ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY Speaker/Author

CHURCHYARD
STANZA
BY THOMAS GRAY
4 stanzas (4 quatrains)
Setting: Churchyard METER:
Characters: The Speaker Iambic Tetrameter
LINES:
Stanza: 29 16 lines
Meter: Iambic Pentameter LITERARY DEVICES
Lines: 110 lines  Personification
- The poet personifies the “night” that covers
LITERARY DEVICES
the speaker in “black”.
 Personification  Metaphor
- "dull cold ear of Death" - a figure of speech that makes a comparison
- 'Death' is personified as the antagonist between two non-similar things without using
 Alliteration "like" or "as".
- "The plowman homeward plods his weary  Metonymy
Way." - One object or idea takes the place of another
 Onomatopoeia with which it has a close association.
- "The swallow twitt 'ring from the straw-built  Palilogy – the technique of repeating a word
shed. The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing or phrase for emphasis.
horn."  Allusion
 Synedoche - A reference to a person, place, thing, event, or
- "some heart once pregnant with celestial fire." other literary work with which the reader is
- "Heart' is used as a synecdoche to describe a familiar.
person and the passion they feel. - “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the
 Euphemism way which leads to life, and there are few who
- 'dead' as 'silent dust' find it.”
- 'death' as 'the inevitable hour' - Matthew 7:14
 Metaphor “Resilience comes from the courage to embrace life
- The speaker compares Commoners to gems and refuse despair.”
hidden in caves and flowers blooming in the
desert.
THEME ANNABEL LEE
 Death is a universal experience. BY EDGAR ALLAN POE
Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, author,
editor, and literary critic who is best known for his
INVICTUS poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of
BY WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a
central figure of Romanticism and Gothic fiction in the
"Invictus" was written by William Ernest United States, and of American literature.
Henley in 1875, while he underwent medical treatment
for tuberculosis of the bone. Edgar Allan Poe wrote “Annabel Lee” to lament the
death of a beautiful young woman. This poem was
Originally the fourth part of a longer sequence written two years after the death of his young wife, so
published in Henley’s collection, In Hospital. This 16- it’s possible that he wrote this poem to express some of
line section has taken on a life of its own. his feelings and emotions.
When the poet wrote this poem, he has already SETTING
lost one of his legs. So, in such a situation of mental
and physical agony, the poet tries motivate himself “Kingdom by the sea”
when there is no hope at all. CHARACTERS
SETTING Narrator- a man of deep sensibility who extolls a
Night/Hell young maiden with whom he feels deeply in love.

CHARACTER Annabel Lee- beautiful young maiden loved by the

poet.
Seraphs- members of the highest order of angel
around the throne of God.
Relatives of Annabel Lee- “highborn kinsman’ who
carried away and entombs her body.
STANZA/METER/LINES
"Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe alternates between
tetrameter and trimeter. The majority of stanzas
contain six lines, but there are two stanzas of eight
lines and one stanza of seven.
A line in tetrameter will be composed of three anapests
and a final jam. A line in trimeter will often be
composed of two anapests and a final iamb.
LITERARY DEVICES
 Assonance
- the repetition of vowel sounds in the same
line such as the sound of /a/ and /i/ in “ It
was many and many a year ago”
 Imagery
- “In a kingdom by the sea” and “In her
tomb by the sounding sea”
 Personification
- “The wind came out of the cloud by
night, /chilling and killing my Annabel
Lee”
 Alliteration
- “Than to love and be loved by me”
 Symbolism
- "The sea" is the symbol of evil and
darkness.
 Allusions
- "Seraphs in heaven”
 Enjambment
- "And this maiden she lived with no other
thought, than to love and be loved by me”
THEME
“The eternal nature of love”
“THE ROAD NOT TAKEN”
BY ROBERT FROST
Robert Frost is one of the most recognized American
poets of the 20th century. Although he wrote in
traditional forms, his language and themes, such as
doom or the solitude of humans in nature or society,
were very innovative for his time. He was celebrated
as an important American poet during his life, winning
a total of four Pulitzer Prizes. Robert Frost served as
U.S. Consultant in Poetry 1958-1959.
He penned the poem entitled The Road Not Taken to
tease his chronically indecisive friend, Edward
Thomas, who misinterpreted the meaning and enlisted
in the military shortly thereafter, only to be killed two
years later in WWII.
