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GCSE English Literature
Power and Conflict
Annotated Poetry Anthology
15 Poems with Full Annotations
- Ozymandias — Percy Bysshe Shelley
- London — William Blake
- Extract from The Prelude — William Wordsworth
- My Last Duchess — Robert Browning
- The Charge of the Light Brigade — Alfred Lord Tennyson
- Exposure — Wilfred Owen
- Storm on the Island — Seamus Heaney
- Bayonet Charge — Ted Hughes
- Remains — Simon Armitage
- Poppies — Jane Weir
- War Photographer — Carol Ann Duffy
- Tissue — Imtiaz Dharker
- The Emigrée — Carol Rumens
- Checking Out Me History — John Agard
- Kamikaze — Beatrice Garland
Ozymandias
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
Theme: Power of art and nature over rulers — arrogance, mortality, the futility of tyranny
OVERVIEW & CONTEXT
- Framed as a story told by a traveller — makes it clear the narrator hasn't seen the statue themselves; lack of importance he now has.
- Setting suggests absence of life and mortality.
- Commanding language used throughout.
- Ironic that someone as powerful as Ozymandias couldn't control the damaging effects of nature over time.
- The sculptor had a clear idea of the arrogance and cruelty of Ozymandias.
- Alternatively, this shows how he wanted to be remembered as a powerful figure.
- The desert survives long after the broken statue — nature is more powerful and lasting.
- Alliteration emphasises the vastness of the desert.
POEM & ANNOTATIONS
I met a traveller from an antique land Story-within-a-story framing; narrator is distanced from the events — highlights how remote/forgotten Ozymandias now is. Who said: 'Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Physically large but incomplete/broken — power is already diminished. Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown Shattered face = shattered power. 'Visage' (face) is formal — ironic given it now lies in the dirt. And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Commanding language — 'sneer' and 'cold' suggest cruelty and arrogance, not admiration. Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The sculptor's art outlives the ruler's power — art is more enduring than political might. The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed; 'Mocked' = both imitated (sculpted) and ridiculed; irony that the sculptor's 'mocking hand' survives Ozymandias.
And on the pedestal these words appear: 'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings; Irony — grandeur of the boast vs. the reality of decay. Echoes Pharaoh/biblical language; suggests God-like arrogance. Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' Intended as a threat to rivals; now ironic — 'works' have vanished, so despair at how even the mighty fall. Nothing beside remains. Round the decay 'Nothing' — powerful single word. Volta; sudden shift from boastful inscription to empty reality. Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, Alliteration of 'b' emphasises vastness of the empty desert. 'Colossal wreck' = oxymoron; once great, now ruined. The lone and level sands stretch far away.'
London
William Blake (1757–1827)
Theme: Institutional oppression and widespread misery — government, church, and society are corrupt
OVERVIEW & CONTEXT
- First-person narration — Blake is observing his city directly; personal, witnessing account.
- No pause — whole city appears affected; mapped out/legally defined.
- Words under government control — even powerful natural resources appear to be under human control, affected by the city's problems.
- Blake hears lots of distressing sounds — sensory language makes the experience vivid and hellish.
- Young boys = ideas of child labour.
- Blake's anger at the church is apparent ('blackning') with political points.
- Innocence of babies is lost almost immediately — society is damaged.
- ABAB rhyme scheme (street/meet, flow/woe) mirrors Blake's footsteps as he walks through the city — echoes the relentless misery of all citizens.
- Oxymoron — links the happy, optimistic image of marriage directly with death — everything will be destroyed, happiness isn't realistic for most of the city.
- People metaphorically feel trapped by their own thoughts and attitudes. Their own weaknesses and lack of belief hold them back.
