Language Yellow Structure Red Key Each poem contains

• Language – Yellow • Structure – Red Key Each poem contains a slide with some details of themes and context. The annotations are comments you could make about language and structure. Why are there no annotations for tone or attitude of speaker? Because these things are created by the language and structure. Your essays should seek to explain how language and structure create effects which lead us to an understanding of attitudes and an appreciation of tone.

Cambodia – James Fenton visited Cambodia and Vietnam in the aftermath of the war and witnessed the destruction. As the American’s left Cambodia Pol Pot took power and murdered thousand of his citizens. Fenton journalist hence Journalistic ‘telling’ style The casualties from war are unbalaced Interaction between east and west War as an economic activity Human’s inability to prevent evil

Increasing numbers mirror the ever increasing death tolls of the conflict. One man shall smile one day and say goodbye. Two shall be left, two shall be left to die. One man shall give his best advice. Three men shall pay the price. One man shall live, live to regret. Four men shall meet the debt. One man shall wake from terror to his bed. Five men shall be dead. One man to five. A million men to one. And still they die. And still the war goes on. Each individual participates and has responsibility for terror of war. Gradual realisation of individual culpability, from smiles and advice to terror and regret as death toll rises. Language indicates the financial causes of war, and motivations for it’s continuance. War as a financial investment in West. Writer interested in oriental and occidental cultural differences. Highlights the disparities in death between western and non-western countries. Present tense and ‘still’ make reader aware war continues and is a part of the present. A continuous, never-ending war. Caesuras create a balance of phrases in the final stanza. Constant repetition

Attack – Siegfried Sassoon Criticized war in ‘a soldier’s declaration’ and was sent home with ‘shell shock’ rather than being courtmartialled. War destroys what makes us human. Time changes in war.

Implies heroism as an imperative verb, a battle cry. Also a Noun denoting action. Juxtapositin of purposeful action (creep) and inhuman forces (topple) Attack Means both ‘cruelty’ and light grey/brown colour Possible reference to German’s high and well protected position in the Somme – impervious to artillery At dawn the ridge emerges massed and dun In the wild purple of the glowering sun, Smouldering through spouts of drifting smoke that shroud Poem begins with time and The menacing scarred slope; and, one by one, ends with reference to Jesus, Tanks creep and topple forward to the wire. who western time is centred The barrage roars and lifts. Then, clumsily bowed around. Implies end of humanity With bombs and guns and shovels and battle-gear, Men jostle and climb to meet the bristling fire. Lines of grey, muttering faces, masked with fear, Stillness of caesura They leave their trenches, going over the top, emphasises previous While time ticks blank and busy on their wrists, noise And hope, with furtive eyes and grappling fists, Language failing Flounders in mud. O Jesu, make it stop! along with other aspects of humanity Glowering suggests nature is both dissaproving and antagonistic Assonance mirrors cries of wounded Stillness, realisation of tanks highlighted by sub-clause and semi-colon implies slope coming alive. Humanity obscured again Mundane repetetive Abstract, hope - most human of constructions – is horror. Stop what – failing. Hope metaphorically described as a failed Act of remembering or war itself? Everyday human. occurence

Reservist – Boey Kim Cheng Singapore still has a system of compulsory national service. Boey was born in Singapore also part of comonwealth so added meaning to ‘kings command’ Inclues Reference to Don Quioxite – tilting at Windmills. Fighting will destroy humanity Alienation of soldiers from commanders Humanity contrasted with the dehumanisation of war

