IGCSE POETRY NOTES For Exam in 2019 20 21 PDF

‘Songs of
Ourselves’
Poetry anthology
IGCSE Literature
For exam in 2019, 2020, 2021
Name:............................................
English teacher:.............................
1
Cambridge English Literature IGCSE for exam in 2019, 20, 21
Poetry Anthology ‘Songs of Ourselves’ NOTES & ACTIVITIES
The poems:
1. Kofi Awoonor, ‘The Sea Eats the Land at Home’
2. Robert Bridges, ‘London Snow’
3. Billy Collins, ‘Afternoon with Irish Cows’
4. David Constantine, ‘Watching for Dolphins’
5. William Cowper, ‘The Poplar-Field’
6. Allen Curnow, ‘You will Know When You Get There’
7. Gerard Manley Hopkins, ‘The Caged Skylark’
8. Elizabeth Jennings, ‘In Praise of Creation’
9. John Keats, ‘Ode on Melancholy’
10. Philip Larkin, ‘Coming’
11. Ruth Pitter, ‘Stormcock in Elder’
12. Peter Reading, ‘Cetacean’
13. Edna St Vincent Millay, ‘The Buck in the Snow’
14. Charlotte Smith, ‘Written Near a Port on a Dark Evening’
15. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, ‘The Kraken’
How you will be assessed in the IGCSE exam:

You will be given a choice of two questions. Each question will ask you to analyse either one or
two poems. The poems will be printed in the question booklet and you will be allowed to
annotate / highlight them.
You will have 45 minutes to complete an analysis of the extract. You should aim to write
between 1 and ½ to 2 and ½ sides.
What the examiners like:

★ A large number of SHORT quotes selected and embedded within sentences;
★ Short quotes which have been grouped together from across the poem;
★ Good focus on how a wide range of language and structural devices are used to develop
meaning;
★ Thoughtful and developed interpretations;
★ Ideas separated into topic areas with topic sentences at the start
What the examiners don’t like:

➔ Summaries of what happens in the poem
➔ Really long quotes
➔ Not introducing quotes with a point / leaving out an explanation
➔ Identifying language devices without explaining their effect
➔ Bibliographical information on the poet
➔ General assumptive comments about the reader like, ‘this will make the reader feel’....
➔ Subjective comments like, ‘this is an amazing text about…’
By Jo H 2017 2
Band Marks Description Cambridge IGCSE Literature
Band 8 (23–25) Sustains personal engagement with task and text

• sustains a critical understanding of the text showing individuality and insight
• responds sensitively and in detail to the way the writer achieves effects
• incorporates well-selected reference to the text skilfully and with flair
Band 7 (20–22) Sustains a perceptive, convincing and relevant personal response

• shows a clear and critical understanding of the text
• responds sensitively and in detail to the way the writer achieves effects
• integrates much well-selected reference to the text
Band 6 (17–19) Makes a well-developed, relevant and detailed personal response

• shows a clear understanding of the text and some of its deeper implications
• makes a developed response to the way the writer achieves effects
• supports with careful and relevant reference to the text
Band 5 (14–16) Makes a reasonably developed relevant personal response

• shows understanding of the text and some of its deeper implications
• makes some response to the way the writer uses language
• shows some thoroughness in the use of supporting evidence from the text
Band 4 (11–13) Begins to develop a relevant personal response

• shows some understanding of meaning
• makes a little reference to the language of the text
• uses some supporting textual detail
Band 3 (8–10) Attempts to communicate a basic personal response

• makes some relevant comments
• shows a basic understanding of surface meaning of the text
• makes a little supporting reference to the text
Band 2 (5–7) Some evidence of simple personal response

• makes a few straightforward comments
• shows a few signs of understanding the surface meaning of the text
• makes a little reference to the text
Band 1 (1–4) Limited attempt to respond

• shows some limited understanding of simple/literal meaning
Band (0 0) Insufficient to meet the criteria of Band 1
By Jo H 2017 3
The Sea Eats the Land at Home

● This poem is about how the sea destroys a coastal African town one evening. The sea is
personified as a destructive, careless force.
● Home signifies a place of security, love. The sea invades this, it is ‘in the town’.
● Lots of present continuous verbs are used to show how the process is ongoing: ‘running,
collecting, sending’. All of these are usually seen as human actions, reinforcing the idea
that the sea has invaded human lives in a calculating manner.
● It takes the human action of giving warmth ‘collecting firewood’ and sends it ‘back’ into
the black of night, like a thief.
● It destroys all elements of the domestic environment as it carries away ‘cooking-pots’,
‘ladles’ and ‘fowls’.
● The line ‘the sea eats the land at home’ is repeated, like a refrain, each time to
emphasise its destructive qualities. Notice that these are all monosyllabic words which
along with the sibilance and the repetition of ‘the’ helps to create cadence (rhythm). This
rhythm helps to drive the line forward as you read it, and thus shows the sea as an
unstoppable force. The cadence also makes the line more memorable functioning a bit
like the chorus of a song. This is further reinforced by it being repeated. When you have
finished reading the poem, this is the line you remember most.
● The sea arrives when the people were at their most vulnerable ‘at the dead of night’; the
word ‘dead’ adds to the gloomy atmosphere created by its destructive forces.
● It is not thwarted by man-made barriers like ‘cement walls’
● There is a clear sense created between the victims (women and children) and the
destroyer (the sea).
● The women have no protector, their ‘ancestors have neglected’ them and their ‘gods
have deserted’.
● Some of the women are named (Aku and Adena) which makes us identify more with the
victims. We learn little bits about them and their suffering which makes us empathise
with them. Our empathy is further increased when we learn that these are very simple
people who take pride in simple things like ‘trinkets’ and a ‘cooking-pot’, but all of which
have now been destroyed.
● Polysyndeton is used to create long lists, highlighting the all powerful destructive force of
the sea as it inflicts great suffering: ‘the sobs and the deep and the low moans’
● Notice that some lines are really short, ‘weeping mournfully’ and ‘The storm was raging’ -
possibly to highlight the rawness and suddenness of the damage caused.
● Enjambment is used to mirror the sweeping, continuous action of the sea.
● The poem is just one long stanza to mirror the sudden destructive force which came on
one night.
By Jo H 2017 4
Questions
1. How is a sense of place created? In other words, how do we know that this is set in an
African village?
2. Pick out words and phrases that show the sea is like a cruel beast.
3. Pick out words and phrases that make us feel sympathetic towards the villagers.
4. Comment on the inversion (switching around of word order) used in the last two lines.
5. Identify the key language devices used and explain their effect
6. Identify the key structural devices used and explain their effect
7. What is the tone of the poem and how is this achieved?
8. Essay question: explain how the poet shows the destructive nature of the sea
throughout the poem.
Some words in the poem you may not know the meaning of:
Mournful - sad at the loss of someone dear
Hearths - the floor of a fireplace
Fowls - birds, usually kept for eating
Ladle - big spoon for serving liquid / stew
Sobs - a loud noise made when crying
Dowry - the gifts given to the household when a woman gets married
Good vocabulary to use when analysing the poem:

