transfers between the narrator, the robot, and to a certain extent the narrator’s wife. The narrator Use these questions to practice your essential essay writing skills, and consolidate your understanding of individual prescribed poems. The objectification in this line shows how much the man is using the woman for his pleasure, not for hers. The only focus is on what he wants and likes, without any regard for the woman. The repetition of “girls” can also be seen as patronising the woman, and can also be seen as showing her vulnerability by likening her more to a child than to an adult. The careful, meditative sentences that form Phillips’ poems give the impression of a speaker who is profoundly compassionate to themselves, one who gives themselves the space and time to articulate ambiguity without striving to resolve it, and who can recognize what is beautiful without clinging to it. In Wild is the Wind, questions about attachment and commitment unfold deliberately, and to read them is to listen, carefully, to meditations like this:

By emphasising the “rush”, it is clear that any pleasure the woman receives is short lived, with all the focus being on the man and with her needs not fully catered for. The alliteration of “fast food” helps to show the importance of this line to the poem, and also shows how unhealthy this relationship is, both in terms of the physical food being eaten and the mental appreciation between the two. Some may also interpret the line as representing an unhealthy addiction, both to the food and to the relationship. Arts, Humanities and Cultures • AQA A-level History: Britain 1851-1964: Challenge and TransformationEven more interesting is the use of consonance on each corresponding line, for example the first line of each stanza has the “k” sound, “d” on the second and “t” on the third. The only point in which this is broken in the poem is at the end of stanza six, but even this is largely negated by the fact that the next word is “too” so therefore continues the overall consonance. These strong sounds once again evoke ideas of force and control, showing how important this is to the poem. Armaments” are military weapons and equipment, so describing a “flash” links to them being fired, bringing one of the only references to weaponry and violence to the poem. Notably this is at the end of the poem, which could be interpreted by some readers at signalling the potential for future conflict. ‘An Easy Passage’ Key Themes

Trying to write about this collection is a completely hopeless exercise for me. Everything I want to say about it sounds at least a little unhinged, as in: having read it, I can’t imagine not having read it; a copy of it never lasts long with me before I give it away to someone I love; it offers moments of clarity that I’ve never found anywhere else. So many of us have a book for which this is the case, and often—unsurprisingly often—this book was written by Carl Phillips. A-Level Edexcel English Language and Literature past papers (8EL0 and 9EL0) can be found on the English Language section MAIN BODY: agree - “in a similar vein”, author uses the method of - it is clear that the author is intending to evoke a sense of - author forces readers to confront how universal truth or societal message Bright Dead Things is organized into four untitled sections, the first of which opens with “How to Triumph Like a Girl,” which sets the tone for the collection to come—we will be in motion, we will wander, and we will not skirt genuine feeling in favor of irony. “I like the lady horses best, / how they make it all look easy, / like running 40 miles per hour / is as easy as taking a nap, or grass,” she writes. The speaker of the poem admits that she likes the horses mainly because they’re ladies, which means she might share something elemental with them. It means “that somewhere inside the delicate / skin of my body, there pumps / an 8-pound female horse heart.” This is a book that will not hesitate to talk about heart, to name that heart.

Two free online poetry resources

Compare the ways in which personal development and experience are presented in ‘The Furthest Distances I’ve Travelled’ by Leonita Flynn and ‘An Easy Passage’ by Julia Copus Compare the ways in which personal struggles are explored in ‘The Lammas Hireling’ by Ian Duhig and ‘Look We Have Coming to Dover!’ by Daljit Nagra. Childhood: This theme is brought into the poem through the ideas of transition away from childhood, while still retaining some imagery in the poem such as the physical descriptions of the girls. Power: Throughout ‘Eat Me’ the idea of power is very important because it is fundamental to the ‘feeder’ relationship. Without this power it wouldn’t be able to operate, and the objectification and possession would not be able to take place. Don’t Call Us Dead is a collection both universal and highly personal, as, I think, all the best poetry is. But it also feels both of our present time and timeless, both defined by and defining. – Jessie Gaynor, Social Media Editor

Compare the way death is presented in ‘On Her Blindness’ by Adam Thorpe and ‘Effects’ by Alan Jenkins.patterns of imagery - light/natural/pastoral imagery? images of joy? of danger? - why do they repeat this imagery - how does this reinforce/reflect the poet’s message Society and Culture: It can be interpreted that while the poem considers cultural ideas such as growing up and rites of passage, there are also broader criticisms of the concept of adulthood such as the ‘drab’ working worlds and the plans and dreams which constantly fail to come to fruition. I will say that this list was the hardest we’ve done so far—poetry is extremely subjective, and true consensus was rare (except for Claudia Rankine, for whom almost everyone in the office voted). And NB that for this one, we excluded huge “collected poems” for range. So please feel extra free to add any of your own favorites that we’ve missed in the comments below. How effective is Agbabi’s use of imagery, specifically in relation to the way in which size and scale are described? Consider the impact on a reader. Identity: Concepts of personal identity are a key part of ‘An Easy Passage’ due to the idea of self-development and growing up, claiming an identity within the world. This is also a key aspect of many cultures view on the idea of a rite of passage.

The Forwards are among the world’s most coveted poetry honours. They are awarded annually for the Best Collection, Best First Collection and Best Single Poem published in Britain and Ireland and are recognised for bringing together familiar names and exciting new talent. Ocr tesseract 5.0.0-1-g862e Ocr_detected_lang en Ocr_detected_lang_conf 1.0000 Ocr_detected_script Latin Ocr_detected_script_conf 0.9740 Ocr_module_version 0.0.15 Ocr_parameters -l eng Old_pallet IA-NS-2000602 Openlibrary_edition urn:lcp:poemsofdecadeant0000unse:epub:5f78bbd1-a51f-4fde-86ed-62ee464d2275 Foldoutcount 0 Identifier poemsofdecadeant0000unse Identifier-ark ark:/13960/s2d8jngc63v Invoice 1652 Isbn 9780571325405 There is also the use of possessive language, such as “his” or even further objectification through the likening to objects, such as “his jacuzzi”. This would help to make the descriptions much more emotive for a reader who would recognise the strong objectification and mistreatment, therefore developing much more sympathy for the narrator. This in turn creates a strange mix of emotions by the end of the poem with the murder of the feeder, with readers potentially feeling happy that the woman has been freed but conflicted over the means of this escape.There are also consistent end-stopped lines on the final line of each stanza (although again with the exception of stanza six), which reinforce the idea of routine and consistency. However, there is also a slight break in this structure too with the final two lines of the last stanza both ending with full stops, which signifies the death of the man, and by extension, the relationship. This helps to make the poem more dramatic, and also bring a sense of unease to the reader through the way in which the expected pattern and rhythm has been disrupted. Poetic Techniques