Introduction: The Assessment Objectives (AOs)
For the poetry exam, you must compare two poems. Your essay is marked against these AOs. Notice that AO3 (Context) is worth fewer marks here than for your novel or play.
AQA Poetry AOs
- AO1 (12 marks): Read, understand and respond to texts. Maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response. Use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations.
- AO2 (12 marks): Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.
- AO3 (6 marks): Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written.
- AO4 (4 marks): Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation (SPaG).
The 15 Poems
Here is a breakdown of every poem in the cluster. Click the links below to jump to a poem.
When We Two Parted - Lord Byron
Summary
The speaker mourns the end of a secret, illicit love affair. He feels betrayed, bitter, and heartbroken, and describes the pain of hearing her name mentioned years later.
Context (AO3)
Byron was a Romantic poet, known for his scandalous affairs. This poem is likely autobiographical, possibly about Lady Frances Webster. The secrecy ("In secret we met - / In silence I grieve") reflects the need to hide the relationship from society.
Form & Structure (AO2)
- Accentual Verse: Three stressed syllables per line gives it a heavy, mournful rhythm.
- Cyclical Structure: Begins and ends with "silence and tears," showing he is trapped in his grief and cannot move on.
- Past/Present/Future: The poem shifts in time, showing how the past pain still affects his present and will affect his future.
Language & Imagery (AO2)
- Death Imagery: "A knell in mine ear," "Pale grew thy cheek and cold." He describes the end of the love as a death, showing its profound impact.
- Sensory Language: "cold," "colder," "shudder." Emphasises the lack of warmth and the emotional/physical pain he feels.
- Key Quote: "In secret we met - / In silence I grieve." (Shows secrecy and isolation).
- Neutral Tones: Another poem about the painful end of a relationship, using deathly and cold imagery.
- Porphyria's Lover: Both explore unconventional, forbidden, or transgressive love, but with very different outcomes.
Love's Philosophy - Percy Bysshe Shelley
Summary
The speaker tries to persuade a woman to kiss him by arguing that everything in nature is paired up (e.g., "The fountains mingle with the river"), so she should be with him too.
Context (AO3)
Shelley was a Romantic poet (like Byron). He was an atheist who rejected conventional marriage, believing in free love. The poem is a playful, clever argument, typical of his rebellious nature.
Form & Structure (AO2)
- Lyrical Poem: Has a song-like quality.
- Tight Rhyme: Regular ABAB rhyme scheme, but with half-rhymes ("river/ever") reflecting the two things that *haven't* quite joined (him and his lover).
- Rhetorical Questions: Each stanza ends with a question to his lover ("Why not I with thine?", "If thou kiss not me?"), building his persuasive argument.
Language & Imagery (AO2)
- Natural Imagery: "mountains," "waves," "sunlight," "moonbeams." He uses the entire natural world to support his argument.
- Personification: "The winds of heaven mix... With a sweet emotion," "No sister-flower would be forgiven..." Nature is presented as divine and loving.
- Key Quote: "All things by a law divine... Mingle." (He claims their love is natural and 'divine').
- Sonnet 29: Both use natural imagery to express intense romantic love, but Sonnet 29 is about fulfilled love, whereas this is about yearning.
- Singh Song!: A more modern, playful poem about romantic love, also using simple language.
Porphyria's Lover - Robert Browning
Summary
A dramatic monologue. The speaker sits in his cottage on a stormy night. His lover, Porphyria, arrives and shows him affection. He realises she "worshipped" him and, to preserve that perfect moment forever, he strangles her with her own hair. He then sits with her body all night.
Context (AO3)
Victorian Era: A time of strict social rules, especially regarding gender and class. Porphyria may be of a higher class ("from the feast") and is a 'fallen woman' for being with him. Browning was fascinated by abnormal psychology and the dark side of humanity.
Form & Structure (AO2)
- Dramatic Monologue: One speaker, addressing a silent listener, reveals his twisted psychology.
- Irregular Rhythm (Iambic Tetrameter): Creates an unsettled, "mad" feeling.
- Asymmetrical Rhyme (ABABB): Also unsettling and unbalanced.
- One Long Stanza: Reflects his continuous, obsessive, breathless train of thought.
Language & Imagery (AO2)
- Pathetic Fallacy: The "sullen wind" and "storm" outside reflect his own inner turmoil and madness.