Omnipotent: all powerful
Obliteration: complete destruction
Vulnerable: weak, exposed, open to be hurt / abused
Enjambment
Personification
By Jo H 2017 5
London Snow
● This poem is a celebration of a snow fall in London
● Lots of lines end with a present continuous verb: ‘flying’, ‘lying’, ‘railing’, ‘sailing’ and lists
of these types of verbs are also given: ‘deadening, muffling, stifling…’ This helps create
a rhyming pattern and also highlights the energy of the snow as it suddenly came down
and continued to cover everything over a period of time.
● The main character in the poem is the snow; the speaker only mentions himself 6 lines
from the end and other people are given generic titles only: ‘men’ and ‘boys’.
● The snow has a purifying effect as its ‘large white flakes’ cover the ‘city brown’. It also
hides ‘difference’ and makes ‘unevenness even’, so it makes everything look the same
and smooths out imperfections. It turns the negative into positive. It fills ‘angles and
crevices’ and makes everything appear uniform, soft and appealing.
● It is described as being a strong and clever force as it ‘stealthily and perpetually’ settles
on the ground. With this the speaker shows his admiration of the snow.
● Its power is enforced as it silences the noises of the city: ‘hushing’, ‘deadening’,
‘muffling’. It does this with ease as it moves ‘lazily’.
● The poet uses lots of sound devices for effect. Alliteration of ‘r’ in ‘road, roof and railing’
creates a rolling sound to mirror the rolling motion of the snow. Sibilance is used in
‘silently sifting’ and ‘angles and crevices softly drifting and sailing’ which creates a soft
sound, much like the muted sound of the snow falling.
● Despite its strength and power to transform the city we are frequently reminded that it is
also soft and gentle as it lies ‘loosely’ in ‘uncompacted lightness’. Describing it as a
‘settling’ force furthers this idea of it being peaceful and gentle in its action.
● The snow gives the wakening Londoners an ‘unaccustomed brightness’ and a ‘strange
unheavenly glare’ suggesting that it looks out of this world to them; they are a little
startled by it at first.
● The word ‘marvelled’ is repeated twice to show how it takes the Londoners time to take it
all in.
● Not only do they see a ‘dazzling whiteness’ suggesting something magical but also
sounds are affected too. There is a ‘stillness in the solemn air’ connoting that the world
has become a lot more peaceful after the snowfall. Likewise, the ‘busy morning cries’
which are usually heard at this time of the day, now lose power as they come ‘thin and
spare’. The snow has therefore had a purifying effect on the sounds of the environment
also.
● A final celebration is given in the last part of the poem as the boys gather up the snow to
make snowballs; they take the sensory description which is found throughout the poem
one step further as they ‘freeze / Their tongues with tasting’ introducing the idea that the
snow makes the Londoners feel alive and energetic.
● This is continued when the boys carry out extreme actions by throwing themselves into
the deep snow: ‘rioted in a drift, plunging up to their knees’.
● The poem is one long stanza to show the long and continuous nature of the snowfall.
There is a complex rhyming pattern however, which could be suggestive of a snowflake
which are always unique and complex.
By Jo H 2017 6
Questions
1. List 5 verbs in the poem. Next to each, write down what it shows about the snow.
2. How is sensory description used by the poet for effect?
3. How is the snow shown as strong?
4. At the same time, how is it shown as soft?
8. Essay question: explain how this poem is a celebration of the snowfall in London.
Perpetually - all the time, constant
Stealthily - moving carefully, trying not to be seen or heard
Muffling - reducing noises
Sifting - to gently scatter
Incessantly - constant
Railing - iron rods
Compacted - pressed together tightly
Unaccustomed - not used to it
Glare - a strong light
Marvelled - amazed, wondering
Hearkened - old fashioned word for listened
A drift - a pile up of snow
Plunging - jumping into something with force
Peering - looking

Glorify - to make something seem amazing, as if from heaven
Frolic - playful,
Celebration - a festival in praise of a big event
Ubiquitous - appears everywhere
By Jo H 2017 7
Afternoon with Irish Cows

● This poem is a celebration of Irish Cows! The speaker comments at length of their
greatness; he considers their manner, appearance, the sounds they make, and
eventually connects them to an ancient force of ‘cowness’.
● The word ‘occupied’ is normally associated with humans, this word straightaway elevates
their status. It is almost as though they have chosen the field they are standing on.
● They are described as being calm and slow in movement as they merely step all day
from ‘tuft to tuft’.
● The contrast of their ‘big heads’ with the ‘soft grass’ is suggestive of their strength.
● The cows are given a magical quality when the speaker comments that occasionally the
field would be empty ‘as if they had taken wing, flown off to another country’. Again, it is
as though the cows are authors of their own destiny (when in actual fact, it would have
been a farmer who moved them onto the next field for better grazing).
● The cows reappear when the speaker opens his ‘blue front door’; making it seem like
they have been playing tricks on him, like a magician would, who uses doors and boxes
to hide things inside.
● The cows are described as fairly still as they are ‘munching’, ‘lying’ and ‘facing’, ‘waiting
for the rain’. Yet, despite this passivity, there is a hint that they are full of possibilities as
they have ‘black-and-white maps on their sides’ which could be used to navigate them to
far off places. Likewise, they are ‘facing in all directions’ suggesting that they are open
and alert.
● The speaker repeats ‘how’ in ‘how mysterious, how patient’ which adds to the tone of
awe which runs throughout the poem.
● Their peacefulness is compounded through the descriptions of the ‘long quiet of the
afternoons’ in which the cows lie ‘patient and dumbfounded’. It is as though time
stretches out when the cows are present. This is reinforced through the length of the
sentence and the enjambment used across lines 14 and 15.
● The speaker then goes on to describe the sound the cows make: he dedicates the next
three stanzas to this, thus highlighting the greatness of the sound (in his mind!)
● He describes it as a special moment as it is only ‘every once in a while’, meaning that it is
not a common sound, but one that breaks up the peace and is noticeable.
● Likewise he describes it as a ‘sound so phenomenal’ meaning that it is a feat of nature,
that he would feel compelled to put down what he was doing and walk up towards the
field.
● The sound is suggestive of torture as the speaker becomes intrigued to see which one
was ‘being torched / or pierced through the side with a long spear.’ Notice that these
forms of torture are quite ancient and would be used against criminals as a form of
punishment. This reinforces the idea that the cows are humanlike in spirit.
● The stanzas about the cow’s sound (last three) are all one sentence each, which adds to
the drawn out effect of the noise. For the same reason, enjambment is used throughout
this section.
● The loudness of the sound is brought to the fore through the list of body parts mentioned
which are involved in producing the noise. The sound appears from, ‘the darkness of her
belly’ and travels up a long way through various parts before it is finally released.
● The cows’ connection with nature is emphasised in the last stanza as the noise is sent to
‘all the green fields’ etc. In so doing, it is like the cow is taking ownership of the world
around itself.
● More human qualities are given (anthropomorphism) when the cow ‘regarded my head
and shoulder’, like the cow is making a judgement of the speaker. When she does this
with ‘one wild, shocking eye’, it introduces the idea that there is a primeval force at play.
By Jo H 2017 8
The cow’s spirit is therefore connected to ancient times and is made to seem dangerous
and powerful as a result.
Questions
1. Pick out words that show the cows as being
a. Magical
b. Powerful
c. Peaceful
2. How is anthropomorphism used in the poem?
3. How is the sound of the cow described?
4. Identify the key language devices used and explain their effect.
7. Essay question: explore the speaker’s thoughts and feelings about Irish cows.
Tuft - a bunch or small cluster (of grass in this case)
Munching - chewing noisily
Dumbfounded - to be struck silent with amazement, astonished
Phenomenal - an amazing natural occurrence
Torched - to fiercely burn something
Spear - a long stick with a sharp end
Anchored - usually a ship is held in place in deep water by an anchor, to fix something in place
Labouring - working hard, showing great effort
Full bodied - using all of the body to do something, complex, rich
Bowed - curved inwards
Gaping - wide open
Unadulterated - without any kind of boundaries, without restraint
Apologia - old way of saying ‘apology’
Limestone - a type of soft rock, almost chalk like
Inlet - where the sea goes into the land forming a narrow passage / bay
Bay - where the sea curves into the land, usually creating a beach in the process

Primeval - the first ages of the world
Prehistoric - the time before recorded history began
Primordial - the beginning forms of life
Enchanting - casting a spell, charming
Extraordinary - extremely special, remarkable
Otherworldly - not of this world
Placid - passive, easy going
Mellow - chilled out
Disquieting - upsetting the quiet, slightly disturbing
Formidable - extremely strong, impossible to break down
By Jo H 2017 9
Watching For Dolphins

