The Man He Killed:
This poem is very interesting. It turns out that they don’t want to kill each other but because they are at war with each other’s country. One of them says “you’d treat if met where any bar is or help to half-a-crown. He is saying if I met you in any other circumstances I would take you to a bar and buy you a pint.
My Last Duchess:
She is very very jealous, in fact she is so jealous that she wants to poison he and watch he die very slowly. She makes the poison sound like something that is rich and luxurious.
Salome:
There is some alliteration on line 18-19 where the sound of maid’s clanging makes Salome happy. Throughout the poem the tone of it makes the poem sound like a young girl who is spoiled and self-indulgent. In this poem there are quite a few clichés e.g. “and ain’t life a bitch”.
Hitcher:
In this poem the first stanza has some typical rhymes which bind’s the poem together – “tired”, “fired”, “hired”. Can you see the effect of this? He is tired and then his boss threatens to fire him then he hires a Vauxhall Astra. A lot of cliché’s are used in this poems here are some examples “The truth he said was blowin’ in the wind, or around the next bend”. “he’d said he liked the breeze to run its fingers/ through his hair”.
The Man He Killed:
There are colloquialisms such as “off-hand like” which provide an earthy realism along with the rough sounding meter.
The Laboratory:
This poem uses consolation irony. It also uses some alliteration here is an example “Grind away, moisten and mash up thy paste” and here is another example “Brand, burn up, bite into its grace-“. It also has some ambiguity in it here is an example “If it hurts her, beside, can it ever hurt me?”.
Salome:
The first verse describes how she is trying to figure out whose head is on the pillow next to here. The second verse describes how she started to feel less “hangover” when the maid rough in her breakfast. The third verse discusses how she is trying to dissolve the life of “… the booze and the fags and the sex”. Then she decides to “turf out the blighter from her bed”.
Hitcher:
This poem has five stanzas and a regular five line shape with the third line being the longest in all of them. If you look at each third line you will see some sort of a pattern occurring. The shape of the stanza is very interesting.
The Man He Killed:
This poem has a simple but formal structure of five short stanzas all rhyming ABAB. The last tow stanzas remind the men that they could be friends if they met in any other situation. Stanza’s two and three: set out the qualifying circumstances that change everything for the men’s fate: they are soldiers in opposing armies and therefore enemies.
The laboratory:
The title in this poem gives us a big hint on where the scene takes place. The speaker is a woman; she takes a lot of pleasure watching the procedure. In the second verse we cab see why the woman wanted revenge, she wanted revenge because the speaker has been betrayed by her lover. In verse three she watches the apothecary at work and is fascinated by what he is doing. She is in no hurry. She takes pleasure in the preparation. This is better than dancing in the kings palace.
