Please Hold themes-

• Limitations and frustrations of technology.

• Humanity vs AI.

• Relationships

Please Hold summary-

• Talking to a robot on the phone.

• The Robot does not understand or meet needs.

• Get frustrated.

• Wife becomes like the robot.

Please hold terms-

• Satirical- sarcasm.

• Parallelism.

• Paratactic, no conjunction between clauses.

• Free verse.

• Epistrophe- repetition of word at end of successive clauses.

• diacope- repeating words/ clauses, “to be or not to be”

Genetics themes-

• Family and inheritance.

• Marriage and relationships.

• Identity and new beginnings.

• Genetics.

Genetics summary-

• Happy that they are a combination of their parents traits.

• Parents now live far apart- divorce.

• Imagines parent’s wedding.

• Addresses their own partner, asks to have kids- healing/ desire to pass on genetics.

Genetics terms-

• Caesura.

• Iambic pentameter- heartbeat- broken on first and second line.

• Diacope.

• Metaphor.

• Villanelle- first/ third line repeated at end of following stanzas.

• Asyndeton.

TMNYOS themes-

• Joy and the innocence of childhood.

• Freedom/ hope

• dangers of society.

TMNYOS summary-

• Adult women asks her 9-year old self to forgive her.

• Tells younger self to appreciate time.

• Refers to childhood dream.

• Reflects that she has nothing in common with her young self.

• Doesn’t tell her something negative as doesn’t want to taint young self.

TMNYOS terms-

• Hypallage (scared lanes)

• Dramatic monologue.

• Anaphora- RPT of words at beginning of sentences.

• Enjambement.

• End-stops.

TMNYOS symbols-

• White paper- innocence youth and potential.

• Rope swing- happiness/ exuberance of childhood.

• Summer- growth, warmth. Younger self metaphorically embraces living fully.

An easy passage themes-

• Adolescence vs adulthood.

• Joy/ girlhood.

• Freedom vs conformity.

An easy passage terms-

• imagery

• caesura

• consonance

• Ext metaphor (passage)

An easy passage summary-

• Passage = transition from teenage to adult.

• House = comforting world of childhood she wants to be in.

• Girl is climbing the roof of her house with her friends.

• Girls are far away from the adult workers- who are bored.

• Successfully climbs into house.

On her blindness themes-

• Loss, pain, helplessness.

• Disability, stoicism and suffering.

• Perspective of death.

On her blindness summary-

• Poem speaker remembers that his mother hated being blind.

• He discusses that lots of people make disabled people seem like heroes and ignore their suffering.

• He mentions how his mother always tried to ignore her blindness, even dangerously so.

• Ends in her funeral where she can finally not pretend to see, in hospital she said that she was glad to die.

On her blindness terms-

• Intertextual reference to a sonnet.

• free verse

• alliteration

• asyndeton

• internal rhyme “pretend, end”.

Giuseppe themes-

• Evil, cruelty, dehumanisation.

• Guilt, shame and horrors of human nature.

• Discrimination/ alienisation.

• Patriarchy/ conforming to ideas

Giuseppe summary-

• Poetic voices uncle recounts story from the war.

• Pretty square, where mermaid is butchered.

• They debate that she is not a women for various reasons.

• They feed her to the soldiers.

• The uncle can not look the nephew in the eye at the end of the poem.

Giuseppe terms-

• end stops

• enjambement

• irony

• mermaid = those suffering with persecution.

• structural echo

The Lammas hireling themes-

• Passion, sin guilt.

• Superstition and folklore.

• Agriculture/ tradition

The Lamas hireling summary-

• Lammas festival, celebrates harvest, farmer rents out a worker.

• worker has positive, almost supernatural, impact on livestock/ crops.

• Farmer has nightmare about his dead wife.

• Farmer finds hireling and thinks he is a male witch.

• He shoots him, and then tosses his body into a river.

• he is then haunted by his actions for the rest of the poem, confesses to priest.

The Lammas hireling terms-

• dramatic monologue.

• assonance

• alliteration

• moon = symbol of witchcraft

• anaphora.

• caesura.

The Deliverer themes-

• Gender discrimination.

• Infanticide.

• connection/ family

• Cyclical nature of suffering

The deliverer summary-

• Two parts of the poem.

• One based in India and depicts the suffering of girls and women.

• Includes infanticide.

• The second part is in America where she has been saved and adopted by new parents.

• As the baby grows up she imagines her origins and the suffering their face.

The deliverer terms-

• Polysyndeton.

