Ozymandias – Percy Shelley

What is it about? The poem focuses on an Egyptian Pharaoh’s fall from power through the examination of a statue in a barren wasteland. What is the message?

• Pride comes before a fall

• Power is not eternal

• Time overrides all humans. Key themes Authority, time, nature, power of words Key quotes 'king of kings' 'nothing beside remains' 'shattered visage lies'

'the hand that mocked' ' the heart that fed' 'antique'' 'half sunk'

Key concepts Sonnet form – usually associated with love – great irony Barren wasteland – pointlessness of great empires Juxtaposition – perception of self and other people’s opinions

London – William Blake What is it about? The poem centralises on the city of London and the oppressive nature of power within the city causing a strict hierarchy and a lack of equality and individuality. What is the message?

• Every member of society is restricted and confined by the rigid class structures

• There are vast differences between the poverty of the poor and the wealthiness of the rich

• Individuality and identity has been suppressed by corrupt power

Key themes Ownership, individuality vs society, lack of personal freedom and liberty, inequality Key quotes 'every' 'chartered street' 'marks of weakness, marks of woe'

'mind-forged manacles' ‘runs in blood down palace walls'

Key concepts Polemic poem - a strong verbal or written attack on someone or something. Negative impact of industrialisation throughout society Rigid structure of poem emulates control in society

Prelude – William Wordsworth What is it about? Poem focuses on Blake’s experience of nature where he is confronted by its beauty and its intimidating power in the form of a mountain. What is the message?

• There is a darker side to nature

• Humanity has no control over nature

• Humans are insignificant in the face of nature’s force

Key themes Power of nature, power of imagination, nature dominates society, inner conflict, loneliness, lack of power Key quotes 'troubled pleasure' 'led by her' 'huge peak, dark and huge'

'a trouble to my dreams' 'in a grave serious mood' 'undetermined'

Key concepts Sense of space and sheer size of the open water and sky emphasises the insignificance of humans.

Personfication of nature – mother nature both caring but also threatening

Wordsworths’ personal viewpoint – autobiographical poem

My Last Duchess What is it about? The speaker, the Duke, points out a portrait of his former wife and implies she was flirting with another man. He expresses the importance of dominating a woman in marriage. What is the message?

• Women are oppressed due to the rule of aristocratic men

• Powerful monsters can disguise their monstrosity under a facade

Key themes Power, gender, lack of power, lack of personal freedom and liberty, inequality Key quotes ‘my gift of a nine-hundred year old name,’ ‘too easily impressed,’ ‘That’s my Last Duchess,’ ‘then all smiles stopped together.’ Key concepts Dramatic monologue – The Duke’s perspective – women have no voice Iambic pentameter and rhyming couplets – conversational rhythm that feels informal

Charge of the Light Brigade

What is it about? Six hundred soldiers – The Light Brigade – charge forward directly between the Russian guns and into a valley. They meet the enemy disadvantaged and very few return alive. What is the message?

• Clear communication is a necessity

• Misinterpretation can lead to disastrous consequency

• Duty can override instincts

• Soldiers are brave but unnecessarily so

Key themes War, conflict, duty, bravery, powerlessness Key quotes ‘rode the six hundred’ ‘cannon to right of them’ ‘into the valley of death’ ‘honour the charge they made!’ Key concepts Rhythm – replicates sounds like horses’ hoofbeats and cannons Active verbs – lively poem Onotmatopoeia – echoes cannon fire and is repeated through rhymes

Kamikaze

What is it about? A daughter tells the story of her father going on a kamikaze mission and failing to complete his mission causing him to become isolated and ostracised from the community. What is the message?

• Importance of pride and honouring one’s country overrides everything else

• Death isn’t always literal

• Nature has the power to change what people think

• Some people will inevitably conform to societies expectations

Key themes Duty, honour, war, nature, time, family, relationships, freedom, memories

Exposure What is it about? The poem describes the experiences of a group of soldiers in the First World War What is the message?

• War is futile

• War causes mental and physical damage

• War changes people’s identities

• War is not as it is perceived to be Key themes War, faith, mental pain, physical pain, nature, powerlessness, duty Key quotes ‘our brains ache’ ‘but nothing happens’ ‘sudden successive flights’ ‘all their eyes are ice’ ‘for the love of god seems dying’ Key Concepts

Storm on the Island

What is it about? The speaker explains how the community’s houses are prepared for storms. Arguably poem is extended metaphor for political struggle not just the power of nature. What is the message?

• Nature is unavoidable and all powerful

• Individuals cannot prevent the inevitable

Key themes Disorder, violence, nature, power, community Key quotes ‘we are prepared’ ‘the wizened earth has never troubled us’ ‘spits like a tame cat turned savage’ ‘it is a huge nothing we fear’

Bayonet Charge

What is it about? A soldier runs through rifle fire holding a rifle with a bayonet and momentarily stops and becomes confused but then continues in charge. What is the message?

• War changes people’s identities

• Individuals forget their beliefs

• The balance between nature and mankind is lost during war as mankind is destructive

• Mankind is a weapon Key themes War, duty, identity, bravery, honour, survival Key quotes ‘suddenly he awake and was running’ ‘a green hedge’ ‘the patriotic tear that had

Remains

What is it about? The speaker describes experience of being in Middle Eastern war zone and shooting a looter and the impact it had on his mentality. What is the message?

