English literature: Unseen poetry

Unseen
Poetry
• Still I Rise
• NotYet My Mother
• BeforeYou Were Mine
• A PoisonTree
• Envy
• If I couldTell you
• The Great Storm
• Spared

Key points
to
remember
when
analysing
poems
THE CONTENT OF THE POEM: What is the poem about? Write a few
sentences summarising the poem; stating what you think the poem
may be about. Be sure to remember to work with the poem
chronologically (top to bottom).
THE IDEAS THE POET MAY HAVE WANTED US TO THINK ABOUT:
Are there any specific themes that stand out to you when you’re reading
this poem? Is there something that is repeated throughout the poem?
Could this be a theme? What relevance do you think this theme has?
THE MOOD, ATMOSPHERE AND TONE OF THE POEM: Is there a
particular tone in the poem? Is it happy, sad, jolly, sombre? Is the poem
monotone?
HOW IS THE POEM WRITTEN? Are there any poetry devices present?
Be sure to look for metaphors, similes, alliteration, rhetorical questions
and rhyming couplets. How many stanzas are there? Is it a sonnet? Does
the structure have any relevance to the CONTENT of the poem? Does
the structure change the way you read the poem?
HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO THE POEM? How does the poem make
you feel? Who do you think the audience is of the poem? Do you think
they would enjoy this? Why do you think so?

Still I Rise by Maya
Angelou
• Still I Rise is a powerful, empowering poem all about
the struggle to overcome prejudice and injustice. It is
one of Maya Angelou's most popular poems.
• When read by those who understand the meaning of
repeated wrongdoing, the poem becomes a kind of
anthem, a beacon of hope for the oppressed and
downtrodden.
• It is a reminder of the abuse of power by those who sit
in government, the judiciary, in the military and in the
police force. For members of the public, for society, it
sends out the clear, repeated message of hope. No
matter the circumstances, there must always be hope to
cling on to.
• Still I Rise is a powerful, empowering poem all about
the struggle to overcome prejudice and injustice. It is
one of Maya Angelou's most popular poems.
• When read by those who understand the meaning of
repeated wrongdoing, the poem becomes a kind of
anthem, a beacon of hope for the oppressed and
downtrodden.
• It is a reminder of the abuse of power by those who sit
in government, the judiciary, in the military and in the
police force. For members of the public, for society, it
sends out the clear, repeated message of hope. No
matter the circumstances, there must always be hope to
cling on to.
This poem will inspire
and spark off many a
debate on such
themes as:
Politics
History
Trade
Oppression
Societal Issues
Individual Rights
Slavery
Peaceful Prote

Analysis of 'Still I Rise'
• This stirring poem is packed full of figurative language and when read
through comes over as a sort of secular hymn to the oppressed and
abused. The message is loud and clear - no matter the cruelty,
regardless of method and circumstance, the victim will rise up, the
slave will overcome adversity.
• Little wonder that Nelson Mandela read this poem at his inauguration
in 1994, having spent 27 years in prison.
• Although written with the black slavery and civil rights issues in mind,
Still I Rise is universal in its appeal. Any innocent individual, any
minority, any nation subject to oppression or abuse could understand
the underlying theme - don't give in to torture, bullying, humiliation and
injustice.

About Maya
• Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an African-American author, poet, dancer, actress
and singer. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, and several books of poetry,
and was credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning more than 50 years. She
received dozens of awards and over fifty honorary degrees. She became a poet and writer after a
series of occupations as a young adult, including fry cook, prostitute, nightclub dancer and performer,
cast member of an opera, coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and
journalist in Africa. She was active in the Civil Rights movement, and worked with Martin Luther
King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Beginning in the 1990s, she made around 80 appearances a year on the
lecture circuit, something she continued into her eighties. She was respected as a spokesperson for
black people and women, and her works have been considered a defense of Black culture. Attempts
have been made to ban her books from some U.S. libraries, but her works are widely used in schools
and universities worldwide. Her books centre on themes such as racism, identity, family, and
travel. Her death in 2014 was a major news story around the world, including on the BBC and she was
widely mourned due to her contributions to literature and the civil rights movement. Quotes from her
writing and public speaking and often included in lists of inspirational quotes and can often be seen in
social media.

