SPM LITERATURE - POEM

 THE LIVING PHOTOGRAPH (by Jackie Kay)

My small grandmother is tall there,

straight-back, white broderie anglaise shirt,

pleated skirt, flat shoes, grey bun,

a kind, old smile round her eyes.

Her big hand holds mine,

white hand in black hand.

Her sharp blue eyes look her own death in the eye.

It was true  after all; that look.

My tall grandmother became small.

Her back round and hunched.

Her soup forgot to boil.

She went to the awful place grandmothers go.

Somewhere unknown, unthinkable.

But there she is still,

in the photo with me at three,

the crinkled smile is still living, breathing.

Stanza 1

Line	Meaning
1  My small grandmother is tall there,	The persona’s grandmother looks tall in the photograph.
2  straight-back, white broderie anglaise shirt ,	She is standing with good posture, wearing an embroidered lace blouse.
3  pleated skirt, flat shoes, grey bun,	She wears the blouse with a pleated skirt, non-heeled shoes and her hair in a bun.
4  a kind, old smile round her eyes.	She is smiling kindly.
5  Her big hand holds mine,	Her big hand is holding the persona’s hand.
6  white hand in black hand.	The contrast of their skin colours can clearly be seen in their linked hands.
7  Her sharp blue eyes look her death in the eye.	Her grandmother’s blue eyes suggests that her death is near.

Stanza 2

Line	Meaning
8  It was true after all; that look.	The persona’s reference of death came true.
9  My tall grandmother became small.	The grandmother became thinner and more fragile.
10  Her back round and hunched.	Her back became hunched.
11  Her soup forgot to boil.	She became forgetful.
12  She went to the awful place grandmothers go.	Soon, she passed away.
13  Somewhere unknown, unthinkable.	Upon her death, she went to a place that no one knows.

Stanza 3

Line	Meaning
14  But there she is still,	However, in the photograph, her grandmother will always be alive.
15  in the photo with me at three,	The persona was there years old in the photograph with her grandmother.
16  the crinkled smile is still living, breathing.	Her grandmother’s smile is still so alive and real.

Moral Value

1  We must treasure our loved ones when they are alive.

• We must spend as much time as we can with our loved ones while they are still living
• When they pass away, all that will be left are the memories, as is illustrated in the poem.

  2  It is difficult to lose a family member.

• It is always difficult to deal with the death of a loved one.
• The persona loses her grandmother when she was younger but she will always remember her.

3  We must never forget the importance of family relationship.

• We should not forget to love and care for our family, especially our grandparents who are the pillars of a family.
• When they are old and sick, we must continue to take care of them.

Summary of Stanza 1

The persona is looking at an old photograph of her grandmother and herself. She describes the photograph – her grandmother is standing tall and straight, dressed in a white embroidered lace blouse with a pleated skirt, and flat shoes. Her grey hair is pulled neatly into a bun. She is smiling kindly while holding the persona’s hand in hers, giving her the security and comfort. As the persona describes their linked hands – white hand in black hand – it is clear that they come from a mixed race family. The last line seems to suggest that the persona knows that her grandmother’s death will come soon.

Summary of Stanza 2

While the first describes the photograph, in the second stanza, the persona is remembering her grandmother later, when she is older and has become ill. The persona recalls how her grandmother soon grows thinner and more fragile. Her back is hunched and she becomes forgetful as is illustrated in the line, Her soup forgot to boil. Eventually, she passes away and upon her death, she goes to an unimaginable place.

Summary of Stanza 3

However, in the photograph, the persona’s grandmother will forever be alive. She is still there, holding the hand of her three-year-old granddaughter, with her smile looking so alive and real.

Themes

 1    The everlasting quality of a photograph                                                               

• A photograph immortalizes a person or a moment. What  is captured in a photograph will remain alive forever.
•  In the poem, the persona’s grandmother  has already  passed away. However, in the photograph, she will always be healthy and alive.
•  A photograph also allows us grandmother passes away to reflect on what happened  in the past and relive our memories.

 2    Death

• Death is a definite  outcome for all of us.
• In the poem, the persona recalls how her grandmother was once strong and healthy but soon grows older and  becomes ill.
• In the end, the grandmother passes away and the persona is only able to relive her memories with her grandmother through a photograph.

