1. The Songs of Ourselves Anthology
‘The Interesting ones’
‘A Different History’
Language
‘Great pan is not dead he simply emigrated to India’- bathos, hints at irony, polytheism
driven out by monotheism (Christianity and Judaism)
‘here the Gods roam freely disguised as snakes or monkeys’-bathos, appears to celebrate
culture, undercut/ridiculous
‘every tree is sacred’-idolatry, slavish deference towards religion, the individual is lost,
absurdity of venerating something inanimate
‘you must learn to turn the pages gently’-slavish deference,
‘Soul has been cropped’- contrast between what is tangible and intangible , loss of spiritual
identity, soul is where our inner self is hidden, cropped suggests fitted for purpose and what
is unwanted has been removed
‘scythe swooping out of the conqueror’s face’- reference to grim reaper, nightmarish quality
‘scythe’ – used as a harvesting tool, harvest has been reaped, they have been cared for and
nourished and then cut down, ‘swooping’- fast deft movement, sudden and unexpected,
‘conqueror’s face’- not a faceless army, malign intent, genocide, conqueror is humanised
suggests that previously there was kindness but out of that kindness comes the violence
Repetition of sin-irony, absurdity, amused, poking fun at primitism
Structure
Bipartite structure- represents divided heritage, thematic concern of division, clear split in
mood
Enjambment- lineation and versification creates juxtaposition
Mood
Poking fun, comic, irony, dark, cruel, amused detachment and exasperation
Message
Critique of culture, empowered to criticise by familiarity
Observing Paradox
Declaring love for English language
Language and religion are tools of imperialism
Effect
Rhetorical Questions-ambiguous in intent
Thought provoking

2. ‘Continuum’
Language
‘get off to sleep or the subject or the planet’- zeugma (use of verb to apply to different
nouns) trying to write a poem, changes his mind in the process of thinking, imitating train of
thought, disjointed
‘barefoot’-humorous, playful word choice, more vivid, urgency of escape
Alliteration of ‘p’-coherent impression of landscape,
‘washed out creation’
‘dusted (query)’- moonlight given quality of a solid, sparkling with light, artistic icy sugar,
describes how clouds are illuminate ‘query’- questions his precision in writing a poem
‘one’s mine the others an adversary’-paranoid, self-doubt, approaches his own poetic insight
in a critical way
‘bare’-idiomatic, annoyance, frustration
‘cringing demiurge’- incongruous word choice ‘cringing’, slave to his own imagination, power
of creation but is bound to it, desire to leave author out and be undisturbed
Mood
Agitated, restless, struggling to write
‘Horses’
Adulthood Description
‘lumbering’- ponderous in movement, clumsy , not a flattering description, size conveyed
‘bare’-boring, bland, colourless, desolate- adulthood-loss of imagination and creativity
descriptions amount to uninspiring word choice
‘black field’-dark, dull colour, boring description of romantic landscape
‘crystalline’- fragile, insubstantial
Childhood Description
‘terrible’ and ‘wild’-mysterious fascination, savage, feral
‘magic power’- spell is cast that takes him back to his childhood
‘pistons in an ancient mill’-industrial image, contrast between machinery and natural horses,
suggests speed, power and durability of horses, something from a by-gone age
‘conquering’ and ‘marched’- metaphor, characterised as victorious soldiers, invading, heroic,
majesty, courage, pride, hero-admiration, victorious army, awe and wonder
‘seraphim of gold’ and ‘ecstatic monsters’ contrast between angelic image and hellish figure,
ambivalence of child
‘bossy’- shield/decorated metalwork
‘gigantic’- hyperbole, large to suggest epic proportions of horses
‘apocalyptic light’- horses of the apocalypse, wild, fearsome, religious allusions, retribution
and fearsome power

3. Elegiac Tone
Elegiac tone- sense of loss , irrevocable loss of imagination and creativity, ode to rural
upbringing and childhood
Tonal shift excitement to elegiac tone
Structure
Iambic pentameter elevates subject matter
Rhyming couplets couldrepresent the furrows the horse make ploughing the field
‘Pike’
Language
‘Perfect pike in all parts’- alliteration corresponds to design of pike, suggests cohesion,
alliteration binds the words together in a fitting way just as the parts of the pike are bound
together to create something perfect
‘green tigering the gold’- attributes of a tiger, predator, majestic , regal, alliteration links
colours- semantic relationship
‘killers from the egg’- born with a natural killer instinct, savagery, endowed to kill, predators,
assassins
‘Hooked clamp’-metallic jaw, machine, the perfection of machinery is emulated in the jaw of
the Pike, threatening and violent image
‘Kneading quietly’- tactile imagery, metronomic, expanding and contracting
‘malevolent aged grin’-wicked, evil, sadistic, evil intent, disturbing
‘silhouette of submarine’- machine, sibilance, sinister, insidious nature
‘delicacy and horror’- incongruous juxtaposition suggest the dual nature of a pike
‘sag belly’-gluttonous, unattractive
‘vice locks’- nature of pike encompassed in its stare, detached, cold ,emotionless
‘logged’-stuck, motionless, immobile, patience, waiting in ambush
Structure
Repeating structure, no real changes
Long and unchanging- represents pike in some ways
Mood
Sinister, violent and horror
Message
Fear product of imagination

