Eng Lit Paper 2 Section B - Power and Conflict Poetry

[Anthology Overview] How many poems are in the Power and Conflict anthology?

15 poems â€" all must be studied for AQA English Literature Paper 2.

[Anthology Overview] What are the two cluster themes?

Power (of nature, of humans, of conflict) and Conflict (internal, external, war, personal).

[Anthology Overview] What does AQA expect in a comparison essay?

A detailed response on one named poem plus a comparison to another of your choice â€" you must compare methods, themes, and effects.

[Anthology Overview] What is the exam format for poetry?

Paper 2, Section B â€" one question on a named poem, you choose the second poem. No anthology allowed.

[Anthology Overview] What key methods should you discuss?

Structure, form, voice, imagery, tone, language choices, sound techniques, rhythm, and context.

[Ozymandias] What is Ozymandias about?

A traveller describes a ruined statue of a once-powerful king in the desert â€" his empire has crumbled despite his arrogance.

[Ozymandias] What is the central message?

The power of nature and time will always outlast human political power â€" pride and arrogance are futile.

[Ozymandias] Key quote: Ozymandias's boast

"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

[Ozymandias] What is ironic about "Look on my Works"?

The "Works" no longer exist â€" only the desert remains; the boast becomes a demonstration of its own failure.

[Ozymandias] Key quote: nature's power

"The lone and level sands stretch far away" â€" the desert reclaims everything; nature is indifferent and unstoppable.

[Ozymandias] Key quote: the sculptor's art

"The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed" â€" the sculptor captured the tyrant's character in stone; art outlasts power.

[Ozymandias] What is the form?

A sonnet (14 lines) â€" traditionally used for love poetry; subverted here to critique power rather than celebrate it.

[Ozymandias] What is the structural effect?

The boastful quote sits at the centre surrounded by descriptions of ruin â€" the structure enacts the poem's irony.

[Ozymandias] What is the narrative distance?

Three layers of narration (poet â†' traveller â†' inscription) â€" makes the king remote and undermines his authority.

[Ozymandias] What does the character of Ozymandias represent?

A warning about tyranny â€" his "sneer of cold command" shows cruelty, and his monument becomes a symbol of hubris.

[London] What is London about?

The speaker walks through London describing the misery, oppression, and suffering of the city's poor population.

[London] What is Blake's central message?

Poverty and suffering in the city are the result of corrupt institutions â€" the Church, the monarchy, and the government.

[London] Key quote: chartered streets

"I wander through each chartered street, / Near where the chartered Thames does flow"

[London] What does "chartered" mean?

Owned, controlled â€" even the river is commodified; the repetition emphasises how total the oppression is.

[London] Key quote: mind-forged manacles

"In every cry of every man… the mind-forged manacles I hear"

[London] What do "mind-forged manacles" suggest?

Mental imprisonment â€" people are conditioned to accept their oppression; the chains are psychological not just physical.

[London] Key quote: the soldier

"And the hapless Soldier's sigh / Runs in blood down Palace walls"

[London] What does "blackening Church" suggest?

Moral corruption of the Church â€" it is blackened by sin and complicity in the suffering of children like chimney sweeps.

[London] Key quote: the harlot

"How the youthful Harlot's curse / Blasts the new-born Infant's tear"

[London] What is the effect of ending on "the Marriage hearse"?

Marriage (life/love) is contaminated by death â€" the image of decay corrupts even the most fundamental human bond.

[London] What is the form?

Four regular quatrains with an ABAB rhyme scheme â€" the rigid structure mirrors the city's oppressive control.

[London] What context is relevant?

Blake was a Romantic poet who lived through the Industrial Revolution â€" he saw London's poor exploited and neglected by institutions.

[The Prelude] What is The Prelude: Stealing the Boat about?

The speaker (young Wordsworth) steals a boat; the experience of nature's power terrifies him and changes his perspective.

[The Prelude] What is the central message?

Nature has a moral force that shapes human consciousness â€" it punishes arrogance and inspires humility.

[The Prelude] Key quote: the speaker's confidence

"It was an act of stealth / And troubled pleasure"

[The Prelude] Key quote: the mountain rising

"a huge peak, black and huge… Upreared its head"

[The Prelude] What is the effect of the repeated "huge"?

Emphasises the mountain's overwhelming scale â€" the speaker's certainty collapses in the face of natural power.

[The Prelude] Key quote: aftermath

"for many days, my brain / Worked with a dim and undetermined sense / Of unknown modes of being"

[The Prelude] What does "unknown modes of being" suggest?

The speaker's sense of self has been disturbed â€" nature has expanded his understanding of the world beyond human categories.

