PRO ARTE ALPHEN PARK

ENGLISH HOME LANGUAGE GRADE 11

POETRY NOTES for 2024

LITERARY TERMS

POETIC FORMS

PERIODS of ENGLISH POETRY

THEME ONE: Life & Love

1. Old Folks Laugh (Maya Angelou)
2. Mad Girl’s Love Song (Sylvia Plath)
3. Vincent (Don McLean)
4. Gate A-4 (Naomi Shihab Nye)

THEME TWO: Nature & God

5. Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Goldfish (Thomas Gray)
6. To Winter (Claude McKay)
7. The Jaguar (Ted Hughes)
8. Even in Kyoto (Kobayashi Issa)

THEME THREE: Protest & Existentialism

9. Unknown Citizen (W.H. Auden)
10. Dulce et Decorum est (Wilfred Owen)
11. Complainers (Rudy Francisco)
12. For the Consideration of Poets (Haki R. Madhubuti)

UNSEEN POEMS & FURTHER READING

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LITERARY TERMS

literary apostrophe directly addressing the audience in a poem

alliteration repetition of consonant sounds at the
beginning of words
allusion indirect reference to another work of litera-
ture or popular culture.
anaphora repetition of a series of words at the begin-
ning of clauses
antithesis direct opposition to something
assonance the repetition of similar vowel sounds
euphemism less direct, less harsh way of saying something difficult
hyperbole deliberate exaggeration for effect
innuendo implication indirectly stated tongue in cheek
irony the opposite of what is expected happens
litotes deliberate understatement using the negative
metaphor indirect comparison of two objects or people
metonymy substitution of a name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing
meant (the turf for horse racing)
onomatopoeia imitation of a sound
oxymoron apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction
paradox logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary
to one's expectation
personification giving human attributes to animals or inanimate objects
pun play on word which sound similar or the same
simile direct comparison using the word ‘like’ or ‘as’
synecdoche a part is used to represent the whole or vice versa
sarcasm verbal irony showing one’s disdain for an idea or person
satire mocking a serious issue in order to highlight a problem

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POETIC FORMS

BLANK VERSE
Blank verse is poetry written with a precise meter — almost always iambic pentameter —
that does not rhyme.

RHYMED POETRY
In contrast to blank verse, rhymed poems rhyme by definition, although their scheme varies.
Often there are repetitive stanzaic structures (e.g. quatrains or sestets)

FREE VERSE
Free verse poetry is poetry that lacks a consistent rhyme scheme, metrical pattern, or
musical form. Learn more about free verse here.

EPIC POETRY
An epic poem is a lengthy, narrative work of poetry. These long poems typically detail
extraordinary feats and adventures of characters from a distant past.

NARRATIVE POETRY
Similar to an epic, a narrative poem tells a story. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The
Midnight Ride of Paul Revere and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner exemplify this form.

HAIKU
A haiku is a three-line poetic form originating in Japan. The first line has five syllables, the
second line has seven syllables, and the third line again has five syllables.

PASTORAL POETRY
A pastoral poem is one that concerns the natural world, rural life, and landscapes. These
poems have persevered from Ancient Greece (in the poetry of Hesiod) to Ancient Rome
(Virgil) to the present day (Gary Snyder).

SONNET
A sonnet is a 14 line poem with a specialised content structure, typically (but not exclusively)
concerning the topic of love. Sonnets contain internal rhymes within their 14 lines; the exact
rhyme scheme depends on the style of a sonnet. There are several types of sonnet.

ELEGIES
An elegy is a poem that reflects upon death or loss. Traditionally, it contains themes of
mourning, loss, and reflection. However, it can also explore themes of redemption and
consolation.

ODE
Much like an elegy, an ode is a tribute to its subject, although the subject need not be dead
or even sentient, as in John Keats’s Ode on a Grecian Urn.

LIMERICK
A limerick is a five-line poem that consists of a single stanza, an AABBA rhyme scheme, and
whose subject is a short, pithy tale or description.
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LYRIC POETRY
Lyric poetry refers to the broad category of poetry that concerns feelings and emotion. This
distinguishes it from two other poetic categories: epic and dramatic.

BALLAD
A ballad (or ballade) is a form of narrative verse that can be either poetic or musical. It
typically follows a pattern of rhymed quatrains. From John Keats to Samuel Taylor Coleridge
to Bob Dylan, it represents a melodious form of storytelling.

SOLILOQUY
A soliloquy is a monologue in which a character speaks to him or herself, expressing inner
thoughts that an audience might not otherwise know. Soliloquies are not definitionally
poems, although they often can be, most famously in the plays of William Shakespeare.

VILLANELLE
A nineteen-line poem consisting of five tercets and a quatrain, with a highly specified internal
rhyme scheme. Originally a variation on a pastoral, the villanelle has evolved to describe
obsessions and other intense subject matters, as exemplified by Dylan Thomas, author of
villanelles like Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.

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PERIODS of ENGLISH POETRY
The past 1100 years of English poetry are roughly divided into 8 periods. These periods are not
absolute, because there is quite a bit of overlapping between them. This division into periods is a
convenient way of tracing the development of English poetry over nearly eleven centuries. It is also
useful because it can inform us about a specific poem or poet’s background or intention.