SETTING
The poem takes place in a forest in autumn, after the
leaves have begun to change color. More specifically,
the poem takes place at a spot in the woods at which a
road forks into two.
CHARACTERS
One theory is that Frost originally wrote the poem in
the voice of his friend the English poet Edward
Thomas. However, close reading of the poem itself
reveals no specific main character.
Stanza: The Road Not Taken consists of four stanzas
of five lines.
Rhyme scheme: The rhyme scheme is ABAAB, the
rhymes are strict and masculine, with the notable
exception of the last line.
Meter: The meter is an iambic tetrameter, with each
line having four two-syllable feet, though in almost
every line, in different positions, an iamb is replaced
with an anapest.
LITERARY DEVICES
 Metaphor
- the road is the metaphor for the journey of
life
- the divergent paths are metaphors for
choices in life.
 Symbolism
- The roads symbolize the choices in our
life.
 Anaphora
- Repetition of ‘ and ‘ in lines 2, 3, 4
 Alliteration
- ‘wanted wear’, ‘first for’, ‘then took’, ‘that
the’
 Repetition
- ‘Ages and ages’, ‘ and I / I took …’
- ‘Two roads diverged in a (repeated I
stanza 1 and 4)
THEME
Individual Choices - The speaker initially hopes then
his choice will be significant, though it is clear by the
poem’s end that it hasn’t made much difference.
The Permanence of Decisions - The speaker laments
that he won’t be able to return to the fork in the road,
emphasizing life’s linear movement.
Uniqueness and Narrative - with a touch of irony, the
poem’s end meditates on the human desire to create a
coherent narrative from experience.
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE
Christopher Marlowe is an Elizabethan poet and
playwright, left an indelible mark on British literature.
Innovator of Blank Verse: Marlowe is noted for
establishing dramatic blank verse, an unrhymed iambic
pentameter, which became a standard poetic and
dramatic form.
Shaping the Elizabethan Theater: Marlowe played a
pivotal role in shaping the Elizabethan theater. His
works, such as “Dido, Queen of Carthage,”
“Doctor Faustus,” and “Edward II,” showcased
complex characterizations and explored
profound themes.
Father of English Tragedy: Critics consider Marlowe
the father of English tragedy. He introduced genuine
blank verse and tragedy in literature, paving the way
for playwrights like Shakespeare
“THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD TO HIS
LOVE”
BY CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love is a poem by
Christopher Marlowe that expresses the speaker’s
desire to live with his love in a pastoral paradise. He
promises her various gifts and pleasures from nature,
such as flowers, wool, gold, and coral. He also invites
her to enjoy the sights and sounds of the countryside,
such as birds, rivers, and mountains. The poem is
written in six stanzas of four lines each, with a rhyme
scheme of AABB. The poem uses imagery and
symbolism to create a romantic and idealized vision of
love and nature
1. The Reason Why it was Written
To idealized the harmony, peace, ang simplicity of
the shephered's life.
2. Setting
“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” is set in an
idyllic landscape that draws upon a longstanding
Classical pastoral tradition. This tradition dates back to
Greek and Roman antiquity, where poets conjured up
idealized country landscapes.
3. Characters
The Shephered (who is the speaker and the
protagonist).
4. Stanza/Meter/Line
The poem consists of six stanzas, each
comprising four lines (quatrains). The rhyming
pattern is consistent throughout: aabb ccdd… and so
on.
5. Literary Devices
 Enjambment
- Marlowe uses enjambment, where lines
continue without a pause, creating a
flowing rhythm. For instance: “By shallow
Rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing Madrigals.”
 Assonance
- The repetition of vowel sounds within a
line adds musicality. Notice the /a/ sound
in: “With Coral clasps and Amber studs.”
 Alliteration and Assonance
- These devices appear throughout the
poem, enhancing its lyrical quality. For
example: “Seeing the Shepherds feed their
flocks.”
 Repetition
- The line “Come live with me, and be my
love” is repeated, emphasizing the
shepherd’s plea.
6. Themes
The Blissful Leisure of Rural Life.
The Pursuit of Pleasure.
The Natural Wealth of The Country.
