Love & Relationships Flashcards
All 141 cards in this deck
Who wrote ‘When We Two Parted’, and when was it published?
Lord Byron; published in 1816.
Who is the speaker of ‘When We Two Parted’?
A man remembering a secret love affair that has ended.
Who is ‘When We Two Parted’ thought to be about?
Lady Frances Wedderburn Webster, a married woman Byron knew.
What is the form of ‘When We Two Parted’?
Four eight-line stanzas with alternate rhyme (ABABCDCD) and short two-stress lines.
Which phrase opens and closes ‘When We Two Parted’, making it cyclical?
“silence and tears”.
In ‘When We Two Parted’, what does the speaker say has happened to his lover’s vows?
“Thy vows are all broken”.
In ‘When We Two Parted’, what does hearing her name feel like to the speaker?
“A knell to mine ear”: a funeral bell.
Complete the quotation from ‘When We Two Parted’: “They know not I knew thee, / …”
“… Who knew thee too well”.
Complete the quotation from ‘When We Two Parted’: “In secret we met— / …”
“… In silence I grieve.”
Who wrote ‘Love’s Philosophy’, and when was it published?
Percy Bysshe Shelley; published in 1819.
Which literary movement did Shelley belong to?
Romanticism.
Who is the speaker of ‘Love’s Philosophy’?
A man trying to persuade a woman to kiss him.
What is the form of ‘Love’s Philosophy’?
Two eight-line stanzas with alternate rhyme (ABABCDCD).
How does each stanza of ‘Love’s Philosophy’ end?
With a rhetorical question to the woman.
In ‘Love’s Philosophy’, which things mingle in the first two lines?
The fountains with the river, and the rivers with the Ocean.
Complete the quotation from ‘Love’s Philosophy’: “Nothing in the world is single; / All things by a law divine / …”
“… In one spirit meet and mingle.”
Which device is “See the mountains kiss high Heaven” in ‘Love’s Philosophy’?
Personification of nature.
Complete the last lines of ‘Love’s Philosophy’: “What is all this sweet work worth / …”
“… If thou kiss not me?”
Who wrote ‘Porphyria’s Lover’, and when was it first published?
Robert Browning; first published in 1836.
What form is ‘Porphyria’s Lover’?
A dramatic monologue, spoken by Porphyria’s lover.
What are the metre and rhyme of ‘Porphyria’s Lover’?
Iambic tetrameter, rhyming ABABB, in one block of 60 lines.
Under what title was ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ paired with ‘Johannes Agricola in Meditation’?
Madhouse Cells.
What is the weather at the start of ‘Porphyria’s Lover’?
A storm: rain and a “sullen wind” (pathetic fallacy).
In ‘Porphyria’s Lover’, where has Porphyria come from?
A party: “to-night’s gay feast”.
How does the speaker kill Porphyria?
He strangles her with her own yellow hair, wound three times round her throat.
Complete the quotation from ‘Porphyria’s Lover’: “That moment she was mine, mine, fair, / …”
“… Perfectly pure and good”.
Which simile describes the speaker opening the dead Porphyria’s eyes?
“As a shut bud that holds a bee”.
What is the last line of ‘Porphyria’s Lover’?
“And yet God has not said a word!”
Who wrote ‘Sonnet 29 – I think of thee!’, and in which collection?
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, in Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850).
To whom is ‘Sonnet 29’ addressed?
Robert Browning, whom she married in 1846.
Who disapproved of Elizabeth Barrett’s marriage, so that it took place in secret?
Her father.
What form is ‘Sonnet 29’?
A Petrarchan sonnet: 14 lines of iambic pentameter, rhyming ABBAABBA CDCDCD.
What extended metaphor does ‘Sonnet 29’ use for the speaker’s thoughts?
Wild vines growing around her beloved, who is a tree.
What does the speaker call her beloved in line 5 of ‘Sonnet 29’?
“O my palm-tree”.
In ‘Sonnet 29’, what does the speaker ask her beloved to do?
“Renew thy presence”: come back to her in person.
What is the last line of ‘Sonnet 29’?
“I do not think of thee—I am too near thee.”
Who wrote ‘Neutral Tones’, and when?
Thomas Hardy; written in 1867, published in Wessex Poems (1898).
Besides poetry, what is Thomas Hardy famous for writing?
Novels, such as Tess of the d’Urbervilles.
Who is the speaker of ‘Neutral Tones’?
A man addressing a former lover, remembering the day their love ended.
Where and when is ‘Neutral Tones’ set?
By a pond on a winter day.
What is the form of ‘Neutral Tones’?
Four quatrains rhyming ABBA.
In ‘Neutral Tones’, what colour are the sun and the leaves?
The sun is “white”; the leaves are “gray”.
Complete the quotation from ‘Neutral Tones’: “The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing / …”
“… Alive enough to have strength to die”.
Which simile describes the lover’s grin in ‘Neutral Tones’?
“Like an ominous bird a-wing”.