[The Prelude] What is the form?

Blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) â€" mimics natural speech and thought; the irregularities mirror the speaker's disturbed state.

[The Prelude] How does Wordsworth present the relationship between humans and nature?

Nature is a living, almost conscious force â€" it actively responds to human arrogance with punishment and awe.

[The Prelude] What context is relevant?

Wordsworth was a Romantic poet â€" the movement celebrated nature, emotion, and the individual's relationship with the natural world.

[My Last Duchess] What is My Last Duchess about?

A duke shows an envoy the portrait of his dead wife while revealing (inadvertently) that he had her killed for her perceived disobedience.

[My Last Duchess] What is the central message?

The poem is a chilling critique of male control and possessiveness â€" the Duke treats his wife as an object to be owned.

[My Last Duchess] Key quote: the Duchess's behaviour

"She had / A heart â€" how shall I say? â€" too soon made glad"

[My Last Duchess] What does the Duke's hesitation ("how shall I say?") reveal?

He is carefully controlling the narrative â€" the pauses show his manipulation even as he tries to appear reasonable.

[My Last Duchess] Key quote: the Duke's power

"I gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together."

[My Last Duchess] What is chilling about "all smiles stopped together"?

The euphemism for murder â€" the Duke never says he killed her but the implication is unmistakable and cold.

[My Last Duchess] Key quote: possessiveness

"since none puts by / The curtain I have drawn for you, but I"

[My Last Duchess] What does the Duke controlling the curtain symbolise?

He controls who sees his wife, even in death â€" she is his possession and he decides when she is viewed.

[My Last Duchess] What is the form?

A dramatic monologue in iambic pentameter â€" the unbroken form mirrors the Duke's need for control.

[My Last Duchess] What is the effect of the dramatic monologue form?

The reader overhears his confession â€" he incriminates himself without realising; creates dramatic irony.

[My Last Duchess] What context is relevant?

Set in Renaissance Italy â€" a society where aristocratic men had absolute power over women; critiques Victorian gender dynamics too.

[Charge of the Light Brigade] What is the poem about?

It commemorates the disastrous cavalry charge at Balaclava (1854) during the Crimean War, where soldiers rode to near-certain death.

[Charge of the Light Brigade] What is Tennyson's attitude to the soldiers?

He glorifies their courage and sacrifice while subtly critiquing the military incompetence that caused their deaths.

[Charge of the Light Brigade] Key quote: the charge

"Half a league, half a league, / Half a league onward"

[Charge of the Light Brigade] What is the effect of the repeated "Half a league"?

Mimics the rhythmic gallop of horses â€" creates momentum and drives the poem forward relentlessly.

[Charge of the Light Brigade] Key quote: the valley of death

"Into the valley of Death / Rode the six hundred."

[Charge of the Light Brigade] How does the valley of death imagery work?

Biblical allusion (Psalm 23) â€" elevates the soldiers to near-martyrs; their sacrifice is given religious weight.

[Charge of the Light Brigade] Key quote: the soldiers' obedience

"Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs but to do and die"

[Charge of the Light Brigade] What does "Theirs not to reason why" suggest?

Soldiers obey without question â€" this can be read as both heroic loyalty and a critique of blind obedience to poor leadership.

[Charge of the Light Brigade] Key quote: the guns

"Cannon to right of them, / Cannon to left of them, / Cannon in front of them"

[Charge of the Light Brigade] What is the effect of the repeated cannon lines?

Creates a sense of entrapment â€" the soldiers are surrounded; the repetition builds dread and intensity.

[Charge of the Light Brigade] What is the form?

Irregular ballad stanzas with a strong dactylic rhythm â€" mimics galloping; the irregularity mirrors the chaos of battle.

[Exposure] What is Exposure about?

Soldiers on the Western Front suffer in freezing winter conditions â€" Owen argues the real enemy is the weather, not enemy forces.

[Exposure] What is Owen's central message?

War is not glorious â€" soldiers are killed by cold and exhaustion more than combat; the war is futile and the men are forgotten.

[Exposure] Key quote: opening line

"Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us"

[Exposure] What does "merciless" and "knive us" suggest?

Nature is personified as a cruel enemy â€" the weather attacks the soldiers; the men are victims of their environment.

[Exposure] Key quote: the refrain

"But nothing happens."

[Exposure] What is the effect of "But nothing happens" as a refrain?

Creates a sense of stasis and futility â€" the men wait for action but face only slow suffering; it undermines any sense of heroism.

[Exposure] Key quote: dawn

"Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army / Attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of grey"

[Exposure] How does Owen use military language to describe dawn?

