English Literature Poems Key Quotes + Analysis

Flashcards covering key quotes and analysis of English Literature poems.

If - Context

Addressed to his son, it explores what it means to be a man and prizes humility, stoicism, and enduring hardship.

Stoicism

Endurance of pain without the display of feelings and without complaint; everything is governed by fate and that we should feel indifferent towards fortune / misfortune

"If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, / But make allowance for their doubting too;" - Analysis

Have self-belief but don’t let yourself become arrogant.

"If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / And treat those two imposters just the same;" - Analysis

Remain indifferent whether you are faced with fortune / misfortune

"If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, / Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch," - Analysis

Treat everybody the same, despite their social status.

"And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!" - Analysis

The poem lacks any compassion towards his son, even in this moment of revelation, the father maintains his stoic composure that he advocates

One long sentence in "If" - Structure

Emphasizes the hopes and ambitions the father has for his son.

Enjambment in "If" - Structure

Connotes urgency of what is being said.

Iambic pentameter in "If" - Structure

Creates an upbeat rhythm to emphasize hope.

Prayer Before Birth - Context

Written at the end of WW2 after bombings in London; encapsulates the fear of the nation felt for the future.

Prayer (title) - Analysis

Prayer – suggests foetus needs to pray even from the womb – makes reader question if necessary

";" – caesura in “I am not yet born; O hear me.” - Analysis

Emphasizes vulnerability of speaker.

“O hear me” - Analysis

Invocation uses apostrophe to address an unnamed divine entity.

“I am not yet born” – a haunting refrain repeated throughout the poem - Analysis

Allows MacNeice to critique humanity from a position of absolute innocence, making condemnations more devastating

Polysyndeton in “bloodsucking bat or the rat or the stoat or the / club-footed ghoul come near me.” - Analysis

Adds to the storytelling tone.

“bat” / “rat” - Analysis

Adds to the nursery rhyme fear.

Polysyndeton + repetition of “with” in 2nd Stanza of Prayer Before Birth - Analysis

Creates suffocating rhythm that mirrors the growing threats.

“wise lies” - Analysis

Skepticism towards authority (e.g. government).

blood-baths” - Analysis

Refers to wartime atrocities such as the Holocaust.

“strong drugs” / “racks” (medieval torture) - Analysis

Emphasizes the timelessness of human cruelty across historical periods to today

“dandle”, “talk”, “sing” - Analysis

Verbs anthropomorphise nature, offering a viewpoint that the natural world offers salvation from human corruption

“a stone” - Analysis

Represents dehumanization through emotional deadening.

“spill me” - Analysis

Physical destruction and spiritual dissipation.

“Otherwise kill me.” - Analysis

Existence without integrity is worse than non-existence.

Dramatic monologue - Structure

Gives voice to an impossible speaker.

Free verse - Structure

Echoes sense of randomness in the world which the baby fears; mirrors chaotic, unpredictable world that the unborn child anticipates entering

Blessing - Context

Water pipe bursts and everyone frantically tries to collect the water.

Setting of “Blessing” - Context

Dry and devoid of water.

“The skin cracks like a pod. / There is never enough water.” - Analysis

Establishes severity of water scarcity.

“Imagine” - Analysis

Forces reader to comprehend a reality where even a single drop of water requires imagination

“voice of a kindly god” - Analysis

Elevates water to the realm of a divine blessing, highlighting its sacred value

“Sometimes, the sudden rush… a roar of tongues.” - Analysis

Describes water as “silver” and “fortune”, transforming it into a precious currency.

Personification in “roar of tongues” - Analysis

Suggest both the sound of rushing water and the excited voices of the community, blending human and natural elements

“congregation” - Analysis

Religious language reinforces sacred nature of water collection.

