Poems of the Decade

Eat Me - Themes (Agbabi)

• Gender

• Power & Conflict

• Transgressions & Taboos

Eat Me - Title (Agbabi)

Temptation, sexual connotations and contextual reference to Alice in Wonderland.

Eat Me - Structure (Agbabi)

10 tercets, 30 lines in total corresponding to each stone of weight. Multiple clauses as if it were a shopping list.

Eat Me - Form (Agbabi)

Dramatic Monologue

Eat Me - Rhyme Scheme (Agbabi)

Frequent half-rhyme creating a hazy effect with disjointed flow.

Eat Me - Syntactic Techniques (Agbabi)

Caesura: disjointed and monotonous life

Enjambment: empty continuous consumption

Eat Me - Rhetorical Techniques (Agbabi)

Semantic Field: related to water and food

Anaphora: ingrained ritual in "too fat to"

Irony: she becomes so fat the only extreme that will satiate her is his death

Eat Me - Phonetic Techniques (Agbabi)

Onomatopoeia: "wobble" and "juggernaut" emphasise the motion.

Alliteration: use of fricative sounds in sequence

Eat Me - Key Quotes (Agbabi)

"Tidal wave of flesh"

"Olive oil down my throat"

"His eyes bulging with greed"

Chainsaw Versus The Pampas Grass - Themes (Armitage)

• Gender

• Power & Conflict

• Place & Objects

Chainsaw Versus The Pampas Grass - Title (Armitage)

Chainsaw's lack of definite article exudes a sense of authority.

Chainsaw Versus The Pampas Grass - Structure (Armitage)

Final stanza is significantly shorter than the others implying that the anger and confidence that the chainsaw had at the beginning has been subdued.

Chainsaw Versus The Pampas Grass - Tone (Armitage)

Begins with an ominous and peaceful atmosphere which dramatically accelerates into violence until Chainsaw dominance is instituted.

Chainsaw Versus The Pampas Grass - Phonetic Techniques (Armitage)

Sibilance - to create hissing and seething sounds

Assonance - when describing the pampas grass it implies a lack of substance

Plosives - in contrast to assonance to emphasise chainsaw effects

Chainsaw Versus The Pampas Grass - Rhetorical Techniques (Armitage)

Alliterative oxymoron: "midday moon" suggests the disorder of the natural order in this.

Allegory: "ripped into dark pockets" the yonic nature of the grass invokes connotations of rape.

Chainsaw Versus The Pampas Grass - Analysis (Armitage)

In Freudian Psychology, the "bloody desire" is the ID that resides in us all, unleashed here without effective control.

Chainsaw Versus The Pampas Grass - Key Quotes (Armitage)

"Knocked back a quarter pint of engine oil"

"Ludicrous feathers and plumes"

"New crown"

Effects - Themes (Jenkins)

• Family Relationships

• Childhood, Youth & Experience

• Death & Bereavement

• Place & Objects

Effects - Title (Jenkins)

Invokes the melancholy and regret the family is left with after the death of a loved one.

Effects - Form (Jenkins)

Elegy of the narrator's parents in the form of an inner monologue.

Effects - Structure (Jenkins)

Revelation of the mother's death is not referenced directly until nine lines from the end; an emotional and difficult thing for the speaker to express.

Effects - Rhyme (Jenkins)

Free verse promotes a conversational rhythm in dialogue and better communicates emotion. Additionally, the scheme shifts from alternating to couplets at the end signifying the emotional composure he regains. Half-rhymes also contribute to unpredictability.

Effects - Syntactic Techniques (Jenkins)

Further memories are triggered by each motion of the mother's hands creating a complex construction of clauses and sub-clauses. This operates alongside caesura and enjambment for thoughts sense of flow.

Effects - Rhetorical Techniques (Jenkins)

Synecdoche: mother's hands represent her whole

Diacopes: repetition of a word or phrase with one or two intervening words.

Ellipsis: implies further questions and details.

Effects - Key Quotes (Jenkins)

"Always scarred"

"Please don't leave"

"Only know that he was dead"

Material - Themes (Barber)

• Family Relationships

• Class & Inheritance

• Place & Objects

• Death & Bereavement

Material - Title (Barber)

Number of interpretations possible, reinforces the icon of the poem and overarching message.

