Poetry: Power And Conflict

Question 1

Who wrote The Charge of the Light Brigade?

Answer 1

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Question 2

What language devices are used in COTLB?

Answer 2

• Anaphora - ’Cannon… / Cannon… / Cannon…’
• Metaphors - ’Jaws of death’ and ’Mouth of hell’
• Sibilance - ’Storm’d at with shot and shell’

Question 3

What structural devices are used in COTLB?

Answer 3

• Fast pace
• Repetition - ’Six hundred’ or ’Rode the six hundred’
• 6 stanzas as well as 6 lines in the final stanza

Question 4

How would you describe the form of COTLB?

Answer 4

No form to reflect the chaos of the battlefield

Question 5

What are some key quotations linked with honour in COTLB?

Answer 5

• ’When can their glory fade?’
• Anaphora - ’Honour the…/Honour the…’
• ’Noble six hundred’

Question 6

How does Tennyson use language in COTLB?

Answer 6

• Anaphora and sibilance to quicken the pace
• Metaphors to emphasise the death and destruction that ensued

Question 7

How does Tennyson use structure in COTLB?

Answer 7

• Fast pace to create a battle-like atmosphere
• Repetition to remind the reader that the poem is about ‘The six hundred’
• 6 stanzas as well as 6 lines in the final stanza to remind the reader that the poem is about ’The six hundred’

Question 8

Who wrote Exposure?

Answer 8

Wilfred Owen

Question 9

What language devices are used in Exposure?

Answer 9

Sibilance - ’silence, sentries whisper’
Rhetorical question - ’What are we doing here’
Alliteration, sibilance and personification- ’flakes with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces’

Question 10

What structural devices are used in Exposure?

Answer 10

Repetition- ’But nothing happens’
Ellipsis - ’night is silent’

Question 11

How would you describe the form in Exposure?

Answer 11

Regular rhyme scheme to show the monotonous nature of the men’s experience, but with lots of half-rhymes to reflect the reality of war and the soldiers’ confusion and fading energy

Question 12

What are some key quotations linked with there being no glory in Exposure?

Answer 12

’For love of God seems dying’
’innocent mice rejoice…on us the doors are closed’

Question 13

How does Owen use language in Exposure?

Answer 13

• Sibilance to give an eerie tone and to convey silence
• Rhetorical question to show the pointlessness of war
• Personification to help present the weather as the more dominant force in the war

Question 14

How does Owen use structure in Exposure?

Answer 14

• Repetition to repeat the message that nothing is happening to convey the pointlessness of war
• Ellipsis to show the silence and how the soldiers wait ’but nothing happens’

Question 15

Who wrote Bayonet Charge?

Answer 15

Ted Hughes

Question 16

What language devices are used in Bayonet Charge?

Answer 16

• Simile - ’Rolled like a flame’
• Metaphor - ’His terror’s touchy dynamite’
• Rhetorical question - ’Was he the hand pointing to the second?’

Question 17

What structural devices does are used in Bayonet Charge?

Answer 17

In medias res
Enjambment and caesura

Question 18

What are some key quotations linked with fear or honour in Bayonet Charge?

Answer 18

• ’Suddenly he awoke’ - shows confusion, waking up to fear
• ’King, honour, human dignity, etcetera / dropped like luxuries’ - not worth listing reasons to go to war, irrelevant, attacking out of desperation not morale principle

Question 19

How does Hughes use language in Bayonet Charge?

Answer 19

• Metaphor: ’His terror’s touchy dynamite’ become a machine, driven by fear
• Similes are used to show pain, either himself or nature
• Rhetorical question to compare him to machinery

Question 20

How does Hughes use structure in Bayonet Charge?

Answer 20

• Starts mid action to show the soldiers thought process during only a few seconds
• Enjambement and caesura to give irregular rhythm to show struggle and confusion caused by fear

Question 21

Who wrote Remains?

Answer 21

Simon Armitage

Question 22

How does Armitage use language in Remains

Answer 22

Repetition:
- ’probably armed, possibly not’ - element of doubt - leads to guilt when repeated in 6th stanza
- ’torn apart by a dozen rounds’ - guilt, brutal death - further guilt when repeated in 6th stanze
- ’somebody else and somebody else’ - not important, the fact is that he did it

Question 23

How does Armitage use structure in Remains?

Answer 23

• Volta (turning point) at the beginning of 5th stanza ’End of story’ when he gets home and his thoughts are changed by his guilt
• Switches from fist person plural to first person singular in ’I swear’ since this is when the focus is on him and what he feels guilty for

Question 24

How does Armitage use form in Remains?

Answer 24

• 4 lines per stanza, except the last line where there are 2. This is because it is focusing on it being all his fault: ’his bloody life in my bloody hands’

Question 25

What technique does Armitage use throughout the poem to make it seem like he’s telling a story?

Answer 25

Colloquial language