Poetry and prose

War Photographer

A poem by Carol Ann Duffy, the first female and Scottish Laureate, inspired by a war photographer friend and the detachment of society from war.

Form/Structure of "War Photographer"

Consists of 4 sestets with ABBCDD rhyme scheme, enjambment, and 3rd person narration reflecting chaos of war.

Tone in "War Photographer"

Melancholic, cynical, and pessimistic, portraying detachment and agony in war.

Language in "War Photographer"

Visual imagery, sibilance, and emotive language emphasizing the horrors and detachment from war.

Themes in "War Photographer"

Focuses on war and the detachment of society from its realities.

“Remember”

A poem by Christina Rossetti, a pre-Raphaelite poet, exploring death, love, and memories.

Form/Structure of "Remember"

Direct address in 1st person, Petrarchan sonnet with octave urging and sestet selfless, with a volta at 'Yet'.

Tone in "Remember"

Melancholic and nostalgic, reflecting loss and memories of a loved one.

Language in "Remember"

Repetition emphasizing memory loss, distance, and troubled mind, with a vestige of past thoughts.

Themes in "Remember"

Explores death, love, and memories through a melancholic lens.

Blessing (1989)

Imtiaz Dharker

Background: Blessing (1989)

She is a British poet that was born in

Pakistan.

- The poem is about her experience in Mumbai,

more specifically a Mumbai slum.

Form/structure: Blessing (1989)

- Four stanzas

- Free verse

- Six sentences

- Enjambment – The “rush” of water.

- End stopped lines – creates serious tone to address the issue of water storage.

Tone: Blessing (1989)

- Hopeful

- Joyful – “screaming in the liquid sun”

emphasizes the joy of the children from the

water.

Language: Blessing (1989) P1

- “Imagine the drip of it, the small splash” –

onomatopoeia – expresses value of water.

- “Sometimes, the sudden rush of fortune.” –

Sibilance – symbolizes the water pouring.

- Religious allusions emphasises the

importance of water (“the voice of a kindly

god.”)

Language: Blessing (1989) P2

- Metaphors present water as something that

holds a lot of value. (“silver crashes to the

ground”)

- Listing (“with pots, brass, copper, aluminium,

plastic buckets”) – emphasizes the

desperation.

Themes: Blessing (1989)

- Poverty

- Joy from simple things

- Thankfulness

- Rich vs poor

Prayer Before Birth

Poet: Louise McNeice

Background: Prayer Before Birth

- Written in 1944

- He talks about how the world tyranny can

affect an innocent urban child

- Juxtaposition of war and the innocents of a

child.

Form/structure: Prayer Before Birth P1

- Perspective of an unborn child.

- Free verse

- Last line ends with the pronoun “me”.

- The stanzas are indented

Form/structure: Prayer Before Birth P2

- Enjambment

- There is listing in each stanza.

- Last two lines don’t have the same indentations.

Tone: Prayer Before Birth

- Pleading

- Desperate

- A sense of fear and worry.

Language: Prayer Before Birth P1

- Anaphora (“I am not yet born”) – emphasizes

how desperately the child wants this world to

change before he is born into it.

- Personification (“trees talk to me, sky to sing

to me.”) – emphasizes how beautiful this

world could be without all of the negative

things in it.

Language: Prayer Before Birth P2

- Alliteration (“lovers laugh”) – also

emphasizes the beauty of our world.

- Metaphors (“would dragoon me into a lethal

automation”) – emphasizes the horror of our

world.

- “Let them not make me a stone and let them

not spill me. Otherwise kill me.” – The child

doesn’t want to be forced to be like everyone

else.

Themes: Prayer Before Birth

- Life full of violence.

