The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost
In ‘The Road Not Taken,’ how does the poet present ideas about the importance of making decisions?
[24 marks]
In ‘The Road Not Taken’, Robert Frost writes about considering a decision between two paths and feeling uncertain. He starts the poem with the words ‘Two roads diverged’ and this phrase is repeated in the last stanza as well as the first. The repetition reinforces the importance of the metaphor of roads diverging for making important life choices. Frost suggests he may not have the opportunity to take the other road: ‘I doubted if I should ever come back’: he just has once chance to make his choice. The repetition of ‘I’ nine times throughout the poem suggests that everyone has to make their own life decisions. There is no other pronoun in the poem such as ‘you’ or ‘we’, which implies that ultimately, we make our choices individually and alone. The phrase ‘one traveller’ adds to the atmosphere of solitude in the poem. This isn’t a poem about connection or relationships with others, but about travelling through life and making up our own minds about where to go.
Frost feels sad about the loss of the chance to take the other road, but happy about choosing a road that fewer people choose. He writes, ‘sorry I could not travel both.’ The word ‘sorry’ and later the phrase ‘with a sigh’ imply that he feels regret for not being able to explore both routes. This underlines the idea that when we make choices in life, we cannot go back in time and change our minds about them, so we cut off options when we make decisions. However, Frost feels happy about the choice of road he took: ‘I took the road less travelled by’. He says in the last line: ‘that has made all the difference.’ The placement of this as the final phrase of the poem emphasises that he is content with his decision. The poem is an extended metaphor for the idea that we cannot take all the possibilities before us, and that in choosing our paths we must cut off other paths. Frost seems to think that choosing roads that are ‘less travelled’ make a difference to our lives. Perhaps this could even be about becoming a poet, which few people decide to do.
Frost’s form is structured and regular to show that choices are a universal part of human existence. Frost chooses to use four regular five-line stanzas with a regular ABAAB rhyme scheme that doesn’t change. This repetitive structure shows the repeated choices between different paths that we encounter in life. The rhyming words ‘wood’ and ‘long I stood’ juxtapose nature and an individual making up his mind about the next step in his journey. Frost suggests that it is important to make decisions ourselves if we are to look back on life happily ‘ages and ages’ later. The use of repetition reinforces that though the end of our lives are far away, we should make choices by thinking of how to reduce regrets. Frost also uses repetition in the words ‘way leads on to way.’ This repetition emphasises that we are all confronted with choices again and again throughout our lives.
One Art
The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.
Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
Then practice* losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.
I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.
– Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.
Elizabeth Bishop
*practice – Please note the American spelling. English spelling: practise
In ‘One Art,’ how does the speaker convey their feelings about the subject of loss?
[24 marks]
In ‘One Art’ Elizabeth Bishop presents loss as an important part of life, and something that we must learn to accept, and even try to ‘master’ in order to cope. Bishop gives the poem the title ‘One Art’, which could be suggesting that learning to accept loss is the ‘one’ most important thing we can learn to do in our lives. By referring to it as an ‘art’, Bishop implies that it’s not an easy thing to do. This message is reiterated further when Bishop’s speaker commands the reader to deliberately try to ‘lose something’, to ‘accept the fluster’ and to ‘practice losing farther, losing faster’. The implication of these commands is that we can become better at accepting loss if we embrace the challenge and prepare ourselves to do so.
Bishop creates a light-hearted atmosphere to suggest that loss is not something terrible that we cannot overcome. Her use of personification in the words ‘many things seemed filled with the intent to be lost’ suggest that the lost items are like a curious child, trying to hide away from you, deliberately not wanting to be found. The light-hearted atmosphere is added to by Bishop’s use of exclamation marks in the words ‘Look!’ and ‘Write it!’, which create a conversational tone and make the speaker sound cheerful. Bishop’s repetition of the phrase ‘the art of losing isn’t hard to master’ emphasises the light-hearted message by suggesting that, although accepting loss is an ‘art’ because it takes work and practice, it ‘isn’t hard to master’ if we allow ourselves to recognise that this is just a natural part of life.
Bishop uses imagery to explore the range of things that a person can lose in their life. Early in the poem, the speaker creates images of simple things they have lost, such as a ‘watch’ and ‘lost door keys’ and invites the reader to just ‘accept the fluster’ and the ‘hour badly spent’, creating a vivid image of someone in a fluster, desperately trying to find their keys. As the poem, continues, the images of things lost become much more significant, with the speaker referring to ‘places, and names, and where it was you meant to travel’, which creates a more troubling image of someone who has forgotten where it is they meant to be walking to. In the final stanza, it is clear that Bishop is referring to the loss of something much more difficult: a loved one whose ‘joking voice’ and ‘gesture I love’ are difficult to forget. The image here is of the facial expression and voice of someone that the speaker was very close to. Bishop therefore explores the range of simple and much more meaningful things that we can lose or forget in our lives. However, her repetition of the word ‘disaster’ several times in the poem in the words ‘it wasn’t a disaster’ and ‘no disaster’ suggest that, even losing important things such as places we’ve lived in, or people we loved, will never be too difficult to overcome.