POEM & ANNOTATIONS
I wander through each chartered street, 'Chartered' = legally mapped/owned. Even the streets are controlled. 'Wander' suggests aimlessness — yet he is forced to wander within these defined limits. Near where the chartered Thames does flow, Even the river (a natural resource) is 'chartered' — nothing escapes institutional control. Repetition emphasises this. And mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe. Repetition of 'marks' — emphasis on the dire situation. Everyone is visibly suffering; misery is universal.
In every cry of every man, Repetition of 'every' — highlights that nobody is exempt. All are suffering regardless of age, class, or role. In every infant's cry of fear, In every voice, in every ban, 'Ban' = curse/prohibition; voices are suppressed. Repetition creates a relentless, oppressive rhythm. The mind-forged manacles I hear. Powerful metaphor — people are mentally imprisoned by their own conditioned beliefs. Blake blames society for creating these mental chains.
How the chimney-sweeper's cry Child labour — innocent children exploited. 'Cry' is ambiguous: their call for work, and their cry of suffering. Every black'ning church appalls, The church is blackened (literally by soot, metaphorically by hypocrisy). It should protect the poor but instead condones their suffering. Blake's anger at the church is overt. And the hapless soldier's sigh
'Hapless' = unfortunate. The soldier has no choice; he is a victim of the state.
Runs in blood down palace walls. Metaphor — the soldier's sacrifice (blood) literally stains the palace. Links military sacrifice to royal/state power and indifference.
But most through midnight streets I hear 'Midnight' = moral darkness; the city's corruption is hidden in the dark.
How the youthful harlot's curse Young woman forced into prostitution — society has corrupted even youth. Contrast between youth/innocence and the sordidness of prostitution.
Blasts the new-born infant's tear, Innocence of babies is lost almost immediately. STIs passed from mother to child — oxymoron: new life born into suffering.
And blights with plagues the marriage hearse. Oxymoron — 'marriage hearse' links wedding (life/hope) with a coffin (death). Marriage is destroyed by prostitution and disease. 'Plagues' has both literal and metaphorical meaning.
'Grim shape' — the mountain is now monstrous. Personification makes nature into a judgmental being.
Towered up between me and the stars, and still, For so it seemed, with purpose of its own 'Purpose of its own' — nature is sentient, intentional. This is the sublime: nature is beyond human understanding.
And measured motion like a living thing, Strode after me. Short sentence — dramatic pause. The mountain 'strides' like a giant pursuing the boy. Deeply unsettling.
With trembling oars I turned, Trembling = fear. He has been humbled completely.
And through the meadows homeward went, in grave And serious mood; but after I had seen That spectacle, for many days, my brain Worked with a dim and undetermined sense Of unknown modes of being; o'er my thoughts There hung a darkness, call it solitude 'Darkness' — guilt and psychological disturbance. The mountain has left a lasting impression on his mind.
Or blank desertion. No familiar shapes Of earth remained, no pleasant images Nature no longer comforts — it alienates. The encounter has permanently altered his relationship with the world.
Of trees, of sea or sky, no colours of green fields; But huge and mighty forms, that do not live Like living men, moved slowly through the mind By day, and were a trouble to my dreams. The mountain haunts his dreams. Nature has left an indelible psychological mark — this is how nature shapes human consciousness.
My Last Duchess
Robert Browning (1812–1889)
Theme: Jealousy, objectification, possessive male power, and control
OVERVIEW & CONTEXT
- Dramatic monologue — the Duke is speaking to his (unseen) listener, giving us only his perspective. He is not only speaking but also revealing his character unintentionally.
- Duke struggles to suppress his jealousy — he sounds as if he is trying to justify himself throughout.
- He believes his status warrants unquestioning obedience from his wife.
- Condescending poems status — dismissing his great expressiveness as flaws.
- Asserting power — the Duke controls who sees the portrait now; she is an object to him.
- Robert Browning speaks distilled to his listener — confessional, then threatening.
- Re-emphasising his wealth — the Duke advertises his possessions and status to the emissary.
- The Duke's politeness sounds like a warning — his 'generous' tone belies his controlling nature.
