Week 1 - Theoretical

Not at Home’ Robert Graves and ‘Dewonshire Street W. I’ John BetjemanWhat do you feel when you first read the poems? Do you form an opinion about the persona speaking? What kind of person is the speaker? Can you figure out the poetic devices employed in the poems? What are their function? What makes you think that the poems are tragic, ironic, etc.? Do you feel a yearning for the past? What would you wish if you were in such a situation?

Week 2 - Theoretical

‘Musée des Beaux Arts’ W. H. Auden and ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ Wilfred Owen What does the speaker in each poem speak about? Are the personae in these two poems equally sentimental? How about the tones of the poems? Are they ironic or playful? Can you summarise these two poems? What poetic devices are used in these poems? Can you explain their function?

Week 3 - Theoretical

‘Growing Old’ Matthew Arnold and ‘A Dream within a Dream’ Edgar Allan PoeWhat does each speaker in the poems complain about? How are their responses to the passage of time? Are they ‘resigned’ or ‘sorry’? Figure out the poetic devices used in the poems and explain their functions. How would you define the concept of time, if you were to write a poem about time?

Week 4 - Theoretical

‘Miss Gee’ W.H. Auden and ‘My Picture Left in Scotland’ Ben JonsonWhat do you think of the speakers in these poems? Are they sentimental or callous or what? Do these poems seem to be real life experiences or events that may happen to anyone? Do you sympathise with the character in the poem ,‘Miss Gee’? Explain the poems and try to find out connections with the previous poems we have studied.

Week 5 - Theoretical

The Horses’ Edwin Muir and ‘The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner’ Randall JarrellWhat do you think of ‘war’? Muir talks about a future nuclear war and Jarrell his real life experience in World War II, how does each speaker create a setting of war image and human situation in or aftermath of war? What do you think about ‘horses’ and ‘fighter planes’ in one of which Jarrell actually fought? Can you figure out the imagery depicting ‘safety’ and ‘insecurity’?

Week 6 - Theoretical

‘Lollocks’ Robert Graves and ‘Chimney Sweeper’ William BlakeSuppose you were to tell children a little story, which poem would you choose? and why? Lollocks are imaginary beings improvised by Graves. What is the aim of poem titled ‘Lollocks’? What is the aim of Blake in ‘Chimney Sweeper’? Do you think that such a job practised by children? Explain ‘the Cimney Sweeper’ in terms of ‘religious ideology’ and ‘imagery’.

Week 7 - Theoretical

‘A Song’ Francis Ledwidge and ‘The Laboratory’ Robert Browning What do you think of the lovers in these two poems? Are they sane? What sort of attitude would you develop towards them? Would you hate or sympatise? What makes them behave so? Can jealousy be an explanation for their deeds? What would you do if you were in such a situation?

Week 8 - Theoretical

Poem Examination on Demand

Week 9 - Theoretical

‘The Modern Abraham’ Osbert Sitwell and ‘The Parable of Old Man and the Young’ Wilfred Owen. What do the poets allude to in these poems? What do you think of war and its supporters? Are soldiers simply ‘duty performers’ or just ‘victims’ like any other civilian? How does each poet achieve his critical tone? Is the persona in ‘The Modern Abraham’ sincere? How do you find Owen’s tone in ‘The Parable of Old Man and the Young’? Why did Owen write his poem in the form of a ‘sonnet’ rather than in any other poetic form? (Form vs content?)

Week 10 - Theoretical

What do you think about the tone of the poem? Realistic or humorous? Do you think there is unconditional devotion? Is this humorous or didactic poem? Do you sympathise with the dead and get angry with the lover? If you were to lose somebody you love, what would you do? What do you think of the dog? Is there a ‘sarcastic’ tone in Hardy?

Week 11 - Theoretical

“Miniver Cheevy” Edwin Arlington Robinson

Week 12 - Theoretical

‘The Suicide’ Louis MacNeice and ‘Suicide in the Trenches’ Siegfried Sassoon

Week 13 - Theoretical

‘The Convergence of the Twain’ Thomas Hardy, ‘The Self-Unseeing’ Thomas Hardy and ‘Not Waving but Drowning’ Stevie Smith

Week 14 - Theoretical

Poem Examination on Demand