ZNOTES.

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UPDATED TO 2024 SYLLABUS

CAIE IGCSE
LITERATURE IN
ENGLISH
SUMMARIZED NOTES ON THE POETRY (2023-2024 LIST) SYLLABUS
CAIE IGCSE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
1. The City Planners -
Margaret Atwood
1.1. Poem
Stanza 1
Cruising these residential Sunday
streets in dry August sunlight:
what offends us is
the sanities:
the houses in pedantic rows, the planted
sanitary trees, assert
levelness of surface like a rebuke
to the dent in our car door.
No shouting here, or
shatter of glass; nothing more abrupt
than the rational whine of a power mower
cutting a straight swath in the discouraged grass.
Stanza 2
But though the driveways neatly
sidestep hysteria
by being even, the roofs all display
the same slant of avoidance to the hot sky,
certain things:
the smell of spilled oil a faint
sickness lingering in the garages,
a splash of paint on brick surprising as a bruise,
a plastic hose poised in a vicious
coil; even the too-fixed stare of the wide windows
Stanza 4
give momentary access to
the landscape behind or under
the future cracks in the plaster
Stanza 5
when the houses, capsized, will slide
obliquely into the clay seas, gradual as glaciers
that right now nobody notices.
That is where the City Planners
with the insane faces of political conspirators
are scattered over unsurveyed
territories, concealed from each other,
each in his own private blizzard;
Stanza 6
guessing directions, they sketch
transitory lines rigid as wooden borders
on a wall in the white vanishing air
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Stanza 7
tracing the panic of suburb
order in a bland madness of snows
1.2. Overview
Structure - 38 lines, 7 stanzas
Themes:
Order and control
Environmental destruction
Stanzas get shorter as the poem continues, showing the
deteriorating stability of the environment.
1.3. Stanza 1
The word ‘cruising ’ gives the idea of a peaceful and calm
motion and one which is not rushed in any manner. This
image of calmness is reinforced by the usage of the word
‘Sunday’, which is often indicative of rest and thankfulness
in many cultures.
This line seems to give the impression that the speaker is
carrying out a very ordinary and everyday activity.
The juxtaposition of the words ‘offends’ and ‘sanities’ sets
up what is a recurring theme throughout the rest of the
poem - the speaker’s disdain for the overly rectified and
mathematical way in which the suburbs have been
constructed.
The word ‘pedantic’ typically has a more negative
connotation than similar words such as ‘meticulous’, and
Atwood reinforces that the speaker disapproves of the
ordered way the houses are placed.
The word ‘planted’ works as a double entendre here - it
can both be interpreted as just a simple reference to how
the trees have been planted there or can be interpreted
as a reference to the alternative meaning of plant as a
person placed in a group as a spy or informer.
The fact that even the trees have been stripped of their
natural randomness and all made ‘sanitary’ shows the
extent to which humanity is willing to go in order to attain
order and control.
The word ‘assert’ gives the trees and rows of houses an
almost hostile impression in the reader’s mind. The fact
that they are asserting the ‘levelness of surface’ is
significant, as perfectly level surfaces do not typically exist
in the natural world, and the fact that the houses and
trees are all perfectly levels gives an insight into just how
many of their features have been changed and
‘perfected’.
The word ‘rebuke’ shows how the dent in the car door
seems to stand out in the highly ordered landscape that is
the suburbs. The dent in question acts as a marker of
reality, and a reminder to the reader that nothing is
perfect.
The speaker then talks about the absence of all kinds of
natural sounds and noises in the suburbs, how there is no
‘shouting ’ or ‘shatter of glass’. The only sound to be heard
CAIE IGCSE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
is the ‘rational whine of a power mower / cutting a straight
swath in the discouraged grass’. The word rational is a
reminder to the reader that the lawn mower is also man-
made, just like the rows of houses.
The words ‘straight swath’ shows how even the lawn
mower is being operated in a very straightforward and
controlled manner, the word ‘discouraged’ being used to
describe the grass shows natural features and tendencies
have been repressed.
1.4. Stanza 2
The second stanza begins with the word ‘But’, which
indicates that not everything is as it seems in the suburbs.
The words ‘neatly’ and ‘even’ being used to describe the
driveways and the roofs once again re-iterate the
mathematical precision with which the suburbs have been
constructed.
The word ‘hysteria’ in the phrase ‘driveways neatly /
sidestep hysteria’ seems to show the unstable mental
state of the speaker.
The phrase ‘slant of avoidance to the hot sky’ has two
points of note - first, the words ‘slant of avoidance’, which
act as a reference to how the suburbs’ construction is an
attempt to avoid the reality of life, and second, the word
‘hot’, which has a very harsh and negative connotation.
The speaker follows up this description by providing a
short list of all of the subtle imperfections that they have
been able to make out in this highly controlled and
‘perfect’ landscape. This list is juxtaposed with the list of
mathematical perfections which was given through the
first stanza and the beginning of the second stanza.
The word ‘sickness’ being used here shows how the smell
of oil seems to be almost foreign.
The speaker also compares a ‘splash of paint on brick’ as
being as ‘surprising as a bruise’ using a simile. It uses the
image of a bruise standing out on fair skin to show how
prominent the paint stain seems.
The word ‘vicious’ describing the way in which a ‘plastic
hose’ is ‘poised’ contrasts the winding pattern of the hose
with the perfection of the houses.
1.5. Stanza 3
The third stanza begins with enjambement, as the
sentence from the second stanza continues on without
any punctuation demarcating the two stanzas.
The speaker explains that these imperfections give
‘momentary access to / the landscape behind of under /
the future cracks in the plaster’. The word ‘landscape’
shows the massive scale of the world that the perfections
of the suburbs have hidden away.
The phrase ‘future cracks’ shows how the temporary
illusion of perfection that the suburbs exude is not bound
to last for a very long time.
The word ‘plaster’ refers to the fact that plaster is often
used to cover up cracks and imperfections on walls and
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other structures.
1.6. Stanza 4
The fourth stanza continues with the same enjambement
as the third.
It says that the ‘houses’, which are representative of the
false perfection that the suburbs have attempted to
create, will slide into the ‘clay seas’, which represent the
natural world.
The speaker describes this motion as being ‘gradual and
glaciers’ and states how ‘right now nobody notices’. These
two phrases can be interpreted as references to the slow
impact of climate change and environmental destruction,
and how it is often ignored and played down by people
and the media.
1.7. Stanza 5
The fifth stanza finally introduces the reader to the titular
City Planners, described as having the ‘insane faces of
political conspirators’. This shows how the speaker
believes these Planners to all be together in a political and
immoral plot - the plot to create these false perfections.
These City Planners are ‘scattered over unsurveyed
territories’, showing how the Planners wish to take over
every part of the world they can.
They are described as ‘concealed from each other’,
showing how despite each of them acting independently,
they all share the same final motive of creating
mathematical precision and perfection.
The word ‘private blizzard’ seems to show nature’s
attempts to fight against the Planners and their
perfectionist regime.
1.8. Stanza 6
The sixth stanza is another very short paragraph, just like
the third and fourth stanzas before it. These short
paragraphs, and the abrupt ways in which they begin with
enjambement, are indicative of the rushed manner in
which the speaker’s thoughts are flowing, and the gravity
of what is being said.
This paragraph describes what the Planners are doing in
their territories. The speaker is informed that they are
‘guessing directions’, which shows how they do not truly
know what they are doing despite the magnitude of the
perfection that these Planners are capable of creating.
The lines that they sketch are told to be ‘rigid as wooden
borders’. The rigid lines being made on snow show how
they are bound to disappear as the snow melts, once
again reiterating the theme that the Planners’ illusions of
perfection are temporary in nature.
1.9. Stanza 7
CAIE IGCSE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH

The final stanza is a short couplet, which summarizes

2.2. Overview
what the Planners are trying to do.
The word ‘panic’ shows how the suburbs exude a Structure - 27 lines, 3 stanzas
concealed air of madness and hysteria despite seeming
Themes:
orderly and controlled.
Order and control
The words ‘panic’ and ‘order’ are juxtaposed from one line
Environmental destruction
to the next, showing the contrasting views of the Planners
and the speaker.
The couplet ending with the word ‘snows’ is significant as 2.3. Stanza 1
well - ‘snows’ is not a grammatically correct word, and this
grammatical imperfection seems to be a sort of last stand The first stanza begins with a sequence of short
of the speaker’s and comes off as an attempt of the sentences, one after another - ‘They plan. They build.’. The
short phrases highlight how this planning and building
speaker’s to safeguard the imperfection and randomness
of their surroundings. seems to happen very quickly and show the monotonous
manner in which the process constantly repeats itself.
The next sentence spans lines 1 and 2 using
2. The Planners - Boey Kim enjambement and reads, ‘All spaces are gridded, / filled
with permutations of possibilities’. The word ‘gridded’
Cheng gives the first insight into the mathematical precision of
the planning and building that will be described later
throughout the poem.
2.1. Poem The phrase ‘permutations of possibilities’ is especially
impactful. Both ‘possibilities’ and ‘permutations’, when
Stanza 1 utilised in the correct context, can act as synonyms, so
‘permutations of possibilities’ seem to show how the
They plan. They build. All spaces are gridded, different ways grids can be constructed are enclosed.
filled with permutations of possibilities. Moving on, the speaker describes the mathematical
The buildings are in alignment with the roads precision which was hinted at earlier. They state that the
which meet at desired points ‘buildings are in alignment with the roads’, which shows
linked by bridges all hang
how everything has been constructed to be as perfect as
in the grace of mathematics. possible.
They build and will not stop. The roads ‘meet at desired points’, which refers to how
Even the sea draws back everything they build follows the titular Planners’ desires.
and the skies surrender. The reader is informed that the points are ‘linked by
bridges’ that ‘hang / in the grace of mathematics’. The
Stanza 2 references to ‘bridges’ are relevant, as they often
symbolise connection and change.
They erase the flaws,
The phrase ‘grace of mathematics’ shows how
the blemishes of the past, knock off
mathematics is the ‘God’ of this world and how everything
useless blocks with dental dexterity.
in existence exists because of it.
All gaps are plugged
Until this point in the stanza, it seems like the reader
with gleaming gold.
approves of what the Planners are doing, and they even
The country wears perfect rows
seem to be showing some admiration for the perfection
of shining teeth.
that is created. However, this changes with the last three
Anaesthesia, amnesia, hypnosis.
lines of the stanza, which begin with ‘They build and will
They have the means.
not stop’.
They have it all so it will not hurt,
This shows the relentless pursuit of the Planners, and the
so history is new again.
phrase ‘will not stop’ indicates how they refuse to
The piling will not stop.
acknowledge the negatives of this pursuit and how they
The drilling goes right through
simply keep going.
the fossils of last century.
The last two lines of this stanza read, ‘the sea draws back
and the skies surrender’. This shows how nature seems
Stanza 3
wounded and negatively impacted by the Planners’
But my heart would not bleed actions.
poetry. Not a single drop ‘Draws back’ shows how nature has been repressed, and
to stain the blueprint ‘surrender’ gives the impression that the skies are under
of our past’s tomorrow. attack.