- Possession: He describes her as "mine, mine," and by killing her, he possesses her forever.
- Hair: Her "yellow hair" is first a symbol of her beauty and sexuality, then becomes the murder weapon.
- Key Quote: "And yet God has not said a word!" (His chilling justification, believing he has done nothing wrong).
- The Farmer's Bride: Both poems explore male obsession, possession, and a one-sided (or failed) relationship with a woman.
- When We Two Parted: Explores dark, obsessive love, but 'Porphyria's' is violent while 'Byron's' is internal.
Sonnet 29 - 'I think of thee!' - Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Summary
The speaker tells her lover (Robert Browning) how she thinks of him so much that her thoughts "twine" around him like "wild vines." She then decides she doesn't want to just *think* about him; she wants him to be physically present, to "Renew thy presence."
Context (AO3)
Written during her courtship with Robert Browning, who she had to see in secret as her father forbade it. It's from 'Sonnets from the Portuguese', a collection she wrote for him. She was an invalid at the time, so the pining for his "presence" is literal.
Form & Structure (AO2)
- Petrarchan Sonnet: 14 lines, with an octave (first 8 lines) presenting the problem (her thoughts) and a sestet (last 6 lines) presenting the solution (his presence).
- Volta (Turn): The turn happens at line 7: "Rather, instantly...". She changes her mind, rejecting her thoughts for his reality.
Language & Imagery (AO2)
- Extended Metaphor: Her thoughts are "wild vines" and he is a "strong tree." The imagery is natural, "wild," and almost suffocating.
- Imperative Verbs: "Renew thy presence!", "Rustle thy boughs." She is commanding him to be with her, showing the strength of her desire.
- Key Quote: "I do not think of thee - I am too near thee." (The poem ends with the perfect resolution: he is with her, so she no longer needs to just *think* of him).
- Love's Philosophy: Both use natural imagery to explore romantic desire, but Sonnet 29 is more passionate and fulfilled.
- Letters From Yorkshire: Both explore longing and the gap between thoughts/letters and physical presence.
Neutral Tones - Thomas Hardy
Summary
The speaker remembers the day his relationship ended. He and his lover are standing by a pond on a grey winter's day. He describes her dead-looking smile and the bitter exchange, and concludes that all love deceives.
Context (AO3)
Hardy was a Victorian realist and pessimist. His first marriage was unhappy, and much of his poetry deals with lost love and bitterness. This was written early in his career but is typical of his bleak outlook on life and love.
Form & Structure (AO2)
- Cyclical Structure: Starts and ends at the "pond," showing he is trapped in this memory and that the experience has permanently coloured his view of love.
- Regular Rhyme (ABBA): The 'enclosed' rhyme scheme mirrors how he is trapped in the memory.
Language & Imagery (AO2)
- Lack of Colour: "neutral tones," "grey," "ash." The landscape is drained of all colour and life, reflecting the death of their love.
- Oxymoron: "The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing." A smile should be alive; this oxymoron powerfully conveys the emptiness of the relationship.
- Pathetic Fallacy: The "winter" setting and "ominous bird" reflect the mood.
- Key Quote: "And a pond edged with greyish leaves." (The final image, summing up the bleakness).
- When We Two Parted: Both are bitter, painful poems about a relationship ending, using cold and deathly imagery.
- Winter Swans: Both use a bleak, watery, winter landscape to explore a relationship, but 'Winter Swans' ends with reconciliation and hope, whereas 'Neutral Tones' has none.
Letters From Yorkshire - Maura Dooley
Summary
The speaker, who lives in the city, receives a letter from a man (possibly a friend or relative) who lives in Yorkshire and works the land. She contrasts his active, physical, outdoor life ("digging potatoes") with her indoor, digital life ("feeding words onto a blank screen"). The letters bridge the distance, but also make her reflect on their different lives.
Context (AO3)
A contemporary poem (written in 2002). It explores the modern contrast between urban and rural life, and the shift from physical labour to digital work. Communication (letters, emails, "word") is central.
Form & Structure (AO2)
- Free Verse: No set rhyme or rhythm, making it sound conversational, like a letter.
- Enjambment: Lines run across stanzas (e.g., "his knuckles singing / as they reddened in the warmth"), creating a sense of flowing conversation and connection.
