AQA GCSE English Literature · 3.2.2

Poetry: Power and conflict

Revision questions with answers for 3.2.2 Poetry: Power and conflict in AQA GCSE English Literature (spec 8702). Practise with flashcards, a topic quiz, a random quiz across the course, 5 crosswords, or read every question and answer below.

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Question 1
Which 15 poems are in the 'Power and conflict' cluster?
Answer:
Ozymandias; London; The Prelude: stealing the boat; My Last Duchess; The Charge of the Light Brigade; Exposure; Storm on the Island; Bayonet Charge; Remains; Poppies; War Photographer; Tissue; The Emigrée; Checking Out Me History; Kamikaze.
Question 2
Which Power and conflict poems deal with the experience and effects of war?
Answer:
Exposure, Bayonet Charge, The Charge of the Light Brigade, Remains, War Photographer, Poppies and Kamikaze. They are useful to compare for the reality, glory and consequences of conflict.
Question 3
Which Power and conflict poems present the abuse or fall of power?
Answer:
Ozymandias, My Last Duchess, London and The Emigrée, with Checking Out Me History and Tissue on identity and control. Compare how rulers, institutions and history shape people.
Question 4
Which Power and conflict poems show the power of nature?
Answer:
Storm on the Island, The Prelude: stealing the boat, Exposure and Ozymandias (time and the desert). Compare how nature shows human weakness and fear.
Question 5
How should you approach a Power and conflict comparison?
Answer:
Start with a clear idea linking the two poems (for example, power is temporary, or conflict damages individuals). Then compare methods: language, form and structure, and use context only if it helps.
Question 6
Ozymandias: who wrote it and what is it about?
Answer:
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1818). A traveller describes a shattered statue of a once great king in the desert. The poem shows that all human power eventually fades.
Question 7
Ozymandias: what language and imagery stand out?
Answer:
'Colossal wreck', 'sneer of cold command' and the arrogant inscription contrast with the empty desert. The irony is that the boastful words now show his downfall, while the sculptor's art has lasted.
Question 8
Ozymandias: how do form and structure work?
Answer:
A sonnet with an irregular rhyme scheme, which reflects the broken statue and loss of order. The poem has layers of narration (poet, traveller, sculptor), and the final lines turn from pride to emptiness.
Question 9
London: who wrote it and what is it about?
Answer:
William Blake (1794, Songs of Experience). A speaker walks through London and sees misery, poverty and oppression in people's faces and voices, caused by powerful institutions.
Question 10
London: what language does Blake use?
Answer:
Repetition of 'charter'd' (owned and controlled), 'mind-forg'd manacles' and 'every' to show how everyone is trapped. Images of chimney-sweeps, soldiers, harlots and infants show different victims of power.
Question 11
London: how do form and structure work?
Answer:
Four quatrains with a regular ABAB rhyme and a steady rhythm like marching, which reflects the relentless misery. The final stanza, with the 'marriage hearse', sums up the corruption of love, marriage and birth.
Question 12
The Prelude: stealing the boat: who wrote it and what is it about?
Answer:
William Wordsworth (written 1799-1805, published 1850). A boy takes a boat at night, enjoys the freedom, then is frightened by a huge cliff that seems to rise up. It shows nature's power and the boy's guilt.
Question 13
The Prelude: what language and imagery stand out?
Answer:
A change from calm, pleasant images to the 'huge peak, black and huge' that towers over him. Personification makes nature seem alive and judging, and gives a sense of the sublime.
Question 14
The Prelude: how do form and structure work?
Answer:
Blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) in the first person, with enjambment that makes it flow like speech. The mood changes at the turning point when the mountain appears.
Question 15
My Last Duchess: who wrote it and what is it about?
Answer:
Robert Browning (1842). The Duke of Ferrara shows a portrait of his late wife to an envoy and reveals his jealous control over her. He implies he had her killed, and now plans another marriage.
Question 16
My Last Duchess: how is the Duke's character shown?