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CAIE IGCSE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH

2.4. Stanza 2 2.5. Stanza 3

The second stanza uses an extended metaphor to The concluding stanza of the poem is only four short lines
compare the work of the Planners with that of a dentist. in length.
The highly clinical and cold way in which the Planners’ The speaker says that their ‘heart would not bleed /
actions are described shows their emotionless and dry poetry’ and that they would not want a ‘single drop to stain
nature, and how they have trivialised the destruction that the blueprint / of our past’s tomorrow’. This statement is
comes with perfection. ironic, as, in a poem about the Planners, the speaker is
The phrase ‘erase the flaws’ show the almost unnatural stating that they would not write any poetry about the
way in which the Planners simply eliminate all ‘flaws’, Planners.
which are the imperfections of nature. The word ‘stain the blueprint’ seems to imply that poetry
The phrase ‘blemishes of the past’ seems to refer to the would have some form of negative impact on the
history and legacy of those who lived in the past, but the Planners’ plans for the future, and here, the speaker
Planners wish to ‘erase’ that as well, showing their seems to be, in a veiled manner, trying to encourage any
complete disregard for their history. The reader is poets reading the poem to follow suit and also write
informed that the Planners ‘knock off useless blocks’. poetry about the future the Planners are trying to create.
The phrase ‘knock off’ seems crude, and shows how The poem’s final words, ‘past’s tomorrow’, are an
despite their pursuit of perfection, the Planners are not as oxymoron, and once again reiterate the Planners’ wish to
sophisticated as the world they are trying to build. erase the ‘past’ in order to create ‘tomorrow’ in their
This action is described as being done with ‘dental image.
dexterity’, and this marks the beginning of the dental
metaphor.
The speaker goes on to say that ‘All gaps are plugged / 3. The Man with Night Sweats
with gleaming gold’. Here, gaps is a metaphorical
comparison of imperfections to gaps between teeth. The - Thom Gunn
‘gold’ here is the artificial perfection created by the
Planners to get rid of this imperfection. 3.1. Poem
The word ‘gleaming ’ seems to be a reference to how the
perfection of the Planners seems to be a good thing
Stanza 1
initially, but upon closer inspection, it reveals itself to be
more than what meets the eye. I wake up cold, I who
The speaker compares the rows of houses to ‘perfect Prospered through dreams of heat
rows of / shining teeth’, with the ‘perfect rows’ being the Wake to their residue,
suburbs and rows of houses, and the ‘shining teeth’ are Sweat, and a clinging sheet.
the houses.
In the next line, the speaker lists some of the methods Stanza 2
that the Planners have of getting what they want done:
‘Anaesthesia, amnesia, hypnosis’. Anaesthesia refers to My flesh was its own shield:
the feeling of numbness and shock, amnesia refers to Where it was gashed, it healed.
forgetfulness, and hypnosis refers to the Planners’ ability
to manipulate and control the way in which people think. Stanza 3
The speaker follows up this list with the statements, ‘They
have the means. / They have it all so it will not hurt’. These I grew as I explored
declarations are ominous, and makes the Planners out to The body I could trust
be villainous and authoritarian. The Planners seem to be Even while I adored
trying to play God in the new world that they are building. The risk that made robust,
The speaker explains that the Planners wish to make it so
‘history is new again’. This is an oxymoron - ‘history’ and Stanza 4
‘new’ are opposites, and this shows how the Planners are
willing to completely erase history and replace it with the A world of wonders in
present. Each challenge to the skin.
The stanza ends with ‘The drilling goes right through / the
fossils of last century’. The word ‘drilling ’ ties back to the Stanza 5
dental imagery. The phrase ‘fossils of last century’ is a
reference to how the Planners are willing to erase the I cannot but be sorry
past to create a ‘perfect’ future. The given shield was cracked,
My mind reduced to hurry,
My flesh reduced and wrecked.