" The Nymph's Reply To The Shepherd”
BY SIR WALTER RALEIGH
- He wrote this as a response to “The Passionate
Shepherd to His Love.” In Marlowe’s poem, the
Shepherd proposes to his beloved by portraying their
ideal future together: a life filled with earthy pleasures
in a world of eternal spring. Raleigh’s reply, however,
debunks the Shepherd’s fanciful vision
SETTING
- The idyllic countryside, which is presented in
Marlowe’s poem as a place where a Shepherd is
offering a young woman a happy and carefree life.
CHARACTERS
The Nymph – the nymph is the speaker of the poem.
The Shepherd – the shepherd’s presence is implied in
the poem by the nymph’s use of thee. She knows that
his pastoral view of the future is unrealistic.
STANZA
The nymph’s reply to the shepherd by Sir Walter
Raleigh is a six-stanza poem.
METER
Iambic tetrameter
LINES
24 lines
LITERARY DEVICES
  Imagery
- Raleigh uses vivid imagery to depict
transient nature of youth and beauty.
 Dialogue
- the poem is structured as a dialogue
between a shepherd and a nymph, with the
nymph responding to the Shepherd’s
romantic advances.
 Metaphor
- the poem uses the metaphor of pastoral
paradise to represent the Shepherd’s
romantic fantasies, and the nymph’s
rejection of these fantasies symbolizes a
more realistic view of love and life.
THEME
 A realistic perspective on the fleeting nature of
youth, love, and beauty.
 Parody – the poem serves as a parody of
idealistic pastoral poetry popular during
Raleigh’s time.
“MUTABILITY”
BY PERCY SHELLEY
• Percy Bysshe Shelley was a prominent English
Romantic poet.
• He was known for his lyrical and long-form verse.
• Shelley was an atheist and saw organized religion as
inextricably linked to social oppression.
• His works focus on his political, social and religious
views. He also writes novels about life in the
countryside.
• The poem's title, “Mutability,” reveals its pressing
theme—change, or more specifically, the
unpredictability of human nature. Mutability means
liable to change, and Shelley's poem centers on how
human nature is invariably in flux.
SETTING
The poem “Mutability” has no setting. There were no
time and place mentioned
CHARACTERS
Author
Readers
STANZA
The poem consists of four stanzas with four lines each.
METER
The meter used in this poem is primarily iambic
pentameter. Iambic Pentameter is a line of verse with
five metrical feet, each consisting of one short (or
unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed)
syllable.
Examples:
"We are as clouds that veil the midnight moon;" -
iambic pentameter
"How restlessly they speed and gleam and quiver," -
iambic pentameter
"Streaking the darkness radiantly! Yet soon" - iambic
pentameter
"Night closes round, and they are lost for ever" -
iambic pentameter
LINE
It has a total of sixteen lines.
LITERARY DEVICES
 Simile
- A simile is a figure of speech that
compares two different things using the
words "like" or "as."
- Example: "We are as clouds that veil the
midnight moon."
 Personification
- attributes human-like qualities to non-
human entities.
- Example: "We are as clouds that veil the
midnight moon; How restlessly they speed
and gleam and quiver."
 Metaphor
- A metaphor is a figure of speech that
implies a comparison between two unlike
things without using "like" or "as."
- Example: "Or like forgotten lyres whose
dissonant strings, Give various response to
each varying blast."
 Imagery
- refers to the use of vivid and descriptive
language to create sensory experiences for
the reader.
- Example: "Streaking the darkness
radiantly!"
 Alliteration
- the repetition of initial consonant sounds
in neighbouring words.
- Example: "Night closes round, and they
are lost for ever"
 Anaphora
- the repetition of a word or phrase at the
beginning of successive clauses or verses.
- Example: "We rest—a dream has power to
poison sleep; We rise—one wandering
thought pollutes the day;"
 Antithesis
- involves contrasting ideas within parallel
grammatical structures.
 - Example: "We feel, conceive or reason,
laugh or weep," contrasts different
emotional states.
 Paradox
- a statement that appears self-contradictory
but may contain some truth or profound
meaning.
- Example: "It is the same!—For, be it joy
or sorrow," emphasizes the cyclical nature
of human experience despite the apparent
differences.
 Symbolism
- the use of symbols to represent ideas or
concepts.
- Example: "Man's yesterday may ne'er be
like his morrow," symbolizes the
inevitability of change and the transience
of time.
THEME
“The only lasting thing in the world is change.”