected
Quotes
"I wander thro" a journey, purposeless - powerless to change what's happening
"chart'd Thames" - powerful, natural features under human control . repetition of "chart'd" shows london is owned
"every" is repeated in stanza 2 showing the enormity of poverty
"black'ning Church" blake blames church
Images of suffering: "blights of plague" suggests death and destruction
The Manhunt by Simon Armitage - 2008
Context
English poet, playwright and novelist
current poet laureate
from his 2008 collection 'The Not Dead' which looks at how war has affected ex soldiers particularly those in volved in recent conflicts
origionally aired as a part of a television documentary, read by Laura, wife of Eddie Beddoes, who was injured while serving in the army.
Suffered from PTSD and depression as a result of his experiences
Structure
couplet-long stanzas have lines of varying lengths. Initally rhyme, but later on the rhymes break diwn making the poem feel disjointed and reflecting the theme of brokenness
different injuries introduced in different couplets, gradually moving down soldier's body. allows reader to exlpore his body and mind in the same slow process as his wife.