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CAIE IGCSE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
Stanza 6
I have to change the bed,
But catch myself instead
Stanza 7
Stopped upright where I am
Hugging my body to me
As if to shield it from
The pains that will go through me,
Stanza 8
As if hands were enough
To hold an avalanche off.
3.2. Overview
Structure - 24 lines, 8 stanzas
Themes:
Solitude
Illness
Lack of creativity
The entire event described has been narrated in the
present tense, making the speaker’s description of their
struggle seem much more real and genuine to the reader.
3.3. Stanza 1
The word ‘cold’ clues the reader in on the fact that the
speaker has fallen victim to the titular ‘night sweats’ but
does not obviously state this.
The word ‘heat’ is juxtaposed with the word ‘cold’ from the
poem's first line. The word ‘prospered’ indicates success,
but the wealth and success the speaker feels like he
attains in his ‘dreams of heat’ are all not actually real and
are just - dreams.
Here, ‘dreams of heat’ is a metaphorical reference to
dreams of passion and love, which is a reference to how
AIDS, the disease which the speaker suffers from in the
poem, is transmitted.
The speaker states that he wakes to the ‘residue’ of these
dreams, with the ‘residue’ here being ‘sweat, and a
clinging sheet’. The word ‘residue’ describes the sweat
and how these dreams have a longer-lasting impact on
his mental state and strength.
The reader’s possible suspicions from the first line are
finally confirmed here, with the reason for the speaker’s
coldness being revealed to be sweat. The sweat links
together the ‘cold’ and ‘heat’ from the first two lines,
showing how heat can lead to feeling cold, contextualising
those lines and making their meaning clearer to the
reader.
The words ‘clinging sheet’ are also relevant. As the
speaker later discusses in the poem, their flesh once
acted as a shield, but now, they require a sheet to shield
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themselves from external stimuli. This shows the impact
of the disease.
3.4. Stanza 2
The second stanza introduces the aforementioned shield
metaphor, with ‘My flesh was its own shield: / Where it
was gashed, it healed’.
This stanza being only two lines long can be interpreted
as a subtle reference to the finality of this statement, and
how the speaker’s body no longer supports them like it
did.
The word ‘was’ indicates usage of past tense, which is
different from the tense used in the first stanza of the
poem. This indicates that the speaker is no longer in the
present, and how he is reminiscing back to the past. This
indicates that what the speaker is talking about is what
used to hold true in the past, and that his situation is
different in the present.
The word ‘gashed’ is a much harsher word than other
similar words such as ‘cut’ or ‘scratch’. The intent of using
‘gashed’ seems to be to show the great extent to which
the speaker could, in the past, tolerate physical damage.
It also shows just how strong the ‘shield’ of the speaker’s
‘flesh’ was, and sets up the descriptions of the speaker’s
present weakness which follow in the poem by
contextualising the change and allowing the reader to
understand the type of metamorphosis AIDS has put the
speaker through.
3.5. Stanza 3
The third stanza is still in past tense.
It begins with ‘I grew as I explored’. The words ‘I grew’
shows how this is the same body which the speaker grew
up in, and the same body with which the speaker has
experienced everything which he has done up to the
present.
The word ‘explored’ indicates that the speaker has
experimented and taken many risks in his life, and it leads
the reader to wonder whether it was one of these such
mistakes that led to him having lost his ‘shield’ of
protection.
The speaker describes their body as ‘The body I could
trust’, and the fact that this is in past tense really shows
the extent of the effect of AIDS on the reader - he can no
longer put his trust in his own body. This line evokes a
sense of sympathy for the speaker in the reader’s mind.
The speaker states that they ‘adored / The risk that made
robust’. This shows how the speaker once used to live a
life of taking risks, and their body allowed them to sustain
their lifestyle.
The usage of the word ‘robust’ once again re-iterates how
strong the speaker’s body was at that point in time.
3.6. Stanza 4
CAIE IGCSE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
The fourth stanza is once again only two lines long, much
like the second stanza.
This stanza reads ‘A world of wonders in / Every challenge
to the skin’. The phrase ‘a world of wonders’ shows just
how much the speaker enjoyed experimenting and
challenging themselves. It shows the reckless lifestyle
which the speaker once led, and the risks they took
Even though the reader cannot help but feel sorry for the
speaker, lines like this one make the reader completely
aware of the fact that the speaker did live a dangerous
and reckless lifestyle.
‘Every challenge to the skin’ once again reminds the
reader of just how strong the speaker’s skin used to be,
and how they used to get pleasure from challenging
themselves and experimenting.
Every event and act of intimacy would change him, and
would make him develop as a person.
3.7. Stanza 5
The fifth stanza returns back to the present, with ‘I cannot
but be sorry’.
The speaker regrets having been less careful in his
younger days, and regrets having taken his body for
granted.
He refers to his body as his ‘given shield’, which
strengthens the idea that he took his body for granted in
the past - he took what he was given (his body) and did not
take enough care of it.
He states that his given shield has been ‘cracked’. This
shows how he thinks of his body as broken. A cracked
shield cannot protect anyone, for any blow to it would
shatter it into pieces, and this is what he is comparing his
body to.
Since AIDS reduces your immunity and makes you more
vulnerable to other diseases and afflictions, he is likening
the effect of the disease on his body to a cracked shield.
The word ‘reduced’ is repeated twice in the following two
lines: ‘My mind reduced to hurry, / My flesh reduced and
wrecked.’, which shows how the speaker believes that his
mental and physical capacity has been reduced. It shows
how harsh AIDS truly is, and how impactful it has been.
3.8. Stanza 6
The sixth stanza is once again a couplet, and it reads, ‘I
have to change the bed, / But catch myself instead’.
Him stating that he has to ‘change the bed’ is a reminder
of the fact that the bedsheets are soaked with sweat, and
this can be interpreted as a metaphorical representation
of the impact which his disease has on the people around
him.
However, he is unable to do so, and instead ends up
stopping in his tracks and standing still, showing his
inability to reverse the damage which the disease has had
on him and the people around him.
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It also shows how he has gotten used to the disease by
now, and knows that something bad or painful is about to
happen soon.
3.9. Stanza 7
The seventh stanza starts with ‘Stopped upright where I
am’, which shows how he is completely stationary.
He knows by now that he is about to experience pain,
something which is reinforced by his statements in the
last line of this stanza, which reads, ‘The pains that will go
through me’.
This gives an idea to the reader of how painful and chaotic
his life is now and how his normal function is impaired by
the constant cycle of pain that he goes through.
The speaker states he stands there, ‘Hugging [his] body to
[him] / As if to shield it’. This shows his subconscious
instinct to protect himself.
Once again, the word ‘shield’ is brought into play, but
unlike the earlier descriptions of his body as a shield, the
writer understands that his hands are useless as a shield.
This can be seen from his utilisation of ‘As if’.
3.10. Stanza 8
The final lines of the poem read ‘As if hands were enough
/ To hold an avalanche off’. This shows how the speaker is
aware of the futility of his gesture, of wrapping his arms
around himself.
However, he still does it anyways, subconsciously, and it
demonstrates a sort of regret of his, and a wish of his to
have his old, strong, healthy body back.
The word ‘avalanche’ here is a metaphorical reference to
the speaker’s pain.
The poem ends on a melancholy and sombre note, by
giving the reader a visualisation of just how bad the pain
and suffering of the speaker is, along with leaving them
with an important message - to not take their ‘given shield’
for granted, and to take care of their body properly.
4. Night Sweat - Robert
Lowell
4.1. Poem
Work-table, litter, books and standing lamp,
plain things, my stalled equipment, the old broom-
but I am living in a tidied room,
for ten nights now I've felt the creeping damp
float over my pajamas' wilted white…
Sweet salt embalms me and my head is wet,
everything streams and tells me this is right;
my life's fever is soaking in night sweat-
one life, one writing! But the downward glide
and bias of existing wrings us dry-
CAIE IGCSE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
always inside me is the child who died,
always inside me is his will to die-
one universe, one body… in this urn
the animal night sweats of the spirit burn.
Behind me! You! Again I feel the light
lighten my leaded eyelids, while the gray
skulled horses whinny for the soot of night.
I dabble in the dapple of the day,
a heap of wet clothes, seamy, shivering,
I see my flesh and bedding washed with light,
my child exploding into dynamite,
my wife… your lightness alters everything,
and tears the black web from the spider's sack,
as your heart hops and flutters like a hare.
Poor turtle, tortoise, if I cannot clear
the surface of these troubled waters here,
absolve me, help me, Dear Heart, as you bear
this world's dead weight and cycle on your back.
4.2. Overview
Structure - 28 lines, 1 stanza
Themes:
Anguish
Frustration
Power of love
The entirety of the poem takes place over a single stanza.
The lack of demarcation indicates the frenzied nature of
the speaker’s thoughts, and their lack of organisation
It can be broken down, however, into two sonnets
condensed into a single stanza, the first being a
Shakespearean sonnet, and the other being a Petrarchan
sonnet
This combination of two different styles once again shows
how the speaker’s thoughts are not very organised and
how he is unable to focus in only one direction at once.
4.3. Sonnet 1
The poem begins with the speaker listing various items
that he can see around him in his room.
The varied list of items shows how the speaker is unable
to focus their thoughts on one direction, and is unable to
write or come up with anything productive.
Instead, in an attempt to possibly gain inspiration, or to
simply calm his thoughts, he is looking around and listing
everything he sees.
The word ‘stalled’ being used to describe the ‘equipment’
shows how it is not in use, and is indicative of the fact that
the speaker is unable to get any work done at the
moment.
The speaker describes the room that he is in as being a
‘tidied room’, which is in contrast with the description of
items in the room which was given in the first two lines.
This once again shows the lack of clarity of the speaker’s
thoughts, and how he feels mentally lost at the moment.
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The usage of the word ‘nights’ instead of ‘days’ is
interesting, as it shows how the speaker has lost track of
time, and shows how he has been unable to accomplish
anything during the days, as he does not find them
significant enough to even mention them.
The phrase ‘creeping damp’ is a veiled reference to the
speaker’s titular night sweat, and the presence of this
sweat indicates just how much effort he has put into
attempting to write.
The word ‘float’ being used to describe the sweat shows
how it seems detached from his body, as if it is not
something physical but is more like a feeling, thus
showing the impact which the sweat has on him and his
thinking.
The usage of ‘wilted’ to describe the colour of his pyjamas
is also significant, as it can be interpreted as a
metaphorical reference to how flowers wilt and droop
when they lose water.
The speaker continues by describing the sensations that
he experiences as he is drenched in sweat.
He initially refers to the sweat as ‘Sweet salt’, which is an
oxymoron.
He states that the sweat ‘embalms’ him. This is a
reference to the process of embalming, which is when a
dead body is treated in order to preserve it and prevent it
from decaying.
In this way, the speaker is metaphorically likening himself
to a corpse, which shows the lethargic state that he is in.
He is also stating that the sweat is keeping him in this
corpse-like state, preventing the lethargy from decaying
and preventing him from being able to write.
He states that his ‘head is wet’, which can be interpreted
as a reference to how the sweat has not only impacted his
body, but also his mind, since the head is often associated
with the mind and one’s thought process.
He finally, for the first time, states that the issue he is, in
fact the titular night sweats, by saying ‘my life’s fever is
soaking in night sweat’.
He exclaims, ‘one life, one writing!’, which shows the
speaker’s intentions with writing - he wishes to create one
great work, only one, but one that will make him famous
for eternity.
Going on, the speaker states the ‘downward glide and bias
of existing wrings us dry’, a statement through which he
communicates that living itself tends to strip a person of
all creativity.
The word ‘dry’ here is juxtaposed with all of the references
to being ‘wet’ earlier on in the poem, and signifies a shift
in narrative away from the significance of the night sweat.
The speaker says, ‘always inside me is the child who died,
/ always inside me is his will to die’. The child, here, refers
to his hope and child-like spirit, which he claims has ‘died’.
He also claims that this child’s ‘will to die’ is always inside
him, which is indicative of his depression and how he
constantly feels like a part of him wishes to die.
‘Always inside me’ is repeated twice for emphasis.
The speaker continues, stating, ‘one universe, one body…
in this urn, the animal night sweats of the spirit burn’. Him
CAIE IGCSE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
saying ‘one universe, one body’ here is time expressing
his belief that he only has one life, and one chance to
create his one great literary piece.
He refers to his body as an ‘urn’, showing his morbid
approach to life and how he is fixated on the idea that he
will, someday, die.
The idea of heat from ‘wrings us dry’ is once again re-
iterated here, as he said ‘night sweats of the spirit burn’.
4.4. Sonnet 2
While the larger focus of the first sonnet was on the
speaker’s night sweat and inability to get work done, along
with his morbid opinions on reality and death, the second
sonnet brings with it an uplift in the tone.
This sonnet focuses more on the impact of the speaker’s
wife (addressed in the second person) on him, and how
being around her allows him to be creative.
He starts this section of the poem by exclaiming ‘Behind
me! You!’, which is representative of the moment that he
sees his wife.
He states that ‘Again [he] feel[s] the light lighten [his]
leaded eyelids’. The word ‘again’ indicates that this is not
the first time that his wife’s presence has invigorated him
and allowed his creativity to come back to life again.
The word ‘light’ is representative of his wife’s positive
impact on him, and how to him, it feels as if her presence
brightens the surroundings.
He continues by stating that ‘the grey skulled horses
whinny for the soot of the night’. The ‘grey skulled horses’
here represent the negative parts of his mental state, and
are a general metaphor for all things evil.
By having them ‘whinny for the soot of the night’, the
speaker is attempting to convey that his wife’s ‘light’
makes it too bright for them to be comfortable, that is, she
drives away all things evil with her very presence.
The speaker’s admiration and love for his wife is quite
clear, and it is also clear how much he depends on her. He
describes himself as ‘a heap of wet clothes’, but it is
interesting to note that he only describes his clothes as
sweat-soaked, and not himself.
This can be interpreted as his wife’s presence having
made him shed the sweat and embrace his creativity.
He says that he sees his ‘child exploding into dynamite’,
through which he means that his child-like emotions, such
as hope, have come back to him and have no longer ‘died’
as described in the first sonnet.
He states that his wife’s ‘lightness alters everything ’,
showing the profound impact she has on his mental state
and creativity.
He describes and states that his wife ‘tears the black web
from the spider’s sack’. Here, the ‘spider’s sack’ is a
metaphor for his mind, and the ‘black web’ is a metaphor
for his negative and morbid thoughts.
By tearing the ‘black web’ from the ’spider’s sack’, the
speaker means that his wife’s presence causes all
negative emotions and thoughts to leave his mind, leaving
it only full of positive emotions and creative ideas.
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He states that his wife’s ‘heart hops and flutters like a
hare’. The hare is often used as a symbol of energy and
vigour, and here, he is saying that his wife’s heart, which is
representative of her spirit and psyche, is full of energy,
and is not lethargic like his was a few moments ago.
He also refers to his wife as ‘Poor turtle, tortoise’. Here,
the usage of the word ‘poor’ shows that he possible feels
bad for his wife, who has to take the burden of
maintaining his mental state, and, as he later states,
bearing ‘this world’s dead wright and cycle on [her] back’.
The usage of ‘turtle, tortoise’ here ties back to two
different myths, both of which play into the wife’s
character.
First (and this one is supported by him calling her heart a
‘hare’ in the previous line), it could be interpreted as a
reference to the class fable of the turtle and the hare. By
comparing her to both the turtle and the hare at two
different points in the poem, the speaker is saying that his
wife has the best qualities of both of the main characters
of the story.
The second myth which he may be referencing is the
once-popular myth that the earth was actually carried by
a massive turtle, and he has implied the same by saying
that his wife carries the ‘world’s dead weight’ on her back,
much like the turtle in the story.
5. From Long Distance - Tony
Harrison
5.1. Poem
Stanza 1
Though my mother was already two years dead
Dad kept her slippers warming by the gas,
put hot water bottles her side of the bed
and still went to renew her transport pass.
Stanza 2
You couldn't just drop in. You had to phone.
He'd put you off an hour to give him time
to clear away her things and look alone
as though his still raw love were such a crime.
Stanza 3
He couldn't risk my blight of disbelief
though sure that very soon he'd hear her key
scrape in the rusted lock and end his grief.
He knew she'd just popped out to get the tea.
Stanza 4
I believe life ends with death, and that is all.
You haven't both gone shopping; just the same,
CAIE IGCSE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
in my new black leather phone book there's your name
and the disconnected number I still call.
5.2. Overview
Structure - 16 lines, 4 stanzas
Themes
Grief
Death
Coping
5.3. Stanza 1
The poem begins with the speaker very frankly stating,
‘Though my mother was already two years dead’. This
plain statement directly brings up the theme of the poem,
which is death and the impact it has on people around it.
The bluntness of the statement shows the speaker’s
straightforward nature when it comes to death and his
loved ones - he is clearly not one to sugarcoat things.
The usage of ‘mother’ as opposed to something less
formal like ‘Mom’ is impactful, as it shows how much the
speaker has been affected by her death, even though he
does not wish to show it. It seems to imply that he cannot
bear to refer to her in an informal context.
The word ‘already’ makes the time period that the poem is
taking place in very clear.
The second line of the first stanza introduces the reader
to one of the most important recurring themes of this
poem - the way in which the speaker’s father reacts to his
wife’s death, and the way in which he copes with his grief.
Despite him knowing that his wife is dead, he is in a sort of
denial - he keeps ‘her slippers warming by the gas’.
The word ‘warming ’ creates a contrast with the feeling of
coldness that is typically associated with death and grief.
Slippers are also something often associated with day-to-
day movement, and it shows how he is living life as if she
is about to come home at any minute.
The father also ‘put hot water bottles her side of the bed’.
Once again, the feeling of warmth implied with ‘hot water
bottles’ is at contrast with the coldness of death and grief.
The phrase ‘her side of the bed’ implies that the father still
keeps his dead wife’s side of the bed empty and ready for
her to come and sleep in it again, and he has not moved
on to sleeping in a smaller bed, or anything such.
Lastly, the reader is informed that the speaker’s father
also goes to ‘renew [his dead wife’s] transport pass’. It is
clear that the father is putting in actual work just to
maintain this illusion in his mind - he not only fills up warm
water bottles and keeps her slippers by the gas, but he
actually takes time out of his routine on a regular basis to
go and get the transport pass of his wife renewed.
This shows the commitment that he has to her, and the
depth of his love for her - how despite clearly
acknowledging that she is gone, he still tried to have some
part of her stay with him.
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5.4. Stanza 2
The second stanza discusses how the father would put
away all signs of this love of his whenever someone was
visiting the house. It shows how he is insecure of his love
for her, and how he is, in fact, completely aware of the
fact that what he is doing is illogical to an extent.
The speaker informs the reader that one ‘couldn’t just
drop in’, and that one ‘had to phone’ before coming to his
father’s house. The reason for this is explained - the
father would ‘put you off an hour’ in order to ‘clear away
her things and look alone’.
Despite the speaker’s father clearly holding on to his dead
wife’s image and being in some sort of denial, he is
extremely self-aware and insecure about this denial, to
the point where he is ready to clear away all of the signs
of his love for his wife whenever guests, including his own
son, were coming over.
The fact that he is attempting to hide this coping
mechanism from his own son shows how ashamed he is
of these tendencies of his.
The phrase ‘look alone’ is significant, as it seems to imply
that the father is not actually alone, and is merely putting
up a show to look as such.
This is the opposite of what is actually happening, but the
framing and structure used in the line conveys the
message that the father is so deep in his grief that looking
alone seems like an act.
The speaker ends this stanza by stating that his father did
all of this clearing up as if ‘his still raw were such a crime’.
The way in which this is framed indicates that the speaker
believes that the father is, in fact, committing no
wrongdoing by keeping his mother’s personal effects out
and living in denial. He understands how his father feels.
The word ‘raw’ being used to describe the speaker’s
father’s love is impactful. It metaphorically compares the
father’s love and grief with a raw wound, showing just how
much it affects him.
5.5. Stanza 3
The third stanza begins with ‘He couldn’t risk my blight of
disbelief’. The phrase ‘couldn’t risk’ shows how the father
is afraid of being judged for his coping mechanisms. Even
though the reader is aware that the son would not judge
his father, and does not judge him, the father is unsure of
this.
As elaborated on earlier, he is insecure and ashamed,
and does not want others to know of what he does to
grieve. The irrationality of his actions is not lost on him.
The word ‘blight’ indicates that the father believes that his
son’s disbelief would be like a disease, and that it could
lead to the destruction or weakening of their relationship;
something which he does not wish to risk.
However, the father is ‘sure that very soon he’d hear her
key / scrape in the rusted lock and end his grief’. The word
‘sure’ indicates the strength of the father’s love and grief.
CAIE IGCSE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH

The usage of ‘key’ shows how to the father, his wife is and understand that my answers are confidential.
locked away, just out of reach, but very much present.
This is reinforced by ‘rusted lock’. The adjective ‘rusted’ Stanza 2
being used to describe the lock shows how it has not been
used for a very long time, indicating just how long it has I had it as a gift,
been since the speaker’s mother has died I didn’t feel much while using it,
This stanza ends with the line ‘He knew she’d just popped in fact I think I’d have liked to be more excited.
out to get the tea’. The italicisation of ‘knew’ shows the It seemed gentle on the hands
strength of the father’s belief. The phrase ‘popped out’ but left an embarrassing deposit behind.
makes it seem like the mother has only been gone for a It was not economical
very short time. and I have used much more than I thought
(I suppose I have about half left
but it’s difficult to tell)—
5.6. Stanza 4
although the instructions are fairly large
there are so many of them
The final stanza shifts tense from the past to the present.
I don’t know which to follow, especially
While the first three stanzas were describing events from
as they seem to contradict each other.
the past, this one now discusses what the speaker is doing
I’m not sure such a thing
today, and what his situation is.
should be put in the way of children—
The first line of this stanza is ‘I believe life ends with death,
It’s difficult to think of a purpose
and that is all’. This is an intriguing statement - it shows
for it. One of my friends says
the rational way in which the speaker likes to think of
it’s just to keep its maker in a job.
things, and how he believes in the finality of death.
Also the price is much too high.
This is reinforced by him ending the sentence with ‘and
Things are piling up so fast,
that is all’, which gives it a final and concluding tone to it.
after all, the world got by
The next sentence, ‘You haven’t both gone shopping; just
for thousand million years
the same’, provides the first indication that both of the
without this, do we need it now?
speaker’s parents have now passed away, and even
(Incidentally, please ask your man
though it is not explicitly stated in the following lines, it is
to stop calling me ‘the respondent’,
certain that this is the case.
I don’t like the sound of it.)
The subtle and veiled way in which the speaker implies his
There seems to be a lot of different labels,
father’s death shows how raw the grief that he is feeling
sizes and colours should be uniform,
is, and how he does not wish to directly state it, unlike the
the shape is awkward, it’s waterproof
direct and straightforward way in which he addresses his
but not heat resistant, it doesn’t keep
mother’s death in the first stanza.
yet it’s very difficult to get rid of:
The poem ends with the speaker stating that he still has
whenever they make it cheaper they tend
his father’s name in his ‘new black leather phone book’,
to put less in—if you say you don’t
and he sometimes still calls the ‘disconnected number’.
want it, then it’s delivered anyway.
The word ‘new’ being used to describe the phone book
I’d agree it’s a popular product,
shows how despite the speaker having gotten a new book,
it’s got into the language; people
he has still copied his father’s name across, and the fact
even say they’re on the side of it.
that he still calls the number directly contrasts with his
Personally I think it’s overdone,
statement in the first line of this stanza.
a small thing people are ready
This shows how grief can truly affect a person, and no
to behave badly about. I think
matter what their ideals are, it can change the way in
we should take it for granted. If its
which one acts, much like the speaker in this poem.
experts are called philosophers or market
researchers or historians, we shouldn’t
6. A Consumer’s Report - care. We are the consumers and the last
law makers. So finally, I’d buy it.
Peter Porter But the question of a ‘best buy’
I’d like to leave until I get
the competitive product you said you’d send.
6.1. Poem
6.2. Overview
Stanza 1
Structure: 51 lines, 2 stanzas
The name of the product I tested is Life,
Themes:
I have completed the form you sent me
Irony of Life

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Inevitability of Life and Death The speaker says that the ‘instructions’ for life are ‘fairly
Life as the only Constant large’ and there are ‘so many of them’. This shows how
The poem in its entirety functions as an extended there are so many rules in life, both written and unwritten.
metaphor. The product being described throughout the It is a reference to the complicated social structure and
poem is life, and the ‘consumers’ of the product are all rules of conduct while have been built up over
living humans. generations.
The speaker explains that they ‘don’t know which to follow,
6.3. Stanza 1 especially as they seem to contradict each other’. This
shows the confusing nature of life, and how it is important
The poem begins with the first stanza. This stanza is a for one to figure out what morals and rules are important
short three-line affair, and it acts as a sort of header for to follow for oneself.
the speaker’s ‘review’ of the product of ‘Life’. The speaker’s next statement is ironic, as they say that
Whom they are addressing when they say that they have they do not believe that life should ‘be put in the way of
‘completed the form you sent me’ is ambiguous, but it can children’. This can also be interpreted as a reference to
be interpreted as a reference to God. how children should not be made to have to deal with the
serious aspects of life, and implies that children should be
allowed to enjoy themselves without excess pressure.
6.4. Stanza 2 They say that it is ‘difficult to think of a purpose’, which
represents how it is often difficult for one to understand
The second stanza is where the review of Life begins. The
what one wishes to achieve in life.
speaker states that they ‘had it as a gift’. This is a
The speaker states that the ‘price’ of life is ‘much too high’,
metaphorical reference to how one does not pick to be
which is a reference to how life comes with its problems
born - it is not a choice.
and issues.
The word ‘gift’ also has connotations of celebration and
The speaker states that the ‘world got by for a thousand
happiness, and it is an indication of how life is something
million years’ without life, and questions whether it truly is
which should be cherished and not taken for granted.
necessary now. This can be interpreted as a reference to
The speaker continues, saying that thay ‘didn’t feel much
the negative impact which us humans have had on the
while using it’. This is a reference to how life, for the most
planet, along with a sarcastic way for the speaker to say
part, is dull and lacking any excitement.
that the world was better off without life.
The speaker says that they would have ‘liked to me more
The speaker talks about the lack of uniformity of life, by
excited’, and this echoes the views of many people, all of
saying that there are a ‘lot of different labels’. This once
whom believe that there should be more excitement in
again reiterates one of the major themes of this poem,
life.
which is that life is very confusing and difficult to
The speaker states that it ‘seemed gentle on the hands’.
understand.
This is a reference to how life seems gentle and simple in
The speaker calls life’s shape ‘awkward’, saying that life is
one’s childhood.
not smooth and normal.
The word ‘seemed’ implies that this is not actually a case,
He says that it is waterproof, which is an ironic way of
and acts as a reference to the fact that this simplicity of
talking about how it does not go away very easily.
life fades away as one enters adulthood.
This is reinforced by him saying that it is ‘very difficult to
The speaker explains that life has ‘left an embarrassing
get rid off’.
deposit behind’. The ‘embarrassing deposit’ being
He talks about how the value of life seems to be going
referred to here is a metaphor for all of the embarrassing
down with time.
memories that one makes as they live through life.
He says that life is ‘delivered anyway’ even if one does not
These being described as a ‘deposit’ is representative of
want it, once again re-iterating that life is not a choice.
the human tendency to take longer to forget very
He says that people ‘say they’re on the side’ of life, which
embarrassing moments in life.
talks about how people often opt to do evil things in the
They continue by saying that life is not ‘economical’, and
name of sustaining their own life.
follow this up by saying that they ‘have used up much
They say that it’s ‘overdone’ and that people ‘should take it
more than [they] thought’. This is once again a reminder
for granted’. This shows how he believes that people
to the reader to not take life for granted, as it is very
should just enjoy life, instead of trying to fuss about
difficult to tell how much of one’s life one ends up using up
sustaining their lives for as long as possible.
in the pursuit of useless activities.
The speaker says that the opinions of ‘philosophers or
The speaker here also estimates how much time they
market researchers or historians’ are irrelevant, and that
have left to use, by saying that they suppose they have
each and every person has the right to live life in
‘about half left, but it’s difficult to tell’, which is a reference
whatever way they want to.
to how one can never know when they will die, and that it
He concludes his review by saying that he would ‘buy it’,
is important to enjoy life as much as possible in the short
which is his way of getting across that life is worth it, and
span of time that one does have.
should not be discarded.

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The poem ends on a humorous note, with the speaker

7.3. Stanza 1
saying that he would leave the ‘question of a best buy"‘
until he gets a ‘competitive product’. The first stanza of the poem begins with the speaker
saying, ‘Well, World, you have kept faith with me’. This is
7. He Never Expected Much - an example of apostrophe, which is a literary device
where a character or the speaker addresses and
Thomas Hardy communicates with someone or something that is either
not present, or does not exist in a physical form at all.
The way in which the speaker addresses the ‘World’
7.1. Poem throughout this poem seems to exude a feeling of
familiarity and understanding. This shows how the
Stanza 1 speaker feels like they know the ‘World’ well, and how they
feel like they know what their place in the world is.
Well, World, you have kept faith with me, The calm and friendly way in which they converse with the
Kept faith with me; world is a metaphorical reflection of their peaceful and
Upon the whole you have proved to be friendly nature.
Much as you said you were. The phrase ‘you have kept faith with me’ gives a sign of a
Since as a child I used to lie deep connection that the speaker hold with the world, and
Upon the leaze and watch the sky, it sets the tone for the rest of the poem going forward.
Never, I own, expected I The second line is a reiteration of the same phrase, as it
That life would all be fair. once again reads ‘Kept faith with me’. This repetition can
be interpreted as a reference to how the speaker’s life
Stanza 2 has been consistent, and provides a metaphorical insight
into the neutrality of their nature.
'Twas then you said, and since have said, The speaker continues by saying that the world has
Times since have said, ‘proved to be / much as [it] said [it was]’. The speaker is
In that mysterious voice you shed not actually communicating with the ‘World’, so this line
From clouds and hills around: can be interpreted as the speaker attempting to say that
"Many have loved me desperately, life has been much like what they expected it to be from a
Many with smooth serenity, young age.
While some have shown contempt of me This shows how the speaker was intelligent from a young
Till they dropped underground. age, and once again re-iterates the message that the
speaker feels as if they know what their place is in the
Stanza 3 world.
The poem continues with the speaker describing a
"I do not promise overmuch,
pastime of theirs from their childhood. This pastime of the
Child; overmuch;
speaker’s is unlike what most children do at a young age -
Just neutral-tinted haps and such,"
instead of running around and playing, the speaker
You said to minds like mine.
preferred to lie down, watch the sky, and think about life.
Wise warning for your credit's sake!
This shows their wise and intelligent nature.
Which I for one failed not to take, The fact that they were thinking about life is indicated by
And hence could stem such strain and ache
the last two lines of this stanza, which reads, ‘Never, I own,
As each year might assign.
expected I / That life would all be fair’. Even at a young
age, the speaker expected that life would not be all
7.2. Overview smooth sailing, and they expected to have to undergo
some hardships in life.
Structure - 24 lines, 3 stanzas
Themes
7.4. Stanza 2
Simplicity
Expectations
The second octet of the poem begins with the speaker
Wisdom
saying, ‘’Twas then you said, and since have said’. The
The poem is made up of three octets. Each octet follows
depth of the speaker’s use of apostrophes increases, as
the same AABCCCB rhyme scheme.
now they are not just conversing with the ‘World’ but are
The uniformity of the rhyme scheme is an indication of the
also saying that the ‘World’ used to speak to them when
neutral and simple way in which the speaker prefers to they were a child.
live life.
This can be interpreted as the speaker referring to their
own mind and subconsciousness communicating with

