Poetry Anthology (First Exam 2027) (WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Literature): Flashcards
Exam code: C720
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- FrontThe Schoolboy
Fill in the gap: "I love to rise in a summer ＿＿＿＿＿"
Blake
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Cards in this collection (147)
Fill in the gap: "I love to rise in a summer ＿＿＿＿＿"
Blake
Answer: "I love to rise in a summer morn"
Fill in the gap: "the ＿＿＿＿＿ sings with me"
Blake
Answer: "the sky-lark sings with me"
Fill in the gap: "Under a ＿＿＿＿＿ eye outworn"
Blake
Answer: "Under a cruel eye outworn"
Fill in the gap: "But droop his tender ＿＿＿＿＿"
Blake
Answer: "But droop his tender wing"
Key quote: "But to go to school in a summer morn, / O! it drives all joy away"
Blake
Analysis
This is the volta, the turning point where the mood shifts. School drives away the joy the boy felt in nature.
Key quote: "And spend many an anxious hour"
Blake
Analysis
The tone of dread shows how the school day fills the boy with boredom and anxiety.
Key quote: "How can the bird that is born for joy, / Sit in a cage and sing"
Blake
Analysis
The rhetorical question and the metaphor of a caged bird present school as a kind of imprisonment that traps the child.
Key quote: "if buds are nip’d, / And blossoms blown away"
Blake
Analysis
The plant metaphor suggests a child's potential is cut short before it can grow, just as buds are nipped before they flower.
Key quote: "tender plants are strip’d / Of their joy"
Blake
Analysis
The extended metaphor of growing plants shows how repression damages a child and strips away their natural happiness.
Key quote: "When the blasts of winter appear"
Blake
Analysis
The symbolism of winter suggests a bleak adulthood, the cold result of a childhood whose joy was destroyed.
Fill in the gap: "I wandered ＿＿＿＿＿ as a cloud"
Wordsworth
Answer: "I wandered lonely as a cloud"
Fill in the gap: "A host, of golden ＿＿＿＿＿"
Wordsworth
Answer: "A host, of golden daffodils"
Fill in the gap: "Fluttering and ＿＿＿＿＿ in the breeze"
Wordsworth
Answer: "Fluttering and dancing in the breeze"
Fill in the gap: "What ＿＿＿＿＿ the show to me had brought"
Wordsworth
Answer: "What wealth the show to me had brought"
Key quote: "Continuous as the stars that shine"
Wordsworth
Analysis
The simile comparing the daffodils to stars shows nature's abundance and how endless and plentiful the scene feels.
Key quote: "They stretched in never-ending line"
Wordsworth
Analysis
The hyperbole of a "never-ending line" suggests the vast, expansive natural world stretching far beyond the speaker.
Key quote: "Tossing their heads in sprightly dance"
Wordsworth
Analysis
The personification of the daffodils tossing their heads shows the liveliness and energy of nature.
Key quote: "A poet could not but be gay, / In such a jocund company"
Wordsworth
Analysis
The joyful diction ("gay", "jocund") shows how nature lifts the spirits and brings the speaker happiness.
Key quote: "They flash upon that inward eye / Which is the bliss of solitude"
Wordsworth
Analysis
The "inward eye" of introspection shows how recollected nature returns to comfort the speaker in quiet moments.
Key quote: "And dances with the daffodils"
Wordsworth
Analysis
The closing resolution shows how memory restores the speaker's joy long after the moment has passed.
Fill in the gap: "I ＿＿＿＿＿ of thee!"
Barrett Browning
Answer: "I think of thee!"
Fill in the gap: "O my ＿＿＿＿＿"
Barrett Browning
Answer: "O my palm-tree"
Fill in the gap: "Rustle thy boughs and set thy ＿＿＿＿＿ all bare"
Barrett Browning
Answer: "Rustle thy boughs and set thy trunk all bare"
Key quote: "my thoughts do twine and bud / About thee, as wild vines, about a tree"
Barrett Browning
Analysis
The extended metaphor of climbing vines shows how the speaker's thoughts grow and wrap around her absent lover. It suggests her longing is uncontrollable and all-consuming.
