PAPER 3 ENGLISH LITERATURE REVISION
Modern poetry revision
,Contents:
Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn – Tim Turnbull
Eat me – Patience Agbabi
History – John Burnside
An Easy Passage – Julia Copus
The Lammas Hireling – Ian Duhig
To My Nine-Year-Old Self – Helen Dunmore
The Gun – Vicki Feaver
Genetics – Sinead Morrissey
From the Journal of a Disappointed Man – Andrew Motion
Please Hold – Ciaran O’Driscoll
, Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn – Tim Turnbull
Journey: Mockingly questioning the urn’s worth to appreciating it – like the Grecian urns that Keats considered. Urn speaks for a time/people & holds them in a moment eternally.
Idea that art can define & outlive people & periods that it comments on.
Transition in the way that the youth are construed by the poet – from derision to a sense that they are joyfully alive & then a reminder that they are still ‘children’
(restoring innocence).
Poem connects the readers with those who are on the fringes of society.
Message/ The mood of the poem is one that is vivid, vibrant and contemplative.
mood: Turnbull questions how art & beauty are defined. He considers how art can immortalise moments while making them beautiful. Perry’s art dignifies & beautifies the anti-
social working-class children on the fringes of society. Perry’s art allows the poet to feel a sense of connection to the youth thus considering them more sympathetically.
Their noise, energy, promiscuity & irresponsibility may be seen as horrifying by many; however, it also masks the sense of hopelessness/vulnerability about a future which
is unlikely to set them free – a future that is ‘for the rich’.
Turnbull perhaps asks his audience to reconsider their attitudes towards the working-class youth – usually depicted in a bad light.
Key Image 1: A kitschy vase some Shirley Temple manque has knocked out – kitschy – derogatory term: not valuable or of great aesthetic quality - negative imagery about Perry & his
artwork: appeals to popular taste but is too tasteless & tacky to be considered ‘high art’. Shirley Temple manque: child star of the 1930s. manque: a person who has not
been able to live up to their own expectations; failed attempt to live up to an expectation suggesting that Perry is a failed attempt of a ‘Shirley Temple’ wannabe. Turnbull
is mocking Perry’s transvestism & his cross dressing; he is heavily critical of Perry & the urn who he deems as failures. Knocked out – suggests it is made with little care &
time – suggests that it isn’t really art like Keats’ Grecian urn.
Key Image 2: The Burberry clad louts who flail their motors – ‘clad louts’ - monosyllabic, plosive consonants = harsh, abrupt, common stereotypes associated with the underclass.
Critical of the chav culture; perhaps implies those on ‘crap estates’ are distasteful in nature. ‘louts’ = dressed in designer, ironic: Turnbull suggests the clothes they wear
aren’t genuine – perhaps their attempt to fit the standardised definition of beauty in society. Turnbull evokes a sense of violence & danger about the youths giving the
impression of youthful irresponsibility. He establishes the theme of class barriers & alienation as the youth are depicted as unrefined & chaotic. Flail – violent image –
weapon. It is a tool that is used to beat crops. Evokes a sense of violence surrounding the youth where they seem dangerously anti-social. Replicates much of the
language the tabloid press might use when confronting young people, particularly the underclass.
Key Image 3: And yet educe a sense of calm – … no harm befall these children – caesura allows the reader to pause & consider the significance of what the urn represents. Turnbull
begins to appreciate the art – depicted by the volta. He sees the youth in a more positive light: what was once described as their ‘roar’ is now described as a ‘sense of
calm’. He begins to look at the art & the youth in a different light. He recognises the art immortalises the youth, keeping them frozen in time. ‘louts’ have turned into
‘girls’ & ‘children’ – shows them in a different, more positive light – restoring the innocence that was snatched at the beginning.
Key Image 4: Pumped… pulsing juice – sexual overtones that hints at promiscuity. Youth are living in the moment – vivid imagery. He depicts them to be full of sexual energy; Perry
depicts the youths’ sexual inclinations vividly. Youth are appreciated for their freedom & energy. Sensual imagery – adrenaline: throbbing parts. They are celebrating their
life force: the vase allows it to continue. Contrasts to the ‘dead suburban streets’ where the same energy is non-existent for the older members of society. Children seem
far more alive than the “pensioners” & “parents”.
Key Image 5: Lives so free & bountiful… beauty in the gift of the beholder – reinterpretation of Keats’ last lines of the Ode on a Grecian Urn = beauty is truth & truth is beauty. Turnbull
suggests there is no specific, definitive truth that is negotiable; beauty is perceived subjectively. Essentially, one chooses their own standards of beauty. Final positive
image of the youths & the message that is conveyed to the future generations about them through the urn. Bountiful – irony: they won’t prosper as they are the
underclass. Tranquillity is ‘for the rich’ – their class in society will make them suffer.
Structure/form: - Uses a classical form to consider ideas about modern society like Perry’s art.
- Mirrors Keats’ in structure – 5 stanzas of 10 lines.
- Volta / caesura– allows poet to highlight the issues of modern society and how innocence is exploited & abused.
- Enjambment – used to create fluidity in the poem – could represent how, eventually, the objects around us will continue to exist on into the future – eternal.
- Alliteration
- Onomatopoeia
- Shift in ‘somehow’ in the first stanza & ‘and yet’ in the 2nd.