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CAIE IGCSE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
them as a child and using the ‘World’ apostrophe to
communicate their mental conversations with himself
regarding life.
The repetition of the word ‘said’ shows how this was not a
one-time event and how it has been repeated multiple
times across the speaker’s life.
This is further supported by the second line of the stanza,
which is ‘Times since have said’. The word ‘times’ indicates
the frequency of these thoughts about life in the speaker’s
mind.
The speaker describes the ‘World’ as having a ‘mysterious
voice’ which seemed to emanate ‘From clouds and hills
around’. This shows how the speaker felt at one with
nature and how, when lying there on the ground looking at
the sky, it felt as if their surroundings were speaking to
them.
The speaker then properly personifies the ‘World’ for the
first time by having it actually speak aloud to him, saying,
‘Many have loved me desperately, / Many with smooth
serenity, / While some have shown contempt of me / Till
they dropped underground’.
Each of these lines is relevant, with each one showing a
different outlook of people on life.
The first is people who love life ‘desperately’. These are
those who are desperate to cling to whatever life they
have and are representative of the portion of society that
spends most of their life trying to stay alive rather than
enjoying it.
The second is people who love life ‘with smooth serenity’.
These are those who live life in peace and inaction,
without taking any steps to better their lives, but just
enjoying them as they are.
The last category described here are those that show
‘contempt’ of life. This describes the portion of society that
hates their lives and who holds a hostile outlook on life.
The final line of this stanza, ‘Till they dropped
underground’, shows how no matter which category a
person falls into, all of society is united by one defining
factor - irrespective of their opinion, all people die the
same.
This is the speaker providing a commentary on society
and the different ways in which people choose to live their
lives while also addressing the futility of living life with
very extreme opinions, as no matter what your opinion is,
everyone dies the same.
7.5. Stanza 3
The third and final octet of the poem introduces the
reader to the advice which the ‘World’ gave to the
speaker.
The ‘World’ tells the speaker, ‘I do not promise overmuch’.
This line is repeated in the next line of the stanza, with
‘Child; overmuch’.
Throughout the poem, the second line of each stanza is a
repetition of the final part of the first line of that same
stanza. This trend, much like the uniform rhyme scheme,
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acts as an expression of the speaker’s neutral approach
to life.
his neutral approach to life stems from what the ‘World’
would tell the speaker, as the ‘World’ telling them that it
does not ‘promise overmuch’ led them to live life with the
ideals of never expecting too much from life.
This neutrality is further solidified by the following line of
the poem, which reads, ‘Just neutral-tinted haps and such’.
This is a comment on the way in which, for the most part,
life is bland and uninteresting, and how the speaker has
recognised that the path to success is to never expect
anything more than just that - bland and uninteresting.
The speaker says that this was a ‘warning’ for their
‘credit’s sake’.
They continue on by saying that they ‘failed not to take’
this warning. The structure of this sentence is unusual, as
the two chained negative words ‘failed not’ essentially
mean that the speaker succeeded in heeding the world’s
advice.
This shows the speaker’s creative nature, along with
showing how they do not believe in expecting a lot (which
is why they did not directly state that they succeeded).
The speaker ends the poem by attributing their ability to
‘stem such strain and ache as each year might assign’ to
not expecting to much from life, and it shows how they
believe that they have achieved, for the most part,
success.
8. The Telephone Call - Fleur
Adcock
8.1. Poem
Stanza 1
They asked me ‘Are you sitting down?
Right? This is Universal Lotteries’,
they said. ‘You’ve won the top prize,
the Ultra-super Global Special.
What would you do with a million pounds?
Or, actually, with more than a million –
not that it makes a lot of difference
once you’re a millionaire.’ And they laughed.
Stanza 2
‘Are you OK?’ they asked – ‘Still there?
Come on, now, tell us, how does it feel?’
I said ‘I just…I can’t believe it!’
They said ‘That’s what they all say.
What else? Go on, tell us about it.’
I said ‘I feel the top of my head
has floated off, out through the window,
revolving like a flying saucer.’
Stanza 3
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‘That’s unusual’ they said. ‘Go on.’
I said ‘I’m finding it hard to talk.
My throat’s gone dry, my nose is tingling.
I think I’m going to sneeze – or cry.’
‘That’s right’ they said, ‘don’t be ashamed
of giving way to your emotions.
It isn’t every day you hear
you’re going to get a million pounds.
Stanza 4
Relax, now, have a little cry;
we’ll give you a moment…’
‘Hang on!’ I said.
‘I haven’t bought a lottery ticket
for years and years. And what did you say
the company’s called?’ They laughed again.
‘Not to worry about a ticket.
We’re Universal. We operate
A retrospective Chances Module.
Stanza 5
Nearly everyone’s bought a ticket
in some lottery or another,
once at least. We buy up the files,
feed the names into our computer,
and see who the lucky person is.’
‘Well, that’s incredible’ I said.
‘It’s marvelous. I still can’t quite…
I’ll believe it when I see the cheque.’
Stanza 6
‘Oh,’ they said, ‘there’s no cheque.’
‘But the money?’ ‘We don’t deal in money.
Experiences are what we deal in.
You’ve had a great experience, right?
Exciting? Something you’ll remember?
That’s your prize. So congratulations
from all of us at Universal.
Have a nice day!’ And the line went dead.
8.2. Overview
Structure - 48 lines, 8 stanzas
Themes
Experiences
Emotions
8.3. Stanza 1
The first stanza of the poem begins on an abrupt note,
without any preamble. The poem straight launches into
the story of the telephone call, with ‘They asked me ‘Are
you sitting down?’.
The abrupt way in which this begins without describing
any of the events leading up to the call, shows how
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unexpected and out of place the call was. It also shows
how rushed the speaker’s emotions were without the call,
and how the call was so stunning to them that they forgot
everything that happened before it.
The usage of the word ‘they’ exudes a sense of mystery. It
sets an ominous tone for the rest of the poem, and
creates the image in the reader’s mind that all is not as it
seems.
The caller asking the speaker to sit down sets up a sense
of anticipation for what will come next.
The caller then seems to introduce themselves, by saying
that they are ‘Universal Lotteries’. This name is very
ambiguous, and this is probably intentional.
The caller declares that the speaker has won their ‘top
prize, / the Ultra-super Global Special’. The extremely
over-the-top name of this prize, along with how ridiculous
it seems to sound, acts as the first indicator that the prize
is not actually real.
The caller’s deceptive techniques continue. They do not
outright state what the speaker has won, instead asking
them what they would ‘do with a million pounds’. The
phrasing of this sentence comes back to haunt the
speaker as the poem goes on, when it is eventually
revealed that all of this is fake.
The caller saying ‘Or, actually, with more than a million’ is
also foreshadowing the fact that this is all a trick - an
actual lottery company would state the actual amount,
especially if it was a very large amount.
They say that it does not make ‘a lot of difference once
you’re a millionaire’. This can be interpreted as Adcock
commenting on how after a certain point, people start
losing interest in their money, and how money cannot
translate directly to happiness.
The stanza ends with the speaker informing the reader
that the caller ‘laughed’, which foreshadows the eventual
reveal of the poem.
8.4. Stanza 2
The speaker does not say anything to respond to what the
caller says, indicating the state of shock and disbelief that
they are in. The caller reacts to this silence by asking the
speaker if they are ‘OK’ and if they are ‘still there’.
Despite the presence of words of concern, the delivery of
these words seems aggressive, as if they are mocking the
speaker.
Their patronising attitude continues with the next dialogue
of theirs, which reads, ‘Come on, no, tell us, how does it
feel?’. The caller’s emphasis on emotions, and how the
speaker feels upon learning of having ‘won’ the lottery, is
a recurring theme throughout the poem.
The speaker finally responds to the caller, saying, ‘I just… I
can’t believe it!’. This phrase is ironic in the context of the
entire poem - the speaker’s initial instincts were, in fact,
correct.
The poem acts as a depiction of how emotions can lead to
clouded judgement.
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The caller responds to this by saying, ‘That’s what they all

8.6. Stanza 4
say. / What else? Go on, tell us about it’. The first part of
this response is extremely suspicious - how has the caller
The caller’s patronising words continue in the fourth
given away the ‘top prize’ so many times?
stanza, with, ‘Relax, now, have a little cry; we’ll give you a
The caller’s insistent tone shows their impatience, and
moment…’. The way in which the caller says that they will
their constant stress on asking the speaker how they feel
‘give’ the speaker a moment insinuates that the caller is
shows how their ultimate objective here is to understand
doing the speaker a favour by allowing them to sit and
what emotions the speaker is going through. enjoy the moment.
The speaker responds by saying that they feel as if ‘the
This once again reinforces the idea that the caller’s intent
top of [their] head has floated off, out through the window,
is to give the speaker a new experience, and not actual
revolving like a flying saucer’. This can interpreted as a
money.
metaphorical reference to how the speaker has lost all
The speaker starts snapping out of their shocked state, as
sense of rational thinking due to the surprise and shock they start questioning the motives of the caller. They say
that they are going through - it is as if their capacity to
that they ‘haven’t bought a lottery ticket for years and
think with reason and ration has ‘floated off, out through
years’.
the window’. This is one of the first definite clues to the reader that the
The phrase ‘revolving like a flying saucer’ uses a simile to caller is not what they claim to be. All of the hints thus far
create a whimsical image in the speaker’s mind, and it
have been subtle.
maintains the overall humorous tone of the poem.
The caller laughs again, showing their sarcastic and
mocking tone. They attempt to cover their tracks, telling
8.5. Stanza 3 the speaker to not ‘worry about a ticket’.
They say that they are ‘Universal’, which is a double
The third stanza begins with the caller saying that the entendre based on the fact that their company is called
speaker’s feelings are ‘unusual’. However, they urge them Universal, and the fact that they are trying to say that they
to ‘Go on’, which, once again, shows their insistence and are universally accepted.
wish to find out as much as possible about how the They use a long and fancy name, the ‘retrospective
speaker is feeling. Chances Module’ in an attempt to sound more genuine
The speaker, still oblivious and without suspicion, goes on and confuse the speaker.
to explain the impact with the shock and surprise has had
on them physically, saying that their throat has ‘gone dry’,
8.7. Stanza 5
their ‘nose is tingling ’.
Their throat going dry is metaphorically symbolic of how
They explain what this ‘retrospective Chances Module is’,
people are often unable to speak up for themselves when
saying that ‘Nearly everyone’s bought a ticket in some
they are filled with emotion.
lottery or another, once at least’. The way in which this
Nose tingling is usually a sensation that is typically statement, which is clearly an assumption, is presented as
associated with the cold, showing how the speaker feels
a fact, shows the nature of the caller.
like they have gone cold with shock.
The interesting thing here is that all lotteries operate
The speaker continues, saying that they are unsure
using the fact that when people buy tickets, most people
whether thay are ‘going to sneeze - or cry’, which shows
will not earn anything, and so the company will make
the confusion of their mental state. The word ‘sneeze’ enough money to pay the winners and still make a profit.
furthers the ‘cold’ image given off my the reference to
With a business model like this, there are no revenue
nose tingling in the previous line.
sources, and only costs. This is a definite marker that the
The caller encourages this emotion of the speaker’s,
caller is not who they claim to be, and, at the very least,
telling them to not ‘be ashamed of giving way to your they do not actually intend to give the speaker any money.
emotions’. This shows the core beliefs of the caller - that Them calling the winner the ‘lucky person’ shows how
experiences and memories are more important than some of the best experiences of life often come out of
actual wealth.
luck.
The caller continues by saying ‘It isn’t every day you hear
The speaker starts believing the claims of the caller, as
you’re going to get a million pounds’. This continues the they say, ‘Well, that’s incredible’ and call the system
deception that the caller has been attempting to ‘marvellous’.
propagate from the beginning of the poem, as instead of
However, they are still in disbelief, and they do not
saying that they are going to be giving the speaker a
completely believe the caller, which is why they say that
million pounds, they merely say that the speaker has
they will believe the caller ‘what [they] see the cheque’.
heard that they are going to get a million pounds.
This shows the human mind’s ability to manipulate reality
into seeing and hearing only what people want to see or 8.8. Stanza 6
hear, no matter what was actually said.