Old and Middle English Period

The earliest form of English is known as Old English or Anglo-Saxon. Old English was spoken from
about 800 to 1100. Middle English followed old English (traditionally 1066 to 1450). This period is
especially well known for its epic poetry (Beowulf) and ballads (Sir Gawain). Geoffrey Chaucer (circa
1343 to 1400) is generally regarded as the father of the modern English poetic tradition. His most
famous poetic work is the Canterbury Tales, an epic poem written in the ballad tradition.

Elizabethan Period
This period is named after Queen Elizabeth I who lived from 1533 to 1603. The most famous
Elizabeth poet is William Shakespeare.

Metaphysical Poetry
The first half of the seventeenth century produced such poets as John Donne. The metaphysical
poets deal with matters of ultimate reality, such as the nature of life and death and man’s relationship
with God and the universe. Metaphysical poetry is famous for its meticulous and often obscure use of
imagery as well as its erudite and worldly nature.

The Age of Reason / The Enlightenment

This age comprises two periods. The first is called the Restoration (1660 to 1700) and is followed by
the Augustan Period (1670 to 1780). The Age of Reason broadly overlaps with various forms of
classicism in the other arts – classicism looks back to the formality and logic of the Greco-Roman
world. Alexander Pope is the best known poet from this era which is characterised by poetry that is
carefully constructed and philosophical in content.

The Romantic Period

This period falls between 1770 and 1840. Great poets of this era are William Blake, William
Wordsworth, Lord Byron, Shelley and Keats. The term ‘Romanticism’ refers to a break from classical
ideals, a break from logical and scientific thinking – it emphasises the emotions, man’s connection to
(or disjunction from) nature and individualism. Modern democracy was born from this period.

The Victorian Period

This period coincided with the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901. Social, economic and
religious matters were the main issues dealt with by poets and novelists. This is not surprising as it
was the age of The Industrial Revolution and the socio-political changes had a profound effect on
every single person. Poets such as Matthew Arnold, Robert Browning and Lord Tennyson wrote
during this period.

Georgian Poetry
This era falls between 1912 and 1922 with such poets as Walter de la Mare. Some of the poetry
deals with matters relating to the countryside and are quite traditional in form.

Modern (20th Century) Poetry

The modern era is difficult to define because there is such a vast array of poets in this period.
Generally poetry from the modern period deals with some form of existentialist crisis. The world
changed so radically and quickly that many people felt left by the wayside and started questioning the
ideologies on which civilisation had been built - especially religion and social expectations. First World
War poetry (for instance that of Wilfred Owen) dealt with the horrors and senselessness of war.

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1. OLD FOLKS LAUGH (Maya Angelou)

They have spent their 1

content of simpering,
holding their lips this
and that way, winding
the lines between 5
their brows. Old folks
allow their bellies to jiggle like slow
tambourines.
The hollers
rise up and spill 10
over any way they want.
When old folks laugh, they free the world.
They turn slowly, slyly knowing
the best and the worst
of remembering. 15
Saliva glistens in
the corners of their mouths,
their heads wobble
on brittle necks, but
their laps 20
are filled with memories.
When old folks laugh, they consider the promise
of dear painless death, and generously
forgive life for happening
to them. 25

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BACKGROUND: Maya Angelou (1928–2014)

Angelou was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven
autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of
plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards
and more than 50 honorary degrees. Angelou is best known for her series of seven
autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. In 1982, she
was named the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University. She
was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm
X. She was respected as a spokesperson for Black people and women, and her works have
been considered a defence of Black culture. Her books centre on themes including racism,
identity, family and travel.

QUESTIONS: Old Folks Laugh

1. Study the first sentence of the poem carefully. Explain the meaning of the sentence by
rewriting it in your own words.
2. What is significant about the fact that ‘old folks allow their bellies to jiggle’?
3. Comment on the effectiveness of the comparisons of their bellies to ‘slow tambourines’.
4. ‘The hollers / rise up and spill / over any way they want.’
a. Identify the poetic technique apparent in this sentence spanning three lines.
b. Comment on the effectiveness of this technique in reinforcing the meaning.
c. What do we learn about the way old folks laugh from these words?
5. What do you think Angelou means by saying that ‘[w]hen old folks laugh, they free the
world’?
6. How does Angelou slow down the pace of the sentence in line 13 to 15? What is
achieved by this change in pace?
7. Discuss the appropriateness of the word ‘slyly’ (line 13) in the context of the poem.
8. Refer to the sentence ‘Saliva glistens...with memories’ (line 16 to 21):
a. Comment on the impact of the visual imagery created by the diction.
b. Which word marks a change in tone?
c. How does the change in tone influence the meaning?
9. When old folks laugh, why do they ‘consider the promise / of dear painless death’?
10. Explain why old folks would need to ‘forgive life for happening to them.’
11. What does the word ‘generously’ tell us about the speaker’s point of view?

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2. MAD GIRL’S LOVE SONG (Sylvia Plath)

I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; 1

I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,

And arbitrary blackness gallops in: 5
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed

And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade: 10

Exit seraphim and Satan's men:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I fancied you'd return the way you said,

But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.) 15

I should have loved a thunderbird instead;

At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

BACKGROUND: Sylvia Plath (1932–1963)

Born in 1932 to middle class parents in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts,

Sylvia Plath published her first poem at the age of eight. A sensitive person
who tended to be a bit of a perfectionist she was what many would
consider a model daughter and student - popular, a straight A student,
always winning the best prizes. She won a scholarship to Smith College in
1950 and even then she had an enviable list of publications. While at Smith
she wrote over four hundred poems.

