in oim andus by Percy shell the narrator of the poem meets a traveler who tells him about a statue that he saw when he was in a desert The Traveler first noticed two huge Stone legs standing without a body near the legs on the sand and partially sunk into the ground was the head of the statue on its face despite being shattered and cracked was a nasty arrogant look the sculptor who made the Statue made it look very lifelike at the foot of the statue was an engraving which read my name is oim andus king of Kings look on my Works ye Mighty and despair clearly the statue had once stood in the midst of a vast and impressive Empire but that's the irony by the time the traveler sees the statue not only is it crumbled and broken but it's isolated and in the middle of the Lonely desert in London by William Blake the narrator of the poem describes a walk through the city of London it's a poem from 1794 so it's not the London we think of today but the London of King George III the narrator walks through the streets near the river hems and notices how everyone he sees looks sad and troubled The Cry of a man The Cry of a child and every voice he hears Mak him realize that people are held captive mentally as well as physically the poem suggests that this suffering is caused by those in power the church land owners the monarchy and the government the poem comes from the collection songs of experience which presents a harsh view of a world corrupted by humans extract from the Prelude by William Wordsworth tells a true story from word Worth's own childhood it takes place in the Lake District an area of Northwest England famous for its Lakes forests and mountains the poem describes the poet as a young boy stealing a rowing boat and Rowing across zwater Lake Wordsworth led by nature which is personified in the poem as her finds a boat chained up UND does the chain gets in and pushes off onto the lake proud of his skill he rose the boat feeling powerful and delighted with himself but all this is about to change as he rose Wordsworth fixes his eyes on a huge mountain that Springs into view terrified he turns and rows back to the shore harassed for Days by the memory of the event my last Duchess by Robert Browning is a dramatic monologue in which the Duke of Ferrara a city in Italy shows a painting of his former wife The Duchess to a guest the Duke points out the look on his wife's face a kind of blush or a look of happiness and he explains how his wife disappointed him by looking not only at him her husband in this way but looking at everyone else in the same way too everything impressed her and made her happy the sunset some cherries given to her by an admirer or riding a horse the Duke was disappointed by this and gave commands perhaps to have her killed near the end of the poem we learn that the duuk is telling this to the servant of a count the Duke now wants to marry the Count's daughter although the Duke thinks he is all powerful there's evidence in the poem that he perhaps is not quite as powerful and in control as he thinks the charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Tennison focuses on part of the battle of balaclava that took place on October 24th 1854 the Russians had taken a beating by the British and were retreating however as they were retreating it became clear that they were trying to remove some captured heavy guns the Light Brigade made up of lightly armored troops on Horseback was ordered to ride in to protect the guns but there was a mixup in communication somewhere between the three leaders in charge that day instead the Light Brigade launched itself at the enemy artillery at the end of a valley rather than chasing off retreating Russian troops the Light Brigade charged down a valley that was surrounded by heavily armed Russians who were shooting at them instead of retreating the 600 strong Light Brigade bravely kept going they were committed to it and they were Torn to Pieces by gunfire even when they got to the end of the valley those who were still alive were faced with Russians firing musket guns the Light Brigade only had their Sabers their swords over 150 soldiers were killed killed and another 150 were injured in what was a tragic futile Mission the poem praises the bravery and honor of the soldiers it also questions the leadership blunder that led to the unnecessary Death exposure by Wilfred Owen describes the poet's World War I experience in trench warfare in the opening stanza the poet explains how the soldiers brains are aching in the freezing cold wind that is hitting them they're tired but have to stay awake on watch flares flying through the air confuse their memories of the position they're in they're worried by the lack of sound they whisper they're scared but nothing happens much of the poem follows this format until the poet begins to question the point of it all ultimately Owen determines that the soldiers are there because they believe that going to war is the only way to ensure that a loving domestic life will continue their children will also continue to be brought up happy healthy and protected storm on the island by Sheamus heene is set in the Aon Islands a group of three islands on the west coast of Ireland the narrator of the poem Begins by describing how well prepared he and others are for a coming storm they've built their houses short and wide to withstand the powerful wind they've laid firm foundations and built strong roofs there's no threat of losing crops they've grown because the Earth is so dry that they've never been able to farm in the first place there aren't any trees either if there had been trees they would have kept the Islanders company during the storm because of the sounds that are made as the wind blasts through branches and leaves these sounds allow you to listen to what you're afraid of and to forget that the storm is attacking your house as the poem progresses and the storm begins this confidence begins to disappear the narrator becomes more and more desperate and Afraid bayonet charge by Ted Hughes is a poem about a World War I Soldier Hughes himself was born in 1930 long after the end of World War I so the poem is not based on his own personal experience it's an imagined account we begin the poem mid-action with a soldier charging towards the enemy rifle in hand the soldiers running stumbling across a field towards a hedge he can hear the sounds of gunfire and the horror of the moment pushes aside his original patriotism and replaces it with sheer panic in the second stanza the soldier begins to contemplate what he's doing and why he's doing it he feels there's no point in war in the third and final stanza the focus shifts to a hair that has found itself caught up in the