There are 43 lines in total made up of 7 quatrains and 2 end stanzas which help reinforce the theme of individual hope, 'I Rise' being
repeated in mantra fashion.
This is a poem aimed at the oppressor. Note the first 'You' in the first line and the rhyme scheme abcb, which tightly knits the stanza
together. It's worth going through the rhyme's effect because the full rhymes such as eyes/cries, hard/backyard, surprise/thighs continue
up to the last two stanzas when the scheme changes from abcb to abcc and aabb, giving an absolute solid ending to the piece.
If this poem were a sculpture it would have a granite plinth to stand on. And the natural imagery is far reaching and the voice loud.
There are moons and suns, tides and black ocean; there's clear daybreak and ancestral gifts, all joining together in a crescendo of hope.
Similes and metaphor abound. Every stanza has at least one, from the first ...'But still, like dust, I'll rise.' to the last...'I am the dream and
the hope of the slave.'
There's a defiance in the poem as you read through, as if the speaker is trying to prick the conscience of the oppressor, by reminding
them of past wrongs and present realities. The word sassiness suggests an arrogant self-confidence, backed up by the use of
haughtiness, and sexiness. The poet's use of hyperbole with these three nouns adds a kind of absurd beauty.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as some surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Stanza 6 brings the oppressive issue to a climax so to speak. Three lines begin with 'You', the speaker choosing particularly active verbs -
shoot, cut, kill - to emphasise the aggression. But all to no avail for the oppressed will still rise, this time like air, an element which you
cannot shoot, cut or kill.
All in all, an inspirational poem with powerful repetitive energy, a universal message and a clear, positive pulse throughout.

NotYet My
Mother by
Owen
Sheers
Making Links It’s all about
making creative links
(manipulating evidence)
between one thing and
another thing:
Alliteration of ‘h’ sound
and feelings about his
mother.
Repetition of pronouns
“you”, “me”, “your” and
“mine” to feelings about
his mother.
Caesura and feelings
about his mother.
Repetition of “holding a
horse” and feelings about
his mother.
4 line stanzas which end
in full stops and feelings
about his mother.

• 'but what caught me was your face, which was
mine. And I thought, just for a second, that you
were me.'
• The poet saw himself in the photograph of his
mother. This is the key moment in the poem
when he sees the connection between himself
and the time captured by the photograph before
he was born. He recognised his family.The
comma gives a pause of importance and referring
to the second or small pause where he saw
himself in his mother.The metaphor 'which was
mine' highlights how he received his mother's
genetics which proves how they're close.We can
identify that Owen is having a glimpse of a
photograph and from the title we can tell it is
before he was born and it's a memory.

• Born in Fiji, Owen Sheers grew up in Wales. As well as
poems, he has written plays, non-fiction and fiction, including
a best-selling novel called 'Resistance'. He co-wrote the
screenplay for the book when it was turned into a film and
has even helped write an opera for children. He also appears
on radio and television talking about the arts generally.
• He writes about places and landscapes but is really interested
in people who live or have lived within them. The history and
identity of Wales has formed a large part of his development
as a poet and writer. It is people, their lives and their families
that provide most of the focus for his work, though,
especially the difficulties people face in simply trying to live.

Before you were mine by Carol Ann Duffy
• BeforeYouWere Mine is a poem by contemporary poet and British Laureate Carol Ann
Duffy. It portrays the narrator conversing with her mother, whilst looking at an old
photograph of her. The poem never mentions looking at a photograph but Duffy has
affirmed that this is indeed the case. The poem portrays her mother as a glamorous
woman, in her younger days and explores the way she changed with time due to
motherhood. Before You Were Mine is a sweet but poignant poem. It emphasizes
Duffy’s love for her mum but looks back at how her possessiveness may have made
her mother’s life somehow worse. This sour undertone gives the poem an
understated sadness. The title of the poem offers an interesting contrast in of itself as
being called Before You Were Mine seems to suggest the notion of a romantic love
when in fact the poem is about a platonic relationship.
• About Carol (context)
• Carol Ann Duffy was raised a Roman Catholic in an impoverished part of Glasgow
called Gorbals. At the age of six she moved to Stafford in England where from a very
young age she showed great academic prowess, particularly in the field of literature.
From the youngest of ages she talked of wanting to be a writer. In 2009 she became
the United Kingdom’s Poet Laureate a prestigious position bestowed on a poet by the
monarch. Her style of poetry is very conversational and often addresses the reader
personally. She covers many present-day issues in her poems. Due to the accessible
nature of her poetry her work is often studied in secondary education.

