Main ideas/Content (how is conflict Poet’s attitude

Language/imagery Style, form and Structure Themes

presented in the poem? thoughts/feelings/ tone
Power and Nature
A Poison Tree is a short and The vocabulary is simple (even if some of the words Anger
deceptively simple poem about are unfamiliar today). Notice the following:  in the Deception
repressing anger and the first stanza many of the words are monosyllables
consequences of doing so. The except for the word 'angry', which is repeated twice
speaker tells of how they fail to to emphasise emotion and to contrast with the two
communicate their wrath to their foe different ways the speaker deals with this emotion 
and how this continues to grow until the lines in the first stanza all start with 'I' which
it develops into poisonous hatred. emphasises that this is a personal story told from an
The speaker describes how when they individual point of view  seven of the other 12 lines
were angry with a friend, they talked in the poem start with 'and' which helps the story to
to their friend about the issue which build and increase in intensity All of the above
helped them to overcome their anger. makes the poem seem like a piece of verse for
However, the speaker was unable to children and like a simple nursery rhyme with a clear
do the same with an enemy and this moral message to be learned. The use of 'and'
leads to developing resentment and particularly resembles that of a child telling a story. A
an even stronger degree of hatred. An difficult message is wrapped up in a form and
extended metaphor of a tree growing structure which is deliberately simple and using very
in the speaker's garden demonstrates straightforward vocabulary, to get its point across.
A Poison Tree how the anger continues to grow. In
the lines 'And I water'd it in fears' and
'And I sunned it with smiles' the
speaker actively cultivates the
tree/anger. Eventually the anger
blossoms into a poisoned fruit, the
enemy eats the fruit and dies and the
speaker seems to be glad of this.
However, there is also a sense that
they see the destructiveness of what
has occurred. As the first lines
acknowledge, we can easily overcome
our anger if we communicate it
properly.

The Destruction The Destruction of Sennacherib is a The poem has six stanzas. Each stanza
of Sennacherib short narrative poem retelling a consists of a pair of rhyming couplets
Biblical story from the Old Testament in the regular repeated pattern aabb.
(2 Kings, chapter 19) in which God This helps to drive the narrative
destroys King Sennacherib’s Assyrian forward in quite a simple format. The
army as they attack the holy city of rhythm of the poem is also
Jerusalem. It is probably as well- straightforward and regular which
known for the way in which the poem makes it very easy to read, though
is constructed as it is for its subject not necessarily to understand. This
matter. The speaker sets out events in particular rhythm is often used in
chronological order. He seems comic and light verse, so the fact
 impressed by the might and
splendour of the Assyrian army when
Byron chose it for a poem about war
describing their appearance in the
and death is striking. Some readers
first six lines. However, halfway
see the regular patterning of the
through the second stanza comes a
rhythm as echoing the hoof beats of
turning point as he realises the
the horses which the soldiers would
Assyrians’ strength is short-lived. He
have been riding. The regular rhythm
then goes on to tell how the Angel of
of the poem is further emphasised by
Death has passed through their camp
the fact that each line is end stopped
wiping them out. Although the
and that about half of the lines start
Assyrians may have been mighty, the
with the word 'and'. The use of ‘and’
speaker realises that the power of
in this way serves to drive the story
God is even mightier.
forward in the same way the
mounted soldiers are charging.