Omission of commas “man woman child” - Analysis

Mimics rush of people and creates a sense of a chaotic environment

Listing of container materials - Analysis

Builds rhythm whilst emphasising poverty through diverse, makeshift vessels

Paradoxical “liquid sun” metaphor - Analysis

Transforms water into something both life-giving and luminous

“naked children” and “small bones” - Analysis

Reminds us of poverty and fragility amidst celebration

Free verse - Structure

Mirrors unpredictable nature of water supply.

“You ask me what I mean / by saying I have lost my tongue.” - Analysis

Opens with direct address; establishes conversational, almost defensive tone.

“lost my tongue” - Analysis

Equates language loss with losing a physical part of herself, highlighting intimate connection between language and identity

“mother tongue” - Analysis

Represents the speaker’s cultural and familial roots, whilst “foreign tongue” is associated with alienation and struggle

Repetition of “rot” and imagery of decay - Analysis

Evokes a sense of disgust and profound loss; equates language death with physical decomposition, intensifying emotional impact

“spit it out” - Analysis

Suggests both an involuntary rejection and a sense of shame / frustration; how the speaker feels forced to abandon her heritage in order to survive in a new culture

Lexical set of growth – “grows back”, “shoot”, “veins”, “bud opens” - Analysis

Suggests resilience, natural vitality and hope; the mother tongue is not truly dead, it is dormant and capable of revival

“blossoms” - Analysis

Connotes beauty, renewal and fulfilment, transforming the earlier imagery of decay into one of flourishing

Free verse - Structure

Reflects lack of order and chaos the speaker feels about her linguistic and cultural identity; irregular structure mirrors the instability and unpredictability of her experience

Use of Gujarati - Analysis

Enacts the experience of being caught between two languages.

1st Stanza of Half-past two - Analysis

Capitalisation in “Something Very Wrong” reflects the child’s perspective, where adult pronouncements of wrongdoing loom large and absolute, even if the memory is hazy to the adult narrator

(I forget what it was)” - Analysis

Forgetfulness hints at relative insignificance of the ‘crime’ from an adult viewpoint, contrasting sharply with its impact on the child

4th + 5th Stanza of Half-past two - Analysis

Illustrates the child’s event-based understanding of temporality

“he couldn’t click its language” - Analysis

Presents clock time as foreign, inaccessible code

“clockless land” - Analysis

Is a powerful metaphor for the realm of childhood innocence, imagination and subjective experience

11 stanzas - Structure

Short of 12, representing hours in a ½ day.

“Softly, in the dusk… the tingling strings” - Analysis

Immediately creates a liminal atmosphere, “dusk” symbolises a fading present and the onset of memory

Metaphor “vista of years” - Analysis

Transforms time into a visual landscape which the speaker is involuntarily drawn

Enjambment “see / A child”

Mirrors the seamless, almost hypnotic transition into the past

“In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song” - Analysis

Reveals speaker’s internal conflict and overpowering nature of the memory

“insidious mastery of song” - Analysis

Is a striking oxymoron or juxtaposition

“To the old Sunday evenings… piano our guide.” - Analysis

Personification of the piano as “our guide” elevates its role beyond entertainment; it was a central, leading force in their family life, dictating the rhythm of these cherished evenings

“glamour” - Analysis

Suggesting the irresistible, bewitching allure of his innocent past

“He taught me how,” - Analysis

Highlights the practical and moral lessons the father taught, suggesting his influence was foundational

“He cooked liked a person dancing / in a yoga meditation” - Analysis

Metaphor combines movement and mindfulness to capture their father’s joyful, peaceful presence in the kitchen

Parallel phrasing “look and cook just like him” - Analysis

Signals inherited traits, while “my brain light” conveys a sense of freedom and joy

“seasoning none of my life / the same way twice;” - Analysis

Cooking becomes a metaphor of living

Final lines: Poem at Thirty-Nine - Analysis

Ends on peaceful note “staring into the fire” symbolising reflection, warmth, and a lasting connection to her father

