Poetry Terms Revision: • Theme: What the poem is about – the message it has to deliver. E.g. love poem, poem about the peacefulness of nature, the evils of war etc. • Simile: A comparison between two different things using the words ‘like, as’ or ‘than’. E.g. ‘Bent double like old beggars under sacks’. • Metaphor: A comparison between two different things without using like, as or than. Not literal meaning. E.g. ‘The sea is a hungry dog.’ • Alliteration: Where a number of words in a line/ sequence begin with the same letter. E.g. ‘Men marched asleep, many had lost their boots.’ • Assonance: Where a vowel sound is repeated in sequence – adds pace to the poem. E.g. long vowel sounds slow down the pace: ‘We cursed through sludge’, and short vowel sounds speed it up; ‘Gas! Gas! Quick boys’. • Tone: Mood or atmosphere in the poem. E.g. happiness and joy / sadness and despair. • Rhyme: Words which sound alike e.g. ‘Sludge and trudge’ - creates rhythm in a poem. • Onomatopoeia: Where a sound imitates the word it is describing. E.g. ‘buzz, creak, hiss’. • Personification: Where something that is not human is given human characteristics. E.g. Nature or animals. • Imagery: A clear or vivid picture or mental image you get when you read the poem – visualise the events as they unfold – powerful imagery. • Sibilance: Where the ‘s’ sound is repeated in sequence in a poem. • Repetition: Words or images are repeated in a poem to reinforce the poet’s message. • Hyperbole: deliberate exaggeration in a poem to get the point across. Junior Cycle Poetry Revision (War) Dulce et Decorum est Ms. Swanepoel Wilfred Owen Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs, And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of gas-shells dropping softly behind. Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time, But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.— Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin; If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,— My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. • • • Powerful anti-war poem. Owen served as an officer during WW1 and experienced life in the trenches. His poetry focuses on the realities of war. Stanza 1: • Mood is one of hopelessness and despair. • The soldiers are exhausted and weary of war and morale is low; ‘like old beggars under sacks’. • The use of images - ‘trudge’ and ‘sludge’, give the impression that they are not marching but merely dragging their feet back to base camp. • They are so tired they are even oblivious to the sounds of gun fire around them. ‘ Men marched asleep… deaf even to the hoots of … five nines’. • The pace changes rapidly with the attack and gassing by the enemy. • Panic takes over and the mood is frantic and anxious each one scrambling to secure their gas masks; ‘fitting the clumsy helmets just in time.’ • The poet gives an account of one man who is unable to protect himself from the poisonous fumes; ‘floundering like a man in fire or lime’. • He describes the nightmares he is plagued with, watching this man die in agony; ‘guttering, choking, drowning’. Stanza 3: • The tone changes to regret and remorse and also anger at the hypocrisy of a nation who encourages young men to die for their country. • The images are graphic and disturbing as the poet describes the agony of the man with ‘blood come gargling from his froth corrupted lungs’. • They could do nothing to help him but watch as he suffers. • The poet asks the recruiters and political leaders if having witnessed a comrade with ‘his white eyes writhing in his face’, and not able to help would they still keep encouraging ‘children ardent for some desperate glory’, to enlist? • Would they continue to tell ‘the old lie’ – it is sweet and honourable to die for your country? (Regret) Disabled Wilfred Owen He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark, And shivered in his ghastly suit of grey, Legless, sewn short at elbow. Through the park Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn, Voices of play and pleasure after day, Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him. About this time Town used to swing so gay When glow-lamps budded in the light-blue trees, And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim,— In the old times, before he threw away his knees. Now he will never feel again how slim Girls' waists are, or how warm their subtle hands, All of them touch him like some queer disease. There was an artist silly for his face, For it was younger than his youth, last year. Now, he is old; his back will never brace; He's lost his colour very far from here, Poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry, And half his lifetime lapsed in the hot race And leap of purple spurted from his thigh. One time he liked a blood-smear down his leg, After the matches carried shoulder-high. It was after football, when he'd drunk a peg, He thought he'd better join. He wonders why. Someone had said he'd look a god in kilts. That's why; and maybe, too, to please his Meg, Aye, that was it, to please the giddy jilts, He asked to join. He didn't have to beg; Smiling they wrote his lie: aged nineteen years. Germans he scarcely thought of, all their guilt, And Austria's, did not move him. And no fears Of Fear came yet. He thought of jewelled hilts For daggers in plaid socks; of smart salutes; And care of arms; and leave; and pay arrears; Esprit de corps; and hints for young recruits. And soon, he was drafted out with drums and cheers. Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer Goal. Only a solemn man who brought him fruits Thanked him; and then inquired about his soul. Now, he will spend a few sick years in institutes, And do what things the rules consider wise, And take whatever pity they may dole. Tonight he noticed how the women's eyes Passed from him to the strong men that were whole. How cold and late it is! Why don't they come And put him into bed? Why don't they come? Poem gives an account of the aftermath of war. The man in the poem has survived and come home from war but at huge cost. He sits ‘in a wheeled chair’ wearing a ‘ghastly suit of grey’ and is completely helpless. We are told that his suit is ‘legless, sewn short at elbow’, which gives a clear image of the horrific injuries he has suffered He remembers in the past ‘before he threw away his knees’, how he used to be full of life and sociable. He acknowledges sadly that he ‘will never feel again how slim girls waists are’. Now, due to his disability, they all avoid him and ‘touch him like some queer disease’. He used to be sporty and strong and fit, now he feels old and weak. He enlisted after a football match when ‘he’d drunk a peg’. He didn’t think about the consequences of his decision but joined the army to impress girls. The recruiters knew that he wasn’t old enough but didn’t question it. ‘Smiling they wrote his lie, aged nineteen years’. He left with ‘drums and cheers’, support and encouragement; but ‘nobody cheered him home’. Now he is dependent on the care staff in the institutes for everything The poem ends with the very sad image of the young man, sitting waiting for the staff to bring him inside and put him to bed. ‘How cold and late it is! Why don’t they come and put him to bed?’ His life has changed completely as a result of the war and the effects of it will always be with him. (Love Poem:) The Thickness of Ice – Liz Loxley At first we will meet as friends (Though secretly I'll be hoping We'll become much more & hoping that you're hoping too) At first we'll be like skaters Testing the thickness of ice (With each meeting We'll skate nearer the centre of the lake) Later we will become less anxious to impress, Less eager than the skater going for gold ( The triple jumps & spins will become an old routine: We will be content with simple movements) Later we will not notice the steady thaw, The creeping cracks will be ignored, (& one day when the ice gives way We will scramble to save ourselves & not each other). Last of all, we'll meet as acquaintances, ( though secretly we will be enemies, Hurt by missing out on a medal, Jealous of new partners). Last of all we'll be like children Having learnt the thinness of ice, (Though secretly, perhaps, we may be hoping To break the ice between us & maybe meet again as friends). • • • • This poem is about a relationship from start to finish. The poet uses the metaphors and similes of ice to describe the different stages a couple goes through in a relationship. Stanza 1: The meeting and attraction is outlined ‘secretly I’ll be hoping we’ll become much more’, than friends. Stanza 1: The meeting and attraction is outlined ‘secretly I’ll be hoping we’ll become much more’, than friends. • • • • • • Stanza 2: In the early days both partners will be cautious and careful as they get to know each other - ‘like skaters testing the thickness of ice’. Stanza 3: After the initial stage of showing off and trying ‘to impress’ with ‘triple jumps and spins’ wears off the couple will become more comfortable with each other and ‘will be content with simple movements.’ Stanza 4: Later the couple will begin to argue and the relationship will begin to break down. ‘The steady thaw, The creeping cracks’. Eventually the ‘ice gives way’ and the relationship will fall apart and each person will ‘scramble to save ourselves and not each other’. Stanza 5: After separating they will meet up ‘as acquaintances’ and will try to be civil and polite though each will be hurting and ‘jealous of new partners’. Stanza 6: Finally after enough time has passed and the hurt has eased the speaker hopes they will ‘meet again as friends’ and will be able ‘to break the ice’ between them. (Nature/ Animals/ Longing) The Wild Swans at Coole WB Yeats The trees are in their autumn beauty, The woodland paths are dry, Under the October twilight the water Mirrors a still sky; Upon the brimming water among the stones Are nine-and-fifty swans. The nineteenth autumn has come upon me Since I first made my count; I saw, before I had well finished, All suddenly mount And scatter wheeling in great broken rings Upon their clamorous wings. I have looked upon those brilliant creatures, And now my heart is sore. All's changed since I, hearing at twilight, The first time on this shore, The bell-beat of their wings above my head, Trod with a lighter tread. Unwearied still, lover by lover, They paddle in the cold Companionable streams or climb the air; Their hearts have not grown old; Passion or conquest, wander where they will, Attend upon them still. But now they drift on the still water, Mysterious, beautiful; Among what rushes will they build, By what lake's edge or pool Delight men's eyes when I awake some day To find they have flown away. •Opening – setting is beautiful autumnal scene. Yeats is visiting Lady Gregory’s estate in Coole Park and the scene is peaceful and serene. •Yeats is 51 years old – in the autumn of his life. •He sees 