Exposure Wilfred Owen’s poem

focuses on the misery
felt by World War One
soldiers waiting
overnight in the
trenches. Although
nothing is happening
and there is no
fighting, there is still
danger because they
are exposed to the
extreme cold and their
wait through the night
is terrifying. The
eight stanzas are
gripping because the
speaker describes the
trauma of living and
struggling in such poor
conditions. There is a
sense of despair and
of lost hope.
The immediate and
repeated use of
the pronouns ‘our’ and
‘we’ show that Owen is
describing a situation
he was part of. The
individual is sharing in
the collective suffering
and horror of the war.
The poet has a sense
of injustice about the
way the soldiers are
being treated. If being
‘exposed’ to gunfire
does not kill them, then
exposure to the brutal
weather conditions
might do. Alongside
the more obvious
meanings of the title,
there is also the idea
that Owen has set out
to expose the
conditions the soldiers
have experienced to
the world.
By repeating the
phrase ‘But nothing
happens’, the poem
emphasises the agony
of waiting and that war
is not all about action.
By the end of the
poem there is a sense
of hopelessness and
despair where the men
see their deaths as
inevitable. The poet’s
tone is deliberately
provoking and emotive
language is used with
the intention of
involving and even
upsetting the reader.
 There are no stanzas: the writing is Attitudes and ideas: Wordsworth
continuous though there is plenty of does not view humanity as
punctuation to help us read it. This having authority over nature. If
extract is a complete story in itself. It anything, it's the other way
starts with "One summer evening..." round as we can see from his
and finishes with the effects on his description of the huge
Extract from The
mind of the boat trip: "a trouble to mountain. Wordsworth also
Prelude
my dreams". realises that once an event has
happened, that doesn't mean it's
over; the effect stayed with him
for days afterwards.

Personal Conflict
A Poison Tree is a short and The vocabulary is simple (even if some of the words Anger
deceptively simple poem about are unfamiliar today). Notice the following:  in the Deception
repressing anger and the first stanza many of the words are monosyllables
consequences of doing so. The except for the word 'angry', which is repeated twice
speaker tells of how they fail to to emphasise emotion and to contrast with the two
communicate their wrath to their foe different ways the speaker deals with this emotion 
and how this continues to grow until the lines in the first stanza all start with 'I' which
it develops into poisonous hatred. emphasises that this is a personal story told from an
The speaker describes how when they individual point of view  seven of the other 12 lines
were angry with a friend, they talked in the poem start with 'and' which helps the story to
to their friend about the issue which build and increase in intensity All of the above
helped them to overcome their anger. makes the poem seem like a piece of verse for
However, the speaker was unable to children and like a simple nursery rhyme with a clear
do the same with an enemy and this moral message to be learned. The use of 'and'
leads to developing resentment and particularly resembles that of a child telling a story. A
an even stronger degree of hatred. An difficult message is wrapped up in a form and
extended metaphor of a tree growing structure which is deliberately simple and using very
in the speaker's garden demonstrates straightforward vocabulary, to get its point across.
A Poison Tree how the anger continues to grow. In
the lines 'And I water'd it in fears' and
'And I sunned it with smiles' the
speaker actively cultivates the
tree/anger. Eventually the anger
blossoms into a poisoned fruit, the
enemy eats the fruit and dies and the
speaker seems to be glad of this.
However, there is also a sense that
they see the destructiveness of what
has occurred. As the first lines
acknowledge, we can easily overcome
our anger if we communicate it
properly.
 The poem considers the differences in Structure 1st person perspective –
social class and attitudes arising from dramatic monologue exploring the
this difference. This is portrayed by working class persona’s thoughts and
the vocabulary and poetic devices feelings about being judged on the
uses in the poem. In particular, the way they speak and their social
reader experiences the reaction of background. The persona is from a
narrator on being judged by how they working class background ‘we live in a
speak. corpy’ whereas the listener is from a
middle class background ‘pretty little
semi’ (see the link here to ‘Parades
End’). The poet decided to write the
poem as one long stanza to indicate
the feelings of frustration and anger
experienced by the persona (see ‘Half
Caste’). The title suggests that the
division in social class is not to be
taken seriously and the persona
systematically attacks middle class
prejudice towards the working class.
The rhythm and rhyme of the poem
could suggest the light-heartedness
linking with the notion of a game.
The Class Game However, the fact that the poet
introduces internal half-rhyme at the
beginning of the poem ‘nose/clothes’,
‘Tara/Ma’ and rhyming couplets as
the poem progresses ‘card/yard’,
‘mother/brother’ emphasises the
narrator’s mounting anger towards
the unfair treatment of the working
class. The short line lengths speed up
the ending of the poem to indicate
the narrator’s contempt at the
prejudice experienced. The
exclamation mark in ‘Well, Mate!’
enhances the defiant tone which
concludes with the final line ‘And I am
proud of the class that I come from.’

