Unseen Poetry Practice — Quotes

10 quotes with full 6-part analysis

1
STAGNATE

What immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

RHETORICAL QUESTIONS / INTERROGATIVE FORMSEMANTIC FIELD OF FIRE AND THE FORGE

William Blake · The Tyger

2
REGRESS

the blood / Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs

VISCERAL IMAGERY / GRAPHIC BODILY HORRORDISRUPTED FORM / BROKEN SONNET

Wilfred Owen · Dulce et Decorum Est

3
PROGRESS

the small splash, echo / in a tin mug

ONOMATOPOEIA AND SONIC TEXTURERELIGIOUS LANGUAGE / THE SACRED MUNDANE

Imtiaz Dharker · Blessing

4
STAGNATE

My son would often feel sharp wounds again

EXTENDED MILITARY METAPHORRHYMING COUPLETS AND CONTROLLED FORM

Vernon Scannell · Nettles

5
PROGRESS

wha yu mean / when yu say half-caste

EXTENDED ANALOGY / REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUMPHONETIC DIALECT / LINGUISTIC RESISTANCE

John Agard · Half-Caste

6
STAGNATE

I kill where I please because it is all mine

FIRST-PERSON DRAMATIC MONOLOGUEMONOSYLLABIC DICTION AND SYNTAX

Ted Hughes · Hawk Roosting

7
PROGRESS

I rise / I rise / I rise

ANAPHORA AND REFRAINNATURAL IMAGERY OF RISING

Maya Angelou · Still I Rise

8
REGRESS

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

PERSONIFICATION OF AUTUMNSYNAESTHETIC IMAGERY / SENSORY OVERLOAD

John Keats · To Autumn

9
REGRESS

just a piece of cloth / that makes the guts of men go blind

REDUCTIVE LANGUAGE / DEFLATIONQUESTION-AND-ANSWER STRUCTURE

John Agard · Flag

10
PROGRESS

I give you an onion. / It is a moon wrapped in brown paper

EXTENDED METAPHOR / CONCEITNEGATIVE SENTENCES AND IMPERATIVES

Carol Ann Duffy · Valentine