Bishop’s poem is both structured and unstructured at the same time. Bishop uses rhyme to emphasise particular words in the poem. Words such as ‘disaster’ and ‘master’ are often repeated at the end of lines, rhyming with other words that have this sound. This draws attention to these particular words and the key ideas of the poem: that losing things is not a ‘disaster’ and that we must ‘master’ the art of losing as this is an important part of life. Bishop uses regular stanza lengths, with all but the last stanza consisting of three lines. The last stanza could be longer because Bishop pauses here to reflect on the loss of a loved one - the hardest loss to manage. She combines the regular stanza length with enjambment throughout the poem. The combination of these elements could suggest that losing things can make us feel chaotic and confused but that, if we impose order upon the way we manage this loss, we will be able to cope better.
The Wild Swans at Coole*
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?
W. B. Yeats
In ‘The Wild Swans at Coole,’ how does the poet present his feelings about the swans in this poem? [24 marks]
In ‘The Wild Swans at Coole’, Yeats uses the speaker’s feelings about the swans to comment on the speaker’s own feelings about time, change and relationships. These are key themes in the poem, and it is the theme of change and time that the speakers seems to particularly struggle with.
Yeats presents the swans as symbols of unchanging beauty and elegance, which the speaker’s own age and weariness contrasts with. The swans are described as ‘brilliant creatures’ who ‘paddle in the cold’ and ‘climb the air’ with an energy that the speaker does not have. The word ‘brilliant’ suggests an energy which the speaker admires. As the speaker acknowledges the ‘brilliant creatures’, a sense of pain is created as the speaker’s ‘heart is sore’. It is as though the changes has made his heart ‘sore’ as he says ‘all’s changed’ which Yeats seems to be using to show how the speaker thinks he has changed. A sense of nostalgia is created in the poem as the speaker thinks back to a time when he ‘trod with a lighter head’. This reference to ‘a lighter head’ suggests the speaker now feels a heaviness or weariness. This could be a reference to the speaker’s age and how this has taken his energy, though it could perhaps be a reference to heavy burdens which now occupy him.
The speaker’s feelings about the swans present a sense of sadness from the speaker. This is most apparent in the second stanza when the speaker states ‘The nineteenth autumn has come upon me / Since I first made my count’. Though this could be interpreted in many ways, Yeats has shown how the speaker has visited the swans for many years and there seems to be a fixation on time not only at this point, but in the poem as a whole. This fixation on time comes from how the speaker thinks that he has changed. This idea is particularly clear as the speaker contrasts himself with the swans; they are ‘unwearied’ and ‘their hearts have not grown old’ whereas the speaker’s ‘heart is sore’.
Though the speaker clearly admires the swans, there does seem to be a sadness that they might leave one day. In the final stanza, the swans are described as ‘mysterious, beautiful’, the adjectives showing the speaker’s admiration for the swans. The word ‘mysterious’ also conveys how the speaker does not know what the swans will do and leads onto the fear that they might leave, ‘when I awake some day / To find they have flown away?’ The swans seem to offer the speaker a stability as they have been there for nineteen autumns, though the speaker is aware that they might leave him. Perhaps Yeats is using this to suggest that other relationships have faded and the swans are used as a contrast to the speaker as they are ‘unwearied still, lover by lover’, suggesting their relationships are long lasting.
Yeats has used a regular rhythm and structure throughout the poem with five six line stanzas. This regularity of structure could be used to show the regularity of time. Much like how the speaker comes back every year, time goes by with a regularity that cannot be stopped. The speaker says that ‘The nineteenth autumn has come upon me’. The personification here could have been used by Yeats to emphasise how time stops for no one and with time comes change.
To conclude, Yeats has used the swans in this poem to offer a contrast to the speaker. The swans are a symbol of elegance and beauty, whilst the speaker struggles with how he and potentially his relationships have changed with time.
The Rear-Guard
(Hindenburg Line, April 1917)
Groping along the tunnel, step by step,
He winked his prying torch with patching glare
From side to side, and sniffed the unwholesome air.
Tins, boxes, bottles, shapes too vague to know,
A mirror smashed, the mattress from a bed;
And he, exploring fifty feet below
The rosy gloom of battle overhead.
Tripping, he grabbed the wall; saw someone lie
Humped at his feet, half-hidden by a rug,
And stooped to give the sleeper’s arm a tug.
‘I’m looking for headquarters.’ No reply.
‘God blast your neck!’ (For days he’d had no sleep.)
‘Get up and guide me through this stinking place.’
Savage, he kicked a soft, unanswering heap,
And flashed his beam across the livid* face
Terribly glaring up, whose eyes yet wore
Agony dying hard ten days before;
And fists of fingers clutched a blackening wound.
Alone he staggered on until he found
Dawn’s ghost that filtered down a shafted stair
To the dazed, muttering creatures underground
Who hear the boom of shells in muffled sound.
At last, with sweat of horror in his hair,
He climbed through darkness to the twilight air,
Unloading hell behind him step by step.
Siegfried Sassoon
In ‘The Rear-Guard,’ how does the poet present his ideas about the soldier’s journey?
[24 marks]
In his poem ‘The Rear-Guard’, Siegfried Sassoon, a famous poet and soldier of World War One, describes a soldier’s journey into battle. The title suggests that the poem will be focused on a soldier who is one of the last men going into battle, following the rest of his fellow soldiers.