- Ongoing struggles of humanity

The Tyger (1794) Poet: William Blake

- Romantic poet, Born 1757

● Wrote two poetry books – Songs of Innocence

and Songs of Experience to explore

innocence/goodness of humanity compared

to experienced/evil side

Background: The Tyger (1794)

● Looking at nature – drawing parallels with

humanity

● Romanticism

● Evokes powerful emotions

● The Lamb – opposite poem in Songs of

Innocence

Form/Structure: The Tyger (1794)

● 6x quatrains

● Rhyme AABB/CCDD -> Rhyming couplets

● 6th stanza is repetition of 1st stanza but:

could—> dare —>brave/courageous →respect for the maker

● Monosyllabic meter – childlike chant

Tone: The Tyger (1794)

● Aggressive / suggestion of evil

● Fearful “....fearful” / respect of creation and

creator

Language: The Tyger (1794) P1

- Alliteration (line 1) - “Tyger,Tyger,burning

bright” – wondrous creation/shines – lots of

fire imagery in poem (“fire of thine eyes” /

“furnace”). Majestic / hellish overtones.

● Alliteration/ oxymoron (line 4) and use of

rhetorical questions - “Could frame thy

fearful symmetry?” Repeating who is the

creator of such a powerful being. Oxymoron:

Beauty vs fear. Perfection/chaos.

Language: The Tyger (1794) P2

● “Burnt the fire…” (line 6) Hellish allusion

● Use of anaphora (“Did he smile/did he who

made the lamb make thee?”) – writer’s

incomprehension that such a beast could be

made by same created as innocent lamb

● Use of blacksmith imagery / anatomical

imagery to try to comprehend how it was

created

Themes: The Tyger (1794)

- Power

- The fearful threat that exists in humanity

- Innocence vs Experience

Half-Caste, Poet: John Agard

- Afro-Guyanese poet (Carribean)

- He is mixed race: father is from Caribbean,

mother is Portuguese

- Born 1949

Form / structure: Half-Caste

- Free verse – conversational style

- Lack of punctuation – urgency/spills from

heart

- 3 stanzas: 1 st - getting attention in amusing

way, 2 nd - series of amusing analogies about

colour, 3 rd – short 2 sentence stanza – serious

end

Form / structure: Half-Caste

- Use of personal pronouns (addresses reader –

judgmental tone/mocking ignorant people)

- Shape of poem – looks like half a man who

“cast half a shadow”

- Use of refrain – “explain yuself what you

mean” – putting pressure on listener / critical

Tone: Half-Caste

- Critical / Accusatory

- Mocking ignorant and prejudicial people

using sarcastic metaphors and patronizing

rhetorical questions

- Patronizing “I’m sure you understand why I

offer yu half-a-hand”

- Humorous / Angry

Language: Half-Caste P1

- Phonetic (“wha yu mean”) – emphasizes

writer’s dialect/identity – it’s personal

- “ah rass” – emphasizes narrator’s

upbringing/culture/way of expression

- Uses intelligent/cultural figures to mock

stupidity of others (Picasso/Tchaikovsky)

- Weather imagery – appeals to English

stereotype

Language: Half-Caste P2

- Use of puns – “half-caste til them overcast” / I

half caste human being cast half a shadow”

- Use of anaphora “Ah listening/Ah looking” –

using (half) senses to mock

- Anaphora – “de whole of yu ear/an de whole

of yu ear/an de whole of yu mind” – ironic

contrast between ‘whole’ white people and

“half” mixed race person

Themes: Half-Caste

- Identity

- Ignorance

- Race

My Last Duchess (1842) Poet: Robert Browning

- Victorian era poet

- Master of the dramatic monologue

- Implied meaning beneath speaker’s words

Background: My Last Duchess (1842)

- Alfonso II d’este – the fifth duke of Ferrara (in

Italy) His third wife died.

- Speaking to count’s servant about marrying

his daughter/showing him his art collection

- Refers to Fra Pandolf’s painting of his ‘last’

duchess

Form/structure: My Last Duchess (1842) P1

- Dramatic monologue

- Iambic Pentameter – pompous/noble

- 28 x rhyming couplets (“fool” / “mule”-

emphasizes his arrogant distaste for things

connected to her)

Form/structure: My Last Duchess (1842) P2

- Use of hyphens – caesura represents the

thought process/choosing words carefully (A

heart – how shall I say?”)