Answer:
Through his possessive language ('my'), his anger at her friendliness and his proud pose about art and rank. His calm tone makes the hint of murder more chilling.
Question 17
My Last Duchess: how do form and structure work?
Answer:
A dramatic monologue in rhyming couplets of iambic pentameter, with enjambment so the couplets sound like natural speech. The control of the form reflects the Duke's control, and the ending with the Neptune statue repeats the theme of dominance.
Question 18
The Charge of the Light Brigade: who wrote it and what is it about?
Answer:
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1854). It describes a cavalry charge at Balaclava during the Crimean War, when 600 men rode into a deadly valley after a misunderstanding.
Question 19
The Charge of the Light Brigade: what language does Tennyson use?
Answer:
Repeated phrases like 'Into the valley of Death' and 'Cannon to right of them', and the line 'Theirs not to reason why'. It honours the soldiers' bravery while hinting at the blunder.
Question 20
The Charge of the Light Brigade: how do form and structure work?
Answer:
Six stanzas with a galloping dactylic rhythm and lots of repetition that imitates charging horses. The ending calls on the nation to honour the soldiers, showing the poem's patriotic tone.
Question 21
Exposure: who wrote it and what is it about?
Answer:
Wilfred Owen (written 1917-18). Soldiers are stuck in freezing trenches at night, where the weather is more deadly than the enemy. It shows the boredom, suffering and futility of war.
Question 22
Exposure: what language does Owen use?
Answer:
Personification of the weather ('merciless iced east winds that knive us'), sensory images of cold and the repeated 'But nothing happens'. The weather is the real enemy, and the soldiers seem already half dead.
Question 23
Exposure: how do form and structure work?
Answer:
Eight stanzas of five lines, each with a short, flat final line and pararhyme that sounds unsettled. The refrain-like 'nothing happens' creates a sense of endless waiting.
Question 24
Storm on the Island: who wrote it and what is it about?
Answer:
Seamus Heaney (1966). Islanders think they are well prepared for a storm, but as it hits they feel afraid because they cannot stop its power. It is about the limits of human control.
Question 25
Storm on the Island: what language does Heaney use?
Answer:
Confident, solid images at first ('We are prepared'), then violent war-like words ('salvo', 'bombarded') as the storm hits. The shift shows that nature is a powerful, unseen enemy.
Question 26
Storm on the Island: how do form and structure work?
Answer:
A single stanza of blank verse with enjambment and a conversational tone. The poem moves from certainty to fear, and the final line about fearing a 'huge nothing' stresses the unseen threat.
Question 27
Bayonet Charge: who wrote it and what is it about?
Answer:
Ted Hughes (1957). A soldier runs across a field in the First World War and is suddenly overwhelmed by fear, so he stops thinking about patriotism and just survives.
Question 28
Bayonet Charge: what language does Hughes use?
Answer:
Harsh, physical images (hot, raw, sweating) and violent verbs show the soldier's body, while patriotic ideas are dropped like useless things. The image of a hare shows how animal fear takes over.
Question 29
Bayonet Charge: how do form and structure work?
Answer:
Three stanzas, starting in the middle of the action with no introduction. The soldier's hesitation in the second stanza slows the pace, and the poem avoids any glory or patriotic ending.
Question 30
Remains: who wrote it and what is it about?
Answer:
Simon Armitage (2008, The Not Dead). A soldier remembers shooting a looter in Iraq and is haunted by the memory. It shows guilt and trauma after conflict.
Question 31
Remains: what language does Armitage use?
Answer:
Colloquial, casual language ('probably armed, possibly not') shows the soldiers' detachment and the way the memory returns. The repeated blood imagery and the pun in the title show lasting guilt.
Question 32
Remains: how do form and structure work?
Answer:
Free verse with a conversational voice and enjambment, so it reads like a spoken confession. The structure moves from the event to its aftermath, and the memory keeps returning.
Question 33
Poppies: who wrote it and what is it about?
