10 things you must say

about each poem*

*(obviously the question and your linked poem matters)

Flag: John Agard1. FORM/VOICE: Questions and answers – gives the illusion of an

expert and a naïve, but curious listener (potential victim?)

2. FORM: Pattern – repeated throughout, consistent meter – the poem is chant-like, mesmeric. The rhyme scheme is consistent until the final stanza, suggestive of a change of emphasis.

3. SYMBOLISM: The flag – this is obvious, but important. What does it represent and how does Agard explore different connotations?

4. TENSE: Written entirely in the present tense. This is suggestive that conflicts and blind patriotism will always be around.

5. LANGUAGE: Use of continuous, active verbs that suggest aspects of freedom – ‘fluttering…unfurling…rising…flying’ – juxtaposed with ‘possess’ in the final stanza

6. LANGUAGE: Is the flag of any literal importance? Agard says it ‘flutter[s] in the breeze’ – is this suggestive of stability or value or is it flimsy, insubstantial?

7. LANGUAGE – ‘just’ is an adverb (it describes a verb) and is also suggestive of meagerness, insubstantiality – repeated in every stanza. Dismissive. But a flag is also easy to obtain: ‘just ask for a flag’. Suggests it is a simple option – indoctrination?

8. LANGUAGE – ‘That will outlive the blood you bleed’ – a key phrase – vivid and implies a future tense, addresses the questioner and uses alliteration to reinforce the inevitability of blind patriotism leading to death.

9. IMAGERY – ‘Bring a nation to its knees’ – this has the potential for ambiguity. Could refer to subservience, prayer, despair, martyrdom. What do you see when you think of this?

10. SUM UP – A simple, perhaps deceptively so, poem with a forceful message and ideology – People will automatically, blindly accept patriotic values even though there is nothing but bloodshed and

discrimination attached to these concepts.

LINKS TO - Flag: John Agard

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(Extract from) Out of the Blue: Simon Armitage

1. FORM/VOICE: Dramatic monologue – the speaker is clearly someone trapped inside the World Trade Center (we know this as Armitage was commissioned to write a poem to commemorate the five-year anniversary) but who is the listener? Someone in an opposite building, emergency crew, someone watching on TV? Ambiguity makes the poem more haunting.

2. FORM: Worth recognising that this is just a small excerpt from a much larger narrative poem.

3. SYMBOLISM: Flying, air-borne movement. Links with Flag in this respect. Appropriate as it is a reflection of the literal height of the building, the planes descending, his furious waving, the birds also in the sky.

4. TENSE/VOICE: Written entirely in the present tense to give a sense of an event unfolding. The poem’s personal, desperate tone is clear but it is also a surprisingly calm poem.

5. LANGUAGE: Use of continuous, active verbs that suggest aspects of whimsy and freedom, but not when associated with a passenger plane – ‘spiralling…wind-milling’ – juxtaposed with the desperate and fatal: ‘leaving…diving…bullying…driving’. Makes excellent comparison with Flag but be precise about why and what it is trying to convey.

6. REPETITION: The poem uses many different examples: words – e.g. ‘…appalling. Appalling…’ Caesura and enjambment also add to the effect of increasing drama here – consider meanings of ‘appalling’. Same with ‘believing’. Assonant repetition – ‘ing’ – movement, continual, flow etc. Alliteration (also a form of repetition) throughout, comment on sound.

7. SYMBOLISM/LANGUAGE – Evaluate colour use- the white and blue in particular. What are the effects of this common thread?

8. LANGUAGE – ‘That will outlive the blood you bleed’ – a key phrase – vivid and implies a future tense, addresses the questioner and

uses alliteration to reinforce the inevitability of blind patriotism leading to death.

9. IMAGERY – ‘Bring a nation to its knees’ – this has the potential for ambiguity. Could refer to subservience, prayer, despair, martyrdom. What do you see when you think of this?

10. SUM UP – A simple, perhaps deceptively so, poem with a forceful message and ideology – People will automatically, blindly accept patriotic values even though there is nothing but bloodshed and discrimination attached to these concepts.

LINKS TO: (Extract from) Out of the Blue: Simon Armitage

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Mametz Wood: Owen Sheers

1. FORM/VOICE: Tightly structured but line length diminishes as the poem reaches its powerful final image. The voice shifts from past to present tense (and, arguably, back again) – gives a nostalgic, elegiac tone. The poem plays with the past and present in a way that is strongly suggestive of a tribute. There is constant reference to ‘now’ (or ‘this morning’) – we must learn lessons and the relevance of the events of WW1 are still here. In this sense, the poem is not just about the very specific example that happened in Mametz but is also about all the pointless deaths in battle.

