Godiva:

Quote

Form:

Structure:

Language:

There I
shaped The
citys
ancient
legend into
this V.3/4

1st person narrator at

the beginning of the
poem, for the first
stanza. Significant as
it seems like someone
remembering this
heroic event which
happened a
thousand summers
back.

Metaphor is used
to convey how
the narrator is
shaping the
past into the
present tense.

I hung with
grooms and
porters
V.2

This characterises
Tennyson himself in a
noble light as
someone of his
stature will mix with
working class people.

Ride you
naked thro
the town.
V.29

Characterises the
Earls ruthlessness
and how his authority
overpowers anyone
elses opinion or view.

The narrator is
telling the story
at the beginning
in past tense
however it is
recent, and then
there is a
flashback into a
thousand
summers back.
These two voices
juxtapose one
another.
This act of
solidarity links
him with Godiva
and the rest of
the poem as the
both are
achieving unity
with their
audiences/towns
people.
Use of direct
speech breathes
life into the
characters and
helps to portray
the Earl as the
antagonist.

Looking like
a summer
moon Halfdipt in
cloud V.
45/46

Fits into the theme of

the body and women
as Godiva is trying to
make a stand for what
is right and to serve
justice to her people
through a heroic
feminine act.

Use of
enjambment
helps the
passage to flow
as if the 3rd
person narrator
was telling this
myth as a story.

Informal speech
as hung makes
this seem quite
colloquial, also
portraying
Tennyson in the
noble light.

Commanding,
imperative verb
as he is directing
Godiva to do this
action in order
for the tax to be
dropped,
suggests that his
threatening
nature does not
vary even for his
wife.
Use of a simile to
describe Godiva
as a summer
moon creates an
image of
vulnerability,
purity and
innocence.
Cloud makes
her seem
mystical and

Godiva:
fairy-tale like
which conveys
that this is a
mythical story.

His eyes
were
shrivelld
into
darkness. V.
69/70

Fits into the theme of

virtue and sexuality
as Godiva is
committing a self-less
moral act, therefore
the peepers eyes
were shrivelld as
he was doing an
immoral act; this was
his punishment.

This immoral act

juxtaposes with
the self-less,
righteous act
Godiva is doing,
therefore God
punishes him for
trying to disobey
the orders at not
looking.

Archaic language
makes the
mythical story
seem outdated,
even for the
Victorian time,
however it is still
relatable for
people nowadays
and standing up
for what is right.

Form: Allegory, characterisation, settings, narrative techniques, moral messages, and

events and their significance, genre, themes: nobility, virtue, sympathy for the poor,
sexuality, the body and women.
Structure: Foreshadow/flashback, conscience, sentence structure, memories, narrator
changes, motifs, direct/indirect speech, time and sequence, echoing, mirroring,
parallels, juxtaposition, contrasts, enjambment, oxymoron.
Language: Simile, metaphor, symbolism, formal/informal, lexis of, imagery,
alliteration, assonance, personification, imperative verbs, connotations.