Marrysong, by Dennis Scott

He never learned her, quite. Year after year

That territory, without seasons, shifted

under his eye. An hour he could be lost

in the walled anger of her quarried hurt

on turning, see cool water laughing where

the day before there were stones in her voice.

He charted. She made wilderness again.

Roads disappeared. The map was never true.

Wind brought him rain sometimes, tasting of sea -

and suddenly she would change the shape of shores

faultlessly calm. All, all was each day new;

the shadows of her love shortened or grew

like trees seen from an unexpected hill,

new country at each jaunty helpless journey.

So he accepted that geography, constantly strange.

Wondered. Stayed home increasingly to find

his way among the landscapes of her mind.

Story

The speaker of this person is an anonymous third person, but it is about the relationship between a man and a woman, and how it changes and develops over time as they go through life, get to know each other better, and yet still find the other one strange and mysterious.

Tone

This has a varied tone, but overall it is reflective. It gradually becomes more excited and lively as it goes on, reflecting their relationship becoming both more interesting and more tempestuous over time. The last three lines are much quieter and more conclusive, however, and give a sense of resolution.

Deeper Meanings

The poet is showing how love is like a journey, and is getting the idea across that love is full of ups and downs, not always perfect, and not necessarily leading to people understanding each other. However, this changing and this mysterious element to it make it exciting, as well as dangerous. It suggests that ultimately the most exciting adventures people have are those that take place in the heart, not in the wild outside world.

Structure and Form

The poet has structured the poem to get across the idea of surprises and changes, which is shown by the placement of punctuation in the middle of lines, enjambment, very short sentences, and the shift between regular meter/ rhythm, and irregular/more jumpy meter and rhythm.

The poem is basically in iambic pentameter and without the last 3 lines is a sonnet of sorts; perhaps this reflects the idea of the poet looking at something which is both unfamiliar and familiar; taking the familiar sonnet form and changing it, as the love he describes keeps shifting between familiar and unknown.

Prominent Words

learned her’ – the idea that he is studying her, she is complex ‘accepted’ – by the end of the poem he has found some resolution ‘constantly strange’ – always difficult to understand/ unfamiliar ‘on turning’/ ‘suddenly’ – how quickly their relationship changes                                                                                                   ‘cool water’ – her voice is refreshing, almost thirst quenching for him

Imagery & Symbolism

Journeys and exploration: the centre metaphor in this poem is the idea that love is like a journey through wilderness: this highlights how love is dangerous, exciting, unknown, everchanging etc. Mapping: ‘territory’, ‘charted’, ‘map’ How people try to understand and categorise their feelings Nature/ time: the sea, days, wind, hours, years: these are images which show love to be powerful but ever changing.

Pain/ difficulty: ‘stones’, ‘anger’: how love is not just the ‘good times’

Sound

The iambic pentameter creates a certain liveliness in the poem, to reflect the excitement of the ‘journey’ he describes. There is little alliteration or rhyme, perhaps reflecting the ever changing and unpredictable nature of the relationship being described. There is some subtle sibilance, however, for example ‘suddenly she would change the shape of shores’, which adds a calmness to the atmosphere of the poem.

First Love, by John Clare

Story
This is a first person account of falling in ‘love’ for the first time having only seen someone from afar. It is addressed to an imaginary reader, and explores the pains and turmoil, and the confusion involved in this experience. The speaker is changed forever by this.

Tone

Melancholy, questioning – particularly self-questioning. There is a feeling of dark bewilderment. Rhapsodic – the parts addressed to the woman are lyrical and admiring. By the end, there is a reluctant sense of acceptance of the situation.

Deeper Meaning

The confusing, paradoxical nature of feelings – how can you love something which causes you so much pain? The poet is hinting at how words are inadequate, yet it is a poem about trying to articulate and explain what cannot be explained or articulated. We are also being shown how this kind of love is not based on reality so much as on the speakers own thoughts and feelings.

Structure and Form

No punctuation – gives a sense of things going out of control, being hard to make sense of. Regular meter and form (length of stanzas and lines stays the same) – this is ironic given the speaker’s confusion, but perhaps reflects a longing for coherence and regularity on the part of the speaker.

Prominent Words

blood’ – this suggests both the depth of his feeling (it is inside his body) and the pain of it (blood associated with wounds) ‘stole’ – he doesn’t feel in control of what happens to him; he almost blames the woman

‘sweet’ – the word repeated three times about his love/ her. It conflicts with the pain elsewhere, but is oddly quite a mild word, almost suggesting his feelings weren’t based on much.

Imagery & Symbolism

Physical pain – deadly pale etc – suggests love affects his body, and makes him ill it is so strong. Seeing/ sight – being able to see represents being able to understand, yet love blinds him and puts him in the dark

Dwelling place – symbolising safety and calm, a home which the speaker no longer feels he has

Sound

The meter/ rhythm are very regular and establish quite a persistent atmosphere in the poem, almost mirroring the way the poet got swept along by his feelings. There is lots of sibilance, creating a rather sinister undertone. The alliteration around ‘blood burnt’ adds a harshness to their sound, underlining the pain he experiences.