Reservist Time again for the annual joust, the regular fanfare, a call to arms, the imperative letters stern as clarion notes, the king’s command, upon the pain of court-martial, to tilt at the old windmills. With creaking bones and suppressed grunts, we battle weary knights creep to attention, ransack the wardrobes for our rusty armour, tuck the pot bellies with great finnesse into the shrinking gear, And with helmets shutting off half our world, Report for service. We are again united With sleek weapons we were betrothed to In our active cavalier days. We will keep charging up the same hills, plod Through the same forests, till we are too old, Too ill-fitted for life’s other territories. The same trails will find us time and time again, And we quick to obey, like children placed On carousels they cannot get off from, borne Along through somebody’s expensive fantasyland, With an oncoming rush of tedious rituals, masked threats And monsters armed with the same roar Reader Immediately aware that the poem is not written from the perspective of a normal ‘soldier’. Language indicates repetitious and cyclical nature of war and service. Adjectives undermine ceremonial, royal and glorious connotations of fanfare and joust. Enjambement used repeatedly to defeat our expectaions. Stern – but only as stern as music. ‘King’s command’, but reinforced by threat of punishment. ‘ threat of court martial’. ’tilting or charging’ but at something unreal. Soldiers portrayed as embittered, forced to suffer and hide pain for fear of punishment Betrothed reinforces notion of being ‘forced’ to act against your will Bleak and serious message portrayed with humourous tone through the use of irony ‘great finnesse’ and satire ‘pot bellies’ Caesura indicates a sudden lurch from ‘prebattle preparations’ to ‘readiness’ and unity of war. Second stanza represents the actual battle as something never ending and Metaphorical language. War as a game controlled by invisible forces who stand to gain. Expensive fantasyland indicates the futuristic and terrifying array of weapons.

Glory is the unexpected result of sacrifice. In the end we will perhaps suprise ourselves and emerge unlikely heroes with long years of braving the same horrors pinned on our tunic fronts, we will have proven that Siphyus is not a myth. We will play the game till the monotony Sends his lordship to sleep. We will march the same trails till they break Onto new trails, our lives stumbling Onto the open sea, into daybreak. Shorter lines of nine syllables indicating a change to more optimistic tone. Mythical reference. Does poet mean that there is purpose in the apparent purposelessness of war? If only to, through repetition, achieve glory. Repetition of ‘we will’ reinforces idea of soldiers losing individuality, they are a mass to be used. Contrast with ‘his lordship’. Compare with endings of other poems. Why end with optimistic symbols of open see and daybreak?

You Cannot Do This - Gwendolyn Mac. Ewen Gwendolyn was a peniless alcoholic who dropped out of university to study Greek. She led a life of hardship, grief and passion and died early of alcoholism. This poem was written in the sixties were the biggest political issue was Vietnam Alienation of soldiers from commanders Humanity contrasted with the dehumanisation of war

Lack of introduction, like we are entering in the middle of an argument. Phrase which when used suggests that someone ‘can’ do something but shouldn’t. It is a desperate phrase indicating often an abuse of power or position. Metaphor indicates that clearly the ‘this’ that the unidentified ‘they’ are doing is something violent. It destroys futures and landscapes. These images are associated with power and masculinity What is being done has various associations with celebration, power and authority but it is impossible to define. War as impossible to define? Death statistics and history books will condemn the powerful Speaker identifies herself with victims of suffering You Cannot Do This you cannot do this to them, these are my people; I am not speaking of poetry, I am not speaking of art. you cannot do this to them, these are my people. you cannot hack away the horizon in front of their eyes. the tomb articulate will record your doing; I will record it also, this is not art. this is a kind of science, a kind of hobby, a kind of personal vice like coin collecting. it has something to do with horses and signet rings and school trophies; it has something to do with the pride of the loins; it has something to do with good food and music, and something to do with power, and dancing, you cannot do this to them, these are my people. Art as purposeful and political (vs Wilde – art for arts sake) First two stanzas end with unbroken phrases. Poetic Rhythm is broken – more of a ‘telling’ style Singular phrases return (no commas) introducing a more fluid rythmn relating to the fluidity of meaning associated with ‘something to do with’ Human race? Brotherhood between poet and victims of power?

My Dreams Are of A Field Afar Written during first world war by eminent Classical Scholar from Cambridge. The guilt felt by war survivors. Soldiers as powerless, merely carrying out orders

Taken literally as nightwares or his memories Link to the 7 th line of Attack. Brute nouns of war repeated, never ending, stark. Plainly stated revelation of the guilt of living and role of homour. No dignity left in life. Bitter litoses, poet ‘forgets’ humanity’s purpose is to destroy one another and tries to preserve himself (more apt nature of humanity? ) My Dreams Are Of A Field Afar My dreams are of a field afar And blood and smoke and shot. There in their graves my comrades are, In my grave I am not. I too was taught the trade of man And spelt the lesson plain; But they, when I forgot and ran, Remembered and remain Consonance mirrors opening but changes to more of a murmuring lament. Litoses again. Idyllic opening line, ‘field afar’ first indicates something beautiful and natural. Consonance of ‘a’ showing harmony. Quickly taken away by brutality of the second line. Regular syntax inverted, death is foregrounded. Death ever present. Extremely cynical view of human nature as destructive and violent. Ironic euphemism – spelt the lesson plain. There is no room for misinterpretation. Human’s ‘trade’ is to kill