• Form and Tone:
• The poem is written in four stanzas, in blank verse, with no rhyming pattern. Each stanza
contains five lines. There are a few enjambment lines which give the poem a steady pace
and provide a nice ebb and flow but conversely it also contains a few lines that do not
follow on, this gives these particular lines a very authoritative feel as if they contain a truth
in some way. The poem has a conversational tone, typical of Duffy’s poetry. The rigid,
unfaltering structure of the poem could symbolise the organization of photos in an album.
• First stanza analysis:
• In this first Stanza the narrator reflects on the subject (her mother) hanging around on a
street corner with friends. I would presume this describes the scene in the photo the
narrator is looking at. It is clear that the narrator is in fact giving the opinions of Duffy
herself therefore I believe when the Duffy talks of being ten years away she is suggesting
she is sixteen years old when writing the poem, as this would be ten years after she left
Glasgow in reality. She makes her mother appear to be free spirited by describing her and
her friends as “Holding each other, or your knees” and “shrieking at the pavement” this
gives the image of a group having fun. In the final line this idea is solidified when she
likens her mother to the fun-loving, Marilyn Munroe (One would assume, as Duffy’s
mother wasn’t called Marilyn!)

• 2nd stanza analysis
• The narrator begins the second Stanza by saying “I’m not here yet” what this means is the photo was
taken before she was born. She then continues to say “the thought of me doesn’t occur” suggesting that at
that age her mother hadn’t even considered having a child. The rest of the stanza once again creates an
image of the narrator’s mother being carefree as she describes her being told off by her own mum for
being late home, although there is an element of wistfulness as Duffy uses the line “before you were mine”
meaning that her mother was carefree before she came along.
• 3rd stanza analysis
• In this first line the narrator questions her mother’s insistence that the years following her daughter’s birth
were her best. She belittles herself somewhat by referring to herself as “possessive” this stanza is far more
somber than the previous two. Duffy talks about her hands being in “high heeled shoes” before referring to
the shoes as relics. This helps to give the impression that her mother’s best years are behind her. The line
about seeing her ghost in George Square isn’t referring to her actual ghost but rather an imagining of her
mother. The final line is very conversational and would probably be indicative of how the narrator’s mum
would have spoken to her daughter.
• 4rd stanza analysis
• I love the opening two lines of this final stanza. Duffy is masterful at conveying imagery with simple words
and she does this here with aplomb, creating an image of a kind of anti-Hollywood by alluding to the lack of
stars on the pavement. This contrasts the purported glitz of the opening stanza where her mum is
compared to a Hollywood icon. This shows how being a mother has changed the subject of the poem’s life.
The last lines of the poem are very evocative as the narrator seemingly pines for the “bold” version of her
mother, the woman who wore red shoes and polka dot dresses. The suggestion that since the narrator had
been born her mother no longer “laughs” and “sparkles” is a very moving concept and generates a feeling
of sympathy and pity towards the narrator who clearly feels her mother was better off before she arrived.

A PoisonTree byWilliam Blake
The poem A Poison Tree is one of the most
wonderful and appreciated works of William
Blake. It was published in the year 1794 in his
collection of Songs Of Experience, which talks
about various emotions of humans. A Poison Tree
forces you to look deep down inside your own
self. It makes you ask a question to yourself –
you often forgive your friends; would you ever
forgive an enemy?
A Poison Tree was individually published in the
London University Magazine, in the year 1830.
Although the original title of the poem was
Christian Forbearance, the name was later
changed to give a better idea of what the poem
was all about. The poem has four sets of rhyming
couplets. Each stanza remains continued to the
next, and give the poem a hurried, almost furtive
tone that matches the secretive deeds carried
out in the darkness of the poem’s content.
A Poison Tree has four different stanzas. It starts as a first person poem,
where the poet is expressing his anger and hatred towards his enemy. The
poem then takes a turn and ‘I’ is replaced with the word ‘It’, a pronoun to
depict the feelings of the enemy.
The poet has used a metaphoric style. For instance, apple depicts his
vengeance; tree depicts his loss of patience, underneath which he kills his
enemy, etc. Besides, Blake also makes use of end-rhyme to really drive the
message home. As in the first, second, third and fourth line of the poem’s
first para, you can see ‘friend’ and ‘end’, both at the end of their respective
lines, rhyme, and likewise does ‘foe’ and ‘grow’.

• Language
• The vocabulary is simple (even if some of the words are unfamiliar today).
Notice the following:
• in the first stanza many of the words are monosyllables except for the word
'angry', which is repeated twice to emphasise emotion and to contrast with
the two different ways the speaker deals with this emotion
• the lines in the first stanza all start with 'I' which emphasises that this is a
personal story told from an individual point of view
• seven of the other 12 lines in the poem start with 'and' which helps the story
to build and increase in intensity
• All of the above makes the poem seem like a piece of verse for children and
like a simple nursery rhyme with a clear moral message to be learned. The
use of 'and' particularly resembles that of a child telling a story. A difficult
message is wrapped up in a form and structure which is deliberately simple
and using very straightforward vocabulary, to get its point across.

