english lit - poetry

If - x4 important quotes + themes + 1x form + 1x structure

• ‘if you can keep your head’ = ‘if’ = refrain + idiom = adds to immediacy and intimacy of tone

• 'If you can trust yourself' = conveys self-confidence and personal integrity, emphasizing the importance of self-reliance.

• 'If you can wait and not be tired by waiting' = polyptoton highlights the virtue of patience, suggesting the need to endure challenges without despair

• ‘if you can force you heart and nerve and sinew’ = polysyndeton emphasises the qualities necessary for strength and self-belief - heart = emotions, nerve = bravery and sinew = strength

• 'If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster' = highlights the duality of success and failure, urging balance and perspective in life.

  'Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it' = conveys the ultimate reward of perseverance, celebrating achievement and fulfillment.

  form :

• written in iambic pentameter = adds momentum + heroic verse - links to masculinity + apostrophe

• conditional statement + conclusion at end

  themes :

• resilience, comment on societal values, masculinity

prayer before birth - x4 important quotes + themes + 1x form + 1x structure

• ‘I am not yet born’ = conveys innocence and vulnerability, emphasizing the speaker's awareness of the dangers of life.
  ‘Let not the bloodsucking monsters’ = metaphor highlights the destructive forces in society, urging protection from corruption.
  + ‘I fear more than the killers’ = juxtaposes fear against physical threats, focusing on psychological anxieties.
  ‘Bring me to the world’ = plea signifies hope for a safe existence, anchoring the poem's existential themes.

  ‘lethal automaton’ + ‘cog in a machine’ = military = comment on society
  Form: written in irregular stanza lengths = enhances emotional turmoil and chaos of life. + dramatic monologue, apostrophe

  structure: enjambement= mirrors movement of river in stanza 3, polyptoton, layout of poem reflects speaker’s desire

• Themes: innocence, societal corruption, desire for protection.

sims + differences between Prayer Before Birth and Hide and Seek

• both written from perspective of vulnerable children

• both poet also seek to foreground the fears and feelings of children but in different ways e.g rhyme, setting, perspective

sims + differences between Prayer Before Birth and If

• both poems present the speakers’ views on life and their fears e.g speakers, apostrophe, assonance

• although both poets explore the speakers’ views on lilfe, their poems offer a different perspective, from pessimism to optimism e.g structures, refrain vs anaphora, caesura and enjambement vs enjamebent and iambic pentameter

Blessing - x4 important quotes + themes + 1x form + 1x structure

• ‘the skin crack like a pod’ = simile that describes dehydration + repetition of plosive = harsh + minor sentence after

• ‘imagine the drip of it’ = imperative = reader empathises with the feelings of those suffering from dehydration + onomatopoeic words = v. scarce

• ‘every man woman child’ = no commas = mimics rush of water

• ‘frantic hands’ = final line of stanza = emphasis + hysteria

• ‘naked children’ + ‘screaming’ + ‘small bones’ = reminds the reader of suffering + fragility of children

  structure = of stanza 3 = mimics the movement of water, deliberately short lengths

  form = free verse+no rhyme scheme - mimics movement of water,

• Themes: survival, desperation, the power of nature.

Blessing vs war photographer sims + difs

• both poems highlight the poverty and struggle of a group of people living in a deprived part of the world e.g speakers, enjambement, religious language

• although both poems address issues of poverty, both have different perspectives and outlooks e.g benefits of water vs feelings, free verse vs consistent structure

Blessing vs Tyger sims + difs

• both poems present a sense of wonder by exploring religion and their ideas about God e.g third person perspective, wonders of water + God, tone

• although both poems explore the idea of God, both have different perspectives e.g burst pipe = act of mercy from God vs Tyger is questioning how God could create such a fearsome creature, kindly God vs Creator God, structure

Search For My Tongue - x4 important quotes + themes + 1x form + 1x structure

• 1. ‘You ask me what I mean / by saying I have lost my tongue.”
     – Technique: Rhetorical question & metonym (“tongue” for language) to draw the reader in and foreground the central conflict.

  2. “your mother tongue would rot, / rot and die in your mouth / until you had to spit it out.”
     – Technique: Graphic imagery + repetition of “rot” to show the painful loss of heritage.

