Content:
Man
returns
from
war,
scarred
and
rebuilds
relationship.
Form:
First
person
narrative,
couplets
=
step‐by‐step
process.
Structure:
Different
injury,
different
stanza;
explores
the
body
and
then
the
mind.
Language:
About
caring,
body
parts,
war,
and
fragile
objects.
Themes:
Pain,
suffering
(Nettles),
Intimacy
more
important
that
passion
(Sonnet
43).
Relationships
long‐lasting
(Sonnet
116).
Manhunt
Content:
Poet
describes
one
hour
spent
with
lover
outdoors
in
the
Summer,
addresses
intensity
of
love
and
its
relationship
to
time.
Form:
Similar
to
a
Shakespearean
sonnet
(length
and
rhyme
scheme)
but
broken
into
four
stanzas.
Speaks
to
116.
Structure:
Final
couplet
links
back
to
personified
image
of
time
and
love.
Language:
About
time,
money/wealth/value.
Themes:
Love
against
time
(116,
To
His
Coy
Mistress),
Ordinary
better
than
fantasy
(Born
Yesterday,
116).
Content:
Speaker
upset
about
love
goes
to
Paris
on
the
rebound.
Starts
unhappy
and
finishes
feeling
amorous.
Form:
Repeated
stanza
pattern
except
stanza
three.
Song
like
with
repetition,
refrain
and
internal
rhyme.
Structure:
Stanza
One
‐
is
about
the
narrator,
Two
–
his
feelings,
Three
–
his
intent,
Four
and
Five
–
passion.
Language:
Colloquial,
often
humorous,
forced
rhymes.
Themes:
Love
not
perfect
can
be
hurtful
(The
Farmer’s
Bride),
Poet
trying
to
seduce
someone
(To
His
Coy
Mistress),
anger
(Sister
Maude).
Content:
Speaker
compares
phone
calls
and
texts
from
lover
to
a
gun
fight.
Form:
Free
verse
with
enjambment,
alliteration,
irregular
rhyme
=
tense
and
unpredictable.
Structure:
Each
stanza
=
one
contact
with
lover.
Language:
Communication
is
modern
and
different.
Language
about
Westerns
is
cliché
and
contrast.
Themes:
Love
can
hurt
(The
Farmer’s
Bride,
In
Paris
With
You),
Communication
(The
Manhunt)
Content:
Speaker
expresses
intense
feelings
of
love,
new
image
in
each
stanza.
Form:
A
ghazal
–
ancient
middle‐
eastern
form.
Not
narrative.
Structure:
Different
idea/image
in
each
stanza
=
lots
of
thoughts
=
very
intense.
Language:
Nature
=
love
as
timeless/eternal/natural.
Language
about
love
(sometimes
aggressive).
Themes:
Intense
physical
desire
(To
His
Coy
Mistress,
In
Paris
With
You,
Hour),
Natural
imagery
(Nettles,
Hour,
The
Farmer’s
Bride)
Content:
Narrator
recalls
a
memory
from
childhood
where
he
abandoned
younger
brother
and
emotional
result.
Form:
Narrative,
free
verse
=
everyday
spoken
English.
Structure:
Stanza
One
–
brothers
together,
Stanza
Two
–
physically
apart,
Stanza
Three
–
emotionally
distant.
Language:
Youth,
sport,
Maturity.
Themes:
Family
relationships
(Sister
Maude),
Childhood
incidents
(Nettles).
Content:
Narrator
remembers
childhood
when
mother
was
complete
world
to
her.
Form:
Free
verse
but
song‐like
with
repeated
refrain.
Structure:
No
punctuation
suggests
one
warm
memory.
Language:
About
her
mother,
linked
to
language
about
a
lover.
About
food.
Themes:
Parental
love
(Harmonium,
Nettles),
Natural
imagery
(Ghazal,
The
Farmer’s
Bride).
Content:
Narrator
and
father
collect
Harmonium
from
church
thinks
about
time
and
father
jokes
about
death.
Form:
Free
verse
=
ordinary
speech
=
telling
a
story.