Context
•Context of 'A PoisonTree'
•William Blake was also known for his paintings including this one, entitled 'The
Ancient of Days'
•William Blake was born in 1757 and was originally an engraver. He began adding
text to his engravings in the form of poems and he was interested as much in the
presentation of poems as the poems themselves. In 1789 he published an
illustrated set of poems called Songs of Innocence and in 1793 followed this with
Songs of Experience (from which A PoisonTree comes).The following year, he
combined these two sets of poems, publishing as Songs of Innocence and
Experience Showing theTwo Contrary States of the Human Soul.
•The first set of poems is, therefore, generally hopeful and positive while the
second set tends to be more negative and pessimistic.

• A Poison Tree is a short and deceptively simple poem about repressing anger and
the consequences of doing so. The speaker tells of how they fail to communicate
their wrath to their foe and how this continues to grow until it develops into
poisonous hatred.
• The speaker describes how when they were angry with a friend, they talked to their
friend about the issue which helped them to overcome their anger. However, the
speaker was unable to do the same with an enemy and this leads to developing
resentment and an even stronger degree of hatred. An extended metaphor of a tree
growing in the speaker's garden demonstrates how the anger continues to grow. In the
lines 'And I water'd it in fears' and 'And I sunned it with smiles' the speaker actively
cultivates the tree/anger.
• Eventually the anger blossoms into a poisoned fruit, the enemy eats the fruit and
dies and the speaker seems to be glad of this. However, there is also a sense that they
see the destructiveness of what has occurred. As the first lines acknowledge, we can
easily overcome our anger if we communicate it properly.
• The poet is not only expressing his anger towards his friend as well as his foe in this
stanza, but he has also depicted the difference between two types of anger. He
states that when you are angry with a friend, you convince your heart to forgive him.
Even though you are hurt and you know that he did injustice to you, you try your best
to forget the past and end the feeling of vengeance in your heart.
• On the other hand, when you are angry with an enemy, it takes ages for you to calm
your anger. Yet, the anger and the feeling of vengeance do not diminish, even with
time. In fact, the vengeance simply grows.

Theme
Central, unifying idea or ideas that run through a text.
• A number of unifying ideas or themes run through the poem. Different
readers may attach more or less significance to each of these themes,
depending upon how they view the poem.
Theme Evidence Analysis
Anger: the basic human emotion which
sets the events of this poem in motion.
Although it is not necessarily wrong in
itself, how we go about dealing with
anger is extremely important.
'I was angry with my friend:/ I told my
wrath, my wrath did end./ I was angry
with my foe:/ I told it not, my wrath did
grow.'
The first stanza (lines that make up a
section of a poem) contrasts two
different ways of dealing with anger and
the two different outcomes that may
occur as a result.
Deception: the speaker bottles things up
and does not talk about his feelings to his
enemy.The enemy sneaks into the
garden in the dead of night to take the
fruit.
'And he knew that it was mine,/ And into
my garden stole'
'Stole' is an interesting choice of word.
While it has the clear meaning that the
enemy sneaked in under cover of
darkness it also reminds the reader that it
is an act of theft.

Communication: the
poet/speaker communicates a
direct moral lesson to the reader
about the disastrous
consequences of his own failure
to communicate with another
person.
'I told my wrath', 'I told it not.'
This simple but direct use of
antithesis (the use of opposites)
shows how simple it would be to
talk about an issue but equally
how easy it is to say nothing and
let resentment grow.
How does the poet show that anger is a basic human
emotion?
•By not telling us anything about the two people involved, Blake shows that
this is an emotion that can affect anyone.
•He uses a simple but effective image of a tree growing in a garden.
•The poem's uncomplicated structure suggests something basic is being
examined.