POEM & ANNOTATIONS
That's my last Duchess painted on the wall, Possessive 'my' — immediately establishes ownership. 'Last' suggests she is gone (murdered?) and replaced. He treats her like an object/artwork. Looking as if she were alive. I call 'As if she were alive' — chilling. He preferred her as a painting (controlled, silent) over the real, living woman. That piece a wonder, now: Fra Pandolf's hands Namedropping the famous artist (Fra Pandolf) — shows off his wealth and taste. He is more interested in the painting's value than the Duchess herself. Worked busily a day, and there she stands. Will't please you sit and look at her? Rhetorical question — polite but controlling. He controls who sees her, even in death.
...Strangers like you that pictured countenance, The depth and passion of its earnest glance, But to myself they turned (since none puts by The curtain I have drawn for you, but I) He controls access to the portrait — just as he controlled (and ultimately destroyed) the real Duchess. Power and jealousy. And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst, 'If they durst' — they fear him. He commands respect through intimidation. How such a glance came there; so, not the first Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, 'twas not her husband's presence only, Called that spot of joy into the Duchess' cheek; 'Spot of joy' — he resents that others made her happy, not just him. Jealousy is transparent. Fra Pandolf chanced to say 'Her mantle laps Over my lady's wrist too much,' or 'Paint Must never hope to reproduce the faint Half-flush that dies along her throat;' such stuff
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)
Theme: Bravery, duty, misguided orders — the tragedy and glory of war
OVERVIEW & CONTEXT
- Rhythm — mirrors galloping horses; creates an unstoppable, inevitable sense of forward movement.
- The first three stanzas end the same — again emphasising the sense of pressure/force and late awareness of the soldiers who lost their lives.
- Sounds sinister/foreboding — brigade's fate.
- Presented as a united, collective group — under orders.
- First, mistake from superior — miscommunication.
- Tennyson uses the idea of 'honour' as a way to frame the tragic loss; imperative is to leave the reader to admire but question the event.
- Rhetorical question — challenges the reader to question their own admiration/perception of the event.
- Repeated from stanza 3 — only this time emphasising soldiers' deaths. Words imitate gunning/battle sound.
- Emphasis on stanza 3 — violent language.
- Echoes from stanza 3. Only 600 remain fighting/survived.
- Celebratory/admirable — but also implicitly questions the sacrifice.
POEM & ANNOTATIONS
Half a league, half a league, Repetition and rhythm mimic the gallop of horses. Relentless forward momentum — they cannot stop even as they ride towards death. Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death Biblical allusion to Psalm 23 ('valley of the shadow of death'). Immediately signals their doom. Rode the six hundred. Collective noun — they are presented as a united body, not individuals. This emphasises their shared fate. 'Forward, the Light Brigade!' 'Charge for the guns!' he said: Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. 'Forward, the Light Brigade!' Was there a man dismay'd? Rhetorical question — Tennyson implies they were not. But also invites the reader to question whether they should have been. Not tho' the soldier knew Someone had blunder'd: 'Blunder'd' — honest acknowledgement that the order was a mistake. Miscommunication from superiors led to their deaths. First, clear mistake from a superior. Theirs not to make reply, Anaphora — repetition of 'Theirs not to...' emphasises blind duty and total obedience. They must follow orders without question. Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die:
Grim summary — their only role is to obey and die. The rhythm makes even this shocking statement sound inevitable.
Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them, Triple repetition of 'Cannon' creates a sense of being completely surrounded and overwhelmed. Violent and relentless.
Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them Volley'd and thunder'd; Onomatopoeia — sounds of battle bring the scene to life. Imitates gunfire.
Storm'd at with shot and shell, Boldly they rode and well, Into the jaws of Death, Metaphor — Death is personified as a monster consuming them. 'Jaws' and 'mouth' create a predatory image.
Into the mouth of Hell Hell imagery — amplifies the horror. They are riding willingly into damnation. Bold, brave, but misled.
