Power and Conflict Poetry

About This Booklet

• Support material for studying poetry in English lessons.
• Can be used for homework, revision, and class resources.
• Emphasizes thorough understanding over quick fixes.
• Keys to success in English:
  • Read widely.
  • Start early.
  • Work hard.
• Contains influenced works from teachers and the AQA Anthology.

Contents

1. Key Terms
2. Ozymandias
3. London
4. Prelude (Extract)
5. My Last Duchess
6. Charge of the Light Brigade
7. Exposure
8. Storm on the Island
9. Bayonet Charge
10. Remains
11. Poppies
12. War Photographer
13. Tissue
14. The Emigree
15. Checking Out Me History
16. Kamikaze
17. Themes, Structure, and Revision Suggestion

Teaching and Learning

• Booklet adaptable for various teaching strategies.
• Encourages exploration of poems over multiple lessons:
  • Starters: Mind maps, key images, line analysis.
  • Development: Annotate poems independently before using book resources.
  • Reinforcement: Summarize poems using PEE paragraphs.
• Themes and structures to be compared and contrasted.

Assessment Objectives (AQA)

• AO1: Textual response with critical style.
• AO2: Language, form, and structure analysis.
• AO3: Text-contextual relationships.
• AO4: Vocabulary and sentence structures.

Key Terms and Literary Devices

• Focus on sounds (e.g., alliteration, assonance), meanings (e.g., allegory, metaphor), structure (e.g., stanza, enjambment), and imagery/tone (e.g., sensory imagery, tone/mood).
• Glossary of devices provided to enhance understanding and application.

Poem Analysis

Ozymandias

• Author: Percy Bysshe Shelley
• Themes: Power and its eventual decay.
• Structure: Sonnet with loose iambic pentameter.
• Context: Inspired by a statue of Ramesses II.

London

• Author: William Blake
• Themes: Lack of power and societal misery.
• Structure: Regular quatrains with abab rhyme.
• Context: Reflects on Georgian/Victorian England's social issues.

Prelude (Extract)

• Author: William Wordsworth
• Themes: Man vs. nature.
• Structure: Blank verse; iambic pentameter.
• Context: Romantic poetry exploring man's place in nature.

My Last Duchess

• Author: Robert Browning
• Themes: Power, control, and arrogance.
• Structure: Dramatic monologue.
• Context: Based on Duke of Ferrara.

Charge of the Light Brigade

• Author: Alfred Lord Tennyson
• Themes: War, sacrifice, and glory.
• Structure: Dimeter and dactylic rhythm.
• Context: Crimean War's Light Brigade.

Exposure

• Author: Wilfred Owen
• Themes: Nature's power in war.
• Structure: Eight stanzas with a consistent half-line ending.
• Context: World War I trench conditions.

Storm on the Island

• Author: Seamus Heaney
• Themes: Nature vs. man.
• Structure: Blank verse.
• Context: Irish farming community.

Bayonet Charge

• Author: Ted Hughes
• Themes: War, transformation, and nature.
• Structure: Blank verse with erratic speed.
• Context: Soldier in trench warfare.

Remains

• Author: Simon Armitage
• Themes: PTSD and memory.
• Structure: Monologue with conversational tone.
• Context: Modern soldier's experience.

Poppies

• Author: Jane Weir
• Themes: Familial conflict, memory, and war.
• Structure: Monologue; no rhyme scheme.
• Context: Modern conflict and remembrance.

War Photographer

• Author: Carol Ann Duffy
• Themes: War, memory, and detachment.
• Structure: Four stanzas with interspersed rhyme.
• Context: War photographer's reflections.

Tissue

• Author: Imtiaz Dharker
• Themes: Fragility of humanity, identity.
• Structure: Ongoing monologue with internal rhyme.
• Context: Modern global issues.

The Emigree

• Author: Carol Rumens
• Themes: Memory, identity, and exile.
• Structure: Three stanzas.
• Context: Emigration and personal past.

Checking Out Me History

• Author: John Agard
• Themes: Identity, history, and education.
• Structure: Irregular rhyme and enjambment.
• Context: Cultural heritage and education critique.

Kamikaze

• Author: Beatrice Garland
• Themes: Honor, duty, and family.
• Structure: Narrative with italicized personal account.
• Context: Japanese kamikaze pilots.

Themes Overview

• Nature: Explored in poems like "Storm on the Island," "Prelude," and "Exposure."
• Pride/Glory: Analyzed in "Ozymandias," "My Last Duchess," and "Charge of the Light Brigade."
• Inner Conflict: Seen in "Poppies," "Kamikaze," and "War Photographer."
• Past/Identity: Discussed in "Emigree," "Checking Out Me History," and "Tissue."

Study Strategies

• Compare and contrast themes such as nature, pride, inner conflict, and identity across different poems.
• Focus on language, structure, and the poet's purpose in your analysis.
• Use the booklet's questions and tasks to guide your revision and essay practice.