Power And Conflict Flashcards
Analyse: ‘blights with plague the marriage hearse’
Oxymoron. Joy of marriage infected by the misery of death. All good things in life have been destroyed by the change in nature of London.
Analyse: ‘white streets…graceful slopes’ vs ‘tanks’; ‘tyrants’; ‘banned’
Contrast between negative and positive images. Although there are images of war and negativity, the speaker still has a positive view of the place. Emphasises the power of the place on the speaker.
Who wrote War Photographer?
Carol Ann Duffy
What does the structure of Ozymandias suggest?
It has a broken rhyme scheme which connotes the broken statue
Analyse: ‘sneer of cold command’
Harsh alliteration. Shows that he is a cold-hearted rule. Poet could be trying to saying that man shouldn’t have power.
Analyse: ‘We are bombarded by the empty air’
War imagery. Suggests that their struggles are based on nothing. Could suggest that humans underestimate the power of nature and face the consequences.
Analyse: tuna, the dark prince, muscular, dangerous.’
Threatening image. First full stop. Pilot realises how unimportant human lie is when compared to nature.
Analyse: ‘I was brave, as I walked’
Break in structure reflects the mother’s break in emotions. War has a huge impact on her.
Who wrote Extract from The Prelude?
William Wordsworth
Analyse: ‘ Bullets smacking the belly out of the air - he lugged the rifle numb as a smashed arm’
Plosive sounds represent the force of the bullets when they come in contact with their target. Reflects the soldiers being worried about the possibility of being shots
Who wrote Poppies?
Jane Weir
How can you compare Checking out me history with London?
> Both challenge people in power
Checking out me history challenge those in power who decide how we are educated
London challenges those in power who are in government, ownership of land and religious positions.
London is a bleak poem that doesn’t offer a solution whereas Checking out me history does
Analyse: ‘terror’s touchy dynamite’
The alliterative ’t’ sounds represent his fear, as if the slightest touch will make him jump. The word ‘touchy’ suggests nerves stretched to the limit. The ’t’s could also symbolise the ticking time bomb of inevitable death.
How can you compare London and Tissue?
Both poems are a criticism of human power. London is a criticism of religion and the government which is ruining life at that time. Tissue presents human power as being weak. Tissue presents a solution to this problem however London does not
Analyse: ‘Exploding comfortably’
Oxymoron. Reflects how the speaker has gotten used to the conflict in life.
Who wrote charge of the light brigade?
Alfred Lord Tennyson
Analyse: ‘valley of death’
Biblical Allusion. To describe the dark and dangerous surroundings of the battlefield.
Analyse: troubled pleasure
Oxymoron. Shows how he found his environment intimidating but beautiful. He almost feels as he is trespassing on nature’s secrets.
Analyse: ‘like a dull rumour of some other war’
Biblical allusion. Reference to Jesus’ prediction of the end of the world. The situation that the poet is in feels like the end of the world has arrived.
Describe the context of Checking out me history
> Agard believed that education has an Eurocentric view - nothing exists until Europeans enter the scene.
Those in power use their power to shape how we see history
Agard was not in school when he was in Britain but went to school in South America in a British colony.
Who wrote Exposure?
Wilfred Owen
Who wrote Checking out me history?
John Agard
How can you compare extract from The Prelude and Kamikaze?
At first, man is presented as being powerful. However, nature is truly powerful.
Analyse: ‘cold clockwork’
Harsh alliteration. Could be dehumanising the soldier, as he has to work almost like a machine. He has to blindly follow orders and is easily indispensable, being easy to replace.
Analyse: ‘mind-forged manacles’
Blake uses it to emphasise that these ‘manacles’, while a direct result of religious, social, economic, and political forms of control, are also caused to continue by our own limits. In other words, we create our own internal mental prisons.
Analyse: ‘All flesh is grass’
Biblical allusion. Reflects the fragility of life
What does the structure of My Last Duchess suggest?
The poem consists of a lot of enjambment and is a long stanza. This could suggest that the speaker lacked control and power as he couldn’t control his speech. This undermines the power shown in his status and the form of the poem.