● On the surface, this poem is about people looking out for dolphins as they travel in a boat
on the sea between two points of Greece; however, on a deeper level it is about our
need to connect with nature and something spiritual, something more than what our
everyday life gives us opportunity to experience.
● The poem starts off with a positive tone; the activities take place in the ‘summer months’.
The events described are recurring as they happen on ‘every crossing’.
● The dolphin watchers have a common understanding with each other as they move with
‘serious looks and no acknowledgement of a common purpose’ towards the outer deck of
the boat. They are described as ‘them’ showing that they become their own unit. The
length of the sentence and the enjambment used suggests the silence of the drawn out
action as they move with purpose.
● Enjambment is used at various points to hold for a moment the dolphin watchers
feelings: ‘One saw them lose / every other wish’ - places emphasis on the word ‘lose’
and draws focus to the idea that watching dolphins is all that they desire.
● The people are not given detailed characterisations, they are merely ‘lovers’, ‘a fat man’
and ‘children’, perhaps to show that this experience is universal, it could be anyone and
everyone. The people act in unison as they ‘all gazed’ and ‘every face / After its
character implored the sea’. Their desperation for the moment of being able to see a
dolphin in the wild is brought to the fore through this, and it increases tension.
● Most of the adults ‘look to the children’ as they are usually able to explore the world of
fantasy and see things more simply.
● It is clear that the dolphin watchers have no experience of spotting dolphins in the wild as
they can’t decide whether it is best to spot them when the sea is ‘flat calm’ or when it is
windy, or whether gulls ‘screeching from the sky’ were a sign. This makes the moment of
dolphin watching seem extremely difficult to attain. We get the sense that it is unlikely to
happen. As the people look for ‘signs’ it adds to the mysticism.
● All of the people ‘wanted epiphany’ which is a type of spiritual awakening. This suggests
that seeing the dolphins would give them a new meaning in life; indirectly it also indicates
that currently their lives lack meaning.
● The dolphins are given mystical qualities as it is imagined how they would arrive ‘domed
like satyrs’; this furthers the idea that they are unreachable.
● As the speaker develops his imagining of the dolphins arriving, the tone changes to one
of great happiness as they all ‘laughed and lifted the children up’. The people become
friendly as they interact ‘stranger to stranger’. The speaker now becomes directly
involved in the narration as he shifts to using the personal pronoun ‘we’.
● The imagined arrival is celebrated with a detailed description of the dolphins’ movements
which are ‘centred on grace’ i.e. they are extremely graceful. The magical quality of the
dolphins is emphasised as they are able to leave their ‘element’, ‘three or four times’ with
ease, to the extreme delight of the onlookers.
● We are reminded however that this is not real as the modal verb ‘should’ is used,
showing that this is how they want it to be, but it isn’t.
● The tone then shifts in the last stanza to disappointment as the imagining ends abruptly
with the word ‘But’. The people arrive back in the harbour amongst ‘great tankers, under
their chains’ and so they arrive back in the place where things are manmade and
negative. Their dreams have not been realised.
● However, the people show ‘no admission of disappointment’ but move on as one unit,
back to the the everyday routine of city life. They have become accustomed to a lack of
excitement, a lack of spirituality and mysticism.
By Jo H 2017 10
Questions
1. Explain how the people on the boat are presented.
2. Explain how the dolphins are presented
3. How does the poet create a sense of expectation of the dolphins appearance?
4. How does he create an anticlimax at the end?
7. Explore the shifts in tone which occur and explain how these are achieved.
Saloon - a large room for the public to use; alcohol is often served
Bifocals - glasses
Gazed - looking into the distance in an absent minded way
Gulls - seabirds
Screeching - high pitched screaming
Implored - begged
Unaccustomed - not used to something
Clang - loud banging noise usually made with metal against metal
Abused - poorly treated
Reverberate - when a noise bounces off and against various objects
Cymbal - a musical instrument; concave plates of brass which are banged together
Gong - a bell sound, usually made when a hammer like object hits metal
Snub-nosed - the nose is blunt / flat edged
Keel - the bottom structure of a boat
Looping - moving in and out of
Tankers - really big metal ships usually used to transport goods
Dispersed - move away quickly in a variety of directions

Mystical - supernatural, not of this world
Mythical - a creature from the Greek myths
Spiritual - connecting with one’s soul
Mundane - dull, boring
Meaningless - pointless, without meaning
Questing - in search of something
Anticipation - hoping for something, excited for something
Unison - all are working together as one
Universal - means that it could be applied to anyone and everyone
Uplifting - makes you feel positive (from negative)
Downhearted - makes you feel depressed
Juxtaposition - when ideas are opposite and so clash with each other
By Jo H 2017 11
The Poplar Field

● This poem is a lamentation of the destruction caused by man when trees are cut down in
a field.
● It starts off with a blunt opening statement, ‘The poplars are felled’; reflecting the
suddenness of the destruction.
● This statement is immediately followed by a list of things that the speaker must say
‘farewell’ to, as a result of the trees being cut down: ‘the shade’, the playful wind and the
singing ‘in the leaves’. The trees are shown as having given life and enjoyment to the
area. The tone of loss is furthered through the use of negative words, ‘nor’, ‘no longer’.
Likewise, the image of the trees used to be reflected off the surface of the River Ouse.
Now, that beautiful picture is no more.
● Note lots of sensory description is used in the first stanza: touch - ‘cool colonnade’;
sound - ‘whispering’ and ‘sing’; sight - ‘their image receives’ which furthers the idea of the
the trees giving life to the area.
● We don’t know why the speaker has been away for ‘twelve years’ but the word which
usually has negative connotations of time running out, ‘elapsed’, gives us a clue that he
regrets the time away and all of the changes which have taken place since. This
develops the feeling of loss.
● In stanza two, the last two lines start with ‘And’ which increases pace reflecting the
passing of time and all that has taken place since.
● The trees still offer what they can despite being cut down; whereas before they gave
shade, now they give a ‘seat’ for the speaker to sit upon.
● The ‘blackbird’ has also been affected as he ‘fled to another retreat’. The verb ‘fled’
indicates the sudden destructive force which took the trees away, forcing the bird to
leave in a hurry. The trees provided refuge for birds, so the speaker is highlighting the
positive protective nature which the trees had. As a result of the bird leaving, there is
now only silence.
● The focus then comes back to the speaker who complains how his ‘fugitive years are all
hasting away’. ‘Fugitive’ is an interesting word to use here as it usually refers to a
criminal who is living on the run. Is it that he feels his living years are running away from
him? This idea is reinforced in the ‘hasting away’ phrase, which indicates things rushing
from him, beyond his reach.
● The speaker decides to lie down with a ‘turf on [his] breast, and a stone at [his] head.
The scene he sets is one of burial, where the body is covered with dirt and a gravestone;
the tone of loss established by the destruction of the trees takes a new development here
to a more macabre one of the speaker’s death.
● He remarks that ‘another such grove shall arise’ suggesting that the life of the trees (and
possibly also his life) will be replaced. Clearly he feels that life, despite being cut down,
is replaceable.
● In the last stanza the speaker becomes philosophical and considers how the moments of
pleasure we enjoy are only tiny, smaller than our already small lives. Again the tone is
negative as an oxymoron is used in ‘perishing’ which means dying, combined with
‘pleasures’. His bitter feelings are emphasised through the plosive ‘p’ alliteration used
here and also in the weighted sounds of ‘dream’ and ‘durable’.
● The poet uses a fixed rhyming pattern of aabb rhyming couplets. This actually lifts up the
tone of the poem, making it seem less weighted and less macabre. The stanzas are
uniformly set, with four lines each. Perhaps this is to reflect the cyclical nature of life.
By Jo H 2017 12
Questions
1. List all of the positive things the trees offered before they were cut down.
2. List all of the references to destruction.
3. Identify the verbs used in the poem and explain their effect.
4. Identify at least 3 examples of alliteration used and explain how these develop meaning.
8. Essay question: Explore how the speaker’s thoughts and feelings are presented.
Poplars - a fast growing, softwood tree
Felled - cut down
Colonnade - series of trees planted in rows
Bosom - chest
Elapsed - time running out, time slipping by
Behold - to notice, look at, to see
Lent - to allow someone to borrow something
Retreat - to fall back into safety away from danger
Hazels - a type of tree
Screen - a type of barrier / partition
Resounds - to sound again, to echo
Ditty - a cheerful little song
Fugitive - a criminal who is on the run from the law
Hasting - Hasting
Ere - before
Lowly - low in growth or position
Turf - soil
Grove - small wood
Stead - in place of something
Muse - to consider something, think about
Perishing - dying
Durable - long lasting

Fleeting - not lasting long
Melancholic - sad
Shielding - protecting
Gratification - showing thanks for something
Macabre - deadly, dark and twisted
Cyclical - things follow a circular pattern
Enduring - long lasting
By Jo H 2017 13
You will Know When You Get There

