This exam will ask you to make links between poems - here are some based on themes.
Power
Ozymandias
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The River God
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•
About a ruined statue of a powerful ruler who
controlled over an ancient kingdom
•
His “sneer of cold command” suggests he was a cruel leader
•
He is arrogant “King of kings”
•
However human power is significant compared to the effects of time
•
Time can destroy whole civilisations and human achievements
|
•
The River God is dangerous and strong.
•
He has the power to “drown the fools” who swim in him.
•
He is proud of the power he has over people especially beautiful
women.
•
He uses his power recklessly
|
Power
to Control
My Last Duchess
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Medusa
|
•
The Duke wanted to control his wife's behaviour
•
He was jealous because he
thought she flirted with other men- possessive
•
He says he “gave commands” which suggests he is responsible for her
death
•
He keeps the portrait to keep control over her
|
•
The narrator imagines that she has supernatural powers to kill her
husband just by looking at him
•
Her transformation gives her the power to get revenge
•
However she wants reassurance that she is still “beautiful” and
“fragrant” from her husband- this shows he has the emotional power
|
Powerless
Give
|
The Hunchback in the Park
|
•
At first the narrator suggests they have control over their life
because they have “chosen” to sleep in the doorway
•
By the end of the poem the narrator admits they are powerless.
•
They are on their knees to “beg for help”
•
It is society who has more power – bringing him tea, giving him money
|
•
The character in this poem is homeless and therefore has a lower
status
•
The hunchback is lonely and solitary and separated from society ,
compared to a dog “slept at night in a dog kennel”
•
De-humanised by society
|
Death
– Grief and Loss
On Portrait of a Deaf Man
|
Brendon Gallacher
|
•
The narrator is grieving and trying to come to terms with the death of
his father
•
This poem is a tribute to the man he was
•
Sadness is mixed with bitterness and the physical reality of the body
decaying
•
He has suffered a loss of faith
|
•
The narrator looks back to the grief she felt when her imaginary
friend stopped existing
•
Her mum reveals he didn’t exist and the narrator says “he died then”
•
This suggests that she never excepted he wasn’t real
|
Damage
The Hunchback in the Park
|
Casehistory: Allison (head injury)
|
•
The hunchback is affected by his physical disability
•
The physical mark of his hunchback emphasises that he’s a “solitary
mister” who is different from the rest of society
•
He imagines a “woman figure without fault” who has the physical
strength that he lacks
|
•
Alison is physically injured- she has a head injury and a “damaged
brain”
•
She views herself as a “broken” version of her former self
•
Her injuries have caused memory loss
•
Her damaged mind keeps forgetting that her father has died so she has
to relive her grief
|
Moral
Damage – Reputation
The Ruined Maid
|
Horse Whisperer
|
•
Melia is morally “ruined” because she’s become a prostitute in order
to escape her life of poverty
•
Being ruined is presented as ambiguous because of the material wealth
she has gained
•
However her riches are an illusion which hide the reality that she is
now morally damaged
|
•
The horse whisperer’s reputation is damaged when villagers begin to
associate the trade with witchcraft
•
The narrator is compared to a “demon and witch” and is driven out with
“pitchforks”
|
Relationships
– Loving
Brendan Gallacher
|
Singh Song!
|
•
The narrator looks back on the relationship with her imaginary friend
•
The relationship was innocent
•
Brendon is the opposite of the narrator in many ways and interests her
because his life is so different and dramatic
|
•
The narrator is in love with his new bride, so much so that he
neglects his work
•
Their relationship is playful and loving “like vee rowing through
Putney”
•
The image of his wife is playful, attractive and independent
|
Relationships
– Breakdown
Les Grand Seigneurs
|
Medusa
|
•
Marriage is not all the narrator imagined
•
She looked back to her past relationship in which men were the
protectors and she was the “queen” or the “damsel” who needed rescuing
•
The romance has faded and her role has changed, she is now a trivial
“toy”
•
She has become a stereotypical wife, a “little woman”
|
•
The narrator is consumed by jealousy because she suspects her husband
has been unfaithful
•
Despite this, she still loves him, comparing him to a “Greek God”
•
She is vulnerable and wants him to love her
|
Pride
– Arrogance
The Clown Punk
|
The River God
|
•
The punk is covered in tattoos which suggests he is proud of identity
•
He’s described as “daubed” which suggests the images have been
clumsily painted on, but he’s adopted them as part of his identity
|
•
The River God is proud of his powerful strength
•
He arrogantly treats others as playthings
•
He’s possessive and doesn’t want to share the beautiful women with
anyone
•
The repetition of “My” in the poem suggests he is proud to possess
such beauty
|
Lack
of Pride
Give
|
The Hunchback in the Park
|
•
The homeless narrator initially seems proud, sleeping “under the
stars” sounds quite exotic
•
The repetition of “chosen” suggests he has made choices to live this
way
•
However towards the end of the poem there is a sense of desperation
•
“I’m on my knees” shows begging and a lack of pride
|
•
The Hunchback has withdrawn from the rest of society which suggests a
lack of confidence
•
He’s mocked by the truant boys, this shows how little respect people
have for him
•
He is associated with animals- not valued as a human being
|
Identity
Singh Song!
|
Checking Out Me History
|
•
The narrator’s wife shows that people can embrace two cultures
•
She wears “high heels” and a “Tartan Sari” – mixture of tradition and
British culture
•
The language is a combination of English and Indian influences
•
Dialect shows how both cultures have been adopted
|
•
The narrator knows a lot about white history but little about his own
black heritage
•
His education has left him blind because he cannot connect to where he
is from
•
The narrator’s Caribbean Creole is written phonetically to show the
link between culture and identity
|
Negative
Emotions – Bitterness and Anger
Give
|
Checking Out Me History
|
•
The narrator feels angry about the insufficient help he receives as a
homeless person
•
His bitterness is expressed through the sarcastic tone such as “dear”
and “That’s big of you”
•
He angrily belittles the offer of tea as insufficient to his needs
|
•
The narrator is angry at the education system which failed to teach
him about black history
•
His bitterness is emphasised by the accusatory tone “Dem tell me/Wha
dem want to tell me”.
•
He feels as though his history has been kept from him
|
Decay
On a Portrait of a Deaf Man
|
Ozymandias
|
•
The narrator cannot stop thinking about his fathers body decaying in the ground
•
He uses vivid images like the “maggots in his eyes”
•
The decay is horrifying
•
The narrators faith in God declines and he can see only decay in the
world
|
•
The ruined statue is a symbol of the powerful effects of time “of that
colossal wreck”
•
The image is ironic because time destroys all human achievements and
makes them seem insignificant
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