edexcel igcse english literature

if

- addressed to the poet's son, John

- linked to: Identity, Childhood, Relationships

- the poet expresses concepts critical to being a 'man' in the shape of values one must hold

- being in the form of a message from father to son > indicative of the typical masculine relationship

- Iambic Pentameter, Strict repetition of 'If' > regimen and self control necessary to succeed in life

- Juxtaposition between 'them' and you'

- Semantic field of body > representative of typical thinking of 'masculine image' etc

- Use of hyphens > visually representative of challenges or struggles to overcome

prayer before birth

- narrative by an unborn child

- linked to: Death, Childhood

- written during WW2 > indicative of all the evil and wrong in the world > reinforced by juxtaposition with innocence of youth

- highlighting broken areas of society: societal expectations (strict form of poem), dehumanisation, industrialisation, capitalism, corrupting nature of man

blessing

- 4 stanza poem highlighting the value of water, written by Dharker about her experiences of a poverty-stricken slum just outside of Bombay

- rigid form until pipe cracks to highlight the flow of nature > brings rhythm to life > lifeblood

- heavy use of imagery to create an emotive impact on the readership

- religious/miraculous associations of water > something we take for granted > re-evaluation in the audience > questioning their privilege

- metaphor of silver to highlight its value

- roar of tongues > animalistic, deprived

search for my tongue

- written to highlight the poet's personal struggles with her perceived loss of her native language > 'third culture kid'

- poet feels she has lost an important part of herself that she needs to recover

- competition between new languages and her mother tongue > heavy association of beauty with her mother tongue - 'flower'

- 'You had to spit it out': makes the original language sound like something disgusting, may suggest the way the original language was seen by the foreigners as something inferior

half past two

- touching, somewhat nostalgic view of a child's perception of time

- demonising the concept of time through its severe nature as juxtaposed with childhood innocence

- 3-line stanzas, representative of the simplicity and innocence of a child

- connotes that the child is too young/innocent to have any grasp of time

- neutral tone used apart from the last stanza where the tone is sad as the author remembers the ignorant bliss of the 'clockless land'

piano

- sweet, yet sombre reflection of time over the years and reflects the overpowering emotions related with time, memories, ageing

- sustained use of enjambment throughout > indicative of the perpetual, unstoppable nature of time

- sibilance in the first two stanzas > soft, calm rhythm of memories > indicative of his happiness/nostalgia - sibilance stops in the third paragraph > antithesis between past and present > current existence is painful > he wants to live in memories

hide and seek

- Growing up > realisation that the speakers childhood is ending (e.g friends lack of interest in the game)

- Free Verse: one long stanza, hearing the speaker's internal thoughts as he considers what to do > cathartic, stressed

- "prowling" > makes the other children sound predatory > ageing ruins innocence

- personification: "the cold bites through your coat" > sharp reality of growing up > metaphorically representative of pains of ageing

- loneliness/confusion over the idea of growing up

sonnet 116

- love is true > that true love is a marriage of intelligence and personality rather than lust

- nautical imagery; vastness of love > perilous pursuit - like a ship voyage > north star (love) will guide you

- voltas throughout (turning points): what love is vs what love isn't

- Cheerful and playful yet sincere

- author has a strong belief in love (see last two lines for proof). The tone mimics the message of what Shakespeare believes love to be.

la belle dame sans merci

- love is based on body and appearance (maybe this love is the dangerous sort)

- love is treated as a disease that can kill you

- quite depressing and dark > strong words and dramatic phrasing > convey a dark and hopeless atmosphere

- caesura ( - ) is used to add a sense of reminiscent and recollection for the poet

poem at thirty nine

- youngest of 8 children to poor parents who refused to set their children working and ensured they got an education

- autobiographical poem celebrating poet's father and the influence he had on her life and development

- mixture of sad, regretful "I miss...I wish" and celebratory, proud

- growing up; nostalgia; love; poverty/hardship

- the poem moves from her birth in 1st stanza to the present in final stanza > representative of change from monosyllabic to normal english

- grief is shown by the repetition of that simple statement "How I miss my father"

war photographer

- A man recalling his horrific account of war

- criticism of the general population for a lack of empathy

- consistent rhyme throughout portrays his conformity to the public eye > the recurring memory and how it never leaves him > scarred

- tone is one of desperation and despair. The photographer operates in a mood of emotional detachment in order to survive

- duffy is empathatic towards the photographer wanting to highlight that the general public have no appreciation of sympathy for horrors of the world

the tyger

- questions the complexity of creation

- undeniable existence of evil

- how beauty (good) and horror (evil) must coexist with each other

- "fearful symmetry" strikingly beautiful but horrifying in capacity for violence, how can one being contain both simultaneously?

- Circular narration: repetition of same unanswered questions, but change from "could" to "dare", goes from questioning ability of creator to morality of creator

- Consists entirely of unanswered questions, in fearful awe at the god who could and would create such a creature.

- duke who reminisces about a portrait of his wife

- mainly comments on her disgraceful behaviour

- the poem reflects on status and pride > he won't let himself be disrespected again

- It is a dramatic monologue written in a long speech. It has rhymed iambic pentameter lines > ranty > angry > disgusted

- lots of personal pronouns > selfish and very proud

- enjambment which indicates that he can't let go of his possession over her > erratic tone > anger

half-caste

- asserting your identity > rejecting labels and stereotypes

- aggressive towards those with racist prejudices

- encourages the readership to challenge their viewpoint and stereotypes they hold as true

- free verse, short lines - shows the freedom he feels when expressing himself compared to the strict "rules" he is expected to follow

- No punctuation: strengthens how Agard mocks the stereotypes of him not being properly educated

do not go gentle into that good night

- asserts that those at the ends of their lives should resist death > leave this world kicking and screaming > furious that they have to die at all

- Villanelle (structure)

- "see with blinding sight" > oxymoron > powerful revelation

- Intense verbs in line two to show how Thomas believes life should be lived: "burn"/ "rave" - connotations of anger, destruction, power > Repetition of "rage" creates feeling of anger

remember

- Being remembered (or forgotten) after death

- Petrarchan sonnet in iambic pentameter

- Direct address > talking to the reader > develop an emotional connection

- "gone away", "silent land" and "darkness and corruption" > euphemisms for death (coping mechanism)

- Repetition of the title, 'Remember', throughout the poem gives it a melancholic tone as this verb often has connotations of loss and grief.