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QUESTIONS: Mad Girl’s Love Song

1. Identify the central theme. How does Sylvia Plath use imagery to convey this?
2. In which way does the title of the poem relate to the emotions expressed in the
poem?
3. How does the use of repetition in the line ‘I think I made you up inside my head’,
impact the reader’s understanding of the poem?
4. Give one example from stanza 5 of a phrase or line that can be interpreted in multiple
ways. Why might the poet have used this technique?
5. Identify the figurative language in stanza 4. How does this change the way the poet is
viewed?
6. Discuss the poem's tone and mood. How does the poet's choice of words contribute
to the overall atmosphere of the poem?
7. Analyse the structure of the poem. How does the shifting between past and present
tense contribute to the reader's understanding of the speaker's state of mind?
8. What does the speaker mean by the phrase ‘the stars go waltzing out in blue and
red’ in the last stanza?

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3. VINCENT (Don McLean)

Starry, starry night 1

Paint your palette blue and gray
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul

Shadows on the hills 5

Sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colors on the snowy linen land

Now, I understand, what you tried to say to me

And how you suffered for your sanity 10
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now

Starry, starry night

Flaming flowers that brightly blaze 15
Swirling clouds in violet haze
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue

Colors changing hue

Morning fields of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain 20
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand

Now, I understand, what you tried to say to me

And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they did not know how 25
Perhaps they'll listen now

For they could not love you

But still your love was true
And when no hope was left inside
On that starry, starry night 30

You took your life as lovers often do

But I could have told you, Vincent
This world was never meant for one
As beautiful as you

Starry, starry night 35

Portraits hung in empty halls
Frame less heads on nameless walls
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget
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 Like the strangers that you've met
The ragged men in ragged clothes 40
The silver thorn of bloody rose
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow

Now, I think I know what you tried to say to me

And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free 45
They would not listen, they're not listening still
Perhaps they never will

BACKGROUND: Don McLean (1945–present)

Don McLean is a Grammy award honouree, a

Songwriter Hall of Fame member, a BBC Lifetime
Achievement award recipient, and his smash hit
'American Pie' resides in the Library of Congress
National Recording Registry and was named by the
Recording Industry of America (RIAA) top 5 song of
the 20th Century. A New York native, Don McLean is
one of the most revered and respected songwriters
in American history. After paying his dues in the New
York club scene in the late ‘60s, he went on to score
mega-hits like 'Vincent (Starry, Starry Night),'
'Castles in the Air' and many more.

QUESTIONS: Vincent

1. How does the poet convey his admiration for Vincent van Gogh in the po? Look
specifically at the descriptive language used.
2. Look at line 1. How does it set the tone and connect to van Gogh's art?
3. Identify descriptive language in stanza 2. How does this help to paint a picture of van
Gogh's life and work in the song?
4. Discuss the role of colour in the song, specifically in stanza 4. What does this
imagery represent?
5. Refer to lines 16 and 17. What does the symbolism convey about van Gogh’s artistic
vision?
6. How does the song mirror the emotional and psychological aspects of the artist’s life?
7. Identify the different elements in the poem that lead to it being an elegy.
8. How might 'Vincent' serve as a tribute to all artists and their struggles, not just
Vincent van Gogh?

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4. Gate A-4 (Naomi Shihab Nye)

Wandering around the Albuquerque Airport Terminal, 1

After learning my flight was detained 4 hours,
I heard the announcement:
If anyone in the vicinity of gate A-4 understands any Arabic,
Please come to the gate immediately. 5
Well—one pauses these days. Gate A-4 was my own gate. I went there.
An older woman in full traditional Palestinian dress,
Just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing loudly.
Help, said the flight service person. Talk to her. What is her
Problem? we told her the flight was going to be four hours late and she 10
Did this.

I put my arm around her and spoke to her haltingly.

Shu dow-a, shu- biduck habibti, stani stani schway, min fadlick,
Sho bit se-wee?

The minute she heard any words she knew—however poorly used— 15
She stopped crying.

She thought our flight had been cancelled entirely.

She needed to be in El Paso for some major medical treatment the
Following day. I said no, no, we’re fine, you’ll get there, just late,

Who is picking you up? Let’s call him and tell him. 20
We called her son and I spoke with him in English.
I told him I would stay with his mother till we got on the plane and
Would ride next to her—Southwest.

She talked to him. Then we called her other sons just for the fun of it.

Then we called my dad and he and she spoke for a while in Arabic and 25
Found out of course they had ten shared friends.

Then I thought just for the heck of it why not call some Palestinian
Poets I know and let them chat with her. This all took up about 2 hours.

She was laughing a lot by then. Telling about her life. Answering
Questions. 30

She had pulled a sack of homemade mamool cookies—little powdered

Sugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and nuts—out of her bag—
And was offering them to all the women at the gate.

To my amazement, not a single woman declined one. It was like a

Sacrament. The traveller from Argentina, the traveller from California, 35
The lovely woman from Laredo—we were all covered with the same
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Powdered sugar. And smiling. There are no better cookies.

