What elements of the themes do you think you might be questioned on? How do the writer’s of the poems present…..? Power Conflict

• The Power of the natural world • Conflicting beliefs Power Conflict • ….of nature • Inner conflict • ….of men • • ….of identity • The effects of war on people • ….of individuals • Conflict of identity • ….of memory and the past • The reality of conflict • ….of historical events • Conflicting experiences • ….of resistance • Conflict of beliefs

Compare how poets present the effects of war in ‘ Charge’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and conflict’.

Compare how poets present ideas about power in ‘Ozymandias’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and conflic

Compare the ways poets present the power of the natural world in ‘Storm on the Island’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and conflict’.

Compare how poets present the effects of conflict on people in ‘Poppies’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and conflict’.

Compare the ways poets present ideas about power in ‘Ozymandias’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and conflict’. Compare how poets present the effects of war in ‘Bayonet Charge’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and conflict’. In the grid below I have begun by making 4 points about the effects of conflict for each poem.

Bayonet Charge Exposure Remains Makes young men sign up out of Wastes lives exposing them to futile Puts men in impossible situations idealism deaths

Creates inner conflict and results in a Isolates men cutting them off from Creates guilt and inner conflict loss of belief their own identity

Physically destructive and futile Turns men into ghosts of themselves Physically and emotionally destructive

Treats men as disposable objects Results in a loss of belief Trivialises life Compare how poets present the effects of war in ‘Bayonet Charge’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and conflict’. On this slide I have chosen the quotations I might use to help me prove each point. Bayonet Charge Exposure Remains Makes young men sign up out of idealism Wastes lives exposing them to futile deaths Puts men in impossible situations • The patriotic tear that had brimmed in • Our brains ache, in the merciless iced • We get sent out his eye sweating like molten iron from east winds that knive us • Probably armed possibly not the centre of his chest • But nothing happens • The burying party, picks and shovels…all their eyes are ice Creates inner conflict and results in a loss Isolates men cutting them off from their Creates inescapable guilt and inner conflict of belief own identity • His blood shadow stays on the street • King, honour, human dignity, dropped • Shutters and doors all closed…we turn • Probably armed, possibly not like luxuries in a yelling alarm back to our dying • His bloody life in my bloody hands • Blink…sleep…dream Physically destructive and futile Turns men into ghosts of themselves Physically and emotionally destructive • He lugged a rifle numb as a smashed • Is it that we are dying • Rips through his life arm • Slowly our ghosts drag home • On the ground sort of inside out • Rolled like a flame and crawled in a • We turn back to our dying threshing circle • His terrors touchy dynamite Treats men as disposable objects Results in a loss of belief Trivialises life • Suddenly he awoke and was running • For god’s invincible spring our love is • Tosses his guts back into his body • In what cold clockwork of the stars and made afraid • Carted off in the back of a van nations was he the hand pointing that • For love of god seems dying • Sent out to tackle a looter raiding a second? bank Task Everything you do from now on you are doing for • For each theme, select the poems that best fit yourselves and for each • Don’t just pick your favourites; you will not be other. preparing points and quotes for this • Provide reasoning or suggested quotes to help You will be under time explain your choice pressure and have time limits for each task

Everything you write will become part of your own revision notes as I will photocopy for everyone, so keep it tidy Compare how the poets present the power of the past and of memory Compare how the poets present the corruption of power Compare how the poets present conflicts of identity Compare how the poets present conflicting emotions Task 2

• You must now take into account their choices and make a decision • Write the 3 chosen poems in the grids on slides 13 - 16 Bayonet Charge Task 3 Makes young men sign up out of idealism • Make clear points for each poem Creates inner conflict and results in a • You need to make clear loss of belief statements that relate to the poem and the question Physically destructive and futile