The poem presents the soldier’s journey as uncertain, as the soldier does not know where he is going. The first stanza starts with the phrase ‘Groping along the tunnel, step by step’, which suggests that the man cannot see where he is going. He uses the torch to try and work out where he is, but the words ‘patching’ and ‘winked’ suggest that he only gets little glimpses of what is around. In stanza two, Sassoon describes ‘shapes too vague to know’, which adds to the atmosphere of uncertainty as the soldier heads into battle, encountering the destruction that has come before him. In World War One, many thousands of soldiers went to battle with little idea of what they would find there, so perhaps Sassoon is using the Rear-Guardsman’s uncertainty about where he is to mirror the experiences of many soldiers in the First World War.
The poem also depicts the horror that the soldier encounters as he journeys into battle. Sassoon uses a range of graphic and violent images to depict the horror of war as the Rear-Guardsman moves through the tunnel towards battle. In the third stanza, Sassoon describes ‘someone lie/ Humped at his feet.’ By dehumanising the soldier into ‘someone’ and choosing the verb ‘Humped’, Sassoon suggests that the soldier is lying in an unnatural position on the floor of the tunnel. In the fourth stanza, this horrifying imagery is continued as the soldier kicks ‘a soft, unanswering heap’. This peaceful image is then contrasted by the ‘livid’ expression of the corpse’s face, ‘Terribly glaring up.’ The reader learns that the soldier has died 10 days ago. The final line describes how ‘fists of fingers clutched a blackening wound.’ The repetition of the ‘f’ sound creates a harsh tone, and the phrase ‘fists of fingers’ gives the impression that the corpse has become monstrous, with too many fingers, clutching the ‘blackening’ wound that killed him. This choice of adjective has connotations of darkness and death, but also forces the reader to consider the soldier’s rotting corpse as it changes colour. Sasson’s use of graphic language to describe soldiers who have died before suggests that the journey to battle is a perilous one, and illustrates what lies ahead for the Read-Guardsman who is the subject of the poem.
Finally, Sassoon structures the poem to represent the soldiers’ journeys from life to death on the battlefield. The start of the poem focuses on the soldier entering the tunnel, and as he goes on, he begins to lose his humanity and turn ‘Savage’. Along the way, he meets a ‘sleeping’ soldier, corpses and then ‘Dawn’s ghost’. By the fourth stanza, the soldiers have become ‘dazed, muttering creatures’ who have lost their grip on life and are dehumanised. In the last stanza of the poem, Sassoon describes the soldier leaving the tunnel and climbing ‘through darkness to the twilight air’. This imagery helps the reader imagine the darkness of the battlefield but also the metaphorical darkness of the soldier’s life in war. The final line describes him ‘Unloading hell behind him step by step’. Sassoon as used ‘hell’ as a metaphor to suggest how the First World War battlefields were like ‘hell’ on earth for the soldiers, and that they would face almost certain death on the battlefield. The phrase ‘step by step’ has been used by Sassoon in both the first and last lines of the poem to emphasise how every movement the soldier makes is taking him closer to his death.
Overall, Sassoon presents a soldier’s journey through the tunnel as horrific, uncertain and as a metaphor for a journey from life to death. The graphic and violent language reflect Sassoon’s own anger and violent opposition towards the war in which he fought.
In Mrs Tilscher's class
You could travel up the Blue Nile
with your finger, tracing the route
while Mrs Tilscher chanted the scenery.
”Tana. Ethiopia. Khartoum. Aswan.”
That for an hour,
then a skittle of milk
and the chalky Pyramids rubbed into dust.
A window opened with a long pole.
The laugh of a bell swung by a running child.
This was better than home. Enthralling books.
The classroom glowed like a sweetshop.
Sugar paper. Coloured shapes. Brady and Hindley
faded, like the faint, uneasy smudge of a mistake.
Mrs Tilscher loved you. Some mornings, you found
she'd left a gold star by your name.
The scent of a pencil slowly, carefully, shaved.
A xylophone's nonsense heard from another form.
Over the Easter term the inky tadpoles changed
from commas into exclamation marks. Three frogs
hopped in the playground, freed by a dunce
followed by a line of kids, jumping and croaking
away from the lunch queue. A rough boy
told you how you were born. You kicked him, but stared
at your parents, appalled, when you got back
home
That feverish July, the air tasted of electricity.
A tangible alarm made you always untidy, hot,
fractious under the heavy, sexy sky. You asked her
how you were born and Mrs Tilscher smiled
then turned away. Reports were handed out.
You ran through the gates, impatient to be grown
the sky split open into a thunderstorm.
Carol Ann Duffy
In ‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class,’ how does the poet present ideas about childhood memories?
[24 marks]
In ‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class,’ how does the poet present ideas about childhood memories?
Carol Ann Duffy presents childhood memories in ‘Mrs Tilscher’s Class.’ Writing from a second person perspective, Duffy seems to be speaking directly to the reader as she recreates familiar images from the primary school classroom and routines, encouraging the reader to imagine themselves back in the classroom of their favourite primary school teacher.
