Relationships Anthology

Valentine (Carol Ann Duffy)
1. Extended metaphor of an Onion
  1. 'A moon wrapped in brown paper'; 'Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding ring'; 'It promises light'; 'It will blind you with tears'; 'Cling to your knife'
2. Poem gets progressively aggressive
  1. 'Lethal' 'knife' suggest harm if not treated well, could represent speaker.
3. The poem shows a possessiveness from the speaker to the recipient
4. Rejects traditional symbols of love 'Not a red rose or a satin heart'
5. The repetition of 'it will' suggests that the recipient is not beliieving the gift,and she is having to force her message to him.
Rubbish at Adultery (Sophie Hannah)
1. Theme of disappointment in an affair, with an angry and annoyed tone
2. Shows a mainly physical relationship, or the desire for it 'I'm after passion, thrills and fun.'
3. Alternate Rhyme: Starts good, ends bad. You cannot love and you cannot be adulterous- irony.
4. The Speaker talks about how she wants to be important, but always comes after his wife. 'Just leave them out of this?'
5. Each stanza shows a new complaint,and the speaker fears 'we've lost our common goal'.
Sonnet 116 (William Shakespeare)
1. Mirroring Rhyme Scheme ABAB for every 4 lines, then rhyming couplet for final 2 lines
  1. Stating simple facts, and two peoples love fitting together so well
2. Every 4 Lines: 1st; Describing what 'love is not'; 2nd; What it is 'O, no!' 'ever-fixed mark'; 3rd; Shows love is constant 'bears it out even to the edge of doom'
  1. Last two lines: 'If this be an error, upon me proved,/ I never writ, nor no man ever loved.' If Shakespeare is wrong, he was never a writer and no man has ever loved. So sure of himself.
3. Sonnet, Italian: little song, traditionally love poems.
Our Love Now (Martyn Lowery)
1. The poem represents different attitudes towards a relationship, a male (optimistic) and female (pessimistic) side. Both have equal oppurtunity to talk
2. No rhyme scheme
  1. Freedom of speech, and can speak truthfully
3. Has 8 different verses which can be read in different ways. The females point of view seems to be a contradictory to the males.
  1. The male uses sense 'observe' 'listen'. Suggesting he feels that what he says is right and it is evident. The female uses 'Although' 'After' Showing that she can see something different.
4. The structure of the seperate paragraphs shows no unity, rhythm or harmony between the couple.
  1. Everything is painful, rough and broken.
Even Tho (Grace Nichols)
1. FORM 7 stanzas, so strict length in stanza or sentence. Represents a relaxed relationships like a 'canival'
2. STRUCTURE Starts 'Man I love/ but won't let you devour' - Love to be loved? or Loves men? Word 'you' pronoun, specific? or all men? --- Ends 'And keep to de motion/ of we own person/ality' Repeating message, keep to themselves, likes physical not emotion. Move from one to the next man
3. LANGUAGE Uses Caribbean Creole, emphasis of 'person/ality' Nichols just wants the physical side of love; 'You be banana/ I be avocado' but doesn't want to stay attached ' But then/ Leh we break free'
  1. Nichols shows that 'even tho' she is female, she has equal physical desires as men'
Lines to my Grandfathers (Tony Harrison)
1. FORM The poem is an elegy (dedication) to Harrison's Grandfathers.It follows a very strict alternate rhyme scheme which suggests that his Grandfathers were looked up to, and provided order. Harrison uses Double spaced lines which suggests it is like a song, again a dedication.
2. STRUCTURE The poem is split into 4 parts; Wilkinson, Harrison, Horner, all of the Grandfathers.
3. WILKINSON Is a farmer. The poem repeats the use of lines. Wilkinson 'ploughed parallel as print'. It connotes that he left lines, history and there is a story there.
4. HARRISON was a 'publican'. The poet gives shows this Grandfather in an unfavourable light, and feels sorry for the Grandmother. 'Grandma slaved to tend the vat'- he had control over her. Harrison also suggests he is self-loving. 'graced the rival bars' -shows a sarcastic tone. It also shows that his job got him into toruble because he may have been a heavy drinker. 'his knuckleduster, 'just in case'' shows that he might have needed protection. The direct speech shows a lack of trust.
5. HORNER Is described as 'Grampa' which suggests a closeness which he didn't have with the others. 'He cobbled all our boots' suggests that he was caring and loved, because he did things for them. However, it also seems that he could be violent 'pulp and squashed it falt'. It shows shapeless blood, which is graphic and violent.