2. SYMBOLISM/IMAGERY: The poem’s archaeological references are rendered in images of fragility. They constantly refer to fragments of things – ‘chit of bone’ and the way in which nature ‘heals itself’.

3. SYMBOLISM/IMAGERY: ‘now the earth stands sentinel’ – a powerful evocation of the hierarchical nature of the world. Would make fascinating links with Hawk Roosting or Come On, Come Back.

4. KEY PHRASE: ‘like a wound working a foreign body to the surface’ – this works on multiple levels. The Welsh soldiers buried there are literally ‘foreign [bodies]’ but also a powerful way of relating the blood shed during war to the nature of a disease or an infection – time will reveal all and, hopefully, cure.

5. LANGUAGE: The earth is personified on multiple occasions: ‘stands sentinel’, ‘reaching back’, ‘reminders’, especially in the fourth stanza. The effect is grandiose and has the impact of a grave judgment – we must not forget and not repeat other generations’ mistakes

6. TONE: The poem has an impressively forceful, almost majestic tone but it is still calm and thoughtful. The distance between the event and the discovery (almost 100 years) helps create a sense of this.

7. SYMBOLISM/LANGUAGE – One of the most memorable images is the most disturbing – the ‘socketed heads’ and ‘those that have…jaws’. This image is a fascinating blend of the human and the inhuman.

8. SYMBOLISM/LANGUAGE – The voiceless music of the final stanza is haunting and ties to the image of ‘jaws…dropped open’ in the previous stanza. It is especially evocative if taken alongside the notion that many of these soldiers were metaphorically voiceless, perhaps fighting without believing in the cause or it could allude to the songs soldiers often sang to keep themselves amused.

9. IMAGERY – ‘Danse-macabre’ – a familiar image of the dead (usually skeletons) arm-in-arm celebrating the closeness of life and death: no matter one's station in life, the Dance of Death unites all. The soldiers appear to be buried in such a configuration and this juxtaposes, perhaps, with the reality of their deaths. The fact that their burial is indicative of this closeness and intimacy is touching, poignant, but perhaps also a little creepy.

10. SUM UP – A poem with a simple idea but visually very evocative and takes true-life inspiration that gives it the sense of a kind of forensic quality.

LINKS TO: Mametz Wood: Owen Sheers

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The Yellow Palm: Robert Minhinnick

1. FORM: This is a ballad (in most ways). It is written in a simple, tight structure and includes repetition of a refrain that makes it powerful and memorable.

2. SUBJECT/THEME: Minhinnick uses his own experience as a foreigner in Baghdad to explore an outsiders’ view of the city. In some ways, the poem is journalistic (appropriate as Minhinnick is one) and paints a series of vignettes that show how war and conflict can ravage a city.

3. LANGUAGE: Minhinnick uses a number of words that may be familiar to us in the Middle East but many British students might be ignorant of. Reference to ‘dinars’, ‘muezzin’, ‘mosque’, ‘salaams’, ‘dates’ etc. give the poem an air of authenticity and show us local knowledge.

4. LANGUAGE/TONE: Unlikely contrasts exist in the poem, ones that you would not normally expect at times of peace. The muezzin’s eyes are ‘wild with despair’ instead of hope and adoration, the mosque has ‘blood on its walls’, instead of being a place of cleanliness and holiness, a missile is described as a ‘slow and silver caravan’ and the children ‘worship’ it but should denounce it. There is irony in many of these phrases. This gives us a sense of the uncomfortable, awkward view Minhinnick has of Baghdad.

5. FORM/LANGUAGE: As with many ballads, The Yellow Palm seems to focus on a different aspect in each stanza. One = Setting scene, immediately involves us in a funeral, Two = Religious involvement and sacrilege, Three = the victims of the conflict are men as well as a children, Four = the city itself is personified and described as noxious, Five = the children worship the missile, Six = more celebratory, the sense of hope, despite the yellowing palm.

6. LANGUAGE: This is a strikingly sensual poem- there are plenty of references to contrasting colours (which need analysing) and also other forms of sensory description. Identify them and ensure you comment on their use.

7. TONE: There is an interesting point to mention about the unusual juxtaposition of freedom and claustrophobia. In a sense, the ‘journey’ Minhinnick is on is one that represents a freedom (perhaps one that the Iraqis/Kurds etc. did not experience and many Western visitors would also have been banned). The river may be free and it ‘lifts the air’ but there is still the ‘barbarian sun’ without ‘armistice’ – even in a time of relative peace, Baghdad is hit by the controlling, war-like, oppressive weather.