And then the airline broke out the free beverages from huge coolers—
Non-alcoholic—and the two little girls for our flight, one African
American, one Mexican American—ran around serving us all apple juice 40
And lemonade and they were covered with powdered sugar too.

And I noticed my new best friend—by now we were holding hands—

Had a potted plant poking out of her bag, some medicinal thing,

With green furry leaves. Such an old country travelling tradition. Always
Carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere. 45

And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and thought,
This is the world I want to live in. The shared world.

Not a single person in this gate—once the crying of confusion stopped

—has seemed apprehensive about any other person.

They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other women too. 50
This can still happen anywhere.

Not everything is lost.

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BACKGROUND: Naomi Shihab Nye (1952–present)

Naomi Shihab Nye was born on March 12,

1952, in St. Louis to a Palestinian father and
an American mother. During her high school
years, she lived in Ramallah in Palestine, the
Old City in Jerusalem, and San Antonio,
Texas, where she later received her BA in
English and world religions from Trinity
University. Nye gives voice to her experience
as an Arab American through poems about
heritage and peace that overflow with a
humanitarian spirit. About her work, the poet
William Stafford has said, ‘her poems
combine transcendent liveliness and sparkle along with warmth and human insight. She is a
champion of the literature of encouragement and heart. Reading her work enhances life.’

QUESTIONS: Wandering around an Albuquerque airport terminal

1. Refer to the structure of the poem. How does it influence the tone and mood?
2. How does the poet explore the theme of human connection in an airport setting?
3. Refer to stanza 1. Explain how the use of diction in the stanza changes the tone.
4. Refer to stanza 10. Identify an example of sensory detail in the stanza. What does
this symbolise in the context of the poem?
5. Reflect on the theme of empathy and connection with strangers. How does the poem
suggest that brief encounters with others can have a lasting impact on our lives?
6. What do you understand of the term ‘ordinary magic’? How does the poem address
this notion? Give one example.
7. Refer to the last line of the poem. How does isolating this line change the final
message of the poem?

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5. ODE ON THE DEATH OF A FAVOURITE CAT DROWNED IN A TUB
OF GOLDFISHES (Thomas Gray)

’Twas on a lofty vase’s side, 1

Where China’s gayest art had dyed
The azure flowers that blow;
Demurest of the tabby kind,
The pensive Selima, reclined, 5
Gazed on the lake below.
Her conscious tail her joy declared;
The fair round face, the snowy beard,
The velvet of her paws,
Her coat, that with the tortoise vies, 10
Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes,
She saw; and purred applause.
Still had she gazed; but ’midst the tide
Two angel forms were seen to glide,
The genii of the stream; 15
Their scaly armour’s Tyrian hue
Through richest purple to the view
Betrayed a golden gleam.
The hapless nymph with wonder saw;
A whisker first and then a claw, 20
With many an ardent wish,
She stretched in vain to reach the prize.
What female heart can gold despise?
What cat’s averse to fish?
Presumptuous maid! with looks intent 25
Again she stretch’d, again she bent,
Nor knew the gulf between.
(Malignant Fate sat by, and smiled)
The slippery verge her feet beguiled,
She tumbled headlong in. 30
Eight times emerging from the flood
She mewed to every watery god,
Some speedy aid to send.
No dolphin came, no Nereid stirred;
Nor cruel Tom, nor Susan heard; 35
A Favourite has no friend!
From hence, ye beauties, undeceived,
Know, one false step is ne’er retrieved,
And be with caution bold.
Not all that tempts your wandering eyes 40
And heedless hearts, is lawful prize;
Nor all that glisters, gold.

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BACKGROUND: Thomas Gray (1716–1771)
Thomas Gray was an English poet, letter-writer, classical
scholar, and fellow at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He
is widely known for his Elegy Written in a Country
Churchyard, published in 1751. Gray was a self-critical
writer who published only 13 poems in his lifetime, despite
being very popular. He was even offered the position of
Poet Laureate in 1757 after the death of Colley Cibber,
though he declined.

QUESTIONS: Ode on the death of a favourite cat drowned in a tub of goldfishes

1. How is the title of the poem ironic, compared to other poems of the same structure?
2. Discuss the significance of the cat's name, Selima, and how it contributes to the
overall tone and mood of the poem.
3. Refer to stanza 2. Give one example of personification. What does it mean in context
of the poem?
4. How do the formal elements of rhyme and meter influence the poem's tone and
style?
5. How does the speaker's perspective and attitude towards Selima's death evolve
throughout the poem?
6. Discuss the symbolism of the goldfishes in the poem. What do they represent?
7. What is the purpose of the structural shift in stanza 5?
8. How does the poem reflect the idea of fate and the unstable nature of life and death,
especially in the context of the cat's unexpected end?
9. What is the moral lesson in the poem? Explain how the poet uses satire to convey a
deeper message.

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6. TO WINTER (Claude McKay)

Stay, season of calm love and soulful snows! 1

There is a subtle sweetness in the sun,
The ripples on the stream’s breast gaily run,
The wind more boisterously by me blows,
And each succeeding day now longer grows. 5
The birds a gladder music have begun,
The squirrel, full of mischief and of fun,
From maple’s topmost branch the brown twig throws.
I read these pregnant signs, know what they mean:
I know that thou art making ready to go. 10
Oh stay! I fled a land where fields are green
Always, and palms wave gently to and fro,
And winds are balmy, blue brooks ever sheen,
To ease my heart of its impassioned woe.