6. 'I strive to keep my lines direct and straight' shows that he doesn't want to lose his connections, and wants to 'make connections' to have some history.
  1. 'My present is propped open by their past' uses alliteration. It implies that he has been formed and sculpted by their pasts.
04/01/07 (Ian McMillan)
1. FORM Sonnet, Alternate Rhyme. The poem talks about his reacion to his mother death. A sonnet is traditionally about love. It is only through the form that we see compassion. The dedication to the form shows the dedication to his mother. However the lack of iambic pentameter shows that there is less effort it rhythm, and the rhythm has been 'lost'
2. STRUCTURE The poem is cyclical, it starts and ends with the word 'glass'. However at the start it is dark and the end it is clear. This connotes that since his mother passing, there is a sense of truth found and realisation that she is gone. It also implies that childhood is lost, and all the memories are frozen and 'clear'
3. LANGUAGE 'I'm trapped inside that empty space/ You float in when your mother dies'. This line implies that he is constantly trapped forever, and there is no escape. The next line shows that perhaps his mother is now floating, and watching, maybe even gloating. McMillan's childhood has ended 'The stream dried up, the smashed glass clear'. She has gone and he could be regretting not 'loving' her enough. He feels sorry for himself for being left behind in the dark 'And a lit plane drones in the night's dark blue'.
Kissing (Fleur Adcock)
1. Change of relationships with age
  1. Young 'clamped together'- intense, and forced
  2. Older 'the middle aged are kissing in the back of taxis' -more romantic, and lustful. It is truthful and real
2. STRUCTURE Two stanzas, representing young then old. Shows natural progression in love and how it changes over time
  1. 'They've got all day' (young) 'They too may have futures' (old) The older couple do have a whole future together, whereas the young only have the day and it might disappear.
3. LANGUAGE
  1. 1ST STANZA: 'clamped' forced but can't be separated-not romantic. extended metaphor of 'riverbank' cliched, detached from reality. 'talk, stop talking, kiss' shows contagion, and coldness (mechanical)
  2. 2ND STANZA: Shows lust, against stereotype. 'There hands are not inside each other's clothes/ (because of the driver)- they are more discrete but more passionate.
4. FORM Equal stanza length, no one couple is beer, the are the 'same; couple at iffent times.
One Flesh (Elizabeth Jennings)
1. Jennings shows her parents having lost the 'fire which I came', and their separation
2. FORM 3 stanzas of 6 lines. Lines are equal, with the use of iambic pentameter for most lines. This shows the monotony within the relationship, and it is boring and predictable.
3. STRUCTURE The title 'One Flesh' and the first line ' Lying apart now' shows a juxtaposition.
  1. One Flesh connotes the biblical term in the marriage vows. Which represents life together as one. But then 'lying apart' destroys this sense.
4. LANGUAGE The poet compares the couple as 'flotsam from a former passion' suggesting that their love is lost, and unsalvageable
  1. The poet shows that the couple knew that it would come to this 'For which their whole lives were a preparation' it was inevitable.
  2. The poem has a religious theme. 'Chastity' 'One Flesh' 'Confession'
    1. Christianity teaches that our 'duty' is to reproduce. The poet suggests that they have done that duty and now there lust is gone, even though the mother has desires ('She like a girl dreaming of childhood'). The final line reads 'Whose fire from which I came has now grown cold'. The question mark shows a sense of resentment and regret, and it is her fault?
Nettles (Vernon Scannell)
1. FORM 1 stanza, alternate rhyme. Implies that is is recurring, and is something that won't stop. The strictness of it shows the seriousness and reality to the father.
2. STRUCTURE Again gives a cyclical sense, and repetition 'My son would often feel sharp wounds again' (last line).
3. LANGUAGE Semantic Field of war. (Scannell fought in WWII , and had 6 children) 'regiment' 'blade' 'funeral pyre' 'recruits'
  1. The poet personifies the nettles, and shows compassion for the son. 'fallen dead'. The pronoun 'my' gives a sense of belonging, and care. The father wants to protect his son.
4. The audience can relate because everybody experiences it.
Song for Last Year's Wife (Brian Patten)
1. FORM Dramatic Monologue. 25 lines, from one reader. Lack of rhyme scheme could show confusion, and there is no rhythm in his life
2. TITLE 'Song for Last Year's Wife'. 'Song' connotes positivity, and a dedication to someone. This is contradicted by 'Last Year's wife. Negative, and gives no real title. It is recurring? and he has got used to it? The title objectifies the woman because she has no name, making her seem disposable.
