Poetry Anthology

Ozymandias - Poet

Percy Shelley

Ozymandias - Themes

Power of Nature, Decay, Pride

Ozymandias - Shelley’s views

Romantic poet who disliked the concept of monarchy and oppression of ordinary people, and was inspired by the French revolution

Ozymandias - ‘Sneer of cold command’ analysis

The King was arrogant, and this has been recognised by sculptor, traveller and narrator

Ozymandias - ‘look on my words…’ analysis

Imperative, stressed syllable suggests commanding tone. Irony - He is telling other ‘mighty’ Kings to despair at the size of his statue, however they should despair because power is only temporary

Ozymandias - ‘Lone and level sands…’ analysis

The desert is vast and lasts much longer than the statue. The statue holds power over nothing - ‘lone’

Ozymandias - ‘Shattered visage’ analysis

Ozymandias’ identity has been torn apart by nature, and is now unrecognisable. Reflects how time will destroy human power and pride.

Ozymandias - Final two lines analysis

Huge and immortal desert is described the emphasise insignificance of human pride and power

London - Poet

William Blake

London - Themes

Anger, Inequality, Power, Loss

London - Blake’s views

Believed in social and racial equality, and focussed on corruption of innocence and society. He also questioned the teaching of the Church and the government’s decisions

London - ‘marks of weakness, marks of woe’ , ‘cry of every man’ analysis

Visual and aural imagery creates an immersive effect

London - ‘mind-forged manacles’ analysis

People have been suppressed mentally as well as physically - have learnt to accept oppression by government, and so are trapped in poverty

London - ‘infant’s cry of fear’ analysis

Emotive language invokes strong feelings from readers - aural imagery

London - ‘each chartered street…chartered Thames’

Criticises those in power, as everything is owned by the rich. Also, the idea of a river, which is flowing, being owned and ‘chartered’ is contradictory - irony

London - ‘every black’ning Church appals’ analysis

Church is corrupt. The word “black’ning” creates a dark, dirty image, hinting at soot-covered buildings, but also spiritual darkness. The Church, which should symbolise purity and hope, is instead tainted and appalling, suggesting it has lost its moral purpose.

London - ‘hapless soldiers sigh runs in blood down palace walls’ analysis

Soldiers toil and suffer due to the decisions of those in power, who are not affected

London - Rhyme Scheme

ABAB - Reflects unrelenting misery of city, as well as rhythm of narrators feet as he walks

London - Structure

First two stanzas focus on people, 3rd on institutions responsible, and then back on people for final stanza as they are the primary focus.

Kamikaze - Poet

Beatrice Garland

Kamikaze - Themes

Conflict, Power, Patriotism, Shame, Nature, Childhood, Memory

Kamikaze - ‘Kamikaze’ meaning

Divine wind

Kamikaze - ‘dark shoals of fish flashing silver’ analysis

Links to image of a samurai sword - conveys conflict of his love for nature / life and his sense of duty. Also has sibilance

Kamikaze - ‘Turbulent inrush of breakers bringing their father’s boat safe’ analysis

Contrast of ‘turbulent’ and ‘safe’ represents the conflict in the pilot’s mind

Kamikaze - ‘They treated him as though he no longer existed’ analysis

Irony - he chose to live but is now treated as if he was dead

Kamikaze - ‘he must have wondered which had been the better way to die’ analysis

Pilot could have died honourably, but chose to live out his dies separated from his previous life

Kamikaze - 3rd person importance

Represents the distancing from the pilot and his family / society

Kamikaze - Direct speech

‘my mother never spoke again’ gives the poem a personal tone

Emigrée - Poet

Carol Rumens

Emigrée - Themes

Conflict, power, identity, protest, bravery, childhood

Emigrée - Background

Represents a migrant’s views on their former home, and no specific details gives the poem a timeless relevance

Emigrée - ‘I left it as a child’ analysis

Ambiguity - Either she was a child, or the city was a child, in which she may have a feeling of responsibility for it

Emigrée - ‘I am branded by an impression of sunlight’ analysis

Imagery of light that will stay with her forever

Emigrée - ‘I comb its hair and love its shining eyes’ analysis

Personification - She has maternal love for the city, and views it as vulnerable

Emigrée - ‘my city takes me dancing’ analysis

Romantic and passionate lover

Emigrée - ‘my city hides behind me’ analysis

It is vulnerable and she is strong, despite fleeing. She is attempting to protect it from the harrowing views of others - she still cares

Emigrée - ‘my city’ analysis

possessive and protective

Emigrée - Last word of each stanza…

Last word of each stanza is the same (epistophe) - ‘sunlight’ - signifies her overriding positivity for the city, evident in the poem

Emigrée - Enjambment and full stops

First two stanzas have a lot of enjambment - conveys freedom and a string of memories. Final stanza has lots of full stops - she is now trapped.

Remains - Poet

Simon Armitage

Remains - Themes

Conflict, suffering, reality of war

Remains - Purposes

Coincided with increased PTSD awareness, and represented long-term mental effects of war

Remains - ‘legs it up the road’ analysis

colloquial language - authentic voice, as if we are actually talking to the narrator - bring us closer

Remains - ‘Then he’s carted off in the back of a lorry’ analysis

Dehumanisation of enemy - treated as waste

Remains - ‘he’s here in my head when I close my eyes, / dug in behind enemy lines’ analysis

Metaphor for warfare inside his head, PTSD is entrenched, immovable

Remains - ‘his bloody life in my bloody hands’ analysis

Similarities to Macbeth - guilt - also, bloody sounds desperate and also is a form of colloquial language

Remains - ‘his blood-shadow stays on the street’ analysis

The physical reminder will eventually wash away, but his memory will last with him forever.

