Anthology Poetry

The Manhunt

Author:Simon Armitage

Quotes:”the frozen river which ran through his face”,”to a sweating unexplored mine”,”Then, and only then, did I come close”

Context:About a soldier named Eddie Beddoes at first it was named Laura’s poem after the soldiers wife as Beddoes was injured in the Bosnian war in 1990s, From The Not Dead collection about post-war trauma, Explores the real life horrors of PTSD

Big ideas:Relationships are challenging, War leaves long-lasting trauma, Death can mean the loss of how/who someone once was, Time heals

A Wife in London

Author:Thomas Hardy

Quotes:”she sits in the tawny vapour”,”He - has fallen - in the far South Land”,”And of new love that they would learn”

Context:Boer war, Thomas Hardy was passionately anti-war, Universal experience of war:’A wife’

Big ideas:War effects others as well as the soldier, Love can be devastating, War causes emotional pain, Death is shocking and emotionally brutal

Dulce et Decorum Est

Author:Wilfred Owen

Quotes:”Bent double, like old beggars under sacks”,”He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning”,”incurable sores on innocent tongues”

Context:Owen is critical of war propaganda (anti war), Owen experienced personal trauma of war, Brutal reality and futility of war

Big ideas:War is brutal and unnecessary, War causes extreme anger, Patriotism can be destructive, War causes suffering and pain

Mametz Wood

Author:Owen Sheers

Quotes:”the wasted young”,”a broken mosaic of bone”,”with this unearthing [notes]. Slipped from their absent tongues”

Context:Focuses on the loss of Welsh soldiers, Welsh poet honouring the soldier and collective memory of the soldiers’ sacrifice, Farmers finding remain in fields and war still effects the present

Big ideas:It is important to remember key events in History, Places can be symbolic and powerful, Soldiers should be remembered and celebrated, war is brutal

The Soldier

Author:Rupert Brooke

Quotes:”there’s a corner of a foreign field that is forever England”,”Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home”,”In hearts at peace, under an English heaven,”

Context:Brooke died early in the war (1915), idealistic and romanticised early view of war (patriotism), Sonnet (love for his country)

Big ideas:Soldiers should be remembered and celebrated, Faith can be secular (non-religious), Places can be symbol and powerful, We should be proud of our country, Death can be heroic

As Imperceptibly as Grief

Author:Emily Dickson

Quotes:”The Summer lapsed away”,”A courteous yet harrowing Grace”,”Our Summer made her light escape / Into the Beautiful”

Context:”An elegy - a poem of reflection, a lament for the dead, Dickinson known for expressing a haunting, personal voice in her poetry (Grew up reclusive: isolation and death), Meditation on the nature of the passing time and grief (nothing in life stays the same)

Big ideas:Grief is a natural, but powerful feeling, Change is inevitable, The passing of time is inevitable, Nature is used symbolically (here, to show grief and the passing of time)

Living Space

Author:Imitiaz Dharker

Quotes:”The whole structure leans dangerously towards the miraculous”,”eggs in a wire basket”,”bright thin walls of faith”

Context:Describes the fragile and unstable living conditions of the slums in Mumbai (fragility of survival and life), From a spiritual perspective (displaced people economic disparity), Humanising poverty

Big ideas: Having faith in God helps people to deal with challenges, Places evoke extreme emotions, Places can determine the person that you are and how you live

London

Author:William Blake

Quotes:”charter’d street…charter’d Thames”,”mind-frog’s manacle”,”blights with plagues the marriage hearse”

Context:Romantic poet (anti-establishment, anti-monarchy, against oppression), Blake advocated for a revolution following the French revolution, Blake is critical of the corruption of 18th-century London and the church (it perpetuates human suffering and social injustice)

Big ideas:Power can be abused, Power is / should be temporary, Power causes suffering to others, Power is linked to status and wealth, Experiences can cause anger, The people who live in a certain place are varied, Suffering is caused by other people

Death of a Naturalist

Author:Seamus Heaney

Quotes:”Bubbles gargled delicately”,”I would fill jampotfuls of the jellied specks”,” Poised like mud grenades”

Context:About Heaney’s personal experience ( rural Ireland, family farm, writes about nature and the impact on childhood, documents his Irish identity), Reflects on pre-digital age when children interacted with nature, Childhood loss of innocence may reflect Heaneys life (brother was 4 when he died, frozen in childhood innocence)

Big ideas:Nature is threatening to mankind, Nature is fascinating yet frightening, Nature is used symbolically to show a change in something (here, childhood innocence), Time makes your feelings on a topic change and develop, Places evoke extreme emotions, Loss can be metaphorical, Growing older leaders to a loss of innocence

Hawk Roosting

Author:Ted Hughes

Quotes:”rehearse perfect kills and eat”,”Now I hold creation in my foot”,”I am going to keep things like this”

