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English Literature - Power and Conflict Poetry: Main Poems (Ozymandias…
English Literature - Power and Conflict Poetry: Main Poems
Ozymandias
Context
Percy Bysshe Shelley was a romantic poet.
He disagreed with the monarchy
Form and Structure
Sonnet , but doesn't follow regular sonnet rhyme scheme. (could reflect on the way that human power and structures are destroyed).
Uses iambic pentameter but it's often disrupted.
A second hand account, which distances the reader further from the dead king.
Quotations
"I met a traveller from an antique land" - shows that the narrator hasn't seen the statue. Emphasises the unimportance of Ozymandias.
"A shatter'd visage lies" - Irony. Even a powerful human can't control the damaging effects of time.
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" - Arrogant and powerful, even challenged other rulers.
"The lone and level sands stretch far away." - Alliteration emphasises feeling of empty space in the surrounding desert. The desert has survived for longer than Ozymandias.
London
Context
Part of Blake's collection, "Songs of Innocence". Looks at how innocence is lost and how society has been corrupted.
Blake believed in social and racial equality
During the industrial revolution - large divide in classes.
Form and Structure
Dramatic monologue
ABAB rhyme scheme unbroken and echoes the relentless misery of the city.
Regular rhythm could represent walking.
Quotations
"Marks of weakness, marks of woe" - Repetition could represent permanent markings. Despair affects everyone and there's no relief from it.
"mind-forged manacles" - people are trapped in every way, even by thoughts and attitudes.
"The hapless soldier's sigh runs in blood down palace walls" - Ordinary people suffer while privileged people are protected behind palace walls.
My Last Dutchess
Context
1561 - Duke of Ferrera's wife, Lucrezia dies in suspicious circumstances. There were rumours that she was poisoned.
Form and Structure
Dramatic monologue
Iambic pentameter - reinforces the impression that the Duke is in conversation with his visitor.
Rhyming couplets show Duke's desire for control, but enjambment suggests that he cannot control himself.
Quotations
"That's my last Duchess painted on the wall" - possessive pronoun, sounds as if he owns the duchess herself.
"None puts by the curtain I have drawn for you, but I" - He controls who looks at the painting, but couldn't control who looked at his wife when she was alive.
"Her looks went everywhere" - The duke thinks she flirted a lot. Shows paranoia.
"I gave commands, then all smiles stopped together." - sounds suspicious and sinister. A euphemism for the wife's murder, possibly.
The Charge of The Light Brigade
Context
Poem describes a disastrous battle between the British cavalry and Russian forces during the Crimean war.
A misunderstanding in orders meant the light brigade were ordered to advance into a valley surrounded by enemy soldiers.
Form and Structure
Narrated in third person - makes it seem like a story.
Regular rhythm - fast paced
Rhyming couplets and triplets drive the poem forwards.
Chronological order
Quotations
"Rode the six hundred" - repetition creates a sense of impending doom and inevitability.
"Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why [...]" - Rhyme and repetition emphasise soldiers' obedience.
"Into the jaws of Death" - Personification makes Death seem like a monster that the soldier's cannot escape from.
"Volley'd and thunder'd" - onomatopoeic verbs suggest cannon fire.
"Honour" - Repeated. Ends the poem leaving the reader with the idea that they should honour the cavalry.