Treats men as disposable objects Task 4

• Now choose quotations to help explore the idea within the poem Compare how the poets present the power of the past and of memory Compare how the poets present the corruption of power Compare how the poets present conflicts of identity Compare how the poets present conflicting emotions Compare how poets present the effects of war in ‘Bayonet Charge’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and conflict’. Bayonet Charge Exposure Remains Makes young men sign up out of idealism Wastes lives exposing them to futile deaths Puts men in impossible situations • The patriotic tear that had brimmed in • Our brains ache, in the merciless iced • We get sent out his eye sweating like molten iron from east winds that knive us • Probably armed possibly not the centre of his chest • But nothing happens • The burying party, picks and shovels…all their eyes are ice Creates inner conflict and results in a loss Isolates men cutting them off from their Creates inescapable guilt and inner conflict of belief own identity • His blood shadow stays on the street • King, honour, human dignity, dropped • Shutters and doors all closed…we turn • Probably armed, possibly not like luxuries in a yelling alarm back to our dying • His bloody life in my bloody hands • Blink…sleep…dream Physically destructive and futile Turns men into ghosts of themselves Physically and emotionally destructive • He lugged a rifle numb as a smashed • Is it that we are dying • Rips through his life arm • Slowly our ghosts drag home • On the ground sort of inside out • Rolled like a flame and crawled in a • We turn back to our dying threshing circle • His terrors touchy dynamite Treats men as disposable objects Results in a loss of belief Trivialises life • Suddenly he awoke and was running • For god’s invincible spring our love is • Tosses his guts back into his body • In what cold clockwork of the stars and made afraid • Carted off in the back of a van nations was he the hand pointing that • For love of god seems dying • Sent out to tackle a looter raiding a second? bank Example task

• Before you have a go at writing a response, you should consider how you will write your answer • On the following slides, I have written a response in a grid • Each row shows that I am doing something else which would achieve marks on the mark scheme. • Try and label where I have • Made a clear point • Provided evidence • Analysed at word level • Analysed a technique or method • Analysed structure or form • Explained how the analysis proves the point • Directly answered the question • Made a comparison statement In the poem Bayonet Charge, war is presented as something that encourages Makes young men sign idealism, but results in despair and a loss of belief. up out of idealism • The patriotic tear that had brimmed in The soldier in the poem is first affected by the conflict because it makes him feel his eye sweating like molten iron from the patriotic. In the poem the writer describes how ‘the patriotic tear that had centre of his chest brimmed in his eye.’

This image of patriotism uses the metaphor of a ‘patriotic tear’ to imply that his sense of national identity perhaps makes him feel proud and emotional. The choice of the tear may also suggest that his pride is also the result of loss and grief.

Further to this the verb ‘brimmed’ creates the suggestion of his patriotic pride Creates inner conflict spilling over. The poet may be making this suggestion to impress on the reader and results in a loss of how overwhelming such feelings can be. belief • King, honour, human This image reminds the reader of recruitment parades where young men would dignity, dropped like have been persuaded to join up with powerful images of patriotism and luxuries in a yelling exaggerated national stereotypes. alarm

The poet seems to be implying that one effect of war is that it can stir strong emotions particularly of patriotism and pride and make people feel the need to fight for abstract ideas such as national identity. However, it is also noticeable that this image of patriotism has become painful to Makes young men sign the soldier in the context of the battlefield itself. up out of idealism • The patriotic tear that had brimmed in The writer goes on to describe how the ‘patriotic tear that had brimmed in his his eye sweating like eye’ is now ‘sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest.’ molten iron from the centre of his chest

The verb ‘sweating’ and the adjective ‘molten’ create the impression of a burning heat that is both uncomfortable and capable of destruction.

Further to this, the symbolic effect of placing these feelings in ‘the centre of his chest’ create the impression that his emotions and his humanity are in conflict with his patriotism. It could be suggested that the heat implied by the molten Creates inner conflict and results in a loss of iron is symbolic of his anger towards the feelings of patriotism he once had. belief The writer seems to be suggesting that the soldier feels both emotional and • King, honour, human physical discomfort and pain as a result of the patriotism he once felt. dignity, dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm The writer seems to be implying that the war has deeply affected the soldier and turned pride into pain. The context of the war has completely changed his perspective and made him angry. There is even the suggestion that the feelings of anger he has are self-destructive in the way that molten iron would burn and destroy material and in this case moral beliefs. Towards the end of the poem, after the soldier has experienced his own inner Makes young men sign conflict about the futility of war, he is shown to have lost all belief and to be up out of idealism facing an existential crisis about the purpose of life itself. • The patriotic tear that had brimmed in The poet describes how the soldier completely rejects his beliefs in the phrase, his eye sweating like ‘King, honour, human dignity, dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm’ molten iron from the centre of his chest