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The Charge of the Light Brigade

Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

'Forward, the Light Brigade!

Charge for the guns!' he said :

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred. 

'Forward, the Light Brigade!'

Was there a man dismayed?

Not though the soldier knew

Some one had blundered :

Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die :

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon in front of them

Volleyed at with shot and shell,

Boldly they rode and well,

Into the jaws of Death,

Into the mouth of Hell,

Rode the six hundred.

Alfred Lord Tennyson.

Hi dear students who actually searched for this for their SPM answer. Well, to me, you have come to a simple blog with simple explanation that might bring to your simple sense in learning this poem. Actually, this poem is not that difficult to understand and as you can see, after you read the poem, you might come across a few things, which maybe a recall from what you have learned in your classes. Remember? During those early month of the years, before lemangs took over your body? Remember? haha...

Now, let me tell you a bit about the poet. Alfred Lord Tennyson was born on 6 August 1809 in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England. He was Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland from 1850 till his death at the age of 83. In his poems, Tennyson used a wide range of subject matter, ranging from medieval legends to classical myths and from domestic situations to observations of nature, as source material for his poetry. His poem are noted for the richness of his imagery and descriptive writing. He also handled rhythm masterfully.

In 1855, Tennyson produced  one of his best-known poems "The Charge of the Light Brigade", a tribute to the heroic British cavalrymen involved in an ill-advised charge on 25 October 1854, during the Crimean War. Alfred, Lord Tennyson is acclaimed as one of the greatest poets in English literature. He died on 3rd October 1892 at Aldworth. He was buried at Westminster Abbey.

About the Poem

This poem is about the 600 British soldiers as mentioned in the poet's background. It also about the heroism and courage of a brigade. Well, many died in that battle which is called by Crimean War (1854-1856). The soldier belonged to a light brigade which means they were on horseback and armed only with sabres and baton (light arms). By some mistake by one *in the poem said so, and they were ordered into a valley which had heavily armed Russian enemy battalions on three sides - front, left and right. The Russians were fully armed and they were very powerful and they had powerful cannons. Now, when the light brigade charged into this "valley of death", they were massacred by the cannons fire.Yes, most of them died but they showed great heroism and patriotism in battle. On one side, well, we can see how heroism and patriotism took part in the way we think, but hey! the coin has two sides right? another side would be the challenging ideas of the concept of obedience, patriotism and nationalism. Don't you think so? 

Now, the themes for this poet are,

1. Heroism and courage

2. Patriotism

3. Duty

4. The tragedy of was

5. Leadership failure

Moral values:

1. Patriotism

2. Duty

3. Anti-war sentiment

The persona :

The poem is narrated by an omniscient (all-seeing) narrator who reports not only the action but the thoughts and spirit of the 600 men as a collective unit. There is also a reference that "someone has blundered".

Tone/Mood

Since the poem is about war so, it is clear that the tone and mood is quite intense and as the overall mood, it would be collective action, rather than individual impulse. The poem has the sound of military march and also the feeling of exhaustion, something like that. But to me, as long as you could imagine how war is about then, marks are waiting for you students! but make sure you relate your answer with the poem. Easy right?

As for the Language and Style, well, as you can see, there were Repetition. Why? As you all know, we repeat things because we want to make a bold statement by saying a few times. In this poem, the repetition (refrains) was used  to create hypnotic effect and the refrains give us the impression of an army marching forward. *I will explain more on Language and Style of this poem, once I read it VERY thoroughly, ok?

Point of view :

The poem is narrated by an omniscient (third person) narrator. 

Now, later, on maybe next two entries I will write on the Language and Style and also I will explain more on Themes and Moral Values of "The Charge of the Light Brigade". To me, this poem is very, very good. It was a very good poem indeed, but I could not run from thinking of if you know someone has blundered, why do you have to follow the instructions given? But it was not mine to ask why? hehe... *I used the same sentence structure as in the poem. You can detect that right? yesss... hehe...

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WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO LULU BY CHARLES CAUSLEY

The Poem

What has happened to Lulu, mother? 
What has happened to Lu? 
There's nothing in her bed but an old rag-doll 
And by its side a shoe. 