8. ENDING: The end of the poem is beautifully ambiguous and thought provoking. Consider the way in which prayer, greeting and the symbol of the yellow palm, is evoked.

9. IMAGERY – The yellow palm – Minhinnick has explained himself, that the palm is yellow thro

10. SUM UP – A poem with a simple idea but visually very evocative and takes true-life inspiration that gives it the sense of a kind of forensic quality.

LINKS TO: The Yellow Palm: Robert Minhinnick

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The Right Word: Imtiaz Dharker

1. FORM: The poem reads a little bit like a ballad – Dharker’s use of repetition, formality of structure, (seeming) simplicity of point etc. However, the structure shifts in small ways between stanzas, perhaps signifying the hesitancy she has in labelling something.

2. THEME: Dharker herself is from a multi-cultural background and there is a sense of her unease at being labelled, misrepresented or stereotyped here. The poem questions whether one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom-fighter, but it also directly addresses our own insecurities and ambivalences.

3. VOICE: Dharker’s voice is doubtful and hesitant throughout. She asks lots of questions, changes her mind constantly and, in using second person towards the end of the poem, involves the reader directly in the situation.

4. KEY PHRASE: When Dharker states ‘no words can help me now’ she is essentially giving up. This is powerful for a number of reasons, not least that she is a poet and words, her tools, are unable to clearly or convincingly express the dilemma. This is the use of a metanarrative – Dharker is commenting on the process of writing about the poem within the poem. Ciaran Carson does something similar in Belfast Confetti. BE CLEAR: The dilemma is not really that there is a strange boy waiting outside her house, but more what to call him and should it even matter.

5. SYMBOLISM/IMAGERY: By employing very simple, easily understandable images Dharker makes the poem relevant to us all. Taking off one’s shoes before entering a building may have strongly religious connotations, but it is also a simple sign of respect that is universal. It also softens the image of a potential ‘terrorist’ as being shoeless perhaps makes him more vulnerable. Eating food together is also strongly evocative – family life, caring, sharing, charitable etc. Juxtapose this warmth with the ‘lurking…shadows’ of the first half of the poem.

6. KEY PHRASE/SYMBOLISM: ‘wavering, waving flags’ – apart from some obvious links with other poems, this is also effective because of the idea of wavering words – a phrase we might use if we stumble. It is also gently alliterative.

7. LANGUAGE TECHNIQUES – A great deal of alliteration, repetition, assonance, consonance, even onomatopoeia exists in this poem. Make sure you can identify examples of all of these and be prepared to explain how and why they are used.

8. SYMBOLISM/LANGUAGE – The word ‘terrorist’ is essentially loaded with a great deal of connotation that has built in force and momentum over the last twenty years. By opening with this word in the first stanza, Dharker deliberately instigates a debate over the power of language. It opens up even more discussion about semantics – the meanings of words – and the way in which, perhaps, the Western media portray those in the Middle East or Asian subcontinents. Dharker herself is Pakistani and the region has been afflicted by terrorist ‘atrocities’ (again, how loaded?) itself.

9. IMAGERY – The balance between ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ is a focus in the poem. Dharker deliberately places herself inside but she acknowledges how close ‘outside’ really is. In this sense, it mirrors the ideas of labelling and judging – are martyrs and terrorists the same thing? By inviting someone ‘inside’ does it make them a martyr – just because they are fighting for (or dying for) your cause, for example?

10. SUM UP – This is a seemingly simple poem but there is plenty to write about. Also mention its slightly surreal, haunting tone – it feels like there is a storm brewing. How does Dharker create this?

LINKS TO: The Right Word – Imtiaz Dharker

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At the Border, 1979: Choman Hardi

1. FORM/TITLE: The poem is autobiographical and, by placing us ‘at the border’ at a specific time in the title, we are dropped into a real life event.

2. THEME: The overriding theme here is that of the paradoxical nature of borders. They are arbitrarily constructed, perhaps even a work of someone’s imagination, but they have the effect of displacement and heartache. Hardi’s poem picks out the absurdities of the notion of borders.

3. VOICE: Hardi’s poem is autobiographical, so we know she is trying to convey the voice of her five-year old self. The voice is, however, wise with the recollection and with hindsight. Hardi deliberately uses a range of phrases that evoke childish concerns, but they are also profoundly important. Sometimes she uses synesthesia to evoke the absurdity of the situation and the sentimentality with which the adults are indulging: ‘I can inhale home.’

