Listed – Language, imagery, structure, tone,

Introduction, what to mention:

 Meaning – summarise what happens and any underlying meanings

 Themes
 Tones/Style of writing/Diction
 Structure – stanzas, rhyming scheme
 Title

Aspects of text

 Figurative Language
o Metaphor/similes/symbolism
 Making something into a tangible quantity to be held
 Extended/continuous metaphor
o Synaesthesia
 Creates a rich description of something
o Oxymoron – reveals a paradox
 Might further illustrate a point
o Caesura
o Repetition – emphasis on a word
o Juxtaposition - tension
 Action
o Who is it about – the literal context
o Events of the poem
 Gerundials – capture an image of arrested moment, the last image of an
unfinished story; a powerful image
 Gives movement and adds to lively tone
 Setting
o Physical setting – rural/urban, inside/outside, place and culture
 Character/relationship
o How is a character presented? Personality, appearance
o Interactions between characters – are they limited?
 Does the language create active interaction? Is there a lack of emotional
connection
 Rhetorical questions – active; consciousness of events around
o Narrator/Voice:
 ‘establish their narrative stance’
 Reliable/unreliable, first/third person, involved/detached
 Involved – personal, intimate
o First person – a personal experience, experienced by the
poet themselves; introverted viewpoint, not just observing
o Stream of consciousness/internal monologue – decreases
the distance between the reader and the poet
 Detached – objective, scientific precision, omniscient, third-person
narrative voice, elevated
 Use of pronouns; high use of I/this – involved, intimate -
 Physical details: distanced, objectivity
  Demonised
 Imagery
o Descriptive, sensory detail – objectification
 May create a sense of pathos
o Aural/visual/olfactory imagery
 Sound
o Alliteration/rhyme/assonance/onomatopoeia
 Trochaic rhythms might stress something
 Tone
o Feelings expressed
o Kind of words chosen – simple/complex, repetition?
 Formal manner – enhances detachment
 Might have the clearest meaning without complicating cnonotationsmay be
colloquial
 Archaisms – sense of the past or a sense of dignity/solemnity
 Non-standard English
 Neologisms – individuality
 Words might be incongruous and not fit in with the rest of the vocab – for
shock!
o Rich and detailed
o Monosyllabic/polysyllabic – does it change – gives expression
o Use of clichés – difficult to express feeling – has to resort to…
 Structure
o Does each stanza deal with a different idea/represent development?
 Tonal shifts/changes
 Also perhaps marked by a change of rhyme
o Is there a decision at the end?
 No decision – ambiguity, uncertainty
o how does the layout contribute – the visual appearance
o what kind of syntax is used - are the lines/sentences long/short; end-stopped or run-
on, caesurae, patterns
 irregularity – informal speaking voice, spontaneity
 rhythm can be sped up through use of commas or shorter line lengths
 underlying rapidity
 similar lengths – declamatory/incantatory quality
 rigid – could be restricting
o free verse – no regular alternation of stress and un-stress, or heavy and light
emphasis (compared to metrical verse)
o Enjambment
 Heightened emotions/emphasis to words/sense of continuity
 Might also quicken pace
Sound devices

Used to create a positive and intentional structural or auditory experience – euphony may be
disrupted through dissonance – the intentional arrangement of cacophonous sounds

 Rhyme
o Types of rhyme:
 Masculine/full/perfect rhyme – final accented syllable – predictability
 Sense of certainty/inevitability
 Feminine/double rhyme – in two consecutive syllables
 Half/slant/off rhyme – either a consonant or a vowel rhymes but not both –
unease/uncertainty/unfinished
 End rhyme – end of lines
 Internal rhyme – within lines of poetry
o Rhyme schemes
 Couplet (aa bb cc)
 Tercet (aaa)
 Terza rima – interlocking trios of rhymes (aba bcb cdc)
 Quatrain – stanza of four lines rhymed in various ways (abcb/abac)
o Effect
 Makes poem sound pleasing to the ear/jarring, discordant effect
 Ads emphasis to certain words
 Acts as a unifying influence – drawn together through rhyme patterns
 Gives a rhythmic, incantatory, ritualistic feel
 Influences the rhythm of the verse
 Provides a sense of finality (eg: rhyming couplet)
 Subconscious effect on reader – draws together certain words/images
affecting sound
o No rhyme:
 Places emphasis on other sound words
 Anaphora – the repetition of an initial word or phrase in successive lines
 Sounds:
o Assonance – repetition of vowel sounds – can feel “rhyme-like” and create euphony
o Consonance – repetition of consonant sounds with differing vowel sounds preceding
o Alliteration – repetition of consonant sounds
o Onomatopoeia – formation and use of words to imitate the sounds they are meant
to describe
o Sibilance (s); plosive (b/c/p); fricatives (f)
To show

connotes convey generates

implies portray reflects
symbolises denote criticises
indicates illustrate suggests
creates a platform for serves to highlight
characterises enhances placing an emphasis
embody it should be noted intensifies
parallels establishes aids
forges undermines reveals
furthers there is evidence crafts
strengthens draws attention employs
associates subverts represents
encapsulates attempts acknowledges
stresses depicts as a result of
forebodes continues hints at
this is best… (shown/depicted) punctuates reminds
goes on to show symbolises expresses
appreciates invokes extends
this has the effect of reiterates

Impression

Atmosphere
Semantic field
Dimension
sense

Change

Shift Dichotomy Becomes a

Contrast Contradict Indicates a tonal shift
Delineation Dawning realisation
antithesis Marks a change
Transitory phase

Compliments

Effectively Clear Adds to the success of its

Successfully Obvious execution
Prominently evident
poignantly

Could relate/or indeed could indicate

Alternatively

This could suggest