● This is a cryptic poem, difficult to understand at first. This ironically links to the title: you
will know when you finally understand the core message! The direct address of ‘you’
immediately involves the reader to become part of the story.
● The use of enjambment used throughout is striking; it serves to add to the cryptic nature
of the poem as you must struggle against your logic as to where the lines should end.
● The speaker starts off by setting the scene: it’s the seaside, and we can only assume
that there are large cliffs as ‘nobody comes up’ and ‘nobody else goes down’. You have
to access the beach by a ‘steep’ coastal path or stairs. Our first impression therefore is
that the beach is going to be deserted as it is too late ‘ in the day and the season’. We
get the sense that the season is heading into winter and the day is running into night. In
effect, the pleasure seeking times of summer are over.
● The beach (i.e the destination) is difficult to access as you have to go down a ‘last steep
kilometer’ which is ‘wet metalled’. The latter could be referring to metal handrails which
are placed on a path to protect walkers from falling down the cliff.
● There are moments in the poem where meaning becomes ambiguous through the
muddling of words which don’t naturally fit, making the overall meaning of what’s being
said unclear. So let’s try to deconstruct some of the lines:
○ ‘a shower passed shredding the light which keeps’. Logically, if a comma
appeared after ‘passed’, the pause created would imply that the meaning is thus:
a shower of rain passed overhead and in so doing, broke up the light into shreds
(i.e. pieces).
○ Then, ‘which keeps / pouring out of its tank in the sky’: the rain kept pouring out of
the sky (from its ‘tank’) onto mountain tops (‘summits’) and trees; the mist
(‘vapour’) that the rain created kept thickening and thinning.
○ ‘Too / credibly by half celestial’ - it’s believable that there is a half heavenly force
working in the battle between the rain and the sun
○ ‘the damned / reservoir up there keeps emptying - it keeps raining (there is a dam
of water in the sky) at the same time as the ‘light lasts over the sea’. So in other
words, the sun is setting and the last rays of light are broken up by the rain. The
light works to gather ‘the gold against it’ so the light is doing something positive as
it groups together things and makes them valuable. It makes the ‘crushed rock’
glint and sparkle, appearing magical. The overall effect is to highlight the idea of a
struggle between light and dark, which are often symbolic of knowledge and the
unknown. The light i.e. knowledge, makes things beautiful, but it appears to be
running out as the sun is setting.
● There is a clash between natural elements (the sea and light - these are wanted) and
made made (‘metalled’, ‘tank’, ‘reservoir’ - these are the things which seem to be
unwanted - also, all are usually associated with dark colours)
● The speaker keeps the reader in the story by saying ‘down you go’ - as if, despite the
bad weather and the poor season, you (the reader) still go down to the beach (the
destination). We are therefore metaphorically forced on the journey and are made to
place ourselves in the position of being on the beach within our minds.
● ‘You’ however, appear to be in a race with the sun which ‘in its way’, ‘gets there first’.
The sun therefore has sunk below the horizon. This creates a sense of urgency; we
become caught up in the journey of arriving at the destination before the light runs out.
● The focus then turns to two boys who have lit a fire on the beach which illuminates their
faces. The boys are hesitant to speak. This hesitancy creates a moment in time in which
the earth rolls ‘back and away’. Note that the ‘earth’ is not capitalised so the speaker
must be referring to soil earth, not the planet Earth. If speaking represents man made
things, then being reluctant to do so creates a gap which causes the land to pull away
By Jo H 2017 14
from the beach setting, leaving the boys, the man and ‘you’ even more isolated in the
moment. It is only the fire (so again, light, which symbolises knowledge) gives comfort.
● The repetition of ‘hesitancy’ emphasises the importance of time which runs throughout
the poem - even a small moment, like a moment of hesitation, can create a dramatic
impact.
● The land therefore rolls back away from the man who is going down to the sea to pick
mussels. The man has an ‘arrangement with the tide’ so in other words, he has looked at
the tidal charts and knows at what time it will be high and low tide. The best time to pick
mussels is at low tide, when the sea is out.
● A scientific tone is given to show the small window of opportunity that is available for the
man to pick mussels. The ocean must have gone down by 3,7 metres. Such a precise
detail suggests that the man must act fast to make the most of the moment as the tides
are always in movement.
● ‘one hour’s light to the left’, refers to the moment when the sun has been down for an
hour. In New Zealand where the poet is from, the sun always moves towards the left.
● The ‘excrescent moon’ is another unusual phrase. The poet could be playing around with
the meaning of words here (word play) as a crescent moon is a moon which is thin and
curved in shape. Excrescent on its own means to grow abnormally out of something
else, suggesting that the moon has appeared unnaturally out of the sun’s rays. Indeed,
the moon is seen as an opportunist, as it is described to be ‘sponging off the last of it’ - ‘it’
being the sun’s light.
● More references to short moments in time are given in the last stanza, each suggestive
of a great power, and connoting violence ‘A door / slams, a heavy wave, a door, the
sea-floor shudders.’ Why a ‘door slams’? Well, have you ever heard the sea crashing
into a cave? It creates a very powerful thudding sound as the water hits the walls inside
with force. The poet is bringing to the fore the power and strength of the sea here,
indirectly showing the danger of being trapped at the wrong moment. If you leave the
beach at the wrong time, you may struggle to find a ‘door’ through which to leave.
● Despite the danger, ‘you go alone, so late, into the surge-black fissure’. The
precariousness of the moment is enforced through ‘you’ going on your own. Perhaps this
is to show that discovery has to be alone. To know something, you have to learn it by
yourself. The ‘surge-black fissure’ shows that the destination is difficult to reach; heading
into blackness is like heading into the unknown. Overall, this drives home the central
message of the poem which is that the journey towards discovery / knowledge is
precarious. The biggest clue to deconstructing the poem is in the title.
Questions
1. List the actions that ‘you’ do within the poem.
2. Explore how the sea is presented.
3. Explore how light and the sun are presented.
4. Explore how the rain is presented.
5. Find references to time and explain their effect.
9. Essay question: how is striking imagery used in the poem and to what effect?
By Jo H 2017 15
The Caged Skylark

● This poem is about how man’s spirit aspires to move up towards heaven but is held back
by his body, just as the caged skylark aspires to fly up to the sky, but cannot.
● The poem opens with a description of the storm-defying skylark, meaning that it is a
powerful creature as it can beat storms; however, despite its possibilities of showing
strength it is reduced to living in a dull cage. The skylark’s capabilities of achieving great
things are cut short as a result of its prison.
● ‘Man’ clearly feels trapped as ‘mounting spirit’ shows great growth and progression but is
caught up inside his ‘bone-house’, i.e. his physicality, his bones. For the speaker, this is
a ‘mean house’ and so full of negative qualities. The word ‘dwells’ is a state of living
which shows little excitement.
● In line 3 the speaker swings back to focusing on the skylark, this intertwining of ideas
tightens the comparison. The bird is ‘beyond remembering’, so he cannot remember
anymore what it felt like to fly freely, and dive (‘free fells’)
● In line 4, the speaker refers to both the skylark and man and complains how presently life
is occupied by ‘drudgery, day-labouring-out life’s age’. The heavy sounding ‘d’
alliteration adds to the weighted tone that the poet tries to convey here. Every day has
become hard work, and life is an age, meaning that it goes on for a very long time. The
effort required to live is enhanced through the hyphenation of ‘day-labouring-out’
● Sometimes the bird may move to the top of its cage and sing the ‘sweetest, sweetest
spells’, while man may perform on the ‘poor low stage’. The sibilance here lightens the
tone; showing a brief moment of contentment.
● This cheerfulness is then interrupted in the next line with ‘both droop deadly’ showing
that both the bird and man become morbidly depressed, the negative mood enhanced by
more ‘d’ alliteration and the powerful plosive consonance of ‘b’ and ‘p’.
● Both the bird and man act together now as they ‘wring their barriers’ in order to break
free from their prisons in ‘bursts of fear or rage’. Both the skylark and man feel angry to
be physically confined.
● The first 8 lines of the poem form the octave part of the sonnet. In this section the poet is
focused on how man’s spirit and the caged skylark feel trapped and frustrated.
● The poem then shifts in focus. Lines 9 to 11 are about a free skylark which occurs in the
wild. This bird is extremely joyful, the mood is enhanced by the repetition of the
grammatical construction of adjective noun / adjective noun in ‘sweet-foul, song-foul’ ,
plus the use of all monosyllabic words used in the line, along with alliteration of the ‘n’.
Cadence is created, giving the line musical qualities, reminiscent of the birds ‘sweet’
chirping.
● This bird still has moments of feeling tired. On occasion he must ‘drop down to his nest’.
It is emphasised that it is his nest through the use of repetition; and the speaker reminds
us that it is a ‘wild nest, no prison’. Having a spiritual home is therefore seen as a
positive thing, but it must be of one’s choosing.
● In the last stanza the speaker claims that in the final moments of resurrection (i.e. the
soul rising up to heaven), the human spirit will be bound (i.e. held back) by flesh as man
is made up of body and soul. But when the moment of resurrection finally arrives he will
no longer be held back.
By Jo H 2017 16
Questions
1. List the ways the skylark and man are similar
2. Identify words and phrases associated with being trapped.
6. Essay question: explore how the poet’s thoughts and feelings are presented in
this extract.
Mounting - increasing
Dwells - lives
Fells - cutting down, falling down
Drudgery - working hard on extremely dull tasks
Labouring - working hard
Perch - the term used to describe a bird sitting on a branch
Droop - hang downwards, sink
Wring - to twist with force
Fowl - a bird
Babble - talk nonsense non-stop
Unencumbered - without obstacles, not held back
Distressed - panicked, fearful, stressed
By Jo H 2017 17
In Praise of Creation
● This poems does what it says in the title: it praises creation. The speaker contemplates
the behaviour of various creatures and marvels at how things have been created to act
as they do.
● Creation requires sexual intercourse and the poem’s structure mirrors a building up of
tension and release through the five quatrains. Using a uniform set of lines per stanza
helps to show the constancy of patterns which occur within nature.
● In the first stanza, the speaker focuses on single objects: ‘one bird, one star’ and ‘The
one flash of the tiger’s eye’. By doing this, she is zooming in on and therefore
appreciating, the tiny details that together contribute to universal order. These objects
stand to attention as they ‘purely assert what they are’; there is no need for ‘ceremony’
to build up their image. Just by being what they are, a statement is made of their
presence.
● ‘Testify’ is picked up from the last line of the first stanza and repeated in the first line of
the second. This reinforces the idea that all of these things work together as witnesses
to being part of a greater order. Everything works in harmony.
● Cadence is created in ‘to order, to rule’ as well as through the abab rhyme scheme which
runs throughout the poem. This rhyming pattern mirrors the idea of rule and order - a
regime where things are constant and controlled.
● The speaker marvels at how the birds ‘mate at one time only’ without being told, while at
other times the ‘sky is, for a certain time, full / Of birds’. The creatures do what they do
according to instinct, according to the seasons. The speaker admires the unspoken rules
which dictate their patterns of behaviour.
● The speaker also comments on the patterns of the moon which is ‘sometimes cut thinly’.
Everything in the world is therefore constantly changing, but in an ordered way.
● In the third quatrain, the focus is on a tiger which is ‘trapped in the cage of his skin’. The
tiger’s stripes act as a warning to others of its danger; the tiger cannot escape its
warning sign. The tiger is all powerful as it sits ‘Watchful over creation’, like it is waiting
for an opportunity. We get an idea of what opportunity it is waiting for, when the tigress
is mentioned. The tiger is waiting for the ‘blood to pound, the drums to begin’. This is
symbolic of the rise in tension during the mating of the tiger and tigress.
● At this point the tigress rises up above the tiger as her ‘shadow casts / A darkness over
him’. She becomes more powerful than he as she casts something mysterious (‘a
darkness’) and unexplained over him. The speaker is therefore marvelling at the
physical act of creation and how it can seem mysterious and unexplained.
● The fourth stanza builds up to a climactic moment as the world goes ‘turning, turning’ and
the ‘blood beats beyond reason’. At this time, the moment of creation, things go beyond
our understanding, ‘beyond reason’. The plosive ‘b’ alliteration adds to the buildup of
tension here.
● The continuity of life is reinforced through the mention of the ‘season’ and the repeated
‘turning’ of the world. Everything is constantly in motion, but in an ordered way.
● In the fifth stanza calm is established following the act of creation. There is now ‘quiet’
and the birds settle ‘folding their wings’. The season ‘sinks to satisfied things’ - this could
be suggestive that the moment for creating things is now over, the next step is to let
these new forms of life grow and settle before the cycle is picked up again.
● The poem’s ending, ‘Man with his mind ajar’ indicates that we can can only marvel at the
wonders of creation; that the world with its seasons and life cycles and ability to create
new life, is mind blowing.
By Jo H 2017 18
Questions
1. What does the tiger symbolize?
2. List the things that the speaker celebrates.
3. Comment on the last line of the poem ‘Man with his mind ajar’
7. Essay question: how does the speaker celebrate creation in this poem?
Assert - do something with confidence
Testify - to swear to something, to comment as witness
Sieves - an instrument with a meshed or perforated bottom, used for separating coarse from
fine parts of loose matter, for straining liquids, etc