At the beginning of the poem, Duffy creates a light hearted and happy tone to reflect an innocent young child’s joy in school. Sensory imagery like ‘the laugh of a bell’, ‘your finger, tracing’ and ‘the scent of a pencil’ is used to evoke a happy sense of nostalgia for the reader. In the second stanza, Duffy emphasises the child’s delight in learning and simple contentment through the statement ‘This was better than home.’ Furthermore, the happy atmosphere of the classroom is presented as an extension of the childlike belief that ‘Mrs Tilscher loved you,’ showing how the whole world seems full of wonder and love from an innocent child’s perspective. However, the atmosphere begins to change in the third stanza as the child grows older and begins to learn about the real world.
Metaphorically, the metamorphosis of the ‘inky tadpoles changed from commas into exclamation marks’ is used to reflect how the children in ‘Mrs Tilscher’s class’ are changing and maturing over the course of a school year. Duffy also uses the reproduction and maturity of frogs to introduce the theme of sex and the inevitable loss of innocence. The tone shifts from wonder and innocence to feelings of confusion and disgust as the child ‘stared … appalled’ at their parents after a ‘rough boy told you how you were born.’ The verb ‘appalled’ conveys a sense of horror as the child’s innocent view of life and nature is destroyed after learning the cruder reality of reproduction. The mention of the ‘rough boy’ also suggests that children can never be completely protected from the corruption of the world.
In the final stanza, Duffy uses pathetic fallacy to convey the maturing child’s heightened emotions. The adjectives ‘feverish’, ‘untidy, hot, fractious … heavy, sexy’ are listed as if to signal the approach of puberty and teenage years. The listing device is significant as it mimics the passage of time, illustrating how children grow, mature, age. Throughout this stanza, sensory imagery builds the stormy atmosphere with ‘air tasted of electricity’ and a ‘hot, fractious … sky’, which create a slightly ominous tone. The ‘tangible’ alarm also suggests that the child is more apprehensive of the future now. In the final line of the stanza, and indeed the poem, Duffy’s use of pathetic fallacy heightens the image of the storm as ‘the sky split open into a thunderstorm.’ The metaphor of the storm breaking may suggest that the child’s innocence has been shattered irrevocably, or that they have moved into a more turbulent phase of life.
Although the free verse poem is loosely structured to trace a child’s year at primary school, a bit like the image of ‘tracing the route’ up the Nile that Duffy introduces in the first stanza, it can also be interpreted more widely as a reflection of growing up. Duffy therefore explores ideas about maturity and loss of innocence through ubiquitous childhood memories of school.
Fantasy of an African Boy
Such a peculiar lot
we are, we people
without money, in daylong
yearlong sunlight, knowing
money is somewhere, somewhere.
Everybody says it’s big
bigger brain bother now,
money. Such millions and millions
of us don’t manage at all
without it, like war going on.
And we can’t eat it. Yet
without it our heads alone
stay big, as lots and lots do,
coming from nowhere joyful,
going nowhere happy.
We can’t drink it up. Yet
without it we shrivel when small
and stop forever
where we stopped, as lots and lots do.
We can’t read money for books.
Yet without it we don’t
read, don’t write numbers,
don’t open gates in other countries,
as lots and lots never do.
We can’t use money to bandage
sores, can’t pound it
to powder for sick eyes
and sick bellies. Yet without
it, flesh melts from our bones.
Such walled-round gentlemen
overseas minding money! Such
bigtime gentlemen, body guarded
because of too much respect
and too many wishes on them:
too many wishes, everywhere,
wanting them to let go
magic of money, and let it fly
away, everywhere, day and night,
just like dropped leaves in wind!
James Berry
In ‘Fantasy of an African Boy,’ how does the poet present ideas about the significance of money?
[24 marks
In ‘Fantasy of an African Boy’, James Berry presents money as something that is essential for living a good life. He explores the idea that physical money itself is quite useless (‘we can’t eat it...we can’t read money for books’) because notes and coins cannot feed, educate and heal people by themselves. However, the speaker admits that what money can buy is extremely useful and would greatly help him and others.The collective pronoun ‘we’ is repeated throughout to make it clear to the reader that the African boy speaker is referring to himself and many people like him who are living in poverty. He presents money as something that would make a big difference to many people in need.
It is evident from the outset that the poet’s speaker wishes he had more money because of the conditions he lives in. He describes those living in poverty as living in ‘daylong/ yearlong sunlight’, suggesting that they are constantly subjected to harsh and brutal heat. He repeats ‘somewhere’ to demonstrate that the poor are always thinking about where money could be, as they do not have any. He makes it clear that money is always on their minds. The fact that they ‘don’t manage at all’ without money shows it to be something that they long for as they feel it will make their lives better.
The poet continuously juxtaposes the uselessness of physical money with the usefulness of what money can buy. He makes the point that a person cannot drink money, but that money can buy the water that will stop a person from dying. The poet’s use of repetition in the words ‘lots and lots do’ implies that the speaker has already witnessed many dying because they do not have the money they need. Berry also makes the point that physical money cannot be used to ‘bandage sores’ or to cure sickness. However, he uses the striking, visceral image, ‘without it, flesh melts from our bones’ to demonstrate the physical effects of starvation - something that happens as a result of being poor. This highlights the terrible conditions faced by those without money.
