Bayonet Charge by Ted Hughes
Key Quotes
-The poem focuses on one soldier’s perspective
of a charge toward enemy lines
-It describes his actions as he tries to stay alive
-It features his thoughts and emotion
-The key emotion is fear
-He uses fear as his motivation
-Before the fighting began he held patriotic
ideals but now everything revolves around fear
Feelings: Terror and confusion
Form

Enjambment

Caesura

Uneven line length


Irregular rhythm –
mirrors the idea of
a struggle
Pronoun ‘he’ – this
soldier could be
anyone
Structure
 In medias res
(Starts in the
middle of the
action)

Stanza 1 shows
the instinct of
survival

Stanza 2 shows
time standing still

Stanza 3 shows
him giving up his
humanity
Poetic devices
 Violent imagery

Figurative
language

Natural imagery
Checking Out Me History by John Agard
Key Quotes
-The narrator is talking about his identity and the
link to his knowledge of history
-He was taught about his British history but not his
Caribbean roots
-He lists famous people from history but questions
why he doesn’t know any from other cultures
-He points out some famous people from diverse
backgrounds who should be celebrated
-At the end he says he will create his own identity
based on his own heritage
Feelings: Anger, admiration and celebration
Form



Mixture of stanza
forms
Caribbean stanzas
have more broken
syntax (word
order)
British stanzas
have simple
rhythms that seem
childish
Structure
 Alternates
between historical
and fictional
figures

British characters
skipped over and
Caribbean figures
explained/describ
ed in detail
Poetic devices
 Metaphors

Repetitions

Phonetic spellings

Strong rhythms
Exposure by Wilfred Owen
Key Quotes
-Soldiers being awake in the trenches during the
First World War afraid of an enemy attack
-Nature seems to be their biggest enemy as it is
freezing cold, windy and snowing
-The soldiers imagine returning home but their
doors are closed to them
-They believe that their deaths in war are the
only things keeping their families at home safe
-They again think about their deaths in the cold
and black trenches
Feelings: Suffering, boredom and hopelessness
Form


Present tense
Structure
 Eight stanzas
First person
plurals


Collective voice


Regular rhyming
scheme (ABBAC)


No real
progression
Stanzas one and
eight end with the
same line
Poetic devices
 Rhetorical
questions

Repetition

Bleak imagery

Assonance

Onomatopoeia

Personification of
nature to make it
seem like the
bigger threat
Half rhyme
Half line to end
each stanza
Kamikaze by Beatrice Garland
Key Quotes
-Kamikaze pilot setting off on his mission
-Kamikaze pilots were specially trained Japanese
pilots who were used toward the end of WWII
-They flew on suicide missions into enemy ships
-These pilots saw it as a great honour to serve
their country on these missions that would
mean their deaths
-It then becomes clear this pilot did not complete his
Mission
-His daughter imagines that he turned around
because he saw the beauty in the nature around him
and remembered his innocent childhood
-The pilot was shunned when he came home
-His own family ignored him and viewed him as
having lost his honour
-Feelings: Patriotism, shame and regret
Form

rd
3 person
narrative
Structure
 First 5 stanzas are
one sentence

Reported speech
of the daughter

This sentence
covers the flight

Absence of the
pilots voice

The full stop
represents the
end of his flight

Last two stanzas
deal with the
result of the pilot
not dying
Poetic devices
 Irony – his family
treat him as
though he died
even though he
chose not to

Similes,
Metaphors and
detailed
description of
nature

Direct speech
London by William Blake
Key Quotes
-It describes a walk around London
-He focuses on the misery and despair that the
people around him feel
-Misery seems to be everywhere and seems to
have a lot of power
-No one can escape misery even the young and
innocent
-People in power seem to be behind the misery
but seem to be doing nothing
Feeling: Anger and hopelessness
Form



Dramatic
monologue
Regular rhyme
(ABAB)
Regular rhythm
Structure
 First two stanzas
focus on people


Stanza three
focuses on the
institution
The final stanza
goes back to
people
Poetic devices
 Sensory language

Contrasts

Rhetoric
My Last Duchess by Robert Browning
Key Quotes
-The Duke proudly points at the painting of his former
wife on the wall to his visitor
-The Duke was angered with her behaviour as she
was nice to everyone and so did not treat him
differently to others
-He did something to stop this behaviour but it
is not clear what, it is hinted that he had her
murdered
-The Duke seems to be a very unstable character
-The Duke and his guest move away from the
painting and it is then revealed that the guest is
there to arrange his next marriage
Feelings: Pride, jealousy and power
Form


Dramatic
monologue
Iambic
pentameter
Structure
 The poem starts as
a look at art but
the Duke gets
carried away
talking about the
Duchess

Builds to an
almost confession

The Duke finishes
by moving on to
talking about
another work of
art
Poetic devices
 Rhyming couplets

Enjambment

Language of
power

Objectification

Irony
Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Key Quotes
-The narrator meets a traveller who tells the story of
a statue in a desert
-The statue is of a king who ruled over a civilisation a
long time ago
-The face of the statue is proud
-There is an inscription on the base of the statue
boasting about how powerful he was
-The statue has crumbled and now only ruins can be
seen
Feelings: Pride, arrogance and power
Form

Sonnet form
Structure
 One stanza

Volta (turning
point)