- Contrasting emotions/ attitudes between octet and the sestet - Before volta > there is a repetition of "remember me" > after its shortened to simply "remember" > from remember to you're allowed to forget

witi ihimaeras purpose

- to highlight the importance of persevering our environment

- to highlight the importance of equality, community and relationships

rawiri's purpose

links between modernity and the maori - creating understanding for the reader

kahu's purpose

embodiment of the importance of the future, children's voices and female leadership

the whales purpose

symbolism of power struggle between capitalism - helps to illustrate their omnipresent timeless aspect

language and structure

similes - consistent and significant image of the spear

tense - rawiri's narrative is written in past tense. ihimaera switches to present tense - emphasising the immediacy of the horror rawiri feels at certain points

italicised sections are used to highlight the inclusion of the whale's story, linking the work to magic and realism

theme - the natural world and whaling

- published during a time when the testing of nuclear arms was prevalent and nuclear test sites were very much a concern

- environmentalists were concerned about whaling, and in 1986, an international ban on commercial whaling was imposed.

- contamination of oceans from nuclear testing and the melting of the ice caps has resulted in damage to the natural world and had an adverse effect on whales

- beaching of the whales in the novel is possibly a direct result of human activity

theme - mankinds connection with nature

- legend of the ancestral whale rider, kahutia te rangi is replicated with kahu

- kahu is bound to nature and is able to communicate spiritually with the creatures of the sea

- fears for the survival of nature such as the 'contamination' of the seas and 'the effects of undersea radiation'

- rawiri's experiences in papua new guinea make him realise his love for nature. he realises the power of nature and how it can defeat human exploitation 'nature will take back what man had once achieved to please his vanity

theme - language and communication

- the maori phrase 'hui e, haumi e, taiki e' is central to the novel and character's fears and hopes for the future.

- novel refers to aotearora, 'land of the long white cloud', which is what the maoris call new zealand

- preservation of maori language is essential to the tribe, the repeated phrase is central to the desire of bringing the natural world and humans together again

- koro is determined to teach future generations maori language

- the use of maori language is significant in preserving the identity of the tribe against the threats of modern communication and technology

theme - identity

- rawiri's experiences of travelling to australia serve as a way to explore maori identity outside of new zealand. his experiences abroad also provide contrasts between the modern westernised world and his traditional maori identity

- rawiri's experience of travelling to australia and papua new guinea serve as a way to explore maori identity outside new zealand and highlights the importance of family

theme - equality

- when koro learns he has a grand-daughter, he is disappointed and 'won't have anything to do with her'

- kahu is trapped by gender roles and it is only her relationship with the whales that persuades koro she is a worthy leader

- male dominated society is challenged by the strong female characters of nanny flowers and kahu.

- ihimaera published the novel in 1987 and was inspired to write it after his two daughters complained that the heroic character sin the books they had read were all male.

- kahu and nanny flowers both show courage when they challenge social conventions. they are both strong willed women living in a misogynistic society

theme - tradition

- contrasts and struggles between traditional values and modernity and these affect characters and their survival in an everchanging world

- burying of kahu's afterbirth is one custom that creates tension between koro and nanny

- nanny flowers is important as she maintains tradition

- in 1961, the original whangara kapa haka group was formed and since then, the whangara elders have supported the group in keeping their customs and traditions alive.

theme - maori mythology

- novel is in the magic realism genre, a style of art or literature that depicts mythological subjects in a realistic manner

- kahutia te rangi is a polynesian god, and in maori mythology, is the successful and revered founder of the ngati porou tribe in whangara

- bull whale has an ancient maori tattoo that is also very symbolic for the tribe. kahu is destined to become the chief of the tribe owning to her special skills and her links with the whales and kahutia te rangi

- the legend of paikea and koro's desire and obsession for a male descendant determine koro's treatment of kahu

5 key quotations linking to context

nature will take back what man had once achieved to please his vanity

man might carve his identification mark on the earth

sparking like a galaxy was a net of radioactive death

when it dies, we die, i die

hui e, haumi e, taiki e (join everything together, bind it together, let it be done)

5 koro quotes

'wont have anything to do with her'

'boy or girl,it doesn't matter ... I love you'

'when it dies, we die, i die'

'go away koro apirana would thunder'

'it is a reminder of the oneness which the world once had'

5 rawiri quotes

'man might carves his identification mark on the earth'

'nature will take back what man had once achieved to please his vanity'

'it was kahu's intervention that perhaps saved us all'

'heart was aching for her'

'dogs and strays'

5 nani quotes

'old paka'

'we don't argue... he argues and i win'

'muriwai blood'

'girls can do anything these days'

'isn't any chief. i'm his chief'

5 porourangi quotes

'lovely woman'

'looked like they were in love'

'new challenges and new technology'

'organising its youth'

'porourangi gave the orders'

5 kahu quotes

'she has broken the male line of descent'

'a small spear...at the spot where kahu's birth cord had been placed'

'it was kahu's intervention which perhaps saved us all'

'seemed to be talking to her'

'in site of kahutia te rangi'