Analyse: ‘Paper that lets the light/ shine through’
It could suggest the fragility of human power. Paper represents human power and how it isn’t strong.
Analyse: ‘ Maps too. The sun shines through’
Man divides nature using maps but man’s power is still weak.
Who wrote Kamikaze?
Beatrice Garland
Analyse: ‘I gave commands; /Then all smiles stopped together’
He has ordered for her murder. Caesura at the end of this shows how her life ended abruptly.
Analyse: ‘bandage up me eye with me own history’
Metaphor. Feels that he is deliberately being held back from knowing about his ‘own history’.
Analyse: ‘Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence’
Contrast between silence and sudden gunfire. This may be also the contrast between the sudden death caused by bullets and the slow death they are experiencing from the tedious waiting.
Describe the context of the extract from The Prelude
The Prelude is the autobiography of Wordsworth, written entirely as a poem. Therefore this was a real experience. Also, he was a Romantic poet.
Analyse: ‘.Rural England.’
Caesura surrounds ‘Rural England’. Suggests aa divide between the conflict of war and the people at home.
Analyse: ‘Her father embarked at sunrise’
Links to Japan and the act of the kamikaze pilot because it linked to the Japanese flag, the land of the rising sun, which is also the military flag. It connotes the Japanese military which presents the power of man.
What does the form of My Last Duchess suggest?
It is a dramatic monologue. The Duke is the only person that speaks and never lets anyone else speak even the person who the Duke is speaking to. This shows his dominance and power.
Analyse: ‘Nothing beside remains.’
Bathos. Power + wealth declines after death. The caesura at the end of it signifies the blunt end of his power by nature.
What does the structure of War Photographer suggest?
> Tight + controlled - 6 lines per stanza + similar rhyme scheme
Reflects the War Photographer’s job to impose order
Contrasts the chaos of war
Impact of war is repetitive
Cyclical structure - starts with him returning from a trip and ends with him going back on another trip. Idea of fate is repetitive until we understand the true horrors of war.
Analyse: ‘chimney-sweeper’s cry /Every black’ning church appalls’
Presents the problem of child labour in 1794. He condemns the church for not solving the problem. The word ‘black’ning’ creates an impression of the church being corrupt.
Analyse: ‘Half-flush that dies along her throat’
Sinister tone. Symbolises a blade running along her throat as she is about to be killed.
What does the form of Ozymandias suggest?
It is a sonnet which is usually used for love poems. This could imply that Ozymandias loved himself and was self-obsessed. Also, it begins in a Petrarchan sonnet form. As it has an octave (first 8 lines present a problem) and then sestet (final 6 solve that problem). But it is not just a Petrarchan sonnet but it also has elements of Shakespearean sonnet. For example, the poem has ABAB rhyme scheme whereas the Petrarchan sonnet usually follows ABBA rhyme scheme. Finally the poem ends with a new type of sonnet as there is no rhyming couplet at the end. The change in sonnet form reflects that is power changing, moving hands and is transient. This undermines the idea of Ozymandias’ supreme power.
What does the structure of extract from The Prelude?
> Repetition of ‘huge’ shows how he was impacted by the shock of seeing the power of nature. His great vocabulary has disappeared in sight of the power of nature.
One long verse - reader can understand that the experience was overwhelming
Who wrote ‘London’?
William Blake
Analyse: ‘green-blue translucent sea’
Natural imagery creates a beautiful image of nature. This is significant as it shows the pilot questioning why he should deprive himself and others from experiencing nature by completing the kamikaze mission
Analyse: wondered which had been the better way to die’
Tragic. Shows that the pilot’s decision to return was futile. He had emotionally died anyway by returning because they had treated him as if he no longer existed.
Analyse: ‘But nothing happens’
Repetition. War is futile and soldiers are serving for little function for great costs.
Analyse: ‘We turn back to our dying’
Casual. The war has impacted them so much that they are expecting and waiting to die. This emphasises the horrors of war.