English poems

English poems

1. London

   • William Blake
     • Writing about the conditions that people who lived in London faced.
       • Written in 1794
     • Was a poet and artist who specilised in illuminated texts, often a religious nature. He rejected established religion for various reasons. One was the falure of the established church to help children in London who were forced to work.
     • He used to live in London so when he says 'I' it is refering to him.
   • Charter'd Thames
     • This shows the way in which every aspect of life in london is owned even the river. Also shows the symbol of freedom and power of nature.
       • contrast between power of nature and power of man
     • the second use of this word can be see as a satirical attack on the obessesion with property rights and human power and having control
       • ironic as the river cannot really be controlled by people
   • The First paragraph: means ' I walk through the streets of London and every face that I meet shows signs of weakness and woe'
   • Second paragraph: means ' every sound I hear in every voice I realise the people are trapped 9 mentally and physically)
     • Focus on the people that are suffering.
   • Poem is full of negative words.
   • Third Paragraph: 'the distress of the people ruins this place'
     • EXplores the causes of the suffering.
   • Fourth paragrapgh: ' what i hear mostly through the night is young prostitues swearing' ruins the innocece of newly born babies. Makes something that should be good bad.
     • Focus of the people who are suffering.
   • Structure
     • Repetetive Rhyme scheme is A,B,A,B
     • Repetetive structure , written in Quatrains which is 4 lines in each stanza.
       • Repetetivness of rhyme scheme and structue represents the repetetive overwhelming suffering.
     • Repetition of the words. 'Charter'd'
     • From relating the last stanza to the first two it shows repetetivness and a cyclical structure.
       • This represents the people and when they just think its the end they are where they started again.
     • Each line contains 8 sylabuls
       • Except for ' marks of weakness, marks of woe' it contains 7 sylabuls. The weak sylabul count shows the weakness of the people in London.
   • Language
     • 'and mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe'
       • repitition of the work 'mark' shows the importance of it
       • the changing meaning of the word mark could represent the writers fustration at the changing nature of london
     • the repitition of the word ,every in stanza 3
     • 'mind forged manacles'
       • viewed with horror at the time as they where used on criminals
       • metaphorical handcuffs- no freedom

2. The Prelude

   • William Wordsworth
     • Troubled relationships with parents and relatives. Both parents died by the time he reached his early teens. He embraced nature due to his sever depression and was an early supporter of the French Revolution.
       • He is a romantic poet,
       • Was written to present Williams past. Explore nature and wider society and importance.
     • Autobiographical poem. The Prelude is the first part of an intended three part 'epic poem'. He never finished the poem. The prelude is almost 400 pages long.
       • Began writing it in 1798 worked on it until his death in 1850 the poem was published 3 years later by his wife.
         • he describes the poem as views on man, nature and society
       • an epic poem is full of heroic actions
         • nature personified is the hero in this poem
     • treated so badly he considered commiting suicide
   • Language
     • '(her)' is the personification of nature
     • poem reflects childlike wordsworth aswell an adult. Nature took him there.
     • enjambment. Overpowering erge to communicate with audience and the continuation and overflow of the enjambment is like the one long verse.
     • contrast as there is lightness such as 'blaz'd' and 'happy time' which is contrasted with the darkness of the twighlight and gloom of the lake
       • enjambment as he shows how happy he is with 'happy time' and showing its all about him. the pause after 'happy time' emphasises his enjoyment
         • the pause can represent him setting himself apart from the other children - noticed something that maybe they havent
     • supernatural element - the description of the power of nature
     • language is ordinary and everyday
       • 'bellowing' 'tinkled' 'resounding' represent sounds that show life and energy, realistic. imagery
     • 'wheel'd', 'shod', 'hiss'd' 'flew' all represent types of movement which show that it is really lively nothing is static - lots of action.
     • onomatopeia/ silbilance reflects energy/ enjoyment of scene
   • Structure
     • The poem no rhyme scheme. written in iambic pentameter(lines of10 syllables with alternating stressed and unstressed syllables.
       • Philosophical poems written in blank verse
     • written in one long verse. Reader will be left overwhelmed by the lack of pauses and verses. Reader will also empathise.
       • reflects how wordsworth was overwhelmed by nature
       • helps the reader understand the emotions
   • genre of the poem is Romanticism
   • 'the ice-skating episode'
     • contrasts the 'boat stealing episode' as in the boat stealing episode he is seen as afraid of nature but in the ice skating episode its much more gentle refllection
   • nature
     • looks at humans as animals uses synoms to compare the children on the ice to animals
       • 'horse' 'hare'
     • humans are joint with nature
     • emotions revealed through nature
     • natures own personality

3. The Soldier

   • first stanza
     • ' If i should die' creates a negative image
     • 'A body of Englands' represents the soldier belonging to England and if you kill a soilder you are killing a part of england
   • structure
     • in the first stanza the rhythm is AB AB however this then changes during stanza two which is then ABC ABC
       • This could represent how the war changes people in this case 'the soldier'
   • second stanza
     • 'All evil shed away' shows that evil is overpowered
       • love and pride is stronger than evil

4. Living space

   • structure
     • all the stanzas are different lenghths

5. To Autumn

   • images of growth/richness/weight
     • 'load' 'bend' 'plump' 'fill'.
       • get a sense of how rich autum is and the harvest they well have
     • weight/richness everywhere. From core to explosion of growth
       • 'bees' 'fill' 'apples' 'cottage' 'clammy' the writer has used words containing double consonants as it creates a soothing tone
         • allow the reader to pause on certain words makes the reader feel comftable get the impression of the beauty of the season
   • personification- harmony between seasons idea of autum conspiring with the sun
   • cyclical- summer needs the nuts and seeds it produces
     • third stanza shows contast between seasons but shows the beauty in each one
       • the idea of the river moving and the light wind represents movement and sleepy, relaxed energy
       • as if season is coming to a close
   • second stanza can be represented as the harvisting stanza
     • personification as autum is often reffered to as a women
       • idea of hair being soft
       • asking autum rhetorical questions
     • idea of being relaxed all the hard work is over
       • sleepy and drowsy
   • ABAB CDEDCCE rhyme pattern
     • iamic pentameter first four lines set up theme of stanza, seven subsequent lines elaborate