Why is her window wide, mother, 
The curtain flapping free, 
And only a circle on the dusty shelf 
Where her money-box used to be? 

Why do you turn your head, mother, 
And why do tear drops fall? 
And why do you crumple that note on the fire 
And say it is nothing at all? 

I woke to voices late last night, 
I heard an engine roar. 
Why do you tell me the things I heard 
Were a dream and nothing more? 

I heard somebody cry, mother, 
In anger or in pain, 
But now I ask you why, mother, 
You say it was a gust of rain. 

Why do you wander about as though 
You don't know what to do? 
What has happened to Lulu, mother? 
What has happened to Lu?

What Has Happened to Lulu?

Subject matter

It is a poem told in a child’s voice about his older sister running away.

A child is asking his mother what has happened to his sister, Lulu. There is nothing in her room, and her money-box has gone, with only an open window and an old rag-doll left behind. His mother is crying and burning a note. He thinks he heard voices and a car in the middle of the night, but his mother tells him he was only dreaming.

Form and structure

The poem is a ballad. written in four line stanzas where the second and fourth lines rhyme. This regular and simple form seems appropriate for the voice of the narrator, which is of a young child.

It is a first person dramatic monologue that is addressed to the mother of the narrator. It is almost entirely written in questions, both reflecting the age of the speaker and his puzzlement at what has happened to his sister. The form suggests the child’s innocence, while allowing the reader to read between the lines and understand what has happened.

Language and Imagery

Imagery

The image of the abandoned bed is the main one, described by the child narrator. The inclusion of childhood objects such as a rag-doll and a money-box emphasise the youth and innocence of the run-away Lulu. They are contrasted with the roar of the car engine heard in the night and the grown-up world that the narrator does not understand, emphasised by the constant questions. The curtain can be seen as a metaphor for Lulu’s new freedom, contrasted by the dust on the shelf that represents her previous life.

Sound

The doubling of the sound in ‘Lulu’, together with the high level of repetition of both the name and its shortening in the poem, create a strong echo of the sound – which is also the rhymed sound in the first and last stanza. This is quite a childish sound, and helps to create the plaintive note in the child’s questioning.

Attitudes, themes and ideas

The poem takes an approach that makes the reader work to figure out what has happened. We have to piece together the clues given in the poem. This is in contrast to the apparent simplicity of the poem provided by the ballad format and the child’s voice. Doing this also puts the reader in the position of the child, who does not understand what is going on. We, like the narrator, have more questions than answers. The tone is one of puzzlement.

What Has Happened to Lulu? 

It deals with themes of grief and love. The mother is grieving over her lost child. The fact that the child has run away does not make the grief less significant. The confusion of the narrator about his or her parent’s reaction also tells us something about the nature of grief.The poem also considers how we deal with children, in dismissing what they have heard or seen. The child narrator has some valid knowledge of what has happened, but his mother tells him he dreamed it. The poem raises the question of how the child can react, when he has been told nothing is the matter, when clearly it is. Ironically the mother does not know what to do, as the final stanza makes clear.

Setting

Place

·         Probably in England as the word "money-box" is a typical British word.

• Lulu's room
• The fireplace

Time

• In the past

Themes

1. The end of childhood and the loss of innocence

• Lulu is probably a young teenager. 
• She ran away based on the note that her mother crumpled.
• She took her savings "money-box" to start a new life with a man who drove her off in a "engine roar".
• She left her childhood behind.

2. Parent-child relationship

• The mother and Lulu relationship could have been a tense and strained one.
• Lulu is a rebellious teenager.
• She dislikes her mother's restrictions on her freedom and emerging interest in the opposite sex.
• She keeps secrets from her mother.
• The mother and narrator relationship is less dramatic.
• The narrator is obedient and respectful to the mother.
• The narrator loves the mother very much and observe her pain and distress.

3. Grief and love

• The mother is grieving over the loss of her child, Lulu.
• The mother clearly loves Lulu.
• The narrator loves the sister as she called her by pet name "Lu".
• The narrator is worried about the sudden disappearance of the elder sister

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A Poison Tree - William Blake

2013/06/07

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.

And I watered it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night.
Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine.