The Flower-Fed Buffaloes, by Vachel Lindsay

The flower-fed buffaloes of the spring

In the days of long ago,

Ranged where the locomotives sing

And the prarie flowers lie low:

The tossing, blooming, perfumed grass

Is swept away by wheat,

Wheels and wheels and wheels spin by

In the spring that still is sweet.

But the flower-fed buffaloes of the spring

Left us long ago,

They gore no more, they bellow no more:--

With the Blackfeet lying low,

With the Pawnee lying low. 

Story

This poem is about the destruction of the Native American people and their joint culture. This was destroyed by the coming of settlers and their new technology (trains and locomotives.) and their new forms of agriculture (wheat). As a result of this, the old things have died out, for example, the old tribes and the buffaloes.

Tone

The poem has a mournful tone as it feels nostalgic for it's past. As the old things have been swept away by modern life. Furthermore, there is slight anger for those who are responsible, yet it is fairly hidden.

Deeper Meaning

The poem is fairly unambiguous, as his point is very clear. The speakers tells us how despite people think it is progress, but in fact it's the opposite and it's destruction.

The poet is trying to get the reader to feel sympathy for nature, and admire the beautiful nature. However, there is tension whether this loss should just be accepted, or resisted.

Structure and Form

The poem is separated into 3 clear parts. Firstly, it shows how things were, then how things changed, and then how things are now. This chronological features, mimics how the effects are permanent and there is no going back.

 The lines get shorter as the poem goes on, which represents how the amount of buffaloes is dwindling. The phrase 'lying low' is repeated many times, which creates a mournful tone and emphasises the message that they have gone.

Full Moon and Little Frieda, by Ted Hughes

 A cool small evening shrunk to a dog bark and the clank of a bucket - 

And you listening. 

A spider's web, tense for the dew's touch. 

A pail lifted, still and brimming - mirror 

To tempt a first star to a tremor. 

Cows are going home in the lane there, looping the hedges with their warm 

wreaths of breath - 

A dark river of blood, many boulders, 

Balancing unspilled milk. 

'Moon!' you cry suddenly, 'Moon! Moon!' 

The moon has stepped back like an artist gazing amazed at a work 

That points at him amazed.

Story

This poem describes the poet, Hughes, addressing his daughter, Frieda, talking about an amazing moment when she sees the reflection of the moon inside a bucket, and calls it by it's name. This could possibly be her first world.

The setting is the yard of their house, or farm.

Tone

The tone is very affectionate and loving and the father is joyful in the progress of his daughter. There is a sense of joy in this shared momentous experience.

Deeper Meaning

The father's pride in the linguistic development of his daughter. He conveys this through how the world is shaped through the language we use.

However, as amazing as a moment this is for the father, it is actually a very small event on the cosmic scale of things. Nonetheless, it is an extremely important event for him as a father.

Structure and Form

This poem is written in free verse which means that he can structure the poem how he wants, and talk about his surrounding scene.

We are given the component parts of the scene is a list-like form, which makes the poem extremely visual, and more like an artistic painting.

Amends, by Adrienne Rich

Nights like this: on the cold apple-bough

a white star, then another

exlploading out of the bark:

on the ground, moonlight picking at small stones

as it picks at greater stones as it rises with the surf

laying its cheeck for moments on the sand

as it licks the broken ledge, as it flows up the cliffs,

as it flicks across the tracks

as it unavailing pours into gash

of the sand-and-gravel quarry

as it leans across the hangared fuselage

of the crop dusting plane

as it soaks through cracks into trailers

tremulous wit sleep

as it dwells upon the eyelids of sleepers

as if to make amends.

Story

It begins with the moon shining on the natural world, and moves onto it shining on man-made things.

Tone

The poem begins with a tranquil and calm tone, but as the poem continues it becomes more angry, and we feel a sense of agression.

Deeper Meaning

Man-made building on the landscape is very intrusive and bad for the environment. And the poem poses the question wondering if healing of the natural world is possible. Furthermore, it poses the question of man's insignificance in the world. 

Structure and Form

The 4 line stanzas create a sense of calm due to their regularity. Lack of punction creates a feeling of enjambent and the moon moving freely around the world.

Dover Beach, by Matthew Arnold

The sea is calm to-night.

The tide is full, the moon lies fair

Upon the straits; on the French coast the light

Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand;

Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.

Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!

Only, from the long line of spray

Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,

Listen! you hear the grating roar

Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,

At their return, up the high strand,

Begin, and cease, and then again begin,

With tremulous cadence slow, and bring

The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long ago

Heard it on the A gaean, and it brought

Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow

Of human misery; we

Find also in the sound a thought,

Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The Sea of Faith

Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore

Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.