Material - Structure (Barber)

Solid series of nine octaves. Consistent half rhyme suggests uncertainty yet strict alternate line shows the continuation of some things. Repetition of "step together, step together" is an example of the formality of the olden days.

Material - Tone (Barber)

Tone throughout remains reminiscent, especially focusing on nostalgia and the materialism of the modern day. Frustration in the eight stanza with her mothering; her acknowledgement suggest willingness to change.

Material - Rhetorical Techniques (Barber)

Juxtaposition: between the quality of the past with the quantity of the present.

Extended Metaphor: "my mother was the hanky queen" emphasises the effect throughout her life.

Material - Key Quotes (Barber)

"Nostalgia only makes me old"

"Their soft and hidden history"

"Tissues and uncertainty"

An Easy Passage - Themes (Copus)

• Childhood, Youth & Experience

• Motherhood, Faith & Culture

• Family Relationships

• Society

• Class & Inheritance

An Easy Passage - Title (Copus)

Rite of passage, transitioning from one mode of living to another, whether metaphorically or physically growing up.

An Easy Passage - Structure (Copus)

One continual stanza - gives the poem a sense of freedom in flow. Life is continuous and has no said structure and this relates to how the girl sees her life ahead of her.

An Easy Passage - Tone (Copus)

Conversational with extended lines using enjambment establishing a natural fluidity.

An Easy Passage - Rhetorical Techniques (Copus)

Repetition of the half motif, "half in love" showing how divided the girl is between her childhood and mature future self. Presents an ironic evaluation that both desire what they do not have.

An Easy Passage - Key Quotes (Copus)

"Once she is halfway up there"

"Crouched in her bikini"

"Electroplating factory over the road"

The Lammas Hireling - Themes (Duhig)

• Transgressions & Taboos

• Society

The Lammas Hireling - Title (Duhig)

Lammas is a festival when traditionally landowners would employ a hireling to aid the harvest with menial tasks.

The Lammas Hireling - Structure (Duhig)

Enjambment generates tension as we look to see what happens next before the second stanza.

Strong structure of four stanzas of six sestets; the poem has a fairy-tale atmosphere with an emphasis on order and method; although this juxtaposes with the content.

The Lammas Hireling - Tone (Duhig)

Exclusively narrator's perspective, ominous at the beginning with "then one night" and underpinned by the sound or imagery.

The Lammas Hireling - Phonetic Techniques (Duhig)

Simple man with a corresponding diction and character. The overwhelming majority of words are monosyllabic. Alliteration and onomatopoeia also plays an effect.

The Lammas Hireling - Cultural Significance (Duhig)

Employs a sense of ambiguity, with colloquialism and folklore references to accentuate the violent yet simple undertones.

The Lammas Hireling - Key Quotes (Duhig)

"Disturbed from dreams of my dear late wife"

"Blew the small hour through his heart"

"Bless me Father I have sinned"

To My Nine-Year-Old Self - Themes (Dunmore)

• Childhood, Youth & Experience

To My Nine-Year-Old Self - Title (Dunmore)

Introspective and evaluative in nature.

To My Nine-Year-Old Self - Tone (Dunmore)

Persona that initiates the conversation is the same although cautious and older. "You must forgive me" has an exophoric tone.

To My Nine-Year-Old Self - Structure (Dunmore)

Six stanzas of irregular lengths, symbolises the spontaneity of childhood. The poem suggests that the emotional intensity of young children is enviable, particularly once we are adults with a plethora of fears, scars, and a bad back.

To My Nine-Year-Old Self - Rhyme Scheme (Dunmore)

There is no rhyme scheme, the poem is presented as a surreal conversation between the adult narrator and herself as a child. Rhyme would be an artificial method of organising the poem and a distraction from its message.

To My Nine-Year-Old Self - Rhetorical Techniques (Dunmore)

Lexical Field: childhood nostalgia is communicated via "ice-lolly factory"

Shifting Pronouns: demonstrates the transitory nature of their conversation.

Hypallage: "scarred lanes" it is the narrator who is herself scarred.