Marvel - to admire and be amazed at how something is what it is
Miracle - an unexplained act from God.
Awe - to greatly admire something
Sequence - things are ordered
Procreation - to produce offspring
Reverence - to praise
Venerate - to greatly admire
Cyclical - things continue in a cycle
Constancy - things continue, are always the same
By Jo H 2017 19
Ode on Melancholy
● In the 17th and 18th Centuries, melancholy was considered an illness, caused by an
imbalance in the body, such as a build up of black bile. This illness would cause bad
moods, anger and lots of negative thoughts. John Keats was a junior doctor and so
would have been familiar with it.
● The poem was written in the spring of 1819 and is full of classical imagery linked to
Greek myths. The speaker addresses the reader throughout the poem making it seem
as though a specific piece of advice is being given to us, making it seem more personal
and meaningful as a result.
● The speaker tells us that melancholy is just a part of life; that there are moments when
we will feel down, but also moments when we feel good. The overall message is that we
should just accept the bad times as there will be plenty of good times too.
● The poem starts with an emphatic outburst where repetition is used, ‘No, no, go not to
Lethe’. The speaker uses direct language and issues an order to show how serious he
feels about the topic. He insists that the listener does not try to forget events which have
made him sad by dipping into a river of forgetfulness.
● He continues by saying that the listener shouldn’t resort to poison to end his mental
suffering nor wait for an evil goddess to take over his soul.
● Lots of negative language is used throughout this section: ‘no’, ‘not’, ‘neither’, ‘twist’
(suggests physical discomfort), ‘poisonous’, ‘suffer’, ‘nightshade’ to highlight the listener’s
troubled feelings.
● The first stanza continues with a list of things the listener should not do, all of which
would allow him to wallow in his suffering by focusing on symbols of death: letting the
dark night (‘death moth’) take over his soul; letting the ‘downy owl’ (another symbol of
death) become his partner. It ends with a summary of what will happen if he allows the
negative to take over, he will spiral into more gloomy thoughts ‘shade to shade’ which will
then ‘drown the wakeful anguish of the soul’. The word ‘wakeful’ here is a suggestion of
positivity, the message being that if we allow the bad thoughts to take over then they will
eventually destroy all the good. We need instead to be alert (‘wakeful’) to our ‘anguish’.
● In the second stanza the speaker introduces more positive imagery to sit alongside the
negative, creating antithesis (two opposing ideas) throughout the beginning of this
section: ‘heaven’ versus ‘weeping’; ‘green hill’ versus ‘shroud’; ‘sorrow’ versus ‘morning
rose’. We can see therefore a shift from completely negative in the first stanza to an
emerging optimism in the second. It is as though the listener is being shown and is
beginning to understand the light of positivity.
● The speaker points out that when melancholy comes it ‘falls / sudden’ like we don’t know
what has hit us and it covers up the good things (‘flowers’, ‘green hills’ etc) in a ‘weeping
cloud’ and a ‘shroud’. The speaker is suggesting to us that we need to see beyond the
gloomy things.
● Towards the end of the second stanza the positive tone becomes more pronounced as
the speaker drops the antithesis and continues with images which are bursting in colour
and life: ‘the rainbow of the salt sand-wave / Or on the wealth of globed peonies’.
However, it is worth noting that these images do not represent permanent beauty. The
rainbow doesn’t last, nor do the roses and peonies. Perhaps we are being led to see that
beauty and the good times can be just as fleeting as the bad times; that we need to take
the good with the bad.
● The speaker assumes that the listener is male and has a ‘mistress’. If the couple have a
fight then the listener should hold his mistress’s ‘soft hand’ and ‘let her rave’. In other
words he should just let her get angry and give way to her. This develops the idea that
we need the bad times to enjoy the good. At these moments of high emotion the listener
By Jo H 2017 20
should ‘feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes’. As eyes are considered to be windows
of the soul this suggests that the listener should fully immerse himself in his lover’s
emotions. The ‘ee’ assonance develops the idea of becoming lost in her soul.
● In the third stanza the speaker continues to talk about the listener’s mistress who ‘dwells
with Beauty - Beauty that must die’. Just as flowers and rainbows disappear so will his
lover’s good looks. Beauty is personified as a separate entity showing that when the
good looks leave, the lady will however remain the same person.
● The temporary nature of positive moments is further explored in the next few lines as joy
bids ‘adieu’ and pleasure can turn to poison just as you are enjoying it.
● Now, melancholy is ‘veil’d’ and rules in a ‘sovran shrine’ showing that even when we are
enjoying the moment, sad times aren’t far away. Melancholy is personified and is
referred to as a lady.
● Those who are able to recognise that we need the good with the bad have a ‘palate fine’
(they are sophisticated); these people are able to ‘burst Joy’s grape’ and so can break
into explosions of happiness because they are also able to ‘taste the sadness’ of
melancholy’s strong emotions (‘her might’).
● The personification of melancholy is furthered in the final line when those who have
suffered it, become transformed into a trophy which she hangs up. By celebrating the
moments of suffering like this, melancholy is transformed into something to be proud of.
A bit like battle scars.
● The rhyme scheme is ABABCDECDE and so follows the pattern of an ode which typically
consists of three stanzas, showing progression of an idea through each part. It is also
written in iambic pentameter which gives it a formal tone.
Questions
1. Identify the key message of each stanza

