gcse power and conflict poetry

eng lit thank god im done

ozymandias structure etc

• Sonnet form
• One stanza
• No fixed rhyme scheme

ozymandias quotes

• "King of kings"
• "Sneer of cold command"
• "The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed"
• "Boundless and bare"
• "Half sunk, a shattered visage lies whose frown and wrinkled lip"
• "Nothing beside remains."

ozymandias techniques & context:

• Ironic tone
• Vivid imagery
• Critique of tyranny
• Highlights impermanence of power
• Inspired by Romantic ideals and political commentary

london structure etc

• Iambic pentameter
• Four regular stanzas
• ABAB rhyme scheme

london quotes

• "Every" (repeated in stanza two)
• "Chartered Thames"
• "Mind-forged manacles"
• "Hapless soldier's sigh runs in blood down palace walls"

london techniques and context

• Repetition
• Imagery
• Metaphor
• Criticizes societal oppression and corruption of power
  Shows Romantic and revolutionary ideals

Extract from The Prelude structure etc

• Epic poem
• Free verse
• Enjambment

extract from the prelude quotes

• "Led by her"
• "Upreared its head" (mountain)
• "Huge peak, black and huge"
• "With trembling oars I turned"
• "There hung a darkness, call it solitude"
• "Elfin pinnace"

extract from the prelude Techniques & Context:

• Imagery
• Personification
• Anaphora
• Shows power of nature
• Reflects impact of nature on human experience
• Romantic ideals
• volta ( at "black and huge") line 22

My Last Duchess structure

• Dramatic monologue
• Iambic pentameter
• Enjambment

my last duchess quotes

• "I gave commands"
• "All smiles stopped together"
• "Noticed Neptune, though, taming a seahorse"
• "My object"
• "Will't you please sit and look at her?"

my last duchess techniques and context

• Symbolism
• Alliteration
• Imagery
• Duke's control and jealousy
• Themes of power and possession
• Based on the Duke of Ferrara

The Charge of the Light Brigade structure etc

• Dactyl rhythm
• Six regular stanzas
• Last stanza is only six lines

The Charge of the Light Brigade quotes

• "Jaws of Death"
• "Mouth of Hell"
• "Rode the six hundred"
• "Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die"

charge of the light brigade techniques and context

• Repetition
• Personification
• Imagery
• Bravery and sacrifice
• Themes of heroism
• Consequences of miscommunication
• Based on the Battle of Balaclava

Exposure structure etc

• ABAC rhyme scheme
• Regular structure
• Lots of half-rhymes
• Eight stanzas

exposure quotes

• "But nothing happens"
• "Ghosts drag home"
• "Dawn with her melancholy army"
• "For love of God seems dying"
• "What are we doing here?"

exposure techniques and context

• Imagery
• Personification
• Irony
• Conveys harsh reality and futility of war
• Emotional and physical suffering of soldiers
• Freezing, passive suffering

Storm on the Island structure stuff

• Blank verse
• Dramatic monologue
• One stanza

storm on the island quotes

• "blast", "bombarded", "strafe"
• "Spits like a tame cat turned savage"
• "Strange, it is a huge nothing we fear"
• "We build our houses squat"

storm on the island techniques and context

• Lexical field of war
• Juxtaposition
• Simile
• Irony
• Nature's power
• Vulnerability of humans
• Allegory for the Troubles in Ireland

bayonet charge structure etc

• Three stanzas
• Irregular line length
• Minimal rhyme

bayonet charge quotes

• "Suddenly I awoke"
• "Hot khaki, his sweat heavy"
• "King, honour, human dignity, etcetera"
• "His terror's touchy dynamite"
• Rifle "as numb as a smashed arm"

bayonet charge techniques and context

• In medias res
• Imagery
• Alliteration
• Simile
• Chaos and confusion of war
• Dehumanising effects of combat
• Internal/external struggle

remains structure etc

• Eight stanzas
• Enjambment
• Rhymes and half-rhymes especially toward the end

remains quotes

• "His bloody life in my bloody hands"
• "On another occasion"
• "Myself and somebody else and somebody else"
• "Probably armed, possibly not"
• "And the drink and the drugs won't flush them out"

remains techniques and context

• Imagery
• Repetition
• Metaphor
• Colloquial language juxtaposed with trauma
• Psychological effects of war

"normalised" violence

• soldier fought in iraq

poppies structure etc

• 4 stanzas
• dramatic monologue (elegy)
• free verse
• enjambment

poppies quotes

• "Released a song bird from its cage"
• "steeled the softening of my face."
• "My stomach busy making tucks, darts, pleats"
• "I listened, hoping to hear your playground voice catching on the wind."

poppies techniques and context

• imagery
• metaphor
• symbolism
• themes of grief and loss (emotional labour)
• personal cost of war
• textiles semantic field - making something structured and delicate
• internal conflict

war photographer structure etc

• Four stanzas
• regular structure
• some iambic pentameter.

war photographer quotes

• "spools of suffering set in ordered rows"
• "running children in a nightmare heat"
• "all flesh is grass"
• "blood stained into foreign dust"
• "eyeballs prick with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers"
• "they do not care"

war photographer Techniques and Context:

• Sibilance
• metaphor
• biblical reference
• dysphemism.
• Contrast between real suffering and public indifference.
• Emotional toll on war photographers.

Tissue Structure etc

• Nine regular stanzas
• one-line final stanza.
• Free verse.
  -enjambment

tissue quotes

• "turned into your skin"
• "paper that lets the light shine through"
• "Maps too, the sun shines through their borderlines"
• "back of the Koran"
• "pages smoothed and stroked and turned transparent with attention"

tissue techniques and context

• Imagery
• symbolism.
• Explores fragility of human life and society.
• From collection The Terrorist at My Table.

The Emigrée structure etc

• Free verse
• caesura
• enjambment.
  -Two regular stanzas
• one longer final stanza.

The Emigrée quotes

• "There was once a country… I left it as a child"
• "It may be at war, it may be sick with tyrants"
• "It may now be a lie, banned by the state"
• "My shadow falls as evidence of sunlight" ("branded by an impression of")

The Emigrée techniques and context

• Metaphor
• personification
• imagery.
• Themes of exile, nostalgia, and conflicting identity.
• Idealised view of a lost homeland vs political reality.

Checking Out Me History structure etc

• Free verse
• patois
• irregular rhyme
• enjambment
  -multiple voltas

checking out me history quotes

• "Dem tell me / Dem tell me / wha dem want to tell me"
• "Blind me to my own identity"
• "I carving out me identity"
• "Dick Whittington and he cat"
• "Toussaint de beacon / of de Haitian Revolution"

checking out me history Techniques and Context:

• Metaphor
• imagery.
• Challenges colonial historical narratives.
• Celebrates cultural identity and education.

Kamikaze structure etc

• Seven stanzas
• volta in sixth
• Switch from third to first person.

kamikaze quotes

• "One-way journey into history"
• "the better way to die"
• "her father embarked at sunrise"
• "green, translucent sea"
• "shaven head"

kamikaze techniques and context

• Imagery
• symbolism
• juxtaposition.
• Conflict between personal desire and national duty.
• Themes of shame, memory, and the cost of war (ww2).