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"Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things," "Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!" "Round the decay of that colossal wreck," "The lone and level sands stretch far away." "Near where the chartered Thames does flow," "Every black'ning church appalls," "Runs in blood down palace walls." "And blights with plagues the marriage hearse." Ozymandias: Having "survive" and "lifeless" on the same line hints that art can outlast human power, but the ruined statue shows that ultimately art cannot immortalise power. Ozymandias: Irony- he tells other rulers to "despair" be- cause of the size and graneur of his "works", but in fact they should despair because their power is temporary and unimportant like his. Ozymandias: The ruined statue shows how human achievements are insignificant compared to the passing of time. Ozymandias: The desert is vast and survives far longer than the broken structure, emphasising the insignificance of the statue and of Ozymandias. London: Even powerful, natural features like the River Thames are under human control, and attected by the city's problems. London: Seems to be angry at all forms of power- de- scribing the church as "black'ning" could suggest that it is corrupt or tarnished by its failure to look after people it's also a grim visual image of the ugliness caused by the industrial revolution. London: Might be a reference to the French Revolution- sounds like he thinks ordinary people sutter while those in the Palace are protected behind walls. London: Powerful language of illness and disease. De- struction is implied by "blights" and "plagues" hint at something that's uncontrollable and destined to attect a lot of people.
"It was an act of stealth and troubled pleasure," "The horizon's bound, a huge peak, black and huge," "In grave and serious mood;" "Of unknown modes of being;" The prelude: The narrator knows he's doing something wrong- this is the first sign that something isn't quite right. Oxymoron hints at the narrators guilt. The prelude: Dramatic language - a mountain appears on the horizon, very ditterent language now, darker and more threatening. The prelude: The event has had a big impact on him - "grave" means serious, but may also be a reminder of his own morality. The prelude: The vague language shows that the narrator doesn't understand what he's seen - he is struggling to describe it. "Half-flush that dies along her throat':" My last duchess: Reference to death is out of place and suspicious- it hints at the Duchess's fate. "The bough of cherries some oflcious fool/ broke in the orchard for her, the white mule." "She thanked men, - good! But thanked somehow - I know not how - as if she ranked." "Notice Neptune, though, taming a seahorse, thought a rarity." "half a league, half a league, half a league onward," My last duchess: Enjambment- makes it sound as if he's getting carried away by his anger. My last duchess: The punctuation and repetition here cre- ates a stuttering attect, which underlines his exasperation with her behaviour. My last duchess: He returns to the subject of his art col- lection, which emphasises his power and wealth. The story of his last Duchess is a subtle warning to his visitor about how he expects his next wife to behave. The charge of the light brigade: The rhythm sounds like galloping horses - it gives the impression that the horses are unstoppable. The charge of the light brigade: There is a line in the Bible that says "I walk through the valley of the shadow of death "into the valley of death rode the six hundred."
"blast: you know what I mean - " "and strafes invisibly. Space is a salvo. We are bombarded by the empty air." "it is huge nothing that we fear." "suddenly he awoke and was running-" "in what cold clockwork of the stars and the nations" "and crawled in a threshing circle," "his terror's touchy dynamite." "but I blink" Storm on the island: The narrator speaks directly to the reader in a chatty tone, making you reflect on your own experience of storms. Storm on the island: This language is normally used to describe war. The wind is compared to a fighter plane attacking the island. Storm on the island: The storm is invisible - there is noth- ing solid there. This contrasts with the solid rock men- tioned in the second line of the poem. Bayonet charge: Sounds as if he's confused, in a vulner- able state. The event seems like a nightmare, but this confirms that they are real. Bayonet charge: Emphasises the soldiers' insignificance and his lack of control of his situation. "Cold" implies that the people in charge of the war don't care about the individual soldiers. Bayonet charge: A distressing image of out-of-control movement. "Threshing circle" is an agricultural term,used to suggest that nature is attected by war. Bayonet charge: The soldiers seem to have become a weapon rather than a human being. He's driven purely by his terror. Remains: The stanza ending reflects the blinking- the en- jambment carries you forwards, and the horror is still there when the next stanza starts. Remains: Repetition of line 4 shows that he's replaying the event in his mind and hints at his inner turmoil. Remains: The violent parts of the compound adjectives , "stunned" and "smothered" show how the place is attect- "and he's probably armed, possibly not"
and reflect the speakers lack of clear thought. "some distant, sun-stunned, sand-smothered land" ed by war. The long line and the sibilance slow the pace Remains: There could be a double meaning to "bloody" - he's talking about the mans blood, but also swearing in anger. Possible reference to Macbeth- after persuading "his bloody life in my blood hands." her husband to kill king Duncan, Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and tries to wash imaginary blood from her hands. This allusion hints that the speaker has been unbalanced by his guilt, as lady Macbeth was. "sellotape bandaged around my hand," Poppies: Another image of being wounded. She is emo- tionally wounded and he might be wounded in war. Poppies: The "blackthorns" allude to Jesus, who wore a "the gelled blackthorns of your hair." "a split second and you were away, intoxicated." "the dove pulled freely against the sky, an ornamental stitch." "Of running children in a nightmare heat" "a hundred agonies in black-and-white" crown of thorns when he was crucified. This hints at the sacrifice the son may make. Poppies: The sons excitement contrasts with his mother's sadness. However, "intoxicated" also hints at a lack of control of his life by joining the army. Poppies: Strong visual image of something small and beautiful in a vast space- represents her son. War photographer: may be a reference to the Vietnam war photo of a girl running naked towards the camera after her village was bombed. The link hints at the importance of the photographers work as the photo is sometimes credited with helping to end the war. War photographer: Emotive metaphor to describe his photos. Having the pictures printed seems to confirm an- ode solidify the suttering they show. "they do not care" War photographer: This is ambiguous- it could refer to the readers of the newspapers who don't care about the
"dem tell me" The Emigrée: The poem ends on a positive note - despite the threat of death, the city is still associated with "sunlight ", just as it is at the end of the first two stanzas. Checking out me history: Emphasises separateness of the British education system from himself. Repetition of "dem" and "me" creates a sense of "them and us". Checking out me history: Dismisses British history- as- sumes the reader knows it. "Napoleon/ battalion" Checking out me history: String rhymes and broken syntax show importance of oral communication. Checking out me history: Emphatic final word- sums up "I carving out me identity" "full of powerful incantations" "but half way there, she thought," "to see whose withstood longest the turbulent inrush" "which had been the better way to die." the main theme. He's going to use his own history to create his identity. Kamikaze: This suggests that the pilot was under some kind of spell, which hints at the influence of patriotic pro- paganda that Kamikaze's were exposed to. They were told that it was a great honour to die for their country. Kamikaze: These are the daughters thoughts and explana- tions- the pilot has no voice and his real reasons are never heard. Kamikaze: Enjambment and lack of punctuation in this stanza may hint that the pilot got caught up in his child- hood memories. Kamikaze: The final short sentence could be a comment of the destructiveness of patriotism- the pilots family are so ashamed that they treat him as if he's dead. He may have wished that he'd fulfilled his mission- either way his story ends in a kind of death. "all dat"