Free verse - Structure

Mirroring the natural flow of memory and emotion

Short stanzas - Structure

Focuses attention on key moments and thoughts, emphasising the importance of each memory and the emotion weight they carry

Reflective tone - Structure

Moves from regret and longing to pride and acceptance, showing the speaker’s journey towards peace with her father’s memory and her own identity

“In his darkroom… ordered rows.” - Analysis

Opens with the photographer in solitude, emphasizing his isolation both physically and emotionally

Religious metaphor “A priest preparing to intone a Mass.” - Analysis

Elevates the photographer’s work to a sacred duty

“A hundred agonies… Sunday’s supplement.” - Analysis

Reveals the scale of suffering captured in the photographer’s work

“The reader’s eyeballs… they do not care.” - Analysis

Criticises the audience’s detachment and the ease with which they can ignore distant suffering once the newspaper is put aside

Regular stanzas - Structure

Creates a sense of order and control that contrasts with the chaos of war

“Tyger, Tyger, burning bright… the night:” - Analysis

Repetition of “Tyger” expresses both awe and incantation, as if summoning the creature

Oxymoron “fearful symmetry” - Analysis

Capture the paradox at the heart of the Tyger: it is both perfectly formed and deeply frightening

“Did he who make the Lamb make thee?” - Analysis

Challenges the reader to consider whether the same creator could be responsible for both good and evil, beauty and terror

AABB rhyme scheme - Structure

Gives a song-like, hypnotic quality.

“Excuse me /standing on one leg / I’m half-caste” - Analysis

Sarcastic “Excuse me” immediately sets a satirical tone

Image of “standing on one leg” - Analysis

Is absurd and ironic, visually enacting the idea of being ‘half’ a person

Use of Creole dialect - Analysis

Empowers the speaker’s voice and challenges linguistic prejudice, asserting the value of non-standard English

“yu mean when picasso / mix red an green / is a half-caste canvas” - Analysis

Metaphor and allusion to art, referencing Picasso’s technique of mixing colours; ridicules the idea that mixing elements produces inferior products

Ends with an invitation and a challenge - Analysis

Urges the listener to return with an open mind and a willingness to see him as a whole person

Dramatic monologue - Structure

Directly addressing the reader or listener, making the challenge to prejudice personal and immediate.

1st Stanza "Do not go gentle into that good night" - Analysis

Metaphor for resisting death, with “good night” serving as a euphemism for death

Refrain “Rage, rage against the dying of the light” - Analysis

Is both a command and a desperate plea, using light as a metaphor for life and darkness for death

“Dark is right” / forked no lightning” - Analysis

Explores the human desire for significance and reluctance to leave life feeling incomplete

“wise men” - Analysis

Symbolizes those who understand the inevitability and naturalness of death

“Wild men” - Analysis

Represents those who lived passionately and recklessly

Final Stanza Analysis

Pleas for both a curse and a blessing with “fierce tears” reveals the complex emotions of grief, love and desperation

Villanelle - Structure

Highly structured form consisting of 19 lines, five tercets (three-line stanzas) followed by a concluding quatrain (four-line stanza)

“Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land;” - Analysis

Opens with direct imperative “Remember me”, immediately establishing the speaker’s desire for lasting memory after death

Euphemism “gone away” - Analysis

Softens the harshness of death, reflecting both a sensitivity to the beloved’s feelings and the Victorian tendency to avoid direct references to mortality

“When you can no more hold me by the hand, / Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.” - Analysis

Capture the emotional conflict of departure – the speaker’s reluctance to leave and longing to remain with her beloved

Volta occurs

Speaker’s tone shifts from insistence to compassion and acceptance

“Yet if you… do not grieve:” - Analysis

The gentle command “do not grieve” demonstrates selfless love – the speaker priorities the beloved’s happiness and healing over her own desire to be remembered

“Better by far… and be sad.” - Analysis

Offers a powerful juxtaposition between “forget and smile” and “remember and be sad”