GCSE English Literature - Belonging Anthology Form

To My Sister

- four-line stanzas and a regular rhyme scheme
- echoes the consistent and reliable pattern of nature,
- The calming effect of this not only draws our attentions to the plain language Wordsworth has chosen, but also mirrors the orderly nature of the natural world.

Sunday Dip

- A sonnet
- Rhyme scheme of 7 couplets
- Tries to capture the unpretentious, child-like simplicity that the Romantics valued

Mild the Mist Upon the Hill

- Traditional lyrical ballad (4 quatrains with consistent rhyme scheme)
- Traditional form emphasises universality of emotions experienced
- Child-like form emphasises longing for childhood in poem

Captain Cook - To My Brother

- 8 quatrains
- AABB rhyme scheme
- Simple form reflects simple happiness of childhood

Clear and Gentle Stream

- 4 stanzas -> each 12 lines
- Changing rhyme scheme (ABBA to CDCD to EE FF)
- Each line has 5 syllables
- Mixture of continuity and change to reflect theme of changed person going to unchanged place from childhood

I Remember, I Remember

- 4 Stanzas -> each 8 lines
- First line repeated at start of each octave
- 8 syllables and 6 syllables (these rhyme) alternated
- Rhyme scheme reflects duality in poem of past and present

Island Man

- Number of lines and line length in stanzas vary to convey sense of instability in poem of a man without a sense of belonging to the place he's in
- Lack of punctuation apart from capital letters as he emerges back in London to reflect constrained nature of reality there

We Refugees

- 8 quatrains, 1 octave and 1 ten line stanza to give poem a song-like quality to create a defiant tone
- Enjambment forces reader to rush and creates sense of urgency

Peckham Rye Lane

- Free verse with irregular stanza length to reflect fragmented stream of consciousness style

Us

- 7 tercets
- Enjambment across stanzas reflects the connection between individuals the speaker wishes for us to achieve

In Wales Wanting to be Italian

- 4 stanzas of free verse reflects youthful desire among teengagers for freedom
- Also reflects fluid identity among adolescents

Kumukanda

- Three sestets
- Iambic heptameter (14 syllables per line)

Jamaican British

- 8 Couplets used to represent dual nature of speaker's identity
- Free verse could suggest these two identities do not connect well

My Mother's Kitchen

- 3 stanzas of free verse
- No regularity to poem to reflect uncertainty and unpredictable nature of life as a refugee

Emigree

- Dramatic monologue
- 3 stanzas of dodecasyllabic (12 syllables) free verse
- Regular and stable form represents stability provided to speaker as a result of national identity and memories of home