BACKGROUND: Claude McKay (1889–1948)

Claude McKay, who was born in Jamaica in 1889,

wrote about social and political concerns from his
perspective as a Black man in the United States, as
well as a variety of subjects ranging from his
Jamaican homeland to romantic love. Born Festus
Claudius McKay in Sunny Ville, Jamaica in 1889,
was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance, a
prominent literary movement of the 1920s. His work
ranged from vernacular verse celebrating peasant
life in Jamaica to poems that protested racial and
economic inequities. His philosophically ambitious
fiction, including tales of Black life in both Jamaica
and America, addresses instinctual/intellectual
duality, which McKay found central to the Black individual’s efforts to cope in a racist society.

QUESTIONS: To winter

1. How does the poet express his feelings toward winter throughout the poem?
2. Refer to the title. What does it imply about the content of the poem?
3. Look at the poem’s structure. Does the structure influence the tone of the poem, and if
so, how?
4. Give an example of sensory language to describe the characteristics and effects of
winter in the poem.
5. Analyse the use of personification in the portrayal of winter as a 'weary hag' and 'old
and pale.' What effect does this have on the reader's understanding of winter?
6. Discuss the contrast between winter's desolation and the speaker's yearning for
warmth and life. How does this enhance the poem's meaning?
7. Give an example of a figure of speech in the poem, and explain how the poet links this
to the theme of mortality.
8. What is the role of the speaker in the poem?
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7. THE JAGUAR (Ted Hughes)

The apes yawn and adore their fleas in the sun. 1

The parrots shriek as if they were on fire, or strut
Like cheap tarts to attract the stroller with the nut.
Fatigued with indolence, tiger and lion

Lie still as the sun. The boa-constrictor’s coil 5

Is a fossil. Cage after cage seems empty, or
Stinks of sleepers from the breathing straw.
It might be painted on a nursery wall.

But who runs like the rest past these arrives

At a cage where the crowd stands, stares, mesmerized, 10
As a child at a dream, at a jaguar hurrying enraged
Through prison darkness after the drills of his eyes

On a short fierce fuse. Not in boredom—

The eye satisfied to be blind in fire,
By the bang of blood in the brain deaf the ear— 15
He spins from the bars, but there’s no cage to him

More than to the visionary his cell:

His stride is wildernesses of freedom:
The world rolls under the long thrust of his heel.
Over the cage floor the horizons come. 20

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BACKGROUND: Ted Hughes (1930–1998)

Born in England, he won a scholarship to Pembrook College, Cambridge, but served two
years in the Royal Air Force before matriculating. He studied English, archaeology, and
anthropology, specialising in mythological systems (an interest which informed his poetry).
He later worked as a gardener, night watchman, zookeeper, script writer, and teacher. He
was married to American poet Sylvia Plath. In addition to poetry, he also wrote plays, short
stories, and books for children. He also edited numerous collections of verse and prose, was
a founding editor of Modern Poetry in Translation magazine. From 1985 to his death he was
poet laureate of England. In his poetry, Hughes vividly describes the beauty of the natural
world, but celebrates its raw, elemental energies. He often embodies the primal forces of
nature as mythic animals such as the pike, the hawk, and ‘Crow’, a central character in a
long cycle of poems.
QUESTIONS: The Jaguar

1. Discuss the significance of the simile in line 3.

2. Identify and explain a paradox from stanza 1.
3. Refer to lines 4 – 5: ‘Fatigued by indolence, lions and tigers / lie still as the sun.’
a. Define the term caesura.
b. Discuss the significance of the interplay of enjambment and caesura in these lines.
c. Comment on how the ambiguity of the word ‘lie’ highlights an important idea about
these animals.
4. Refer to stanza 2. Discuss the effect of the animals on visitors by referring carefully to
the imagery used.
5. Refer to stanza 3. Explain how the poet creates a sense of excitement and interest at
seeing the jaguar through different sound devices used.
6. Explain the phrase ‘there’s no bars to him’ (line 16).
7. What message is the poet trying to get across through this poem?

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8. EVEN IN KYOTO (Kobayashi Issa)

Even in Kyoto, 1
Hearing the cuckoo’s cry,
I long for Kyoto

BACKGROUND: Kobayashi Issa (1763–1828)

Japanese poet Kobayashi Issa, also known as Kobayashi Yataro and Kobayashi Nobuyuki,
was born in Kashiwabara, Shinanao province. He eventually took the pen name Issa, which
means 'cup of tea' or, according to poet Robert Hass, 'a single bubble in steeping tea.'
Reflecting the popularity and interest in Issa as man and poet, Japanese books on Issa
outnumber those on Buson and almost equal in number those on Bashō.

QUESTIONS: Even in Kyoto

1. How does the haiku show the changing of seasons and the passage of time? What
image in the poem evokes this idea?
2. In ‘Even in Kyoto,’ the poet mentions 'hearing the cuckoo's cry.' How does this
enhance the atmosphere of the haiku? What significance might it hold in Japanese
culture?
3. The haiku speaks of 'longing.' What does it suggest about the human experience?
4. Reflect on the length of the haiku form. How does the structure impact the way the
poet conveys his message?