Which stanza of ‘Neutral Tones’ repeats the pond, sun, tree and leaves, making the poem cyclical?
The last (fourth) stanza.
Who wrote ‘Letters From Yorkshire’?
Maura Dooley.
Who writes the letters in ‘Letters From Yorkshire’?
A man living and working on the land in Yorkshire.
Who receives the letters in ‘Letters From Yorkshire’?
The speaker, who lives far away and writes at a screen.
In ‘Letters From Yorkshire’, what does the man see before writing?
The first lapwings returning, while digging his garden.
In which month is ‘Letters From Yorkshire’ set?
February.
What is the form of ‘Letters From Yorkshire’?
Five unrhymed three-line stanzas (tercets), with enjambment between stanzas.
Which alliterative phrase describes the speaker’s news-filled life in ‘Letters From Yorkshire’?
“heartful of headlines”.
How does the last line of ‘Letters From Yorkshire’ say the two stay connected?
“our souls tap out messages” across the distance.
Who wrote ‘The Farmer’s Bride’, and when was it published?
Charlotte Mew; published in 1916.
Who is the speaker of ‘The Farmer’s Bride’?
The farmer, talking about his young wife.
What form is ‘The Farmer’s Bride’?
A dramatic monologue in rural dialect.
How long ago did the farmer marry, in ‘The Farmer’s Bride’?
Three years: “Three Summers since I chose a maid”.
What does the bride do “in the Fall”?
She runs away; she is chased, brought home and locked in.
In ‘The Farmer’s Bride’, when is the bride happy to chat and play?
With birds and rabbits, “So long as men-folk keep away.”
Complete the simile from ‘The Farmer’s Bride’: “Shy as a …”
“… leveret, swift as he”. A leveret is a young hare.
Where does the bride sleep in ‘The Farmer’s Bride’?
“up in the attic”, alone.
What is the last line of ‘The Farmer’s Bride’?
“The brown of her—her eyes, her hair, her hair!”
Who wrote ‘Walking Away’, and when was it published?
Cecil Day-Lewis; published in 1962.
Which role did Cecil Day-Lewis hold from 1968 to 1972?
Poet Laureate.
To whom is ‘Walking Away’ dedicated?
His son, Sean.
How long ago did the moment in ‘Walking Away’ happen?
Eighteen years earlier.
In ‘Walking Away’, what had the son just played?
His first game of football.
What is the form of ‘Walking Away’?
Four five-line stanzas rhyming ABACA.
Which simile in ‘Walking Away’ describes the son going off with other boys?
Like “a satellite / Wrenched from its orbit”.
According to the last line of ‘Walking Away’, what “is proved in the letting go”?
Love.
Who wrote ‘Eden Rock’?
Charles Causley (1917–2003), a Cornish poet.
What happened to Charles Causley’s father?
He died in 1924, from the effects of the First World War, when Causley was a child.
Who is waiting for the speaker in ‘Eden Rock’?
His parents, young again, having a picnic.
In ‘Eden Rock’, what are the father’s age and his dog’s name?
The father is 25; his terrier is Jack.
How old is the mother in ‘Eden Rock’?
23.
What separates the speaker from his parents in ‘Eden Rock’?
A stream: they beckon to him from the other bank.
What is the stream in ‘Eden Rock’ usually read as?
The boundary between life and death.
What does the speaker hear his parents call in ‘Eden Rock’?
“Crossing is not as hard as you might think.”
What is the one-line final stanza of ‘Eden Rock’?
“I had not thought that it would be like this.”
Who wrote ‘Follower’, and in which collection?
Seamus Heaney, in Death of a Naturalist (1966).
Where did Seamus Heaney grow up?
On a farm in County Derry, Northern Ireland.
Which prize did Seamus Heaney win in 1995?
The Nobel Prize in Literature.
What is the father doing in ‘Follower’?
Ploughing with a horse-plough.
What is the form of ‘Follower’?
Six quatrains rhyming ABAB, many with half-rhyme.
Which simile describes the father’s shoulders in ‘Follower’?
“His shoulders globed like a full sail strung”.
What did the boy in ‘Follower’ want to do when he grew up?
Plough, like his father.
In the last stanza of ‘Follower’, who follows whom?
The old father now follows the son: a role reversal.
At the end of ‘Follower’, who “keeps stumbling / Behind me, and will not go away”?
The speaker’s father, now old.
Who wrote ‘Mother, Any Distance’, and in which collection?
Simon Armitage, in Book of Matches (1993).
Which role has Simon Armitage held since 2019?
Poet Laureate.
What are the speaker and his mother doing in ‘Mother, Any Distance’?
Measuring a house he is about to move into.
Which end of the tape does the mother hold in ‘Mother, Any Distance’?
The zero end, while the son climbs with the spool.
What object is the extended metaphor for the mother–son bond in ‘Mother, Any Distance’?
The tape measure.
What is the form of ‘Mother, Any Distance’?
A loose sonnet with an extra line (15 lines).