Modern poetry revision
,Contents:
Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn – Tim Turnbull
Eat me – Patience Agbabi
History – John Burnside
An Easy Passage – Julia Copus
The Lammas Hireling – Ian Duhig
To My Nine-Year-Old Self – Helen Dunmore
The Gun – Vicki Feaver
Genetics – Sinead Morrissey
From the Journal of a Disappointed Man – Andrew Motion
Please Hold – Ciaran O’Driscoll
, Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn – Tim Turnbull
Journey: Mockingly questioning the urn’s worth to appreciating it – like the Grecian urns that Keats considered. Urn speaks for a time/people & holds them in a moment eternally.
Idea that art can define & outlive people & periods that it comments on.
Transition in the way that the youth are construed by the poet – from derision to a sense that they are joyfully alive & then a reminder that they are still ‘children’
(restoring innocence).
Poem connects the readers with those who are on the fringes of society.
Message/ The mood of the poem is one that is vivid, vibrant and contemplative.
mood: Turnbull questions how art & beauty are defined. He considers how art can immortalise moments while making them beautiful. Perry’s art dignifies & beautifies the anti-
social working-class children on the fringes of society. Perry’s art allows the poet to feel a sense of connection to the youth thus considering them more sympathetically.
Their noise, energy, promiscuity & irresponsibility may be seen as horrifying by many; however, it also masks the sense of hopelessness/vulnerability about a future which
is unlikely to set them free – a future that is ‘for the rich’.
Turnbull perhaps asks his audience to reconsider their attitudes towards the working-class youth – usually depicted in a bad light.
Key Image 1: A kitschy vase some Shirley Temple manque has knocked out – kitschy – derogatory term: not valuable or of great aesthetic quality - negative imagery about Perry & his
artwork: appeals to popular taste but is too tasteless & tacky to be considered ‘high art’. Shirley Temple manque: child star of the 1930s. manque: a person who has not
been able to live up to their own expectations; failed attempt to live up to an expectation suggesting that Perry is a failed attempt of a ‘Shirley Temple’ wannabe. Turnbull
is mocking Perry’s transvestism & his cross dressing; he is heavily critical of Perry & the urn who he deems as failures. Knocked out – suggests it is made with little care &
time – suggests that it isn’t really art like Keats’ Grecian urn.
Key Image 2: The Burberry clad louts who flail their motors – ‘clad louts’ - monosyllabic, plosive consonants = harsh, abrupt, common stereotypes associated with the underclass.
Critical of the chav culture; perhaps implies those on ‘crap estates’ are distasteful in nature. ‘louts’ = dressed in designer, ironic: Turnbull suggests the clothes they wear
aren’t genuine – perhaps their attempt to fit the standardised definition of beauty in society. Turnbull evokes a sense of violence & danger about the youths giving the
impression of youthful irresponsibility. He establishes the theme of class barriers & alienation as the youth are depicted as unrefined & chaotic. Flail – violent image –
weapon. It is a tool that is used to beat crops. Evokes a sense of violence surrounding the youth where they seem dangerously anti-social. Replicates much of the
language the tabloid press might use when confronting young people, particularly the underclass.
Key Image 3: And yet educe a sense of calm – … no harm befall these children – caesura allows the reader to pause & consider the significance of what the urn represents. Turnbull
begins to appreciate the art – depicted by the volta. He sees the youth in a more positive light: what was once described as their ‘roar’ is now described as a ‘sense of
calm’. He begins to look at the art & the youth in a different light. He recognises the art immortalises the youth, keeping them frozen in time. ‘louts’ have turned into
‘girls’ & ‘children’ – shows them in a different, more positive light – restoring the innocence that was snatched at the beginning.
Key Image 4: Pumped… pulsing juice – sexual overtones that hints at promiscuity. Youth are living in the moment – vivid imagery. He depicts them to be full of sexual energy; Perry
depicts the youths’ sexual inclinations vividly. Youth are appreciated for their freedom & energy. Sensual imagery – adrenaline: throbbing parts. They are celebrating their
life force: the vase allows it to continue. Contrasts to the ‘dead suburban streets’ where the same energy is non-existent for the older members of society. Children seem
far more alive than the “pensioners” & “parents”.
Key Image 5: Lives so free & bountiful… beauty in the gift of the beholder – reinterpretation of Keats’ last lines of the Ode on a Grecian Urn = beauty is truth & truth is beauty. Turnbull
suggests there is no specific, definitive truth that is negotiable; beauty is perceived subjectively. Essentially, one chooses their own standards of beauty. Final positive
image of the youths & the message that is conveyed to the future generations about them through the urn. Bountiful – irony: they won’t prosper as they are the
underclass. Tranquillity is ‘for the rich’ – their class in society will make them suffer.
Structure/form: - Uses a classical form to consider ideas about modern society like Perry’s art.
- Mirrors Keats’ in structure – 5 stanzas of 10 lines.
- Volta / caesura– allows poet to highlight the issues of modern society and how innocence is exploited & abused.
- Enjambment – used to create fluidity in the poem – could represent how, eventually, the objects around us will continue to exist on into the future – eternal.
- Alliteration
- Onomatopoeia
- Shift in ‘somehow’ in the first stanza & ‘and yet’ in the 2nd.