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9. UNKNOWN CITIZEN (W.H. Auden)

To
JS/07 M 378
This Marble Monument
Is Erected by the State

He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be

One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community. 5
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues, 10
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way. 15
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man, 20
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population, 25
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard. 29

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BACKGROUND: W.H. Auden (1907–1973)

Wystan Hugh Auden was born in York and educated at Oxford. In the thirties he was the
leading figure of a group of poets that included Day Lewis, MacNeice, and Spender. He was
homosexual, but in 1935 he married Erika Mann in order to provide her with a British
passport to escape from Nazi Germany. In 1939 he left for the United States where he threw
off the conflict between his privileged background and youthful left-wing sympathies as seen
in his early poetry. Auden diagnosed his century’s banalities and horrors with relentless
honesty and incisive wit, but also with compassion. Though he cherished poetry’s power to
palliate his generation’s pain, he assigned it a sobering mission: ‘by telling the truth to
disenchant and disintoxicate’.

QUESTIONS: Unknown Citizen

1. Critically discuss how this poem is satire.

2. The poem is in lines, though one almost expects it to be bulleted. What is the
information given about the man made to sound like?
3. The speaker in the poem is not the poet.
a. Who do you think is the speaker?
b. Describe the speaker’s personality as fully as possible.
c. Do you think the poet's ideas about the ‘unknown citizen’ being described are the
same as the speaker's view of him?
4. Identify and quote an example of contrast from the first 5 lines of the poem.
5. Discuss the irony of the information contained in 11.
6. What figure of speech do you notice in line 24?
7. What is the tone of voice of the speaker in the last two lines? Why do you think the
speaker adopts this tone of voice?
8. Identify the irony in the final 2 lines.
9. The poem presents many facts about this individual. In spite of all these facts, the man
remains ‘unknown’. In what way is he still unknown?
10. With the exception of one (‘year’ in line 23), every end word has a rhyming partner
(sometimes more than one), even if they are a few lines apart. Does this affect the
satire in any way?
11. The state erected this monument to the unknown citizen. Why did they erect it?
12. This poem is all about social conformity and can even be linked to such political
experiments as socialism and communism.
a. Find out what socialism and communism is and give a brief definition of each.
b. Does this poem offer a way of resisting social conformity? Justify your response.
13. Do you think there is a way of striking a balance between insisting on our individuality
and respecting social norms? Do we even need to find this balance?

22
10. DULCE ET DECORUM EST (Wilfred Owen)

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, 1

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots 5
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time; 10
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime. . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, 15

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; 20
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest 25
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori. 28

Note on pronunciation
The pronunciation of dulce is DULKE. The letter C in Latin was pronounced like the C in 'car'. The word is often incorrectly
given an Italian pronunciation pronouncing like the C in cello.

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BACKGROUND: Wilfred Owen (1893–1918)

Wilfred Owen was born in 1893 in Oswestry and died on the Western Front, France, in 1918.
Except for a few early poems, he only wrote about the war. He joined the army in 1915 with
a spirit of heroism and won medals for his courage, but in 1917 his nerves failed and he was
sent to psychiatric hospital for shellshock (today called PTSD). There he met Siegfried
Sassoon, a poet. Owen showed Sassoon his poetry and was encouraged to write more.
After returning to combat in 1918, he was killed in action one week before the signing of the
armistice. His war poems expose the horrors of life in the trenches and satirise the blind
jingoism of those who cheered the war from the comfort and safety of their homes, but
primarily they elegise the generation of young men who died on the plains of Europe.

QUESTIONS: Dulce et Decorum Est

1. What does the full title mean?

2. Where was it used?
3. With what are the soldiers compared?
4. What is sludge?
5. Where are they going?
6. Discuss how the soldiers’ exhaustion is
emphasised.
7. Why are the flares described as ‘haunting’?
8. Explain why the soldiers’ feet are blood-shod.
9. Give an example of onomatopoeia from stanza 1.
10. Why is the word ‘softly’ (line 8) sinister?
11. What is the implied comparison in stanza 1?
12. What happened to the soldiers in stanza 2?
13. How does the poet use punctuation to stress their urgency?
14. Mention the striking contrast in stanza 2. Why is this metaphor so effective?
15. Why does he remember his friend so distinctly, apart from his cruel death?
16. Comment on the length of stanza 3.
17. Discuss how the poet involves the reader effectively in his argument in stanza 4
18. Which three things does the poet want from the reader?
19. How are soldiers treated on the battlefield?
20. Why does the poet give such a vivid description of his comrade’s suffering?
21. Discuss the significance of the word ‘bitter’ in the context of the poem as a whole.
22. What does the poet warn against?
23. Why is ‘Lie’ capitalised?

24
11. COMPLAINERS (Rudy Francisco)

The following are true stories.

May 26th 2003 Aron Ralston was hiking, a boulder fell on his right hand. He waited four days,
then amputated his arm with a pocket knife.

On New Year’s Eve, a woman was bungee jumping in Zimbabwe. The cord broke, she then fell
into a river and had to swim back to land in crocodile infested waters with a broken collarbone.

Claire Champlin was smashed in the face by a five-pound watermelon being propelled by a
slingshot.

