Anthology Poetry - Themes and Context

Question 1

Name 3 poems that link to the power of humans.

Answer 1

Ozymandias, My Last Duchess, Storm On The Island

Question 2

Name 3 poems that link to the power of nature.

Answer 2

Kamikaze, The Prelude, Exposure

Question 3

Name 3 poems that link to the effects of conflict.

Answer 3

Charge Of The Light Brigade, War Photographer, Remains

Question 4

Name 3 poems that link to the reality of conflict.

Answer 4

Exposure, Remains, War Photographer

Question 5

Name 3 poems that link to loss and absence.

Answer 5

Exposure, The Emigrée, Kamikaze

Question 6

Name 3 poems that link to memory.

Answer 6

Kamikaze, War Photographer, Poppies

Question 7

Name 3 poems that link to negative emotions - anger.

Answer 7

London, War Photographer, Checking Out Me History

Question 8

Name 2 poems that link to negative emotions - guilt.

Answer 8

Remains, War Photographer

Question 9

Name 3 poems that link to negative emotions - fear.

Answer 9

The Prelude, Storm On The Island, Bayonet Charge

Question 10

Name 3 poems that link to negative emotions - pride.

Answer 10

Ozymandias, The Prelude, My Last Duchess

Question 11

Name 3 poems that link to identity.

Answer 11

The Charge Of The Light Brigade, My Last Duchess, Remains

Question 12

Name 3 poems that link to individual experiences.

Answer 12

War Photographer, The Emigrée, Remains

Question 13

Percy Bysshe Shelley was the author of Ozymandias - What type of a poet was he?

Answer 13

A ‘Romantic’ poet - ‘Romantic’ poets believed in emotion rather than reason, and particularly focused on the power of nature

Question 14

William Blake was the author of London - What did he look at as a poet?

Answer 14

How innocence is lost, and how society has been corrupted - He believed in social and racial equality and questioned Church teachings

Question 15

William Wordsworth was the author of The Prelude - What type of a poet was he?

Answer 15

A ‘Romantic’ poet - ‘Romantic’ poets believed in emotion rather than reason, and particularly focused on the power of nature

Question 16

Robert Browning was the author of My Last Duchess - What inspired him to write the poem?

Answer 16

In 1561, the Duke of Ferrara’s wife dies in suspicious circumstances. There were rumours she was poisoned

Question 17

Alfred Tennyson the author of The Charge Of The Light Brigade - Why did he write the poem?

Answer 17

As a tribute to the men who died in the battle it describes

Question 18

Wilfred Owen was the author of Exposure - How does the poem link to his life?

Answer 18

He wrote the poem whilst in the trenches in World War One. Much of his poetry reveals his anger at the war’s waste of life and its horrific conditions

Question 19

Seamus Heaney was the author of Storm On The Island - How does his Northern Irish heritage link with he poem?

Answer 19

The first 8 letters of the poem’s title spell ‘Stormont’ - The name of Northern Ireland’s parliament buildings. This hints that the ‘storm’ could be about some of the violent political disturbances in Ireland

Question 20

Ted Hughes was the author of Bayonet Charge - Why has he written about World War One even though the poem was written much later (1957)?

Answer 20

His father served in and survived World War One, and Ted spent two years as a mechanic in the RAF

Question 21

Carol Ann Duffy was the author of War Photographer - What does line 12 of the poem link to? (“of running children in a nightmare heat.”)

Answer 21

A war photographer, Nick Ut., took a photo of a Vietnamese girl running naked in extreme pain - she’d torn her clothes off after being severely burned

Question 22

Imtiaz DHarker was the author of Tissue - The poem was part of her 2006 collection, ‘The Terrorist At My Table’. What does this collection look at?

Answer 22

It questions how well we know the people around us

Question 23

John Agard was the author of Checking Out Me History - What does his poetry often examine?

Answer 23

Cultures and identities