Anthem for Doomed Youth – Wilfred Owen Themes: Contextual Info: WW 1 poet heavily critical of war. Killed in action. War destroys what makes us human (Religion). War as wholly destructive

These two lines open with trochaic foot indicating inversion of natural order Octet juxtaposes sombre subdued sounds and images of religion with freneticism of war Their (orisons) true purpose is destruction. Religion is secondary to surviva hence ‘hasty patter’. Final line of sested alters mood to reflective agony of those at home. Begins the memorial tone of the sestet. Doomed ironically distanced from it’s more Christian ‘doomsday meaning. Highlights problem of evil. Their doomsday is earthly. ANTHEM FOR DOOMED YOUTH What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle Can patter out their hasty orisons. No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells, Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, – The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells; And bugles calling for them from sad shires. What candles may be held to speed them all? Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes. The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall; Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds, And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds. Humanity replaces religion to give symbols meaning Link to end of attack – end of time Cultural connotations of a sacred sacrifice are ironic in this context. Suggests lack of direction or control over destiny Interesting choice of synonym for prayer, etymology suggests less `pleading` and more of a discourse than ‘prayer’ Comforting symbols of tradition destroyed (along with faith? ) Apocalyptic images of insanity. Religion shown as insane? Sestest more Religion reflective, inverted. sombre & memorial

A Man I Am Stevie Smith became known for using a somewhat humorous and even jaunty tone whilst dealing with serious subject matter. Title and style of poem reminiscent of Dr Zeuss Green Eggs and Ham, the best selling children’s book published in the sixties. Throughout these books, there is no narrative just imagery (like the poem). Often Dr Zeuss uses ‘I was/I am’ and simple language of description, like this poem. Poem can be read as an adult homage to the children’s books. The books are about being forced to do something you do not want, as is the poem. The guilt of humanity and it’s relation to original sin. God as both comforting and punishing Man as having to act against his will and being made to feel guilty about it

Clearly represents more than just ‘a man’ – all mankind perhaps? Speaker originally driven by primeval and uncivilized Repetition of ‘I’ - first person followed urges. Could not indicates lack of control by verb create a personal and active A Man I Am I was consumed by so much hate I did not feel that I could wait, I could not wait for long at anyrate. I ran into the forest wild, I seized a little new born child, I tore his throat, I licked my fang, Just like a wolf. A wolf I am. I ran wild for centuries Beneath the immemorial trees, Sometimes I thought my heart would freeze, And never know a moment’s ease, But presently the spring broke in Upon the pastures of my sin, My poor heart bled like anything. tone. Speaker was simple, primordial and based in action not language. Possible biblical reference? Certainly new born children symbolize innocence. Innocence is voraciously destroyed. Use of caesura indicates a shift from past to present ‘I am’. Something of the wolf remains in the speaker. A Wolf is a deeply symbolic animal. Signifies evil, guilt and pre-societal desire and instinctive action. Opposite of reason. Restless and sinful man. Ran wild indicates full freedom without the burden of sin or any perception of ‘how to behave’. Totally instinctual. Assonance of this word gives it a calming and seductive connotation. Freedom of man as something to be missed – notalgia perhaps? The Spring symbolizes rebirth and renewal. The speaker ‘mankind’ is aware of his sinning and regrets it.

Refers to original sin. Mankind is the man I am and following ‘the fall’ humankind grew steadily more and more sinfu until Jesus arrives to take away sin. The drops fell down, I knew remorse, I tasted that primeval curse, And falling ill, I soon grew worse. Until at last I cried on him, Before whom angel faces dim, To take the burden of my sin And break my head beneath his wing. Upon the silt of death I swam And as I wept my joy began Just like a man. A man I am. Violence of civilization and Christianity. Man has been civilized through violence of Christianity. God as a threatening violent entity. Normally joyful image of ‘death conquered’ given a bitter twist – swimming on the ‘silt’ of death. Ends with wolf from man. Man is transformed to a civilized creature through christ and ‘breaking’ of primeval urges.

