Poems of the Decade - Form and Structure

Form - Eat Me

dramatic monologue

Structure - Eat Me

each stanza represents gaining a stone in weight

Rhyme - Eat Me

slant rhyme of AAA BBB CCC (subtle)

Form - Chainsaw versus the pampas grass

seven irregular stanzas of free verse

Structure - Chainsaw versus the pampas grass

loose, organic structure and the stanza lengths shift to mirror the speaker's emotional state

Form - Material

9 stanzas of variable length

Meter - Material

loose iambic tetrameter (internal conflict of bouncy rhymth vs strict structure)

Rhyme - Material

loose/assonant rhyme of ABCBDEFE

Form - History

9 stanzas of very different lengths, and very varied line lengths

Meter - History

starts in free verse, then changes into iambic pentameter in stanza 4 (steadiness, predictability, connection to historical english)

Form - An Easy Passage

one long stanza (metaphorical journey of the girls)

Meter - An Easy Passage

written in free verse - casual and conversational tone

Form - The Deliverer

free verse poem broken into 3 sections (begins and ends with India - cyclical nature of misogyny)

Meter - The Deliverer

no strict meter or rhyme as written in free verse

Form - The Lammas Hireling

dramatic monologue

Structure - The Lammas Hireling

4 sestets, abrupt and disjointed sentences (enjambment and caesura)

Meter - The Lammas Hireling

no strict meter as written in free verse (thinking on his feet)

Rhyme - The Lammas Hireling

no rhyme scheme, but some internal rhyme ("hare... muckle care")

Form - To My Nine-Year-Old Self

dramatic monologue in free verse

Structure - To My Nine-Year-Old Self

six stanzas of varying length (free-spirited nature of childhood)

Meter - To My Nine-Year-Old Self

No strict meter or rhyme as written in free verse

Form - A Minor Role

free verse poem - loose form but a serious subject (speaker wants to maintain the "background music of civility")

Structure - A Minor Role

5 stanzas of varying lengths - light-hearted and conversational

Meter - A Minor Role

no strict meter or rhyme as written in free verse (staying out of the spotlight)

Form - The Gun

free verse

Structure - The Gun

6 irregular stanzas (almost prosaic)

Meter - The Gun

no strict meter or rhyme (some musicality comes from vivid imagery and assonance - flat tone makes the violence seem more chilling)

Form - The Furthest Distances I've Travelled

free verse

Structure - The Furthest Distances I've Travelled

only 6 sentences ( lack of pauses) and use of caesura and irregular line lengths (her travels are not constrained so her form is not constrained - unpredictability of life)

Meter - The Furthest Distances I've Travelled

no strict meter as written in free verse

Rhyme - The Furthest Distances I've Travelled

AA rhyme scheme unravels throughout - 2 couplets at the end (acceptance)

Form - Giuseppe

free verse

Structure - Giuseppe

6 irregular stanzas

Meter - Giuseppe

no strict meter - instead uses methodical line breaks and enjambment to create sinister pace

Rhyme - Giuseppe

no rhyme - lack of musicality feels more sinister

Form - Out of the Bag

divided into four parts of free verse

Structure - Out of the Bag

first part uses tercets (trimesters of pregnancy)

Meter - Out of the Bag

no strict meter as written in free verse, but many lines in iambic pentameter

Form - Effects

single stanza dramatic monologue (stream of consciousness) - could also be considered an elegy

Meter - Effects

loose iambic pentameter (complements elegy - tone both raw and reflective)

Rhyme -Effects

inconsistent rhyme - inconsistency of memory

Structure - Effects

only two sentences in entire poem (sentences punctuated by death)

Form - Genetics

villanelle, with refrains that alternate as the end line of each stanza

Meter - Genetics

follows rough iambic pentameter (regular but musical)

Rhyme - Genetics

follows rhyme expected of a villanelle - ABA - not strict/uses slant rhyme (interlacing of words and rhyme suggest the complexity of inheriting genetics)

Form - From the Journal of a Disappointed Man

dramatic monologue in free verse, prosaic

Structure - From the Journal of a Disappointed Man

11 quatrains (not very strict structure - he is a "disappointed man" and so wouldn't fulfil any strict structure)

Rhyme - From the Journal of a Disappointed Man

no rhyme as written in free verse (rhyme is satisfying to the ear but this poem focuses on eternal disappointment)

Form - Look We Have Coming to Dover!

dramatic monologue, 5 quintets

Structure - Look We Have Coming to Dover!

each stanza starts short and grows longer on the page as the lines unfold - wave-like shape (recalls the rough seas/waves of immigration)

Meter - Look We Have Coming to Dover!

no strict meter or rhyme as written in free verse

Form - Please Hold

free verse

Structure - Please Hold

lines fairly uniform in length - static and predictable

Meter - Please Hold

no strict meter, but frequent parallelism and repetition (cold, unemotional technology)

Rhyme - Please Hold

no strict rhyme scheme, but identical rhyme through repetition (maddening repetitiveness of the task)

Form - On Her Blindness

free verse

Structure - On Her Blindness

strict structure of two-line stanzas (except the last stanza) - restrained and repressed like the shame/guilt)

Meter - On Her Blindness

no strict meter or rhyme as written in free verse (some internal rhyme at the end)

Form - Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn

an ode (parody of Keats' ode on grecian urn) - idea that art has the power to immortalise, but also to romanticise reality, and make things seem safer and more beautiful

Structure - Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn

use of ekphrasis (art to describe art)

Meter - Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn

iambic pentameter (like Keats' ode) - meter is varied (cheeky tone), e.g. first words of the poem form three emphatic trochees

Rhyme - Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn

ABABCDEDCE - taken from first stanza of Keats' ode (lighthearted language contrasts with intricate form)