Key quote: "Put out broad leaves, and soon there's nought to see"
Barrett Browning
Analysis
The natural imagery of leaves spreading shows how her thoughts multiply until they hide the real person. It suggests that obsessive longing can blind us to the loved one themselves.
Key quote: "I will not have my thoughts instead of thee"
Barrett Browning
Analysis
This line marks the volta, where the speaker rejects her own daydreams. She insists she wants his real presence, not just the fantasy of him.
Key quote: "Drop heavily down,—burst, shattered, everywhere!"
Barrett Browning
Analysis
The caesura and exclamation create a sudden climax as the imagined vines fall away. The violent verbs suggest an overwhelming release of desire.
Key quote: "in this deep joy to see and hear thee"
Barrett Browning
Analysis
The sensory language of seeing and hearing shows the joy of being physically close. It suggests real presence is far more satisfying than imagination.
Key quote: "I do not think of thee—I am too near thee"
Barrett Browning
Analysis
The final line resolves the poem: the speaker no longer needs to imagine him because he is present. It shows that real closeness satisfies the longing the sonnet began with.
Fill in the gap: "I was a cottage ＿＿＿＿＿"
Rossetti
Answer: "I was a cottage maiden"
Fill in the gap: "He ＿＿＿＿＿ me to his palace home"
Rossetti
Answer: "He lured me to his palace home"
Fill in the gap: "a shameless ＿＿＿＿＿ life"
Rossetti
Answer: "a shameless shameful life"
Fill in the gap: "Chose you, and ＿＿＿＿＿ me by"
Rossetti
Answer: "Chose you, and cast me by"
Key quote: "Why did a great lord find me out"
Rossetti
Analysis
The rhetorical question shows the speaker's confusion and pain. It presents the nobleman as a predatory figure who singled her out and exploited her.
Key quote: "He wore me like a silken knot, / He changed me like a glove"
Rossetti
Analysis
The similes show how the lord treated the speaker as an object. He used her for display and then discarded her like an item of clothing.
Key quote: "an unclean thing, / Who might have been a dove"
Rossetti
Analysis
The dove is a metaphor for purity and innocence. It shows the speaker mourning the pure life she could have had before she was ruined.
Key quote: "Even so I sit and howl in dust, / You sit in gold and sing"
Rossetti
Analysis
The contrast between "dust" and "gold" shows the unequal outcomes of the two women. It highlights the inequality created by the lord's choices.
Key quote: "Your love was writ in sand"
Rossetti
Analysis
The metaphor of writing in sand shows that Kate's love was shallow and easily washed away. It suggests her love was insincere compared to the speaker's true feelings.
Key quote: "My fair-haired son, my shame, my pride"
Rossetti
Analysis
The contrast of "shame" and "pride" shows the speaker's conflicted feelings. Her son is both a mark of her ruin and her bitter victory over Kate.
Fill in the gap: "They ＿＿＿＿＿ in Drummer Hodge, to rest"
Hardy
Answer: "They throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest"
Fill in the gap: "＿＿＿＿＿ — just as found"
Hardy
Answer: "Uncoffined — just as found"
Fill in the gap: "And foreign constellations ＿＿＿＿＿"
Hardy
Answer: "And foreign constellations west"
Key quote: "His landmark is a kopje-crest"
Hardy
Analysis
The Afrikaans diction ("kopje-crest") shows how far Hodge is from home and emphasises his geographical displacement in an unfamiliar land.
Key quote: "Fresh from his Wessex home"
Hardy
Analysis
The contrast between home and abroad reminds us Hodge is a young soldier sent far from the safety of his English home.
Key quote: "And why uprose to nightly view / Strange stars amid the gloam"
Hardy
Analysis
The repeated strangeness of the night sky shows Hodge's confusion and isolation in a place he never understood.
Key quote: "Yet portion of that unknown plain / Will Hodge for ever be"
Hardy
Analysis
The tone shift ("Yet") suggests his body is absorbed into the foreign earth, becoming a permanent part of the land that killed him.
Key quote: "His homely Northern breast and brain / Grow up some Southern tree"
Hardy
Analysis
The juxtaposition of "Northern" and "Southern" shows Hodge returning to nature, his remains feeding new life in the foreign soil.