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This is the point where the caller pulls the curtain down on
their scheme, and finally states that ‘there’s no cheque’.
The speaker is astonished, and in their confusion, asks the
caller what would happen of ‘the money’.
The caller explains that they ‘don’t deal in money’ and that
‘experiences are what [they] deal in’. This show the caller’s
opinion that memorable experiences are more important
than money.
They hope that the speaker has had a ‘great’ and ‘exciting ’
experience, and say that their real ‘prize’ is this memory.
They congratulate them, and then, for the first time in the
poem, they show what seems to be proper respect, telling
the speaker to ‘have a nice day’.
The speaker describes in the last line of the stanza that
the ‘line went dead’. The word ‘dead’ here is a metaphor
for how fast their fascination fell apart.
9. Request to a Year - Judith
Wright
9.1. Poem
Stanza 1
If the year is meditating a suitable gift,
I should like it to be the attitude
of my great- great- grandmother,
legendary devotee of the arts,
Stanza 2
who having eight children
and little opportunity for painting pictures,
sat one day on a high rock
beside a river in Switzerland
Stanza 3
and from a difficult distance viewed
her second son, balanced on a small ice flow,
drift down the current toward a waterfall
that struck rock bottom eighty feet below,
Stanza 4
while her second daughter, impeded,
no doubt, by the petticoats of the day,
stretched out a last-hope alpenstock
(which luckily later caught him on his way).
Stanza 5
Nothing, it was evident, could be done;
And with the artist's isolating eye
My great-great-grandmother hastily sketched the scene.
The sketch survives to prove the story by.
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Stanza 6
Year, if you have no Mother's day present planned,
Reach back and bring me the firmness of her hand.
9.2. Overview
Structure: 22 lines, 6 stanzas
Themes:
Eternal Nature of Art
Double Standards of Society
Strength of the Mind
Motherhood
9.3. Stanza 1
The poem begins with the speaker directly addressing ‘the
year’, asking if it ‘is meditating a suitable gift’. This is the
speaker using the literary technique known as
‘apostrophe’, which is when a speaker directly addresses
or attempts to converse with someone, or something,
which does not exist or is not present there.
The reason why the speaker believes that the year may
be meditating on a gift for her is left ambiguous for the
time being, and it draws the reader in, intriguing them.
This also acts as personification and metaphor.
The speaker then states that she ‘should like it to be the
attitude of [her] great-great-grandmother’. The phrase
‘should like it’ indicates a firmness of will, and indicates
how much the speaker strives to be like her great-great-
grandmother.
It is interesting that the speaker seems to admire and
know much about a woman that she has never actually
met.
She goes on to describe her great-great-grandmother as
a ‘legendary devotee of the art’. This, and the previous
line, is indicative of one of the biggest themes of this
poem - the importance and eternal nature of art.
Despite having died a very long time ago, the great-great-
grandmother’s legacy still lives on in her art.
9.4. Stanza 2
The second stanza begins with enjambment, as its first
line continues the sentence that was still incomplete in the
last line of the first stanza. This shows the fluidity of the
speaker’s thoughts, and how she has clearly thought
about this before, and knows what to say.
She says that her great-great-grandmother ‘had eight
children’. This introduces another theme of the poem,
which is motherhood.
By stating that the grandmother had so many children,
the speaker sets up the next line of the poem, which
informs the reader that the great-great-grandmother had,
therefore, ‘little opportunity for painting pictures’. This
shows how she had the will to paint, but did not have the
time.
CAIE IGCSE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH

It is a representation of how societal obligations often possible to pursue her art, and shows the power that art
tend to oppress artistic tendencies. holds.
The speaker then describes the setting of the events The speaker ends this stanza by saying that ‘the sketch
which she is going to describe in the rest of the poem, by survives to prove the story by’. This returns back to the
saying that her great-great-grandmother ‘sat one day on fact that art is eternal and has a longer legacy than
a high rock / beside a river in Switzerland’. This allows the anything else.
reader to visualise the scene better.
9.8. Stanza 6
9.5. Stanza 3
The speaker ends by saying that the reason why she
The speaker continues with enjambement in the third wants a present is because it is Mother’s day, and that she
stanza, stating that her great-great-grandmother ‘from a wishes the ‘firmness of her hand’. This acts as a fitting
difficult distance viewed / her second son’. The word conclusion to the poem.
‘difficult’ shows how the distance was very large, and also
shows how the distance made her feel very helpless.
The speaker continues by saying that the son was 10. Away, Melancholy - Stevie
‘balanced on a small ice-floe’ and that he was lifting ‘down
the current towards a waterfall / that struck rock-bottom Smith
eighty feet below’. Here, the speaker creates a feeling of
urgency and fear, by clearly outlining the peril which the 10.1. Poem
son faced.
Also, the detailed way in which the speaker is able to
Stanza 1
describe this scene once again re-iterates the fact that art
is eternal, and leaves a very long legacy behind. Away, melancholy,
Away with it, let it go.
9.6. Stanza 4
Stanza 2
The fourth stanza also continues the same sentence that
was started in the very first line of the poem, using Are not the trees green,
enjambement. The earth as green?
The speaker goes on to finish the story, by saying that the Does not the wind blow,
great-great-grandmother’s second daughter, ‘impeded, Fire leap and the rivers flow?
no doubt, by the petticoats of the day’, extended a ‘last- Away melancholy.
hope alpenstock’ to her brother.The fact that the daughter
was ‘impeded’ by ‘petticoats’ shows how women were Stanza 3
shackled and restricted in what they could do in society at
that time. The ant is busy
An alpenstock is something which is typically used to allow He carrieth his meat,
people to balance themselves, and the fact that it was All things hurry
used to help the son is ironic, as it did, in fact, allow him to To be eaten or eat.
regain his balance. Away, melancholy.
The speaker concludes this story, and this sentence, by
saying, ‘(which luckily later caught him on his way) ’. The
Stanza 4
usage of brackets shows how the emphasis of the story is
Man, too, hurries,
not on the actual events, but on what the grandmother
Eats, couples, buries,
saw.
He is an animal also
With a hey ho melancholy,
9.7. Stanza 5 Away with it, let it go.

The fifth stanza is back to the great-great-grandmother, Stanza 5

and we are informed that it was ‘evident’ that ‘nothing ’
‘could be done’. This shows the rationality that the great- Man of all creatures
great-grandmother, and this is furthered by the fact that Is superlative
instead of panicking, she remained calm. (Away melancholy)
She instead, ‘with the artist’s isolating eye’ (which brings He of all creatures alone
back the theme of art), ‘sketched the scene’. It shows how Raiseth a stone
the great-great-grandmother took every opportunity (Away melancholy)

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Into the stone, the god sadness and ‘melancholy’, and they help to reiterate the
Pours what he knows of good themes of the poem in each stanza, which are, despair
Calling, good, God. and hope.
Away melancholy, let it go. The poem then truly begins, with the speaker asking, ‘Are
not the trees green, / The art as green?’. This rhetorical
Stanza 6 question can be interpreted as a reference to
environmental damage, and how humans have had an
Speak not to me of tears, impact on the greenness of the earth.
Tyranny, pox, wars, The speaker continues by saying, ‘Does the wind not blow,
Saying, Can God / Fire leap and the rivers flow?’. All of these different
Stone of man's thoughts, be good? references to the many different characteristics of nature
Say rather it is enough act as a way for the speaker to address that nature is
That the stuffed constant in life, and how nature is a reminder that life has
Stone of man's good, growing, some normality to it.
By man's called God. This stanza ends with the titular statement being
Away, melancholy, let it go. reiterated.
The next stanza focuses on the metaphor of an ant, and
Stanza 7 the ant is compared to man, and is used as another way
to describe the repetitive and simple way in which the
Man aspires natural world operates.
To good, The speaker states that ‘The ant is busy’. This is a
To love reference to how ants are symbolic of working, and this is
Sighs; shown due to the fact that being ‘busy’ is something often
associated with ants.
Stanza 8 We are told that the ant carries ‘his meat, all things hurry’.
This shows the hurried yet repetitive lifestyle of the ant.
Beaten, corrupted, dying
The speaker then says, ‘To be eaten or eat’. This is a
In his own blood lying
reference to the metaphorical circle of life, and how in this
Yet heaves up an eye above
world, nature keeps moving. One must either eat, or be
Cries, Love, love.
eaten oneself.
It is his virtue needs explaining,
This explains all of the references to hurry and business,
Not his failing.
as the speaker is attempting to say here that there is no
point in staying upset and still when the world and nature
Stanza 9
is going to keep moving on anyways.
The stanza ends with a reiteration of ‘Away, melancholy’.
Away, melancholy,
Away with it, let it go The next stanza compares man to an ant, by saying that
‘Man, too, hurries, eats, couples, buries’. This shows the
depression and despair of the speaker - she sees to be
10.2. Overview disturbed by this, and by comparing humans to ants,
seems to be attempting to stay that humans are
Structure: 48 lines, 9 stanzas meaningless and their importance is miniscule.
Themes:
The speaker continues by saying that man ‘is an animal
Nature also’, showing their belief that humans, too, follow the
Life
basic repetitiveness and simplicity of the natural lifestyle
God of an animal.
Goodness of Mankind
The speaker says, ‘with a hey ho melancholy’, which is the
The poem does not follow a fixed rhyme scheme. Instead, speaker saying that man possesses more melancholy
Smith chooses to randomly change its rhyme and meter
than other animals, which sets them apart.
throughout the poem, showing the speaker’s changing
Repetition of one of the key two repeated lines occurs
lines of thought again at the end of this stanza.
The speaker continues to say that ‘Man of all creatures is
10.3. Analysis superlative’, which is in contrast to the way in which
humans are portrayed as meaningless through their
The poem begins with the titular phrase ‘Away comparison to ants earlier on in the poem.
melancholy’, and this is follow up with ‘Away with it, let it This stanza is different from the ones that came before it.
go’. These lines are repeated all throughout the poem, Every two lines are interposed with ‘(Away melancholy) ’,
and form the backbone of its structure. They are repeated which shows how the topic of depression and despair is
in order to show how the speaker wants to get rid of their

