Obsession: it is an amazing curse. When one is obsessed over a project, it can become an all-consuming focus to the exclusion of anything else. However, that single mindedness, if allowed to control one, can be harmful and eventually bring ruin. Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein tells the horrific tale of the struggles between a…
If you are looking for a story portraying undying love and a completely unexpected finish, Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is the place to go. Published in 1859, it is set in the late 18th century with the background ofthe French Revolution. This serial novel depicts the lives of characters from two different…
What is a hero? While many envision a muscular man wearing a cape with super powers, the definition of a hero is much simpler. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, a hero is “a person admired for achievements and noble qualities.” Bilbo Baggins was the hero introduced in The Hobbit. This adventurous story, by J.R.R.…
Karl Popper is regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of science in the 20th century. He created concepts that developed scientific methodology, notably his empirical falsification that impacted the way we prove/ disprove theories in science today, it completely changes (makes it more accurate) how we qualify the status of scientific truth since it…
Utilitarianism is, simply put, “the greatest happiness of the greatest number”. It is a consequentialist theory of ethics that has majorly impacted moral philosophy in modern times. It maximizes utility, the usefulness of an action, meaning how much pleasure and pain that action brings. There are two main types of utilitarianism that have their own…
Theme: Vivid imagery & Religion Type: Six quatrains of rhyming couplets Background Made of questions Addressing the tiger, the speaker questions its creation Often interpreted to deal with issues of inspiration, mystical knowledge and God Blake contemplates about what kind of God could design and create such an awesome creature First verse – clearly evokes…
Theme: Childhood memory Type: Narrative free verse with rhyming couplets Background Written by Vernon Scannell About childhood from perspective of an adult Poem takes us inside the child’s head by use of sensory language Short sentences are used – to recreate the suspense and sensory experience of hide and seek The plot records the thoughts…
Theme: Prejudice/discrimination & How people learn hard lessons Type: Blank verse Background Written by Wole Soyinka – first African to win the Nobel Prize for literature The poem is about a man trying to rent a flat from an English landlady Her attitudes towards him changes when she hears he is African She is clearly…
Type: Dramatic Monologue Background Written by Gabriel Okara Addressed from a father to his son in relatively straightforward style Father is dismayed by the insincere forms of communication developed Wants his son to “unlearn” these false ways The poem is about people changing, becoming falser and more untrustworthy; also influence of Western values on African…
Theme: Childhood Type: Free Verse Background Tells the story of an incident in a young boy’s life – told to stay back in class as punishment for “Something Very Wrong” he had done Forgetting is another key theme of the poem The boy knows the important times of the day (to him) – doesn’t think…
Theme: Love & Loyalty Type: Sonnet Background Shakespeare is Britain’s most famous poet/playwright Sonnet suggests that love is forever -this didn’t conform with the idea of the time – instead of obedience/subservience it focuses on faithfulness, forgiveness and equality Language Compares (simile) love to the North Star – eternal and unchanging Paradox – he says…
Theme: Love (obsessive, the enchantment of being in love rather then enduring love), Death, Abandonment, Sad/sentimental Type: Ballad Background Written by John Keats – one of the Romantic poets The title means “the beautiful lady without pity” Sees a knight on the verge of death because of his romantic encounter – showing the dangers of…
Themes: Death/Human Suffering, Parent/child, Courage, Religious Imagery, Vivid Imagery Type: Blank Verse Form – 2 stanzas – different lengths – lines aren’t long – clearly explains with simple meanings Background Written by Chinua Achebe This is a heartbreaking poem about a young mother in a refugee camp and her devotion to her dying child Language…
Themes: War, Death/Human Suffering, Vivid language/imagery, Religious Imagery Type: Regular form Background Written by Carol Ann Duffy – first female Poet Laureate Poem explores the differences between Rural England and a warzone The photographer doesn’t feel at home in the warzone – “impassively” “where he earns his living” – but doesn’t feel at home in…
Themes: Marriage/Love, Men seeing women as possessions, Jealousy, Madness, Power Type: Dramatic Monologue/ Rhyming Couplets Background Written by Robert Browning Inspiration for the poem was Alfonso II whose wife died of suspicious circumstances Lucrezia was a Medici “Didn’t have a nine-hundred-year-old name” Power Fictional speech by a Renaissance Duke who is conducting a marriage negotiation…
Themes: Death Type: Villanelle Background Written by Dylan Thomas when his father was dying, and the poem is addressed to him It is a vigorous, impassioned diatribe against the inevitability of death The poet is encouraging his father to fight against death with all this strength Describes valiant and praiseworthy behaviour of different kinds of…
Theme: Love/Loss, Death, Grief, Hope – that death is not the end Type: Sonnet Background Written by Christina Rossetti – suffered from illness and so it isn’t surprising that she explores the theme of death As a Christian, she believed that death isn’t the end – in this poem She is clearly talking to a…
Themes: Childhood, Parent/Child, Parental Love, Nostalgia & memories Type: Rhyming Couplets Background Written by D. H. Lawrence (wrote over 800 poems) His childhood was dominated by poverty and the friction between his parents of these became strong influences in his writing In Piano he describes a woman singing to him at dusk and is transported…
Themes: Parent/Child Relationship, Love, Loss Type: Free Verse Background Written by Alice Walker – awarded Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (The Colour Purple) The poet wrote this poem at an age where most people face a new phase in life This poem is partly about the sadness at the loss of a father and the regrets…
Theme – Birth and Death & Powerful Imagery Type – Dramatic Monologue Background – Written by Louis MacNeice – written during WWII Form and Tone The title tells us that it is a prayer and reads like an incantation The tone is apocalyptic, expressing foreboding about the menace of modern living The child’s prayer is…