The poet also juxtaposes the suffering of poor people with those who are rich. He describes the rich people as ‘walled-round gentlemen’, implying that they are protected from poverty and kept safely away. The poet’s use of the words ‘overseas’ and ‘body guarded’ further imply that these rich men have deliberately removed themselves from poor societies and do not want to mix with anybody within them. This shows a large divide between the rich and the poor. Perhaps the poet is trying to expose the absurd inequality between those who live in the poorest conditions and those who live lives of luxury. He emphasises this idea when he writes that the rich allow their money to ‘fly away’. He uses the simile ‘like dropped leaves in wind’ to reveal the carelessness with which the rich treat their money. To the rich, money is something that can be spent without thought. To the poor, it is something that they desperately need in order to survive.
The poem is both structured and unstructured at the same time. The absence of rhyme and and the frequent use of enjambment gives the poem a feeling of chaos and uncertainty. The poet could also be trying to mirror the chaotic lives of poor people who live without money and are fighting for survival. However, the poem is organised into eight stanzas which demonstrates an attempt to order and structure the poem. Perhaps this could reflect the certainty and order which money can bring to people’s lives. The fourth stanza stands out because it is shorter than the other five-line stanzas. Berry might be drawing the reader’s attention to it as this is his most important message: that the poor will continue to die if they do not obtain the money they need to help them.
Island Man
Morning
and island man wakes up
to the sound of blue surf
in his head
the steady breaking and wombing
wild seabirds
and fishermen pushing out to sea
the sun surfacing defiantly
from the east
of his small emerald island
he always comes back groggily groggily
Comes back to sands
of a grey metallic soar
to surge of wheels
to dull North Circular* roar
muffling muffling
his crumpled pillow waves
island man heaves himself
Another London day
Grace Nichols
In ‘Island Man,’ how does the poet present ideas about place?
[24 marks]
In ‘Island Man,’ how does the poet present ideas about place?
Nichols’ ‘Island Man’ details a man who is an outsider to the British Isles, and revisits their homeland in their dreams. Upon waking the man realises that the exotic ‘small emerald island’ they left behind is only memory rekindled by their fantasy state, and they return to the ‘grey’ monotony of ‘another London day’. Through this poem, Nichols explores the themes of identity and belonging. Although the poem’s protagonist is familiar with London, as they are about to embark on ‘another’ day, it is clear that they yearn to be in their native country as it has become the subject of their dreams. As the poem’s protagonist slowly begins to realise that the land they left behind only exists as ‘pillow waves’, the reader also begins to comprehend what the islander has left behind through the juxtaposition of his two realities: the ‘sands’ of the past and the ‘North Circular’ (a strip of London road) they are currently situated near.
Nichols creates a dream-like atmosphere as the poem’s protagonist slowly regains consciousness. The repetition of ‘groggily groggily’ makes the reader aware of man’s semi-conscious state. The poet uses the repeated onomatopoeic adjectives ‘muffling muffling’ to reiterate the sense that the man is now awakening from the location he has returned to in his dreams. The poem is loosely structured, which reflects his fantasy state of mind, which defies his daily reality and geographical boundaries. Continuous enjambment adds to the free-flow of the poem, creating a light and dreamy state when the island man is thinking about his homeland. This contrasts to the heavy, laded word ‘heaves’, which reflects his reluctance to break from his sleeping solace. The isolated lines ‘another London day’ are set apart from the rest of the poem. This breaks the light, dream-like atmosphere and reflects the disturbance from his slumber as the flow of the poem is disrupted.
Nichols presents the protagonist’s true place of belonging as his native home. This is evident from the title ‘Island Man’. His name is omitted, and his only identity to the reader is indicated by his homeland. The portmanteau ‘wombing’ is a combination of ‘womb’ and possibly ‘calling’. This has connotations of birth (represented as the island he came from). The waves ‘wombing’ is highlighted by Nichols’ use of alliteration. It also personifies an element of the island, which makes it seem as though it is connected to the protagonist in a spiritual and maternal way. In contrast, London’s traffic is likened to animals through use of zooification. Nichols writes that it is ‘soaring’ through the roads, which makes it seem like a hostile and feral creature.
An Old Woman
An old woman grabs
hold of your sleeve
and tags along.
She wants a fifty paise coin.
She says she will take you
to the horseshoe shrine.
You’ve seen it already.
She hobbles along anyway
and tightens her grip on your shirt.
She won’t let you go.
You know how old women are.
They stick to you like a burr.
You turn around and face her
with an air of finality.
You want to end the farce.
When you hear her say,
‘What else can an old woman do
on hills as wretched as these?’
You look right at the sky.
Clear through the bullet holes
she has for her eyes.
And as you look on
the cracks that begin around her eyes
spread beyond her skin.
And the hills crack.
And the temples crack.
And the sky falls
With a plate-glass clatter
Around the shatterproof crone
who stands alone.
And you are reduced
to so much small change
in her hand.
Arun Kolatkar
In ‘An Old Woman,’ how does the poet create sympathy for the old woman?
[24 marks]
Blessing
The skin cracks like a pod.
There never is enough water.
Imagine the drip of it,
the small splash, echo
in a tin mug,
the voice of a kindly god.
Sometimes, the sudden rush
of fortune. The municipal pipe bursts,
silver crashes to the ground
and the flow has found
a roar of tongues. From the huts,
a congregation : every man woman
child for streets around
butts in, with pots,
brass, copper, aluminium,
plastic buckets,
frantic hands,
and naked children
screaming in the liquid sun,
their highlights polished to perfection,
flashing light,
as the blessing sings
over their small bones.
