Power & Conflict Poetry
Give 2 bits of context for Kamikaze
- Garland said 'I spend a lot of the day listening to other people's words' - in her poetry she immerses herself in other's perspectives
- Japan's military attitudes were founded on codes of honour and self-sacrifice. Typically, Kamikaze pilots were volunteers which conveys how firmly people believed in these values
Give 3 key quotes for Kamikaze
- The title of poem 'Kamikaze'
- 'her father'
- 'Full of powerful incantations'
Analyse the quote 'her father' and the title 'Kamikaze'
The noun 'father': Reflects garlands ability to see the person beneath the facade of a soldier which suggests she is questioning the ethics of patriotism and how it disregards identity.
Juxtaposes military role as a 'kamikaze' pilot: Military expectations corrupt familial life - there is a disparity (contrast) between the pilots assigned role within the title of 'Kamikaze' and his personal role as 'her father'
Analyse the quote 'Full of powerful incantations' from Kamikaze
Image on 'incantations': It suggests the pilot was under an indoctrinating (brainwashing) propaganda spell. It portrays the influence of propaganda as hypnotic and bewitching. This is contextually important - self-sacrifice in the war.
Irony on 'powerful': the use of power is bitterly ironic as the pilot is powerless to the propaganda and his dehumanisation and marginalisation (treated insignificantly) when he goes back home.
Analyse the form technique of sestets in Kamikaze
Sestets: Its divided into sestets; The first 5 describe the story of her father's mission. The two final stanxas explore his return. This compresses the years after his return to be much shorter than his flight which would've happened within minutes or hours.
Implying the gravitas (seriousness) of his decision within that one moment cut his life short
Analyse the form technique of metre in Kamikaze
- Initially, the poem is written in free verse allowing it to unfold quickly, mimicking the flight of the plane
- The end resorts to iambs which reinstate a steady and melancholic tone - mirrors an elegy (a speech about someone who has died) - although he is alive, he is dead symbolically to his family and his society
Name 4 comparison poems to Kamikaze and how they link
Exposure:
Identity - robbed by the war
Human control/ power - powerless to propaganda + war
Bayonet Charge:
War - questioning the sacrifice
Poppies:
Memories - memories of loved ones tarnished by war
Give 2 bits of context for London
- Blake was a Romantic poet - believed nature was awe-inspiring. He was anti-establishment (against government, church etc)
- Blake wrote 2 poetry collections: 'songs of innocence' and 'songs of experience'. London belongs to 'songs of experience' which grieves the loss of innocence in the face of corruption
Give 2 key quotes for London
- "Mind-forged manacles"
- "In every infant's cry of fear"
Analyse the quote 'Mind-forged manacles' from London
- Semantic field of oppression: Their oppression is so deep, it has formed these 'manacles' around individuals' minds, thus they are confined to the misery that the authorites have imprisoned them to.
- Symbolism: 'manacles' are made of metal bands intertwined together, mimicking how the people in London are inextricably intertwined with their misery and oppression - the 'manacles' are inescapable as they are 'mind-forged' making them impossible to physically escape
Analyse the quote 'In every infant's cry of fear' from London
- Anaphora: mimics the cyclical and sempiternal torturing the citizens of London are subject to - in every crevice of London there is mass suffering, the 'infants' not being exempt from this.
- Oxymoron: 'infant' and 'fear'. These juxtaposing images show how the innocence of youth has been corrupted and stolen as they have already been tainted by this exploitative setting.