2. Write down in a table, words which have negative and positive associations
3. Who is ‘he’ and ‘she’ in the last stanza?
7. Essay question: how does the speaker celebrate creation in this poem?
Rosary - a string of beads used in praying, usually includes a crucifix
Drowsily - sleepy
Anguish - worry, fear, stress
Fosters - keeps and develops
Shroud - a cover, usually placed over a corpse to preserve it
Glut - to feed or fill
Globed peonies - ball shaped flowers
Rave - to shout loudly
Peerless - not looking
Bidding adieu - saying goodbye
Aching - hurting
Nigh - near
Veil’d - veiled - covered by lace cloth
Sovran shrine - sovereign shrine - burial place for royalty
Strenuous - challenging physical activity
Palate - the upper part of the mouth
By Jo H 2017 21
Coming
● ‘Coming’ suggests moving towards something; the speaker has been away and is
returning.
● The houses are personified as they have ‘serene foreheads’ indicating that this is a calm,
peaceful neighbourhood; describing the houses as people makes them seem more
welcoming The colours too which ‘bathe[..]’ the houses are ‘light, chill and yellow’; the
atmosphere is welcoming, uplifting and refreshing.
● The harmony is added to by the sound of the ‘thrush’ singing and the imagery of the
garden which is ‘deep’ in other words, it goes down far and is ‘bare’; everything about it
is pure and totally natural. The simplicity of the garden environment is evoked and
praised. Usually gardens (like forests) are associated with a children’s playground, a
place where the imagination can run riot and where magical things can happen.
Returning to the garden is therefore like returning to the best parts of one’s childhood.
● Yet the garden is ‘laurel-surrounded’, conveying the idea that it is protected and secluded
from the rest of the world by the trees; the hyphen adds to this idea of the trees standing
closely together as a protective force.
● The voice of the bird is ‘fresh-peeled’ which links to the idea of things being natural and
raw. This simplicity ends up ‘astonishing the brickwork’. The personification used here
makes it seem as though the bricks are envious of the bird’s simple natural state. As the
brickwork is man-made (and ‘adult made’), it cannot enjoy the same level of freedom as
the bird.
● The phrase ‘It will be spring soon’ is repeated to show the excitement of the speaker
towards the arrival of spring which usually brings with it new beginnings and a sense of
coming alive.
● The focus is then brought to the speaker ‘And I,’ ; the conjunction shows that he is apart
from but also connected to the environment. He knows that he is apart from his childhood
but still wants to be connected to it.
● The speaker comments that his childhood ‘is a forgotten boredom’, meaning that at the
time when he was a child it felt like it was boring, but he has forgotten about that now.
● When returning home he is know ‘like a child’ who stumbles upon a scene of ‘adult
reconciling’. Coming home makes him see things afresh. His adult self is making friends
again with his younger self.
● Because his adult self is now friends with his younger self he sees only the positive. He
‘can understand nothing’, so all the negative feelings he had before that his childhood
was boring are completely gone.
● Now he enjoys ‘unusual laughter’ so in his adult life, laughter rarely appears. It is only
going back home and remembering his childhood that he is able to metaphorically hear
laughter.
● The last line adds emphasis to the overall meaning of the poem, that coming home
allows him to become ‘happy’. He clearly wasn’t happy before as he only ‘starts’ to do
this.
● In summary, this is a poem about the speaker as an adult, returning home and in so
doing starts to feel happy as pleasant memories are brought back.
● The poem has unusually short lines of between 3 to 5 words. It is also simply laid out in
one stanza, plus lacks a rhyme scheme. All of these factors add a simplistic tone, which
is perhaps reflective of the simple nature of childhood.
● The focus of the poem shifts after ‘It will be spring soon’ from establishing the setting to a
philosophical one where the speaker sees things in a new way.
By Jo H 2017 22
Questions
1. Comment on the personification used in the poem
2. How is a peaceful setting created in the first part of the poem?
3. What is the poet’s message in the second part?
7. Essay question: describe the speaker’s thoughts and feelings about ‘coming’
home.
Some words you may not know the meaning of:

Serene - calm, peaceful, untroubled
Laurel - a type of tree
Astonishing - amazed, pleasantly surprised
Reconciling - restore friendly relations

Harmonious - everything is working together, peaceful, calm
Realisation - to become aware of something
Epiphany - moment of awakening, the moment you realise something
Roots - (in this poem) returning to where one grew up, one’s heritage
By Jo H 2017 23
Stormcock in Elder
● This poem is a celebration of a bird (a stormcock to be precise), which the speaker spies
upon through a hole in the roof of his home.
● We get the impression first of all that the speaker likes to live a secluded life away from
other people. He lives in a ‘dark hermitage’ so he pretty much hides away from the
world. He is ‘aloof / From the word’s sight and the world’s sound,’ so he is well away
from all news and noise from civilisation.
● The speaker was searching for bread on a shelf which itself seems to be hidden away;
you have to access it through a ‘small door’ and you cannot see its contents but have to
‘grope[..]’ inside it to find what you are looking for. This makes the discovery of the bird
seem more special; it is as though it has been hidden way first inside the darkness of the
secluded hermitage, and then inside the small cupboard door of the hermitage itself
where again it is dark.
● What the speaker discovers inside these dark places is ‘celestial food’ - something from
heaven which will give him sustenance. The speaker seems to be having a moment of
spiritual joy.
● The strength of the bird’s song is enforced through the repetition of ‘loud’, likewise the
word ‘wild’ shows that it has been untamed by man. Words like ‘glee’, ‘chorister’, ‘pride
of poetry’ and ‘glorified’ celebrate the noise made, bringing to the fore the speaker’s
delight.
● While the bird sings proudly, the speaker must spy upon it through a ‘broken roof’; the
contrast between something perfect and something broken suggests that man-made
things are less superior than natural things.
● A cumulative effect is created in the third stanza through the way lines 15-17 start with
‘The’ followed by a description of parts of the bird. This builds up almost like a crescendo
in a song, highlighting the rapture the speaker feels.
● Everything about the way the bird sings is presented as being perfect and glorious:
‘throbbing throat’ (strong & steady movements), ‘breast dewed’ (the dew almost adorns
the bird like beautiful jewellery), ‘polished bill’ (it is like the bird has taken care of its own
appearance’).
● Stanza four focuses on the bird’s physical appearance: the eye, which is associated with
being the window to one’s soul is described as ‘large’ making it seem important. Its
importance if further enhanced through the description of it being ‘ringed’ with an
abundance of ‘minion feathers’ which are ‘finely laid’.
● Cadence is created in lines 22 and 23 with the repetition of grammatical patterns: ‘how
strongly used, how subtly made’ and ‘the scale, the sinew, and the claw’. This rhythm
helps to add to the musical quality of the poem which mirrors the glory felt by the speaker
towards the bird.
● Stanza five continues to celebrate the bird’s appearance, this time by focusing on its
feathers, all of which are presented as beautifully working in harmony with each other,
shown through words like ‘merged’ and ‘marrying’.
● Plenty of plosive alliteration is used in ‘bright breast...pinions bright’ which adds to the
enthusiastic tone of the speaker and also creates more cadence.
● Rich colours associated with royalty are listed ‘Gold sequins...shower of silver’ making it
seem like the bird is wearing expensive but delicate jewellery.
● The attitude towards the bird changes slightly in stanza six where the bird is presented
as being a chancer, ‘soldier of fortune, northwest Jack’ who travels around the world to
seek his fortune. He is a an ‘old hard times’ braggart’ ; in other words, he has been
through hard times but still manages to brag and show off in spite of this. Indeed the
speaker asks the bird that before he burst his vocal chords (‘ere your bagpipes crack’),
he should explain how it is that he still looks so good even though it is winter. Despite it
being February, the bird is ‘full-fed’ and ‘dressed / Like a rich merchant at a feast’.
By Jo H 2017 24
● The speaker becomes philosophical in the last stanza and comments how one half of the
world doesn’t understand how the other half live. This could be an extension of the
separation between man and the natural world which has been symbolised through the
crack in the broken roof all the way through. The speaker has had to spy on the bird
through the small opening to see how it lives.
● More cadence is created through the sibilance and use only of monosyllabic words in ‘so
sing your song and go your way’ - which again adds to the musical quality of the poem.
● In the last part of the poem the speaker is saying that the bird should go its own way and
continue to smile as brightly as the angel Gabriel, whilst sitting on a branch of the elder
plant, by a broken tile.
● The poem has a fixed rhyming pattern (ababcc) and a uniform stanza length (6 lines) of 7
stanzas. The long length of the poem and the fixed rhyming pattern add to the effect of
the poem being like a song.
Questions
1. How is the separation between man and the natural world presented?
2. In what ways is the poem song-like?
3. Describe how the bird’s singing is shown.
7. Essay question: explore the ways in which the bird is presented.