But now I only hear

Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,

Retreating, to the breath

Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear

And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true

To one another! for the world, which seems

To lie before us like a land of dreams,

So various, so beautiful, so new,

Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,

Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;

And we are here as on a darkling plain

Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,

Where ignorant armies clash by night.

Story

The poet is speaking to his new wife, while they look at a hotel window in Denver. The poet  describes the sea and the sounds that he can hear. it reminds him of Sophocles and how he compared the sound of the sea to human suffering. He refers to the sound as the 'sea of faith' which is 'ebbing'. I.e. getting less. This refers to religious belief and how it is getting less.  He says religion is not comforting, and all humans have is love.

Tone

There is a range of tone throughout the poem . It varies from sadness and hope to passionate to objective.


Deeper Meaning
This is another wonderful, human response to the natural world. There is much uncertainty and doubt in the world, and it is beautiful but ever changing. There is much misery in the world. Religion is ebbing away.


Structure and Form
The poem is laid out in 5 stanzas and they progress so does his though progress. Each stanza is clearly a different thought theme and has a distinct tone compared to the other stanzas. There sia  rhyme scheme which matches the theme of the poem.

Time by Allen Curnow

I am the nor'west air nosing among the pines

I am the water-race and the rust on railway lines

I am the mileage recorded on yellow signs.

I am dust, I am distance, I am lupins back of the beach

I am the sums sole-charge teachers teach

I am cows called to milking and the magpie's screech,

I am nine o'clock in the morning when the office is clean

I am the slap of the belting and the smell of the machine

I am the place in the park where the lovers are seen.

I am recurrent music the children hear

I am level noises in the remembering ear

I am the sawmill and the passionate second gear.

I, Time, am all these, yet these exist

Among my mountainous fabrics like a mist,

So do they the measurable world resist.

I, Time, call down, condense, confer,

On the willing memory the shapes these were:

I, more than your concious carrier,

Am island, am sea, am father, farm, and friend,

Though I am here all things my coming attend;

I am, you have heard it, the Beginning and the End.

Story
In this poem, the speaker is time, and it's main point it is trying to convey is how human's time on earth is fleeting, and they should be more aware of their little time.

Tone
The tone throughout is very arrogant and grandiose. Often commanding, for example in the final line. Yet it is also playful and riddling. As it is full of paradoxes.

Deeper Meaning
This poem is trying to make us step outside our normal view point of the world. How life is actually very insignificant, and your time is fleeting so are the thigns we do in our day to day lives really that important?

Structure
The first four stanzas creates a persona and explains who time is. However, after the first four stanzas it shifts to become more thickly punctuated and more strict in nature and insisted.

The Voice by Thomas Hardy

Woman much missed, how you call to me, call to me,

Saying that now you are not as you were

When you had changed from the one who was all to me,

But as at first, when our day was fair.

Can it be you that I hear? Let me view you, then,

Standing as when I drew near to the town

Where you would wait for me: yes, as I knew you then,

Even to the original air-blue gown!

Or is it only the breeze in its listlessness

Travelling across the wet mead to me here,

You being ever dissolved to wan wistlessness,

Heard no more again far or near?

Thus I; faltering forward,

Leaves around me falling,

Wind oozing thin through the thorn from norward,

And the woman calling.

Story

The poem is about Thomas Hardy addressing his dead wife. Hardy thinks that he can hear the voice of his wife. However, it is the voice of his wife when they first met, not during their relationship, as there is a sense that something changed during the course of their relationship; for the worse. Having thought about it, he thinks he is just hearing the wind, but he is just left behind feeling more depressed and grieving than ever.

Tone
The poem beings with a weary and slow start, as the poet looks back with longing into his past. However, as he moves on into the second stanza, he thinks that he can hear his wife, so he gets more excited and passionate. Yet, as he starts to think it is the wind, in the third stanza, the tone then becomes more tentative and doubtful. Yet, by the time the poem is finished, it ends on an even bleaker note than it started on.

Deeper Meaning
This poem talks about the nature of love, and the loss of it. The grief that people feel. Do we idealise people more once they are gone? Despite the fact that Hardy and his wife hardly had a perfect relationship, he remembers it as a perfect one. By allowing himself to think this, he is just left feeling a much more painful grief. The main point here is that love will leave you feeling crippled.

Structure & Form
The first three stanzas follow a very similar pattern, with the same number of syllables. However, the last stanza breaks this pattern, and mimics the speaker's broken emotions. Furthermore, it gives the lsat stanza a tumbling tone, which is emphasized by "faltering forward,".
Some parts of the regular meter, mirror the regular sound of the wind. The repetition of "call" and the end of the poem, creates the feeling of a cycle and it mimics what Hardy says at the start, "call to me". Which creates the effect that he is stuck with this mood and cannot move on.