Analyse the form technique of Quatrains and ABAB rhyme in London
Quatrains are paired with a regular ABAB rhyme (e.g in the 1st and 3rd line 'street' and 'meet' and the 2nd and 4th line 'flow' and 'woe') to emulate the mass oppression and restiction the lower classes were subject to
Analyse the form technique of iambic tetrameter in London
- The consistent iambic tetrameter heightens the motif of oppression that is seen throughout the poem; there is no freedom to escape this control
- Blake provides a gimmer of hope when he breaks the iambic tetrameter on 'marks of weakness, marks of woe". He could be implying that there is hope to break free from this oppression if London was to be united against the establishments that are controlling them
Name 2 comparison poems for London and how they link
My Last Duchess:
Identity - oppression of an individual's identity by higher power
Memories - memories tainted by the speaker's perception
Ozymandias:
Human power/ control - oppression of people by a leader
Give 2 bits of context for Ozymandias
- Shelly was a Romantic poet - believed in the power of nature and the sublime
- Shelly was also anti-monarchy and a pacifist (against war)
Give 2 key quotes for Ozymandias
- 'Half sunk, a shattered visage lies'
- 'Lone and level sands' 'nothing beside remains'
Analyse the quote 'Half sunk, a shattered visage lies' from Ozymandias
- Irony: Of the kings hubris (excessive pride) and vanity in his appearance and 'visage', leading him to commision a statue that, instead of reflecting his desired image, embodies his cruelty and indifference
- Diction on 'shattered': Now, only fragments of the shattered statue remain, symbolising the collapse and decay of tyrannical authority
Analyse the quote 'Lone and level sands' 'nothing beside remians'
- Alliteration: emphasises the vast and mighty extent of nature. Whereas the human sees his power eroded and chipped away by time, nature enjoys transcendent (beyond human) power, serving only to show the futility of human power
- Metaphor of the passage of time: The statue becomes engulfed by the desert sands, it parallels Ozymandias' memory being gradually concealed by the relentless march of time
Analyse the form technique of using a mix of Petrachan and Shakespearean sonnet in London
- Mirrors Ozymandias' love and obsession he had with himself due to his hubris
- Alternatively, ridicules the lack of love Ozymandias' people had for him due to his tyrannical and callous rule
Analyse the use of the form technique of iambic pentameter in Ozymandias
- It is used as a motif of control. It is used throughout the poem to demonstrate the frightful regularity of the oppression by those in power on those they rule.
- It is used so regularly which may suggest that there is no way to break free - they are constrained by the oppressive tyrant that rules them
Name 3 comparison poems for Ozymandias and how they link
London:
Identity - oppresion of people's identities by a leader
Human power/control - oppression of people by a leader
Exposure:
Power of Nature - human power is nothing compared to nature
Tissue:
Memories - the memories of human power doesn't last
Give 2 bits of context for Checking Out Me History
- Growing up in British Guyana, John Agard recieved a British education
- After living in Britain for 30 years and seeing the flawed and oppressive education system, Checking Out Me History was published in a collection named 'Half-caste and other poems' which explored issues of race and identity
Give 4 key quotes for Checking Out Me History (3 go together)
- 'I carving out me identity'
- 'Mary Seacole' 'fire-woman struggle' 'a healing star'
Analyse the quote 'I carving out me identity' from Checking Out Me History
- Personal pronoun: he is taking personal charge over his identity, a power denied to him through the systematic exclusion of black history. This ommision perpetuated a cycle where his identity was constantly stifled.
- Colloquialism: celebrates his regional dialect and a refusal to conform to the beliefs of those who educated him. It is clear it is a deliberate act of defiance against literary norms for this poem
Analyse the quotes 'Mary Seacole' 'fire-woman struggle' and 'a healing star' from Checking Out Me History
- Motif of light: Agard pairs a motif of light with black historical figures
- 'star' quintessentially provides a source of direction, it also characterises someone with a divine quality. This could be an example of how these historical figures carved out a passage to freedom and illuminated a route out of coloniallism
Analyse the form technique of free verse in Checking Out Me History
It is written in free verse with the periodic use of rhymic quatrains, this could be a metaphorical act of breaking free from European convention as he abandons poetic tradition to give voice to the past that is oppressed by this very tradition
Analyse the form technique of rhyming quatrains in Checking Out Me History
- Each reference to black history comes at the end of each stanza perhaps critiquing how white history was prioritised
- However, by it being the final image o the stanza it remains more pertinent in the reader's mind, so Agard is now giving them the acknowledgement they deserve
Name 2 comparison poems for Checking Out Me History and how they link
London:
Identity - individual identity stripped by their oppressor
Human control/ power - powerless to the higher authoritive forces
Ozymandias:
Memories - memories about legacies of the past historical figures
Give 2 bits of context for Exposure
- Owen wrote the poem while in the trenches - he wrote poetry to express the horrors of war opposed to internalising it. The fact he is experiencing these horrific, dehumanising conditions as he is writing about them gives the poem this very raw sense of emotion.
