Power and conflict - structures

Ozymandias

- Poem is a love sonnet, a traditional form of poetry: could be showing respect to Ozymandias or as the form is often linked to love, could be a representation of the pharoh's hubris

- In 19th century, lines of poetry were expected to be end stopped, however the poet uses lots of enjambment: this lack of control which contradicts the structural form of a sonnet is another reminder of the limits of Ozymandias power and the limitless power nature has over humans, which links to the poet who is a romantic poet.

London

- First three lines are in iambic tetrameter and establish abab rhyme scheme.Carefully structures metre and rhyme continues for most of the poem: reflects focus on establishments and restrictions of people

- However, poet breaks out of this structure: when focusing on vunerable people e.g: hapless soldiers sigh or accusing the establishment e.g: blackning church he uses trochees instead of iambs.Putting the stressed beat first adds anger to Blakes message e.g: MARKS of WEAKness MARKS of WOE

- Each stanza has 4 lines, regular structure: reflects restrictions

The prelude

- Prelude is part of a longer autobiographal poem which is an example of lyric poetry as it expresses powerful emotions

- Poem is written in blank verse: lack of rhyme reflects poet's initial feelings of freedom while steady iambic pentamter portrays sense of strength and power as well as repetition of rhythm and beats mimics the rowing throughout the poem as a reminder of the darkness, fear and guilt that loops in his mind by taking the boat and rowing with it in the first place.

- Blank verse also shows how these events happened all at once

- Volta at around line 21 where the mood and who carries the power, completely changes

My last duchess

- Poem is a dramatic monologue: allows Duke to have power over his own story while removing power from the Duchess, who's only described by him.Also represents his status and how he's above most.

- Poem is written in rhyming couplets of iambic pentameter: traditional use of metre and rhyme reflects the Duke's established family and position.

- Enjambment provides Duke's conversational tone and how the lack of an pauses rejects the person he's speaking to, to speak --> could be because the Duke is proud of what he has done and knows that the messanger can't stop him, once again showing his dominance, power and status.

The charge of the light brigade

- Narrative poem retelling a true story: represents honour

- Six stanzas link to the 600 men in the cavalry with each stanza honouring 100 men

- Lines are short creating a visual representation of the cavalry charging through the valley

- Written in dactylic dimeter meaning two sets of three beats which reflects the sound of hooves and excitement of charge

- Starting with a stressed beat represents cavalry's determination while two unstressed beats make the rhythm fall and represent tha gradual tragic fall of the men

- Poem has a traditional formal structure: most lines are end-stoppes and of similar lengths and there are clear rhyming patterns --> reflects subject of the poem (regiment of the army) as well as being appropriate for the respect that the poet wishes to show the men --> especially since he was a poet laureate

- However poem is completely uniform: lines and tanzas vary in length and rhyme scheme isn't consistant --> reflects gradual breakdown of cavalry's organisation and strength

Exposure

- Media res

- Regular rhyme and rhythm reflect continually bad conditions and the feeling that the war will never end

- However these structures are often disrupted by indents ( a pace in every last line) to mirror the soldiers tense and restless minds and the idea that they're broken and dying

Storm on the Island

- Dramatic monologue, written in blank verse and doesn't rhyme but the 19 lines are in iambic pentameter --> regular rhythm could reflect constant attack of the storm while the lack of rhyme could represent the chaos caused by the weather

- Blank verse --> shows they're constantly constrained and limited on the Island due to nature, showing human power is limited, useless and insignificant and that they're stuck in a loop.Blank verse also represents viewpoint of one side of the conflict, which contextually shows that they're actually fighting themselves.

- Features lots of enjambment and caesuras so the poem doesn't flow in the way the reader might expect --> mirrors uncontrolled and unpredictable gusts of wind in the poem

Bayonet charge

- Media res: we're thrown into the battlefield as it's set in the midst of action of the soldier

- Three stanzas --> show a different aspect of this moment in time

- Poem is free verse: it doesn't rhyme and lines differe in length with no fixed metre --> reflects sense of immediacy and terror as the soldier charges across the battlefield and the chaos of war itself

- Enjambment --> adds to the speed and suddennes of the moment being described by not stopping the narrative at the end of each line

Remains

- Media res: we're thrown in right at the start to get the full experience of the soldier

- Dramatic monologue: written in free verse and enjambment --> makes the poem read like realistic speech

