Paper 2 - Power and Conflict Anthology

Question 1

Ozymandias

Answer 1

• “Whose frown and wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command,”
• ## “Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

Question 2

My Last Duchess

Answer 2

• “[since none puts by the curtain I have drawn but I]”
• “The bough of cherries some officious fool, broke in the orchard for her, the white mule,”
• “My gift of a nine-hundred-year-old name with anybody’s gift.”
• “I gave commands;and the smiles stopped altogether.”

Question 3

The Charge of the Light Brigade

Answer 3

• “Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die:”
• Context: Victorian society was all about heirachy and blindly following leaders”

Question 4

Exposure

Answer 4

• “Merciless iced winds that knife us…”
• “Like twitching agonies of men among the brambles,”
• “Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of grey”
• “With sidelong flowing flakes that flock, pause and renew,”

Question 5

Remains

Answer 5

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Question 6

Tissue

Answer 6

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Question 7

The Emigree

Answer 7

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Question 8

Checking out Me History vs London

Answer 8

ComH:

• “Carving out me identity” [1] (Carving is a permanent and hard to do process)
• “fire woman struggle/hopeful stream” (Italicised and differently formed stanza contrasts with the rest of the poem mocking the child like manner of European history. Short sentences represent anger) [2]
• “Dem tell me bout de dish ran away with de spoon/But dem never tell me bout Nanny de Maroon” (Rhyme scheme forces Black and white history together. This is also achieved through enjambment The stanzas build up to the name of the historical figure.) [3]
• Context: History has a Eurocentric view. People don’t tend to think history starts till the Europeans have arrived. This links to the power of the education system/authorities and how they let you find out things. Grew up in Guyana which was colonized and used for slave forces. Due to this rule, his education was filtered to the euro-history that he complains about

L:

• “But most thro’ midnight streets I hear/How the youthful Harlot’s curse/Blasts the new-born Infant’s tear” (Returning back to the first topic highlights the inescapability of the situation.) [1]
• “Marks of weakness, marks of woe” (This line pointing out the weaknesses is weak itself. This highlights the idea that the people/organisations of power will criticise other while they themselves are weak) [2]
• “I wander thro’ each chartr’d street,/Near where the chartered Thames does flow.” (Repetition of the word ‘chartr’d highlights the idea that man forces its control onto everything even nature [the Thames for e.g.]) [3]
• Context: Blake liked the idea of religion and considered himself a Christian but disliked the organisation of power within it. Blake was really against the industrial revolution and the shift from country life to city life which wasn’t in good conditions.

Question 9

Bayonet Charge vs War photographer

Answer 9

BC:

• “running- raw/In raw-seamed hot khaki, his sweat heavy,” [1] (Repetition of khaki so close isn’t typical of Hughes experienced style of writing. It expresses the idea that the soldier is unable to think clearly due to the way war is affecting him)
• “king, honour, human dignity, etcetera” (War is pointless. It effects people needlessly. There isn’t actually a reason to be fighting but just to fight.) [2]
• “running like a man… rolled like a flame… dropped like luxuries” (The horrific effects of war are so indescribable that they can only be compared and not directly explained, hence the use of similes. Hughes also ‘borrows’ phrases from Owen’s poem ‘Offensive spring’. This can further emphasise the idea that war’s effects can only be expressed through other things) [3]
• Context: Firstly, Hughes was a poet who was incredibly inspired by Wilfred Owen’s work (visible in point[3]). Also, despite this poem being about WW1, Hughes wasn’t alive during this time. Instead, all of his recollection of this, is based off of his father’s recounts. His father was often described by him as emotionally paralysed by the events of the war and unable to describe the events well

WP:

• “He has a job to do. Solutions slop in trays/beneath his hands which did not tremble then/though seem to now” (The ‘solution’ to war being so indescribable is to use photos. However his hands trembling highlight the lasting effect that still makes this job difficult) [1]
• “A hundred agonies in black-and-white/from which his editor will pick out five or six/for Sunday’s supplement.” (This highlights the idea that ‘They do not care’. War causes you to be part of a futile effort to achieve something that cannot be achieved) [2]
• “A stranger’s features/faintly start to twist before his eyes,/a half-formed ghost.” (This highlights the idea that [unlike in Bayonet Charge] He is able to describe the horrific effects of war. This is only because they’ve had a lasting effect on him) [3]
• Context: Duffy had friends who were war photographers. The whole premise of her writing this poem was to explore the dilemma a war photographer faces between the crucial job of taking photos for the public and the horrors they face and have to live with. She also explores the idea the idea of ‘compassion fatigue’ where we can no longer absorb tragic information and thus the photos are pointless.

