Light, sound, action

• Light is a metaphor for the truth
• Blanche's jewellery is beautiful but fake - representative of herself
• Large dichotomy created between Stanley and Blanche
• Harsh light = harsh truth - Blanche is dragged into it by Mitch (reality)
• "Coloured lights"
• Stella fuels Stanley's need for power and dominance
• Celebratory tune heard in Blanche's head juxtaposes the dark events that occurred that night 

The Old South and New America (ASCND)

Blanche represents the old South- she wears posh white clothes and has old fashioned values and opinions (which make her appear pure and vulnerable)
DuBois is a French surname - the French were original settlers in the USA
Blanche taught English but her students became disinterested


Stanley represents the modern new America - he is roughly dressed in stained work clothes and has more modern values and opinions
Kowalski is a Polish surname - the Polish came to the USA in the 1920s
Stanley throws the radio playing classical music out of the window


The rape scene could be representative of the death of old south culture (Blanche is being destroyed)

A Streetcar Named Desire - Scene 6

Context: Blanche and Mitch's date and Blanche talks about her husband

• Blanche's hope lies with Mitch - he is her last chance
• The encounter highlights Blanche's two personalities
• "That man will destroy me" - foreshadowing later events
• We see that her husband dying is the source of her problems
• The scene reveals that Blanche and Mitch are very lonesome people - gives the audience hope (also evokes sympathy)

A Streetcar Named Desire - Scene 5

Context: Blanche's encounter with the delivery boy

• Hints at Stanley's plan to destroy Blanche
• Blanche is almost trying to relive her past through her encounter with the delivery boy
• Highlights how Blanche tries to compensate for what she did to her husband by giving herself to almost anyone
• Blanche's past life is beginning to close in upon her

A Streetcar Named Desire - Scene 4

Context: The aftermath of Stanley hitting Stella

• Blanche appears as an outsider
• Blanche calls Stanley common, bestial and vulgar
• Stanley overhears this causing further resentment towards Blanche, motivating him to rape her
• Stanley is seen as victorious because he has won Stella back
• Although there is no direct confrontation between Stanley and Blanche, there is a confrontation between the two concepts of life represented by both characters

Good Friday

• Guilty attitude - stood under the cross and didn't cry 
• Strong rhyme scheme 
• Repetition
• Natural imagery through references to animals 
• Personification of the sun and moon
• Common theme of the role of women (religion and crucifixion)
• Stone metaphor - lacking emotion, passion and humanity 
• Questioning her faith
• Sheep could be Jesus' followers 
• Compares herself with everyone else present 
• Unquestioning faith = stronger faith 

Uphill

• Sound concerned and seek reassurance 
• Other voice - kind, calm and comforting 
• Journey and road - metaphors for life
• Simple lexical choices - unusual for Rossetti 
• Vague description of the setting
• Upward progression of spiritual journey 
• Uphill - struggle or becoming better
• Emphasising the length of the journey 
• Resting place - security - love, reassurance, church, religion, family etc
• Second voice could be spiritual and possibly the voice of God
• The voice is self assured, calm and confident 
• Poem about trust, faith and belief 

A birthday

• Sense of relief and positivity 
• Similes - "my heart is like..."
• Heart is symbolic
• Influence of romantic poets 
• Repetition - emphasises joy and celebration 
• Imperative forms - asking people to celebrate with her
• Religious connotations 
• Natural imagery 

From the antique

• Reflection on their life and why they don't think they'll be remembered 
• Possibly suicidal
• Unloved
• Sadness and melancholy
• Calm poem 
• String rhythm 
• Consistent rhyme scheme - strong and steady 
• Despondency - cynical 
• 2 narrators - 1st line
• 1st person narrative 
• Themes of alienation and oppression 
• The place of women in Victorian society - "women's lot"

A Streetcar Named Desire - Scene 3 (Source of conflict? Emotional connections between the characters and the audience?)

