Poems
1. To the Public (not examinable)
2. To me, fair friend, you never can be old
3. Namaqualand after Rain
4. The Tenant
5. Strangers forever
6. What is in a Name (not examinable)
7. Ozymandias of Egypt
8. Moving through the silent crowd
9. Mirror
10. Go, lovely Rose
11. Will it be so again?
12. Remember
13. Growing Old (not examinable)
14. nobody loses all the time
, To me, fair Friend, you never can be old William
Shakespeare:
Possible pun in the word “fair” = it can mean the friend is beautiful
but it can also insinuate one of the qualities of a real gentleman
Paradox: enforces that he feels
To me, fair friend, you never can be old, friends beauty will never go away
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Almost
When we first laid eyes on eachother.homophones “eye” is an auditory pun so it might have
For as you were when first your eye I eyed, sounded like “aye” which means “yes”, thereby
confirming the friends “fair[ness]”.
You are jus as beautiful as the first time I saw you Three winter( .: three years) have passed since they first met.
Such seems your beauty still. Three winters cold
pun
“Summer’s pride” refers to the flowers, leaves and beauty of summer that has been stripped by winter
Have from the forests shook three summers' pride;
Alliteration of the “f” sound enhances the imagery describing the “fair friend”. The seasons are an
extended metaphor
Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turn'd that resembles the
wonderful/beautiful passing of time
Repetition of the word “three” in lines 3, 5 and 7 which emphasises
In process of the seasons have I seen, the cyclical nature of
Natural cycle/ order life and death.
spring and fresh, blooming flowers wilted flowers in summer
Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burn'd,
Metaphor: the friend is compared to grass/flowers and the colour green refers to youth and beauty,
emphasising the youth of the subject and links successfully to the extended metaphor
Since first I saw you fresh, which yet are green. Simile: the progress of ageing and the progress of
time on a sun-dial is compared. Times seems to
Sun-dial move slowly when we watch a clock, but, ultimately,
moves forward time does move.
Ah, yet doth beauty, like a dial-hand, Acknowledging that the beauty is changing The volts is in line 9,
Personification: time is personified signified by the word “ah”. Here the speaker admits that he might
as having the ability to “steal” No movement is seen have been biased and not entirely accurate up to this point
Steal from his figure, and no pace perceived; I think you beauty has not diminished
number on the dial and it remains unchanged even
Colours/looks I think Remains unchanged
though time has passed
So your sweet hue, which methinks still doth stand,
The speaker starts doubting himself and his
Shows movement self-doubt: are my eyes deceiving me?
own perception. Where he stated in line 10
Hath motion, and mine eye may be deceived: that there is no motion on the sun-dial )”no
pace perceived”) and in line 11 he states
Not yet born/unborn
Fear of growing old/changing with time you/your generation that the friends beauty remains unchanged
For fear of which, hear this, thou age unbred: (“doth stand”), he now states in line 12 how
it seems there is indeed some “motion” and
that he thinks his eyes might deceive him.
Ere you were born, was beauty's summer dead.
Hyperbole: no beauty
has ever been equal to Rhyming couplet: the speaker’s count in his own perceptions in quatrain 3 is resolved here.
his friend’s, neither will He relates his friend’s beauty by stating that, if the friend is subjected to the changes that
anything in the future come with time, “beauty’s summer” will die. The couplet is possibly an example of
(unborn generation) by hyperbole as the speaker over exaggerates tag friend’s beauty.
more beautiful.
Theme: - impact of time
- real Beaty last forever
, Namaqualand after rain by William Plomer
The word “again” tells us that the speaker “Veld” contextualises that the poem is set in SA. It is an open,
will describe an event (mentioned in the flat, uncultivated piece of country or grassland in SA and is
title) that has happened before (winters often covered in scrubs or small trees. Generally arid and dry.
rains happen yearly) Again the veld revives, “Revives” tells us that the event
is a repetition and that the land
“Imbued” means to be permeated/saturated again seems more alive
with water. The rain has completely
permeated and soaked the soil
Imbued with lyric rains, The “rain: mentioned in
the title is confirmed as
Lines 3-4: these lines the speaker uses vivd
emphasise the idea of rebirth And sap re-sweetening dry stalks imagery to describe it as
and growth as the “sap of the “lyrical” and “imbuing”
flowers and trees “sweetens” the landscape. The
the “dry stalks” again - it imagery is light and
transports sugar and glucose Perfumes the quickening plains; flowing, and we can
around the plant that gives The strong verb shows the intensity of the change imagine the nurturing
energy to grow. The “sap” is and how the roots grow in every direction water flowing over
described as “perfuming” Small roots explode in strings of stars, everything that it brings
the open land. Relates to line back to life.
16 as we imagine blood
coursing through the veins of
the plants.
Each bulb gives up its dream, “Raceme”: a flower
Imagery: the flowers are cluster with the
blooming reluctantly because Honey drips from orchid throats, separate flowers
change is scary, OR it attacked by short equal
describes how the “bulbs” distances along a
were asleep and now are central stem. The
awakening and giving up Jewels each raceme. flowers at the base of
their “dreams” the central stem
develop first.
Imager of opulence is created as
the “orchids” “dipping” “honey The desert sighs at dawn –
onto the flowers below and dashes break the
forming little “jewels” as they steady rhythm
glisten in the sun. As in another hemisphere created by the
Represents a place of worship, emphasising the commas
idea of spiritual enlightenment that is associated emphasises how delicate the flower is.
with the lotus. The temple lotus breaks her buds
Suggests a sense of being aware
On the attentive air – and alert, as if the “air is there to
frills of other ornamentation of “tend” to the flower like a mother
women’s dresses or clothing to a baby.
A frou-frou of new flowers,
The strong verb, “strike”,
Puff of unruffling petals, emphasises the force of the
sunlight snd sibilance of the “str”
- sound enhances this image
While rods of sunlight strike pure streams
From rocks beveined with metals;
