Introduction to Power & Conflict
The AQA Power & Conflict anthology contains 15 poems exploring themes of:
- War and its effects
- Power of nature
- Power of memory
- Individual vs. authority
- Loss and absence
- Identity and culture
Exam Format:
- One named poem (provided in full)
- One poem of your choice for comparison
- 30 minutes recommended time
- Focus on comparison throughout
How to Compare Poems
The Golden Rules
- Compare throughout - never write separately about each poem
- Use comparative language - however, similarly, whereas, in contrast
- Compare both ideas AND methods - what poets say and how they say it
- Maintain balance - equal attention to both poems
Comparison Formula
Point: Identify a similarity or difference in ideas/themes
Evidence: Quote from Poem 1
Analysis: Explore language/structure/form in Poem 1
Comparison: Use comparative connective
Evidence: Quote from Poem 2
Analysis: Explore language/structure/form in Poem 2
Link: Connect to the overarching theme
Key Poems Overview
War Poems
"Exposure" (Wilfred Owen)
- Context: WW1 trench warfare
- Theme: Nature as the real enemy, not the Germans
- Key quotation: "But nothing happens"
- Technique: Repeated refrain emphasizes monotony and futility
"Charge of the Light Brigade" (Tennyson)
- Context: Crimean War, disastrous cavalry charge
- Theme: Heroism despite incompetent leadership
- Key quotation: "Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs but to do and die"
- Technique: Dactylic rhythm mimics galloping horses
"Bayonet Charge" (Ted Hughes)
- Moment of soldiers rushing into battle
- Theme: Individual terror vs. propagandist glory
- Key quotation: "Suddenly he awoke and was running"
- Technique: In medias res plunges reader into chaos
"Kamikaze" (Beatrice Garland)
- Context: WW2 Japanese suicide pilots
- Theme: Conflict between duty and human instinct
- Key quotation: "he must have looked far down"
- Technique: Shifts perspective from pilot to daughter
- Irony: Survives attack but is treated as if dead by community
"Poppies" (Jane Weir)
- Mother's perspective on son going to war
- Theme: Domestic impact of conflict
- Key quotation: "I was brave, as I walked with you, to the front door"
- Technique: Extended metaphor of textile/sewing (domesticity)
"Remains" (Simon Armitage)
- Context: Contemporary conflict (Iraq/Afghanistan)
- Theme: PTSD, psychological trauma of killing
- Key quotation: "His bloody life in my bloody hands"
- Technique: Colloquial language; enjambment shows relentless memory
Nature Poems
"Storm on the Island" (Seamus Heaney)
- Theme: Humans' vulnerability to nature's power
- Key quotation: "We are bombarded by the empty air"
- Technique: Military language ("bombarded", "salvo") links to war poems
- Irony: Prepared for storm, still helpless
"Ozymandias" (Shelley)
- Theme: Human power is temporary; nature/time endures
- Key quotation: "Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
- Technique: Irony—statue crumbled, empire forgotten
- Form: Sonnet (usually love poems) subverted to mock power
"The Prelude: Stealing the Boat" (Wordsworth)
- Romantic poet's sublime experience of nature
- Theme: Nature as powerful, almost spiritual force
- Key quotation: "a huge peak, black and huge"
- Technique: Repetition emphasizes boy's awe and terror
Memory & Identity Poems
"War Photographer" (Carol Ann Duffy)
- Photographer developing images of conflict
- Theme: Disconnect between those in war zones and safe observers
- Key quotation: "All flesh is grass" (Biblical allusion)
- Technique: Enjambment mirrors images slowly emerging in developing fluid
"Tissue" (Imtiaz Dharker)
- Extended metaphor: paper represents life's fragility
- Theme: Human structures (borders, buildings) are temporary
- Key quotation: "Paper that lets the light / shine through"
- Technique: Light imagery suggests transparency, hope
"Emigrée" (Carol Rumens)
- Speaker remembers idealized childhood city (left due to war/persecution)
- Theme: Power of memory, nostalgia, identity
- Key quotation: "It may be at war, it may be sick with tyrants"
- Technique: Conditional "may be" shows speaker clings to idealized past
"Checking Out Me History" (John Agard)
- Challenges British colonial education, reclaims Caribbean identity
- Theme: Power of cultural identity and voice
- Key quotation: "Dem tell me / Wha dem want to tell me"
- Technique: Phonetic Caribbean dialect asserts identity
Individual vs. Power Poems
"London" (William Blake)
- Critique of social/political/religious institutions
- Theme: Institutional power oppresses individuals
- Key quotation: "mind-forged manacles"
- Technique: Repetition of "charter'd" and "mark" emphasizes control
"My Last Duchess" (Robert Browning)
- Duke describes late wife (implied: he had her killed)
- Theme: Patriarchal power, possessiveness
- Key quotation: "I gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together"
- Technique: Dramatic monologue reveals Duke's arrogance
Sample Comparison: "Exposure" vs. "Storm on the Island"
Both Explore Nature's Power
Both Owen and Heaney present nature as a hostile, relentless force that humans cannot control. In "Exposure," Owen uses personification to depict the weather as an active enemy: "merciless iced east winds that knive us." The verb "knive" suggests deliberate violence, transforming wind into a weapon. Similarly, Heaney presents nature as aggressive in "Storm on the Island," stating "We are bombarded by the empty air." The verb "bombarded" uses military language, creating an extended metaphor that equates the storm with warfare. Both poets thus blur the line between natural and human conflict, suggesting nature is equally—if not more—destructive.
Contrasting Human Responses
However, while Owen's soldiers are passive victims—"But nothing happens"—Heaney's islanders have actively prepared for the storm. The confident assertion "We are prepared" contrasts sharply with the soldiers' helplessness in "Exposure." Yet both preparations prove futile: the soldiers gain no ground, and the islanders, despite their readiness, are still "bombarded." This shared futility suggests both poets view human attempts to control or resist nature as ultimately doomed.
Form and Structure
Owen uses para-rhyme (half-rhymes like "wire" / "war") to create a sense of incompletion and unease, mirroring the soldiers' endless waiting. In contrast, Heaney uses blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) to reflect conversational tone, as if the speaker is calmly recounting the storm despite its violence. Owen's fragmented form emphasizes psychological breakdown, while Heaney's controlled form ironically contrasts with the chaos described.
What's Included in the Full Bundle
- 15 individual poem analysis sheets (2-3 pages each)
- 30+ comparison pairings with detailed notes
- Theme matrix: quickly identify poems for any theme
- 5 full Grade 8-9 model comparison essays
- Printable revision flashcards for all poems
- Context guide for each poem
- Comparative vocabulary bank
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