Imtiaz Dharker
In ‘Blessing,’ how does the poet present ideas about poverty and wealth?
[24 marks]
For Heidi with Blue Hair
When you dyed your hair blue
(or, at least, ultramarine
for the clipped sides, with a crest
of jet-black spikes on top)
you were sent home from school
because, as the headmistress put it,
although dyed hair was not
specifically forbidden, yours
was, apart from anything else,
not done in the school colours.
Tears in the kitchen, telephone-calls
to school from your freedom-loving father:
‘She’s not a punk* in her behaviour;
it’s just a style.’ (You wiped your eyes,
also not in a school colour.)
‘She discussed it with me first –
we checked the rules.’ ‘And anyway, Dad,
it cost twenty-five dollars.
Tell them it won’t wash out –
not even if I wanted to try.’
It would have been unfair to mention
your mother’s death, but that
shimmered behind the arguments.
The school had nothing else against you;
the teachers twittered and gave in.
Next day your black friend had hers done
in grey, white and flaxen yellow –
the school colours precisely:
an act of solidarity*, a witty
tease. The battle was already won.
Fleur Adcock
In ‘Heidi with Blue Hair,’ how does the poet present ideas about individuality?
[24 marks]
In ‘Heidi with Blue Hair,’ how does the poet present ideas about individuality?
In the poem ‘Heidi with Blue Hair,’ Adcock presents individuality as important but also difficult to achieve. The poem is about Heidi, a girl who has lost her mother, who dyes her hair blue and is consequently sent home from school. The poem also explores the hippocratic actions of the school and Heidi’s reasons for dying her hair. It is evident that the speaker believes Heidi is rebelling due to feelings surrounding her mother’s death, a fact that the school are unable to see.
The poet presents the idea that individuality is difficult to achieve as it addresses the struggles Heidi is having. The poem is addressed to and written ‘For Heidi with blue hair.’ The nature of this direct address, for example, ‘you were sent home from school,’ makes the reader feel as if the speaker is addressing us personally, causing us to empathise with Heidi.
Another way in which the poet presents individuality as difficult to obtain is the use dialogue within the poem, ‘‘She discussed it with me first –’ the use of the pause dash here makes it clear that as readers we are missing part of the conversation, as it is clearly Heidi’s father who continues speaking. This pauses create the feeling of a phone call, presumably to the school. The poet intentionally leaves out the school’s side of the conversation, causing us to believe that it is an unfounded argument.
Adcock presents Heidi’s motives for striving for individuality using the metaphor shimmered behind the arguments to let the reader know that everyone knows, and believes, that Heidi’s mother’s death is the reason for her rebellion, however, they refuse to acknowledge this, instead covering it with other arguments. This imagery of Heidi’s motive being overshadowed by rules and regulations causes empathy from the reader. This move towards individuality through rebellion can be inferred to be a recent and isolated event, ‘The school had nothing else against you,’ suggests she had not been in trouble at school before.
We can infer from stanzas three and four that Heidi’s ‘freedom-loving father,’ may have influenced her decision to act out in this way. Despite the school stating that she had broken school rules, Heidi’s dad does nothing to rectify this, and instead condones her behaviour by refusing to reprimand her. It can be assumed that he is also in stages of grief due to the loss of Heidi’s mother, causing him to decide to address the defiance in this way.
In the final stanza it is mentioned that another friend dyed her hair, although ‘in the school colours precisely.’ This turns Heidi’s singular act into one of ‘solidarity,’ which juxtaposes the idea of individuality itself. In conclusion, taking into account the reasons for Heidi dying her hair, it could be argued that she was not striving for individuality at all, but simply acting out due to her bereavement.
Still I Rise
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise. Maya Angelou
In ‘Still I Rise,’ how does the poet present ideas about determination and injustice? [24 marks]
O Captain! My Captain!
Captain! My Captain!
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
Walt Whitman
In ‘O Captain! My Captain!’ how does the poet present ideas about loyalty?
[24 marks]
Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
William Ernest Henley
In ‘Invictus,’ how does the poet present ideas about fate and determination?
[24 marks]
Alpine Letter
Love? If you’d asked me yesterday, I’d say
love is a saw that amputates the heart.
I’d call it my disease, I’d call it plague.
But yesterday, I hadn’t heard from you.
So call it the weight of light that holds one soul
connected to another. Or a tear
that falls in all gratitude, becoming sea.
Call it the only word that comforts me.
The sight of your writing has me on the floor,
the curve of each letter looped about my heart.
And in this ink, the tenor of your voice.
And in this ink the movement of your hand.
The Alps, now, cut their teeth upon the sky,
and pressing on to set these granite jaws
between us, not a mile will do me harm.
Your letter, in my coat, will keep me warm.
Ros Barber
In ‘Alpine Letter,’ how does the poet present ideas about love?
[24 marks]
Piano
Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;
Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see
A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling
strings
And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she
sings.
In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song
Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong
To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside
And hymns in the cozy parlour, the tinkling piano our guide.
So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour
With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour
Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast
Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the
past.
D. H. Lawrence
In ‘Piano,’ how does the speaker present ideas about the significance of memories?