Question 10

Kamikaze vs Poppies

Answer 10

K:

• “this was no longer the father we loved” [1] (Conflict can destroy relationships. Ina secondary sort of effect, the daughter is no longer allowed to have a relationship with her father whether she wants to pursue one or not)
• “my mother never spoke again/in his presence” (This family were not involved in the conflict yet they are also victims. The effects of conflict extend to those indirectly involved) [2]
• “the dark shoals of fishes/ flashing their silver bellies/ swivelled towards the sun” (The sibilance creates a smooth effect highlighting the idea that reminds the pilot of the beauty of nature causing him to question whether it is worth it at all to fight in this war and lose all of this. Additionally, the use of enjambment juxtaposes the idea of a tight regular stanza structure reflecting the way his internal thoughts conflict with society’s expectations) [3]
• Context: Kamikaze pilots were suicide pilots during WW2 that crashed their planes into enemy warships. These attempts were rarely successful and many people died for no reason. However the Japanese culture of honour caused people to continue to do this. Refusal to do so brought shame upon not just you, but your family.

P:

• “A split second/and you were away, intoxicated” (To the sun, conflict was like a drug [intoxicated] drawing him away from his mother. This destroys their relationship even if it isn’t described in such a negative way. This highlights that the mother blames conflict rather than the son) [1]
• “individual war graves.” (This highlights the idea that each person is their own. Conflict doesn’t just have effects on the soldiers as a group but rather that each soldier is their own story and the conflict effects it all. This coming from a paternal view emphasises it.) [2]
• “The dove pulled freely against the sky” (The use of the juxtaposition indicates that conflict is irrational. All the events in this poem don’t make sense they have no reason. They still happen.) [3]
• Context: Weir was a mother of two. She wrote this poem because of the extensive amount of war that we are all exposed to and throughout, she kept in mind how she would feel if her sons had left to war. Poppies are placed on armistice Sunday to remember the soldiers who died in wars.

Question 11

Storm on the Island vs Extract from ‘The Prelude’

Answer 11

SotI:

• “spits like a tame cat turned savage” [1] (The use of this similie indicates that nature is deceptive. It can be one thing at one point before revealing tis true… nature? XD)
• “We are bombarded by the empty air/Strange, it is a huge nothing we fear” (The use of the half rhyme links this back to the only other half rhyme in the entire poem. This is at the star when he says ‘we are prepared’. This juxtaposition between ‘we fear’ and ‘we are prepared’ highlights the idea that nature has a lasting effect on people.) [2]
• “THE WHOLE POEM” (Potentially dramatic monologue form highlights the idea that nature doesn’t care about the people. It is one-sided and doesn’t stop the never ending barrage of attacks. There is an imbalance in the relationship between man and nature) [3]
• Context:

TP:

• “growing still in stature the grim shape/ towered up between me and the stars” (The mountain peak first appears as something beautiful. As he gets closer, the boy realises that it is actually incredibly powerful. This shows that nature can display itself as something beautiful but is actually dangerously powerful) [1]
• “huge, black and huge” (The repetition of huge contradicts with the speakers previous large range of vocabulary. This indicates that his experience with nature has had an effect on him causing him to be inarticulate.) [2]
• “THE WHOLE POEM” (It being one long stanza leaves any speaker/reader overwhelmed/breathless. This further highlights the overwhelming effect nature has on a person) [3]
• Context: Romantic poetry is outlined by a dislike of urban life/embrace of natural world, a love of the supernatural/use of simple unambiguous language. It was also significant as a counter to the previous phase of poetic writing which was functional and promoted uprisings. After this ended in bloodshed romantic poetry became more popular as an exploration of imagination