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CAIE IGCSE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
on the speaker’s mind, and which also shows how she do
not wish to think negative thoughts.
This stanza comes off as the speaker trying to convince
herself to put away her negativity and embrace the many
positives of being a human.
The speaker states that ‘He of all creatures alone raiseth
a stone’, where ‘stone’ is a metaphor for what man is
capable of building and creating.
The speaker states, ‘Into the stone, the god pours what he
knows of good calling good, God’. The utilisation of both
lowercase and uppercase for the word ‘god’ shows the
transition of the poem from one that is generic, to one
that has a highly religiously and spiritually motivated tone,
and shows how the speaker feels like God helps lift her
out of her despair and depression.
They call God ‘good’, reiterating this idea.
The speaker asks the reader to ‘speak not to me of tears,
tyranny, pox, war’, showing how she does not wish to
believe that God could ever do anything wrong.
The speaker holds the belief that God is good, and does
not want this to be questioned.
The usage of first person in this shows how the speaker is
finally voicing her own ideals and beliefs in the poem.
The speaker continues by saying that even though God is
‘stone of man’s thought’, he is good, and that is what she
wants to believe.
The speaker says that humanity was made good, by
saying that god is the ‘stone of man’s good’, and that
humanity made a good god, saying, ‘man’s called god’.
The speaker states that ‘Man aspires to good, to love’,
showing the speaker’s belief that humans are pure at
heart, and how they were created to be good.
The speaker sighs, showing how they feel like are at
peace.
They conclude the poem by saying that even when
humans are ‘beaten, corrupted, dying in his own blood
lying ’, they cry ‘love, love’. The usage of highly negative
words, which are contrasted with the hopeful tone, shows
the darkness of life.
Despite all of the negativity of life, humanity lives on, stays
hopeful, and stays good.
11. Funeral Blues - W H
Auden
11.1. Poem
Stanza 1
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.
Stanza 2
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Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message 'He is Dead'.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.
Stanza 3
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 forever: I was wrong.
Stanza 4
The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
11.2. Overview
Structure - 16 lines, 4 stanzas
Themes
Grief
Death
The poem is made up of four quatrains, each following an
AABB rhyme scheme.
The orderly manner in which the poem is structured is
juxtaposed with the speaker’s grief and fractured state of
mind.
The stanzas are structured as stairs, which each stanza
acting as a further step down towards irrationality and
grief-struck madness.
11.3. Stanza 1
The first stanza begins with the words ‘stop all of the
clocks’. The speaker’s grief and wish to be in peace is
evident from the first statement - they wish to grieve
without the pressure of time.
It may also be a metaphorical reference to how time
seems to pass excruciatingly slow when one is in morning.
The next demand of the speaker’s is to ‘cut off the
telephone’, which shows how they do not wish to
communicate with anyone, along with how they do not
wish to be disturbed by the sounds of the phone ringing.
The speaker’s wish to ‘Prevent the dog from barking ’ is an
early manifestation of their wish to manipulate and
control nature, something that becomes more apparent
later on in the play.
They provide a reasonable way to silence the dog - giving
it a ‘juicy bone’.
They also state that they wish to ‘silence the pianos’.
Music is typically associated with feelings of positivity and
celebration, and the speaker does not wish to indulge in
the joys of life at the moment
This shows how grief is all-encompassing, and how it
tends to make people wish to not enjoy other things in life.
CAIE IGCSE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
This stanza concludes with another demand of the
speaker’s - ‘with muffled drum / Bring out the coffin, let
the mourners come’. The phrase ‘muffled drum’ can be
interpreted in two ways - first, as the actual beating of a
drum at a funeral, and two, the sound made by the feet of
the pallbearers.
The usage of ‘muffled’ shows the speaker’s wish to subdue
the sound of an instrument that is as loud as the drum,
showing, once again, their aversion to music and
distractions, and their will to grieve in peace.
The ‘coffin’ and the ‘mourners’ serve as the first
indications in the poem that the reason for the speaker’s
fractured mental state is that someone close to them has
died.
11.4. Stanza 2
The second stanza opens with the lines, ‘Let aeroplanes
circle moaning overhead / Scribbling on the sky the
message He Is Dead’. This is the beginning of a trend that
becomes more and more clear as the poem goes on - the
speaker’s demands escalating in scale with every stanza.
The sound ‘moaning ’ is typically associated with mourning
or sadness, and its use illustrates the fact that the
speaker wishes for even inanimate objects to show grief
for the death of the speaker’s loved one.
It is clear that the deceased meant a lot to the speaker,
and that is the reason for their demands.
The next request of the speaker’s reads ‘Put crêpe bows
round the white necks of the public doves’. This is a highly
difficult, but yet not outside the bounds of reality, demand,
and it once again, acts as the speaker’s despair and grief
put into words.
Doves are also typically symbols of peace and equality,
and the speaker’s wish to put bows round their necks is
indicative of their wish for peace and calm.
The speaker’s final demand is that ‘the traffic policemen
wear black cotton gloves’. The colour black is often
associated with mourning in many cultures, so wanting
policemen to wear black gloves shows the speaker’s wish
for everyone and everything around them to mourn for
their lost loved one.
Policemen, especially traffic policemen, are tasked with
maintaining the normal and safe flow of traffic, and by
extension, people’s lives. The wish for traffic policemen to
wear black gloves is also representative of how the
speaker wishes for their life to also be brought back into
its normal course, and how they wish for their loved one
to be back with them.
11.5. Stanza 3
The third stanza veers away from the discussion of the
speaker’s many wishes, and instead, focuses on what the
deceased meant to the speaker.
This stanza’s main themes are the themes of love, loss
and grief. The stanza is representative of the speaker
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learning to open up more, and to allow themselves to
grieve properly.
The stanza opens with the words, ‘He was my North, my
South, my East and West’. This can be interpreted two
ways.
One, no matter what direction the speaker looks in, all
they can remember and think of is their dead love one.
This shows just how much the deceased meant to them,
and the significance they held in their life.
The second interpretation is that the mentioning the four
directions is a metaphorical way for the speaker to say
that the deceased represented their purpose and
direction in life, and how now, they feel like they have lost
all sense of direction, but literally and figuratively.
The speaker’s metaphoric declarations continue, with ‘My
working week and my Sunday rest’. The working week,
combined with Sunday, make up all of the days of the
week.
Here, the speaker is trying to say that their love for the
deceased was perennial and that it penetrated into their
lives everyday.
This is further emphasised by the next metaphorical
comparison, with the speaker saying that the deceased
was the speaker’s ’midnight’ and their ’noon’.
The speaker goes on to say that the deceased was their
’talk’ and their ’song ’. Through this, what the speaker is
trying to convey is that the deceased was a very large part
of their personality (‘talk’) and energy (‘song ’).
The speaker concludes this stanza by stating, ‘I thought
that love would last for ever: I was wrong ’, which sets the
melancholy and despair-filled tone of the last stanza, and
adds depth to the speaker’s grief.
11.6. Stanza 4
The final stanza returns back to the topic of the speaker’s
demands. However, as per the trend set in the earlier
stanzas, the outlandishness of the demands has
increased even further.
The speaker states that ‘the stars are not wanted now’
and asks that someone ‘put out every one’. The
declaration of the speaker’s that ‘the stars are not wanted’
shows how to them, it feels like nothing matters anymore
in life. It is a representation of the apathy that comes with
grief, and is an accurate depiction of how many people
tend to react to such scenarios.
The speaker’s demands, which up till now, had been
humanly possible to carry out, have now escalated to the
point of being simply impossible.
The next demand of the speaker is to ‘Pack up the moon
and dismantle the sun’. The speaker wishes for time to
stop, and does not want the days to keep passing. It shows
how they have lost all interest in moving forward with
their lives, and how they feel like they will be stuck in this
moment of grieving forever.
They ask that someone ‘Pour away the ocean and sweep
up the wood’. These elements of nature, that are usually
associated with beauty and positive experiences, have
CAIE IGCSE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
lost all meaning in the speaker’s life, and all they want is
for all the visual distractions in their life to go away.
They justify all of these demands by stating that ‘nothing
now can ever come to any good’. This shows how
hopeless the speaker, and by extension, most mourners,
feel, and shows how they feel like the world has come to
an end for them.
It is an extremely impactful line, and does a good job at
getting across to the reader how the speaker feels.
12. On Finding a Small Fly
Crushed in a Book - Charles
Tennyson Turner
12.1. Poem
Some hand, that never meant to do thee hurt,
Has crush'd thee here between these pages pent;
But thou hast left thine own fair monument,
Thy wings gleam out and tell me what thou wert:
Oh! that the memories, which survive us here,
Where half as lovely as these wings of thine!
Pure relics of a blameless life, that shine
Now thou art gone. Our doom is ever near:
The peril is beside us day by day;
The book will close upon us, it may be,
Just as we lift ourselves to soar away
Upon the summer-airs. But, unlike thee,
The closing book may stop our vital breath,
Yet leave no lustre on our page of death.
12.2. Overview
Structure: 14 lines, 1 stanza
Themes
Death
Legacy
History
It follows a ABABCDDCEFEFGG rhyme scheme, which can
be taken as alternative sonnet form.
12.3. Analysis
The poem is made up of only a single stanza. This
represents of both death and life are final, and how they
only happen once. Once life ends, it is over forever, much
like the single stanza of this poem.
The poem is entirely an extended metaphor. It is a
representation of death, and the legacy which one leaves
behind in death.
The speaker begins by directly addressing the fly, which is
an example of apostrophe, which is when a speaker
directly addresses or attempts to converse with someone,
or something, which does not exist or is not present there.
WWW.ZNOTES.ORG
The speaker tell the fly that ‘some hand, that never meant
to do thee hurt, has crushed thee here between these
pages pent’. The trivial way in which the speaker says
‘some hand’ is indicative of the speaker’s belief that the
method of death here was irrelevant, and this is furthered
by the speaker saying that it ‘never meant to do thee hurt’.
The word ‘crush’ had a negative and brutal connotation,
and its usage is representative of the harshness of the
fly’s death.
The usage of the word ‘pent’ shows how the fly is trapped
in the pages, and how it cannot leave.
Here, the ‘pages’ are an extended metaphor for history.
The speaker says that the fly has left a ‘fair monument’ in
the forms of its ‘wings’ which ‘gleam out and tell me what
thou wert’. This continues on with the extended metaphor
of the pages being history.
The ‘monument’ and ‘wings’ here are a metaphor for one’s
legacy, and this is strengthened by the fact that the wings
tell the speaker what the fly was. This shows how the
legacy one leaves behind is representative of who one is
as a person.
The speaker expresses their wish to be like the fly. They
say that they wish that ‘the memories’ which ‘survive’ them
are ‘half as lovely as these wings of thine’. This once again
furthers the theme of death and legacy that is prevalent in
this poem, and reiterates the metaphor of the wings being
compared to the fly’s legacy.
The speaker is attempting to say that our true legacy is
the memory of us which others hold in their minds.
The fly’s wings, something which would typically be
overlooked due to their minuscule nature, are being
played up and described by beautiful in the poem. This
shows both the speaker’s attention to detail, and how
one’s legacy is often different from what one would expect
it to be.
The speaker continues by calling the wings ‘pure relics of
a blameless life’. The words ‘pure’ and ‘blameless’ both
create an image that the fly lived a perfect and pure life,
without having ever done anything wrong.
The speaker here is saying that the way for one to leave
behind a legacy as beautiful and prominent as the fly’s is
to live such a ‘pure’ and ‘blameless’ life.
The word ‘relics’ shows how the speaker finds these wings
to be much like artifacts. The word ‘relics’ is often used in
a historical/archeological context, and its use reiterates
the theme of legacy and history.
The speaker simply states, ‘thou art gone’, and the plain
way in which this is stated shows how death is final.
The speaker states that ‘our death is ever near’, and the
extremely simple way in which they state this shows the
inevitability of death.
They state that ‘the book will close upon us, it may be’,
which is a euphemistic and metaphoric reference to
death, and to the ‘pages’ of history.
The speaker states that unlike the fly, the ‘closing book
may stop our vital beach, yet leave no lustre on our page
of death’. This once again uses a euphemism to describe
CAIE IGCSE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
death, but follows it up with directly mentioning it in the
very same sentence.
The poem ends with the conclusion that not everyone is
like the fly, and not everyone lives the same ‘blameless’
and ‘pure’ life. It concludes that for many people, when
they die, they will not leave much of a legacy behind.
13. Ozymandias - Percy
Bysshe Shelley
13.1. Poem
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
13.2. Overview
Structure: 14 lines, 1 stanza
Themes
Arrogance
Power
Eternal Nature of Art
Legacy and Time
The poem is a Petrarchan sonnet, but its rhyme scheme
varies slightly from the traditional sonnet form.
This is metaphorically representative of the corruption of
authority or lawmakers in society.
13.3. Analysis
The poem begins with the speaker telling the reader a
story.
The first line is mysterious and ambiguous. The speaker
states that they ‘met a traveller from an antique land’. This
is a highly confusing and ambiguous statement, and it
leaves many questions to be answered.
For example, has the traveller just journeyed through an
‘antique land’, or do they originate from such a place”? The