No Problem Dub poetry developed in the West

Indies (Caribbean) out of dub reggae
music (spoken word over heavy,
mellow and often psychedelic
sounds). It is written for live
performance and chanted with strong
rhythms and gesture. Dub poets are
generally concerned with issues
related to social justice and equality.
‘No Problem’ is no exception. It has
 strong rhymes that underpin the
conflict in the opening 16 lines: ABAB
where only line B rhymes as beat is
rooted in the sound of reggae music.
In the second and final stanza, when
the poet reflects on his experience
and what is means, the rhyme and
rhythm are looser and a more
contemplative mood is created. 'I am
not de problem' opens the poem and
its repetition gives this statement a
rhetorical force as well as structuring
ideas in the opening 16 lines. In each
ABAB quatrain (4 lined section), an
aspect of the black stereotype is
explored and rejected (e.g. athletic,
dancer)

A young woman has been jilted by The poem is a monologue, directly

her lover, a "great lord". He seduced addressed to "Cousin Kate", who is
her when she was an innocent low- called "you" throughout, although
born "cottage maiden". Having set she is clearly not present. It is written
her up as his mistress, in his house, he in a traditional ballad form. This
saw her Cousin Kate one day. Kate is means that it alternates 8 and 6
"pure" so the lord casts aside the syllable lines, with a regular rhyme
narrator of the poem, and marries scheme. In this case, every other line
Kate instead. The speaker is bitter in a stanza rhymes. There are six
because she has been betrayed by her stanzas, each of eight lines. Ballads
cousin. She says that if their positions are often narrative poems, like this
Cousin Kate were reversed, she would not have one. Cousin Kate’s structure follows
acted like that. Finally she reveals her this narrative, telling the story of the
revenge: she has a son by the great relationship the speaker had with the
lord, and her cousin does not. It is a lord, then the betrayal, and finally, in
poem about love, the inequalities the last few lines, the twist ending, of
between men and women (the the speaker’s son.
speaker is ruined while the lord just
moves on!), and about the bitterness
of being dumped.

Half-caste 'Half-Caste' is a poem about how The poem is a powerful

language can be used to control, hurt, expression of Agard's anger and
suppress and demean people. Agard frustration with racist thinking.
takes the until-recently common term The tone is one of confrontation,
'half-caste' and unpacks it of its of a clear challenge to racist
prejudiced associations. With great people to try to justify their
verve and energy he demolishes opinions. Despite the strong
these associations, presenting instead feelings there is also humour in
'mixture' as an essential part of the poem. The opening image,
 nature and great art. Agard is for example, is jokey, absurd.
attacking full-on racism and a mind- Agard also uses irony in the
set that believes in racial segregation. fourth stanza.
He makes such ideas seem as absurd
and foolish as they are. His tone is
commanding 'Explain yuself', 'what yu
mean', and the rhythm is emphatic,
beating out its rhymes with
confidence. Agard uses phonetic
spelling to create the sense of a
spoken voice. Here the accent is Afro-
Caribbean. But Agard also uses many
more recognisable standard words.
The language of the poem is a
mixture of English's. Agard rejects
conventional punctuation; there isn't
a comma or full-stop in the whole
poem.

This intensely personal poem is a

mother’s reflection upon the
changing relationship with her
daughter. It does not shy away from
talking about the tensions that can
arise from time to time but at the
same time affirms the permanence of
unconditional maternal love. This is
Catrin
also a poem that simultaneously
celebrates the individuality of mother
and daughter and their shared
characteristics.