Key quote: "His stars eternally"
Hardy
Analysis
The possessive "His" suggests the once-strange stars now belong to Hodge, as he is reclaimed by the universe in death.
Fill in the gap: "I shall ＿＿＿＿＿ again; I shall return"
McKay
Answer: "I shall return again; I shall return"
Fill in the gap: "I shall return to ＿＿＿＿＿ by the streams"
McKay
Answer: "I shall return to loiter by the streams"
Fill in the gap: "the fiddle and ＿＿＿＿＿ / Of village dances"
McKay
Answer: "the fiddle and fife / Of village dances"
Key quote: "To laugh and love and watch with wonder-eyes"
McKay
Analysis
The alliteration of the soft 'l' sounds shows the speaker's joy at the thought of returning home. It makes the memory of his homeland feel warm and full of love.
Key quote: "the forest fires burn, / Wafting their blue-black smoke to sapphire skies"
McKay
Analysis
The vivid colour imagery of "blue-black" and "sapphire" paints the homeland as a beautiful, vibrant landscape. It suggests how precious and alive the place feels in his memory.
Key quote: "bathe the brown blades of the bending grasses"
McKay
Analysis
The alliteration of the 'b' sound and the gentle movement of the "bending grasses" bring the natural world to life. It shows the speaker's deep love for the living landscape of home.
Key quote: "realize once more my thousand dreams"
McKay
Analysis
The hyperbole of "thousand dreams" shows how much hope the speaker ties to returning home. It suggests the homeland holds all his deepest longings.
Key quote: "Stray melodies of dim remembered runes"
McKay
Analysis
The mystical diction of "dim remembered runes" suggests the speaker's cultural memory is fading. It shows how distance and time have weakened his connection to home.
Key quote: "To ease my mind of long, long years of pain"
McKay
Analysis
The closing couplet presents the return home as a kind of healing. The repetition of "long, long" stresses how much the speaker has suffered while away.
Fill in the gap: "He sat in a ＿＿＿＿＿ chair, waiting for dark"
Owen
Answer: "He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark"
Fill in the gap: "his ghastly suit of ＿＿＿＿＿"
Owen
Answer: "his ghastly suit of grey"
Fill in the gap: "＿＿＿＿＿, sewn short at elbow"
Owen
Answer: "Legless, sewn short at elbow"
Fill in the gap: "before he threw away his ＿＿＿＿＿"
Owen
Answer: "before he threw away his knees"
Key quote: "Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn"
Owen
Analysis
The simile comparing the boys' voices to a hymn shows what the soldier has lost. It reminds him of his own lost youth and the carefree life he can no longer share.
Key quote: "All of them touch him like some queer disease"
Owen
Analysis
The simile suggests women now avoid him as if he were infectious. It shows his rejection and isolation after being disabled.
Key quote: "And leap of purple spurted from his thigh"
Owen
Analysis
The violent colour imagery of purple blood spurting captures the horror of his injury. The word "leap" makes the wound feel sudden and shocking.
Key quote: "Someone had said he'd look a god in kilts"
Owen
Analysis
The irony here is bitter, as looking like a god leads to him losing his body. It shows the shallow reasons that pushed young men to enlist.
Key quote: "Smiling they wrote his lie; aged nineteen years"
Owen
Analysis
The irony of the smiling recruiters shows their complicity in letting an underage boy lie about his age to enlist.
Key quote: "Why don't they come / And put him into bed? Why don't they come?"
Owen
Analysis
The anaphora in the repeated question shows his desperation and dependence on others. He can no longer care for himself.
Fill in the gap: "I have a ＿＿＿＿＿ I took in Bombay"
Ghose
Answer: "I have a picture I took in Bombay"
Fill in the gap: "a ＿＿＿＿＿ asleep on the pavement"
Ghose
Answer: "a beggar asleep on the pavement"
Fill in the gap: "indifferent to this very common ＿＿＿＿＿"
Ghose
Answer: "indifferent to this very common sight"
Fill in the gap: "he lies veined into stone, a ＿＿＿＿＿ man"
Ghose
Answer: "he lies veined into stone, a fossil man"
Key quote: "his shadow thrown aside like a blanket"
Ghose
Analysis
The simile compares the man's shadow to a discarded blanket, showing how he has been treated like an unwanted object.
