The poem tells the story of Mariana, who is left alone in her home pining for her lover who never returns. Tennyson uses language features such as synonyms showing decay and stasis, spondee with long vowels lengthening lines, and a lack of verbs and voice besides the narrator and Mariana. The structure includes a refrain, epizeuxis or repetition, and collapsing rhyme patterns that fold lines in. These formal elements shape how the lonely, stagnant story of Mariana is conveyed.

1. Mariana - Tennyson
• First impressions of the poem as a whole.
• What happens in the narrative?
• Write a couple of sentences summarising the
narrative (the story of the poem).

2. • Expand the annotations on the poem to
include other features that you discovered
last week.

3. Exam-style question
• We will be focussing on the first question in
the exam paper – on one poem and only
analysing how they story is told.
• There are no marks for contextual details or
for comparison with other texts.
• You will be attempting a question from the
exam and have it marked.

4. Language, form and structure
• AO2 Demonstrate detailed critical
understanding in analysing the ways in
which structure, form and language shape
meanings in literary texts.
Analyse how Tennyson has built the text,
including technical details, and how the
story is developed from this.
DO NOT TALK ABOUT CONTEXT.

5. What do we mean by form and
structure?

6. How are these similar and yet different?

7. How are these similar and yet different?

8. How are these similar and yet different?

9. How are these similar and yet different?
A Ballad Of François Villon, Prince Of All Ballad-Makers
Bird of the bitter bright grey golden morn
Blessing SONNET 130
Scarce risen upon the dusk of dolorous years, My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
First of us all and sweetest singer born The skin cracks like a pod. Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
Whose far shrill note the world of new men hears
There is never enough water.
Cleave the cold shuddering shade as twilight clears; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
When song new-born put off the old world's attire
And felt its tune on her changed lips expire, Imagine the drip of it,
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
Writ foremost on the roll of them that came
The small splash, echo I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
Fresh girt for service of the latter lyre,
Villon, our sad bad glad mad brother's name! in a tin mug, But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
the voice of a kindly god. And in some perfumes is there more delight
Alas the joy, the sorrow, and the scorn,
That clothed thy life with hopes and sins and fears,
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
And gave thee stones for bread and tares for corn Sometimes, the sudden rush I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
And plume-plucked gaol-birds for thy starveling peers
of fortune. The municipal pipe bursts, That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
Till death clipt close their flight with shameful shears;
Till shifts came short and loves were hard to hire, silver crashes to the ground I grant I never saw a goddess go;
When lilt of song nor twitch of twangling wire and the flow has found My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
Could buy thee bread or kisses; when light fame
Spurned like a ball and haled through brake and briar,
a roar of tongues. From the huts, And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
Villon, our sad bad glad mad brother's name! a congregation: every man woman
As any she belied with false compare.
child for streets around
Poor splendid wings so frayed and soiled and torn!
Poor kind wild eyes so dashed with light quick tears! butts in, with pots,
Poor perfect voice, most blithe when most forlorn, brass, copper, aluminium, William Shakespeare
That rings athwart the sea whence no man steers
Like joy-bells crossed with death-bells in our ears!
plastic buckets,
What far delight has cooled the fierce desire frantic hands,
That like some ravenous bird was strong to tire
On that frail flesh and soul consumed with flame,
But left more sweet than roses to respire,
and naked children
Villon, our sad bad glad mad brother's name? screaming in the liquid sun,
their highlights polished to perfection,
Prince of sweet songs made out of tears and fire,
A harlot was thy nurse, a God thy sire; flashing light,
Shame soiled thy song, and song assoiled thy shame. as the blessing sings
But from thy feet now death has washed the mire,
Love reads out first at head of all our quire,
over their small bones.
Villon, our sad bad glad mad brother's name.
Imtiaz Dharker
Algernon Charles Swinburne

10. AO2 – first question Form:
you answer in the
exam. resulting
overall style
Structure: how the
text has been put
together
Language: words; images
sentence structures;
punctuation; stage directions

11. Write about the ways that Tennyson
tells the story in Mariana. 40 minutes –
exam
• Introduce your answer by summarising the story of Mariana. conditions
• Begin to analyse some (maybe 3) of the features of language that have been
used. For example:
– synonyms that show decay and stasis;
– spondee – long vowels placed at the ends of lines to lengthen the sound; Use your own
– the lack of voice – all we hear is the narrator and Mariana’s declaration; annotations
– the lack of verbs – and when they do appear – the negation of action; and ideas.
– the contrast between her stillness and the movement of time.
• Comment on the structure of the poem and how this tells the story. For
example:
– the use of the refrain;
– epizeuxis – immediate repetition;
– the collapsing rhyme pattern – the lines folding in around the central couplet;
– the pace/rhythm/metre of the lines.
• Make a concluding comment analysing the form of the poem – the resulting
overall style of the poem – and how this affects the way the story is told.