Stormcock - a type of small bird Scarcely - hardly, barely, only a tiny bit
Elder - in the poem, it is referring to the Dewed - drops of water from condensation
elder plant, which produces elderberries overnight
(also means older) Ringed - circles
Elder-spray - a small branch of the elder Ray - (in this poem) a small amount
tree Minion - (not the cartoon!) - a servant,
Hermitage - a secluded place to live, a subordinate, person of little worth
home well away from other people Grasped - hang onto
Aloof - set apart from others emotionally and Subtly - only a tiny bit, not showing a lot.
mentally Sinew - muscle
Celestial - heavenly Coverts - covering feathers
Groped - to try and grab something with Russet - rusty red / brown colour
your hands, usually without being able to Pinions - legs
see Brindled - mixed colour
Wintry - winter like Jack - a slang word for a male, or traveller
Glee - happiness Braggart - someone who shows off a lot,
Unfailing - without fail, it always does it thinks they are the best.
Chorister - someone who sings (usually in a Ere - before nightfall
choir) Merchant - old fashioned name for someone
Spied - to secretly look who sells things
Glorified - brilliant, lit up, almost heavenly Contrive - plan secretly
By Jo H 2017 25
Cetacean
● This poem is in praise of whales. The speaker goes one Sunday morning to view them
and strikes it lucky when he sees a pod by the Farallon islands which are 30 miles
offshore from San Francisco.
● The poem starts immediately into the action ‘Out of Fisherman’s Wharf’ - starting it with
the adverb ‘out’ makes it seem like they were in a rush to see them. Likewise it is ‘early’
meaning that they had to prepare for this event, making it seem more special.
● The boat is big, ‘bow to stern, some sixty-three feet’ which mirrors the size and
grandness of the whales later on.
● The news that they saw the whales is given briefly at first ‘- and we did, off the
Frarallones’ perhaps to show the excitement of the moment when they first cast eyes on
the creatures.
● We then learn about that first moment when they were spotted. The whales were calm
‘swimming slowly’ and regal ‘rose at a shallow angle’.
● The speaker is so enthusiastic about the whales that he adds more information about
their appearance within a bracket. He lists various features to emphasise their
greatness. They have ‘broad flat heads one quarter their overall body-lengths’ making
them seem extremely powerful and also strikingly unusual.
● The whales act as one unit as their actions are referred to as if they do them in unison,
‘they blew…’, ‘their heads disappeared…’ etc.
● Plosive alliteration is used in ‘They blew as soon as their heads began to break’ perhaps
to highlight the sudden power of the creatures’ movement and the speaker’s enthusiasm
for this.
● The whales ‘blows’ are described as being perfect ‘straight and slim as upright columns’
indicating that the creatures are skilled at what they do.
● When the whales show the watchers their backs, they are surprised to find that they are
‘twenty feet longer than the vessel herself’. Again this shows the magnitude of the
creatures. The ‘sixty-three feet’ vessel is small in comparison.
● The whales continue to act in unison, like they are in synchronised motion as they
‘arched their backs’ and ‘arched their tail stocks ready for diving’. Everything about their
movements makes them seem coordinated and graceful.
● Notice that many of the short stanzas start with ‘then’ or ‘and’, to show that the whale
watchers are doing just that: watching a sequence of whale movements. The speaker’s
only role is to describe what he sees.
● The whales are made seem magical as they ‘vanished’ quickly, ‘slipping into the deep’,
without explanation nor fuss. They move with ease.
● The whales disappear into ‘the deep’ - a place with connotations of mystery.
● The poem is set out in a series of three line stanzas (tercets) which reflects the sequence
of almost staged movements carried out by the whales.
● The lines are long, making the poem appear bulky on the page. Perhaps this is to mirror
the bulky shape of the whales.
● The fifth stanza starts halfway through the line with ‘And’, making the moment that the
dorsals appear seem like a suspenseful moment, one where the speaker has to catch his
breath.
By Jo H 2017 26
Questions
1. How is the size of the whales shown?
2. How is the elegance of the whales shown?
3. How does the speaker show his admiration towards the whales?
7. Essay question: explore the speaker’s attitude toward the whales in the poem.

Wharf - part of the harbour where ships load and unload their goods
Vessel - a boat
Bow - front part of boat
Stern - back part of boat
Slate - a type of flat grey stone
Mottling - patches
Dorsals - tall triangular fin at the back
Stubby - flat ended
Hove - to lift with effort
Diminutive - less than average size
Dispersed - to move apart

Awe - admiration
Esteem - admiration, regarded highly
Marvel - admiration, wonder
Bulk - a very big size
Magnitude - extremely large
Expanse - a very big space
Graceful - elegant, smooth movements
Unison - working together, at the same time
Synchronised - working at the same time
By Jo H 2017 27
The Buck in the Snow

● The poem starts describing an idyllic natural setting: there is a ‘white’ sky (symbolising
purity’ and everything is prettily covered in snow. The fir trees (hemlocks) are so full of
snow that their branches are ‘bowed’.
● The buck and his doe peacefully stand in ‘the apple orchard’ unaware that they have
entered a place dominated by man. They are not part of the wild but have rather entered
an manmade reconstruction of a natural setting (as in an apple orchard, trees are planted
in rows for easy harvesting). We immediately get the sense therefore that the creatures
are in danger.
● The speaker seems proud as he says and repeats, ‘I saw them’. It is as though he feels
lucky that he did, whilst others might have missed the opportunity.
● The speaker asks a question which draws the reader in (‘Saw you not…?’), making us
feel involved in the story; as though we may regret having missed the opportunity of
seeing the deer.
● The deer are presented as lively and beautiful to watch as they move ‘Tails up, with long
leaps lovely and slow’. The ‘l’ alliteration connects the words describing their leaping
motion, which creates a cadence which mirrors their movements.
● The buck moves out of the orchard and into the ‘wood of hemlocks’ -
● Lots of ‘o’ assonance is used in ‘lovely’, ‘slow’, ‘over’, ‘stone’, ‘wood’, ‘bowed’, ‘snow’
which connects the words and so adds further rhythm, perhaps to reflect the pulse and
life of the creature.
● This rhythm is interrupted in the second stanza with the use of heavy ‘d’ plosive
consonance in ‘wild blood scalding’. The shortness of the stanza (just one line) adds to
the abruptness. The creatures blood ‘scalding’ the snow is an exaggeration of the
creature’s heat which is contrasted more poignantly as a result, against the image of the
cold ‘snow’. The speaker is physically close to the buck as he describes it as ‘here’, so it
is with him.
● The tone of the poem changes to become philosophical in the third stanza when the
speaker contemplates how strange death is to bring down the buck. He repeats ‘bringing
to his knees…’ ; he wonders how something so strong can be so suddenly diminished.
The creature falls first on its knees, and then finally its head with heavy antlers falls. The
process is staggered as the creature fights against his death. This makes the death
seem painful and more brutal.
● The line ‘The buck in the snow’ stands on its own, making it seem solitary in death, but
still beautiful as it is still in the pure white snow setting.
● The hunters are not described in detail, nor even as people. The focus is on their
weapons as they ‘shift their loads a little’ - they need very little movement to create
destruction. Their deathly power is contrasted against the ‘feather of snow’ which is
extremely delicate. This phase is immediately followed by a pause (signalled by the
dash) and then ‘Life’ which could signify that life is delicate like a ‘feather of snow’.
● More pity for the creatures is developed as the doe is described. From the doe’s eyes,
life looks out ‘attentive’, like it is on watch, probably from death. Death and life are
personified in this poem which helps establish them as enemies.
● The rhyme scheme is unusual: the first 6 lines rhyme (snow, doe etc). The interruption
in this constant rhyme coincides with the description of the buck’s death. The rhyme is
picked up again in the last two lines when referring to the doe, which is then linked to
‘snow’ in the line before it. Perhaps this shows that life continues.
By Jo H 2017 28
Questions:
1. What are the speaker’s feelings towards the buck?
2. How does the speaker highlight the brutality of the buck’s death?
3. What message does the speaker convey about the nature of life?
7. Essay question: explore how the speaker’s thoughts and feelings are presented in
the poem.

Hemlocks - a poisonous plant with very finely divided leaves
Bowed - to bend
Antlered - the horns of a deer
Buck - male deer
Doe - female deer
Scalding - burning hot

Philosophical - thinking about the meaning of life and the universe
Termination - end of something
Depressive - sad, down
Melancholic - sad
Antithesis - two opposing ideas
Brutality - aggressive, actions carried out without feeling or care
Emotive - causing emotions
Monologue - when one person speaks for a longish amount of time.
Purity - innocent, unblemished
Tarnish - to make something dirty, to destroy with a mark
Blemished - leaving a mark
Juxtaposition - two opposing ideas positioned closely together
By Jo H 2017 29
Written Near a Port on a Dark Evening