- Enjambment – the conversational style of the

poem – narrator bombards the listener with words

Tone: My Last Duchess (1842)

- Bitter/resentful towards his ex-wife (“She

had a heart…too soon made glad”)

- Suggestion of jealousy (“But who passed

without much the same smile?”)

- Sinister – “Looking as if she were alive” /

“This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles

stopped together.” (definite tone change)

Language: My Last Duchess (1842)

- “spot of joy” – symbol of her happiness – the

repetition of the phrase emphasizes his

resentful attitude towards her

- “Half flush that dies along her throat” –

sinister foreshadowing of the duchess’ fate?

- Rhetorical questions to emphasize his moral

superiority (“who’d stoop to blame this sort

of trifling?”)

- Siblance – “all smiles stopped together”

(sinister)

Themes: My Last Duchess (1842)

- Mystery

- Death

- Marriage / conflict

Half Past Two

Poet: U A Fanthorpe

- Female British author

- Worked as a ladies college

Background: Half Past Two

- A boy has a detention for something he doesn’t

know. The teacher forgets, and we see he can’t tell

the time and sits there for ages, clueless.

- Child is in a tiny pocket of time he is unfamiliar

with – a space not defined by adults

- Written in 3 rd person

Form/structure: Half Past Two

- Written in tercets (3 line verse)

- No rhyme scheme – free verse

- Starts like a story – “Once Upon a schooltime”

- Use of capitalization:

- Capitalized words to emphasize child’s view of the world – “he did Something Very Wrong” – how

children perceive bad things

Form/structure: Half Past Two

- Teacher is capitalised to show her authority /God-

like status in his life (“And She said…”)

- Time is capitalized – main theme of poem

Tone: Half Past Two

- Childlike – expressed through language:

- Use of fairytale elements (“Once Upon a…” /

“wicked”) to get into child’s mindset

- Childish personification of time – “He knew the

clockface, the little eyes and two long legs”

- Use of blend words – “Gettinguptime” to show

childish mentality/how adults present different

activities

- (interjections from adult author in parenthesis)

Language: Half Past Two

- Anaphora – “Into the smell/into the silence

noise/into the air” – to emphasis senses being

awakened (olfactory/auditory/tactile)

- Patronizing diction – “she slotted him back into

schooltime” (+ teacher doesn’t apologise)

- Use of metaphor – He escaped into the clockless

land of ever”

- Time personified – like 3 rd character in the poem

(“time hides tick-less waiting to be born”)

- “All the timefors” – Biblical allusion (Ecclesiastes 3

– A time to live, a time to die etc)

Themes: Half Past Two

- Innocence of childhood / abandonment

- Time

Do not go gentle into that good night (1951)

Poet: Dylan Thomas

- From Wales

- Alcoholic - heavy drinker

- Romantic poet

- Able to follow strict form of poem but still write

emotionally

Background; Do not go gentle into that good night (1951)

- Father dying

- Urge father to fight against death

- There is always a reason to live no matter who

you are

- Disregard mistakes and life choices

- “Wise men, Good men, Wild men, Grave men”

Form/structure: Do not go gentle into that good night (1951)

- Villanelle - French poem of 19 lines, 6 stanzas, 5

tercets followed by one quatrain (categorize

men into 4 groups - no matter who you are, last

stanza more personal)

- aba aba aba aba aba abba

- Refrains

• Do not go gentle into that good night (urging his

father not to give up on life) - alliteration too

• Rage, rage against the dying of the light (Repetition makes message powerful)

Tone: Do not go gentle into that good night (1951)

- Urging - “Rage, rage against the dying of the

light” (repetition) “I pray” (desperate)

- Motivational - “Old age should burn and rave”

(personification - fight till the end)

- Demanding - “Do not go gentle into that good

night”