Rode the six hundred.
Flash'd all their sabres bare, Sword imagery — traditional, noble. English verb 'flash'd' also suggests speed. Shows their readiness.
Flash'd as they turn'd in air, Sabring the gunners there, Charging an army, while All the world wonder'd: 'All the world wonder'd' — the onlooking world is stunned. Ambiguous: admiration? Horror? Both.
Plunged in the battery-smoke Right thro' the line they broke; Cossack and Russian Reel'd from the sabre-stroke Shatter'd and sunder'd. Violent verbs — emphasise the chaos and destruction of battle.
Then they rode back, but not Not the six hundred. 'Not the six hundred' — devastating understatement. Many have died. The repetition of the number now carries grief rather than grandeur.
Cannon to right of them, Repeated from stanza 3 — but now the emphasis is on the dead and retreating soldiers. The same trap, now they're fleeing it.
Cannon to left of them, Cannon behind them Volley'd and thunder'd; Storm'd at with shot and shell, While horse and hero fell, Alliteration links horse and hero — both noble, both fallen. Elevated to heroic status even in death.
They that had fought so well Came thro' the jaws of Death, Back from the mouth of Hell, All that was left of them, Left of six hundred.
When can their glory fade?
Exposure
Wilfred Owen (1893–1918)
Theme: Futility and boredom of war — soldiers' suffering is caused by nature, not combat
OVERVIEW & CONTEXT
- Soldiers are vulnerable to elements — no protection. Stalemate — reflects on elements, not an enemy.
- Nature is being used as a weapon of war against them.
- 'But nothing happens' — repetition. Soldiers experience of war.
- Simple questions — soldiers don't know what they are doing/why they are there.
- Memories before war — soldiers thinking about the past (long poem with repetitions).
- Collective experience of war — throughout soldiers commit to each other.
- ABBA rhyme scheme — creates cyclical feeling; mirrors the endless, circular nature of waiting. Each stanza ends in an incomplete half-rhyme — suggests nothing is resolved.
- Wilfred Owen — lived through WWI. First person plural 'we' throughout — collective experience of soldiers.
- Metaphor of 'ghostly' — remnants of warmth/home haunt them.
- Each stanza ends in 'But nothing happens' — monotony and futility are Owen's real subjects. The real enemy is not the Germans but the cold and boredom.
POEM & ANNOTATIONS
Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us... Sensory description — physical pain from cold. 'Knive' (knife as a verb) is violent. Nature is the real enemy, not the opposing army. Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent... Low, drooping flares confuse our memory of the salient... 'Confuse our memory' — soldiers are disoriented, psychologically as well as physically affected. Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous, Sibilance in 'silence, sentries' — whispered, hushed sounds mirror the soldiers' caution. But nothing happens. Refrain — repeated throughout. The terrible anti-climax. No heroic battle; just waiting and suffering.
Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire, 'Mad gusts' — nature is personified as violent and irrational. 'Tugging' sounds like an impatient, aggressive force. Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles. Simile — the wire acts like the men, suffering and twitching. Blurs the line between man and landscape. Northward, incessantly, the flickering gunnery rumbles, Far off, like a dull rumour of some other war. Detachment — the battle sounds distant and irrelevant to them. They are removed from action, trapped in cold inaction. What are we doing here? Direct question — plaintive, desperate. Soldiers question the purpose of their suffering. No answer is given.
Slowly our ghosts drag home: glimpsing the sunk fires, glozed Metaphor — soldiers picture home but are 'ghosts', already half-dead. Haunting image of longing. With crusted dark-red jewels; crickets jingle there; For hours the innocent mice rejoice: the house is theirs;
Irony — mice and crickets enjoy warmth the soldiers are denied. Nature is indifferent to human suffering.
Shutters and doors, all closed: on us the doors are closed. Repetition of 'closed' — they are shut out from life and warmth. Doors represent the barrier between life and death.
