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The power of memory is linked to several of the other key themes, as is the related idea of loss. It can explore: Throughout the poem the adjectives used work with the structure to emphasise the delicacy of paper – ‘fine’, ‘thin’ and ‘transparent’. Alongside this, Dharker often refers to light and to its effects on the delicate paper. Repeated ideas like: ‘lets the light shine through’, ‘sun shines through’, ‘luminous’ and ‘daylight’ show how light illuminates the paper and how our uses for paper are dependent on light. Storm on the Island is about exactly that. Heaney describes being in an isolated cottage on the cliffs of an island off the coast of Ireland while a terrible storm rages around him. Heaney describes the power of the weather and nature. He suggests that the people on the island can do nothing in the face of this natural power.The poem also has a metaphorical meaning. The storm and the disruption caused to the island could reflect the very human atrocities of the conflict in Ireland in the Twentieth Century. Form and Structure Using the poet’s name can help you think about the text as a conscious construct, and will keep reminding you that the poet deliberately put the poem together
At a few points the language Armitage chooses also alludes to Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In this poem the speaker talks of his disturbed sleep, which links to Macbeth’s line that ‘Macbeth doth murder sleep’ after he has murdered the King. Furthermore, the poem finishes with the description of his ‘bloody hands’, which links the reader to Lady Macbeth’s madness following the murder. Lady Macbeth’s guilt drives her mad to the extent that she cannot wash the imaginary bloodstains from her hands. Imagery The final paper-based metaphor is to link an idea of a building made from paper to human skin. This is a difficult idea to explain fully in an exam and it is open to your interpretation, so have a think about what your own take is on this idea. Dharker might be suggesting that life and the things we think are important are actually very fragile and won’t last forever. She could also be suggesting that our actions in life are more important – and outlast – the things we build or record on paper; or that the memories and changes we record on paper are very powerful. Structure Power – This poem is all about power. The Duke is powerful in society and has a big ego because of that. Browning implies that he demonstrated his own personal power and control in his family life by killing his wife.
All anthologies (GCSE and A-level)
The Emigreetakes the form of a first person account, from a general perspective (there are no names given as discussed earlier). The poem is structured in three stanzas. The first two are eight lines in length and the final stanza is nine lines long. Why Rumens has added a line to the final stanza is open to interpretation, but it may be emphasising the lasting impression that this place has had on the speaker’s life. Ted Hughes was born in Yorkshire in 1930 and lived until 1998. His upbringing in the countryside influenced a lot of his writing. Hughes is famous for his children’s books as well as his poetry. As a young man, Ted Hughes served in the RAF for two years before going to University. Content How an individual’s power, pride and arrogance can lead someone to abuse their power or lead to their downfall Take a break from your revision and do some physical exercises. It’s important to do activities that increase your heart rate so that your blood circulating faster.
Power –the power of paper in our lives to record events, ideas and memories. The poem even suggests paper has the power to change the course of our lives. The gory descriptions highlight the trauma of the event and how intensely it has affected the soldier. My Last Duchess is in the form of a dramatic monologue (the extended speech of an individual character). Although a dramatic monologue, it is clear that this is one side of a conversation with an emissary from the family of the Duke’s next wife. The poem is written in iambic pentameter, with rhyming couplets. Rhyming couplets would usually make the lines seem memorable, but the use of punctuation throughout the poem breaks this up and shows us that this is unrehearsed speech. Browning also uses plenty of enjambment (where lines run on), which adds to the use of punctuation in emphasising the narrator’s arrogance. Language and imagery You’ve written about the poet’s purpose here, which you didn’t about Poppies. You skilfully link to it in the next paragraph, for a comparison. This will improve your AO3 mark.Use comparative connectives in your answer, such as “similarly”, “likewise”, “on the other hand” and “contrastingly” This is top level AO2 for your interpretation of quotations, and the way you link them across the poem. All your references have been linked to interpretations, so the AO1 references mark is really high too. Repeating your learning is the key to success. Use your summary notes to test yourself or revise for free on Seneca. Brilliant – you have a convincing reason to mention this structure, as it is leading to really interesting interpretations of the mother. So this earns a high AO3 mark.
To achieve high marks, you need to evidence your knowledge of the whole of the two poems in your answer, rather than just memorising and using a bank of quotations. This is because you are required to be focused on answering the question, rather than just reproducing lots of pre-learned quotes. The quality of the quotes, linked to the themes in the poems, is more important than quantity. You link a huge range of references together, for a very high AO1 references mark. Examiners love a semantic field! They are also linked to an interpretation of the mother, for a high AO2 mark. Percy Shelley (1792-1822) is one of the most famous poets of all time. He was part of an influential group of poets known as The Romantics. Shelley had a pretty wild early life. He came from a very wealthy family and was in line to inherit a fortune. However, Oxford University expelled him for writing about atheism and, as a result, his father later disinherited him. At around the same time he married and eloped to the Lake District. A few years later he set off around Europe with a different woman, Mary Shelley (who would go on to write Frankenstein). Percy Shelley later drowned while on a sailing trip to Italy.Students will study one cluster of poems taken from the AQA poetry anthology, Poems Past and Present. There is a choice of three clusters, each containing 15 poems. The poems in each cluster are thematically linked and were written between 1789 and the present day.
Loneliness– Wordsworth is alone. He meets and gains knowledge from nature (the mountain, the lake and the night), but not any other characters. My Last Duchess (Robert Browning) Context It is important to note that, in this question, if you only write about the poem given on the exam paper, you will incur a penalty for your marks. You must write about the given poem and link it to one other of the poems in the anthology. Think of comparison as what connects the two poems. It is therefore better to start your response with an opening statement that thematically connects the two poems you are going to use to answer the question.
Seneca covers all the poems in the GCSE AQA Power & Conflict anthology
The Emigreeis written from the perspective of a displaced person who describes and longs for home. Rumens does not give any names to the speaker of to the places described. This suggests that the poem is about the experiences of many people rather than about a specific person/ place. The speaker has been forced to flee because their homeland is torn apart by war and a tyrannical dictator. Despite the clear presence of conflict in the speaker’s homeland they still remember the perfect place where they grew up. In Paper 2, Section B, you will be given one of the 15 poems on the exam paper itself, and be expected to compare it thematically to one other poem from the anthology. You will have to choose this second poem, and you should be prepared to write about any of the 15 poems in the exam. This means you need to have a thorough understanding of each poem. Exam tip: If you're trying to work out how to do well in your English Lit GCSE, get revising with Seneca for FREE! Light vs dark– there are numerous images of light breaking through darkness. These support the idea of conflict.
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