  3. “(munay hutoo kay aakhee jeebh…modhama pakay chay)”
     – Technique: Code-switching (Gujarati transliteration) signals pride in her mother tongue and forces the reader into her “foreign” world.

  4. “Every time I think I’ve forgotten, / I think I’ve lost the mother tongue, / it blossoms out of my mouth.”
     – Technique: Extended plant metaphor (“blossoms”) and personification to celebrate language’s resilience.

     1. • • Language & Identity: mother tongue as an intrinsic part of self

          • Immigration & Belonging: struggle to assimilate without erasing heritage

        • Form
          

          • Free verse in three stanzas, the middle one entirely in Gujarati (with transliteration)

        • Structure
          

          • Three-part arc: 1) conflict of two tongues; 2) visual “rotting” + Gujarati reclamation; 3) triumphant regrowth

Comparison between search for my tongue and poem at 39

• 
  

  1. “I ask you what I mean…” (Search for My Tongue) vs.
     “I ask you, what would you do if…” (Poem at Thirty-Nine)
     – Technique: Both use direct address (“you”) to create intimacy.

  2. Extended cooking metaphor (Poem at Thirty-Nine)
     “…as if my father’s lessons were recipes I must learn by heart.”
     – Technique: Extended metaphor linking memory to cooking, showing how past shapes identity.

  3. “It has the freedom to create its own form…” (on Poem at Thirty-Nine’s free verse)
     – Technique: Free-flowing structure mirrors stream of consciousness, like memories unfolding.

  4. “stream of consciousness and the way the speaker’s memories are flowing.”
     – Technique: Narrative style that mirrors how recollections surface.

• Themes
  

  1. Identity through Memory: shaping self via parental influence

  2. Legacy & Learning: passing down lessons as recipes for life

• Form
  

  1. Free verse, allowing thoughts to spill out without rigid stanzaic constraints

• Structure
  

  1. Six stanzas, each focusing on a distinct memory or lesson—creating a mosaic of identity

Comparison between search for my tongue and half caste

• 
  

  1. “Wha yu mean when yu say half-caste?”
     – Technique: Phonetic spelling/dialect (“yu”, “wha”) confronts the listener and challenges prejudice.

  2. “Explain yuself / wha yu mean / when yu say half-caste?”
     – Technique: Repetition & interrogative form to force self-examination in the “other.”

  3. “I am not a ‘pound-note’ / cast in de colour of money.”
     – Technique: Metaphor (“pound-note”) and wordplay on “cast” to reject commodification of identity.

  4. “a half-caste amalgamation.”
     – Technique: Portmanteau to reclaim and subvert the insult—celebrating mixed heritage.

• Themes
  

  1. Cultural Identity & Racism: critique of derogatory labels

  2. Language & Power: dialect as a tool of resistance and authenticity

• Form
  

  1. Dramatic monologue in vernacular free verse, giving voice directly to the speaker

• Structure
  

  1. Short stanzas with line breaks that mimic speech patterns—forcing the reader to slow down and “hear” each challenge

Half caste

• 
  

  1. “Once upon a schooltime / He did Something Very Wrong”
     Technique: Fairy-tale opening and capitalisation reflect the child’s perspective, emphasizing the perceived severity of his misdeed.

  2. “She hadn’t taught him Time. / He was too scared at being wicked to remind her.”
     Technique: Highlights the child’s innocence and fear, underscoring the adult’s oversight and the child’s inability to comprehend time.

  3. “He knew a lot of time: he knew / Gettinguptime, timeyouwereofftime, / Timetogohomenowtime, TVtime”
     Technique: Neologisms and compound words illustrate the child’s understanding of time through routine events, not clock time.

  4. “Into the air outside / Into ever.”
     Technique: Enjambment and abstract language convey the child’s sense of timelessness and freedom from structured time.

• Themes:
  

  1. Childhood innocence and misunderstanding

  2. The subjective experience of time

  3. Authority and its impact on children

  4. Isolation and imagination

• Form:
  

  1. Written in free verse, reflecting the natural flow of a child’s thoughts and speech.

• Structure:
  

  1. Comprises eleven three-line stanzas (tercets), mirroring the fragmented and nonlinear perception of time from a child’s viewpoint.