4. KEY PHRASE: The juxtaposition of the words ‘continued’ and ‘divided’ represents the central theme of the poem perfectly.

5. FORM/STRUCTURE: Each stanza of the poem appears to tell a different perspective. Try to identify the purposes.

6. LANGUAGE: Hardi uses direct speech throughout the poem to give it a more realistic and appealing quality. Phrases like the mother’s ‘we are going home’ are written in italics to distinguish them from the first-person and to perhaps give the utterance more importance.

7. LANGUAGE:– Pathetic fallacy – environmental factors that provide a sense of mood or personality – is abundant here. Look at the

‘rain’, ‘autumn soil’, ‘muddy homeland.’ People appear to be celebrating but the reality, emphasized by the pathetic fallacy, is far from glamorous.

8. SYMBOLISM/LANGUAGE – The chain of the poem is literal – it really exists and keeps the nations divided – but, like point two above, it also serves to entrap and enslave.

9. IMAGERY – Chains, looked at literally, are not items that separate, but are rather hundreds of linked pieces. Perhaps look at the ambiguity of the concept.

10. SUM UP – The mood of the poem is rather dark and despondent, despite a child’s voice being present which should be full of hope and optimism.

LINKS TO: At The Border, 1979 by Choman Hardi

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Belfast Confetti: Ciaran Carson

1. EXTENDED METAPHOR/TITLE: The poem uses an extended metaphor – you should not be writing about this poem unless you feel comfortable on this matter. Carson uses words and phrases to do with punctuation and writing to explore the impact of conflict. This is the ‘confetti’ of the title – people made homemade bombs filled with small pieces of scrap metal and this was colloquially known as ‘Belfast Confetti’ – ironic due to the connotations of confetti as celebratory.

2. EXTENDED METAPHOR: The metaphor works on a number of levels – Carson is a poet and therefore his business is writing – it seems like he was literally writing at the time the event in the poem takes place. Also, people used to put bits of old typewriter in their homemade bombs so it might have actually been ‘raining exclamation marks’. The different layers – both literal and metaphorical make this a very memorable poem.

3. EXTENDED METAPHOR: Punctuation also works as a metaphor as it is a system of rules and controls perhaps designed to stifle freedom and creativity – many poets break the rules of punctuation like e.e. cummings. In Belfast, as Carson sees it, his city has become controlled and claustrophobic.

4. TONE/LANGUAGE: The poem begins with an adverb, ‘suddenly’, which places us at the heart of the moment immediately. Throughout the poem, the pace is quick but not frantic – it is broken up by caesura and meanings are carried forward through enjambment so the poem’s form is never entirely consistent.

5. METAPHORS: Individual examples of metaphors are also striking – the explosion was an ‘asterisk’, the gunfire exemplified through ellipsis (…) – say that the poem’s visual quality is improved through actually looking at it on the page.

6. TONE: The poem is full of ‘dead ends’ and the use of caesura adds to this – the overall tone is that of claustrophobia. This may be ironic as Carson is a Belfast man but note that he is writing in English rather than Irish and ‘Ciaran’ is a Catholic name and ‘Carson’ is a Protestant name.

7. TONE: Despite the poem feeling fraught and tense, Carson does not seem angry and there is a wistful sense of failure throughout as if Carson is despairing of the situation around him. Try to find quotes to justify this point.

8. LANGUAGE: Carson uses a number of lists which, as we know, adds to the volume of something and may increase the pace or meter. Here, a list of streets: 'Balaklava, Raglan, Inkerman, Odessa…’ and weapon/armoury: ‘Saracen, Kremlin-2 mesh…’ The list of streets are named after battles in previous conflicts esp. Crimean War – where many Irish soldiers lost their lives under British control.

9. LANGUAGE: The poem is written in first-person and appears to be very personal. Carson asks himself a series of questions, perhaps to question his own perspective on the immediate conflict, before being interrogated himself in ‘a fusillade of question marks’.

10. SUM UP – The poem is excellent to write about as long as you tackle the notion of the extended metaphor and do it in a sensitive way – there is ambiguity to some of the ideas here so one answer will not fit all.

LINKS TO: Belfast Confetti by Ciaran Carson

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Poppies: Jane Weir

1. SUBJECT/THEME/EXTENDED METAPHOR: The poem appears to be about a mother who says goodbye to her son as he leaves for her for some unspecified reason. Take another read of the poem – does it mention he is leaving to fight in a war or, indeed, is dead? What Weir does is to try to empathise with those mothers who have lost children in conflict and uses this specific experience of a mother saying goodbye to explore it.