- Tercets (3-line stanzas): The uneven number of lines per stanza might reflect the unevenness of their relationship or the distance.
Language & Imagery (AO2)
- Contrast: His life is full of active verbs ("digging," "planting," "clearing") and sensory imagery ("icy weather"). Her life is about "feeding words" and "tap[ping] out" messages.
- Metaphor: "our souls tap out messages." Their connection is deep, spiritual, and transcends the physical distance.
- Key Quote: "It's not romance, simply how things are." (She tries to be pragmatic, but the poem is full of gentle longing).
- Sonnet 29: Both explore longing for someone who is far away and the difference between thoughts/letters and physical presence.
- Mother, Any Distance: Both explore a close bond across a distance, though one is romantic/friendship and the other is familial.
The Farmer's Bride - Charlotte Mew
Summary
A dramatic monologue from a farmer. He married a young bride three years ago, but she "turned afraid" of him and all men. She ran away, was caught, and is now locked in the house. He is frustrated by her fear and his own unfulfilled desire for her, describing her as a wild, scared animal.
Context (AO3)
Written in the early 20th century. It explores attitudes towards women (as property), mental health, and the isolation of rural life. Mew herself had a difficult life, with family mental illness, and was a queer woman in a repressive society.
Form & Structure (AO2)
- Dramatic Monologue: We only hear the farmer's voice. His bride is totally silent, reflecting her powerlessness.
- Strong Rhyme & Rhythm: Uses a driving, folk-ballad style, but the rhyme and rhythm sometimes break down, reflecting his own frustration.
- The final stanza is short and breathless, showing his desire reaching a breaking point.
Language & Imagery (AO2)
- Animal Imagery: "like a frightened fay," "a leveret," "a mouse." He dehumanises her, seeing her as a wild creature to be hunted and caged, not a wife.
- Dialect: Use of words like "shiver and shut" gives a strong sense of his rural character.
- Seasonal Imagery: Set in winter ("black," "cold"), reflecting the coldness and lack of life in their marriage.
- Key Quote: "We caught her... and turned the key upon her, fast." (Shows her as a prisoner).
- Porphyria's Lover: Both are dark dramatic monologues about male possession and control over a silent or silenced woman.
- Singh Song!: A complete contrast. Also about a marriage with a rural/shop setting, but 'Singh Song!' is joyful, equal, and modern, while 'Farmer's Bride' is dark and unequal.
Walking Away - Cecil Day-Lewis
Summary
The speaker (the poet) remembers watching his son walk away from him on his first day of school, "like a satellite/Wrenched from its orbit." This memory, from 18 years ago, still hurts, but he has come to understand that letting go is a natural and necessary part of love ("love is proved in the letting go").
Context (AO3)
Written by the Poet Laureate about his first son, Sean. It's a personal, autobiographical poem about the painful but natural process of a child gaining independence.
Form & Structure (AO2)
- Steady Form: Five quatrains (4-line stanzas) with a regular ABACA rhyme scheme. This control and regularity contrasts with the painful, chaotic emotion he is describing.
- Past Tense: A memory he is reflecting on, giving it a thoughtful, philosophical tone.
Language & Imagery (AO2)
- Space Metaphor: "a satellite / Wrenched from its orbit." This is a violent, painful image, showing how unnatural the separation felt to the father.
- Natural Imagery: "A half-fledged thing... / ...like a winged seed loosened." This contrasts with the satellite image, suggesting the separation is actually natural, even if it hurts.
- Religious Language: "God alone / Can perfectly show..." He compares the "letting go" to God giving up his son, showing how profound and difficult it is.
- Key Quote: "How selfhood begins with a walking away, / And love is proved in the letting go." (The poem's final message).
- Mother, Any Distance: Both explore a parent-child relationship at a moment of separation and growing independence.
- Follower: Both explore a father-son relationship, but from opposite perspectives (father watching son, and son watching father).
Eden Rock - Charles Causley
Summary
The speaker vividly remembers (or imagines) a day from his childhood, picnicking with his parents. They are on the bank of a river, and he is on the other. They seem young and full of life, and they call to him to cross. The poem ends on a note of ambiguity: "I had not thought that it would be like this."