Interpretation
Interpretation
Reason for
interpretation
The apple represents the
anger growing large and
ripening.
The apple has been
chosen as a symbol
because it is a common
fruit and hatred and
revenge are common
feelings in human beings.
The apple refers to the
apple in the biblical story
of the Garden of Eden.
The poet chooses the
apple as a reference to
the Biblical story, a tale
that most of Blake’s
readers would have been
familiar with.The speaker
could be likened to a
serpent tempting his
enemy.
Interpretation of the line: 'And it grew both day and
night,/ Till it bore an apple bright;'
Interpretation Reason for interpretation
The speaker intentionally helps
resentment and anger to grow.
He deliberately cultivates the
growing tree (anger) with tears
of frustration and a refusal to
communicate with his enemy.
The speaker accidentally helps
resentment and anger to grow.
His tears are ones of sorrow as
he worries about his
relationship with his enemy.
Interpretation of the line: 'And I water'd it in fears./ Night and
morning with my tears;'

• Structure
• The poem has four stanzas. Each stanza consists of a pair of rhyming couplets in
the regular repeated pattern aabb. The rhythm of the poem is also straightforward
and regular which makes it very easy to read, though not necessarily to understand.
The straightforward and seemingly simple way in which Blake has written this poem
contrasts with the very complex human emotions he is describing.
• The poem also contains two clear turning points which help the reader to understand
the character of the speaker. The first comes after the opening two lines and shows
the difference in how the speaker handles a difficult situation in two separate cases.
In the second, symmetry is introduced in the final two lines and shows the speaker's
reaction to what has happened. The wording at this point is ambiguous. It is a new
day and a new beginning but the result of the speaker's untold anger is still there to
see. This makes the reader continue to think about the poem after they have finished
reading it.
• Form:
• A Poison Tree is written in quatrains. This straightforward grouping of sets of four
lines is one of the simplest and most recognisable poetic forms.

Envy by Mary Lamb
Mary Lamb compares an envious person to that of a rose tree, suggesting that a rose wanting to be like
a different flower would be blind to its own beauty.
If the rose wished to change its 'natural bent' and grow other flowers, it would be unable to do so. She
pictures the rose worrying, and says if it could only appreciate its own red flower and smell its beautiful
scent, it would never be unhappy again.
This comparison is used to suggest that, if we too could only appreciate our own strengths, talents and
beauty, we would have no need to be jealous of others.
• Form and structure:
The poem has a simple form and structure with three short six-line stanzas. There is a clear rhythm of 2
four-beat lines followed by a three-beat line and a regular rhyme scheme aabccb in each stanza. This
creates a regular, simple, almost sing-song effect reminding us of nursery rhymes. Many nursery
rhymes have a lesson or warning within their simple form. The childlike form allows Lamb's moral
message to shine through strongly.
• Language:
The language is also straightforward and there is a contrast between beauty and more negative
emotions. 'Fair', 'sweet', 'natural', 'gentle', 'pretty' contrast with 'discontent', 'fret', 'blind', 'senseless' and
'envious'. 'Discontent' and 'fret' are repeated twice each to emphasise how unhappy we are if we waste
energy on envy.
By suggesting the tree could be 'discontent', Lamb is personifying it which strengthens the link
between the tree and envious people.
Opening the third stanza with 'Like' emphasises this word, and shows the poem works as a simile
comparing 'all envious persons' to the rose tree. Waiting to the last stanza to make this comparison
allows readers to picture the rose before considering their own feelings.

Theme Evidence Analysis
Nature:The poem uses images
from the natural world to explore
human emotions.
'With care and culture all may find/
Some pretty flower in their own
mind'.
Several beautiful flowers are
mentioned in addition to the rose
(violet, lily, mignionet) suggesting
it would be foolish of the rose to
compare itself to them as it has its
own beauty.This idea is used to
suggest that if humans spend their
time being jealous of others, they
will not appreciate their own
qualities.
Blindness: Someone who is
unaware of their own good
qualities.
'Like such a blind and senseless
tree/ As I've imagined this to be'
Envy is presented as having the
power to blind us to the good in
our own selves.
Themes
‘Envy’ uses images from nature to explore human emotions.
A number of unifying ideas or themes run through the poem. Different readers may attach
more or less significance to each of these themes, depending upon how they view the poem.

Speaker refers to personal
experience suggesting she
may have felt jealousy
herself.
The only use of first person
in the poem draws
attention to personal
experience.
Voice of the speaker is like
a teacher telling us a moral
lesson.
The tone suggests
instruction and builds to
moral message in final
stanza.
The speaker draws the reader
into the poem.
The only direct address to the
reader in the poem asks the
reader to think of their own
experience.
Casual tone shows how
ridiculous it is for rose to feel
jealousy.
The line 'you would suppose' is
conversational, which suggests
it is silly for a flower as beautiful
as a rose to ignore its own
beauty.
Interpretation of the lines: 'Like such a blind and senseless
tree/ As I've imagined this to be,/ All envious persons are'
Interpretation of the lines: 'And should it fret, you would
suppose/ It ne'er had seen its own red rose'
Interpretation