Structure:
Stanza
One
–
how
he
got
the
Harmonium,
Stanza
Two
–
how
the
Harmonium
is
now,
Stanza
Three
–
Harmonium’s
past,
Stanza
Four
–
father
and
his
relationship.
Language:
Ordinariness,
language
about
time,
and
puns.
Themes:
Parental
relationships
(Praise
Song
Nettles),
time
passing
–
sad
but
inevitable
(Brothers).
Content:
Speaks
of
constancy
of
true
love,
love
doesn’t
change,
ends
with
a
guarantee
of
truth.
Form:
Shakespearean
Sonnet.
Structure:
Quatrains
discuss
constancy
of
love
in
different
ways;
couplet
is
the
writer’s
guarantee.
Language:
Travel,
time,
looks/ageing.
Themes:
Attitudes
to
love
(43,
Hour
opposite
To
His
Coy
Mistress).
Content:
Love
poem
about
intense
love.
Love
seen
as
sacred
counts
different
ways
she
loves
him.
Form:
Petrarchan
Sonnet
(8+6).
Structure:
Octave
=
how
she
loves
him,
Sestet
=
time
she
loves
him.
Language:
Religious,
repetition.
Themes:
Love
as
perfect/eternal
(116
contrasts
To
His
Coy
Mistress).
Content:
Narrator
describes
betrayal
by
sister
over
a
secret
love
affair.
Form:
Ballad,
Dramatic
Monologue.
Structure:
Starts
ambiguous,
repeated
ideas,
ends
with
wishing
death
on
Sister
Maude.
Language:
Angry
(sibilance),
religious,
also
repetition
of
Sister
Maude.
Themes:
Family
relationships
(Brothers),
Intense
emotions
(43,
116,
To
His
Coy
Mistress).
Content:
Narrator
recalls
time
son
fell
into
nettle
bed.
Compares
nettles
to
army.
Discovers
powerlessness
of
parents.
Form:
Narrative
poem,
tells
one
story.
Structure:
Events
in
sequence,
one
stanza
=
one
memory
of
one
event.
Language:
Military
(extended
metaphor),
pain,
innocence.
Themes:
Caring
for
loved
ones
(Born
Yesterday,
The
Manhunt),
parental
relationships
(Praise
Song,
Harmonium).
Content:
Narrator
seducing
women,
don’t
play
hard
to
get
as
there
isn’t
time,
physical
relationship
whilst
young.
Form:
First
person
narrator,
rhyming
couplets.
Structure:
Stanza
One
–
wants
to
spend
forever
wooing
her,
Stanza
Two
–
but
can’t
because
of
time,
Stanza
Three
–
so
let’s
do
it
now.
Language:
Death,
aggressive
love,
hyperbole
(exaggeration).
Themes:
Love
and
Time
(116,
43,
Hour),
Intense
Passion
(In
Paris
With
You,
Ghazal,
Hour).
Content:
Particular
event,
birth
of
young
girl.
Contrasts
fairytale
idea
with
practical
talents.
Form:
Free
verse,
lack
of
rhyme
=
normal
spoken
English,
emphasis
on
couplet
at
the
end.
Structure:
Stanza
One
–
cynical
about
fantasy/hyperbole,
Stanza
Two
–
real,
honesty
and
happiness.
Language:
Cynical,
ordinary.
Themes:
What
is
important
(116,
Hour,
The
Manhunt
contrasts
with
To
His
Coy
Mistress,
In
Paris
With
You).
Content:
Farmer
married
three
years,
bride
is
scared
of
men,
how
things
went
wrong,
considering
rape?
Form:
Dramatic
Monologue,
rhyme
scheme
drives
poem
forward.
Structure:
Stanza
1,2
–
story
of
the
marriage,
3,4,5
–
how
his
wife
is
now
and
his
feelings,
6
–his
desire.
Language:
Nature,
dialect.
Themes:
Unhappy
love
(In
Paris
With
You
contrasts
with
Hour,
116,
etc.
where
love
is
perfect).