Here – R. S. Thomas Author a dedicate Christian who believed that technology had severed man from God. He was an Anglican minister. Suffering as an inevitable aspect of human existence. Humans as alineated from God and each other. Humanity losing touch with what makes them human.

Repetition of ‘I’ indicating a personal tone although what is this man a metaphor for? All men? An extra syllable than the opening lines. Stress order reverses as he expresses innocence. Suggestive of a change from the past HERE R. S. Thomas I am a man now. Pass your hand over my brow, You can feel the place where the brains grow. I am like a tree, From my top boughs I can see The footprints that led up to me There is blood in my veins that has run clear of the stain Contracted in so many loins. Why, then, are my hands red With the blood of so many dead? Is this where I was misled? Asking to be examined, almost to prove humanity. A strange proof. Separates ‘self’ from ‘brain’. Brain vs mind. Mankind as a ‘tree’ or natural object examining itself through history and evolution. Metaphor for original sin. Mankind should not feel guilty because blood has ‘run clear’. Questions indicate speakers desire to understand his guilt or humanity’s guilt?

Human’s do not control their own destiny but are victims of fate and chance. God cannot help. Metaphor indicating he is out of touch with reality. He is again powerless to change fate. Universe moves independently of humanity. Why are my hands this way That they will not do as I say? Does no God hear when I pray? I have nowhere to go. The swift satellites show The clock of my being is slow. It is too late to start For destinations not of the heart. I must stay here with my hurt Human’s trapped by their humanity Humanity destined to suffer Questions express his own innocence and inability to change anything. Poweressness. Desires freedom from guilt of humanity. Final two lines only a half rhyme giving a sense of Incompleteness and incongruity between humanity and the world

A Dream – W Allingham Irish poet who lived towards the end of the 19 th century. Ireland constantly suffered at the hands of the English and was in a perpetual state of war fuelled by religious sectarianism and nationalism. Nostalgia for the past The relentless passing of time

A Dream I heard the dogs howl in the moonlight night; I went to the window to see the sight; All the Dead that ever I knew Going one by one and two by two. On they passed, and on they passed; Townsfellows all, from first to last; Born in the moonlight of the lane, Quenched in the heavy shadow again. Schoolmates, marching as when we played At soldiers once – but now more staid; Those were the strangest sight to me Who were drowned, I knew, in the awful sea. Straight and handsome folk; bent and weak too; Some that I loved, and gasped to speak to; Some but a day in their churchyard bed; Some that I had not known were dead. From gothic imagery of dogs howling in the moonlight we might expect a gothic or horrific style. Instead we are greeted with a very calm and interested observer who feels no fear. Extremely regular iambic pentameter in first two lines changes to iambic octameter in third line. More direct. Regularity of iambs here mirrors the order of the marchers. Almost like they are a parade marching to the beat of the poem. Ordinary people, there is nothing sinister about them, just that they are dead. Born and quenched in the dream, they are temporary and fleeting. Quenched by his own subconscious Adjective implying more fixed and proper, despite being shadows. In death they are more ‘real’ perhaps. The dead are merely strange, not terrifying. Impression of being unfrightening emphasised by alliteration with sigh.

A long, long crowd – where each seemed lonely Yet of them all there was one, one only, Raised a head or looked my way: She lingered a moment, - she might not say. How long since I saw that fair pale face! Ah! Mother dear! might I only place My head on they breast, a moment to rest, While thy hand on my tearful cheek were pressed! On, on, a moving bridge they made Across the moon-stream, from shade to shade, Young and old, women and men; Many long-forgot, but remembered then. And first there came a bitter laughter; A sound of tears a moment after; And then a music so lofty and gay, That every morning, day by day, I strive to recall it if I may. Phrase to emphasise the uniqueness and also complete pentameter Use of punctuation and exclamation draw attention to the depth of emotion felt at this recollection. Nostalgic longing for the past. Speaker longs to be reunited. Again the language choices drive the poem forwards as wel as reflecting the movement of the dream. Here we are given a clue as to speaker’s attitude to his dream. He feels he is honouring the dead. Juxtaposition of tears and laughter emphasise the complexity of dream. We are to view it as both pain and celebration