Context of 'Envy'
Mary Lamb wrote stories and poems, often for children
Mary Lamb was born in 1764 and died in 1847. She and her brother
Charles Lamb wrote collections of stories and poems together, often for
children, including Tales from Shakespeare and Poems for Children.
Mary suffered from mental illness - perhaps what we would now call
bipolar disorder. She was cared for by her family, but was
institutionalised at different points during her life. She killed her own
mother during a period of mental instability in 1796.
The history of nursery rhymes goes back hundreds of years but in the
19th century, rhymes for children were very popular. These included
books written specifically for children. Many nursery rhymes contain
messages and lessons hidden in simple stories and straightforward
rhymes.

• How does Mary Lamb present ideas about jealousy in her poem Envy?
• Considerations
1.Overview: Lamb uses simple form to convey a strong, direct message that envy is a
wasted emotion and we should value our own talents instead of worrying about other
people's strengths.
2.Nature theme used to explore human emotion: an envious person is compared to a
rose tree that does not see its own beauty but is envious of other flowers. Other beautiful
flowers are also mentioned.
3.Simile: the third stanza opens with 'like'. Lamb sets up idea of the poem being about a
rose in the first two stanzas. The simile turns it around so readers also consider
themselves.
4.Language: simple language matches straightforward message. Repetition of 'fret' and
'discontent' shows how unhappy envy can make us feel if we focus on it.
5.Conclusion: today's readers can still appreciate how Lamb makes her verses appealing,
with its simplicity in rhythm, rhyme and vocabulary. It has a timeless appeal.

You can discover a lot about a poem by comparing it to one by another author that deals with a
similar subject.You could compare features such as theme, form, structure, rhythm, language
and figures of speech.
The key thing to do when comparing poems is to note the points where they are similar and the
points where they differ.You could make a list noting similarities and differences between the
two poems.
Comparison of 'Envy' by Mary Lamb and 'A PoisonTree' by William Blake
Similarities
•Both poems compare elements of nature to human emotions.
•Both poems have similarities to nursery rhymes.This simple form allows the moral message to
be conveyed powerfully.
•Both use first-person perspective.
Differences
•Blake's poem has a more ambiguous tone, whereas Lamb's contains the clear message that
envy is wasted emotion.
•Blake uses first person throughout, Lamb only uses it once in the final stanza.
Comparison 'envy'
and 'a poison tree'

If I CouldTellYou byWH
•The poem, ‘If I CouldTellYou’ byAuden is a poem which
ultimately does not have a clear message in an attempt
to encourage the reader to think up
an ideology themselves more specific to the reader
creating a bigger impact.The poem talks about the
theme of time where time knows your predetermined
fate and will say to you, ‘I told you so’. However, as well
as involving the theme of time, the poem can be
considered a romantic poem too. All we be explained
below in a complete analysis of the poem. Feel free to
skip to the parts most relevant to you.
ByWH Auden
could tell you I would let
know’

Stanza One:
The first stanza talks about the price we have to pay.
•The poem was created in the 1930s.
•Time has been personified through the use of giving it a capital ‘T’ and by giving
it actions of humans such as ‘say’ and ‘tell’.
•For Time to say ‘I told you so’ makes clear Time knows our predetermined fate.
This is only if our fates are predetermined. Are our fates predetermined? This
poem creates deep universal meanings.
•The statement ‘I told you so’ is taken as fact. It also uses colloquial language.
•There is alliteration on ‘price we have to pay’. There is reference with price to
being sinister: is it death?
•The use of ‘I’ on ‘If I could tell you I would let you know’ makes clear the voice is
first person singular. The voice is talking to the reader and embracing them. A
different interpretation could bring religious reference into this quote. The voice
could be telling us that it would tell us unexplained questions such as religion, the
meaning of life, the past and future if it could. But, it can’t. The fact that Time
knows our predetermined fate gives it God-like qualities.

• StanzaTwo:
• Stanza two talks about when things become clumsy.There is
strong juxtaposition on the first two lines of stanza two:
• ‘Clowns’ should make us laugh. However, the voice states ‘If we should weep’.
• The alliteration of ‘s’ on ‘If we should stumble’ creates a sense movement.As
well as this, ‘If we should stumble when musicians play’ contrasts because music
should make us dance and not fall over.
• The first line ‘Time will say nothing but I told you so’ is repeated at the end of
stanza two.The meaning to the line is different though that if we make fools of
ourselves,Time will stay silent and say ‘I told you so’.This creates a mocking
quality toTime.