Key quote: "His arms and legs could be cracks in the stone"
Ghose
Analysis
The metaphor blurs the man into the pavement, suggesting he has lost his individual identity and become part of the landscape.
Key quote: "he lies veined into stone, a fossil man"
Ghose
Analysis
The metaphor of a "fossil man" suggests decay and a loss of humanity, as if the beggar is no longer fully alive.
Key quote: "I thought it then a good composition"
Ghose
Analysis
The irony here shows the speaker's earlier arrogance, treating real suffering as a pleasing picture rather than a person in need.
Key quote: "glibly called it 'The Man in the Street'"
Ghose
Analysis
The tone of "glibly" reveals the speaker's careless attitude, reducing a suffering man to a clever title.
Key quote: "presumption at attempting to compose / art of his hunger and solitude"
Ghose
Analysis
The closing lines question the ethics of turning someone's hunger and solitude into art, as the speaker admits his own guilt.
Fill in the gap: "I can ＿＿＿＿＿ you, child"
Clarke
Answer: "I can remember you, child"
Fill in the gap: "a hot, white / ＿＿＿＿＿"
Clarke
Answer: "a hot, white / Room"
Fill in the gap: "the wild, ＿＿＿＿＿ circles"
Clarke
Answer: "the wild, tender circles"
Fill in the gap: "your rosy, / ＿＿＿＿＿ glare"
Clarke
Answer: "your rosy, / Defiant glare"
Key quote: "our first / Fierce confrontation"
Clarke
Analysis
The metaphor of childbirth as a battle shows that the mother and child's bond is born from conflict as well as love.
Key quote: "the tight / Red rope of love"
Clarke
Analysis
The umbilical cord becomes a metaphor for a bond that both connects and restrains, suggesting love can feel like a restriction.
Key quote: "We want, we shouted, / To be two, to be ourselves"
Clarke
Analysis
The repetition of "to be" stresses the shared struggle of mother and daughter to separate and become individuals with their own identity.
Key quote: "Still I am fighting / You off"
Clarke
Analysis
The present tense shows that the conflict between mother and daughter is ongoing, lasting long after the birth.
Key quote: "that old rope, / Tightening about my life"
Clarke
Analysis
The extended metaphor of the rope returns to show that the mother still feels love as a tie that limits her freedom.
Key quote: "Trailing love and conflict"
Clarke
Analysis
The juxtaposition of "love" and "conflict" captures the dual nature of the mother-daughter relationship, which holds both feelings at once.
Fill in the gap: "a glossy purple ＿＿＿＿＿"
Heaney
Answer: "a glossy purple clot"
Fill in the gap: "summer's ＿＿＿＿＿ was in it"
Heaney
Answer: "summer's blood was in it"
Fill in the gap: "and ＿＿＿＿＿ for / Picking"
Heaney
Answer: "and lust for / Picking"
Fill in the gap: "our palms sticky as ＿＿＿＿＿"
Heaney
Answer: "our palms sticky as Bluebeard's"
Key quote: "briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots"
Heaney
Analysis
The sensory detail of scratching briars and soaking grass shows the picking takes effort. Nature feels hostile, hinting that the children's greed has a cost.
Key quote: "Like a plate of eyes"
Heaney
Analysis
The simile makes the berries seem to stare back at the children. This suggests a sense of guilt at plundering nature.
Key quote: "A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache"
Heaney
Analysis
The grotesque imagery of the greedy fungus shows the berries rotting. It reflects the wider theme of decay that spoils the children's hoard.
Key quote: "the sweet flesh would turn sour"
Heaney
Analysis
The metaphor turns sweet fruit into something spoiled. This shows that pleasure is fleeting and cannot be kept.
Key quote: "I always felt like crying. It wasn't fair"
Heaney
Analysis
The caesura after "crying" gives a pause that mirrors childhood sorrow. The simple words capture a child's sense of unfairness.
