He Sets No Limit on His Admiration

Dog He sets no limit on his admiration, His love is absolute and truly blind. He lives in ecstasies of adoration And defies the least of human kind.

All that we do is beautiful and right In his soft eyes and though the word grieves, Is all unearned, he bows his head contrite And lacking understanding, he believes.

Alexander Reid.

1.What does the poet believe is the dog’s attitude to people?

2. What poetic technique is ‘truly blind’ an example of? Explain

3. What is the rhyming scheme?

1 Tigress The raging and the ravenous, The nocturnal terror in gold, Red-fire coated, green-fire-eyed, The fanged, the clawed, the frightful leaper, Great-sinewed, silent walker, Tyrant of all the timid, the implacable Devil of slaughter, the she-demon Matchless in fury, matchless love Gives her whelps in the wilderness. Cleaning the stains of slaughter From her jaws with tongue and forearm, She licks her young and suckles them, Delicately as a doe. Ruth Pitter

1. What is the subject matter? 2. Identify five examples of alliteration. 3. What adjectives are used to describe the Tigress 4. Identify 3 metaphors and discuss what they mean. 5. Identify a simile and discuss what it means.

Night Clouds

2 The white mares of the moon rush along the sky Beating their golden hoofs upon the glass heavens; The white mares of the moon are all standing on their hind legs Pawing at the green porcelain doors of the remote Heavens. Fly, Mares! Strain your utmost, Scatter the milky dust of stars, Or the tiger sun will leap upon you and destroy you With one lick of his vermilion tongue.

1. What is the subject matter of the poem? 2. What metaphor is used for the clouds? What image does this create? 3. What metaphor is used for the sun? What image does this create?

From a street Corner

3 Like snails I see the people go Along the pavement, row on row, And each one on his shoulder bears His coiling shell of petty cares- The spiral of his own affairs.

Some peer about, some creep on blind, But not one leaves his shell behind. And I, who think I see so well, Peer at the rest, but cannot tell How much is cut off by my shell. Eleanor Hammond

1. What is the subject matter? 2.What is the rhyming scheme of this poem? 3.What does the metaphor of the snail shell mean in this poem? 4.What impression do you get about human behaviour from this poem?

The Release All day he shoves the pasteboard in

4 The slick machine that turns out boxes, A box a minute; and its din Is all his music, as he stands And feeds it; while his jaded brain Moves only out and in again With the slick motion of his hands, Monotonously making boxes, A box a minute- all his thoughts A slick succession of empty boxes.

But, when night comes, and he is free To play his fiddle, with the music His whole soul moves to melody; No more recalling day’s dumb round, His reckless spirit sweeps and whirls On surging waves and dizzy swirls And in a flame-winged flight of music Above the roofs and chimneys soars To ride the starry tides of music. W.W.Gibson

1. What is the subject matter of this poem? 2. Identify 3 examples of Alliteration. What is its effect? 3. How does the tone change throughout the poem? 4. What metaphors are used to describe the Persona’s soul?

Stop all the Clocks

5 Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, Silence the pianos and with muffled drum Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead Scribbling on the sky the message He is dead, Put crepe bows round the white necks of the doves Let the traffic policeman wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West, My working week and my Sunday rest, My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song; I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out everyone: Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun: Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods: For nothing now can ever come to any good. W.H.Auden

1. Identify the rhyming scheme. 2. What is the subject matter of this poem? 3. Identify three metaphors and discuss their meaning. 4. Identify two examples of Personification and discuss what they mean.

Breakers

6 These lapdogs of the sea Which lick the proffered hand Turn savage suddenly,

Dig teeth into the sand, Foam at the mouth and roar As though they’d wreck the land.

And yet, being no more Than water, they can’t feel Ashamed, or see the sore.

When by mere chance they steal Our lovers, or inflict A wound that will not heal: They tear what they have licked: Then suddenly make good, Fawn on the derelict Like pups that beg for food. Edward Lowbury

1. What is the subject matter of this poem? 2. What technique is ‘Lapdog’? What does it mean? 3. Give three examples of Personification and discuss the meaning of each? 4. Identify a simile and discuss its meaning?

At an Audition

7 ‘Remember to smile darling,’ Someone whispers, and there’s a flurry Of hairbrushes- as if just one more polish Would make all the difference Then the children are gone: Scampering off white-socked like lambs. It is the mothers who are nervous. Left on their own they glance at magazines. Light cigarettes, or huddle together Against a wind that tells them One day soon their darlings Will either disappoint or move beyond them. Vicki Feaver.

1. What is the subject matter? 2. Give an example of a simile and discuss its meaning? 3. What image does ‘flurry of hairbrushes’ create? 4. Why are the mothers nervous?