A Quoi Bon Dire – Charlotte Mew was born in London in 1869, the third child of an architect, and was educated at a girl's school in London. In May 1912 Mew was introduced to May Sinclair, a leading novelist who was active in the women's suffrage movement. Mew fell in love with her, but although Sinclair encouraged her writing; she did not reciprocate Mew's feelings and the relationship eventually broke up. The period from 1913 was one of the most productive periods for Mew's poetry, however, and she became an increasingly published and admired poet. A fear of hereditary mental illness had led Mew and her sister to vow not to marry: both her elder brother and another younger sister had been taken to mental hospitals. In 1927, still grieving from the death of her sister, Mew killed herself, possibly because she feared the onset of insanity. Time is relentless and destroys physical things but souls can persevere Love as conquering Nostalgia for the past

Use of second person indicates a personal and intimate tone Straightforward ‘telling’ style of language indicates a calm, unshakeable faith in reunification A Quoi Bon Dire Seventeen years ago you said Something that sounded like Good-bye; And everybody thinks that you are dead, But I. So I, as I grow stiff and cold To this and that say Good-Bye too; And everybody sees that I am old But you. And one fine morning in a sunny lane Some boy and girl will meet and kiss and swear That nobody can love their way again While over there You will have smiled, I shall have tossed your hair. Difficulty an awkwardness of this word is reflected in it’s disjunction or ‘lack of fit’ with the otherwise gentle almost melodic rythmn. Uncomfortable and isolated trochees are ‘reunited’ in final stanza. Suggests reunion. Whistful nostalgic tone created by mesmeric, calm repeated rythmn. Anapestic foot (delayed stress) creates delayed expectaion Faith and passion of youth refound in death. Timelessness Calm acceptance of everybody sees. Speaker is aware of love. of passage of time but spiritual realm sustains her.

Time’s Fool– Ruth pitter Pitter described herself as "rural by adoption" citing the woodlands where she walked as a child and where the family later had a cottage as another vital influence. Throughout her life the natural world remained a key inspiration, more essential to her imaginative well-being than human relationships. In her discussion with her fellow poet, John Wain, she talks about the powerful mysteriousness of poetry, a kind of valuable obscurity which resonates in a reader's mind and even body. This, she makes clear, is what she is trying to capture in her poems. Thom Gunn described as "the most modest of poets, slipping us her riches as if they were everyday currency. " Time brings hardship Nostalgia for youth, a time of freedom and simplicty.

Caesura and placement Time’s Fool of not after hope defeats expectation of heaven Time’s fool, but not heaven’s: yet hope not for any return. Strange to describe kettle as The rabbit-eaten dry branch and the halfpenny candle treasure. Kettle implies Are lost with the other treasure: the sooty kettle domestication and homeliness Thrown away, become redbreast’s home in the hedge, where the nettle Consonance and Shoots up, and bad bindweed wreathes rust-fretted handle. alliteration create Under that broken thing no more shall the dry branch burn. jarring fricative sounds. Repeated phrases indicating human and natural destruction by time Poor comfort all comfort: once what the mouse had spared Was enough, was delight, there where the heart was at home; The hard cankered apple holed by the wasp and the bird, The damp bed, with the beetle’s tap in the headboard heard, The dim bit of mirror, three inches of comb: Dear enough, when with youth and fancy shared. I knew that the roots were creeping under the floor, That the toad was safe in his hole, the poor cat by the fire, The starling snug in the roof, each slept in his place: The lily in splendour, the vine in her grace The fox in the forest, all had their desire, As then I had mine, in the place that was happy and poor. Time does not flow. Pleasantness of comfort undermined by it’s poverty and brevity. Metaphor - love and stability lost in time ‘once’ Adjectives suggesting suffering and poverty. Anapestic feet used in final lines – nostalgia and uninterrupted

Cold in the Earth - Bronte A tension between memory and forgetting One of her early formative experiences involved a narrow escape from death on the moors which shaped her view of the moors as beautiful and compelling. The moors appeared to combine death and desire, and Emily incorporated this into the unusual religious and spiritual symbolism which is integral to her work. Guilt at forgetting Time’s destructive features