• Stanley becomes slightly aggressive and shows signs of tension
• Unpredictable (tossing rinds) 
• "Shut up" "impatient with the story" -emphasises building tension and impatience 
• Contrast between bright stage directions and toned down conversation
• Atmosphere during conversation at the table is uneasy - unsure of what is being said 
• Stanley's presence creates conflict 
• Stanley's strength fuels the conflict
• Stanley is controlling over Mitch when not wanting him to leave
• Stanley and Mitch are opposites - power battle
• Stanley is s volatile character 
• Suspicions and secrets
• Suspicious about belle reve and Blanche (clothes incident)
• Blanches clothes could represent her - glamorous exterior but fake
• Blanche is jealous of Stella and Stanley - the control he has over her - not as close - can't control Stella anymore 
• Stella is a victim - audience feel sympathetic towards her
• Stella is caring towards Blanche 
• Sympathy and empathy with characters 
• Mitch is caring and polite but also awkward 
• Mitch contrasts the other characters 
• Mitch's backstory helps the audience to connect with him 
• Blanche has lost everything so the audience may feel sympathy towards her
• Blanche's insecurities leave her seeming out of place
• Blanche is funny, intelligent, witty (rapport)
• Stanley - loss of power and control over Stella - sympathy 
• Clearly in love with Stella - strong emotions
• Appears vulnerable when Stella leaves 

Character relationships, how they develop and the tension between the characters

• Stella clearly loves Stanley and is very affectionate towards him
• Stanley doesn't show as much affection back until Stella leaves
• Stanley is forceful and dominating over Stella
• Stella seems to try to control Stanley 
• Blanche is flirtatious and shy around Stanley 
• Stanley is relaxed towards Blanche at first but then becomes aggressive overtime similarly to with Stella 
• Blanche becomes more defensive and confident towards Stanley and aggressive 
• Blanche doesn't seem as delicate anymore
• Mitch is very kind and calm around Blanche
• Blanche is not so shy around Mitch but she is still flirtatious
• Stanley becomes less aggressive and begins to show he is affectionate towards Stella
• Stella seems oblivious to what has just happened 
• After the fight, Stella acts very differently with Blanche - she seems more dominating and confident 

Analysis of the first scene in A Streetcar Named Desire (play)

• Stanley - "throws the screen door" - suggest aggression and controlling personality
• "animal joy in his being" - animalistic
• "crude images flashing into his mind and determining the way he smiles at them" - suggests a lot about his personality and the way he portrays women
• He removes his shirt before Blanche can object - won't listen to her anyway
• "Where's the little woman" -
• "Exercising hard like bowling is" - trying to seem more masculine
• "Her head falls on her arms" - implies lunacy (?)
• "I rarely touch it" - liar
• "I'm - going to be sick!" - implies weakness physically and mentally
• Elysian Fields - heaven/paradise - contradicts with the reality of the apartments and Blanche understands the irony of this
• Raffish charm - reflects Stanley - not perfect but has charm
• Detailed description of the stage - written like poetry - literary
• "spirit of life" - lively, vibrant and multicultural (segregation elsewhere)
• Stage directions describing Blanche - beautiful and glamorous
• Figurative analogy of Blanche - moth
• Light is symbolic of the truth
• Blanche is patronising towards Stella
• Blanche has long turns while Stella has short turns
• Blanche - monologue - to herself? - highlights self-obsession
• "Daylight...ruin!" - hyperbole, melodramatic
• Blanche - offensive to Stella - boosts self-confidence

Analysis of the first scene in A Streetcar Named Desire (film)

• Busy streets, run down, dingy, lots of fighting, industrial
• Blanche is very well dressed
• She seems out of place and lost
• She is very talkative and seems quite flustered and skittish
• Stella is very different to Blanche - different clothes, seems more stable, less talkative
• Unsure of Blanche's intentions
• Blanche is quite dramatic and emotional
• Stanley is very curious to find out about Blanche
• Blanche seems intimidated by Stanley and vice versa
• Blanche is already showing signs of lunacy
• Stanley is confident and flirtatious
• Stella doesn't ask as many questions and feeds Blanche's ego
• Chaotic, loud setting
• Apartment - run down, old, small, open plan
• Blanche - shy and defensive
• Stella is quieter than Blanche and she is nice and caring
• Stanley and Blanche are very similar