Matthew Brobst was hit by a javelin.

David Striegl was punched in the mouth.

By a kangaroo.

The most amazing part about these stories is when asked about the experience they all smiled,
shrugged, and said 'I guess things could have been worse.'

So go ahead.

Tell me that you’re having a bad day.

Tell me about the traffic.

Tell me about your boss.
Tell me about the job you’ve been trying to quit for the past four years.
Tell me the morning is just a town house burning to the ground and the snooze button is a fire
extinguisher.
Tell me the alarm clock stole the keys to your smile, drove it into 7:00 AM, and the crash totaled
your happiness.

Tell me! Tell me!

Tell me, how blessed are we to have tragedies so small it can fit on the tips of our tongues?

You see, when Evan lost his legs he was speechless. When my cousin was assaulted, she didn’t
speak for forty-eight hours. When my uncle was murdered, we had to send out a search party
to find my father’s voice.
Most people have no idea that tragedy and silence have the exact same address.

When your day is a museum of disappointments hanging from events that were outside of your
control,
when you find yourself flailing in an ocean of 'Why is this happening to me?',
when it feels like your guardian angel put in his two week notice two months ago and just
decided not to tell you,
when it feels like God is just a babysitter that’s always on the phone,
when you get punched in the oesophagus by a fistful of life,
remember that every year two million people die of dehydration so it doesn’t matter if the glass
is half full or half empty, there’s water in the cup.

Drink it, and stop complaining.

Muscle is created by repeatedly lifting things that have been designed to weigh us down.
25
So when your shoulders feel heavy, stand up straight and lift your chin – call it exercise.
When the world crumbles around you, you have to look at the wreckage and then build a new
one out of the pieces that are still here.

Remember, you are still here.

The human heart beats approximately four thousand times per hour.

Each pulse, each throb, each palpitation is a trophy engraved with the words 'You are still alive'.

You are still alive.

Act like it.

BACKGROUND: Rudy Francisco (1982–Present)

Rudy Francisco is one of the most recognizable names in

Spoken Word Poetry. He was born, raised and still resides in
San Diego, California. At the age of 21, Rudy completed his B.A
in Psychology and decided to continue his education by pursuing
a M.A in Organizational Studies. As an artist, Rudy Francisco is
an amalgamation of social critique, introspection, honesty and
humour. He uses personal narratives to discuss the politics of
race, class, gender and religion while simultaneously pinpointing
and reinforcing the interconnected nature of human existence.

QUESTIONS: Complainers

1. Identify the theme of the poem and how the poet conveys his message about gratitude?
2. Explore the significance of the poem's title, 'Complainers.' What does it imply about the
content of the poem?
3. What influence does the repetition of ‘Tell me’ in the poem have on the speaker’s attitude
towards complainers?
4. Analyse the poem's structure. How does this contribute to the poem's style and
message?
5. Reflect on the contrast between the complainers' complaints and the poet's perspective
on finding reasons to be grateful. How do these contrasts enhance the poem's meaning?
6. How does the speaker's perspective and emotions evolve throughout the poem?
7. Identify an example of humour or sarcasm in the poem. How does this contribute to the
poet's critique of complainers?
8. Consider the poem's message about the power of words and the choice between
positivity and negativity. How does the poet encourage readers to reevaluate their outlook
on life?
9. How might the poem resonate with the prevalence of complaining in daily life?
10. Refer to the last five lines of the poem. How does the diction and length of the lines
influence the tone at the end of the poem?

26
12. FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF POETS (Haki R. Madhubuti)

where is the poetry of resistance, 1

the poetry of honorable defiance
unafraid of lies from career politicians and business men,
not respectful of journalist who write
official speak void of educated thought 5
without double search or sub surface questions
that war talk demands?
where is the poetry of doubt and suspicion
not in the service of the state, bishops and priests,
not in the service of beautiful people and late night promises, 10
not in the service of influence, incompetence and academic
clown talk?

BACKGROUND: Haki R. Madhubuti (1942–present)

Dr. Haki R. Madhubuti, poet, author, publisher, and

educator, is regarded as an architect of the Black Arts
Movement and is founder and publisher of Chicago's Third
World Press. His poetry, written in Black dialect and slang,
began to appear in the 1960s. His work is characterised
both by anger at social and economic injustice and by
rejoicing in African American culture.

QUESTIONS: For the consideration of poets

1. Identify the structure of the poem and how it influences the message conveyed.
2. Give an example from the poem of the power of words and the potential for change.
Why does the poet emphasise this?
3. Find and discuss the use of metaphor in line 1-7. How does this contribute to the poem's
message about the transformative potential of poetry?
4. Consider the tone of the poem. How does the poet's diction convey his attitude toward
the role of poets and the importance of their work?
5. Examine the lack of punctuation and capital letters in the poem. What could the meaning
behind this be?