• asyndeton

• Diacope

• repetition

A minor role themes-

• The ordinary/ unassuming life

• the isolation/ tedium of life

• chronic illness/ death

• societal discomfort with death

• Hope

A minor role summary-

• Discusses a sick women feeling like she is playing a part in a play.

• she is never the main character and never tries to upset people.

• she is constantly waiting.

• however, she suggests that life is still worth living even if you are not a main character.

A minor role terms-

• Extended metaphor

• Intertextual reference

• assonance

• asyndeton

The Gun themes-

• The intoxication of power

• Dominance

• Man vs nature

The gun summary-

• A gun is brought into a house.

• this changes the feeling of the house and leads to lots of killing.

• however, it also revives a relationship

• Ending in a vivid/ confusing image of king of death meaning hope.

The gun terms-

• Juxtaposition

• symbolism

• phallic imagery

• personification

Chainsaw vs Pampas Grass themes-

• Violence vs quiet persistence

• human technology vs nature

• masculinity vs femininity

Chainsaw vs Pampas grass summary-

• The poem's speaker heads out into his garden, chainsaw in hand, to destroy some ornamental grass.

• Although his powerful chainsaw seems like "overkill," it turns out that even its destructive blade is no match for the grass's persistence: before long, everything the speaker thinks he's killed grows right back again.

• Showing persistence, eventually the man gives up.

Chainsaw vs Pampas grass terms-

• personification

• anaphora

• semantic field

• parallelism

• alliteration

• phallic imagery.

Eat me themes-

• Sexism, objectification and dehumanisation.

• power, abuse and control.

• Feeder/ abusive relationships

Eat me summary-

• The female speaker's partner objectifies, devalues, and abuses her, fattening her up to satisfy his own sexual appetite.

• Her partner can only see the speaker as a sexual object rather than a real person; he treats her as though she's food that exists solely for his consumption.

• She then kills him.

Eat me terms-

• intertextuality, Alice in wonderland.

• Metaphors.

• cliches

• diacope

• anaphora

• heteroglossia- two viewpoints. speakers.

LWHCTD themes-

• Treatment of immigrants

• persecution

• hope/ freedom

• life as a immigrant

LWHCTD summary-

• Starts with their harsh journey to get to the UK.

• They are then put in a Bedford van.

• They are mistreated and struggle once they get to the UK and are viewed as pests.

• They still have dreams/ hopes for a future where they are accepted.

LWHCTD terms-

• Semantic fields- suffering/ hope.

• Epigraph- extract of another poem at the start of a poem- can indicate what the poem is about.

• pathetic fallacy.

Effects summary-

• Explores the poet’s memories of his mother as, after she has died.

• Mother's rings are removed, revealing faded memories.

• He holds her hand and waits to receive her belongings.

• There is a deep sense of regret throughout the poem, with Jenkins wishing he had done more to connect with his mother while she was alive.

• Protagonist's last words are "please don't leave," but he leaves.

Effects terms-

• Parallelism

• Verbal irony

• Symbols (wedding ring)

• Alliteration

• Metaphors

Effects symbols-

• Watch

• Ring

• Bag of effects

Effects themes-

• Loss, memory and absence.

• Mother, children and family dynamics

• Class and generational divide

History themes-

• Fear, uncertainty and connection

• Innocence, curiosity and vulnerability

• Humanity, identity and nature

History summary-

• The speaker, flying kites, is overwhelmed by anxiety and fear following 9/11

• The speaker's son, Lucas, collects seashells and small rocks to escape these worries- symbolising innocence/ curiosity.

• The poem contrasts big-picture concerns with small, tangible experiences.

• It suggests people are not only shaped by their backgrounds/ states and that true connection comes from engaging with nature. Which the speaker fears the loss of.

• The poem questions how people can live with fear, loss, and uncertainty while still focusing on the world's beauty

History terms-

• Refrain

• Structural gaps/ echoes of the sea

• Asyndetic listing

• Parentheses

Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn themes-

• The power of art- preserve beautiful moments

• British culture and class

• Art, Time and Interpretation

• The Thrill of Youth

Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn terms-

• Ekphrasis- poem about another piece of art- "Ode to a Grecian Urn" by Keats.

• Intertextuality

• Colloquial register

• Enjambement

• Onomatopoeia

• Antithesis

• Volta (And so,) 

Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn summary-

• The vase depicts working-class kids from council estates, illustrating their nighttime activities.

• The vase captures the joys of youth without making them seem dangerous.

• The vase creates a peaceful mood, despite potential threats, as the kids are not hurt.

• The vase discusses the eternal youth and ecstasy of the youth, with girls being beautiful forever and boys being muscular and sexually energetic.