Context (AO3)
Causley's father died when he was very young. This poem is a beautiful, idealised vision of being reunited with his parents. "Eden Rock" suggests a perfect, pre-lapsarian (before the fall) place. The poem is ambiguous: is it a memory, a dream, or a vision of the afterlife?
Form & Structure (AO2)
- Regular Stanzas: Four quatrains, followed by a final, single line.
- Half-Rhyme: Uses a gentle, half-rhyme scheme, giving it a soft, dream-like quality.
- The Final Line: The single line "I had not thought that it would be like this" is separate from the rest, showing his separation from them, or perhaps his surprise at this vision of death/heaven.
Language & Imagery (AO2)
- Light Imagery: "The sky whitens as if lit by three suns." This is an unearthly, heavenly, and divine image.
- Detailed Description: "Genuine H.P. sauce bottle," "tin cups." These specific, ordinary details make the memory feel real and cherished.
- Water: The "stream" separates him from them, a classic symbol for the boundary between life and death.
- Key Quote: "They are waiting for me somewhere beyond Eden Rock." (Shows his belief in their reunion).
- Before You Were Mine: Both are about a child viewing their parents as young people *before* the poet's main consciousness, creating a nostalgic, dream-like tone.
- Follower: Both explore a child's deep bond with a parent, looking back with nostalgia.
Follower - Seamus Heaney
Summary
The speaker (Heaney) describes his father as a young man, expertly ploughing a field. As a child, the speaker "stumbled" and "tripped" behind him, wanting to be just like him. The poem ends with a role reversal: now, it is his father who is old and "stumbling" behind *him*, and the speaker is the one who cannot "get rid" of him.
Context (AO3)
Heaney grew up on a farm in Northern Ireland. He did not become a farmer, but a poet. The poem explores his admiration for his father's skill, but also his own decision to follow a different path ("I was a nuisance...").
Form & Structure (AO2)
- Iambic Tetrameter: A tight, controlled rhythm that mimics the "click" and "sod" of the plough.
- Full Rhymes (ABCB): The tight structure reflects the father's "expert" skill and control.
- Volta (Turn): The poem shifts dramatically in the last stanza ("But today..."), reversing the roles.
Language & Imagery (AO2)
- Nautical Imagery: "His shoulders globed like a full sail," "dipping and rising." He portrays his father as a powerful, majestic ship, showing his childhood awe.
- Technical Language: "sod," "furrow," "wing," "headrig." Shows the father's expertise and the poet's deep knowledge of this world.
- Contrast: The father is an "expert," while the son "stumbled," "tripped," and "faltered."
- Key Quote: "It is my father who keeps stumbling / Behind me, and will not go away." (A powerfully ambiguous ending: is it an annoyance, or a loving, persistent bond?).
- Walking Away: Both explore a father-son relationship and the passing of time, but from opposite perspectives.
- Climbing My Grandfather: Both use an extended metaphor to describe a child's relationship with a male family member, showing deep admiration.
Mother, Any Distance - Simon Armitage
Summary
The speaker is moving into his own home and his mother is there helping him measure things (windows, floors). He uses the extended metaphor of a tape measure as their umbilical cord/connection. As he gets further away ("two floors below"), the tape "breaks," and he is ready to "fly."
Context (AO3)
A contemporary poem. Armitage often writes in a direct, conversational style. This poem explores the universal experience of leaving home and a parent's (specifically a mother's) role in that transition.
Form & Structure (AO2)
- Loose Sonnet Form: 15 lines instead of 14, and an irregular rhyme scheme. It's like he's "breaking" the traditional, tight form, just as he is breaking away from his mother.
- The last two lines are a rhyming couplet, suggesting that although he's breaking away, the "fall" and "fly" are still linked.
Language & Imagery (AO2)
- Extended Metaphor: The tape measure represents the bond (umbilical cord) between them. It "spans" the distance but is also finite.
- Space Imagery: "acres of the walls," "prairies of the floors." Makes the new house seem vast and intimidating, like a new frontier.
- Kite Metaphor: He is the kite, she is the "anchor." He needs her to be stable so he can "fly," but the bond is still there.
- Key Quote: "...an endless sky / to fall or fly." (The ambiguous ending: independence is both exciting and terrifying).
- Walking Away: Both explore a parent-child separation, using metaphors of distance ("satellite," "anchor/kite").