● Written in the 18th Century, this poem takes the form of an Elizabethan sonnet, following
the rhyme scheme of ababcdcdefefgg and using iambic pentameter throughout.
● The overall mood created is quite depressive as the speaker describes the settling of
night upon the port. Night and darkness are symbolic of depression and death, so the
atmosphere created is far from cheery as these elements take over the scene.
● ‘Huge vapors’ sets an eerie ghost like backdrop; the fact that they ‘brood’ shows that
they are oppressive as they cover the setting.
● ‘The Ocean’ is capitalised, giving it importance and so ultimately signifies that night is
able to easily overpower this great force.
● The night is ‘dark and mute’, like death. It moves stealthily as it ‘settles’ without effort
and takes over the scene.
● As the night takes over focus is shifted to a description of sounds, much like a blind
person would have to adapt to their environment by listening to sounds. There is an
abundance of ‘r’ consonance in lines 1 to 3, which serves to mimics the loud rolling
motion of the sea. This rolling motion is reinforced through the repetition of starting lines
4 to 6 with ‘Of’.
● Throughout the poem there is a frequent use of caesurae which mimics the rise and fall
of the tide; the forwards and backwards motion is regular and free from man made
control.
● The seamen are ‘distant’ in their ship which is anchored far off shore, indicating that they
are isolated. They have to keep a ‘watchman’ to look out for danger, suggesting that the
sailors are vulnerable.
● This theme of isolation is developed when ‘one deep voice alone’ must sing the hour and
no voice is mentioned as answering back.
● The striking of the bell to mark the time creates a sense of finality, as if time has run out.
This develops the theme of death (time running out to live) and negativity.
● ‘All is black shadow’ indicates that everything has been covered in darkness. This is a
further symbol of death.
● The tone changes slightly with the description of the ‘lucid line’ which is ‘marked by the
light surf on the level sand’. There is therefore a clear division between sand and sea
and so there is a clear path. The surf is non-threatening as it is ‘light’ and the sand being
even (‘level’) offers a straightforward, reliable surface to walk upon. This contrasts with
the ‘rugged foot / Of rocks remote’ earlier on in the poem which presented us with a
dangerous terrain. It is as though the speaker is pointing out that in life there can be a
mixture of dangerous and safe environments.
● This positivity continues through the description of the ‘ship-lights’ which ‘faintly shine /
Like wandering fairy fires’, creating a magical atmosphere. However, the fact that the
lights only shine ‘faintly’ indicates that this positivity is likewise dim. Indeed, these lights
often on land ‘Mislead the Pilgrim’. So, although the tone is lifted slightly with brighter
imagery, the overall message is that these moments of optimism are fleeting and
misleading, i.e. they cannot be trusted to take you in the right direction.
● ‘Reason’ (i.e. mental powers) is capitalised to give it importance and to make it seem
(like the ‘Ocean’) as its own entity. This mental power gives only a weak ‘dubious’ ray
and is also ‘wavering’, so it is uncertain of what it is doing. This mental power is the only
thing that gives light and hope and direction in ‘life’s long darkling way’.
● The overall effect is that night (death, depression) takes over and covers everything.
Man is isolated and alone; only reason (mental power) can give some moments of relief
from the darkness. Pretty depressing if you ask me!
By Jo H 2017 30
Questions:
8. How are people presented in the poem?
9. Explain why ‘Ocean’ and ‘Reason’ and ‘Pilgrim’ are capitalised.
10. How is the ‘Dark’ presented?
11. Explore the significance of the title.
the poem.

Vapors - air mixed with water to create mist
Brood - to cover and loom above something
Shore - edge of the sea by the sand
Mute - silent, without noise
Repercussive - echoing back,
Billows - great waves and surges of the sea
Drowsy - sleepy
Rugged - rough, jagged, not smooth
Remote - isolated, far away, difficult to reach
Relieved - thankful that something bad hasn’t happened
Bidding - asking
Lucid - clear, bright
Afar - far away
Oft - often
Mislead - to trick someone, to direct them the wrong way deliberately
Pilgrim - a person on a journey to find something spiritual
Dubious - doubtful, not for certain
Ray - a narrow beam of light
Wavering - unsteady, flickering, not constant, weak and then strong
Lends - to adapt, to give

Isolated - alone, far away from others
Despondent - giving up, sad
Oppressive - weighing down on something, covering something up, dominating
Funereal - like a funeral
Somber - serious, sad
Tenebrous - dark
By Jo H 2017 31
The Kraken
● This poem was written in the early 1800s and focuses on a legendary sea creature
(much like Scotland’s Loch Nest Monster) which is said to cause extremely large
whirlpools in the sea off the coast Norway.
● The creature is far below our world, it is below the waves (thunders) of the ‘upper deep’
and ‘far, far beneath’ (repetition used for emphasis) in the ‘abysmal sea’ - we are
therefore unable to fathom how deep it is as it is below the sea that we know. A new
world beneath ours is therefore introduced.
● The sea creature is peaceful as its sleep is ‘uninvaded’ by thoughts and is ‘dreamless’.
Left in its own world undisturbed, the creature is harmless.
● The greatness of the creature is emphasised through describing his sleep as ‘ancient’,
suggesting that its lifespan goes back to a time before man existed. This develops the
idea of the creature being other worldly.
● ‘The Kraken sleepeth’:’ is a short clause which again brings to the fore the creature’s
greatness; the image created is that it is like a sleeping dragon, quiet and peaceful when
undisturbed. It indirectly also creates tension as we are led to question what will happen
when this giant ancient creature wakes up and / or rises to the surface.
● The ‘sunlights flee’ suggests that the rays of light are scared of disturbing the creature
and his ‘shadowy sides’ suggests the greatness of its body as it is able to cast shadows.
● Above the creature ‘swell / Huge sponges of millennial growth and height’, these plants
have acted as a cover, keeping the giant creature hidden for thousands (‘millenial’) of
years. The mention of the ‘swell’ could be linked to the whirlpools which are said to be
caused by the creature. All descriptions associated with the creature highlight its
magnitude, again developing the idea of its other worldliness.
● The dark atmosphere established in the first few lines through using words like ‘shadowy’
and ‘abysmal’ is extended through the images of ‘sickly light’, ‘grot’ and ‘secret cell’.
Everything about the creature’s environment is mysterious. The creature seems to be
hiding in a dark cave under the sea, under the huge sponges.
● The sea creature waves (‘winnow’) its ‘great arms’, and yet leaves the environment
around it undisturbed (‘slumbering green’). Its tentacles are ‘unnumbered and enormous’
as they extend outwards. The power of the dormant creature is further emphasised.
● The creature will continue to lie undisturbed, peacefully eating ‘huge seaworms’ until the
day of the apocalypse at which point it will rise up to the surface and then die. Clearly
the creature will be forced to act and rise up as the ‘latter fire shall heat the deep’ thereby
disturbing its environment. The message then is that if left alone, the creature would
have continued to sleep peacefully. The death of the creature in the last line adds a sad
tone as something which has been described to us as being so great and ancient is
suddenly destroyed.
● The poem is 15 lines and so only just does not conform to the sonnet form of 14 lines.
The rhyme scheme is also unusual: ababcddcefeaafe, containing a mixture of
Petrarchan rhyme (abba) and Shakespearean (abab). Perhaps this unconventional form
is used to reinforce the unusual nature of the creature, that it is something we have never
seen before.
● Enjambment is used in various places ‘flee / About his …’ , ‘swell / Huge sponges’ as a
way to mirror the winnowing motions of the sea creature.
By Jo H 2017 32
Questions:
1. How is the depth of the sea creature’s environment emphasised?
2. How does the speaker create a mysterious atmosphere?
3. How is time presented in the poem?
the poem.

Abysmal - immeasurably deep or great
Uninvaded - not interrupted, not broken
Flee - run away
Swell - rise in a surge
Millenial - a thousand years
Winnow - to blow and extend outwards
Slumbering - sleeping
Lain - to lie

Mythical - ancient stories often with strange creatures and gods
Legendary - ancient stories
Extraordinary - beyond the every day
Alien - not from our world
Other worldly - not form our world
Expansive - extremely large
Colossal - extremely large
Primeval - extremely old, before civilisation
Antediluvian - prehistoric, before civilisation
Ginormous - extremely big
Dormant - inactive, sleeping
By Jo H 2017 33

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‘Songs of

How you will be assessed in the IGCSE exam:

What the examiners like:

What the examiners don’t like:

Band Marks Description Cambridge IGCSE Literature

Band 8 (23–25) Sustains personal engagement with task and text

Band 7 (20–22) Sustains a perceptive, convincing and relevant personal response

Band 6 (17–19) Makes a well-developed, relevant and detailed personal response

Band 5 (14–16) Makes a reasonably developed relevant personal response

Band 4 (11–13) Begins to develop a relevant personal response

Band 3 (8–10) Attempts to communicate a basic personal response

Band 2 (5–7) Some evidence of simple personal response

Band 1 (1–4) Limited attempt to respond

Band (0 0) Insufficient to meet the criteria of Band 1

The Sea Eats the Land at Home

Good vocabulary to use when analysing the poem:

Good vocabulary to use when analysing the poem:

Afternoon with Irish Cows

Good vocabulary to use when analysing the poem:

Watching For Dolphins

Good vocabulary to use when analysing the poem:

The Poplar Field

Good vocabulary to use when analysing the poem:

You will Know When You Get There

The Caged Skylark

Good vocabulary to use when analysing the poem:

1. Identify the key message of each stanza

Some words you may not know the meaning of:

Good vocabulary to use when analysing the poem:

Some words you may not know the meaning of:

Some words you may not know the meaning of:

Good vocabulary to use when analysing the poem:

The Buck in the Snow

Some words you may not know the meaning of:

Good vocabulary to use when analysing the poem:

Written Near a Port on a Dark Evening

Some words you may not know the meaning of:

Good vocabulary to use when analysing the poem:

Some words you may not know the meaning of:

Good vocabulary to use when analysing the poem:

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