Builds up a picture
of the statue

No regular rhyme
scheme

Ends with the
desert to show a
contrast

Iambic
pentameter

Second hand
account
Poetic devices
 Irony

Language of
power – contrast
between the
King’s and
Nature’s power

Aggressive
language
Remains by Simon Armitage
Key Quotes
-Based on an account of a British soldier who
served in Iraq
-A group of soldiers shoot a man who’s running
from a bank raid he’s been involved in. His death
is described in graphic detail
-The soldier telling the story isn’t sure whether
the man was armed or not – this plays on his
mind
-He can’t get the man’s death out of his head
-He is haunted by the guilt of being a part of his
death
Feelings: Nonchalance and guilt
Form



No regular line
length or rhyme
scheme
First person telling
the story like a
confession
Final couplet –
both lines have
the same metre
giving a sense of
finality
Structure
 Clear volta
(turning point) at
the beginning of
the fifth stanza

Starts as though it
is an amusing
story, then
changes to a
graphic
description of the
man’s death
Poetic devices
 Graphic imagery

Colloquial
language

Repetition
Storm on the Island by Seamus Heaney
Key Quotes
-A narrative voice describes how well-prepared
a community think they are for a coming storm
-Their confidence starts to disappear as the
storm develops
-The narrator describes the power of the storm
as well as how it sounds
-The end of the poem focuses on the fear felt by
the community as the storm hits the island
Feelings: Safety, fear and helplessness
Form




Blank verse
Standard English
like a conversation
First person plural
‘We’
Structure
 Volta (turning
point in the poem)

Moves from
security to fear
Poetic devices
 Caesura

Direct address

Violent imagery

Use of sound
imagery

Personification
One stanza
The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Tennyson Key Quotes
-Describes a battle between the British and the
Russians during the Crimean War (1853-1856)
-A miscommunication meant that the Light
Brigade advanced into a valley, now vulnerable
to the enemy which surrounded them
-The cavalry were only armed with swords and
the Russians had guns
-Many of the British were killed as they were
unarmed against
Feelings: Admiration, patriotism and horror
Form

Third person

Story-like

Regular rhythm,
fast pace
No regular rhyme

Rhyming
couplets/triples

Some unrhymed
lines
Structure
 Chronological
order

Short final stanza
acts as a summary
Poetic devices
 Repetition

Heroic language

Violent language
The Emigrée by Carole Rumens
Key Quotes
-The speaker talks about a city in a country she
left as a child
-It is a purely positive view
-The city seems to be under attack and
unreachable, but in the third stanza it appears
to the speaker
-An unknown ‘They’ accuse and threaten the
speaker, but she still sees the old city in a
positive way
-The city may not be a real place
-It could represent a time, person or emotion
that the speaker has been forced to leave
Feelings: Nostalgia and threat
Form

First person

No regular rhythm

No rhyme scheme

Enjambment

End-stopping
Structure
 Each stanza ends
with ‘sunlight’

The city becomes
a physical
presence for the
speaker
Poetic devices
 Language of
conflict

Language about
light

Personification
The Prelude by William Wordsworth
Key Quotes
-Autobiographical poem
-The extract begins on a summer evening when the
narrator finds a boat tied to a tree
-He unties the boat and takes it out on the lake
-Initially the narrator seems happy and confident
-Describes a beautiful scene
-A mountain on the horizon scares the narrator and
he is scared of its size and power
-He turns the boat around and goes home, but his
view of nature has changed
Feelings: Confidence, fear and reflection
Form

First person
narrative used to
describe a turning
point in the poet’s
life

Blank verse

Iambic
pentameter


Structure
 3 main sections


Distinct change
when the
mountains appear

Tone changes to a
darker and more
fearful one
Regular rhythm
Natural speech
1st tone is light
and carefree

Final section is a
reflection
Poetic devices
 Beautiful language
– pastoral images

Confident
language –
narrator is sure of
himself, gives the
impression of
being powerful

Dramatic language

Fearful language
War Photographer by Carol Ann Duffy
Key Quotes
-The poem tells the story of a war photographer
in his darkroom developing pictures of wars
across the world
-Contrasted to being back in England where it is
safe and calm
-Photographs begin to develop and the
photographer can remember seeing the man die
and the cries of his wife
-He then thinks about the people in England that
will see the picture and not really care about the
horror of the wars going on around them or the
people involved in them
Feelings: pain, detachment and anger
Form



Four stanzas of
equal length
Regular rhyming
scheme
Enjambment
Structure
 Change at the
start of the third
stanza

Shift in the final
stanza to the way
the
photographer’s
work is viewed
Poetic devices
 Religious imagery

Contrasts

Emotive language
Tissue by Imtiaz Dharker
Key Quotes
-The first three stanzas talk about the paper and
it’s importance in relation to recording history
-Stanzas four to six talk about how paper is
fragile and yet plays such a large role in our lives
-Lastly it considers making things, mainly human
life
-Life is a complex thing that must not be taken for
granted
-Life also forms part of the bigger picture
Feelings: Control and freedom
Form

Focus on
humanity
Structure
 Three sections to
the poem

Poetic voice is a
universal voice

History, humans
and then creation

No regular rhythm
or rhyme

Single line
paragraph to
finish

Enjambment

Poem is built in
layers
Poetic devices
 Recurring theme
of light

Creation

Different types of
tissue
Poppies by Jane Weir
Key Quotes
-A mother describing her son leaving home
and going to war
-The poem is an emotional reaction to her
son leaving
-Feelings of loss, fear and freedom
-The mother gets him ready to leave by helping
him with his uniform
-After he is gone the mother goes to places that
remind her of him
-She tries to find any trace of him
Form


st
1 person
narrative
No regular rhyme
or rhythm

Long sentence

Enjambment

Caesurae
Structure
 Chronological
order, description
of the
preparation, the
leaving and what
the mother feels
afterward
Poetic devices
 Sensory language,
evidence of touch
and sound

War imagery

Domestic imagery