Since we believe not otherwise can kind fires burn; Nor ever suns smile true on child, or field, or fruit. Religious/pastoral imagery. If they don't fight, nothing good can survive. Yet their sacrifice seems meaningless.
For God's invincible spring our love is made afraid; 'God's invincible spring' — only faith in renewal keeps them going, but even that feels distant.
Therefore, not loath, we lie out here; therefore were born, For love of God seems dying. Loss of faith — religious values are crumbling in the face of the suffering. Owen suggests that God has abandoned them.
But nothing happens. Refrain again — despair at the futility. Nothing justifies their suffering.
Tonight, this frost will fasten on this mud and us, Soldiers and mud merge — they are becoming part of the landscape, losing their humanity. The frost will kill them.
Shrivelling many hands, puckering foreheads crisp. Violent, visceral detail — physical decay caused by the cold. 'Shrivelling' and 'puckering' are grotesque verbs.
The burying-party, picks and shovels in their hands, Pause over half-known faces. Devastating ending — comrades burying soldiers whose faces are barely recognisable. Anonymous death; identity erased.
All their eyes are ice, Eyes (windows to the soul) are frozen — they are literally and metaphorically dead. Cold has killed all feeling.
But nothing happens. Final refrain — the poem ends as it began. Nothing has changed. Nothing ever will. The futility is total and unrelenting.
Military verb ('strafes' = low-level aerial attack) — storm is like a warplane attacking them. Heaney blurs the boundary between natural and human violence.
Space is a salvo, 'Salvo' = artillery fire. The empty air itself becomes a weapon. Nothing is safe, not even the space around them.
We are bombarded by the empty air. Oxymoron — 'bombarded by empty air'. The most terrifying thing is that there is nothing to fight — no visible enemy. Fear of the unseen.
Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear. Paradox — 'huge nothing'. The storm is both physically overwhelming and somehow insubstantial. Fear of nothingness = existential dread. The storm is a metaphor for political violence (The Troubles in Northern Ireland).
Bayonet Charge
Ted Hughes (1930–1998)
Theme: The immediate, instinctive terror of combat — war strips away all meaning and identity
OVERVIEW & CONTEXT
- Soldier starts in media res — middle of action. No context given.
- He is essentially going through some form of PTSD in the moment.
- Sematic field of heat/fire — danger and urgency throughout.
- Semantic field of becoming unaware of things around him — the only thing that matters is survival.
- Action — throws himself into war, having lost all sense of purpose.
- Ted Hughes — he is essentially commenting on the futility of war and how it dehumanises people.
- The hare is introduced as a symbol of innocent life — destroyed by the senseless mechanised violence of war.
POEM & ANNOTATIONS
Suddenly he awoke and was running — raw 'Suddenly' — in medias res. No build-up; the reader is thrown into the chaos. 'Raw' = unprotected, exposed, stripped of everything but instinct. In raw-seamed hot khaki, his sweat heavy, Repeated 'raw' — physical discomfort. The uniform feels like a wound. Sensory detail immerses us in his pain. Stumbling across a field of clods towards a green hedge That dazzled with rifle fire, his foot hung 'Dazzled with rifle fire' — beautiful but deadly. Paradox: the hedge looks bright and inviting but is lethal. Like molten iron from the centre of his chest, Simile — his body feels like melted metal; he is losing control of himself. His body is no longer his own. In bewilderment then he almost stopped — 'Bewilderment' — he has lost all understanding of why he is here or what he is doing. In what cold clockwork of the stars and the nations Stars (nature/universe) and nations (politics) — both indifferent to his suffering. He is caught between cosmic forces he cannot understand. Was he the hand pointing that second? He was running Like a man who has just sold himself to the devil. Simile — sold soul to the devil. He feels damned; he has surrendered his humanity to the war machine. Listening between his footfalls for the reason He is still searching for meaning/justification for his actions — but none comes. Of his still running, and his foot hung like Statuary in mid-stride, and his foot hung like Repetition — he is stuck, frozen in this horrific moment. 'Statuary' (statue) — he is becoming objectified, fixed like a war memorial.