4. ‘A Birthday’
Introduction
Poem records emotional transformation, investment coming to fruition
All events before this have been insignificant compared to her future, she has been reborn
hence a birth day
Figurative language
Spontaneous overflow of emotion-new dawn
‘singing bird’-new dawn, spiritual prosperity, satisfaction, contentment
Watered shoot’-sustenance for life, auspicious beginnings, contentment, satisfaction
‘thickset fruit’-riches, new beginnings, investment coming to fruition
‘paddles’ –childlike, gleeful, carefree and playful
Ornate sensory language
‘silk and down’-different textures, exotic, expensive
‘Vair and purple dyes’- purple, visual, image, royalty
‘gold, silver’-costly metals, wealth,
Furnishing of one’s soul, devout Christian –worthy of worship of God
Form and structure
Iambic tetrameter-simplicity, carefree, songlike, devotional poem
Anaphora of ‘my heart’-emphasis on happiness, emotive, builds momentum, builds to
climax, unable to contain her happiness, struggling to describe feelings
Trochaic Substitution in second stanza- assertive, almost aggressive nature of imperatives,
inspirational, empowered, authority
Religious Imagery
‘dais’- altar, public occasion, rite of passage (Christina Rossetti was Anglican –all important
occasions in one’s life occurred at an altar- christening, communion, marriage and funeral-
marks this occasion as important
‘doves’-symbol of peace, Holy spirit, God’s grace
‘pomegranates’-sacrifice of Christ
‘rainbow’-renewing promise to God, hope, variety of colours-beauty
‘peacocks with a hundred eyes’- symbol of the all-seeing God, majesty, royalty, associated
with the Goddess Juno-Queen of the Gods
Others
Contrast between the two stanzas: 1.) natural/ everyday images 2.) ornate imagery, rare and
expensive items, imperative tone, diction is more ornate, trumpeting news, rhetorical
address

5. ’Sonnet: Composed on Westminster Bridge’
Language
Opening line- bold and assertive claim, directness, certainty, ‘dull would he be of soul’,
surprising to assert that an urban landscape is more beautiful than a rural one, especially
considering that Wordsworth is a poet renowned for celebrating the beauty of the natural
world
‘majesty’-prestige, grandeur, royalty, seat of power
‘like a garment wear the beauty of the morning’- simile, royal person king/queen, idea of
borrowed beauty conveyed (Macbeth-‘ why do you dress me in borrowed robes?’),
superficial beaut, the beauty is temporary in the morning, morning is lending the city
beauty, idea of royal figure, lavish garment, elegant robe, ambivalent image-
misleading/beguiling
‘Silent, bare’-reflective, thoughtful, calm before bustle, city is holding its breath, frank,
candid, honest
List of buildings- words piled up onto the horizon, cover a single line , variety of buildings
conveyed, abundance, accumulation, catalogues features of landscape, impressive buildings
‘Open unto the fields and sky’- empty spaces, expansive, pastoral poem about a city, city is
idyllic, rural and natural,
‘bright and glittering’- vivid visual image, ambivalent connotations- deceptive appearances,
‘smokeless’-clean, pure but implies that there usually is smoke and that the lack of smoke is
what makes it beautiful, serves as reminder of our expectations
‘Steep’- light is like a liquid, given light a limpid quality,
‘glideth’- archaic diction, leisurely calm, peaceful mood
‘mighty heart’-the city is the core, the centre, powering nucleus, powerful, awesome
‘lying still’- verb lie conveys rest, stasis, current appearance belies its true nature, deceptive
nature of appearances
Structure
Petrarchan Sonnet-short, punchy, compact, concise, single stanza form, capturing a
snapshot of London
Sestet and Octet both begin with assertions-emphatic, conviction, controversial, wants
people to be incredulous
Fleeting, transient moment
Mood
Awe and wonder
Hushed effect-sibilance
Message
Deceptive nature of appearances
Personification suggests that the city is a living entity