Answer:
Jane Weir (2005). A mother describes her feelings after her son leaves for war, using domestic images and the poppy as a symbol of remembrance and loss.
Question 34
Poppies: what language and imagery stand out?
Answer:
Everyday images of home (a blazer, baking, a pinned poppy) mix with military words, and the poppy suggests blood and sacrifice. The mother's grief is shown through small details.
Question 35
Poppies: how do form and structure work?
Answer:
Free verse with enjambment, so her thoughts spill over, and a gap between past and present. At the end she visits a war memorial, which shows she is waiting for her son.
Question 36
War Photographer: who wrote it and what is it about?
Answer:
Carol Ann Duffy (1985). A photographer develops pictures of a war zone in his darkroom, and contrasts the horror with the way people at home treat the images.
Question 37
War Photographer: what language and imagery stand out?
Answer:
Religious imagery (the darkroom like a church, the red light, 'spools of suffering') shows the photographer's calling. His detached view at the end suggests that those at home do not truly care.
Question 38
War Photographer: how do form and structure work?
Answer:
Four stanzas of six lines with a regular rhyme scheme, which mirrors the control the photographer needs. The final stanza shows the indifference of the readers, which is the poem's criticism.
Question 39
Tissue: who wrote it and what is it about?
Answer:
Imtiaz Dharker (2006). Paper is used as a symbol of how fragile human lives and power structures are, since paper can hold laws, religion, maps and records. It questions who has power.
Question 40
Tissue: what language does Dharker use?
Answer:
Images of paper that lets 'light shine through', and 'living tissue' and skin. The paper metaphors show that authority and buildings are made of the same fragile material as life.
Question 41
Tissue: how do form and structure work?
Answer:
Free verse in short, irregular stanzas with no strict rhyme, which reflects flexibility. The ending turns from paper to people, suggesting that human beings are more valuable than the systems that control them.
Question 42
The Emigrée: who wrote it and what is it about?
Answer:
Carol Rumens (1993). A woman recalls her birth city, which she left as a child, as a place of sunlight. She cannot go back because it has been changed by tyranny, but memory still holds the 'sunlit' image.
Question 43
The Emigrée: what language does Rumens use?
Answer:
Repeated images of sunlight and warmth show how nostalgia colours the past. Harsh words like 'tyrants' hint at the real, troubled city, so memory and reality are contrasted.
Question 44
The Emigrée: how do form and structure work?
Answer:
Free verse with a lyrical, personal voice and repeated phrases about the city. The shifts between past and present show how powerful memory is, even against a political regime.
Question 45
Checking Out Me History: who wrote it and what is it about?
Answer:
John Agard (1996). A Caribbean-born speaker criticises a school history that only taught European figures, and celebrates black heroes such as Toussaint L'Ouverture, Nanny de Maroon and Mary Seacole.
Question 46
Checking Out Me History: what language does Agard use?
Answer:
Caribbean creole for the speaker's voice, set against standard English in the 'European' history parts. Repetition ('Dem tell me') and the images of blindness and bandages show how a false history controls identity.
Question 47
Checking Out Me History: how do form and structure work?
Answer:
Alternating sections: lists of well-known European names and, in contrast, black historical figures, with a strong rhythm like a chant. The ending, about carving out his own identity, shows he takes back power.
Question 48
Kamikaze: who wrote it and what is it about?
Answer:
Beatrice Garland (2013). The daughter of a Japanese pilot imagines why her father turned back from a suicide mission, and how he was shunned by his family and community afterwards.
Question 49
Kamikaze: what language and imagery stand out?
Answer:
Sea imagery, memories of the pilot's childhood and images of fish and boats show the beauty of life that makes him turn back. His shame is shown by his family treating him as if he were dead.
Question 50
Kamikaze: how do form and structure work?
Answer:
A story told by the daughter in reported speech, with regular stanzas and no speech marks. The final stanza turns to the speaker's own viewpoint and shows the cost of honour and duty.

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