Context:Controversial when it was published (symbolism of extreme political power?, Hughes said,’in this hawk,Nature was thinking’), Dramatic monologue (creates the hawk’s arrogant and powerful voice), A metaphor for the brutal and primal nature of power and cruelty

Big ideas:Nature is threatening, Nature is powerful, Power creates ego and arrogance, Places can determine the type of person (animal) that you are, Sometimes, nothing changes

To Autumn

Author:John Keats

Quotes:”Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!”,”Where are the songs of Spring?”,”And gathering swallows twitter in the skies”

Context:Romantic poet (appreciation of the abundance of nature), Ode-as if speaking directly to autumn (shows full appreciation and awe), Keats was approaching death ( a metaphor for the inevitable cycle of life and approach death)

Big ideas:Nature is awe-inspiring and beautiful, The passing of time is one, Change can be vital and positive

Ozymandias

Author:Percy Bysshe Shelley

Quotes:”Two vast and trunkless legs of stone”,”Look on my works ye mighty and despair”,”Nothing beside remains”

Context:Romantic poet (anti-monarchy, impermanence of human achievement, man’s hubris vs nature’s power, Ramesses II- tyrannical ruler-hubris (inspired by discovery of ancient human artefacts, time passes, human legacy is fleeting), Sonnet-ironically used (Ozymandias love and adores power)

Big ideas:Nature is powerful and prevails over mankind, The passing of time is inevitable, Power can be abused, Power creates ego and arrogance, Power is linked to status and wealth, Human power is temporary

Excerpt from the Prelude

Author:William Wordsworth

Quotes:”The cottage windows through the twilight blaz’d”,”The pack loud bellowing, and the hunted hare”,”An alien sound of melancholy”

Context:Romantic poet (the sublime,appreciation of nature’s awe and man’s insignificance, nature as parent / teacher in influencing our feelings and behaviour), Autobiographical (part of a large poem, subtitle of ‘The Prelude’ is ‘the growth of a poet’s mind’), Childhood (loss of innocence, universal inevitability)

Big ideas:Nature can be threatening to mankind, Nature is powerful yet beautiful, Nature is used symbolically to show a change in something (here, childhood innocence), Experiences can lead to feelings of fear and hopelessness, Change is inevitable, Growing older leads to a loss of innocence

Sonnet 43

Author:Elizabeth Barret Browning

Quotes:”I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach”,”With my childhood’s faith”,”I shall but love thee better after death”

Context:A sonnet (about genuine love and connection to her husband, Robert), Autobiographical (father disapproved of marriage), Religious allusions capture the Victorian zeitgeist (love is transcendent)

Big ideas:Living relationships are spiritually fulfilling, You can worship something other than God (here, another person), Faith in God feels the same as having faith in another person, Love is idealistic

She Walks in Beauty

Author:Lord Byron

Quotes:”She walks in beauty like the night”,”The smiles that win, the tints that glow”,”A heart whose love is innocent!”

Context:Romantic poet (nature as awe-inspiring and beautiful, used to describe the woman’s beauty, focus on emotion rather than reason), Inspired by an unknown woman Bryan met at a party (lust and senses), Byron: controversially lustful and hedonistic (appreciated the female form)

Big ideas:Nature is used symbolically to appreciate a person, Love is idealistic, Faith is also worshipping a person, rather than God

Cozy Apologia

Author:Rita Dove

Quotes:”chain mail glinting to set me free”,”Big Bad Floyd, who brings a host of daydreams”,”When has the ordinary ever been news”

Context:based on a real hurricane (Floyd) in 1999 (the couple find protection and safety with each other), Autobiographically:’For Fred’ (Dove’s husband), Domestic details, rather than idealistic ideas (a ‘defence’ of coziness in love)

Big ideas:Loving relationships are fulfilling and realistic, Nature is used symbolically (here, to describe the strength of the relationship), Places are used symbolically (here, to expresses the ordinariness of their love)

Valentine

Author:Carol Ann Duffy

Quotes:”It will blind you with tears”,”I am trying to be truthful”,”It’s scent will cling to your fingers, cling to your knife”

Context:Duffy often explores the gritty reality of love (A poet who breaks conventions), About the universality and complexity of love as a concept, Dramatic monologue (strong voice used to tackle our perceptions/traditional stereotypes of love

Big ideas:Love is gritty and realistic, Love can be destructive and damaging, Relationships are challenging, Love doesn’t fit traditional stereotypes

Afternoons

Author:Phillip Larkin

Quotes:”Summer is fading”,”An estate full of washing”,”something is pushing them to the side of their own lives”

Context:Larkin-never married (said that ‘having children stifled one’s creativity’), Classist attitudes (explores change and its disappointment in working class society in post-war Britain), A poet who explores mundane (ordinary events in a meaningful way)

Big ideas:Relationships are challenging and change as time passes, The passing of time is difficult to accept, Change can be damaging and disappointing, Places can be symbolic (here to show how relationships change), Loss can mean the loss of what/who someone once was (here, the mothers)