Exposure Wilfred Owen’s poem

focuses on the misery
felt by World War One
soldiers waiting
overnight in the
trenches. Although
nothing is happening
and there is no
fighting, there is still
danger because they
are exposed to the
extreme cold and their
wait through the night
is terrifying. The
eight stanzas are
gripping because the
speaker describes the
trauma of living and
struggling in such poor
conditions. There is a
sense of despair and
of lost hope.
The immediate and
repeated use of
the pronouns ‘our’ and
‘we’ show that Owen is
describing a situation
he was part of. The
individual is sharing in
the collective suffering
and horror of the war.
The poet has a sense
of injustice about the
way the soldiers are
being treated. If being
‘exposed’ to gunfire
does not kill them, then
exposure to the brutal
weather conditions
might do. Alongside
the more obvious
meanings of the title,
there is also the idea
that Owen has set out
to expose the
conditions the soldiers
have experienced to
the world.
By repeating the
phrase ‘But nothing
happens’, the poem
emphasises the agony
 of waiting and that war
is not all about action.
By the end of the
poem there is a sense
of hopelessness and
despair where the men
see their deaths as
inevitable. The poet’s
tone is deliberately
provoking and emotive
language is used with
the intention of
involving and even
upsetting the reader.

The Man He The Man He Killed was written in The structure of the poem moves
Killed 1902, at the time of the Second Boer from a friendly opening to the idea
War. The Boer Wars were fought that the speaker is talking about an
between the British and the Dutch enemy soldier, to the realisation that
settlers of the Boer republics in what he is not an enemy, and finally to the
is now South Africa. There were a last stanza which sums up the futility
number of wars throughout the 19th of war and its effect on the people
century which were aimed at who fight. This reflects the developing
consolidating British rule throughout realisation on the part of the soldier.
the Empire. Hardy was against the
Boer War. Like many liberals of the
time, he thought the Boers were
simply defending their homes. Why
did the British feel the need to keep
their territory so strongly? Perhaps
the diamond and gold mines of the
area had something to do with it. The
Man He Killed deals with the futility,
or pointlessness, of war. It is told from
the point of view of an ordinary
working-class soldier, who is
reflecting on the idea that the man he
killed in battle probably had a lot in
common with him. The idea of having
a drink together suggests a sense of
brotherhood between the ordinary
soldiers. The lack of conviction in the
narrator’s voice about the necessity
of killing the enemy man emphasises
the idea that the soldiers who fight
just follow orders, rather than
 knowing what it is they are doing.It is
generally thought that the speaker is
a soldier who has just returned from
the Boer War, and that he is talking in
the pub with his friends. setting the
scene in a particular inn in Dorset.

War and Conflict

The Crimean War was fought The poem has a strong rhythm. For Language and Imagery: The
between Britain and Imperial Russia example "half a league, half a league" language of the poem is
from 1853-1856. For the first time in two light beats followed by a heavy understandably military: guns,
history, newspapers carried eye- beat expresses the sound of the soldiers, cannon, sabres and
witness reports as well as detailing horses galloping. There are six gunners set the scene. The power
not just the triumphs of war but the numbered stanzas, as if each stanza is of the poem, however, comes
mistakes and horrors as well. The a memorial stone to 100 of the 600 from the careful use of imagery
most significant moment in the cavalrymen. The length of the stanzas and sound effects. Imagery: The
Crimea came during the Battle of reflect the structure of the story. The strong central image of the
Balaclava. An order given to the first three stanzas - the Light Brigade "valley of Death" (lines 3,7 and
British army's cavalry division (known is approaching the guns. There is a 16) refers to a well-known poem
as the Light Brigade) was strong structure. Three lines (of three in the bible - Psalm 23 - about the
misunderstood and 600 cavalrymen six-to-seven syllables) are followed by 'valley of the shadow of death'.
ended charging down a narrow valley a shorter line (five syllables: "rode the By using this Biblical allusion,
straight into the fire of Russian six hundred"). This pattern suggests Tennyson shows how important
cannons. Over 150 British soldiers the strong formation in which the the event is. Sound: Tennyson
were killed, and more than 120 were cavalry charge. Stanza two – the Light uses a wide variety of techniques
The Charge of the
wounded. At home the news of the Brigade has engaged the enemy so to provide the poem with highly
Light Brigade
disaster was a sensation and a nation the longer stanzas describe the effective sound effects.
that had until then embraced British struggle. The structure starts to break Alliteration, for example, is used
military exploits abroad began to down. The rhythm of stanza four, for to express the sounds of battle.
question the politicians and generals example, is broken by four shorter Note the sound of bullets in line
who led them. lines, while stanza five has only two 22 ("shot and shell"). The poem
short lines (lines 42 and 48). The has a strong rhythm. For example
desperate attempt to retreat is "half a league, half a league" two
expressed in the run of six longer light beats followed by a heavy
lines (43-48). Stanza six is a short, beat expresses the sound of the
sharp conclusion written as if they are horses galloping.
the lines we should remember the
Light Brigade by.