2. SUBJECT/THEME/EXTENDED METAPHOR: Weir uses her knowledge as a textile designer to create a series of metaphors to do with fabric. Is this effective? Presumably the purpose of this semantic field is to give the poem a feminine touch; this is a stereotype of course (many men also work in textiles) but it seems like Weir wants to put the mother’s perspective. The references to stitchwork: ‘tucks, darts, pleats, crimped, bandaged’ seem to be rather compressed – like she is trying to keep her emotions contained. It is also very tactile, lots of imagery to do with touch and feel here.

3. THEME/TONE: The poem is about leavings and departures. Within the greater theme of Conflict, it is about the impact on the civilian when a family member is killed. It also feel rather queasy in places: ‘the sellotape bandaged’, for example, is both mundane and visceral.

4. THEME/TONE: Weir’s poem feels elegiac – like a tribute to the dead. Whether the narrator’s son is dead is open to interpretation but she seems to be more keen to point out the small but still significant aspects of growing up: ‘rubbing noses’, ‘playground voice’ – so it feels more like it is his first day at school than his funeral.

5. LANGUAGE: The poem has a deathly pall – there are plenty of subtle and not-so-subtle references to death, some euphemistic, others more literal. Make a list of them.

6. IMAGERY: As well as frequent references to textiles, there are also plenty of juxtaposed examples of military imagery: ‘blockades’, ‘reinforcements’ etc. These feel rather heavy-handed in my opinion but you could write about the uneasy incongruity.

7. IMAGERY: In the final stanza the narrator ‘lean[s] against [the grave] like a wishbone’. The simile is striking and unusual, perhaps suggesting connection or fragility.

8. LANGUAGE: The poem is written in second-person. Weir frequently uses ‘I’ and ‘you’ but only one occurrence of ‘we’. This suggests a distancing between mother and son.

9. LANGUAGE: The phrase ‘I was brave’ is particularly telling and honest in a poem loaded with metaphors. Why is the mother brave? Is this irony or does it take significant courage to let someone go?

10. SUM UP – You know I don’t like this poem very much but there is plenty to write about. Don’t be afraid to comment critically on a poem as long as you justify your response and tie it to the question.

LINKS TO: Poppies by Jane Weir

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Futility: Wilfred Owen

1. FORM: The poem fits the form of a lyric poem – short and concentrated on emotional, personal detail. It is also 14 lines long, so has the claim of being sonnet-length, although divided into equal stanzas of 7 lines.

2. SUBJECT/THEME: The poem’s title says it all really – the ‘futility’ or senselessness of war, juxtaposed with the majesty and miracle of life.

3. METAPHOR: Owen uses the sun to represent life and, more exactly, the giving of life. When the command is made to ‘move him into the sun’ at the very start of the poem, this seems like a last chance for the dying soldier. The sun is present at the start of the life cycle and at the end. The phrase ‘cold star’, a period of time before recognizable life is a simple but stark contrast. The value of the bringing of life is exemplified in ‘so dear achieved’. Towards the end of the poem, it is almost as if the sun is being blamed for the ridiculous situation.

4. THEME/TONE: The poem is sombre and calm until the very end. Words like ‘gently’, ‘awoke’, ‘rouse’, ‘kind’ seem anomalously tranquil when linked to war time. The tone shifts in the second stanza, especially towards the end. It also feels elegiac and as if a tribute to his dead comrade.

5. THEME/TONE: The second stanza shifts from a scene of calm and

almost pastoral quality to a series of three rhetorical questions. It begins by asking us to consider the beginnings of life, before questioning the value of life and then dwelling on the futility of the way in which humans treat life. The contrast between stanzas (and, indeed, within stanzas) is very striking and beautiful.

6. IMAGERY: By shifting into the past in the first stanza, Owen evokes a sense of melancholy and nostalgia. It is wistful when we hear of the soldier’s ‘half-sown’ life, the field becoming metaphorical too here.

7. IMAGERY: Recognise the personification: ‘the kind old sun’ - but also say something of substance – this is a warm, childish, hopeful presentation of the sun. Also very reminiscent of John Donne’s ‘The Sun Rising’.

8. LANGUAGE: Half-rhyme is used frequently – read the poem aloud and try to hear how different it would be if they were perfect rhymes. This influences the tone and the meter – the poem reads slightly uneasily.

9. LANGUAGE: There is bitter irony in ‘the clay grew tall’ – referencing the biblical notions of creation and development – man may have evolved physically but with the futility of such bloodshed should we be proud?