To My Nine-Year-Old Self - Key Quotes (Dunmore)

"On the tightrope"

"Hide down scarred lanes"

"I leave you in an ecstasy of concentration"

The Deliverer - Themes (Doshi)

• Transgressions & Taboos

• Fantasy & Reality

• Motherhood, Faith & Culture

• Gender

The Deliverer - Title (Doshi)

Dual meaning as the biological deliverer of the child into the world and the deliverer of abandoned babies to the adoptive home.

The Deliverer - Tone (Doshi)

Ambiguity and double meanings create a sense of confusion and upheaval. Girls are oppressed by the superior societal view of boys whereas boys suffer immense pressure to succeed.

The Deliverer - Structure (Doshi)

Broken lives symbolically represented by the shift from tercets to couplets. Regular structure of the last few stanzas suggests optimism for the girl. The shifting structure allows the different perspectives to be communicated.

The Deliverer - Rhetorical Techniques (Doshi)

Using verbs that are disturbing in the context and unsettle the audience such as "toss the baby" No encouraged opinion with a lack of figurative language; factual base allowing raw emotion.

The Deliverer - Rhyme Scheme (Doshi)

No real rhyme scheme, but syllable verbs thud through the lines with an emphasis on the physical.

The Deliverer - Key Quotes (Doshi)

"Watch body slither out from body."

"Fetish for plucking hair off hands"

"Toss the baby to the heap of others"

Look We Have Coming To Dover - Themes (Nagra)

• Power & Conflict

Look We Have Coming To Dover - Title (Nagra)

Grammatically incorrect phrasing and mixing tenses, implies a lack of understanding of English. Dover is a major entrance point to the UK connected to the immigrating dialect.

Look We Having Coming To Dover - Structure (Nagra)

Alternative Rhyme demonstrates the broken communication of such people while the half-rhyme shows that they are attempting to attain poetry despite their reputation as immigrants.

Look We Having Coming To Dover - Tone (Nagra)

The voice discloses hardship and poverty. In comparison to the tourists, the narrator and his kind have very little power. Despite this they envision a future in which they achieve victory.

Look We Having Coming To Dover - Key Quotes (Nagra)

"Gobfuls [...] phlegmed"

"Flecked by the chalk of Britannia!"

"So various, so beautiful, so new"

The Gun - Themes (Feaver)

• Power & Conflict

• Gender

The Gun - Title (Feaver)

Would make reader feel apprehensive, has strong negative connotations violence and death, the definite article adds emphasis on the object.

The Gun - Structure (Feaver)

Varying line length in stanzas, "a gun brings a house alive" is a single effective line, punctuation reflects the rhythm of bullets until unnerving lengths of enjambment.

The Gun - Tone (Feaver)

Either provocative and violent or casual and blunt reflecting the dichotomy of their lives.

The Gun - Phonetic Techniques (Feaver)

Short sudden sounds form specific word choices, with harsh and plosive kinds throughout. Discordant pronunciation juxtaposes the occasional glimpses of pure or soft words.

The Gun - Rhetorical Techniques (Feaver)

Personification: "The King of Death has arrived" involves folklore in this raw experience.

Irony: combines the action with the total stillness of death.

The Gun - Key Quotes (Feaver)

"Like when sex was fresh"

"At first it's just practice"

"The King of Death"

Giuseppe - Themes (Ford)

• Death & Bereavement

• Man & Nature

• Religion & Myth

• Fantasy & Reality

• Transgressions & Taboos

Giuseppe - Title (Ford)

Giuseppe is the Italian version of Joseph, a familiar and common name to most societies. Impersonal tone for the poem to be titled just "Giuseppe" rather than "Uncle Giuseppe", which could show a distance that the narrator.

Giuseppe - Tone (Ford)

Matter of fact and emotionally detached, modulated by the speaker's guilt. Language remains a factual recounting of actions throughout. Figurative language is infrequent with only two adjectives and one simile.

Giuseppe - Structure (Ford)

Irregular length of the stanzas reflect the uncertainty of things in wartime. Additionally, it points to each event so you confront it squarely.

Giuseppe - Syntactic Techniques (Ford)

Caesura and enjambment create pauses in the middle of phrases, implying that the speaker's uncle is reluctant to continue telling his story, perhaps out of guilt, or fear of judgement.