Which two one-word sentences in ‘Mother, Any Distance’ describe mother and son?
“Anchor. Kite.”
Where does the son climb to at the end of ‘Mother, Any Distance’?
The loft, to a hatch that opens on the sky.
What are the last words of ‘Mother, Any Distance’?
“to fall or fly”.
Who wrote ‘Before You Were Mine’, and in which collection?
Carol Ann Duffy, in Mean Time (1993).
Which role did Carol Ann Duffy hold from 2009 to 2019?
Poet Laureate: the first woman to hold it.
In which city was Carol Ann Duffy born?
Glasgow.
Who is the speaker of ‘Before You Were Mine’?
A daughter imagining her mother’s life before she was born.
What is the first line of ‘Before You Were Mine’?
“I’m ten years away from the corner you laugh on”.
Which film star is the mother compared to in ‘Before You Were Mine’?
Marilyn Monroe.
Which object of her mother’s did the child play with in ‘Before You Were Mine’?
Her mother’s red high-heeled shoes.
What is the form of ‘Before You Were Mine’?
Four five-line stanzas of free verse.
Which phrase in ‘Before You Were Mine’ sums up the young mother’s hopes?
“the fizzy, movie tomorrows”.
Who wrote ‘Winter Swans’, and in which collection?
Owen Sheers, in Skirrid Hill (2005).
Where does ‘Winter Swans’ take place?
On a walk around a lake after two days of rain.
Who are the people in ‘Winter Swans’?
A couple, walking apart after a difficult time.
What is the form of ‘Winter Swans’?
Six three-line stanzas (tercets) and a final couplet.
Which fact about swans is spoken in ‘Winter Swans’?
“They mate for life”.
Which device links the weather to the couple’s relationship in ‘Winter Swans’?
Pathetic fallacy: the storm passes as they make up.
What happens to the couple’s hands at the end of ‘Winter Swans’?
They join, one folded over the other.
Which simile ends ‘Winter Swans’?
The joined hands are “like a pair of wings settling after flight”.
Who wrote ‘Singh Song!’, and in which collection?
Daljit Nagra, in Look We Have Coming to Dover! (2007).
Who is the speaker of ‘Singh Song!’?
A newly married young Sikh man who runs his father’s corner shop.
What does the speaker of ‘Singh Song!’ keep doing instead of working?
Slipping upstairs to be with his new bride.
Who complains while the speaker of ‘Singh Song!’ is upstairs?
His customers.
What kind of language does ‘Singh Song!’ use?
Phonetic Punjabi-English dialect, sometimes called Punglish.
Which pun is in the title ‘Singh Song!’?
Singh sounds like sing: a sing-song.
Where do the couple sit at the end of ‘Singh Song!’?
In the closed shop at night, looking at the moon.
How is the moon valued in the couple’s last exchange in ‘Singh Song!’?
It is “priceless baby”.
Who wrote ‘Climbing My Grandfather’?
Andrew Waterhouse (1958–2001).
In which collection was ‘Climbing My Grandfather’ published?
In (2000), winner of the Forward Prize for Best First Collection.
What extended metaphor does ‘Climbing My Grandfather’ use?
Climbing a mountain: the grandfather’s body is the mountain.
What is the form of ‘Climbing My Grandfather’?
One stanza of free verse, in the present tense.
How does the speaker decide to climb in ‘Climbing My Grandfather’?
“without a rope or net”.
Where does the climb start in ‘Climbing My Grandfather’?
At his grandfather’s shoes.
What does the speaker feel at the summit in ‘Climbing My Grandfather’?
“the slow pulse of his good heart”.
How many poems are in the Love & Relationships cluster?
15.
Name two Love & Relationships dramatic monologues in which a man controls a woman.
‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and ‘The Farmer’s Bride’.
Name two Love & Relationships poems in which a lover looks back bitterly on a relationship that ended.
‘When We Two Parted’ and ‘Neutral Tones’.
Name two Love & Relationships poems about a lover who is far away.
‘Sonnet 29’ and ‘Letters From Yorkshire’.
Name two Love & Relationships poems that use nature to express desire.
‘Love’s Philosophy’ and ‘Sonnet 29’.
Name two Love & Relationships poems in which a couple stand by water in winter.
‘Neutral Tones’ (a pond) and ‘Winter Swans’ (a lake).
Name two Love & Relationships poems about a parent letting a child go.
‘Walking Away’ and ‘Mother, Any Distance’.
Name two Love & Relationships poems in which a child remembers or imagines a parent.
‘Follower’ and ‘Before You Were Mine’ (also ‘Eden Rock’).
Which Love & Relationships poem is about a grandparent?
‘Climbing My Grandfather’.
Name two Love & Relationships poems that use a speaker’s dialect.
‘Singh Song!’ and ‘The Farmer’s Bride’.
Which two Love & Relationships poets were married to each other?
Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
Which three Love & Relationships poets have been Poet Laureate?
Cecil Day-Lewis, Carol Ann Duffy and Simon Armitage.