59 swans – the odd number calls to mind his own loneliness as swans mate for life. One swan is alone. • It has been 19 years since he first saw the swans – then he was happier and he ‘trod with a lighter thread’. • He becomes sad and depressed as he observes the strength and beauty of the swans – ‘brilliant creatures’. • He envies that they have not become weighed down and weary by all the disappointments • and troubles that he himself has suffered – ‘their hearts have not grown old’. • He also envies the swans for their constant love, faithfulness and companionship -‘unwearied still, lover by lover’. • The poem ends on a pessimistic note as he fears that one day he will arrive to find that – ‘they have all flown away’. •He fears that the swans will also desert him. •The tone throughout the poem ranges from sadness to depression, from envy to pessimism. (Nature/ longing) The Lake Isle of Innisfree BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS I will arise and go now, and go to Innishree And a small cabin build there of clay and wattles made; Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee, And live alone in the bee- loud glade. And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings; There midnight;s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow, And evenings full of linnets wings. I will arise and go now, for always night and day I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey I hear it in the deep heart’s core. Yeats was working in London when he wrote this poem but his heart was at home in Ireland. He dreams of living alone in Innisfree in his quest for contentment and wisdom. He is looking for paradise and dreams of building a simple traditional cabin. He wishes to be self-sufficient and life off nature – ‘nine beans rows…and a hive for the honey bee’. His main desire is to escape and live in a clearing in the woods with the harmonious sounds of nature – ‘cricket sings…evenings full of linnets wings’. He is searching for inner peace and wants to feels at one with nature, a place to cast off the complications of modern life. Stanza three reiterates the poets desire to ‘arise and go now’. Yeats is haunted by the allure of Innisfree. ‘Always night and day’ he hears ‘lake water lapping’ gently against the shore, calling him home. He wishes to leave the cold impersonal city ‘pavements grey’, and live in harmony with nature on Innisfree. (Memories of Childhood) Back in the Playground Blues by Adrian Mitchell Dreamed I was back in the playground, I was standing about four feet high Yes dreamed I was back in the playground, standing about four feet high. The playground was three miles long and the playground was five miles wide. It was broken black tarmac with a high fence all around. Broken, black, dusty tarmac with a high fence running all around. And it had a special name for it they called it the Killing Ground. Got a mother and a father, they’re a thousand miles away. The rulers of the Killing Ground are coming out to play. Everything thinking, ‘Who they gonna play with today?’ You get it for being Jewish, Get it for being black, Get it for being chicken Get it for fighting back. You get it for being big and fat Get it for being small Oh those who get it, get it and get it For any damn thing at all. Sometimes they take a beetle and tear off its six legs one by one. Beetle on its black back, rocking in the lunchtime sun. But a beetle can’t beg for mercy, a beetle’s not half the fun. Heard a deep voice talking, it had that iceberg sound ‘It prepares them for life’, but I have never found Any place in my life that’s worse than the Killing Ground. • The theme of this poem is the long lasting effects of bullying. • The speaker is having nightmares about his time in primary school. • He ‘dreamed he was back in the playground’ and grossly exaggerates the size of it. ‘Three miles long and five miles wide.’ • This tells us that he felt so small and vulnerable and there was no escape from his torture. • His description of the playground makes it sound like a prison. ‘Broken black tarmac with a high fence all around.’ • He calls it the ‘Killing Ground’ which suggests just how awful it was. • His parents cant help him, they might as well be ‘a thousand miles away’. • The bullies are the ‘Rulers of the Killing Ground’ and pick on any student for any or no reason at all. • The bullies are described as being cruel – torturing beetles but the ‘beetle cant beg for mercy’. They prefer to pick on other children. • The speaker remembers telling an unsympathetic adult (teacher) but they did not help. • Instead they said ‘It prepares them for life’ – makes them toughen up. • However the poet has never in his life experienced any place ‘worse than the Killing Ground.’ (Humour) Let Me Die A Youngman's Death by Roger McGough Let me die a youngman's death not a clean and inbetween the sheets holywater death not a famous-last-words peaceful out of breath death When I'm 73 and in constant good tumour may I be mown down at dawn by a bright red sports car on my way home from an allnight party Or when I'm 91 with silver hair and sitting in a barber's chair may rival gangsters with hamfisted tommyguns burst in and give me a short back and insides Or when I'm 104 and banned from the Cavern may my mistress catching me in bed with her daughter and fearing for her son cut me up into little pieces and throw away every piece but one Let me die a youngman's death not a free from sin tiptoe in candle wax and waning death not a curtains drawn by angels borne 'what a nice way to go' death This poem is a witty look at mortality. The speaker wants to live to old age and has very definite ideas about the way he wants to die. A young man's life is frequently associated with adventure/excitement - according to the poem. A young man's death is described as colourful, interesting or unusual. The speaker doesn't want a safe, predictable, prepared for death: ‘holywater death', and claims he wants to be gunned down, mown over by a sports car or chopped into little pieces by a jealous lover. The tone of the poem is flippant - lacking in seriousness and upbeat – black humour. Exaggeration contributes to a sense of humour – laughs at life rather than with it - the older the speaker, the more improbable the imagined death. Above all he insists there should be nothing sacred about his demise. He doesn't want people to say “What a nice way to go’, but instead to make a splash on the way out. (Youth) Fifteen William Stafford South of the Bridge on Seventeenth I found back of the willows one summer day a motorcycle with engine running as it lay on its side, ticking over 5 slowly in the high grass. I was fifteen. I admired all that pulsing gleam, the shiny flanks, the demure headlights fringed where it lay; I led it gently to the road and stood with that companion, ready and friendly. I was fifteen. We could find the end of a road, meet the sky on out Seventeenth. I thought about hills, and patting the handle got back a confident opinion. On the bridge we indulged 15 a forward feeling, a tremble. I was fifteen. Thinking, back farther in the grass I found the owner, just coming to, where he had flipped over the rail. He had blood on his hand, was pale— I helped him walk to his machine. He ran his hand 20 over it, called me a good man, roared away. I stood there, fifteen. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Poem tells the vivid memory of when aged 15 the poet found a motorcycle with the engine still running lying in the grass beside a bridge. It is clear that the speaker is in awe of the machine and admires it greatly. He personifies it giving the impression of a wounded, wild animal. ‘It lay on its side, ticking over’ - we get the image of an animal lying in the grass panting heavily. He observes all the motorcycle's details sharply; ‘the pulsing gleam, the shiny flanks, the demure headlights’. He treats the machine ‘gently’ as he brings it to the roadside where he can admire it further. The repetition ‘I was fifteen’ serves to remind us that he is not quite old enough to drive but he wishes he was. On the road, he imagines what it would be like to ‘meet the sky’. He longs to take it for a ride and feels encouraged by the machine.‘We indulged a forward feeling, a tremble.’ Eventually he remembers that the bike must have an owner. He searches and finds him ‘just coming to.. blood on his hand’. He ‘helped him walk to his machine’. The man thanks the boy and ‘called me good man’ and ‘roared away’, leaving the poet standing, looking after him. ‘I stood there, fifteen’. (Family/ Grief) Midterm Break by Seamus Heaney I sat all morning in the college sick bay Counting bells knelling classes to a close. At two o’clock our neighbors drove me home. In the porch I met my father crying– He had always taken funerals in his stride– And Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow. The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram When I came in, and I was embarrassed By old men standing up to shake my hand And tell me they were “sorry for my trouble,” Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest, Away at school, as my mother held my hand In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs. At ten o’clock the ambulance arrived With the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses. Next morning I went up into the room. Snowdrops And candles soothed the bedside; I saw him For the first time in six weeks. Paler now, Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple, He lay in the four foot box as in his cot. No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear. A four foot box, a foot for every year. The poem gives an autobiographical account of the death of Heaqney’s younger brother as the poet was away in boarding school. He remembers every detail vividly as he ‘sat all morning in the college sick bay, counting bells..’ The neighbours brought him home where he was shocked at the sight of his ‘father crying’. This was a completely new and uncomfortable experience for the boy as his father ‘had always taken funerals in his stride.’ He feels uncomfortable with ‘old men standing up to shake my hand’ and strangers whispering about him. His mother appears to be in shock and clings onto him. The baby is too young to understand what has happened and is loving the attention of all the sympathisers. ‘The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram’. The baby is symbolic, that even following this terrible tragedy, life must go on. The poet recalls going into his brother's room the next morning and seeing him for the ‘first time in six weeks’. There is an air of peace with the ‘snowdrops and candles’ and his brother almost appears to be sleeping. ‘no gaudy scars’. The saddest line in the poem is the last one ‘A four foot box, a foot for every year’. We are reminded of the tragic loss of a child whose whole life should have been ahead of him.
