GCSE English - Power and Conflict - Poetry quotes and analysis

Ozymandias by Persy Bysshe Shelley

"half sunk, a shattered visage lies" - shows that even Ozymandias who was the most powerful could be destroyed time(nature). He could no longer control it. Makes him look insignificant

Ozymnadias by Persy Bysshe Shelley

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings" - king of kings suggests he was comparing himself to Jesus and as many people were christian they would be angered at his arrogance.

London by William blake

"In every cry of every man,/In every infant's cry of fear,/In every voice, in every ban" - Repetition, shows how everyone is feeling the same as Blake.

London by William blake

"And blights with plaques the marriage hearse" - powerful language, destruction is implied by 'blights and 'plagues' hints at something that's uncontrollable and destined to effect lots of people.

Extract from The Prelude by William Wordsworth

"went heaving through the water like a swan" - natural simile show's he is confident and in control - enhances the contrasting dark and threatening on the next line and form then on which is the volta

Extract from The Prelude by William Wordsworth

"strode after me" - the mountain is calm, powerful and in control, contrasts to the narrator's fear.

My Last Duchess by Robert Browning

"stoop" - the repetition of stoop shows how much he thinks his wife is beneath him.

My Last Duchess by Robert Browning

"my Last Duchess painted on the wall" - sounds as if he owns herself not just the picture of her

The Charge Of The Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson

"Theirs not to make reply,/Their not to reason why,/Theirs but to do and die." - rhyme and repetition emphasize the soldiers' obedience and sense of duty, even though they knew their fate.

The Charge Of The Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson

"All that was left of them,/left of the six hundred" - repetition of 'left of' reminds us that lives have been lost, and makes the poem sound sad.

Exposure by Wilfred Owen

"Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles" - the 'brambles' of the barbed wire remind us of the pain caused by nature.

Exposure by Wilfred Owen

"But nothing happens" - shows the boredom and tension. Repeated in first and last stanza to show that even death doesn't change anything.

Storm on the Island by Seamus Heaney

"The very windows spits like a tame cat/Turned savage" - simile shows how things become frightening during a storm.

Storm on the Island by Seamus Heaney

"This wizened earth has never troubled us" - the island seems barren, nothing grows there.

Storm on the Island by Seamus Heaney

"strafes","bombarded" - this language normally used to describe war. The wind is compared to a fighter plane attacking an island.

Bayonet Charge by Ted Hughes

"King, honour, human dignity etcetera" - These are the reasons people go to war, using 'etcetera' suggests they're not even worth listing.

Bayonet Charge by Ted Hughes

"his terror's touchy dynamite" - the soldier has become a weapon rather than a human. He is driven purely by terror.

Bayonet Charge by Ted Hughes

"In what cold clockwork of the stars and the nations" - emphasizes the soldiers' insignificance and lack of control of his situation. 'cold' implies that the people in charge of the war do not care for individual soldiers.

Remains by Simon Armitage

"some distant, sun-stunned, sand-smothered land" - 'stunned','smothered' show how the place is affected by war. The long line and the sibilance slow the pace and reflect the speakers clear lack of thought.

Remains by Simon Armitage

"His bloody life in my bloody hands" - 'bloody' has a double meaning - he could be talking about blood through fighting or searing in anger.'my' no collective responsibility, he feels completely responsible.

Remains by Simon Armitage

"dug in behind enemy lines" - metaphor shows the memory is stuck in his head like a soldier in a trench.

Poppies by Jane Weir

"intoxicated" - hints the lack of control her son has of his life when he is the army

Poppies by Jane Weir

"smoothed down your shirt's upturned collar" - domestic, motherly image - may be the last time she can do this.

Poppies by Jane Weir

"individual war graves" - An ominous reminder that war kills individuals, so loss is personal

War Photographer by Carol Ann Duffy

"he has a job to do" - short,simple sentence using monosyllabic words - he has to put emotions aside, like a soldier.

War Photographer by Carol Ann Duffy

"with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows." - the reels of film are like soldiers, or like rows of war graves. Paradox - chaos and suffering are reduced to something ordered.

War Photographer by Carol Ann Duffy

"with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers" - The internal rhyme of "tears" and "beers" emphasizes the short duration of the reader' pain and empathy - the "beers" suggest after this short moment they forget about and move on with their lives.

Tissue by Imitiaz Dharker

"fine slips from grocery shops" - like receipts which shows that everything is recorded on paper.

Tissue by Imitiaz Dharker

"rivers make, roads, railways" - shows a sense of freedom but when they are on maps(paper) they are structured and controlled.

Tissue by Imitiaz Dharker

"daylight break through capitals and monoliths" - these lines repeat the image in line 17 and 18. Light is enduring and powerful - it will continue to shine even when man-made structures break.

The Emigrée by Carol Rumens

"i am branded by an impression of sunlight" - The negative 'branded' is juxtaposed with the positive 'impression of sunlight'.'branded' also suggests a permanence to her view - it can't change.

The Emigrée by Carol Rumens

"the bright, filled paperweight" - metaphor suggests that her memories are happy and clear but solid and fixed.

The Emigrée by Carol Rumens

"city of walls","free city" - shows the contrasting perceptions of the city the speaker is now in - she sees it as restrictive, but 'they' see it as 'free'.

Checking Out Me History by John Agard

"Dem tell me/Dem tell me/wha dem want to tell me" - emphasizes the separateness of the British education system from himself. Repetition of 'dem' and 'me' creates a sense of 'them and us'. The phonetic spelling of the Caribbean accent - narrators voice links to his identity.

Checking Out Me History by John Agard

"balloon,moon,spoon,maroon" - simple rhyme scheme emphasizes the silliness of how white history is taught. Almost mocking it as it sounds stupid.

Checking Out Me History by John Agard

"Bandage up me eye" - deliberate attempt to hide history. Image of bandage is ironic - bandages should aid healing, but here they've caused blindness. Bandage is also war imagery.

Kamikaze by Beatrice Garland

"full of powerful incantations" - This suggests that the pilot was under a spell, which hints at the influence of patriotic propaganda that kamikazes were exposed to. They were told it was a great honour to die for their country.

Kamikaze by Beatrice Garland

"cloud-marked mackerel, black crabs, feathery prawns, the loose silver of whitebait" - All the sea creatures are given extra description. The cumulative effect of the list highlights their beauty and significance to the pilot.

Kamikaze by Beatrice Garland

"And sometimes she said,he must have wondered which had been a better way to die" - The final, short sentence could be a comment on the destructiveness of patriotism - the pilot's family are so ashamed of him the treat him as if he is dead. He may have wished he fulfilled his mission - either way his story ends in a kind of death.

Ozymnadias by Persy Bysshe Shelley

"I met a traveller from an antique land" - the traveller tells the story not the narrator to show emphasise the insignificance and unimportance of Ozymandias

London by William Blake

"Marks of weakness, marks of woe" - shows how bad people feel about the society they have an everlasting mark of sadness on them. Repetition.

Extract from The Prelude by William Wordsworth

"upreared its head" - the mountain is personified but is an ugly image which contrasts to the beautiful images of the boat ("elfin","swan")

My Last Duchess by Robert Browning

"taming a seahorse" - at the end he returns to his art collection, emphasizing his power and wealth. The story of his last duchess is a subtle warning of how he expects his next wife to behave.

The Charge Of The Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson

"jaws of death","mouth of hell" - personifies death and hell and make them seem like monsters the soldiers can't escape from.

Exposure by Wilfred Owen

"sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence" - sibilance mimics the whistling sounds of bullets of flying.