Ceremonial formality created Vivid graphic corpse like language. Morbid. by choice of register. Mirrors speakers melancholy. Honouring the dead. Cold in the earth, and the deep snow piled above thee! Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave! Have I forgot, my Only Love, to love thee, Severed at last by Time’s all-wearing wave? Now, when alone, do my thoughts no longer hover Over the mountains on Angora’s shore; Resting their wings where heath and fern-leaves cover That noble heart for ever, ever more? Cold in the earth, and fifteen wild Decembers From those brown hills have melted into spring – Faithful indeed is the spirit that remembers After such years of change and suffering! Sweet Love of youth, forgive if I forget thee While the World’s tide is bearing me along: Sterner desires and darker hopes beset me, Hopes which obscure but cannot do thee wrong. No other Sun has lighted up my heaven; No other Star has ever shone for me: All my life’s bliss from thy dear life was given – All my life’s bliss is in thy grave with thee. Implications of cold are permanence. ‘frozen’. Contrasted to movement and changes of time. Capital of Turkey a very ‘strange and far away place to be reached only in the imagination but now childish imagination has died. Imagery reminiscent of Wuthering Heights. Typical Yorkshire plants Symbolically important to her writing. Reps spirituality Religious overtones of dedication, faith and service conflict with doubt about her own authenticity with the ideal of self sacrifice and piety. Uses anapestic foot in the last lines of each stanza. This delays the stress mirroring the time spent Challenges of life mourning and rebirth to empty world. Contrasting symbols of ‘spring’, living and changing and rebirth with ‘sun’ powerful, permanent and unchanging fidelity. Speaker torn between these impulses.

Rhymes draw attention to the duality of love and death and the latters destructive force. Duality of the sensuality of pain But when the days of golden dreams had perished And even Despair was powerless to destroy, Then did I learn how existence could be cherished, Strengthened and fed without the aid of joy; Then did I check the tears of useless passion, Weaned my young soul from yearning after thine; Sternly denied its burning wish to hasten Down to that tomb already more than mine! And even yet, I dare not let it languish, Dare not involve in Memory’s rapturous pain; Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish , How could I seek the empty world again? Use of questions almost a cry for help, for empathy with death’s destructive impact Cathy in WH – has to be ‘feminised’ by removal of passion. Women asked to check desire and passion for social rules and regulations. Use of exclamations in 1, 3, 7 mirror torment of anguish. Exploding beyond words. Torn between dead living and living death. Torturous indecision. A ‘release’ from confines of Victorian expectations of femininity. Explosion of passion Sensual depths of pain as something wonderful and elevating.

From The Triumpth of Time Swinburne was bore in London and was a member of the aristocracy. He lived a hedonistic life of pleasure and excess. Oscar Wilde, thoroughly capable of inventing his own interesting fictions, called him "a braggart in matters of vice, who had done everything he could to convince his fellow citizens of his homosexuality and bestiality without being in the slightest degree a homosexual or a bestializer. " Love being lost Imagination of the past Regret over choices

From the Triumph of Time Before our lives divide for ever, While time is with us and hands are free, (Time, swift to fasten and swift to sever Hand from hand, as we stand by the sea) I will say no word that a man might say Whose whole life’s love goes down in a day; For this could never have been; and never, Though the gods and the years relent, shall be. Is it worth a tear, is it worth an hour, To think of things that are well outworn? Of fruitless husk and fugitive flower, The dream foregone and the deed foreborne? Though joy be done with and grief be vain, Time shall not sever us wholly in twain; Earth is not spoilt for a single shower; But the tain has ruined the ungrown corn. It will not grow again, this fruit of my heart, Smitten with sunbeams, runied with rain. The singing seasons divide and depart, Winter and summer depart in twain. It will grow not again, it is ruined at root, The bloodlike blossom, the dull red fruit; Though the heart yet sickens, the lips yet smart, With sullen savour of poisonous pain. Writer was Aristocracy so he had a lot of free time Parenthetices indicating the enclosed as an ‘aside’. Possessive pronoun indicates poem is directed towards another. Impossibility of what he believes happened – the ending of his love. In traditional Ottava Rima the rhyming couplet is at the end of the stanza. Time is not a linear progression towards one end point. Destruction not inevitable. Metaphorical images associated with change and growth. Change as positive. Uses religious imagery.