[24 marks]
Telephone Conversation
The price seemed reasonable, location
Indifferent. The landlady swore she lived
Off premises. Nothing remained
But self-confession. “Madam”, I warned,
“I hate a wasted journey – I am African.”
Silence. Silenced transmission of
Pressurized good-breeding. Voice, when it came,
Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled
Cigarette-holder pipped. Caught I was, foully.
“HOW DARK?”...I had not misheard...“ARE YOU LIGHT
OR VERY DARK?” Button B. Button A*. Stench
Of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak.
Red booth. Red pillar-box. Red double-tiered
Omnibus squelching tar. It was real! Shamed
By ill-mannered silence, surrender
Pushed dumbfoundment to beg simplification.
Considerate she was, varying the emphasis –
“ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?” Revelation came.
“You mean – like plain or milk chocolate?”
Her accent was clinical, crushing in its light
Impersonality. Rapidly, wave-length adjusted,
I chose. “West African sepia” – and as afterthought,
“Down in my passport.” Silence for spectroscopic
Flight of fancy, till truthfulness changed her accent
Hard on the mouthpiece. “WHAT’S THAT?” conceding
“DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT IS.” “Like brunette.”
“THAT’S DARK, ISN’T IT?” “Not altogether.
Facially, I am brunette, but madam, you should see
The rest of me. Palm of my hand, soles of my feet
Are a peroxide blond. Friction, caused –
Foolishly, madam – by sitting down, has turned
My bottom raven black – One moment, madam! – sensing
Her receiver rearing on the thunderclap
About my ears – “Madam,” I pleaded, “wouldn’t you rather
See for yourself?”
Wole Soyinka
How does the poet present ideas about attitudes towards race? [24 marks]
Wole Soyinka is using satire to show that racism is illogical and absurd. The use of capitals “ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?” emphasises the insensitivity of the question. Is the landlady seriously suggesting that being African may not be a problem for a lodger with the right skin colour? Interestingly, it is the speaker who uses euphemisms in order to save embarrassment “like plain or milk chocolate?” This could imply that he has had this conversation before and is trying to gloss over an awkward situation or he could be using sarcasm in order to highlight how ridiculous the woman’s question is.
The poem is written in free verse and the lack of structure and rhyme reflects the horrific reality of the conversation. The frequent use of caesura “It was real!” makes it clear that the speaker was both shocked and appalled by the woman’s racism. Soyinka uses colour imagery to indicate the way in which racist attitudes can lead to injustice. The “omnibus squelching tar” is symbolic of the way in which the black minority are dominated and ‘squashed’ by the white people. The speaker’s outrage at the woman’s impertinence causes him to see the colour red and the capitalisation of “ Red booth” and “ Red pillar-box” makes it clear that the speaker is justifiably angry.
Once Upon a Time
Once upon a time, son,
they used to laugh with their hearts
and laugh with their eyes;
but now they only laugh with their teeth,
while their ice-block-cold eyes
search behind my shadow.
There was a time indeed
they used to shake hands with their hearts;
but that’s gone, son.
Now they shake hands without hearts
while their left hands search
my empty pockets.
‘Feel at home’! ‘Come again’;
they say, and when I come
again and feel
at home, once, twice,
there will be no thrice –
for then I find doors shut on me.
So I have learned many things, son.
I have learned to wear many faces
like dresses – homeface,
officeface, streetface, hostface,
cocktailface, with all their conforming smiles
like a fixed portrait smile.
And I have learned, too,
to laugh with only my teeth
and shake hands without my heart.
I have also learned to say, ‘Goodbye’,
when I mean ‘Good-riddance’;
to say ‘Glad to meet you’,
without being glad; and to say ‘It’s been
nice talking to you’, after being bored.
But believe me, son.
I want to be what I used to be
when I was like you. I want
to unlearn all these muting things.
Most of all, I want to relearn
how to laugh, for my laugh in the mirror
shows only my teeth like a snake’s bare fangs!
So show me, son,
how to laugh; show me how
I used to laugh and smile
once upon a time when I was like you.
Gabriel Okara
How does the speaker in the poem present their feelings about the effects of age? [24 marks]
A Mother in a Refugee Camp
No Madonna and Child could touch
Her tenderness for a son
She soon would have to forget. . . .
The air was heavy with odors of diarrhea,
Of unwashed children with washed-out ribs
And dried-up bottoms waddling in labored steps
Behind blown-empty bellies. Other mothers there
Had long ceased to care, but not this one:
She held a ghost smile between her teeth,
and in her eyes the memory
Of a mother’s pride. . . . She had bathed him
And rubbed him down with bare palms.
She took from their bundle of possessions
A broken comb and combed
The rust-colored hair left on his skull
And then – humming in her eyes – began carefully to part it.
In their former life this was perhaps
A little daily act of no consequence
Before his breakfast and school; now she did it
Like putting flowers on a tiny grave.
Chinua Achebe
In ‘A Mother in a Refugee Camp,’ how does the poet present ideas about loss?
Do not go gentle into that good night
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Dylan Thomas
In ‘Do not go gentle into that goodnight,’ how does the poet present ideas about death?
First they came…
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
Unknown
In ‘First they came,’ how does the poet present their ideas about speaking out against injustice?
[24 marks]
Not My Business
They picked Akanni up one morning
Beat him soft like clay
And stuffed him down the belly
Of a waiting jeep.