Key quote: "Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not"
Heaney
Analysis
The resigned tone shows the speaker already knows the berries will rot. This reflects the inevitability of decay and loss.
Fill in the gap: "spools of ＿＿＿＿＿"
Duffy
Answer: "spools of suffering"
Fill in the gap: "a half-formed ＿＿＿＿＿"
Duffy
Answer: "a half-formed ghost"
Fill in the gap: "his hands, which did not ＿＿＿＿＿ then"
Duffy
Answer: "his hands, which did not tremble then"
Fill in the gap: "he earns his living and they do not ＿＿＿＿＿"
Duffy
Answer: "he earns his living and they do not care"
Key quote: "as though this were a church and he / a priest preparing to intone a Mass"
Duffy
Analysis
The religious simile shows the photographer treating his work with quiet, ritual care, suggesting it is solemn and sacred.
Key quote: "Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass"
Duffy
Analysis
The list of war zones shows suffering is global, while the biblical allusion "All flesh is grass" reminds us that human life is fragile and temporary.
Key quote: "to ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel"
Duffy
Analysis
The contrast between England's trivial troubles and the horrors abroad shows how sheltered and unaware people at home are.
Key quote: "of running children in a nightmare heat"
Duffy
Analysis
The disturbing imagery shows how war destroys the innocent, with children forced to flee from violence.
Key quote: "how the blood stained into foreign dust"
Duffy
Analysis
The vivid imagery makes a distant death feel haunting and real, showing the photographer cannot forget what he has witnessed.
Key quote: "between the bath and pre-lunch beers"
Duffy
Analysis
The drop into trivial domestic detail is bathos, showing how quickly the reader's sympathy fades amid comfortable everyday routines.
Fill in the gap: "imagining the worst that could ＿＿＿＿＿"
Kay
Answer: "imagining the worst that could happen"
Fill in the gap: "some disaster. ＿＿＿＿＿"
Kay
Answer: "some disaster. Sirens"
Fill in the gap: "Come on, ＿＿＿＿＿ you, ring me. Or else. What?"
Kay
Answer: "Come on, damn you, ring me. Or else. What?"
Fill in the gap: "I don't ＿＿＿＿＿ what."
Kay
Answer: "I don't know what."
Key quote: "The future is a long gloved hand. An empty cup"
Kay
Analysis
The contrasting metaphors set hope against absence, showing how the speaker swings between imagining connection and feeling abandoned.
Key quote: "don't mention love. I try. It doesn't work"
Kay
Analysis
The short clauses show the speaker struggling to obey, suggesting a power imbalance in which the lover controls the relationship.
Key quote: "I assault the postman for a letter"
Kay
Analysis
The hyperbole of attacking the postman shows the speaker's desperation for any sign of contact.
Key quote: "Silver service. I polish it. I dress for it"
Kay
Analysis
By 'dusting' and tending the phone, the speaker turns waiting into an obsessive ritual, enacting the poem's title and her fixation on the call.
Key quote: "Your voice disappears into my lonely cotton sheets"
Kay
Analysis
The personification of the voice fading into empty sheets emphasises the speaker's isolation and longing for the absent lover.
Key quote: "I am trapped in it. I can't move. I want you"
Kay
Analysis
The prison metaphor conveys how waiting becomes a kind of psychological imprisonment, leaving the speaker unable to act.
Fill in the gap: "a flask of water, a samurai ＿＿＿＿＿"
Garland
Answer: "a flask of water, a samurai sword"
Fill in the gap: "strung out like ＿＿＿＿＿"
Garland
Answer: "strung out like bunting"
Fill in the gap: "like a huge ＿＿＿＿＿ waved"
Garland
Answer: "like a huge flag waved"
Fill in the gap: "the dark ＿＿＿＿＿ of fishes"
Garland
Answer: "the dark shoals of fishes"
Key quote: "a one-way / journey into history"
Garland
Analysis
The euphemism softens the reality of the pilot's death, presenting his suicide mission as a glorious sacrifice that will be remembered.
Key quote: "a tuna, the dark prince, muscular, dangerous"
Garland
Analysis
The metaphor shows real power and majesty in the natural world rather than in military glory, hinting at what the father is choosing to live for.