- Organised into quatrains: clear construction contrasts with the irregular metre to reflect how the soldiers act outside of regulation, abusing power of their position

- Last stanza has only two lines --> emphasises final image of guilt and indicated the speaker cannot continue

- Only rhyme in the last paragraph speeds up the pace of the poem --> possible because he wants to remove the image that loops in his mind and get rid of the guilt as quick as possible

- Volta on line 17 (end of the story except not really) --> soldier has stoppes focusing on the war event but instead the consequences that the soldier had to deal with after

- Whole poem is a flashback --> showing that it's an endless cycle of guilt that plagues his mind

Poppies

- Whole poem is a flashback --> narrator is reminiscing herself of the memory/moment

- Free verse: lots of enjambment, lots of caesuras and lack of fixed rhythm --> reflects how poem is constructed around different memories merging into each other (rather than one clear moment)

- Despite free verse, poem is divided into stanzas: however they vary in length --> could represent the way she tries to control her emotions

- 1st and last paragraph have 6 lines: shows cyclical structure and how at the start and end of the poem sbe ends up visiting the grave to replay/relive the memories of her son before he left --> she revisits the grave as a loop/cycle in hope that her son will return

War photograper

- Regular structure: arranged in 4 sestets, many of the lines are written in iambic pentameter and repeated abbcdd rhyme scheme --> reflects controlled, methodical approach that the war photographer takes in his work.Regular structure also represents inner restriction and how "he has a job to do."

- However not all lines follow the same metre and the rhythm is disrupted further through enjambement and caesura --> mirrors how once at home the photographer's feeling break through his detatched exterior or disconnection

Tissue

- Organised into 10 stanzas: 9 quatrains and single final line --> stanzas could represent the different layers of paper that are described throughout the poem and are imagined being used to rebuild the world

- Lines are written in free verse --> represents airy lightness of tissue paper and reflects poems criticism of social and political structures and the contrasting focus on freedom

The emigree

- Dramatic monologue: two octaves, a nonet and the additional line in the final stanza could mirror the hopeful view that life goes on and a better future is possible --> this view is supported by the way each stanza ends with the optimistic symbol of sunlight

- Poem is written in free verse with some enjambment --> mirrors mood of freedom that she applies to her memories of her homeland

- Freedom is contrasted due to the sense of poetic restriction: created by dividing the poem into stanzas and using lines of a similar length that are increasingly end-stopped/caesuras --> represents conflict between her idealised memories and the oppressive nature of the current regime

Checking out me history

- Poem uses non-standard english (creole dialect that the poet himself can relate to as he was Guyanese) and ignores punctuation rules.This combines with free verseand irregular stanzas to present a rejection of poetic traditions --> seen as part of the dominant white culture, so it reflects the poem's mood of freedom and critcism of restriction

- The lack of full stops, especially at the end --> implies nothing has been resolved and the lack of official non-white history still needs addressing

- Rhyme --> highlights different images, sometimes creates humour and represents how two types of culture are being explored by the poet: the dominant white culutre and the secondary non-white culture

- Passages of non-white history are italicised and indented --> links to the image of carving out an identity and makes them stand out symbolically, by moving them from the margin towards the centre (when something is marginalised it's seen as unimportant wheras something central is seen as important)

- Quadrain structure is repeated when the poet talks about white history --> repetition of the same amount of lines in one verse shows how limited society's knowledge of history is and that it bores him as it doesn't stand out to the poet personally as he doesn't feel mentioned as part of that history

- Cyclical structure: 1st and last paragraph repeated except for the last two lines showing his development in knowledge of his own personal history that has shaped his identity

Kamikaze

- Arranged in 7 sestets and this set pattern contrasts with the poet's use of free verse --> reflects the conflict the pilot experiences: follow orders and fulfil his duty or follow his heart and be with his family

- Dual perspective of father and daughter: the daughter's thoughts are represented by italics --> shows the consequences of the pilots actions through someone close to him instead of himself, reducing bias

- Regular structure --> represents the strict, organised army and how everyone is supposed to look, act and think the same

- Lot more enjambment at the start --> represents how there isn't and shouldn't be an inch of hesistance as the pilot prepares to embark on his journey.

- However there are more caesuras used towards the end of the poem --> represents how the pilot changes his mind and becomes more hesistant, also represents the memories that pause and slowly come back to him inbetween