GCSE English Literature

Section B: Poetry – Anne Hathaway

andHomecoming

MUST: Read and understand the poems Anne Hathaway and Homecoming (D)SHOULD: Annotate the poem, identifying literary devices (C )COULD: Evaluate the similarities and differences between poems studied so far

Anne Hathaway?

What do you think of…?

Anne Hathaway

Married to William Shakespeare

Lived in Shottery near Stratford-upon-Avon

Strange she is never known as Anne Shakespeare

16th Century

Had children with Shakespeare

Anne Hathaway by Carol Ann Duffy

‘Item I gyve unto my wife my second best bed…’ (from Shakespeare’s will)

The bed we loved in was a spinning world

of forests, castles, torchlight, clifftops, seas

where he would dive for pearls. My lover’s words

were shooting stars which fell to earth as kisses

on these lips; my body now a softer rhyme

to his, now echo, assonance; his touch

a verb dancing in the centre of a noun.

Some nights, I dreamed he’d written me, the bed

a page beneath his writer’s hands. Romance

and drama played by touch, by scent, by taste.

In the other bed, the best, our guests dozed on,

dribbling their prose. My living laughing love –

I hold him in the casket of my widow’s head

As he held me upon that next best bed.

The poem is written as a fourteen line sonnet (as Shakespeare used to write). However it does not follow the rhyming structure Shakespeare would employ of ababcdcdefefgg. However it does end with a rhyming couplet.

Annotate the text

What can you infer and interpret?

Anne Hathaway by Carol Ann Duffy

‘Item I gyve unto my wife my second best bed…’ (from Shakespeare’s will)

The bed we loved in was a spinning world

of forests, castles, torchlight, clifftops, seas

where he would dive for pearls. My lover’s words

were shooting stars which fell to earth as kisses

on these lips; my body now a softer rhyme

to his, now echo, assonance; his touch

a verb dancing in the centre of a noun.

Some nights, I dreamed he’d written me, the bed

a page beneath his writer’s hands. Romance

and drama played by touch, by scent, by taste.

In the other bed, the best, our guests dozed on,

dribbling their prose. My living laughing love –

I hold him in the casket of my widow’s head

As he held me upon that next best bed.

An epigraph

Immediately makes reader question

Exciting / dizzy

Enjambement throughout

Past tense reflecting death

Sibilant ‘s’ reflects fireworks

Sensory imagery

Olfactory imagery

alliteration

caesura

Rhyming couplet

Metaphor for dreams? Also use of onomatopoeia.

Describes the love making through metaphor

simile

Literary devices he used

Small box for storing valuables therefore metaphor

Their love / relationship was special / precious

Summarise what you now know about the poem:

• What is it about? (Content)

• What themes are covered?

• What tone does the poem have?

• What literary devices have been used?

• How effective is the poem for the reader?

Summarise what you now know about the poem:

• What is it about? A woman who reflects on the love shared between her and her late husband

• What themes are covered? Love, romance, dreams

• What tone does the poem have? Soft, loving, reflective

• What literary devices have been used? Enjambement, metaphor, caesura, rhyming couplet, simile, sensory imagery

• How effective is the poem for the reader?

MUST: Read and understand the poems Anne Hathaway and Homecoming(D)SHOULD: Annotate the poem, identifying literary devices (C )COULD: Evaluate the similarities and differences between poems studied so far

Homecoming?

What do you think of…?

Homecoming

ParadeWelcome

“the act of coming home” (Collins English Dictionary)

Celebration

Homecoming Queen?

Homecoming by Simon Armitage

Think, two things on their own and both at once.

The first, that exercise in trust, where those in front

stand with their arms spread wide and free-fall

backwards, blind, and those behind take all the weight.

The second, one canary-yellow cotton jacket

on a cloakroom floor, uncoupled from its hook,

becoming scuffed and blackened underfoot. Back home

the very model of a model of a mother, yours, puts

two and two together, makes a proper fist of it

and points the finger. Temper, temper. Questions

in the house. You seeing red. Blue murder. Bed.

Then midnight when you slip the latch and sneakno further than the call-box at the corner of the street;I’m waiting by the phone, although it doesn’t ringbecause it’s sixteen years or so before we’ll meet.Retrace that walk towards the garden gate; in silhouettea father figure waits there, wants to set things straight.

These ribs are pleats or seams. These arms are sleeves.These fingertips are buttons, or these hands can foldinto a clasp, or else these fingers make a zipor buckle, you say which. Step backwards into itand try the same canary-yellow cotton jacket, there,like this, for size again. It still fits.

Think, two things on their own and both at once.

The first, that exercise in trust, where those in front

stand with their arms spread wide and free-fall

backwards, blind, and those behind take all the weight.

Imperative verb

Internal rhymeWord left at the backwards end of the line alliteration

Try to consider issues from many different perspectives to gain perspective yourself

The second, one canary-yellow cotton jacket

on a cloakroom floor, uncoupled from its hook,

becoming scuffed and blackened underfoot. Back home

the very model of a model of a mother, yours, puts

two and two together, makes a proper fist of it

and points the finger. Temper, temper. Questions

in the house. You seeing red. Blue murder. Bed.

Juxtapositioning of colours through colour imagery

Appears to have lost its ‘safety’ features

Repetition for effect – does it hint at sarcasm?

Wrong assumptions / unfair nature of growing up and teenage years?

Repetition for effect / sarcasm again? / Antagonising situation?

Imperative verb. Order given by parent. Short sentence for effect.

Then midnight when you slip the latch and sneak

no further than the call-box at the corner of the street;

I’m waiting by the phone, although it doesn’t ring

because it’s sixteen years or so before we’ll meet.

Retrace that walk towards the garden gate; in silhouette

a father figure waits there, wants to set things straight.

Stereotypical teenage activity

Dark imagery suggests fearful character

Alliteration – note use of word ‘figure’ suggests not natural father?

What things? Reader is intrigued.

How will things be set straight? For the character’s benefit or through violence?

Harsh sounding alliteration echoes sound of gate?

These ribs are pleats or seams. These arms are sleeves.

These fingertips are buttons, or these hands can fold

into a clasp, or else these fingers make a zip

or buckle, you say which. Step backwards into it

and try the same canary-yellow cotton jacket, there,

like this, for size again. It still fits.

Jacket as extended metaphor for support mechanism (husband?)

You still have the support – it will always be there.

Speaker happy to be dictated to – shows speaker can be trusted

Summarise what you now know about the poem:

• What is it about? (Content)

• What themes are covered?

• What tone does the poem have?

• What literary devices have been used?

• How effective is the poem for the reader?

Summarise what you now know about the poem:

• What is it about? Unsure – about trust and support and how a husband? is there for his wife?

• What themes are covered? Trust, Relationships, Family, Arguments

• What tone does the poem have? Supportive, Calming, Observational

• What literary devices have been used? Enjambement, metaphor, extended metaphor, colour imagery

• How effective is the poem for the reader?