Language: Do not go gentle into that good night (1951)

- “dying of the light” “good night” “dark” “sun in

flight” (metaphors for death)

- “frail deeds might have danced”

(Personification - impact the world)

- “And learn, too late” (caesura - regret)

- “sad height” “curse, bless” (oxymorons - looking

at death, different views and fears)

- “Blind eyes could blaze like meteors” (simile -

full of life/passion/energy)

Themes: Do not go gentle into that good night (1951)

- Death

- Old age

- Father and son

- Brevity of life

If- (1895)

Poet: Rudyard Kipling

- Poet Laureate

Background: If- (1895)

- Victorian-Era Stoicism (positive - not showing

true emotion

- Paternal advice father to son

- Tribute to Leander Starr Jameson (failed

military mission)

Form/structure: If- (1895)

- 4 stanzas/octets

- regular rhyme scheme (ABABCDCD)

- alternates 11,10 beats (iambic extrameter/pentameter)

- One large extended conditional sentence

(advice of not giving up)

Tone: If- (1895)

- motivational - “If you can…” (repeated)

- Powerful/dramatic - “You’ll be a Man, my son!”

(exclamation to finish)

Language: If- (1895) P1

- “Keep your head” (metaphor/idiom - keep calm

when everyone is chaotic)

- “Dream - and not make dreams your master”

“think - and not make thoughts your aim”

(caesura - consider negatives, juxtapose positives and negatives)

- “Triumph and Disaster” (capitalized, juxtapose,

personify - egotistical vs. insecure)

- “twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools”

(emotive language - dishonest people do

unpleasant things)

Language: If- (1895) P2

- “,broken,” (caesura - hardships/obstacles of life)

- “heart and nerve and sinew” (synecdoche -

desire, strength, will - aspects of personality)

- “fill the unforgiving minute” (personification -

not waste time) consider negatives, juxtapose

positives and negatives)

Themes: If- (1895)

- Masculinity

- Defeat (how to handle)

- Fatherly advice

La Belle Dame sans Merci

Poet: John Keats

- Romanticist poet

- Preoccupation with love and death

Background: La Belle Dame sans Merci

- Written in 1819

- Unidentified speaker addresses knight, asking what is

troubling him

- Knight recounts the night’s encounter with a

beautiful, fairy-like lady

Form / Structure: La Belle Dame sans Merci

- Ballad - deals with the supernatural

- Title - “The Beautiful Lady without Mercy” in

French (the language of love)

- 12 x quatrains

- Rhyme scheme ABCB

- Mostly in iambic tetrameter, with the fourth line in each stanza irregular and shorter

- missing beats in the fourth line adds a sense of loss and mystery

Tone: La Belle Dame sans Merci

- Ambiguous, mysterious tone

- Melancholic at the beginning and end

Language: La Belle Dame sans Merci P1

- “Sedge… withered… / And no birds sing.” - repeated in the first and last stanza, pathetic fallacy, mirrors knight’s state (lack of life), a metaphor for death.

- “A lily on thy brow… on thy cheek a fading rose” -pale, references to death, life draining from them

Language: La Belle Dame sans Merci P2

- “A faery’s child” - mysterious, other-worldly

- Repetition of “wild” - mystery

- “Pale kings, and princes too, / Pale warriors, death

-pale…” - alliteration, repetition

- death

Themes: La Belle Dame sans Merci

- Love (its temporary nature)

- Abandonment

Poem at 39

Poet: Alice Walker

- Poet, storyteller, womanist

- Her writing reflects her black roots

Background: Poem at 39

- Voices her feelings towards her father, who passed

away

- guilt, admiration, love

- misses him

Form / Structure: Poem at 39

- Free verse, no rhyme scheme

- Enjambment - flow of memories

- End-stopped lines (eg. “How I miss my father) -

emphasise the extent of emotion

- Caesura - emphasises her powerful memories and

thoughts

Tone: Poem at 39

- Informal

- Personal and private

- Sorrowful and nostalgic

- Calm and relaxed at the end

Language: Poem at 39 P1

- Repetition of “he taught me how” - respect

- “He looked like a person dancing in a yoga meditation” - simile, oxymoron -- calm but lively nature