The first two nouns in the list, ‘King, honour’ are typical of the concepts taken from the propaganda speeches and posters used in the first . They represent national identity and patriotism and suggest that war is justified by high ideals. The verb ‘dropped’ creates an image of carelessness and suggests that these high concepts as well as the basic human right of ‘dignity’ are dismissed as worthless. Creates inner conflict The list which ends in the word ‘etcetera’ add to this dismissive tone. and results in a loss of belief • King, honour, human The comparison of these features to ‘luxuries’ in the simile further emphasise to dignity, dropped like the reader how trivial high ideals and basic human rights have become. luxuries in a yelling alarm The poet seems to be suggesting that war trivialises everything from basic rights to high moral ideals. The soldier in this poem is presented by the writer as losing all sense of belief and hope as a result of the reality and futility of war. In a similar way the poet in Remains suggests that the experience that the soldier has does not match what he signed up for. The poet suggests that war places men in impossible situations that they cannot make sense of. Remains At the beginning of the poem the soldier is presented confessing about an incident which has Puts men in traumatised him. However, his opening line makes the incident seem like one of many typical examples to begin with. impossible In the voice of the solder he states, ‘On another occasion we get sent out to tackle looters situations raiding a bank’ • We get sent out The use of in media res at the beginning makes this feel like a typical incident which the soldier • Probably is trained to deal with. armed possibly He follows this with the description of how he is ‘sent out’. The imperative implies that the not command has given him no choice. In this context though this is both a command and the • Colloquial beginning of his explanation or excuse as it highlights how he is powerless. language – legs The description of the ‘enemy’ is crucial however as the noun ‘looters’ implies a criminal act it; and the verb ‘raiding’ is violent and criminal. In this way the soldier is made to feel that his actions are justified and fair. The way that he uses the verb ‘tackle’ implies that he has to prevent the attack. The use of the sporting semantic field here may imply that the event is being played down and the reality of what he is about to do is hidden behind euphemism. In this way the opening of the poem suggests that the soldier was placed in a situation which, like the soldier in Bayonet Charge, had been idealised. In Bayonet Charge the high morals of patriotism and protection are motivators, whereas in this poem the soldier is presented as the protector and has the role of bringing justice. However, in both cases the reality is far more wasteful and brutal. The poet then develops the situation with a returning sense of doubt that will be the root of the soldier’s trauma. Remains In the context of the situation the soldier describes the ‘target’ as ‘probably armed; possibly not.’ Puts men in impossible The sense of doubt, as with the soldier in Bayonet Charge, is evident in the language. The use situations of the adverbs ‘probably’ and ‘possibly’ suggest two contrasting approaches. It could be • We get sent out argued that the ‘probably’ is representative of the training which gives clear • Probably instructions and divides people into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ in order to remove the need for complex decision making. Like the language that describes the man in the bank as a ‘looter’ who is armed possibly ‘raiding’, this word appears as intelligence given to the soldier. not However, the adverb ‘possibly’ could be argued to be his conscience and his human sense of • Colloquial doubt making him question whether the information he has been given is over simplistic. Just language – legs as the soldier in Bayonet charge finds himself ‘running’ inexplicably and listens for the ‘reason it; of his still running’ the writer in Remains suggests that human situations are more complex that war will allow them to consider. In addition, it could be argued that the tension between the two statements creates a loop of reasoning as the soldier is incapable of

As a result, it could be argued that in both poems the over simplification of war creates allies and enemies. This is used to convince people that what they are doing is right and honourable. However, in both cases, in both poems, the writer’s demonstrate the futility and the complexity of the situations which create a trauma that is inescapable. They bring in doubt which makes the soldier question not only the war, but the nature of belief. Conflict