Key quote: "my mother never spoke again / in his presence"
Garland
Analysis
This shocking response shows the family's shame at his return; her silence becomes a form of punishment for the dishonour he has brought.
Key quote: "they treated him / as though he no longer existed"
Garland
Analysis
The community's ostracism is a kind of social death, suggesting that to survive in dishonour is treated as worse than dying for the mission.
Key quote: "no longer the father we loved"
Garland
Analysis
The first person plural shows even the children come to reject him, deepening his isolation within his own home.
Key quote: "which had been the better way to die"
Garland
Analysis
The ambiguous ending suggests his survival was a kind of metaphorical death, leaving the reader to question whether living in shame was worse than dying.
Fill in the gap: "probably armed, possibly ＿＿＿＿＿"
Armitage
Answer: "probably armed, possibly not"
Fill in the gap: "＿＿＿＿＿ of story, except not really"
Armitage
Answer: "End of story, except not really"
Fill in the gap: "dug in behind ＿＿＿＿＿ lines"
Armitage
Answer: "dug in behind enemy lines"
Fill in the gap: "sort of ＿＿＿＿＿ out"
Armitage
Answer: "sort of inside out"
Key quote: "I see every round as it rips through his life"
Armitage
Analysis
The violent verb "rips" and the enjambment that carries the line forward create vivid, unflinching imagery of the moment of killing, fixing the trauma in the speaker's memory.
Key quote: "his bloody life in my bloody hands"
Armitage
Analysis
The double meaning of "bloody" works as both literal blood and a sign of moral guilt, showing that the speaker feels personally responsible for the death.
Key quote: "he's here in my head when I close my eyes"
Armitage
Analysis
The flashback shows that the dead man cannot be escaped, suggesting the lasting trauma of war stays with the speaker even at rest.
Key quote: "the drink and the drugs won't flush him out"
Armitage
Analysis
The colloquial language and the failure of drink and drugs to "flush him out" show that the speaker cannot escape his PTSD, no matter what he tries.
Key quote: "His blood-shadow stays on the street"
Armitage
Analysis
The metaphor of a "blood-shadow" that "stays" suggests a permanent psychological stain, a mark of guilt the speaker can never wash away.
Key quote: "in some distant, sun-stunned, sand-smothered land"
Armitage
Analysis
The sibilance in "sun-stunned, sand-smothered" evokes the distant warzone and shows how its trauma still reaches the speaker back at home.
Fill in the gap: "This is ＿＿＿＿＿"
Ewing
Answer: "This is true"
Fill in the gap: "all thick glass and ＿＿＿＿＿ puff"
Ewing
Answer: "all thick glass and afro puff"
Fill in the gap: "all ＿＿＿＿＿ and soft eye"
Ewing
Answer: "all sleeveless and soft eye"
Fill in the gap: "love is ＿＿＿＿＿"
Ewing
Answer: "love is paper"
Key quote: "and drew comic books / like this one, for sale. one dollar."
Ewing
Analysis
The comic book is a motif that runs through the poem. It is the object that first brings the parents together, so it becomes the origin of the speaker's whole story.
Key quote: "love is like a comic book. it's fragile"
Ewing
Analysis
The simile compares love to a comic book to show how fragile it is. Like paper, love is easily damaged and needs care to survive.
Key quote: "and the best we can do is protect it / in whatever clumsy ways we can"
Ewing
Analysis
The first person plural "we" makes this feel true of everyone. It admits that human love is imperfect, but suggests we still try our best to protect it.
Key quote: "it was curled into a back pocket for a day at the park"
Ewing
Analysis
The imagery of a comic stuffed in a back pocket shows a love that is treasured but handled carelessly. It feels real and lived-in rather than carefully preserved.
Key quote: "memorized, mishandled, worn thin, staples rusted."
Ewing
Analysis
The list of past-tense verbs traces a marriage wearing out over time. The love is damaged, yet "memorized" shows it was still loved and known by heart.
Key quote: "a love like that doesn't last / but it has a good ending."
Ewing
Analysis
The resolution accepts that the parents' love did not last. The "good ending" is the speaker herself, the child who came from that brief love.
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