Echo

Language analysis -

• Simile - contrast between the stream and the sunlight - dark and light - glittering effect of the water = possibly supernatural in reference todeath and afterlife
• Title is ambiguous (one word) creates mystery
• The title relates to the form and the content (echoes in the structure of the poem) and it echoes the past - memories
• "finished years" - nostalgic - recognition that happiness is gone
• "tears" - ambiguous - could mean happiness, sadness, anger etc.
• "O/Oh" - apostrophe - strong emotion
• "Paradise" - conflict between love and religion
• Ambiguous about who is dead - narrator? character? no one?
• Waiting for lover to die (possible narrative)
• Water imagery - romantic poetry
• Song-like tone
• Adapting traditional form
• Longer lines - pentameter - trochaic and iambic
• Rhyming couplet reinforces likeliness to romantic poetry

Comparison to other poems -

Song (When I Am Dead, My Dearest)-

• Both lyrical
• Both have a theme of death
• Talk about afterlife
• However, the narrator doesn't want to be remembered

Shut Out -

• Distance between the two people in the poem

Remember -

• Lyrical
• Want to remember the past

Characters in A Streetcar Named Desire

Stella -

• naive - in relation to life and the events in the play
• relatable - doesn't change and stays central
• rebellious - marrying Stanley
• vulnerable - hiding from her problems
• motherly - protective over Blanche
• caring
• always tries to do the right thing (for other people)
• quite independent
• sensitive - emotionally towards Blanche and Stanley
• always tries to see the best in people
• feel pity and sympathy towards her (violence)
• annoying - she didn't believe Blanche and instead sent her away
• impulsive
• in denial about Stanley (violence etc)

Blanche -

• delusional (image of perfect life, drinking problem etc)
• vain
• fragile
• insecure
• unstable
• attention seeking
• begins to believe her delusions
• feel sympathy for her at the end
• emotional connection to her is unstable
• makes the audience frustrated with her
• protagonist of the play
• liar
• cheat
• drunk
• flawed
• lost everything

Stanley -

• violent
• unhinged
• dominating
• confident
• unrelenting
• arrogant
• acts superior
• intimidated by Blanche
• power struggle between Blanche and Stanley - creates tension
• Blanche - french name, high social status, educated
• Stanley - working class, Polish, uneducated
• Blanche is a threat to Stanley
• he loves Stella - shows in an unusual way - threatening
• attractive character
• protective over Stella

Mitch -

• sensitive - dying mother
• caring - cares for Blanche
• kind
• supportive
• decent
• opposite of Stanley
• changes and becomes more aggressive after learning of Blanche's past
• no self-confidence
• insecure

A Streetcar Named Desire

Key narrative moments in the play -

1. When Stanley raped Blanche
2. When blanche is taken to the mental hospital
3. Stanley attacking Stella
4. Stanley asking for forgiveness
5. When Blanche arrives at Stella's house
6. Blanche's encounter with the newspaper delivery boy
7. Blanch telling Mitch about her boyfriend who died
8. Stella telling Stanley about Blanche's history
9. Mitch and blanche's break up
10. Mitch and Blanche's date when he attempts to sleep with her
11. Blanche and Stanley's first meeting
12. Stanley's revelation about Blanche's past

Winter: My Secret

Winter: My Secret

Analysis of the title…

•          “Winter” – alerts the reader that the poem is seasonal
•          The use of the word ‘My’ tells us that the speaker of the poem will also be its subject
•          “Secret” – arouses curiosity

Form and rhyme scheme…

•          Rhyme, rhythm and stanza form in this poem are irregular.
•          There are a variety of different iambic rhythms
•          Rossetti has created an irregular form and rhyme scheme with intent and she is purposely ‘violating’ the common poem structure

Themes…

•          Identity - “The use of the personal pronouns ‘my' and ‘I' throughout the poem point to the speaker's sense of her individual identity.”
•          “The first line both begins and ends with the pronoun ‘I'. This suggests that the speaker encloses her secret within her own individual identity and that nothing can break through and disturb the concealed interior.”
•          Nonsense – “The speaker suggests that she may be only teasing the listener when she declares that her secret may be ‘just my fun'.”
•          “The revelation that there may in fact be ‘no secret after all' (line 8) suggests that the poem is more about the act of concealment and the practice of secrecy than it is about a particular secret itself.”
•          Curiosity – “Reprimanding the reader for being ‘too curious' (line 4), the speaker emphasises that the secret is hers to give away or to conceal as she wishes.”