Stanza Three
Stanza three talks about how the voice wishes he could tell the fortunes of others and
introduces the theme of love.
•This stanza is awkward from the way is doesn’t flow with the rest of the poem. It is about
predicting the future.
•When love is mentioning for the first time, ‘I love you more than I can say’, we are
unsure what type of love it is.
•The last line of the stanza, ‘If I could tell you I would let you know’, illustrates how the
voice wants to but can’t.
This whole stanza can link to Auden’s sexuality who was homosexual. Auden lived in a
period of time where it was illegal to be homosexual. Therefore, he is showing his
frustration through this poem how he can’t show his true emotions.
‘If I could tell you I would let you know’
If Auden could show his true emotions, love and sexuality, he would. The fact is that in
1930, he couldn’t. But, when he can, he will let his lover and the world know.

• Stanza Four
• Stanza four continues the theme of love how his love is at the end of a cycle.
This stanza is a causality that things happen for a reason. The verse was about
the future. This verse is now about the past.
• The imagery of nature is used on the first line, ‘The winds must come from
somewhere where they blow’.
• Pathetic fallacy is used on the second line with the use of nature imagery,
‘leaves decay’. From mentioning the ‘winds’ to ‘leaves decay[ing]’ mimic the
autumn to winter cycle being at the end of a cycle. This links in with the theme
of love that the voice (or possibly Auden) is sad because just like the leaves that
are decaying, the romance is deteriorating.
• Stanza Five
• Stanza five describes how the voice wants his love to carry on but time won’t let
it happen.
• The ‘roses’ suggest a rebirth and is associated with love.
• The fact the roses ‘really want to grow’ makes clear the voice (or Auden) wants
his love to grow like a rose. However, he knows it can’t because of time and the
society he lives.

Stanza Six:
All bravery has departed in stanza six. It finishes on
a rhetorical question to create afterthought for the reader.
•There is a pun that ‘all the brooks and soldiers run away‘.
Brooks run downstream already creating an image of time:
brooks flow on and never stop just like time.
•The third line has the first two words swapped so the line is
read as follows, ‘Will Time say nothing but I told you so?’ The
voice is now questioning time contrasting against what the voice
said at the beginning. This is a rhetorical question which entices
the reader to answer it. The answer comes from personal
thought rather than being told like traditional poems such as The
Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning. This makes the
impact of the poem bigger.

• Structure
• The poem adopts an iambic pentameter. This is where there are feet of un-stress and stress (U
/).
• The meter is therefore strict replicating the rigidly of the poem and Time.
• The villanelle form (you will find out in the form section below) means there are only two rhyming
sounds. These appear on lines one and three of stanzas with the second rhyming pattern being
on line two. Again, the consistency reflects the characteristics of Time. We are also able to
predetermine when the line is going to rhyme and what it is likely to rhyme with just like Time can
predetermine our fate.
• Form
• The poem adopts the 9th century villanelle form. This form for poems is very rigid and structured
with a villanelle poem consisting of 19 lines long, with five stanzas (four stanzas of three lines
long and one quatrain stanza).
• A villanelle has potential musical qualities.
• The form provides repetition to emphasise the message being the refrains that are repeated at
the end of each stanza alternatively. With each repeat develops more meaning to the line
(refrain).
• The rigidity of the form tells us something about time that it is rigid too.
• The songs that use the villanelle form are associated with country (they are old fashion).

Here is the outline of a villanelle poem:
Refrain 1 – Time will say nothing but I told you so
Line 2
Refrain 2 – If I could tell you I would let you know
Line 4
Line 5
Refrain 1- Time will say nothing but I told you so
Line 7
Line 8
Line 10
Line 11
Refrain 1- Time will say nothing but I told you so
Line 13
Line 14
Line 16
Line 17
Refrain 1- WillTime say nothing but I told you so? (First two words swap
creating rhetorical question)

• Jo Shapcott’s poem is about the Great Storm and she describes the
damage and chaos of the storm on her home and how something
comforting like here home can be turned into a nightmare. In last stanza
Jo Shapcott compares her love life and the storm together which gives a
strong idea of how chaotic her life is.
In the first stanza Shapcott describes literally what she is seeing and how
chaotic it is: “Through the window everything was horizontal.” This
description of the effects of the storm is very powerful because it creates
an image of how strong the winds must have been to topple and push
down objects. This description also is very eerie and must have been
frightening to Shapcott since you would never expect to see every bin and
shed toppled over and trees being uprooted which tells the reader of how
there was no objects that were tall left creating a horizontal image. The
result of this shows how the environment around you could be changed
instantly by nature and destroying everything.
The Great Storm - Jo Shapcott

