Starter quiz
- 'When We Two Parted' is a poem about...
- two people reflecting on their relationship after seeing some swans
- someone reminiscing about childhood memories visiting their grandfather
- someone reflecting on the day their relationship ended
- someone reflecting on their feelings about an illicit affair they had ✓
- someone reflecting on their feelings about the idea of love
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- Alliteration is when a writer...
- compares two things using 'like' or 'as'
- gives human qualities to an inanimate object
- uses multiple words near to each that all begin with the same sound ✓
- begins consecutive lines with the same word or phrase
- uses words that end in the same sound at the end of every other line
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- This poem 'When We Two Parted' was published in which era?
- Edwardian
- Georgian ✓
- Victorian
- Elizabethan
- Jacobean
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- When working out the rhyme scheme of a poem, the first line should always be labelled...
- A ✓
- 1
- 0
- B
- you don't need to label individual lines
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- 'When We Two Parted' has a __________ form.
- regular ✓
- irregular
- fragmented
- incremental
- erratic
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- Match up each of these inferences about the speaker in 'When We Two Parted' to the correct piece of supporting evidence.
- they regret the affair⇔"I rue thee, / too deeply to tell" ✓
- they feel somewhat mournful⇔"half broken-hearted" ✓
- they handled the breakup in secret⇔"In secret we met, / In silence I grieve" ✓
- they are aware the affair was immoral⇔"They know not I knew thee, / Who knew thee too well" ✓
Exit quiz
- Which of these definitions best describes the word 'anguish'?
- repetition of the same sounds at the end of a line of poetry
- repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or lines
- intense joy or excitement
- intense mental suffering or emotional distress ✓
- when a poet writes about their own life or experiences
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- In 'When We Two Parted', Byron uses the extended metaphor of death to compare the end of the speaker's relationship to the death of a loved one. Which of these quotes support this idea?
- "Pale grew thy cheek and cold, / Colder thy kiss" ✓
- "Thy vows are all broken, / And light is thy fame"
- "Long, long shall I rue thee, / Too deeply to tell."
- "They name thee before me, / A knell in mine ear" ✓
- "I hear thy name spoken, / And share in its shame."
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- Match up each of these methods to the correct quote from 'When We Two Parted'.
- anaphora⇔“In secret we met — / In silence I grieve” ✓
- euphemism⇔“They know not I knew thee, / Who knew thee too well” ✓
- sibilance⇔“I hear thy name spoken, / And share in its shame” ✓
- All of the steps below are important to consider when writing analytical paragraphs. Starting with the first, put the steps into chronological order.
- 1⇔topic sentence
- 2⇔supporting evidence
- 3⇔zoom in on keywords/phrases
- 4⇔justify your ideas
- 5⇔concluding statement
- Starting with the first, put these quotes from 'When We Two Parted' in the order they appear in the poem.
- 1⇔"When we two parted in silence and tears"
- 2⇔"Thy vows are all broken, / And light is thy fame"
- 3⇔"I rue thee, / Too deeply to tell"
- 4⇔"In secret, we met — / In silence, I grieve"
- 5⇔"How should I greet thee? — / With silence and tears"
- In 'When We Two Parted', Byron uses anaphora in the following lines: "A knell in mine ear; / ______ shudder comes o'er me". Can you fill in the missing word?
- 'A' ✓
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Byron uses an extended metaphor to compare the end of the affair to the loss of a loved one.
- The progression of this metaphor throughout the poem symbolises the progression of the speaker’s grief as time passes.
- Byron uses a euphemism to refer to the illicit nature of the relationship.
- Byron uses sibilance to emphasise the secretive nature of the affair.
- Byron uses anaphora to reveal how he has to hide his anguish in the wake of the affair.
Common misconception
The lines, "They know not I knew thee, / Who knew thee too well" refer to the close emotional relationship the couple had since they knew everything about each other.
These lines can also be read as a euphemism for the couple's sexual relationship, since 'know' was a term often used in the Bible to refer to sexual intercourse.
Keywords
Anguish - intense mental suffering or emotional distress
Euphemism - substituting a mild or indirect expression for something that is considered rude or taboo
Sibilance - repetition of hissing or hushing sounds, often involving the letters ‘s’, ‘sh’, or ‘z’
Anaphora - repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or lines of poetry
Grief - emotional suffering, typically triggered by loss, death, or a significant disappointment
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