Poems

Sonnet Composed upon Westminster Bridge September 3, 1802- William Wordsworth

- Summary: The poem speaks about a persona viewing the beauty of the city in the early morning (at
sunrise) from the perspective of the Westminster Bridge. They reflect on the fact that there is nothing
more beautiful than the city at this hour. He goes on to say that only a dull person would not be able to
appreciate this beauty.

- Literary devices: Simile: Line 5- The persona compares the city to that of a garment draping over
someone’s body. It emphasizes the beauty of the city. Like a garment settling on someone’s body, the
beauty of the morning also settles over the city.
Personification: Line 9-10- the sun is compared to a male who rises sharply and beautifully. Emphasizes
the beauty of the city in the morning and allows the reader to personalize this beauty. Line 12- Allows
the reader to bring the river to life; highlights the movements of the river- gliding beautifully. Line 13-
the houses, like a person sleeping, are peaceful and at rest. Highlights the peace of the city that exists in
the morning.
Important Words:
- Tone: awe fair Means beautiful; shows the reader how beautiful
- Mood: peace and serenity, pensive/thoughtful the city is
- Theme: nature, man and nature, places majesty Implies the city so beautiful it is almost monarch
like; beyond beautiful
steep Highlights how the sun ascends into the sky; does
so beautifully
Orchids- Hazel Simmons-McDonald

- Summary: This poem is about a persona moving from their house which they had resided in for 5 weeks.
While packing, they stumble upon an orchid that had been gifted to them. She puts in effort to kill this
orchid but towards the end she has gotten an appreciation for it and its resilience. In the end she decides
to keep the petals between pages of a book hoping that one day she will understand it.

- Structure: The structure of this poem is a blank verse. It highlights the persona’s struggle between hope
and despair as they tell their life story with a tone that occasionally shifts between feelings of optimism
and pessimism.

- Contrast in the poem: “purple petals/blossom/full blown/like poised poems/like the morning bud…
unfurled” juxtaposed (contrasts) against the persona’s destructive intentions (“I watered them once/I
would toss them out/I starved them/I pluck the full blown blooms/press them”)

- Literary devices: Simile: line 13-14- polished implies perfection, shiny and pleasant to read
Pun: line 11- literally refers to the bright purple “heart” of the orchid. Purple means bravery and
highlights how resilient and brave the flower is; also refers to the “purple heart” medal in the army
which symbolizes bravery

- Mood: reflective, pensive, thoughtful

- Tone: started with a tone of indifference (lack of interest) then ended with a tone of admiration as she
begins to appreciate the flower
- Theme: nature, death, survival

It is the Constant Image of Your Face- Dennis Brutus

- Summary: This poem is about a patriotic man who is torn between his love for his woman and his love
for his country. He is unable to choose between the two however, in the end he chooses his woman. He
feels as though he has betrayed his country and goes on to ask it for forgiveness and that the woman is
not blamed.

- Literary devices: Personification: line 3-4: the love interest’s eyes convict the persona. Highlights the
extent to which the persona has hurt this woman; line 16-17: the person hopes that his other dearest
love) his country) will forgive him for loving someone else (highlights patriotism) Oxymoron: line 6:
“heart’s-treachery”, the heart which is considered a vital organ full of love and life has committed a
terrible crime; highlights the extent of the heartbreak.

- Mood: reflective (thinks about how torn he is between his 2 loves)

- Tone: sadness, guilt
- Theme: love, patriotism. Guilt, dreams/desires, places
Dulce et Decorum Est. - Wilfred Owen

- Summary: This poem is about a soldier’s experience at war. He witnesses one of his fellow comrades
being engulfed after being caught in a gas bomb and witnesses their horrific and graphic death. He sees
this soldier’s death even in his dreams and concludes with the poem that it is not honourable to die for
one’s country.
- Structure: this poem is written in free verse to emphasize the soldier’s experience.

Literary devices: Simile

Stanza 1- line 1 “like old beggars” highlights the exhaustion of the soldiers
Stanza 1- line 2 “coughing like hags” highlights the tiredness and sickness of the soldiers
Stanza 2- line 12 “and flound’ring like a man in fire or lime” this is how the soldier reacted to the gas
Stanza 4- line 20 “his hanging face, like a devil’s sack of sin” is a visual expression of the soldier’s face
Stanza 4- line 23 “obscene as cancer” is an emphasis on the agony the soldier was going through
Stanza 4- line 23- “Bitter as the cud of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues- highlights the soldier in
24 the throes of death.

Tone: compassion (for the solider who died), anger (for the people encouraging children to go to war), sarcastic,
ironic.
Mood: sarcastic and ironic
Theme: war, death, survival, patriotism

This is the Dark Time, My Love- Martin Carter

- Summary: This poem is about a persona speaking on how the war has affected their country and the
people residing in it.
- Literary devices: Repetition: stanza 1 line 1 & stanza 2 line 1- emphasizes that it is a sad and terrible
time. Alliteration: stanza 1 line 3 (shining sun) - implies that everything that was once good is now
gone. Personification: stanza 1 line 4 (red flowers bend their head in awful sorrows) - flowers that
are usually cheerful are now sad; emphasizes the sad tone of the poem. Metaphor- stanza 2 line 7 (it is
the festival of guns, the carnival of misery) - emphasizes how terrible the times are because guns and
misery are plentiful. Rhetorical Question: stanza 3 line 9- informs the reader that a threat exists and it
comes in the dark of night. Stanza 3 line 10- the threat is a soldier through the term; the ‘slender grass’
is the innocent youth who is cut down and trampled by these ‘boots of steel’.

- Mood: sad
- Tone: sad
- Themes: racism, war, oppression,
Dreams and aspirations, places, patriotism