Giuseppe - Key Quotes (Ford)

"She screamed like a woman in terrible fear"

"Ripe golden roe"

"For which I thank God"

From The Journal Of A Disappointed Man - Themes (Motion)

• Power & Conflict

• Fantasy & Reality

• Society

From The Journal Of A Disappointed Man - Title (Motion)

Journalling suggests personal content yet this contrasts with the anonymity of the man involved.

From The Journal Of A Disappointed Man - Tone (Motion)

Contrast in idiolect, while the narrator uses words such as "ruminative" the workers used monosyllabic ones such as "let go" which creates a sense of disappointment.

From The Journal Of A Disappointed Man - Structure (Motion)

Consistent solid stanzas with connotation to masculinity in monotony. Variety of punctuation indicates there may be an underlying complexity to the masculine surface.

From The Journal Of A Disappointed Man - Phonetic Techniques (Motion)

Repetition of the plosive sounds gives the impression of repetitive, hard labour. As well as, sibiliance emphasising the silences.

From The Journal Of A Disappointed Man - Morphological Techniques (Motion)

Semantic field of construction equipment and the "discovered" men being described as "monsters" by this outsider to their ranks.

From The Journal Of A Disappointed Man - Key Quotes (Motion)

"Ruminative and silent men ignoring me"

"Every one of the monsters"

"Altogether the men followed"

Please Hold - Themes (O'Driscoll)

• Society

• Power & Conflict

Please Hold - Title (O'Driscoll)

Infers a range of information as the phrase is synonymous with phone calls and customer support helplines. In addition, the poem title is repeated throughout the text as part of the poem. It also conveys a sense of action, which helps to gain a readers attention and generates the strong emotional and frustrated tone of the poem.

Please Hold - Tone (O'Driscoll)

Neutral tone throughout, which only adds to the ambiguity surrounding what's inside the narrator's mind and is being relayed.

Please Hold - Structure (O'Driscoll)

Use of caesura and finalising punctuation compliments the robotic tone. Majority is one single, continuous stanza, which reflects the theme of monotony which is contributed to by the aforementioned techniques extending the length of the poem.

Please Hold - Rhetorical Techniques (O'Driscoll)

Four speakers with no separation yet with apparent conflict between the each of them. The sentences have an increasing brevity as the poem develops alongside the narrators rage. Repetition accentuates monotony with "says" a commonplace phrase. Elements of the robot's dialogue is surreal.

Please Hold - Satirical Nature (O'Driscoll)

Features acerbic irony with "I have a great telephone number" and personification of the most robotic using metonyms.

Please Hold - Key Quotes (O'Driscoll)

"This is the future"

"Guise of countless alternatives"

"Eine Kleine Nachtmusik"

Genetics - Themes (Morrissey)

• Family Relationships

• Society

Genetics - Title (Morrissey)

Implies the importance of family in the poem and how the inheritance of genetics matters to the characters portrayed.

Genetics - Structure (Morrissey)

Villanelle form which is especially strict in it's rhyme and form. The circular nature of the poem forms a ring which echoes the imagery of marriage present throughout.

Genetics - Tone (Morrissey)

Narrator is attempting to put the sadness of the events in perspective and soften the harsher realities of life.

Genetics - Rhyme Scheme (Morrissey)

Half-Rhymes symbolise the degree of separation between the parents and children. Words and rhyme are interlaced have a complexity reflected in the complex pattern on the child's hands.

Genetics - Rhetorical Techniques (Morrissey)

Synecdoche: the sum hands of her mother and father together.

Villanelle: traditionally about love, loss and challenge which is evident in this poem.

Genetics - Morphological Techniques (Morrissey)

Imagery is very symbolic and essential to understanding the poem. There is use of repletion of the lexical cluster of hands as a concrete symbol of the familial bond through the divorce. While her mother exists as the "palms" forming a foundation the father makes the "fingers" which grant a functional capacity.

Genetics - Key Quotes (Morrissey)

"Repelled to separate lands"

"Who quarry for their image"

"I shape a chapel where a steeple stands"

A Minor Role - Themes (Fanthorpe)

• Society

• Power & Conflict

• Death & Bereavement

A Minor Role - Title (Fanthorpe)

Encourages the reader to discover this role and what purpose it serves in relation to the wider world presented.