Dawn is personified as an attacking army â€" nature itself is hostile; the "grey" suggests bleakness and death.

[Exposure] Key quote: home

"Slowly our ghosts drag home: glimpsing the sunk fires glowing through the glazed doors"

[Exposure] What do the "sunk fires" suggest?

The men imagine home but feel disconnected from it â€" their suffering has alienated them from normal life; they are already ghost-like.

[Exposure] What is the form?

Eight stanzas with a half-rhyme scheme â€" the imperfect rhymes mirror the discomfort and unresolved suffering of the soldiers.

[Exposure] What context is relevant?

Owen served in WW1 and suffered shell shock â€" his poetry is a direct counter-narrative to the propaganda glorifying war.

[Storm on the Island] What is Storm on the Island about?

Islanders prepare for and experience a violent storm â€" the poem explores the power of nature and the vulnerability of humans.

[Storm on the Island] What is the central message?

Despite human preparation and community, nature is ultimately unpowerable â€" we are at its mercy.

[Storm on the Island] Key quote: preparation

"We are prepared: we build our houses squat, / Sink walls in rock and roof them with good slate"

[Storm on the Island] What does the community's preparation reveal?

They have experience of storms â€" the detailed preparations show respect and fear of natural power.

[Storm on the Island] Key quote: the storm's attack

"Spits like a tame cat / Turned savage"

[Storm on the Island] What does the simile of the "tame cat / Turned savage" suggest?

Nature appears controllable but can become ferocious without warning â€" the domestic-turned-wild creates a sense of betrayal.

[Storm on the Island] Key quote: the void

"Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear"

[Storm on the Island] What does "huge nothing" suggest?

The storm is essentially an absence â€" wind and air â€" yet it terrifies; the power of nature is paradoxically defined by emptiness.

[Storm on the Island] What is the form?

Blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) â€" conversational but controlled; the form mirrors the community's measured response to natural threat.

[Storm on the Island] What is the tone?

Initially confident and pragmatic, then unsettled â€" the speaker's certainty erodes as the storm intensifies.

[Bayonet Charge] What is Bayonet Charge about?

A soldier jolts into action in a charge, driven by fear and instinct â€" the poem explores the chaos and terror of combat.

[Bayonet Charge] What is the central message?

In the moment of battle, ideology and patriotism are meaningless â€" only survival instinct matters.

[Bayonet Charge] Key quote: the soldier's start

"Suddenly he awoke and was running â€" raw / In raw-seamed hot khaki"

[Bayonet Charge] What does "raw" suggest?

Vulnerability and newness â€" the soldier is exposed, unprepared, and reduced to his most primal state.

[Bayonet Charge] Key quote: the ideals

"King, honour, human dignity, etcetera / Threw him down"

[Bayonet Charge] What is the effect of "etcetera"?

Dismissive â€" it trivialises the grand ideals used to justify war; they become obstacles rather than motivations.

[Bayonet Charge] Key quote: the hare

"His terror's touchy dynamite" â€" describing a yellow hare stumbling across the battlefield

[Bayonet Charge] How does the hare function in the poem?

It represents innocent life caught in the horror of war â€" a symbol of the indiscriminate destruction of conflict.

[Bayonet Charge] What is the form?

Three stanzas of irregular free verse â€" the lack of structure mirrors the chaos and disorientation of battle.

[Remains] What is Remains about?

A soldier describes killing a looter, and the psychological trauma that follows â€" the image of the dead man haunts him.

[Remains] What is the central message?

War causes lasting psychological damage â€" PTSD is as destructive as physical wounds; guilt cannot be escaped.

[Remains] Key quote: the shooting

"On behalf of a larger-than-life-size / Coca-Cola brand of life on the side / We'd blown him open."

[Remains] What does the Coca-Cola reference suggest?

A critique of Western capitalism â€" soldiers die and kill for consumer values; the brand trivialises the death.

[Remains] Key quote: the blood

"his blood-shadow stays on the street"

[Remains] What does the "blood-shadow" suggest?

The image is both literal (a stain) and metaphorical â€" the soldier cannot escape the psychological mark left by the killing.

[Remains] Key quote: the haunting

"he's here in my head / when I close my eyes, / dug in behind enemy lines"

[Remains] What is the effect of "dug in behind enemy lines"?

Military language applied to trauma â€" the dead man has invaded the soldier's mind like an enemy soldier; PTSD framed as continued warfare.

[Remains] Key quote: the ending

"his bloody life in my bloody hands"

[Remains] What is the double meaning of "bloody"?

Both literal (covered in blood) and a British expletive â€" colloquial language shows the soldier's anguish breaking through.