Language analysis…

•          “The speaker's sense of being under attack from the curiosity of others is conveyed through a series of words which suggest animals of prey, such as dogs ‘nipping', ‘biting', ‘bounding' and ‘buffeting' her, then birds by which she is ‘pecked at'.”
•          “Whilst veils, cloaks and wraps (line 12) may protect the speaker from the fierce and biting winds of the winter season, they also serve to hide her from curious onlookers who seek to find out her secret.”
•          “Suggesting that she wears her ‘mask for warmth' (line 18), the speaker indicates that it is, for her, a form of comfort.”
•          “The speaker uses the metaphor of enquirers knocking on a front door as they seek to gain entry into her innermost thoughts”

In the Round Tower at Jhansi

In the Round Tower at Jhansi -

• Narrative poetry
• Themes of love and loss
• Language techniques used affect the narrative
• Attackers are described using animalistic language
• Third person narrative
• Narrator shows emotion towards the protagonist
• Clear narrative structure - beginning, middle and end

Remember

Remember -

• Iambic pentameter
• "Gone far away into the silent land" - referencing death - most likely heaven/afterlife (religious connotations)
• "Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay" - when she dies
• No mention of the word death - avoiding it (preventing sadness and grief)
• 1st person narrative
• Direct address
• Sonnet - 14 lines and rhyme scheme - associated with romance/romantic poetry
• Poem goes against it's context (mourning)
• Recognition of death (morbid)

Song (When I Am Dead, My Dearest)

1st stanza -

• "My dearest" - direct address
• Metrical variation
• Natural imagery - associated with romantic poetry
• "Sing", "plant, "be" etc- imperative verbs/orders - implies a forceful tone

2nd stanza -

• "Twilight" - reference to death/afterlife
• "Haply I may remember" - another reference to the afterlife - religious ideology
• Repetition of "I shall" and "haply" - similar to a lyric poem (popular during Victorian times)
• "Haply" is archaic
• Assumption that there is an afterlife - accepted at the time

Overall -

• 1st person poem 
• No gender pronouns 
• Assume female narrator voice (roses, dearest etc.)
• Quiet confidence in the imperatives

"Discuss how Rossetti writes about nature" (example question)

Practice paragraph (Shut Out) -

Rossetti's narrator refers to nature in order to express her true feelings and emotions without referring to them directly. She does this by using natural imagery as a metaphor for something she has lost.

Other points:

• Symbolic representation of the ferocious and harrowing side of nature
• Cold and unforgiving
• Fears of not getting into heaven are shown

Language analysis

To write a paragraph using language analysis...

• Have a topic sentence highlighting an interpretation of an aspect of the poem linking to the question
• Highlight something about how the language is used
• Use good written expression
• Have a complex and sophisticated idea
• Do accurate language analysis and link to an effect

Winter: My Secret

Analysis of Winter: My Secret

1st stanza -

• "I tell my secret?" - rhetorical
• Seems self obsessed
• "Perhaps" used as an adverb
• Internal rhyme - humorous
• Direct address
• 3 rhetorical questions - recreate other speakers' voices - high frequency
• "Fie!" - exclamatory - used to express disgust and outrage
• "Mine" and "I" - possessive

2nd stanza -

• "But only just my fun" and "suppose" - teasing
• "Nipping" and "Biting" - personification - secret could be eating away at her
• "One" - pronoun
• "Cannot ope to anyone who taps" - doesn't want to open up to anyone
• Couplet increases the pace of the poem
• "I wear my mask for warmth" - figurative connotations
• "Shows", "blows" and "snows" - rhyming triplet
• "Believe" - imperative - telling them to trust her 

3rd stanza -

• "Yet I don't trust" - playful paranoia
• Personification of the seasons
• Focus is on the negatives