- Inspired by writers like Siegfried Sasoon who critiques patriotism and jingoistic (extreme patriotism) attititudes
Give 3 key quotes for Exposure (2 go together)
- 'Dawn massing in the East her melancholy army'
- 'We turn back to our dying' 'for love of God seems dying'
Analyse the quote 'Dawn massing in the East her melancholy army' from Exposure
- Personification of 'dawn': personifies dawn to be a an agressive and systemic violent army juxtaposes traditional views of Mother Nature as nurturing
- Ironic: 'dawn' typically is seen as a symbol of renewal, offers no such promise - their future appears as bleak and unyeilding as the predawn darkness they emerge from
Analyse the quote 'We turn back to our dying' 'for love of God seems dying' from Exposure
- Semantic field of death and decay: despite the semantic field, fear is absent, replaced instead by a sense of grim defeat - the soldiers have learned to accept the inevitability of death
- Disillusionment: they have become disillusioned with the idea of religion due to being subject to dehumanising conditions. The previous brainwashing and jingoism of sacrifice for your county and God seems meaningless in such conditions
Analyse the form technique of pararhyme in Exposure
- 'knife us' and 'nervous' almost rhyme
- Half rhymes evoke a sense of unease and dissatifaction in the reader, as they anticipate the full rhyme but are consistently denied. This mirrors the soldiers' anxious anticipation of conflict, their minds unsettled by the nervous tension awaiting battle.
Analyse the form technique of cyclical structure in Exposure
- 'but nothing happens' is used to frame the poem as well as being interspersed throughout. This shows the continuous vicious cycle of war and suffering as well as highlighting that there is no true end to the soldiers plight (struggle)
Name 3 comparison poems for Exposure and how they link
Kamikaze:
Identity - identity stripped of the individual by war
Ozymandias:
Power of nature - human power is weak in the face of nature
Bayonet Charge:
Memories - powerlessness of soldiers on the battlefield and to propaganda
Give 2 bits of context for The Prelude
- Wordsworth was a Romantic poet - he wrote in criticism of industralism and celebrated nature's beauty
- The Prelude was intended to be the first volume of a three-part autobiographical epic poem named 'The Recluse' however he died before it was finished
Analyse the form technique of the Prelude being an epic poem
- Its a long narrative poem that details the extraordinary feats of a heroic protagonist. It is possible to interpret the hero as nature personified
Analyse the form technique of blank verse in The Prelude
Blank verse means it is written in iambic pentameter without rhyme. This is a useful tool with a poem so long as it establishes and maintains an artistic quality to keep the reader engaged
Give 2 comparison poems of The Prelude
Ozymandias:
- Both depict nature as more omnipotent than man and both critique the arrogance of mankind
London:
- Both critique the arrogance of mankind
Give 2 bits of context for My Last Duchess
- The poem was written around the Industrial Revolution which lead to more class mobility and freedom leading Browing to voice his opinions
- The poem is loosely blased around a real Italian Nobleman, with the Duchess being Lucrezia De Medici
Analyse the use of the form technique of dramatic monologue in My Last Duchess
The poem is written as a dramatic monolouge with no stanzas to show how the Duke exercises absolute power over his wife with no room for freedom of expression and allows the reader to recognise that the poem is a biased account
Analyse the form technique of ABAB rhyme scheme in My Last Duchess
- The ABAB rhyme scheme is present throughout the poem with no deviation which serves to show how the Duke controlled the Duchess' life with startling regularity and continues to do so even after her death
Name a comparison poem for My Last Duchess and how they link
Ozymandias:
Impact of Pride - Ozymandias and Duke share a quality of hubris
Give 2 bits of context for The Charge Of The Light Brigade
- Tennyson had a miserable childhood with an abusive father yet was still able to get good education in superb grammar schools
- The Charge Of The Light Brigade is based on the Battle of Balaclava on the 25th of October 1854 as part of the Crimean war
Analyse the form technique of the ballad form in The Charge Of The Light Brigade
The poem is written in a ballad form to show how highly Tennyson regards the sacrifice of the soldiers; he understood the futility of their sacrifice
Analyse the form technique of an irregular rhyme scheme in The Charge Of The Light Brigade
Adds chaos into the poem, leaving it unable to settle into rhythm and thus mimicking the chaos of battle
Name a comparison poem for The Charge Of The Light Brigade and how it links
Exposure:
Criticising military leadership - the inhumane condtions they were in
Give 2 bits of context for Storm On The Island
- It is an extended metaphor for the tumultuos political situation in Northern Ireland e.g the Troubles
- It was a poem in a collection called 'Death of a Naturalist' which dismantled the romanticisation of natural beauty to instead implore the potential violence of nature
Analyse the form technique of blank verse in Storm On The Island