ambiguity of this statement creates an air of intrigue.
The speaker then retells what this traveller told him. He
states that ‘two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand in
the desert’. This is a slightly confusing line itself. Are the
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‘legs of stone’ here metaphorical, or are they actual
statues of legs?
The word ‘trunkless’ means that the torso and body of the
statue was missing, and can be indicative of how the
speaker finds Ozymandias to be heartless and cruel in
nature.
However, the speaker clears up the antiquity by saying
that ‘Near them, on the sand, half sunk a shattered visage
lies’.
The words ‘half sunk’ introduces one of the most
important themes of the poem, which is legacy and time.
The face is half-buried in the sand, and it is implied that
given more time, it will disappear completely, much like
the rest of the statue must have.
The word ‘shattered’ is a metaphorical representation of
how Ozymandias’ legacy and image has been destroyed,
and how none of it still stands today.
The speaker then describes the ‘visage’, saying that it has
a ‘frown’, a ‘wrinkled lip’, and a ‘sneer of cold command’.
The fact that these details are still visible, despite all the
memory of Ozymandias and his empire being lost, is
Shelley’s way of commenting on the eternal nature of art,
and the way in which the negative qualities of one’s being
tend to last longer than the positives.
The description gives the image that Ozymandias prided
himself on being a man with absolute power, and gives
the image that he held a lot of pride as the leader of his
civilisation.
The traveler’s attention, and consequently the speaker’s
attention, turns to the sculptor of the statue. He says that
the ‘sculptor well those passions read, which yet survive,
stamped on these lifeless things’. It shows how the
sculptor was able to accurately identify the core values of
who Ozymandias was as a person, and consequently, was
able to imbue them onto the state.
The usage of the word ‘survive’ is contrasted with the
destruction of Ozymandias’ empire, and it shows how, in a
way, the sculptor is a greater man than Ozymandias, for
he was the one that was responsible for defining his
legacy.
The speaker states that Ozymandias had a ‘hand that
mocked them’ and a ‘heart that fed’. This shows the duality
of his nature, but also serves as a reminder that only
one’s negative qualities are remembered as one’s legacy,
as indicated by the fact that all that can be made out
about Ozymandias from the statue is that he is a cold
tyrannic ruler.
Ozymandias’ egotistical nature is elaborated on further,
through the speaker informing the reader of what the
traveler claimed was written on the pedestal of the statue.
On the pedestal, Ozymandias declared himself the ‘king of
kings’ and said, ‘Look on my works, ye Mighty, and
despair’. However, these ‘works’ that are referenced here
no longer exist, as indicated by the speaker stating that
‘Nothing beside remains’.
This shows how it never serves well to be proud and
egotistical, as all the reasons one has to be proud
eventually fade away as time goes on.
CAIE IGCSE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
The speaker concludes by stating that ‘Round the decay of
that colossal wreck, boundless and bare the lone and level
sands stretch far away’. The word ‘decay’ emphasises the
state of ruin of the statue, and the word ‘colossal’
emphasises the scale of the statue.
The final statement is ominous, and shows how
Ozymandias’ empire is all but gone, and that all that
remains is just sand.
14. Rain - Edward Thomas
14.1. Poem
Rain, midnight rain, nothing but the wild rain
On this bleak hut, and solitude, and me
Remembering again that I shall die
And neither hear the rain nor give it thanks
For washing me cleaner than I have been
Since I was born into this solitude.
Blessed are the dead that the rain rains upon:
But here I pray that none whom once I loved
Is dying tonight or lying still awake
Solitary, listening to the rain,
Either in pain or thus in sympathy
Helpless among the living and the dead,
Like a cold water among broken reeds,
Myriads of broken reeds all still and stiff,
Like me who have no love which this wild rain
Has not dissolved except the love of death,
If love it be towards what is perfect and
Cannot, the tempest tells me, disappoint.
14.2. Overview
Structure - 18 lines, 1 stanza
Themes:
Inevitability of death
The comfort of solitude
Lack of rhyme structure is reminiscent of the chaos of
nature and the war
Metrical pattern of poem reminiscent of the sound or rain
Poem is in present tense, which helps the reader better
visualise the scene
Present tense gives effect that speaker is still in the war
Speaker’s fate is left ambiguous, making the poem feel
unfinished
14.3. Analysis
The phrase ‘remembering again’ implies that this is not
the first time that the speaker has spent time pondering
his own mortality and the topic of his own inevitable
death.
The blunt way in which he simply states that he ‘shall die’
shows how the war has stripped him of all subtlety, and
WWW.ZNOTES.ORG
shows how being in the war has forced him to confront
the fact that he will likely die soon.
By saying ‘And neither hear the rain nor give it thanks /
For washing me cleaner than I have been’, the speaker
makes it clear that his thoughts are significant enough to
block out the sound of the rain; may also be interpreted as
a reference to him possibly being shellshocked.
The speaker saying that he is thankful for the rain
‘washing [him] cleaner than [he has] been’ can be
interpreted both literally and figuratively - literally, the
rain washes the dirt off him, and figuratively, ‘washing me
cleaner’ can be interpreted as a reference to baptism and
one’s sins being washed away.
The word ‘born’ in line 6 shows how the speaker believes
that becoming a part of the war has changed him into an
entirely new individual, as if he has been born again. It
shows how the world around him, the world of the war, is
different from anything else he had ever seen before in
the past, and how everything is new for him.
The next line reads, ‘Blessed are the dead that the rain
rains upon’. This once again brings back the theme of
death, which is a recurring element of this poem. Just like
how the speaker believes that the rain has washed him
clean of his sins, he also believes that it will do the same
for the dead.
The way in which this line is placed right after him stating
that he was ‘born’ into this new world creates an example
of juxtaposition, and makes it seem like the speaker is
referring to himself as one of the ‘dead’ that are blessed
by the rain, showing how for him and others like him,
death feels like salvation.
Line 8 begins with the word ‘But’, as the speaker shares a
wish that is juxtaposed with him stating that he should be
thankful for the rain, and that those under it are blessed.
He states that he wishes to ‘pray that none whom once
[he] loved / Is dying to-night or lying still awake’. The word
‘pray’ brings back the theme of religion and God, which
was introduced when the speaker likened the rain to
baptism.
The usage of the word ‘once’ implies that this love for
these people existed only in the past. This seems to give
the idea that the speaker has become desensitised and
incapable of love after joining the war, and, once again,
shows the adverse impact which his surroundings have
had on him.
The speaker states that he wishes that no one is ‘Solitary,
listening to the rain’. This, combined with his wish that no
one is ‘lying still awake’, makes it clear that he does not
want anyone to be in the position that he is in. The pity
that he is showing the people whom he is referring to can
also be applied to him, and he understands, and knows,
that the situation he is in is one that he would not wish on
anyone he loves.
He does not wish for his loved ones to be ‘Either in pain or
thus in sympathy’. This makes it clear that the speaker is
in pain, and he does not wish for others to be in such a
situation.
CAIE IGCSE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
Even though he has implied earlier that he does not love
people anymore, he is clearly still a compassionate and
sympathetic individual. He does not wish for his loved
ones to be (like him) ‘Helpless among the living and the
dead’. This shows the extent of the destruction which the
war has brought with it, and how the speaker does not
believe himself to be either completely alive or completely
dead.
In line 13, the speaker compares himself to one of the
many ‘broken reeds all still and stiff’ in cold water. He
believes himself to be ‘broken’, showing the impact the
war has had on him and his psyche.
The phrase ‘still and stiff’ shows how he feels stuck in
place, unable to leave, and unable to do anything to
soothe his pain.
He says that those like him ‘have no love which this wild
rain / Has not dissolved except the love of death’. This is
an example of irony, as it is not possible for him to have
no love if he just showed sympathy for others.
The speaker claims that the ‘wild rain’ (which is repeated
from the first line) has washed away all of his love, except
for ‘the love of death’. He explains that the reason which
he loves death is that death ‘Cannot, the tempest tells
[him], disappoint’. This ties back to the theme of death
being inevitable.
15. The Spirit is Too Blunt an
Instrument - Anne Stevenson
15.1. Poem
Stanza 1
The spirit is too blunt an instrument
to have made this baby.
Nothing so unskilful as human passions
could have managed the intricate
exacting particulars: the tiny
blind bones with their manipulating tendons,
the knee and the knucklebones, the resilient
fine meshings of ganglia and vertebrae,
the chain of the difficult spine.
Stanza 2
Observe the distinct eyelashes and sharp crescent
fingernails, the shell-like complexity
of the ear, with its firm involutions
concentric in miniature to minute
ossicles. Imagine the
infinitesimal capillaries, the flawless connections
of the lungs, the invisible neural filaments
through which the completed body
already answers to the brain.
Stanza 3
WWW.ZNOTES.ORG
Then name any passion or sentiment
possessed of the simplest accuracy.
No, no desire or affection could have done
with practice what habit
has done perfectly, indifferently,
through the body's ignorant precision.
It is left to the vagaries of the mind to invent
love and despair and anxiety
and their pain.
15.2. Overview
Structure - 27 lines, 3 stanzas
Themes
Life
Creation
Possibility
Perfection of the Body vs Imperfection of Spirit
The poem does not have any rhyme scheme. This lack of
rhyme scheme can be attributed to the fact that the
speaker is attempting to convey the imperfection of the
spirit
15.3. Stanza 1
The poem begins by re-iterating the title of the poem, by
stating, ‘The spirit is too blunt an instrument / to have
made this baby’.
The speaker is admiring a baby, and upon examining it,
the speaker believes that it is impossible for the human
soul to have created something as intricate and perfect.
The words ‘too blunt’ makes it clear that the speaker
believes that the spirit is not precise enough to have
created something like another human body. This
introduces, from the very first line, the theme of this
poem, which is the perfection of the body in contrast to
the imperfection of the spirit.
The speaker also refers to the spirit as being an
‘instrument’, displaying their opinion that the human soul
is a tool to be used for one’s own benefit.
By calling ‘human passions’ ‘unskilful’, the speakers
displays their disdain for human passions and emotions.
This shows the speaker’s mindset and contextualises
everything they say for the rest of the poem.
The speaker goes on to describe the ‘tiny blind bones’ of
the baby. The speaker is awed that despite being unable
to see around themselves, the bones of the baby are all
arranged perfectly in the right way.
The next part of the baby which the speaker points out is
the ‘manipulating tendons’. The word ‘manipulating ’ here
creates the image in the reader’s mind of the tendons
weaving themselves around the bones in intricate
patterns. This supports the speaker’s argument that the
spirit is too imperfect to design something as complicated
as this.
The speaker then names various other bones and parts of
the body, such as the ‘knee’, ‘knucklebones’, ‘ganglia’,
CAIE IGCSE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
‘vertebrae’, and ‘spine’.
The speaker ends the first stanza at this point, after
having described many different body parts, and why they
believe that it is impossible for the soul to make them.
15.4. Stanza 2
15.5. Stanza 3
The second stanza is also completely based on just
describing parts of the body and its anatomy.
The poem focuses on giving the reader an idea of just
how complex and beautiful human anatomy really is, and
how its minute details are beyond the scope of our
imagination.
The speaker mentions the ‘distinct eyelashes’. The usage
of the word ‘distinct’ emphasises how each eyelash is
perfectly shaped in a similar manner, despite there being
so many of them.
They then mention the ‘sharp crescent fingernails’, with
the emphasis here being on how the shape of the
fingernails is the exact same for each one.
They describe the ‘shell-like complexity of the ear’, and
emphasise just how intricate and exact it is by saying that
‘its firm involutions [are] concentric in miniature to minute
ossicles’.
Here, the word involutions has two meanings - first, the
shrinkage of an organ, so to show how the body has been
designed even on a minute scale, and second, the state of
being complete, which is what the speaker believes the
human body to be.
The words ‘infinitesimal’ and ‘flawless’ emphasise, once
again, the level of perfection that the body possesses.
The word ‘imagine’ makes it clear that none of these
features are visible, they are not for anyone’s viewing
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pleasure, but they are there just for the sake of being
perfectly in sync with one another.
The word ‘completed’ is used to describe the body, which
sums up the speaker’s opinion of the human body
completely - it is like a perfect finished product.
The final stanza shifts its focus to the body’s creation, and
how it is, in any way, linked with human emotions.
The speaker directly challenges the reader with a sort of
rhetorical requisition, demand that they ‘name any
passion of sentiment possessed of the simplest accuracy’.
As the reader would know, it is impossible to name any
such element - emotions are not accurate, they are not
precise, and they do not follow any particular trend. They
are too inaccurate, and lack the precision, to create
something such as the body, which the speaker states by
saying ‘no, no desire or affection could have done with
practice what habit has done perfectly’.
The speaker acknowledges that it is impossible for one to
practice one’s emotions to produce such a perfect result,
and that it is simply habit that has led to the creation of
the human body.
This habit has carried out this task ‘indifferently’ through
the ‘body’s ignorant precision’, by ignoring the
imperfections of the spirit in order to create a perfect final
product.
The speaker ends on the note that the body initially has no
pain or problems, it is ‘left to the vagaries of the mind to
invent love and despair and anxiety and their pain’.
CAIE IGCSE
Literature in English

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