• Another point is that the poet talks again about the idea of
the landscape being horizontal in the last stanza: “wanted to
be as horizontal as the tree tops”. The poet talks about the
motion of how a tree bends when being blown over by strong
winds and how she wanted to be different and also how she
wanted chaos. Furthermore this line could be taken as
metaphorically because she describes herself to the wind and
how she is flying along with the objects taken by the storm.
Shapcott describes metaphorically of how she loves the rush
and darkness of a storm: “singing into the rush, into the
dark.” The poet describes the storm which would create fear
and a lot of adrenaline with the verb ‘singing’ which is very
unusual since singing is usually related to being calm and
relaxing. This could lead onto how Shapcott could think being
part of the chaos is comforting to her and how she has
freedom just like as music does.

• This poem describes a massive storm which Shapcott
herself experienced (The Great Storm of 1987)
• She creates a great deal of imagery to make the storm
appear intense
• Onomatopoeia (“roar”) presents the overpowering,
dangerous nature of the storm
• Personification (“a branch broke in”) suggests that the
storm is threatening, almost criminal
• The rest of the natural world seems vulnerable and
insignificant, for example with the simile “like
matchsticks”
• The poem can be interpreted as using the storm as a
metaphor for the disruption and chaos in life in
general, especially towards the end when she writes of
“my beloveds peeling off the earth”, which seems
more general that just a description of this one event
• The first half of the poem is a detailed description of
what the speaker of the poem saw, heard, felt, etc.,
during a huge storm. In the second half of the storm,
the speaker compares her life to the storm; the storm,
which had been described literally, now becomes a
metaphor for her life.

About Jo Shapcott
• Jo Shapcott was born in 1953 in London and is an English poet. She has won
many recent awards for her poetry, including the National Poetry
Competition, the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, and the Costa Book of the
Year Award. She attendedTrinity College, Dublin and went on to study at
Oxford Univerity. She is now a lecturer as well as a poet and teaches creative
writing. Shapcott was appointed as CBE in 2002. She initially accepted the
honour but decided to refuse during the period when the British
government made preparations to invade Iraq. At the time, she was being
treated for cancer so her refusal to accept the honour was not made
public. Shapcott’s poetry deals with topics such as nature, the body and
relationships. She is particularly interested in how these issues change.
Much of her poetry has been used as lyrics, with composers writing
accompanying melodies.

Spared byWendy Cope
• The poem expresses great sadness, but it is also triumphant; the conclusion of the poet’s
musings is that “love is all, is all there is.” I love the inclusion of the quote from Emily Dickinson,
as it reminds us that this is not a new revelation, but that the truth that “love is all” is something
we have always known. Faced with inhuman acts of violence, we cannot help but feel our sense
of love reinforced, because it is our natural reaction to such happenings to feel compassion, and
the think about our own loved ones.
• I love the way that Cope emphasises the idea of the mortality of each one of us in this poem. In
the first stanza she talks about being “safe and free” as a survivor (“It wasn’t you, it wasn’t me”), but
then she undercuts this feeling of being “Spared” with phrases such as “a little while” and “for
now”; we are all mortal, she reminds us.
• What is important in this poem is the love that triumphs over an act of evil.There is a sense of
fervent admiration for those who have died, and who continued to love until the end (the “last
farewell on the machine” and the “sending helpless love across the sky”, and even those who “Jump
together…To certain death”). I also think the poem delivers a strong sense of the desire to make
the most of life, particularly with the image of somebody who “sleeps another hour” and so misses
a message of love

AboutWendy
• Wendy Cope (b. 1945) is a poet whose witty lyrics and pitch-perfect parodies
have gained her a readership far beyond most of her peers. Born in Erith,
Kent, she read History at St. Hilda's College, Oxford. She then taught in
primary schools in London before becoming a freelance writer in 1986. Her
debut collection, Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis, struck a chord with its
lampooning of literary pretensions and its wry look at contemporary
relationships, and has sold over 180,000 copies to date. Her subsequent
collections - Serious Concerns in 1992 and If I Don't Know in 2001
(shortlisted for the Whitbread Poetry Award) - both confirmed her reputation
as a classic English humorist whilst also allowing room for poems of a more
meditative tone. She has edited several poetry anthologies, including
Heaven on Earth: 101 happy poems, and her poems for children are widely
anthologised. She was made an O.B.E. in the Queen's Birthday honours
2010. She currently lives in Winchester.

English literature: Unseen poetry

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