- “Sharing of good food” - assonance, generosity of her father, sharing brought them together

Language: Poem at 39 P2

- “Seasoning none of my life the same way twice”

-a metaphor for living every day differently

- “Cooking, writing, chopping wood…” rule of 3,

symbolize independence and self-sufficiency (skills

her father had taught her)

Themes: Poem at 39

- Loss of father

- Love

- Nostalgia - reminiscence, wish to return to the past

Piano (1918)

Poet: D H Lawrence

- persecution

- censorship

- misrepresentation

- exile

Background- Piano (1918)

- symbolizes childhood - piano

- memories

- nostalgia

- ironic and sad

Form/structure- Piano (1918)

- AABB → Simplicity of childhood

- 3 guardians

- forms of a song → melody that the woman plays

Tone: - Piano (1918)

- intimate/ yearning

- sentimental

- nostalgic

- melancholy

Language- Piano (1918) P1

- Caesura → slows reader down, separates

meaningful fragments

- Sibilance shows the softness (“Smiles as she

sings”)

Language- Piano (1918) P2

- metaphor → memory compared to views

(“Vista of years”)

- Auditory imagery → simple language - calm

contrast (“boom”)

- Personification → “heart of me weeps”

- Simile → longing for memory ( “I weep like a

child”)

Themes- Piano (1918)

- memory → misses moments with family

- music → lures him back to happier

times

Search for my tongue (1988)

Poet: Sujata Bhatt

- born in 1956

- in 1968 they moved to the united states

- she has received many awards for her poetry

Background- Search For My Tongue

- Written in 1988

- she was scared that she was losing her identity

as a Gujarati-speaking Indian

- she was studying English in America and feared

that she would be “Americanised”

Form/structure- Search For My Tongue P1

- free verse

- her thoughts and spoken words

- 1’st part 1-16 → struggle/dilemma:

→ foreign tongue pushing out the mother

tongue

Form/structure - Search For My Tongue P2

- 2nd part 17-30 → dream, mother tongue fights

back

- 3rd part 18-39 → translation, mother tongue

pushes out foreign tongue

Tone- Search For My Tongue

- concerned

- resentful

- relieved

Language- Search For My Tongue P1

- unpleasant imagery → “two tongues in your

mouth”

- Imagery → “grows longer, grows moist, grows

strong veins”

- personification → “ties the other tongue in

knots”

Language- Search For My Tongue P2

- metaphor → Flower + plant

→ nourishment/attention

neglect means that it dies

- repetition → grows → taking over, is powerful

Themes- Search For My Tongue

- cultural roots → losing her culture

- mother language → feels like she’s losing her

first language

Hide and Seek

Poet: Vernon Scannell

- British poet and author (1922 -2007)

- Served in the army during WW2, had PTSD

- Many believe that Scannell’s poems are the best to have come out of the Second World War

Background: Hide and Seek P1

- can be compared to his experiences during

Normandy invasions of WW2

- As the poem progresses Scannell begins to break

from a childish description of hiding to an eerie

description of what a soldier would have

experienced in Normandy

Background: Hide and Seek P2

- Many similarities to the symptoms of PTSD, such

as the voices he hears only to discover that he

cannot find those who were searching for him and

the constant cold - the author also had PTSD

Form/structure: Hide and Seek

- 1 stanza - collection of the child's thoughts

- No regular rhyme scheme, just three rhyming couplets - represents childish rhyme

- A lot of caesura

- Free verse poem

- First and second person point of view

Tone: Hide and Seek

- Cold (“the cold bites through your coat”)

- Paranoid (“Don’t breathe. Don’t move”)

- Starts positive/excited (“Call loud: I’m ready!”)

- Ends negative/disappointed (“But where are they

who sought you?”)