I have given no man of my fruit to eat; I trod the grapes, I have drunken the wine. Had you eaten and drunken and found it sweet, This wild new growth of the corn and vine, This wine and bread without lees or leaven , We had grown as gods, as the gods in heaven, Souls fair to look upon, goodly to greet, One splendid spirit, your soul and mine. In the change of years, in the coil of things, In the clamour and rumour of life to be, We, drinking love at the furthest springs, Covered with love as a covering tree, We had grown as gods, as the gods above, Filled from the heart to the lips with love, Held fast in his hands, clothed warm with his wings, O love, my love, had you loved but me! We had stood as the sure stars stand, and moved As the moon moves, loving the world; and seen Grief collapse as a thing disproved, Death consume as a thing unclean. Twain halves of a perfect heart, made fast Soul to soul while the years fell past; Had you loved me once, as you have not loved; Had the chance been with us that has not been. Language indicating a sensual enjoyment of love Biblical language of love Elevated and aggrandised language taking lovers onto a spiritual plane as ‘gods’ however this is only an ‘if’. Future described as serpentine and restrictive. Clamour and rumour describing inderterminacy and baseness. Love metaphorially decribed as a tree and a spring. Restorative, natural and isolated from ‘clamour’ of time. Poem is punctuated by the conditional had which indicates that the poet is speculating on IF they ‘had’ continued. Reality is that he is separated from his lover. Perhaps he has been rejected – suggested by ‘have not loved’.

From The Ballad of Reading Gaol Written when Wilde was in self-exile in Paris having been imprisoned for homosexuality. Wilde proclaimed he wished to pursue ‘art for arts sake’. Art was to have no political purpose but to be appreciated for it’s form and immediate effect. Nothing else mattered. Reading the context for this poem is then, perhaps a waste of time. Empathy with suffering The shared destructive tendency of man.

Balland of Reading Gaol He did not wear his scarlet coat, For blood and wine are red, And blood and wine were on his hands When they found him with the dead, The poor dead woman whom he loved And murdered in her bed. He walked amongst the Trial Men In a suit of shabby grey; A cricket cap was on his head, And his step seemed light and gay ; But I never saw a man who looked So wistfully at the day. I never saw a man who looked With such a wistful eye Upon that little tent of blue Which prisoners call the sky, And at every drifting cloud that went With sail of silver by. Opening stanza almost in the style of a narrative poem, an almost journalistic style. Pulsating regular iambic style of a narrative moving swiftly forwards. Defeated expectation. We expect the blood to have come from his tryng to rescue her ‘woman he loved’ but we discovere he murdered her. Eccentric middle class clothing Rhyming of light and gay with wistful contrasts his manner with his soul. Inner conflict revealed. For whom is this sad yearning? His wife or his own freedom… it is unclear. Tiny morsel of freedom Metaphorical: cloud as sailboat – image of freedom.

I walked , with other souls in pain, Within another ring, And was wondering if the man had done A great or little thing, When a voice behind me whispered low, “that fellow’s got to swing. ” Dear Christ! The very prison walls Suddenly seemed to real, And the sky above my head became Like a casque of scorching steel; And, though I was a soul in pain, My pain I could not feel. I only knew what hunted thought Quickened his step, and why He looked upon the garish day With such a wistful eye; The man had killed the thing he loved, And so he had to die. …. This poem is an extract from a much longer poem. The speaker is another prisoner so the poem is about shared understanding of being trapped. Speaker has identified with the man and sees him as someone to be pitied so the revelation of his upcoming hanging shocks him.

Yet each man kills the thing he loves, By each let this be heard, Some do it with a bitter look, Some with a flattering word, The coward does it with a kiss, The brave man with a sword! Some kill their love when they are young; And some when they are old; Some strangle with the hands of Lust, Some with the hands of Gold: The kindest use a knife, because The dead so soon grow cold. Some love too little, some too long, Some sell, and others buy; Some do the deed with many tears, And some without a sigh: For each man kills the things he loves. Yet each man does not die. He does not die a death of shame On a day of dark discrace, Nor have a noose about his neck, Nor a cloth upon his face, Nor drop feet foremost through the floor Into an empty space. Here we are ‘told’ the message of the poem very clearly. Unambiguous. Reference to Judas Patterns of opposites indicating the universality of guilt. Everyone is guilty in different ways. Bleak view of humanity as self destructive. Speaker believes we are all guilty.