What business of mine is it
So long they don’t take the yam
From my savouring mouth?
They came one night
Booted the whole house awake
And dragged Danladi out,
Then off to a lengthy absence.
What business of mine is it
So long they don’t take the yam
From my savouring mouth?
Chinwe went to work one day
Only to find her job was gone:
No query, no warning, no probe –
Just one neat sack for a stainless record.
What business of mine is it
So long they don’t take the yam
From my savouring mouth?
And then one evening
As I sat down to eat my yam
A knock on the door froze my hungry hand.
The jeep was waiting on my bewildered lawn
Waiting, waiting in its usual silence.
Niyi Osundare
In ‘Not My Business,’ how does the poet present their ideas about speaking out against injustice?
[24 marks]
To a Daughter Leaving Home
When I taught you
at eight to ride
a bicycle, loping along beside you
as you wobbled away
on two round wheels,
my own mouth rounding
in surprise when you pulled ahead down the curved path of the park,
I kept waiting
for the thud
of your crash as I
sprinted to catch up,
while you grew
smaller, more breakable with distance,
pumping, pumping
for your life, screaming with laughter,
the hair flapping
behind you like a handkerchief waving goodbye.
Linda Pastan
In ‘To a Daughter Leaving Home’, how does the poet present the speaker’s feelings about her daughter? [24 marks]
Poem for My Sister
My little sister likes to try my shoes,
to strut in them,
admire her spindle-thin twelve-year-old legs
in this season’s styles.
She says they fit her perfectly, but wobbles
on their high heels, they’re hard to balance.
I like to watch my little sister playing hopscotch,
admire the neat hops-and-skips of her,
their quick peck, never-missing their mark, not over-stepping the line.
She is competent at peever*.
I try to warn my little sister
about unsuitable shoes,
point out my own distorted feet, the callouses, odd patches of hard skin.
I should not like to see her
in my shoes.
I wish she could stay sure footed,
sensibly shod.
Liz Lochhead
*peever – another name for the game of hopscotch
In Poem for My Sister, how does the poet present the speaker’s feelings about her sister?
Question 2: Comparing Two Unseen Poems
27.2 In both ‘Poem for My Sister’ and ‘To a Daughter Leaving Home’ the speakers describe feelings about watching someone they love grow up. What are the similarities and/or differences between the ways the poets present those feelings? (8 marks)
27.2 In both ‘The Road Not Taken’ and ‘One Art’ there is a feeling of loss. What are the similarities and/or differences between the ways the poets present those feelings? (8 marks)
27.2 In both ‘Island Man’ and ‘An Old Woman’ there are ideas about ageing. What are the similarities and/or differences between the ways the poets present those ideas? (8 marks)
27.2 Both ‘Still I Rise’ and ‘Invictus’ are about determination. What are the similarities and/or differences between the ways the poets present determination? (8 marks)
27.2 In both ‘A Mother in a Refugee Camp’ and ‘Do not go gentle’, there are feelings of grief and loss. What are the similarities and/or differences between the ways the poets present those feelings? (8 marks)
Example Plan and Answer for Question 2
27.2 In both ‘Poem for My Sister’ and ‘To a Daughter Leaving Home’ the speakers describe feelings about watching someone they love grow up. What are the similarities and/or differences between the ways the poets present those feelings? (8 marks)
Plan
Both worry about a younger family member.
-‘breakable’
-‘I try to warn my little sister’
Whereas Pastan remembers her daughter’s past, Lochhead thinks about her sister’s future.
-‘hair flapping behind you like a handkerchief waving goodbye’
-‘I wish she could stay sure footed’
Both ‘Poem for My Sister’ and ‘To a Daughter Leaving Home’ present feelings of worry from the perspective of an older family member thinking about a younger family member. Pastan writes as a mother to her daughter but Lochhead writes as an older sibling about her younger sister. Pastan writes that her daughter aged eight looked ‘breakable’. This image not only suggests that her young daughter was fragile and might ‘break’, but also reveals how we consider our loved ones ‘ours’ and fear we might lose them. Lochhead writes ‘I try to warn my little sister.’ The word ‘try’ implies that she doesn’t succeed in helping her sister to realise that high heels ‘distort’ feet and will ruin hers too. Both show concern and love from experience, wanting younger family members to avoid the traps they might not be able to see from a more naïve viewpoint.
Whereas Pastan remembers her daughter’s past, Lochhead thinks about her sister’s future. Pastan writes: ‘hair flapping behind you like a handkerchief waving goodbye.’ This simile suggests that she feels sad about her daughter growing up, saying ‘goodbye’ and leaving home. The word ‘goodbye’ is the last word in the poem, which emphasises the idea that the poet feels torn about her daughter’s independence: she knows she has to let go but doesn’t want to lose her from her life. Lochhead writes: ‘I wish she could stay sure footed.’ This shows that she hopes her sister will avoid the pain she went though, but she feels doubtful that she will. The word ‘wish’ implies that the hope will be in vain. Neither poet names their daughter or sister. This might suggest that this is a universal experience for mothers and sisters, not unique to one individual.
Example answers are also online on the English GCSE Revision site:
https://sites.google.com/inspirationtrust.org/jacenglishrevision/home