Threw up a yellow hare that rolled like a flame The hare is an innocent, wild creature — ambushed and destroyed by war. Yellow = fire/danger but also sunshine/life. Symbol of all innocent life destroyed by conflict. And crawled in a yellow flame And his terror's touchy dynamite.
Remains
Simon Armitage (b. 1963)
Theme: PTSD, guilt, and the psychological cost of killing
OVERVIEW & CONTEXT
- Subtlety in poem — explores a soldier's inability to escape from the memory of killing.
- Unpredictability of now — the soldier can't escape the past.
- 'Rejection' — connects to memory. The soldier is rejecting what he saw/did but cannot.
- First-person narrative gives intimacy — we are inside the soldier's traumatised mind.
- Colloquial, casual language — the soldier tries to downplay the killing, but the horror seeps through.
- The mundane language ('probably armed') alongside graphic violence creates a disturbing contrast.
- Metaphor of 'hands' — the killing stays on his hands; guilt is physical.
- Simon Armitage — loosely based on a soldier's testimony from the Iraq War. Written to highlight PTSD in veterans.
POEM & ANNOTATIONS
On another occasion, we get sent out Casual, colloquial opening — 'another occasion' downplays the event. But this is trauma — normalising the abnormal. to tackle looters raiding a bank. And one of them legs it up the road, 'Legs it' — slang. The soldier uses informal language to distance himself from what he did. Psychological defence mechanism. probably armed, possibly not. 'Probably... possibly not' — chilling uncertainty. He may have killed an unarmed man. The ambiguity is the source of his PTSD.
Well myself and somebody else and somebody else Repetition of 'somebody else' — diffuses responsibility. By sharing the blame, the soldier tries to lessen his own guilt. are all of the same mind, so all three of us open fire. Simple, factual sentence — the clinical brevity is disturbing. No emotion in the killing. Three of a kind all letting fly, and I swear I see every round as it rips through his body. Graphic, visceral imagery — 'rips through' is violent, physical. Despite the casual tone, the horror cannot be hidden.
So we've hit this looter a dozen times and he's there on the ground, sort of inside out, 'Inside out' — grotesque description of the body. The casual 'sort of' makes it worse — the soldier struggles to articulate the horror. pain itself, the image of agony. The dead man becomes the embodiment of pain — abstract and real simultaneously.
One of my mates goes by and tosses his guts back into his body. Darkly graphic. The casual act of 'tossing' guts is deeply disturbing — desensitisation to violence. Then he's carted off in the back of a lorry.
The body is removed like cargo — dehumanisation is complete.
End of story, except not really. Shift — 'except not really'. The narrative refuses to end. This is where the PTSD begins. The soldier cannot close the chapter.
His blood-shadow stays on the street, and out on patrol I walk right over it week after week. He literally walks over the bloodstain every week — he cannot escape the past. The dead man haunts the physical world.
Then I'm home on leave. But I blink and he bursts again through the doors of the bank. 'Bursts again' — traumatic flashback. PTSD. The trigger is involuntary — blinking.
Sleep, and he's probably armed, probably not. The uncertainty ('probably not') is what destroys him. He may have killed an innocent man.
Dream, and he digs himself out of the sand, Nightmares — he cannot escape even in sleep. The dead man 'digs himself out' — resurrection of guilt.
and he's there on the ground, sort of inside out, Repetition of earlier grotesque description — the loop of trauma. He relives it endlessly.
pain itself, the image of agony.
his bloody hands. Final image — 'bloody hands'. Both literally (his blood) and metaphorically (guilt). The soldier cannot wash the blood from his conscience. Echoes Lady Macbeth.