3. STRUCTURE The use of enjambment provides different messages. The first line 'Alice, this is my first winter/ of waking without you' . Before the line break, it seems like a new life a new start, but then reveals that it is his first winter without her. It could mean that 'Alice' was his life.
  1. The Poem becomes increasingly sincere further into the poem. 'I send out my spies/ to discover what you are doing'. It shows a possessiveness and desperation. the readers sympathy changes from him to hers.
4. LANGUAGE The poem has a semantic field of winter, frozen and cold. Winter is the time of reflection, resolutions and to be with family. For him, it is a negative reflection and has nobody.
  1. 'winter' 'hard' 'ghost'
My Last Duchess (Robert Browning)
1. Browning shows a chilling, cold cruelty. 'all smiles stopped'
2. FORM 56 equal length lines, no stanzas. Every two lines has a rhyming couplet, and each line has iambic pentamter. this shows how controlling the Duke was, and wanted structure and order. 'Taming'. The use of enjambment means that the rhyme is easy to miss. This suggests that no one from the outside knew about the way he was controlling.
3. STRUCTURE The poem shows the painting in the first line (something to rule over) , then goes on to tell how she ended up dead, and then finally as something for him to rule over. --Cyclical, has happened before.
4. LANGUAGE The speaker talks about how he couldn't tame her, and shows obsessiveness and possessiveness. 'my object' 'I choose never to stoop'
5. The Duchess preferred natural things, and was polite. 'white mule' 'orchard' 'cherries'. White mule suggests she was nieve, pure and innocent. And had no care for material possessions. 'Such stuff/ Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough/ For calling that spot of joy'- He wasnt the only one to make her blush.
At the border, 1979 (Choman Hardi)
1. The poem is autobiographical because it is the story of Hardi and her family moving back to Iraq in 1979
2. FORM The poem takes no strict form, line and stanza length vary. There are no real rules, just the rules that someone has randomly created, like the border.
3. STRUCTURE The line breaks are arbitrary (follow no rules)- reflects main theme of the poem, the borders/lines are artificial and a person or government has put them there.
4. LANGUAGE Hardi shows that there is no difference between each side of the border. 'The land under our feet continued' 'It rained on both sides of the chain'. The final line is 'The same chain of mountains encompasses all of us'. The use of the word 'chain' suggest that this is the natural border of mountains, and the man made one can't break nature. 'encompasses' could suggest safety, or trapped.
The Habit of Light (Gillian Clarke)
1. FORM The poem is a sonnet, but it is not traditional. There is no strict rhyme scheme or iambic pentameter. This could suggest that it is about compassion and love, but because her mother has died, there is no rhythm or flow.
2. LANGUAGE The poet personifies different homely items to show her mother in a positive light. 'saucepans danced their lids, the kettle purred'
3. The poet dedicates the poem to her mother. There are lots of natural imagery which provide warmth and positivity, and gives a sense of place. 'oak floors' 'blackbird' 'bean rows' buttery melt of a pie'
4. The titles connotes different perspectives. 'Habit' could be a compulsive action, like keeping the kitchen clean and shining to provide the light. Or it could connote religious robes, and shows their dedicated relationship. The word light connotes a sense of truth and hope, which could symbolise their relationship.
5. The poem is an elegy, a celebration of Clarke's dead mother and shows the relationship between character and home.
Pity me not because the light of day (Edna St. Vincent Millay)
1. FORM The poem is a sonnet which is traditionally about love. The use of iambic pentameterand stirct rhyme scheme gives the poem rhythm, and makes love seem natural.
2. STRUCTURE Most of the poem shows cyclical forces of nature, and why the reader shouldn't feel pity for her. She 'knew' that love is a cycle and it will fade. The final two lines show how she wants pity for being so naive, and not learning.
3. LANGUAGE Millay uses natural cycles to show that love fades, and that is nature. 'light of day...no longer walks the sky' 'beauties passed away' ' waning of the moon' 'ebbing tide' These all show a cycle, that love comes and disappears and that is how it is.
4. Millay repeatedly uses 'Pity me not' showing that she knew that this is how it was, and that she doesn't need sympathy. However the final two lines use 'Pity me that the heart is slow to learn/ what the swift mind beholds at every turn.' She wants pity for being so naive, and that she didn't accept her fate.

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