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 The 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…
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 these became strong influences on his writing In Piano he describes a woman singing to him at dusk and is transported back…
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…
Themes Inspirational/ Motivational/ Aspirations Type Dramatic Monologue Links Mother in a Refugee Camp – Courage Do Not Go Gentle – Courage/exhortation (encourage to fight) My Last Duchess – Dramatic Monologue Background Written by Rudyard Kipling and was awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature Work based on his knowledge of the Middle East The…
Mark Twain’s “Two Ways of Seeing a River” delves into the changes in attitude he experiences concerning the river after becoming a steamboat pilot. Essentially, once he gains knowledge and life experiences, he begins to take the beauty of the river for granted and loses his love of it. Mark Twain explains how something beautiful…
Considering making a major life change to turn dreams of the future into reality may require sacrifices, a degree of independence that might lead to isolation, and a certain amount of time. Often a fear of sacrifice, isolation, and the passage of time leads individuals to ignore their dreams and pursue a more attainable route…
Ghost: “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life/ Now wears his crown.” (1.5.776-77) The fact that Claudius killed the King by pouring poison into his ear while he was asleep was revealed to Hamlet in the very first Act of the play. The only ones who initially know of this are Hamlet and the…
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective in Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. Famous for his deduction skills, he is an esoteric character, this making him more entertaining as the readers try to guess what his next steps will be. During the Victorian era, which is when the Sherlock Holmes stories were written, the Metropolitan…
Quote Analysis “The Modern Prometheus” -Titan in Greek mythology (semi-God) – Zeus said that humans should not have fire – it was only for God -Prometheus went to Mount Olympus and stole some fire – thought it was unfair and gave it to humans – Zeus devised a punishment for Prometheus- chained to a rock…
Character + scene Quote Analysis Horatio 1.1.68 “this bodes some strange eruption to our state” Horatio says this after seeing the ghost Foreshadows unnatural disturbance and corruption to come Hamlet 1.2.76 ‘seems’, madam – nay it is” Reveals his grief His grief and mistrust of others as he feels he’s the only one grieving the…
Williams presents masculinity in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ by presenting the violent nature of Stanley in comparison to Blanche as well as how this naturally leads to the destruction of Blanche and symbolically the old south. From the start of the play, the characters of Stanley and Blanche are presented as polar opposites with Blanche…
The “to be or not to be” soliloquy in Act 3 Scene 1 is significant in showing Hamlet’s tragic flaw; his inability to decide and inability to take action. The main purpose of this soliloquy is to establish Hamlet as a characteristically reflective, analytic, and moral character which leads to his tragic fall. In this…
Shakespeare presents Hamlet’s and Gertrude’s relationship as a crucial factor for the plot of the play. Gertrude is vital in fuelling Hamlet’s hatred of women as well as his drive for revenge. Her remarriage also causes Hamlet to sink into melancholy as Bradley states it provided a ‘violent shock to his moral being’. Gertrude’s remarriage…
Hamlet and Ophelia’s relationship is very complicated, and many critics have questioned whether Hamlet genuinely loved Ophelia. Hamlet genuinely loved her before his father’s death, and this is shown by the love letters they have from before. However, after Hamlet’s father’s death, he develops trust issues and resentment especially towards women after his mother’s haste…
Shakespeare presents corruption as the cause of Denmark’s decay. Claudius’ corruption acts as the poison that leads to Denmark’s decay of stability and security. Likewise, Hamlet corrupting his own morals causes his own mental decay as well as the decomposition of the State of Denmark as his insistence of following his revenge is at the…