Writing About Poetry Poetry captures our mood, conveys feelings and communicates a message by using rhythm and sound. Poets use various literary techniques to convey the sense or meaning of a poem. Techniques are: Selection of speaker Sound Imagery Figurative language. There is a connection between the techniques of the poem and its meaning. 1

Writing About Poetry Concepts to remember Speaker: It can be the poet himself, or a character, a thing. Sound: Alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, rhyme, rhythm.. Images: Appeal to one or more of the senses. Figurative language: Metaphor, simile, personification 2

Writing About Poetry Definitions of Concepts Sound Alliteration: A poetic or literary effect achieved by using several words that begin with the same or similar consonants, as in "Whither wilt thou wander, wayfarer?“ Assonance: The similarity of two or more vowel sounds or the repetition of two or more consonant sounds. Onomatopoeia: The formation or use of words that imitate the sound associated with something, e.g. "hiss" and "buzz“. Rhyme: A similarity in the sound of word endings, especially in poetry Rhythm: in poetry, the pattern formed by stressed and unstressed syllables 3

Writing About Poetry Definitions of Concepts Figurative language Metaphor: the use to describe somebody or something of a word or phrase that is not meant literally but by means of a vivid comparison expresses something about him, her, or it, e.g. saying that somebody is a snake Simile: A figure of speech that draws a comparison between two different things, especially a phrase containing the word "like" or "as," e.g. "as white as a sheet" Personification: The attribution of human qualities to objects or abstract notions, e.g. “This City now doth like a garment wear”. 4

writing About Poetry Typical essay questions When you are asked to write about poetry, you are often answering an assignment like the following: What is the meaning of the poem? What techniques used by the poet to reveal meaning? Techniques include the selection of the speaker, sound devices, imagery and the use of figurative language. 5

ENGLAND IN 1819 Percy Bysshe Shelley An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king,-- a Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow b Through public scorn, mud from a muddy spring,-- a Rulers who neither see, nor feel, nor know, b But leech-like to their fainting country cling, a Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow,-- b A people starved and stabbed in the untilled field,-- c An army which liberticide and prey d Makes as a two-edged sword to all who wield,-- c Golden and sanguine laws which tempt and slay; d Religion Christless, Godless, a book sealed,-- c A Senate--Time's worst statute unrepealed,-- c Are graves from which a glorious Phantom may d Burst to illumine our tempestuous day. d 6

writing About Poetry England in 1819, P. B. Shelley Selection of speaker SoundImageryFigurative language The poet himselfRhythm: iambic pentameter Rhyme: abababcdcdccdd Alliteration: blind in blood, without a blow Sound contributes to angry mood Images paint a grim, pathetic picture “leech- like to their fainting country cling” Simile: “leech- like” Personification: “fainting country” Metaphor: “mud from a muddy spring” 7

ENGLAND IN 1819 Percy Bysshe Shelley England in 1819" is a sonnet (14 lines) Liberal ideals of its poet P.B. Shelley Composed in 1819, but not published until Iambic pentameter (5 beat poetic lines) Angry tone, uncompromising vocabulary: mad, despised, dregs, scorn.. Last couplet: change of tone, reminiscent of Gogol’s The Overcoat King, princes, army, religion, the senate are all tombs from which a resurrection will spring to supplant the existing corrupted regime. 8

ENGLAND IN 1819 Percy Bysshe Shelley Cross reference from Gogol’s The Overcoat : “And, in fact, one watchman in Kolomna saw with his own eyes the apparition come from behind a house; but being rather weak of body… He dared not arrest him, but followed him in the dark, until, at length, the apparition looked round, paused, and inquired, “What do you want?” and showed such a fist as you never see on living men. The watchman said, “It’s of no consequence,” and turned back instantly. But the apparition was much too tall, wore huge mustaches, and, directing its steps apparently towards the Obukhoff Bridge, disappeared in the darkness of the night.” 9