10. SUM UP – This is a very elegant, memorable, evocative poem with, at its heart, a deep questioning of the relationship between life and death and whether anything is achieved through war.

LINKS TO: Futility by Wilfred Owen

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The Charge of the Light Brigade: Alfred Tennyson

1. FORM: The poem does not fit a specific form but it is reminiscent of a ballad as it recounts a true story simply and with the use of clear repetition and rhyme.

2. SUBJECT/THEME: If you are going to write about this one, it is definitely in your interest to revise the background to the historical context. The poem represents the reckless abandon that the commanders indulged in. Also, remember the accounts of the battle which Tennyson used as an inspiration to write this poem.

3. LANGUAGE: Constant repetition throughout – the poem is powerfully rhythmical and chant-like. Anaphora (using repetition of words or phrases at the start of lines) is also used rhetorically – it reinforces the sheer number of men and artillery the ‘Light Brigade’ were facing.

4. LANGUAGE: Reporting speech makes the poem seem very alive, almost theatrical. It is also deeply critical, the orders being shouted only at the start of the poem.

5. FORM/CONTRAST: There is a symmetry to the poem – we begin with the movement into battle, meet the battle in the middle of the poem and then retreat to the end before a moment of tribute. Write about this.

6. IMAGERY: The metaphorical imagery is the most interesting and the bits worth writing about! The ‘jaws of Death’ and the ‘mouth of Hell’ in particular are strongly evocative and disturbing. These are personifications of death which are reminiscent of John Milton’s Paradise Lost.

7. LANGUAGE: Tennyson’s use of rhetorical questions is interesting and may be used for multiple effects. In the second line of the second stanza: ‘Was there a man dismay’d?’ – there is the hint that perhaps not all the soldiers wanted to bravely meet their deaths! In the final stanza: ‘When can their glory fade?’ perhaps questions whether we will always remember these men the way we should.

8. LANGUAGE: Alliteration on ‘horse and hero’ suggests a close bond between animal and man – both should be honoured and remembered.

9. LANGUAGE: Repetition of ‘All the world wonder’d’ – the people back home (Tennyson was one of them) were baffled at the order and were also awestruck at the bravery.

10. SUM UP – There are multiple purposes to the poem: to pay tribute to the men who lost their lives, to criticize (gently) those who sent them to their deaths and, perhaps most importantly, to create a poem of energy and rhythm – battle-like.

LINKS TO: The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Tennyson

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Bayonet Charge: Ted Hughes1. SUBJECT/THEME: This is a slightly surreal, war-fatigued

representation of the hellish process of going ‘over-the-top’ in battle for one final push for the enemy, bayonets attached to the end of their rifles. It is about the fine line between living and dying.

2. IMAGERY: Hughes was much more famous for writing about nature rather than war – here he juxtaposes the two and the ‘yellow hare’ becomes a striking symbol for nature’s casualties of war, the ‘shot slashed furrows’ the ruined land.

3. THEME: Reference to patriotism is here too. When the soldier sheds a ‘patriotic tear’ it implies that this is what led him to being there in the first place but then appears to reject the principle in the sarcastic list ‘King, honour, human dignity etcetera’ which become hollow and superficial ‘like luxuries’ when it comes down to it.

4. IMAGERY: There are lots of examples of powerfully ambiguous, visceral imagery. The man’s adrenaline is at fever-pitch and it has the effect of ‘smacking the belly out of the air’ just like the bullets that surround him. There are other references to the human body

and war – his ‘rifle as numb as a smashed arm’, presumably as useless as he is – the rifle no longer being used as anything other than a bayonet.

5. FORM: The poem is three stanzas long of roughly equal length but the line length differs greatly and this combined with the density of the language - there’s a lot going on here – makes it seem heavy and treacherous.

6. LANGUAGE: Like Belfast Confetti, the poem places us in the thrust of battle with: ‘Suddenly’ and it seems alive, threatening and terrifying from the start.

7. LANGUAGE: A number of verbs and adjectives suggest clumsiness and a sense of discomfort: ‘sweat heavy’, ‘stumbling’, ‘molten’, ‘bewilderment’ etc. The heat is palpable and the sense of danger omnipresent.

8. SYMBOLISM: The notion of the clock and the movement of time is fundamental here. The ‘hand pointing that second’ and the ‘stars and nations’ of international politics and also fate makes the individual soldier seem entirely insignificant.

9. LANGUAGE: Multiple examples of sensory description, some of it synaesthetic. Hughes deliberately blurs the senses of the soldier and makes us feel disoriented – ‘mouth wide/Open silent’ for example is visual and auditory – also oxymoronic.

