Quotations from poem, 10

Question 1

The poem “ The charge of the light Brigade” is about a war….

Answer 1

Crimean war => Britain vs Russia

Question 2

The poem “ The charge of the light Brigade” was written by….

Answer 2

Alfred Lord Tennyson(1809 - 1892), he was poet Laureate

Question 3

“ The charge of the light Brigade”, anaphora:

Answer 3

“ Half a league, half a league, Half a league, onward”

“ Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them”

“Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why”

“Flash’d all their sabres bare, Flash’d as they turn’d in air”

“Honour the charge they made! Honour the Light Brigade!

Question 4

“ The charge of the light Brigade” Repetitions:

Answer 4

“ six hundred”

Question 5

“ The charge of the light Brigade”,metaphor

Answer 5

“jaws of Death”
“Mouth of Hell”

Question 6

“ The charge of the light Brigade”, personification

Answer 6

“ mouth of Hell”

Question 7

“Exposure” was written by…

Answer 7

Wilfred Owen

Question 8

“Exposure” context

Answer 8

WW1, winter

Question 9

“Exposure” content

Answer 9

Exposure focuses on the long, dull, grim days in-between battles. Here the weather and modern weaponry took its toll on soldiers physically and psychologically. There is no glory or honour for soldiers here. Only boredom, illness, fear, injury and death.

Question 10

“Exposure” language

Answer 10

Owen uses inclusive pronouns throughout the poem, “our”, “us”, “we”. This shows the collective experience of all soldiers in the First World War. It also invites us to imagine that we are part of this group of soldiers, creating a sense of solidarity.

Owen includes alliteration and assonance to great effect in the poem. For example the repeated ’s’ sound in, “Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence”, reflects the sound of bullets whizzing past the soldiers. Assonance appears in the third stanza with the repeated ‘o’ sound, “soak… know… grow”. The length of the ‘o’ sounds could be interpreted to emphasise the monotonous nature of life in the trenches.

The repetition of “But nothing happens” is very important. Owen uses this to show the boring monotony of life in the trenches. Full battles were relatively rare. Soldiers often faced long periods of time sat in their trench exposed to horrible conditions. This was not the glorified version of battle that many people back home imagined. Owen is emphasising the reality of war again.

Question 10

“Exposure” structure

Answer 10

The poem has 8 stanzas, each with 5 lines. The final line of stanza is very short to add emphasis to its message. The final lines are either the REPEATED PHRASE, “But nothing happens”, or a rhetorical question. Both show the despair of the soldiers and the pointlessness of their situation. The rhythm adds to this message. It breaks down at various points, particularly in the final short lines of each stanza.

The first four lines of each stanza have a regular ‘abba’ rhyme to convey the consistency of the soldiers’ experience. The difficulties they are facing go on and on without change. However, some of the rhymes are half-rhymes, “knive us/ nervous”, “wire/ war” and “brambles/ rumbles”.

Question 11

“Remains” was written by…

Answer 11

Simon Armitage

Question 12

“Remains” context

Answer 12

In 2007 Armitage made a programme for Channel 4 called ‘The Not Dead’. He also wrote a collection of poems (including Remains) under the same title. In preparation Armitage interviewed a number of soldiers who had fought in wars, including the Gulf War. Remains seems to relate to the Gulf War as he mentions ‘desert sand’.

Question 14

“Remains” content

Answer 14

Given Armitage’s colloquial style, the poem is fairly easy for us to follow. The speaker is a soldier who, while out on patrol with some other soldiers, came across a looter and shot him. Although the body gets taken away quickly, the bloodstains on the ground remain. They haunt the soldier as he patrols again in the same area. We then hear how the speaker is affected when he returns home. He can’t stop thinking about the man he killed. The event torments him.

Question 15

“Remains” structure

Answer 15

There are eight stanzas. All but the last of the stanzas are fairly regular quatrains (a stanza of four lines) with no real rhyme. The final stanza is only two lines. This abrupt end stands out and emphasises how the soldier cannot stop thinking about killing the man. It also links to the ‘drink and drugs’ in suggesting that the speaker is losing control and is mentally unwell. The poem is split roughly in half. The first four stanzas cover the event, while the last four stanzas describe the effects on the speaker.

Remains is a monologue (a speech by one person speaking alone) and the language suggests the soldier is speaking directly to the reader, retelling his story. This sense of ordinary speech is enhanced by the lack of any regular rhythm and the use of enjambment (where a sentence or clause continues over a line break).