Remains - Repetition

Repetition of ‘probably armed, possibly not’ signifies guilt and bitterness

Remains - Volta

Volta on line 17 - ‘End of story, except not really’ - contrast from physical to mental battle

Remains - What type of poem?

Monologue - Told in present to convey a flashback, PTSD

Tissue - Poet

Imtiaz Dharker

Tissue - Themes

Power of nature, control, identity

Tissue - Message

Tissue is used to have 2 meanings: 1 - The pieces of paper that control our lives eg. receipts, taxes. 2 - Tissue as in human flesh. Represents the importance and fragility of both paper and human life

Tissue - ‘paper that lets light shine through’ ‘sunshine through their borderlines’ ‘let the daylight breakthrough capitals and monoliths’

Semantic field of light - emphasises light as central to all life. It is a positive and powerful force, which can even break through tissue and monoliths (stone sculptures)

Tissue - ‘Pages smoothed and stroked and turned transparent’ analysis

Paper and important documents (eg. Koran) are treated with respect - so humans should also be treated with adequate respect. Also ‘pages smoothed and stroked’ is repeated, emphasising the care taken of paper.

Tissue - ‘fine slips…fly our lives like paper kites’ analysis

Simile, shows he we allow our lives to be controlled by paper. Paper kits seem to be free, but their freedom is limited by the length of their tether. This is mirrored in the way that our freedom is limited by money.

Tissue - Lack of…

Lack of rhythm or rhyme creates an effect of freedom and openness

Tissue - Final line, ‘turned into your skin’ analysis

Everything reverts back to us. Our lives our controlled by paper, we are made of tissue. Shows how the whole poem revolves and fantasises the idea of human impermanence, and how our precious nature is conveyed by what is surrounding us, both natural and man-made

Bayonet Charge - Poet

Ted Hughes

Bayonet Charge - Themes

Conflict, power, reality of war, patriotism, nature

Bayonet Charge - Over-arching message

Hughes’ father fought in WWI, and so he conveys the experience of leaving a trench, and the struggle between a man’s thoughts and actions

Bayonet Charge - ‘patriotic tear that brimmed his eye sweating like molten iron’ analysis

Sense of duty is clouding his vision - Is now his only purpose, all he can see

Bayonet Charge - ‘cold clockwork of the stars and nations’ analysis

Soldiers are part of the cold and uncaring machine that is war

Bayonet Charge - ‘his foot hung like stationary in midstride’ (then caesura) analysis

He is frozen in fear. The caesura jolts him back to reality

Bayonet Charge - ‘a yellow hair that rolled like a flame and crawled in a threshing circle’ analysis

Impact of war on nature - hare is distressed

Bayonet Charge - ‘listening between his footfalls for the reason of his still running’ analysis

Gradually his purpose is fading as the true magnitude of what he is doing is dawning on him

Bayonet Charge - ‘His terror’s touchy dynamite’ analysis

Overthinking may be the death of him

Bayonet Charge - How does the poem start

in media res - ‘suddenly he awoke’ - conveys the shock and pace - how quickly he goes from safe to out of the trenches and in the open

Bayonet Charge - Enjambment

Enjambment throughout the poem maintains the momentum of the charge.

Bayonet Charge - Contrast between the idealism of fighting and reality

‘King, honour, human dignity, et cetera’

Bayonet Charge - Time freezes

Time freezes during the poem allow us to focus on the soldier’s thoughts

Prelude - Poet

William Wordsworth

Prelude - Themes

Power of Nature, fear, childhood

Prelude - Story

Tells story of a boy’s love of nature. At first he is calm and confident, but comes to realise nature’s power and how it must be respected

Prelude - ‘one summer evening (led by her)’ analysis

personification of nature shows his love for it

Prelude - ‘an act of stealth and troubled pleasure’ analysis

Oxymoron of being confident but also aware of his wrongdoing - foreshadowing of later events

Prelude - ‘horizon’s band, a huge peak, bleak and huge’ analysis

Contrast of mountain to the surrounding imagery - it is more unexpected

Prelude - ‘Upreared its head’ ‘Measured motion like a living thing’ analysis

Mountain is personified as a powerful, but calm - contrasts with his own panic

Prelude - ‘There hung a darkness’ analysis

Lasting effect of his encounter with nature - a blanket has covered his previous excitement and naivety.

Prelude - Regular rhythm and enjambment

Adds to effect of his own voice - adds to credibility of his account

Prelude - 3 Sections

1-20 - Carefree and confident. 21-31 - Dark and fearful 32-44 - Following days are reflective and troubled

Prelude - Oars

The contrasts in tone are conveyed through the differing uses of the oars. 'heaving' - confidence 'trembling oars' - fear

Prelude - ‘Heaving through the water like a swan’ analysis

Wordsworth wants to imitate nature, as though he belongs there, however there is contrast, as ‘heaving’ suggests a laboured movement, very much unlike that of a swan