‘The Manhunt (Laura’s Poem)’ by Simon Armitage explores the impact of the experience of war on a soldier, and in turn his relationship with his wife, and his ability to connect with others. Armitage is a Yorkshire-born poet whose early… Continue Reading →
Use these John Keats context notes to help develop your understanding of Keats’s life and the way this influenced his work. As with any poet, life experiences and events undoubtedly shape their perspective of the world and therefore the work… Continue Reading →
Ambiguity is an idea or situation that can be understood or interpreted in multiple ways. This concept includes ambiguous sentences, and ambiguous storylines and arguments – teachers may even have written that your essay points are ‘too ambiguous’! It is often… Continue Reading →
Sibilance is a device in which a hissing “s” sound is created as a result of using repeated soft consonants. It is a specific type of alliteration. While most frequently created by the use of ‘s’, it is also effective… Continue Reading →
Personification is a technique in which human characteristics are applied to inanimate, non-living objects. This is typically achieved through the use of a metaphor. These characteristics often include specific feelings or emotions. Why use Personification? Creating Empathy: The use of personification… Continue Reading →
Onomatopoeia is where a word’s pronunciation is used to imitate sounds, specifically the sound that it describes (e.g. “bang”). This technique can sometimes be confused with interjections. An interjection, as the name suggests, is when speech is inserted as a a… Continue Reading →
Bathos is the effect created when a considered or serious subject matter descends into the trivial or silly. These sudden transitions are often very anti-climactic, and often are used to progress or transition into a more humorous subject matter. The… Continue Reading →
‘Ode to a Nightingale’ is a poem by John Keats in which emotions such as sadness and despair are explored, along with ideas related to transience and the passage of time. Keats is an extremely well known and highly regarded… Continue Reading →
‘Talking in Bed’ is a poem by Philip Larkin, which was published in 1964. The poem takes the everyday occurrence of two people lying in bed together, and then explores a whole range of thoughts and emotions associated with relationships. Larkin… Continue Reading →