10. SUM UP – A good poem to write on if you can accept the ambiguous, surreal nature of some of the ideas.

LINKS TO: Bayonet Charge by Ted Hughes

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The Falling Leaves: Margaret Postgate Cole

1. SUBJECT/THEME: A much more gentle, perhaps feminine, approach to the topic of conflict as witnessed through the eyes of Cole, from her place at home.

2. EXTENDED METAPHOR/IMAGERY: Cole was an ardent pacifist and her poetry was often concerned with the fight against conscription. Here she uses the ‘falling leaves’ of the title and her immediate environment as the bodies of returning soldiers. It is clearly Autumn and this is also the season of death and decay.

3. CONTEXT: By dating the poem we understand it is a work of the first World War, otherwise it has a timeless quality to it.

4. LANGUAGE: The first word of the poem is ‘Today’ – this combined with the first-person voice makes the poem particularly immediate and resonant.

5. LANGUAGE/CONTRAST/TONE: The ‘still afternoon’ with ‘no wind’ and the repetition of the soft ‘snowflakes’ gives the poem an almost spookily calm tone and this is unusual, perhaps, when considering the bloodshed she is thinking about at the time.

6. LANGUAGE: The ‘gallant multitude’ contrasts interestingly with the language Tennyson uses in The Charge of the Light Brigade. It is rather understated and anonymous in its tone. The ‘multitude’ might stand for every soldier not just those allied to the British cause.

7. LANGUAGE: Alliteration is used subtly to indicate a gentle tranquility: ‘When no wind whirled…whistling’, only to repeat again later: ‘which now all withering lay’ – the effect is different in each phrase as one is about quiet reflection and the other is about death and decay.

8. TONE: As well as being calm the poem is gloomy and dark as if viewed beneath tissue paper. The sun is obscured and is diminishing in power.

9. FORM/STRUCTURE: In one short stanza, Cole delivers one long sentence – the effect is broken up by caesura and the use of a semi-colon at the end of line 6 which marks the change from describing the scene in front of her to the focus being more explicitly on the soldiers.

10. SUM UP – The overall tone and mood created here is powerful and would make an interesting contrast with a poem that is much more aggressive and stereotypically masculine.

LINKS TO: The Falling Leaves by Margaret Postgate Cole

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Come On, Come Back: Stevie Smith

1. SUBJECT/THEME: By imagining ‘a future war’, Smith is able to refer to the ways in which real, contemporary wars are significant and her references within the poem to real events: ‘The Battle of Austerlitz’, ‘The Potsdam conference’ make it seem more genuine.

2. THEME: Through the use of the above, Smith explores her main theme – that innocent, ordinary lives are devastated and ruined by the decisions made by ‘great nations’ and world superpowers. Even a young girl caught up in and exploited by the country she just happens to be born in.

3. FORM/STRUCTURE: The poem is written in free verse without obvious structure, but it does, like a piece of prose fiction, add new layers of meaning in each stanza. The feeling is fairy-tale like.

4. RHYME: Smith uses rhyme in unusual ways – there is internal rhyme and pararhyme throughout but the unevenness to the line length make it feel awkward and innocent. The most jarring rhyme refers to ‘ML5/alive’, presumably referring to a chemical weapon. Not the sort of thing you would expect to rhyme.

5. ALLITERATION: The soft ‘v’ sound is used frequently – her name is Vaudevue and this brings attention to it, along with the tone of calm despondency.

6. IMAGERY: There is plenty of visual imagery in the poem and uch of it is to do with the omnipresent moon and its reflection in the water. This adds to the dream-like, fairy-tale quality aforementioned.

7. LANGUAGE: The name ‘Vaudevue’ could have two etymologies – the word itself is most closely reminiscent of ‘vaudeville’ – meaning a form of light entertainment, but it also sounds like ‘eau de vie’, French for water of life. This would seem appropriate as she appears to drown having escaped the battle itself.

8. THEME: Death is presented positively – the water which provides it is a form of escape: ‘an icy-amorous embrace’ or ‘the adorable lake’. We get very little literal description of the environment she has suffered in but it must be pretty bad if she is so willing to take the plunge into the water.

9. TONE: The poem is bleak, morose and languid but it has moments of beauty and hope.

10. SUM UP – One of my favourite poems in the collection, do not let the length put you off – would work well with the other calm, reflective, nature-bound poems.

LINKS TO: Come On, Come Back by Stevie Smith

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next to of course god america i by E.E. Cummings

1. LANGUAGE/SYNTAX: Cummings’ great gift was his sense of style and much of this was reinforced by his breaking of conventional syntactical units. This poem is no exception and Cummings makes use of the continuous, breathless lines to poke fun at the idiocy of the speaker.

