Poetry with Carol, Ted and Sylvia

So I decided to do some extra reading for my Unit 3 Lit paper. It can earn you brownie points, in case you never thought of that. Also it gets you more prepared for the Unseen Poetry bit in Section A.

So I started with
Carol Ann Duffy, because I got and "Education for Leisure" in my preparatory paper



She...
is Carol Ann Duffy
56 years old
was born on 23rd Decremented, 1955
is a modern/contemporary poet
writes about contemporary issues, such as
"Social Inequality
Alienation
Gender Oppression
Construction of self."
was appointed Britain Poet laureate in May 2009.
admired by Ted Hughes.
You can go here for more (in detail) on her.

Which lead me to do some reading on Ted Hughes, I analysed his "Fox Thought"

He...

is Ted Hughes

was born on 17th August, 1930

died at 68 of a heart problem during a colon operation!

was married to Slyvia Plath,

whom he divorced later, because 

was having an affair with Assia Wevill.

After the death of Slyvia and Assia,

married a nurse, 

named Carol Orchard (a nurse).

had 3 kids, out which 2 are dead.

one is a poet- Fried Hughes- and a painter.

has a real name- Edward "Ted" James Hughes.

was appointed Poet laureate in 1984.

wrote a lot of poems, rooted in nature- mostly with animal characterizations.

His wife piqued my interest, I haven't read her works yet.



She...
is Sylvia Plath.
was born on October 27th, 1932
wrote the Bell Jar.
wrote plays and poems as well.
was suicidal and depressed.
stuck her head in an oven and died at the age of 30. 
was married to Ted Hughes.
became the first poet to win the Pulitzer prize, in 1982, for her book of poems.
lent her name to a form of illness associated with poets- Sylvia Plath effect.
I found this web page dedicated to her called 
Loving Sylvia Plath
they made a movie on her called Sylvia.



in response to which Freida (her daughter) wrote in 2003, in Tatler


My Mother
"Now they want to make a film
For anyone lacking the ability
To imagine the body, head in oven,
Orphaning children

 [...] they think
I should give them my mother's words
To fill the mouth of their monster,
Their Sylvia Suicide Doll "

             ♪Dog Days are Over- Florence and the Machine

Assonance, Consonance & Dissonance

 

Assonance: 

is the repetition of identical or similar vowels. This occurs especially in stressed syllables.

Examples:

Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn"

"Thou still unravished bride of quietness,

Thou foster child of silence and slow time...."

Pooh, said to you

'I love you honey'

(Hehe I made that one up!)

 

Consonance: 

is the repetition of a sequence of two or more consonants, but with a change in the intervening vowel. 

Example:

from W.H.Auden's poem 'O where are you going?'

"Out of this house"-said rider to reader,

"Yours never will"-said farer to fearer,

"They're looking for you"-said hearer to horror,

As he left them there, as he left them there."

(And this..)

"Money minded miser"

 

Dissonance:

is the opposite of assonance. It occurs when sounds are so different they clash* with each other.

Example:

from Ted Hughes' Wind

"The wind flung a magpie away and a black-

Back gull bent like an iron bar slowly"

(this one too!)

"A white flag waves distracted by the wind,

that breaks its peace and harmony!"

*the difficult sequence of sounds in the lines(above) prevent the verse flowing smoothly, reflecting the gull's hard struggle against the wind. (have attempted to create similar effect in my own example!)

 

Now you try?

 

Sources:

Information:

A Handbook of Literary Terms by M.H.Abrams & Geoffrey Galt Harphaim. Cengage Learning (page 19)

A Level Study Guide English Language & Literature by Alan Gardiner, Revision Express (Page 71)

Photo credits: 

WeHeartit It & tinywhitedaisies