Its written in blank verse to make the poem sound conversational which presents the experience of a storm as casual and regular - the people are so accustomed to the feeling of fear it's become an everyday occurance
Analyse the form technique of the lack of stanzas in Storm On The Island
The lack of stanzas denies the reader any pause to uphold the same level of tension throughout the poem
Give 2 bits of context for Bayonet Charge
- Ted Hughes was not actually alive during WW1 however his father fought in Gallipoli which may influence his thoughts on war
- His poetry often focuses on animals, as seen with the hare in this poem
Analyse the form technique of third person singluar perspective in Bayonet Charge
- Allows the poet to focus on showing the reader how war impacts one person through the perspective of that person
- Hughes makes it impossible to view war favourably, the soldier's abject terror is rubbed off on the reader
Analyse the form technique of the lack of rhyme scheme in Bayonet Charge
- May be Hughes intentionally attempting to communicate the absolue lack of regularity and order within the soldier's experience of war and creates and atmosphere of discomfort fo the audience
Name a comparison poem for Bayonet Charge and how it links
Exposure:
Dehumanisation of soldiers - Soldiers question why they're there
Give 2 bits of context for Remains
- Written for 'The Not Dead' on Channel 4, raised awareness on PTSD
- Based on the heart wrenching experiences of Guardsman Tromans in the 2003 Iraq War
Analyse the form technique of dramatic monologue in Remains
Paints a picture of it being a traumatic account from memory
Shifts in perspective throughout monologue mirrors the soldier coming to terms with his guilt
Analyse the form technique of regular quatrains in Remains
Highlights the regularity of his PTSD and the rigid, unrelenting control it has on him
May show how experiences of conflict and the guilt resulting from them are also regular
Name comparison poem for Remains and how it links
Exposure:
Suffering of soldiers
Give 2 bits of context for War Photographer
-It was published in 1985 and references the Vietnam war which ended in 1975
- Line 12 'running children in a nightmare heat' is an allusion to Nick Ut's 'Napalm Girl' photograph which is a photo of a nine-year-old girl running naked towards the camera in agony during the Vietnam war
Analyse the form technique of equal stanzas in War Photographer
Could be a metaphor to reinforce the way order and structure is artificially imposed over the chaos and disorder of war
Analyse the form technique of regular ABBCDD rhyme scheme in War Photographer
Reinforce the imposed order over the chaotic suffering of war
Name comparison poem for War Photographer and how it links
Remains:
- Traumatic effects of war and how they are relentless and taunting
Give 2 bits of context for Poppies
- Weir has 2 sons herself which likely drove her empathy towards the mother in the poem
- Weir lived through the Troubles of the 1980s- a period defined by conflict and violence
Analyse the form technique of dramatic monologue in Poppies
- Allows every aspect of the poem to be imbued with personal emotions
- Written in second person and directed at her son, the suggestion of an absent listener amplifies the sense of loss and mourning
Name a comparison poem for Poppies and how it links
Kamikaze:
- Reminisce about life before war and childhood
Give 2 bits of context for Tissue
- Dharker was born in Pakistan but grew up in Glasgow and describes herself as a "Scottish Muslim Calvinsit"
- Tissue is part of a 2006 collection called 'The terrorist at my table' which focuses on politics and terrorism
Analyse the form technique of the lack of rhyme scheme in Tissue
- To create a more free flowing text showing how human attempts to exert control are futile
Analyse the form technique of regular stanzas and stanza length in Tissue
Showing how suffocating and stifling human power can be
Name a comparison poem for Tissue and how it links
Ozymandias:
- Fragility of human power
Give 2 bits of context for The Emigree
Much of her work is centered around the socio-political customs within foreign counties
The Emigree doesn't conform to a particular historical context to allow it to universally focus on the emotional experience of emigration
Analyse the form technique of a fairly regular structure in The Emigree
May be the speaker's attempt to impose a sense of order over her city which we learn has decended into chaos
Analyse the form technique of first person in The Emigree
Helps the poem feel conversational, presenting it as a slowing stream of consciousness and it explore the inner emotions of The Emigree speaker in the poem, Rumens is exploring the effect of war on people
Name a comparison poem for The Emigree and how it links
Kamikaze:
- Both discuss the theme of outcasts
Name all 15 poems and their writers
Ozymandias: Percy Shelley
London: William Blake
The Prelude: William Wordsworth
My Last Duchess: Robert Browning
The Charge of the Light Brigade: Robert Browning
Exposure: Wilfred Owen
Storm on the Island: Seamus Heaney
Bayonet Charge: Ted Hughes
Remains: Simon Armitage
Poppies: Jane Weir
War Photographer: Carol Ann Duffy
Tissue: Imtiaz Dharker
The Emigree: Carol Rumens
Checking Out Me History: John Agard
Kamikaze: Beatrice Garland