War This poem, War Photographer,

Photographer centers around the tragic, comparing
poverty to leisure. The author, Carole
Satyamurti, is known for facing pain
and suffering head on in her works of
poetry. The words of these poems
center around modern warfare, and
explicitly reveal the minor details of
the effects war has on individual lives.
Rather than seeing war as a whole,
 the author reveals that the details
seen by a war photographer reveal
that war is individual and personal.

The Destruction of Sennacherib is a The poem has six stanzas. Each stanza
short narrative poem retelling a consists of a pair of rhyming couplets
Biblical story from the Old Testament in the regular repeated pattern aabb.
(2 Kings, chapter 19) in which God This helps to drive the narrative
destroys King Sennacherib’s Assyrian forward in quite a simple format. The
army as they attack the holy city of rhythm of the poem is also
Jerusalem. It is probably as well- straightforward and regular which
known for the way in which the poem makes it very easy to read, though
is constructed as it is for its subject not necessarily to understand. This
matter. The speaker sets out events in particular rhythm is often used in
chronological order. He seems comic and light verse, so the fact
impressed by the might and Byron chose it for a poem about war
splendour of the Assyrian army when and death is striking. Some readers
describing their appearance in the see the regular patterning of the
The Destruction
first six lines. However, halfway rhythm as echoing the hoof beats of
of Sennacherib
through the second stanza comes a the horses which the soldiers would
turning point as he realises the have been riding. The regular rhythm
Assyrians’ strength is short-lived. He of the poem is further emphasised by
then goes on to tell how the Angel of the fact that each line is end stopped
Death has passed through their camp and that about half of the lines start
wiping them out. Although the with the word 'and'. The use of ‘and’
Assyrians may have been mighty, the in this way serves to drive the story
speaker realises that the power of forward in the same way the
God is even mightier. mounted soldiers are charging.

Exposure Wilfred Owen’s poem

focuses on the misery
felt by World War One
soldiers waiting
overnight in the
trenches. Although
nothing is happening
and there is no
fighting, there is still
danger because they
are exposed to the
extreme cold and their
wait through the night
is terrifying. The
eight stanzas are
gripping because the
speaker describes the
trauma of living and
struggling in such poor
conditions. There is a
sense of despair and
of lost hope.
The immediate and
repeated use of
the pronouns ‘our’ and
‘we’ show that Owen is
describing a situation
he was part of. The
individual is sharing in
the collective suffering
and horror of the war.
The poet has a sense
of injustice about the
way the soldiers are
being treated. If being
‘exposed’ to gunfire
does not kill them, then
exposure to the brutal
weather conditions
might do. Alongside
the more obvious
meanings of the title,
there is also the idea
that Owen has set out
to expose the
conditions the soldiers
have experienced to
the world.
By repeating the
phrase ‘But nothing
happens’, the poem
emphasises the agony
 of waiting and that war
is not all about action.
By the end of the
poem there is a sense
of hopelessness and
despair where the men
see their deaths as
inevitable. The poet’s
tone is deliberately
provoking and emotive
language is used with
the intention of
involving and even
upsetting the reader.

