Poetry anthology

Storm On The Island - Heaney context

Northern Irish

grew up in the troubles in rural Northern Ireland

reflecting on conflict

Exposure - Wilfred Owen context

wanted to expose the atrocities of war and de-glorify it

was a soldier in WW1

died a week before the war ended

The Prelude - Wordsworth

aimed to explore the philosophical roots of his past experiences

and explore the growth of the mind

was a romantic poet in the period of the enlightenment so had a direct opposition to human violence

My Last Duchess - Browning

wanted to explore societal attitudes in the Victorian period although set during the Italian renaissance

Ozymandias - Percy Shelley

a romantic poet

an atheist - expelled from university for it

believed in equality

War Photographer - Carol Ann Duffy

friends with Dun McCullin - wanted to share his story

1st female poet laureate

Remains - Simon Armitage

taken from ‘The Not Dead’

coincide with a documentary about those returning from war with PTSD

Kamikaze - Beatrice Garland

wanted to explore the reasons why people choose to sacrifice their lives for the country

Poppies - Jane Weir

a textile artist as well as poet

experienced some of the Irish Troubles

wanted to write about war from the perspective of a woman

Charge Of The Light Brigade - Alfred Lord Tennyson

Poet Laureate - had to uphold nationalistic values

based of an article about the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War

Bayonet Charge - Ted Hughes

inspired by the war poet Wilfred Owens

father fought in WW1 so experienced the effects of war

London - William Blake

respected the bible but disliked organised religion

lived in London his whole life so we can assume the ‘I’ is him

comes from ‘songs of experience’

Tissue - Dhaker

born in Pakistan but grew up in Scotland

taken from the collection ‘the terrorist at my table’ - a criticism of a world stricken by fundamentalism

Checking Out Me History - John Agard

for performance

to pass on the history he is looking to preserve

brought up in Guyana - plagued by British colonisation

The Emigrée - Carol Rumens

travelled widely

known for writing from the perspective of others

syntactically complex

to widen understanding and sympathy