• The vase also features children cheering on the driver, despite the barking dogs and neighbours' concerns.

• The final stanza suggests that future poets will dream about the joyous and free youth of the past, referencing a darker, colder society.

TFDIT themes-

• The value and difficulty of relationships

• Seeking adventure vs settling down

• Physical vs emotional journeys

TFDIT terms-

• Simile (links to global travel)

• Sibilance- "Siberian .. Scattered"

• Allusion "Larium",

• Splitting words "anonymity"- could be called a deviation in lineation (lines being arranged a weird way).

• Metaphors (souvenirs)

TFDIT summary-

• Speaker recalls transformative moment of first backpack travel.

• Discusses various destinations and excitement of globetrotting.

• Reflects on life's changes, becoming more settled and domestic.

• Uses souvenirs as metaphors for past relationships.

• Contrasts physical travel with profound emotional journeys of love and relationships

TFDIV definitions-

• Larium- a drug used to treat malaria, known for its scary/ dangerous side effects.

• Giro- Unemployment cheque

• Evictions- tidying up

• Holdall- large sturdy bag

Materials summary-

• Reflects on the disappearance of his mother's once ubiquitous cloth handkerchief.

• Expresses nostalgia for simpler, personal world of mother's hankies, which he once thought were unfashionable, as he now appreciates the personal connection to them.

• Laments mass production of cheap, disposable items, which replaced the more emotive hankies.

• Loss of the hankies represents the wider loss of community and tradition.

• Feels guilty for not being as attentive as mother compared to her own mother.

Materials themes-

• Tradition, nostalgia and loss

• Motherhood and generational change

• Modernity, mass production and dehumanisation (capitalism)

Materials terms-

• Conceit- hanky queen- improbable connection

• Symbolism (hanky = traditional, value, love of older generations

• Semantic field of family

• Key symbol-  material = physical material of hanky (and what that represents about society) vs material of life (circumstances each generation is faced with)

Materials symbolism-

• Hanky = traditions, value, love of older generations + pride of her mum in caring for others.

• Material = physical material of hanky (and what that represents about society- love, devotion, effort) vs material of life (circumstances each generation is faced with)

Out of the bag themes-

• Childhood innocence and imagination

• Classical beliefs/ myths, unknown nature of medicine and healing

• Education/ class

• Growing up/ coming of age

• Origins, myth-making and memory + links to poetic creation

Out of the bag terms-

• Metaphor (bag for birth/ truth)

• Asyndeton (describing doctor's, mimic child's tumbling speech)

• Harsh sonic qualities

• Polyptoton- (unwinding, wind)

• Chiasmus (unwinding, wind)

• Colloquial vs erudite register

Out of the bag summary-

• The poem traces Heaney’s journey from childhood wonder to adult understanding, with memory remaining vital to a sense of self + creation.

• Part 1 explores childhood innocence, blending humour, awe, and fear about Doctor Kerling's bag.

• Parts 2 and 3 shift to Heaney as an educated adult, reflecting on healing through classical and religious traditions like Asclepius and Lourdes.

• In Part 4, the poem returns to the birth room, completing a cyclical structure.

Out of the bag definitions-

Hyperborean- those living a perfect existence in Greek mythology, who lived 'beyond the North Wind'.

Peter Levi- poet and critic who was an Oxford professor of poetry

Poeta Doctus- an erudite poet based on classical models, who links the art of poetry with learning.

Sanctuary of Askepios at Epidaurus- Asklepios was the Greek God of medicine.

Lourdes- famous Catholic French shrine, faithful go in hopes of a cure.

Hygieia- The daughter of Asklepios, she is the goddess of good health.

Thurifier- person who carries the thruible in Catholic ceremonies (symbolic of prayers rising to heaven + purification)

TJOADM themes-

Themes

• Masculinity and societal expectations

• Labour and social class

• Disappointment, uncertainty, failure

• Masculinity/ humanity vs nature

TJOADM summary-

• The poem describes this man's observations of an ill-fated construction job, during which a work crew tries to drive a pile (support column) into a pier.

• The crew encounters a mysterious problem, gives up on solving it, and abandons the job.

• Much as the crew leaves the pile hanging "in mid-air," the incident leaves the speaker hanging—and the poem leaves readers hanging, demonstrating how real life often denies us the tidy resolutions we seek.

TJOADM terms-

Parataxis (the placing of clauses or phrases one after another, without words to indicate coordination or subordination)

Personal vs collective pronouns

Metaphor (the monsters)

Semantic field of power

Journalese style

Intertextuality (Macbeth- Crack of doom)