27
UNSEEN POEMS & FURTHER READING
Last Post (Carol Ann Duffy) The Thought-Fox (Ted Hughes)
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, 1 I imagine this midnight moment’s forest:
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. Something else is alive
If poetry could tell it backwards, true, begin Beside the clock’s loneliness
that moment shrapnel scythed you to the stinking mud ... And this blank page where my fingers move.
but you get up, amazed, watch bled bad blood 5
run upwards from the slime into its wounds;
see lines and lines of British boys rewind Through the window I see no star:
back to their trenches, kiss the photographs from home - Something more near
mothers, sweethearts, sisters, younger brothers Though deeper within darkness
not entering the story now 10 Is entering the loneliness:
to die and die and die.
Dulce – No – Decorum – No – Pro patria mori. Cold, delicately as the dark snow,
You walk away. A fox’s nose touches twig, leaf;
You walk away; drop your gun (fixed bayonet) Two eyes serve a movement, that now
like all your mates do too - 15 And again now, and now, and now
Harry, Tommy, Wilfred, Edward, Bert -
and light a cigarette. Sets neat prints into the snow
There's coffee in the square, Between trees, and warily a lame
warm French bread Shadow lags by stump and in hollow
and all those thousands dead 20 Of a body that is bold to come
are shaking dried mud from their hair
and queuing up for home. Freshly alive, Across clearings, an eye,
a lad plays Tipperary to the crowd, released A widening deepening greenness,
from History; the glistening, healthy horses fit for heroes, kings. Brilliantly, concentratedly,
You lean against a wall, 25 Coming about its own business
your several million lives still possible
and crammed with love, work, children, talent, English beer, good food. Till, with a sudden sharp hot stink of fox
You see the poet tuck away his pocket-book and smile. It enters the dark hole of the head.
If poetry could truly tell it backwards, The window is starless still; the clock ticks,
then it would. 30 The page is printed.

28
UNSEEN POEMS & FURTHER READING
The Tulips (Sylvia Plath) The tulips are too red in the first place, they hurt me.
Even through the gift paper I could hear them breathe
The tulips are too excitable, it is winter here.
Lightly, through their white swaddlings, like an awful baby.
Look how white everything is, how quiet, how snowed-in.
Their redness talks to my wound, it corresponds.
I am learning peacefulness, lying by myself quietly
They are subtle : they seem to float, though they weigh me down,
As the light lies on these white walls, this bed, these hands.
Upsetting me with their sudden tongues and their color,
I am nobody; I have nothing to do with explosions.
A dozen red lead sinkers round my neck.
I have given my name and my day-clothes up to the nurses
And my history to the anesthetist and my body to surgeons.
Nobody watched me before, now I am watched.
The tulips turn to me, and the window behind me
They have propped my head between the pillow and the sheet-cuff
Where once a day the light slowly widens and slowly thins,
Like an eye between two white lids that will not shut.
And I see myself, flat, ridiculous, a cut-paper shadow
Stupid pupil, it has to take everything in.
Between the eye of the sun and the eyes of the tulips,
The nurses pass and pass, they are no trouble,
And I have no face, I have wanted to efface myself.
They pass the way gulls pass inland in their white caps,
The vivid tulips eat my oxygen.
Doing things with their hands, one just the same as another,
So it is impossible to tell how many there are.
Before they came the air was calm enough,
Coming and going, breath by breath, without any fuss.
My body is a pebble to them, they tend it as water
Then the tulips filled it up like a loud noise.
Tends to the pebbles it must run over, smoothing them gently.
Now the air snags and eddies round them the way a river
They bring me numbness in their bright needles, they bring me sleep.
Snags and eddies round a sunken rust-red engine.
Now I have lost myself I am sick of baggage——
They concentrate my attention, that was happy
My patent leather overnight case like a black pillbox,
Playing and resting without committing itself.
My husband and child smiling out of the family photo;
Their smiles catch onto my skin, little smiling hooks.
The walls, also, seem to be warming themselves.
The tulips should be behind bars like dangerous animals;
I have let things slip, a thirty-year-old cargo boat
They are opening like the mouth of some great African cat,
stubbornly hanging on to my name and address.
And I am aware of my heart: it opens and closes
They have swabbed me clear of my loving associations.
Its bowl of red blooms out of sheer love of me.
Scared and bare on the green plastic-pillowed trolley
The water I taste is warm and salt, like the sea,
I watched my teaset, my bureaus of linen, my books
And comes from a country far away as health.
Sink out of sight, and the water went over my head.
I am a nun now, I have never been so pure.

I didn’t want any flowers, I only wanted

To lie with my hands turned up and be utterly empty.
How free it is, you have no idea how free——
The peacefulness is so big it dazes you,
And it asks nothing, a name tag, a few trinkets.
It is what the dead close on, finally; I imagine them
Shutting their mouths on it, like a Communion tablet.

29
UNSEEN POEMS & FURTHER READING
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Night (Dylan Thomas) The Lamb (William Blake)
Do not go gentle into that good night, Little Lamb who made thee
Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Dost thou know who made thee
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Gave thee life & bid thee feed.
By the stream & o'er the mead;
Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Gave thee clothing of delight,
Because their words had forked no lightning they Softest clothing wooly bright;
Do not go gentle into that good night. Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice!
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Little Lamb who made thee
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Dost thou know who made thee
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Little Lamb I'll tell thee,
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, Little Lamb I'll tell thee!
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, He is called by thy name,
Do not go gentle into that good night. For he calls himself a Lamb:
He is meek & he is mild,
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight He became a little child:
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, I a child & thou a lamb,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. We are called by his name.
Little Lamb God bless thee.
And you, my father, there on that sad height, Little Lamb God bless thee.
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.

30