4th stanza -

• Juxtaposition of "languid" and "summer day"
• "Not too much sun nor too much cloud" - perfect conditions necessary to tell secret - possibly means there is no secret or there is no way she will ever tell anyone
• "Or you may guess" - guess may be better than reality or may not have a secret - teasing
• Gives hope to the person being addressed

Overall -

• Title - ambiguous
• Complex punctuation used throughout - not actually explaining anything
• Woman is asserting power over a man - pushing boundaries
• Irregular rhyme scheme
• Undermining the power of a woman

Analysis of Rossetti's poems

Echo -

• Reference to death
• "Paradise" = heaven
• "As long ago" - past, death, memories

Remember -

• Theme of death - she doesn't want any grief
• "For if the darkness and corruption leave" - doesn't want to be remembered for bad things
• Focus on death and afterlife - religious connotations

Song (When I Am Dead, My Dearest) -

• Doesn't want to be remembered - "plant thou no roses at my head" and "sing no sad songs for me"
• Theme of death is prevalent
• "Wilt" - double meaning - ambiguous (flowers)
• Does not fear death - accepting her fate

From the Antique -

• "I wish I were a man" - possible reference to oppression
• Theme of not feeling cared about/not wanting to be cared about
• Weary life

A Birthday -

• More positive (unusual for Rossetti's poetry)
• In reference to other poems - emphasises and over exaggerates emotions and situations

Shut Out -

• Had something and lost it - never the same again
• Death references - "shadowless spirit"
• "It had been mine and it was lost" - love?
• Garden could represent happiness and/or love
• "A violet bed was budding near" - happiness returning but not as good as before

Overall -

• Her persona is not scared of death
• Self pity
• Doesn't want people to mourn her death
• Depression - consolidating herself (illness)
• Coping mechanism
• Death was very common/prevalent in Victorian times
• Writes about things that concern her
• Loss in a sense of absence
• Never married or had children - expectations at the time
• Cut herself off from society
• Identity - female/gender issues
• Didn't believe in herself - thought she would be forgotten
• Emotional pain
• Writes about religion
• Direct address
• Natural Imagery - flowers, trees, birds etc (possibly symbolism of life)
• Rossetti was a feminist

Shut Out

Analysis of Shut Out

1st stanza -

• "The door was shut" - a simple sentence/one idea (defensive)
• "Iron bars" and "flowers bedewed and green" - contrast/juxtaposition
• "Iron bars" - what she wants is in reach but the bars are acting as a barrier
• "My garden" - possessive "my" and "i" throughout
• "Bedewed and green" - adjectives - reinforces the narrators attitude
• "Garden" - love? death? person/relationship?

2nd stanza -

• Repetition of "from", "bough" and "flower" - reinforces nostalgic tone
• Entire stanza is a complex sentence = complex feelings/thought process
• Sentence variety from 1st stanza
• "Lost" - positioning in the stanza draws attention to it

3rd stanza -

• "Shadowless spirit" - inhuman, scary, frightening - reference to death
• "Blank and unchanging" - reinforces previous point
• "Like the grave" - simile
• "Let" - imperative dialogue - desperate not forceful

4th stanza -

• "He answered not" - blunt tone and simple sentence
• "One small twig" - reinforces desperation
• Lack of dialogue from the spirit

5th stanza -

• "Spirit" - afterlife - another reference to death
• "Build a wall" - wall and garden are symbolic
• "He" - masculine pronoun - possible link to a relationship
• "Straining eyes" - reinforces desperation and frustration

6th stanza -

• "So now" - past to present tense - less anger - more resigned - realisation
• "Blinded with tears" - hyperbole
• "Delightful land" - reference to land = hyperbole

7th stanza -

• "And good..." and "And dear..." - parallelism

Overall -

• 1st person narrator/voice/persona
• Regular rhyme scheme 
• May have lost something/someone
• Iambic tetrameter - 4 beats in each line
• Title "Shut Out" - sentence fragment - incomplete - terse and aggressive tone
• Lexical choices - 2nd and 3rd stanza
• 1st stanza - impression of rhythm and rhyme 
• Choice of verbs and connotations 
• Pleading and desperate tone