ENGLAND IN 1819 Percy Bysshe Shelley The poem passionately attacks England's decadent, oppressive ruling class. King George III is "old, mad, blind, despised, and dying." The "leech-like" nobility ("princes") metaphorically suck the blood from the people, who are oppressed, hungry, and hopeless, their fields untilled. Meanwhile, the army is corrupt and dangerous to liberty, the laws are harsh and useless, religion has lost its morality, and Parliament (the "Senate") is a relic ("Time's worst statute unrepealed"). In a startling burst of optimism, the last two lines express the hope that a "glorious Phantom" may spring from this decay and "illumine our tempestuous day." 10

Upon Westminster Bridge William Wordsworth EARTH has not anything to show more fair: Dull would he be of soul who could pass by A sight so touching in its majesty: This City now doth like a garment wear The beauty of the morning; silent, bare, Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie Open unto the fields, and to the sky; All bright and glittering in the smokeless air. Never did sun more beautifully steep In his first splendour valley, rock, or hill; Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep! The river glideth at his own sweet will: Dear God! the very houses seem asleep; And all that mighty heart is lying still! Octet Sestet 11

Upon Westminster Bridge William Wordsworth praises Westminster bridge through different angles using his surroundings, accumulating every element of minor beauty extending them with some exaggeration, eg: "never did the sun more beautifully steep“, or "This City now doth like a garment wear”. Note the use of personification and simile: " The river glideth at his own sweet will:". 12

London by William Blake I wandered through each chartered street, Near where the chartered Thames does flow, And mark in every face I meet, Marks of weakness, marks of woe. In every cry of every man, In every infant's cry of fear, In every voice, in every ban, The mind-forged manacles I hear: How the chimney-sweeper's cry Every blackening church appals, And the hapless soldier's sigh Runs in blood down palace-walls. But most, through midnight streets I hear How the youthful harlot's curse Blasts the new-born infant's tear, And blights with plagues the marriage-hearse. abcdcdcdefefghghabcdcdcdefefghgh (Oxymoron) 13

London Blake’s“London”:difficult and hard life The streets and the Thames are very dirty. The poor people suffer hopelessly. Poverty prevails. Dark, dull and tiring atmosphere. Whereas ‘Wordsworth’s “Upon Westminster’s Bridge”: the tone is positive, calm and romantic. The poet is overcome by the beauty of the view from Westminster’s Bridge. 14

London The main ideas in ‘London’ that Blake is trying to put across are that London is a horrible, grotty place. He also suggests that the people in London live in fear and misery. For example ‘every cry of every man’. This suggests that everyone is upset and as a result of this they are crying and also the repetition of ‘every’ emphasises everyone of London. 15

The Chimney Sweeper When my mother died I was very young, And my father sold me while yet my tongue Could scarcely cry "Weep! weep! weep! weep!" So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep. There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head, That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved; so I said, "Hush, Tom! never mind it, for, when your head's bare, You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair." And so he was quiet, and that very night, As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight! -- That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack, Were all of them locked up in coffins of black. 16

The Chimney Sweeper And by came an angel, who had a bright key, And he opened the coffins, and let them all free; Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing, they run, And wash in a river, and shine in the sun. Then naked and white, all their bags left behind, They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind; And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy, He'd have God for his father, and never want joy. And so Tom awoke, and we rose in the dark, And got with our bags and our brushes to work. Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm: So, if all do their duty, they need not fear harm. 17

The Chimney Sweeper Blake chooses to employ a narrator who is of a more experienced mind, somehow aware of the deception and false hope that is being fed to Little Tom Dacre by the angel of the poem. "if all do their duty, they need not fear harm", reflects Blake's bitter indignation at the church's willingness to collude with other forms of tyranny to bring about the dire consequence of children being made victim to their own innocence. 18

The Chimney Sweeper One of the appealing points of The Chimney Sweeper is that it contains many universal themes that a wide audience can relate to. These are youth and inherent innocence, death, freedom and religion. To adequately portray these themes, Blake utilizes many literary techniques. Illustrate 19