2. FORM: While the punctuation may be unorthodox, Cummings opts for a very traditional form of poetry - the sonnet. It may not, however, feel like a particularly conventional sonnet and the 14th

line removed from the stanza is certainly unusual.

3. THEME: The poem is about the blind, ignorant patriotism of politicians and propagandists. The speaker is intent on winning favour by saying just the right things to appeal to the American-loving crowd but part of the pleasure for the reader is trying to decipher what he is meant to be saying when actually he often says something quite different.

4. LANGUAGE: Lists, lists and more lists. These are part of a speechmaker’s rhetorical toolkit of course, but the phrases are patronizing at best and give a distorted view of the reality of conflict.

5. LANGUAGE: Cummings’ use of ‘by gory…by gee…by jingo’, exclamatory idioms which seem to be used as fillers are very telling. The speaker is full of bluster but very little of substance is actually making sense.

6. LANGUAGE: Much of the phrasing is intentionally ambiguous. The title itself can be read in at least three different ways, each with significantly different connotations. In ‘…they did not stop to think…’ there is also ambiguity and there is a sense of the speaker’s real criticisms coming out unconsciously.

7. PUNCTUATION: The significance of the question mark at the end of the stanza is important. Without punctuation, the poem’s meter is relentless and the pace is like that of a runaway train. The question mark suggests the whole speech is one big question (rhetorical).

8. CONTRAST: Cummings’ own voice, presumably, infiltrates the poem in the final, separate line. The immediate slowing down to a stop – ‘He spoke.’ – and the pause to drink a glass of water is sarcastic and satitirical.

9. IMAGERY: There is interesting contrast between images of patriotic Americana in the poem and also varieties of volume ‘mute’ ‘voice’ etc. Just as interesting (and taboo) is the intertextuality used when Cummings splices up the words to the Star Spangled Banner for satirical effect.

10. SUM UP – This is a viciously satirical poem which is not explicitly critical of war but certainly criticizes the propagandists who want to win fame and money by popularizing it.

LINKS TO: next to of course god America I by E.E. Cummings

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Hawk Roosting: Ted Hughes1. SUBJECT/THEME: The poem should really be treated as an

extended metaphor, whereby the hawk is representative of corrupt or dictatorial politician and leaders. Their ‘hawkish’ behavior is examined in the characteristics of the bird.

2. FORM: The poem is a dramatic monologue and the hawk’s voice is directed at any potential dissenters.

3. FORM/STRUCTURE: Hughes structures the poem carefully. In the first two quartets, the hawk shows off his physical superiority, the second two are about his power over nature and the final two are meant as a justification for his behavior.

4. THEME: By beginning and ending with lines beginning in ‘I’, the hawk is asserting his dominance and the poem reads like an interesting counterpoint to ‘next to of course…’ as there is much more ‘sophistry’ in the language, despite him saying to the contrary, and no desire to bamboozle with clever wordplay.

5. IMAGERY: The eagle sitting atop a wreath was a common symbol for Nazism. In many ways, the hawk has seized power from nature, for himself and rejects the political processes of democracy that might govern a civilized human society. Look at the capitalization of ‘Creation’ – the hawk has seized this and therefore becomes God (or better than God)

6. VOICE: Analysis of voice is key here. The poem’s narrator is a killer and one who is endlessly proud of his achievements. By speaking in such a controlled, calm manner (reinforced by the regularity of the poem’s structure) it suggests everything is premeditated.

7. VOICE: The arrogance is overwhelming at times. When the hawk claims ‘The sun is behind me’, the image is ambiguous – as if the support is provided to the hawk by God (through the sun – see also Futility). He ‘revolve[s] it all slowly’ – he considers himself thoroughly in charge.

8. IMAGERY: There are surprisingly few metaphors here – although a number of images could be interpreted as such – but the chilling ones : ‘the allotment of death’, for example, are reminiscent of holocaust and mass graves.

9. AMBIGUITY: Could it be that the hawk is suffering from delusions of grandeur? As he sits in his tree he says it is ‘no falsifying dream’ that he is so dominant but by saying this in the first place does it

not suggest the notion of fallibility?

10. SUM UP: The poem was very controversial when it was first published as it seemed to be an attack on any number of fascist (or semi-fascist) leaders. It differs from other poems in the cluster as it does not question conflict but tries to explain it.

LINKS TO: Hawk Roosting by Ted Hughes

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