The Man He The Man He Killed was written in The structure of the poem moves
Killed 1902, at the time of the Second Boer from a friendly opening to the idea
War. The Boer Wars were fought that the speaker is talking about an
between the British and the Dutch enemy soldier, to the realisation that
settlers of the Boer republics in what he is not an enemy, and finally to the
is now South Africa. There were a last stanza which sums up the futility
number of wars throughout the 19th of war and its effect on the people
century which were aimed at who fight. This reflects the developing
consolidating British rule throughout realisation on the part of the soldier.
the Empire. Hardy was against the
Boer War. Like many liberals of the
time, he thought the Boers were
simply defending their homes. Why
did the British feel the need to keep
their territory so strongly? Perhaps
the diamond and gold mines of the
area had something to do with it. The
Man He Killed deals with the futility,
or pointlessness, of war. It is told from
the point of view of an ordinary
working-class soldier, who is
reflecting on the idea that the man he
killed in battle probably had a lot in
common with him. The idea of having
a drink together suggests a sense of
brotherhood between the ordinary
soldiers. The lack of conviction in the
narrator’s voice about the necessity
of killing the enemy man emphasises
the idea that the soldiers who fight
just follow orders, rather than
 knowing what it is they are doing.It is
generally thought that the speaker is
a soldier who has just returned from
the Boer War, and that he is talking in
the pub with his friends. setting the
scene in a particular inn in Dorset.

Denise Levertov was born in England

in 1923 and went to live in the USA in
1946, where she died in 1997. As a
child, she observed her mother and
father help Jewish refugees from Nazi
persecution. During the Second World
War she was a nurse, experiencing
the bombing of London and its effects
on civilians. In the USA she taught
Literature and was active in the
protest movement against America’s
involvement in the Vietnam War in
the 1960s and 70s. After the Second
World War, Vietnam had declared
their independence from the French
Empire. America feared Vietnam
would become a Communist country
and so they supported anti-
communist leaders in South Vietnam
and gave them money to fight the
communist North Vietnamese. After
an American ship was attacked, the
What Were They
US sent American troops to fight in
Like?
Vietnam. ‘These wars, whether in
Asia or in Latin America or wherever
they erupt, are wars of national
liberation, in which people are
fighting for self-determination against
America’s puppet governments,
America’s CIA and its “advisers”,
America’s napalm, America’s giant
corporations, even when American
troops are not involved... Anyone who
works to end the war in Vietnam but
does nothing to stop the political and
racial oppression that is happening
around us simply does not
understand where it’s at.’ Denise
Levertov speaking at an anti-war rally,
15 April 1970, University of
Massachusetts

Belfast Confetti The conflict in Northern Ireland began The poem is about how the confusion of the riot
 in the 1960s when the minority causes psychological confusion in the mind of the
Catholic population began poet. How can he respond to this chaos? These
campaigning against discrimination by feelings are expressed in the language and imagery,
the Protestant majority. By the 1970s, as well as the form. The title, for example, creates a
some Irish nationalist groups had striking poetic image – the soft alliteration of 'f'
started using violence to force the UK appropriate to the idea of a wedding celebration. In
government to make the region fact it is the sound of a bomb about to go off. The
independent of Britain. British troops kind of confetti Carson is referring to is the debris
became an everyday presence on the falling after an explosion. The poetic language is also
streets of Belfast, the Northern Irish pushed out by harsh, unpoetic words. These are
capital. At first they had come to presented in simple lists to express their lack of
protect the Catholics from Protestant emotional associations (e.g. line 3). Carson also lists
violence. Before long they became, to the street names in lines 11-13. These work both on
nationalists, symbols of an unwanted a literal level (they describe where he lives and how
army of occupation. Violent clashes well he knows these streets) but also the metaphoric
between protesters and the 'security level. The streets are named after generals and
forces' (the police and army) were battles and places from the Crimea War, a war the
common. British fought in Victorian times against the Russians.
He therefore likens the riot to a battle in a bigger war.
Force is used when spoken communication has
broken down. So Carson cannot complete a
sentence. All he can think of is punctuation marks
with no words to punctuate. Sound The feeling of the
poem is too unstable for the poet to carefully craft
rhymes. But there are two key sounds that we can
hear – the 'f' of the title, then the 'k' of the cracking
social order, of the bomb and of the riot-policemen's
truncheons. All but four lines contain one or more
examples of the sound.