midst of the battle the poet's use of language in the final stanza contains a mocking tone as Hughes criticizes the patriotism of soldiers pointing out that the Noble Virtues Of Honor and human dignity etc mean little or nothing when you're facing the true horror of war Remains by Simon Armitage is taken from the Poetry collection the not dead a collection of poems about discharged servicemen published in 2008 remains is based on the true story of Guardsman tromans who was a machine gunner in the Iraq War in 2003 in the poem three soldiers were called to clear a bank that was being looted as the soldiers approached the bank one of the looters ran out probably armed so all three soldiers shot him and the man was taken away but the blood stain remained on the ground and the solders saw it weak after week when he patrolled the area eventually the soldier went home on leave now we learned that he could not get rid of the image of the man he shot the soldier begins to abuse drink and drugs to try and forget the image but he cannot get it out of his head poppies by Jane we is a dramatic monologue in which as we herself States I wanted to write a poem from the point of view of a mother and her relationship with with her son a child who was loved the son has seemingly joined the army and the poem begins with the mother noticing how 3 days before rembrance day people had already placed poppies on the graves of soldiers who died in the war this reminds her of how before her son left she had pinned a poppy onto his Blazer she remembers how she had smoothed down her son's collar and had tried not to look upset she had wanted to eskimo kiss him like when he was little and had to hold back from running her hands through his hair later the mother followed a dove to a war war memorial leaning on it hoping to hear her son's voice there's some ambiguity in this poem is the Son dead is he at War but what really matters is what the poem tells us about power and conflict poppies looks at the effects of War on those who are not themselves at war war photographer by Carol and Duffy opens with a photographer coming home from a trip finally alone he's in his dark room setting out his equipment and he thinks about the different places that he's been to in stanza 2 he starts to develop the pictures he is reminded of the contrast between the war zone he's been to taking these photographs and rural England that he comes home to in stanza 3 a pictures beginning to develop he thinks about the death of the man in the photograph and the cries of the man's wife and in the final stanza the photographer realizes that the people in England who look at these War photographs in a Sunday newspaper will be sad only for a moment then they'll forget and carry on with their lives again the poem ends with the war photographer flying out to a war zone in the 19 1998 Channel 4 program password Caroland Duffy said those photographs are in the background but I'm more interested in the photographer in the Dilemma of someone who has that as a job to go to these places and come back with the images tissue by empty as darker Begins by exploring how paper initially thin tissue paper can change things it can alter things and as such it has power darker describes the paper in religious books or family histories in which details of a baby's life are written paper has power when it is used to divide and to Mark out to segregate to order or to control darker explores how paper seems to have power in Commerce through receipts which control money in finance but it's all an illusion it's all like a paper kite there's no real power no real control just the power we let it have in reality we give paper power but it is fragile and the poem ends with the image of how human life a different kind of tissue is similar powerful but fragile in the igra by Carol rumans the narrator speaks about a country she left as a child but she still remembers very clearly the speaker never saw it in difficult times and even the worst things she hears about it now don't stop her thinking positively about it there may be a war there it might have been invaded by evil people but the speaker cannot think of it as anything but positive the white streets of that City and the slopes glow even brighter as time goes by Visions rise between where the speaker currently lives and where she used to live the speaker's country is an amazing place but she doesn't have a passport she can't go back but the speaker's memories will stay with her checking out me history by John aard is a poem about identity in a BBC interview aard said that he was reading a history textbook in school and it contained a sentence that was something like this West Indian history begins in 1492 with the arrival of Columbus when he read this line it got him thinking about how education has a eurocentric view nothing exists until the Europeans have entered the arena of history and how the retelling of History really depends on who is telling the story in the poem the narrator talks about how he was only taught about British history dates like 1066 folklore like dick wittington and historical figures like Lord Nelson what he was not t about was his Caribbean Heritage and in this poem he lists some figures from diverse backgrounds Nanny de maroon Mary SEO and others by the end of the poem The Speaker looking into his own history and carving out his own identity kamakazi by beatric Garland presents a mother talking to her children about her own father a kamakazi pilot she explains how her father left at Sunrise he took some water and a samurai sword in the cockpit of his plane he had a shaved head full of strong ideas and only enough fuel in the plane to go to his destination not to return He was going on a one-way journey into history but halfway there the daughter imagines when later telling her own children the story The Pilot must have looked down at the fishing boats and the beauty of nature it must have reminded him of his own childhood playing on the shore with his brothers whilst waiting for their father to come back from fishing and with that in mind the kamakazi pilot turned the plane around and came back from his mission filled with shame at his actions the Pilot's Wife never spoke to him again or even looked at him everyone treated him as shameful his children also eventually learned to be silent to treat him as if he wasn't there this was not the man they had once known and loved the pilot must have wondered whether kamakari death would have been better than this emotional death this poem shows an inner conflict between the cultural military and National expectation that he would commit suicide as a kamakazi pilot and the Pilot's own desire to return home