And into my garden stole,
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

MEANING OF DIFFICULT WORDS

1.      Wrath - strong, stern, or fierce anger; deeply resentful indignation; ire.

2.      Deceit – distortion of the truth for the purpose of misleading; duplicity; fraud; cheating

3.      Wiles – Trick, trap

4.      Veiled – conceal, lacking clarity or distinctness

POETIC/LITERARY DEVICES

1.      Personification 

-       Waters the wrath with fear

-        I told my wrath, my wrath did end

2.      Metaphor 

-The tree is considered as a wrath/anger

-"Till it bore an apple bright", the apple is a metaphor for the "fruit" of his grudge.

3.      Alliteration 

-sunned and smiles

-friend and foe

-bore and bright

4.      Imagery

- Throughout the poem

5.      Irony

-the foe beneath the tree of hatred

6.      Repitition

-“I was angry with my friend… I was angry with my foe”

7.      Allusion

-"Garden.. apple...tree" alludes to Adam & Eve, the Garden of Eden.

STANZA BY STANZA ANALYSIS

Stanza 1: William Blake speaks of someone, his friend and his foe, whom has he is angry with. When he says ‘I told my wrath, my wrath did end’ after he said he was angry with his friend, he is saying he was able to get over being angry with his friend and forgot about it. Although, it is quite the opposite when he mentions’ I told it not, and my wrath did grow’. Blake is saying that with his enemy, he allowed himself to get angry, and therefore, his wrath did grow.

Stanza 2: In this stanza, Blake begins to make his anger grow and he takes pleasure in it, comparing his anger with something, in this case, a tree or plant. The speaker says he ‘sunned it with smiles’ and ‘and with soft, deceitful wiles’. This means he is creating an illusion with his enemy saying he is pretending to be friendly to seduce and bring him closer.

Stanza 3: ‘And it grew both day and night’ and ‘til it bore an apple bright’ are meaning that his illusion with his enemy is growing and growing until it became a strong and tempting thing. His illusion has a metaphor and it is an apple. After, his foe believes it shines, which means he thinks it’s true and means something, and takes Blake illusion seriously. ‘And he knew it was mine’ suggests that he really thinks Blake is his friend.

Stanza 4: Being the last stanza, Blake needed to come up with a conclusion. He has used the two lines ‘in the morning glad I see’ and ‘my foe outstretched beneath the tree’ to say that his foe finally fell to his tempting illusion and metaphorically, consumed his poison apple and died. So, obviously, his malicious intentions were hidden behind illusion and he prevailed over his enemy.

CRITICAL APPRECIATION

In the first stanza, the consequence of allowing anger to continue instead of stopping it as it begins is shown. This consequence is simply that it will continue to grow. However, as the poem progresses, it is seen that this continued growth of anger can yield harmful results as the enemy, or foe, is lured toward the tree and eats of its fruit, the poison apple. This kills his foe, as he is seen outstretched beneath the tree, a sight the speaker is glad to see the next morning. These final two lines explain one of the main themes of the poem, which is that anger leads to self-destruction. The speaker’s anger grows and eventually becomes so powerful that it has changes from simple anger with another person, to desire to see them dead. One of the subjects of Blake’s work was the underworld, or Hell, and knowing this, it can be seen that the destruction which results from anger is not physical, but spiritual. In addition, the death of the foe, which the speaker is glad to see, does not spiritually affect the foe as the speaker is affected, but only physically harms the foe.

READING MATERIAL

Interpretation and Symbolism

After reading such an amoral poem, the search for hope or alternate meaning begins. A metaphor lives inside the poem, but instead of making the poem less wicked, the analogy confuses and questions faith.

Symbolically, the speaker represents God, the foe and garden represent Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the tree represents the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in Genesis. If this analogy is true, it shows God rejoicing in killing his enemies, which most people think the God they know would never do.

Blake’s poem is peculiar even for today’s standards, and his analogy may be ruthless and insensitive, but he does get the reader thinking. By looking further into the poem, we find that the speaker nourishes and feeds his wrath, which symbolically is the tree from the Garden of Eden. Is Blake suggesting that God fed his wrath and anger into the tree and intended for man to eat from it? If so, He is creating a world doomed to His wrath and anger, an idea just about anybody would shutter at.

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