Before You Were Mine - Carol Ann Duffy
Summary
The speaker (Duffy) looks at an old photograph of her mother as a young, glamorous woman ("Marilyn"), ten years before the speaker was born. She imagines her mother's life full of fun, dancing, and laughter, and then contrasts this with her life *after* the speaker's birth, when she became a "mother." The speaker almost feels guilty for "stealing" that young woman's freedom.
Context (AO3)
Written by a modern, feminist poet. It's an autobiographical poem about her mother, Mary. It reverses the typical parent-child perspective, with the child reflecting on the parent's past identity.
Form & Structure (AO2)
- Four Equal Stanzas (Quintains): The regular structure could represent the four corners of a photograph.
- Present Tense: "I'm ten years away..." "You laugh..." This makes the memory in the photo feel vivid and alive.
- Cyclical Structure: It begins and ends on a pavement, "stamping stars," linking the mother's glamorous past with the speaker's own childhood.
Language & Imagery (AO2)
- Glamorous Imagery: "polka-dot," "Marilyn," "waltzing," "sparkle." She idealises her mother's past.
- Possessive Language: The title "Before You Were Mine" is ironic. The child "claims" the mother, but the poem is about the mother *before* she was claimed.
- Metaphor: "The decade... / ...is cartwheeling." Shows the energy and fun of that time.
- Key Quote: "Cha cha cha! You'd teach me the steps on the way home from Mass." (A perfect blend of her mother's fun past and her life as a mother).
- Eden Rock: Both poems look back at parents in an idealised, photograph-like memory, seeing them as young and vibrant.
- Follower: Both are nostalgic poems from a child's perspective, admiring a parent's past self.
Winter Swans - Owen Sheers
Summary
A couple walks around a lake after two days of silent argument ("the waterlogged earth / gulping for breath"). The weather is bleak and rainy. They watch a pair of swans, who mate for life, and this seems to act as a catalyst. They "tip[ped] their bodies" towards each other, and the poem ends with them walking on, holding hands, reconciled.
Context (AO3)
A contemporary Welsh poet. Sheers often writes about nature and landscapes. The poem is from his collection 'Skirrid Hill', which means 'split' or 'divorce' in Welsh, so the theme of separation and reconciliation is key.
Form & Structure (AO2)
- Tercets (3-line stanzas): Most of the poem is in 3-line stanzas, which looks uneven and reflects the couple's discord.
- Final Couplet: The poem ends with a 2-line stanza (a couplet), showing that the couple has been reunited and order is restored.
- Free Verse: Conversational, natural tone.
Language & Imagery (AO2)
- Pathetic Fallacy: The "winter," "rain," and "waterlogged" earth reflect the couple's deadlocked, struggling relationship.
- The Swans: A powerful symbol of love, loyalty, and reconciliation. Their "white" colour contrasts with the "dark" water.
- Metaphor: The swans' wings "halving" and "settling" are a metaphor for the couple "stilling" their argument.
- Key Quote: "...and folded, one over the other, / like a pair of wings settling after flight." (The final image of their hands, linking them directly to the swans).
- Neutral Tones: A perfect comparison. Both use a bleak, watery, winter landscape to explore a relationship, but 'Winter Swans' ends in reconciliation while 'Neutral Tones' ends in despair.
Singh Song! - Daljit Nagra
Summary
A joyful, lively dramatic monologue from a British-Indian shopkeeper. He describes his new wife, who he is so in love with that he keeps neglecting his shop ("my Daddy's / shops") to go "up di stairs" with her. He describes her as modern and rebellious ("she wear a / tartan sari"), and contrasts his "dull" customers with his "bright" and "tiny" wife.
Context (AO3)
A contemporary British-Indian poet. The poem playfully explores the experience of second-generation immigrants, blending traditional Indian culture (arranged marriage, family shop) with modern British culture ("Tartan sari," "dating site").
Form & Structure (AO2)
- Song-like Form: Uses repetition and a chorus ("Hey Singh, ver yoo bin?"), reflecting the title.
- Phonetic Spelling: "di," "vee," "yoo." This creates the speaker's strong 'Punglish' (Punjabi-English) accent, making his voice authentic and vibrant.
- No punctuation: Creates a fast, breathless, excited pace.
Language & Imagery (AO2)
- Humour: The complaining customers ("di worst Indian shop / on di whole Indian road") add humour and contrast with his romantic joy.