• War irrevocably changes people’s identity

• War is psychologically damaging

• Mankind becomes like an emotionless machine in war

Key themes Duty, war, identity, guilt, physical and psychological impact of war Key quotes ‘on another occasion’ ‘probably armed, possibly not’ ‘I see every round as it rips through his life’ ‘end of story, except not

Key quotes ‘her father embarked at sunrise’ ‘green-blue transulent sea’ ‘shoals of fishes flashing silver’ ‘cloud-marked mackerel, black crabs, feathery prawns’ ‘we too learned to be silent’ ‘which had been the better way to die’ Key Concepts Use of third person past tense at the beginning has fairy tale like effect creating a neutral distant tone Two distinct voices – the speaker’s and the daughter herself Sea and fishing imagery – strong sense of place and family and contrast of lack of freedom

Present tense – creates immediacy for the reader Trenches – Owen doesn’t describe the immediate setting of the trenches themselves but the wider surroundings Pronouns – we/us/our show the united group

Key Concepts Allegory – extended metaphor – in the poem political power/strife can argue it is about the Irish ‘troubles’ Stormont – name of government building in Belfast

brimmed in his eye’ ‘king, honour, human dignity etcetera’ ‘his terror’s touchy dynamite’ Key Concepts In media res – begins in the middle of the action Imagery connects the battlefield to a range of more common,everyday ideas and concepts Juxtaposition of nature and war highlights the brutality of war

really’ ‘the drink and the drugs won’t flush him out’ ‘his bloody life in my bloody hands’ Key Concepts PTSD – post traumatic stress disorder – 1 in 3 soldiers suffer from PTSD following warfare Colloquial language – emphasises he is a real person Remains as a title has varios connotations including the idea of human remains, the persistant memories the soldier has and what is left of the soldier after his experiences

Poppies

What is it about? The speaker describes seeing poppies on graves before Armistice day and recounts her experience of her son going to war. What is the message?

• War impacts more than just the individual directly involved in war

Key themes War, families, memories, freedom, time, loss, suffering Key quotes ‘Armistice Sunday’ ‘spasms of paper red’ ‘smoothed down your shirt’s upturned collar’ ‘a split second and you were away’ ‘released a song bird from its cage’ ‘playground voice catching on the wind’ Key Concepts Ambiguity – throughout poem ambiguity around the outcome for the son. Peace symbolism perhaps freedom through death Churchyard – nature of individual suffering First person direct address – voice of mother speaking to her son

War Photographer

What is it about? A war photographer is developing his pictures in a dark room under a soft red light. He remembers the photographs and contemplates the impact they will have on others. What is the message?

• War is futile

• The media doesn’t present the whole story

• Those who are not directly involved in war don’t necessarily care

Key themes War, duty, suffering, conflicting emotions, innocence, guilt Key quotes ‘in his darkroom he is final alone’ ‘all flesh is grass’ ‘nighmare heat’ ‘half-formed ghost’ ‘to do what someone must’ ‘readers’ eyeballs prick with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers’ ‘they do not care’ Key Concepts Contrast of setting – rural England in comparison to war zone Attitude toconflict – contrast of photographer,the media and those reading the newspaper Third person viewpoint – distance from both the photographer and reader

Tissue

What is it about? The poem lists things made of paper that have power and how they have changed things. What is the message?

• Paper is presented as having the power to change things despite its fragility

• All things are insubstantial Key themes Power, uncertainty, light, religion, history Key quotes ‘paper that lets the light shine through’ ‘the kind you find in well used books’ ‘the sun shines through their borderlines’ ‘layer over layer’ ‘shapes that pride can make’ ‘turned into your skin’ Key Concepts Uncertainty – importance that civilisation places on paper despite its fragility Pace of poem – slow to mimic respect

Emigree

What is it about? The speaker describes her experience of leaving her country behind as a small child but never losing her child-like image of it What is the message?

• Over time places change but memories stay the same

• Society has the power to oppress people

Key themes Conflict, threat, innocence, memory, reminiscing, escape Key quotes ‘there was once a country’ ‘sunlight-clear’ ‘white streets of that city’ ‘my city takes me dancing through the city of walls’ ‘they accuse me of absence, they circle me’ ‘my shadow falls as evidence of sunlight Key Concepts Emigree – French version of the verb ‘to emigrate’ Juxtaposition and change over time – rumens focuses on the speakers relationship with the city rather than its physical attributes

Checkin Out Me History

What is it about? The speaker explains the teaching of white western history rather than is Caribbean history. What is the message?

• Knowledge is power

• Society doesn’t have the power to change and oppress everyone

• People control their own identities Key themes Identity, oppression, education, knowledge, defiance Key quotes ‘dem tell me’ ‘dem never tell me bout’ ‘but not I checking out me own history I carving out me identity’ Key Concepts Contrast of white western history and the lack of black history taught – Agard mocks the British history to emphasis importance of his own Pronouns ‘dem’ and ‘me’ show reclamation of power The poem’s structure separates Caribbean history and Europe’s

Guilt