- Metaphor: He calls his wife "my bright vexing," "my tiny eyes," "my sweet accumulation." Shows his affection.
- Cultural Blending: "tartan sari," "web-camera," "whisky." Shows their modern, hybrid identity.
- Key Quote: "Is priceless baby -" (The final line, showing that their love is more important than money or the shop).
- The Farmer's Bride: A direct contrast. Both are about a new marriage in a rural/shop setting, but 'Singh Song!' is joyful, modern, and equal, while 'Farmer's Bride' is dark and unequal.
- Sonnet 29: Both are joyful, passionate poems about romantic love, but use very different language and forms.
Climbing My Grandfather - Andrew Waterhouse
Summary
The speaker uses the extended metaphor of rock climbing to describe himself as a child, exploring his grandfather. He "climbs" him, discovering details like "skin... like paper," "earth-stained hands," and "a smiling mouth." The poem is a warm, affectionate memory of his grandfather and their close bond.
Context (AO3)
A contemporary poem. Waterhouse was also an environmentalist, and the "earth" and "mountain" imagery connects the grandfather to nature, making him seem solid, ancient, and gentle.
Form & Structure (AO2)
- Extended Metaphor: The whole poem is one single metaphor.
- One Long Stanza: The poem is one solid block of text, visually representing the "mountain" of the grandfather.
- Enjambment: Lines flow freely, mimicking the physical, continuous act of climbing.
- Present Tense: "I decide to do it... I rest..." Makes the memory feel immediate and vivid, as if he is a child again.
Language & Imagery (AO2)
- Climbing/Mountain Language: "traverse," "ridge," "screed," "summit." This technical language makes the metaphor specific and detailed.
- Natural Imagery: "earth-stained," "old brogues... with grass." Connects the grandfather to the earth, making him seem kind and solid.
- Tactile Imagery (Touch): "glassy ridge of a scar," "soft and white." Emphasises the physical closeness of the relationship.
- Key Quote: "knowing / the slow pulse of his good heart." (The "summit" he reaches is not a peak, but the love at his grandfather's core).
- Follower: Both use an extended metaphor (ploughing/climbing) to explore a child's deep admiration for an older male relative.
How to Compare Poems (AO1)
The exam requires you to compare the poem given to you with one other from the cluster. You must compare, not just describe one and then the other.
Your comparison should be integrated. This means discussing a theme (e.g., 'loss'), and then showing how *both* poems present it, moving back and forth between them.
- To show similarity: "Similarly," "Likewise," "In the same way," "Both poems..."
- To show difference: "In contrast," "However," "Conversely," "Whereas Poem A does this, Poem B..."
[Infographic Placeholder]
A table for comparing 'When We Two Parted' and 'Neutral Tones' on:
Theme: Painful memory of lost love.
Imagery: WWTP (Cold/Death), NT (Grey/Death).
Form: WWTP (Cyclical, accentual verse), NT (Cyclical, ABBA rhyme).
Tone: WWTP (Bitter, mournful), NT (Bleak, pessimistic).
Conclusion: Both poems show the speaker is trapped by the past and the memory of the dead relationship.
Exam-Style Questions
The question will always be in this format: "Compare how poets present [THEME] in [NAMED POEM] and one other poem from the 'Love and Relationships' cluster."
Example Questions
- Compare how poets present romantic love in 'Singh Song!' and one other poem.
- Compare how poets present longing and desire in 'Sonnet 29' and one other poem.
- Compare how poets present distance in 'Letters From Yorkshire' and one other poem.
- Compare how poets present family relationships in 'Follower' and one other poem.
- Compare how poets present the end of a relationship in 'Neutral Tones' and one other poem.
- Compare how poets present obsession in 'Porphyria's Lover' and one other poem.
Knowledge Check Quiz
Match the quote to the poem:
Question 1: "The fountains mingle with the river / And the rivers with the ocean,"
Love's Philosophy (by Shelley)
Question 2: "And a pond edged with greyish leaves."
Neutral Tones (by Hardy)
Question 3: "I'm ten years away from the corner you laugh on"
Before You Were Mine (by Duffy)
Question 4: "His shoulders globed like a full sail strung"
Follower (by Heaney)
Question 5: "like a pair of wings settling after flight."
Winter Swans (by Sheers)