Poppies The poem is set in the present day Sound Like the form, the sounds of the poem are The poem appears to have a strong, When the poem reaches a
but reaches right back to the restrained. Rhyme would seem inappropriately lively. regular sense of form. There are four moment in the present (line 26)
beginning of the Poppy Day tradition. Language The colour and texture of the poppies is clear stanzas, the first and last with she is vulnerable, without
Armistice Sunday began as a way of expressed through powerful language in the first six lines, the second with 11 and the protection. The final lines then go
marking the end of the First World stanza. The detailed description of the blazer is third 12. On closer inspection, back to the past tense "I
War in 1918. It was set up so people emphasised through alliteration on "bias binding… however, we can see a great deal of traced…". It is as if the present
could remember the hundreds and blazer". We feel the closeness between mother and movement within this outwardly holds too much pain and her
thousands of ordinary men who had child the moment she kneels to pin the poppy to the regular form. 19 lines out of 35 have memories can only be expressed
been killed in the First World War. lapel. In words such as "spasms", "disrupting" and breaks in the middle of the lines - if distanced in imagery held safely
Today, the event is used to remember "blockade" however, she may be also recalling the marked by commas or more strongly in the past.
soldiers of all wars who have died violence of his death. Imagery This sense of her by fullstops. These breaks are called
since then. blocking out the memory of his violent death with a caesuras. This careful variation in
sweeter, purer memory is sustained in the second form suggests the inner emotion of a
stanza: "Sellotape bandaged around my hand". This narrator who is trying to remain calm
image carries echoes of battlefield injury as well as and composed but is breaking with
cleaning the cat hairs off the blazer. The contrast sadness inside. The biggest
between the death in battle and the domestic movement in the poem, however, is
happiness (the boy has been cuddling his cat) is in the narrative structure – how the
powerful. Metaphor and symbolism In the third story is told. The time sequence keeps
stanza, the language becomes metaphorical and changing along with her emotions. It
symbolic. The door to the house is the door to the goes from "Three days before" (line 1)
world. The song-bird is a metaphor for the mother to "Before you left" (line 3) to "After
setting the child free. This then changes into the you'd gone" (line 23) to "later" (line
 dove, the symbol of peace – but here the peace the 25) and the present in "this is where
son has found is only the peace of death. it has led me" on line 26. It ends with
her suspended, on the hill, between
the present and the past.

Inequality and
injustice
The Crimean War was fought The poem has a strong rhythm. For Language and Imagery: The
between Britain and Imperial Russia example "half a league, half a league" language of the poem is
from 1853-1856. For the first time in two light beats followed by a heavy understandably military: guns,
history, newspapers carried eye- beat expresses the sound of the soldiers, cannon, sabres and
witness reports as well as detailing horses galloping. There are six gunners set the scene. The power
not just the triumphs of war but the numbered stanzas, as if each stanza is of the poem, however, comes
mistakes and horrors as well. The a memorial stone to 100 of the 600 from the careful use of imagery
most significant moment in the cavalrymen. The length of the stanzas and sound effects. Imagery: The
Crimea came during the Battle of reflect the structure of the story. The strong central image of the
Balaclava. An order given to the first three stanzas - the Light Brigade "valley of Death" (lines 3,7 and
British army's cavalry division (known is approaching the guns. There is a 16) refers to a well-known poem
as the Light Brigade) was strong structure. Three lines (of three in the bible - Psalm 23 - about the
misunderstood and 600 cavalrymen six-to-seven syllables) are followed by 'valley of the shadow of death'.
ended charging down a narrow valley a shorter line (five syllables: "rode the By using this Biblical allusion,
straight into the fire of Russian six hundred"). This pattern suggests Tennyson shows how important
cannons. Over 150 British soldiers the strong formation in which the the event is. Sound: Tennyson
were killed, and more than 120 were cavalry charge. Stanza two – the Light uses a wide variety of techniques
The Charge of the
wounded. At home the news of the Brigade has engaged the enemy so to provide the poem with highly
Light Brigade
disaster was a sensation and a nation the longer stanzas describe the effective sound effects.
that had until then embraced British struggle. The structure starts to break Alliteration, for example, is used
military exploits abroad began to down. The rhythm of stanza four, for to express the sounds of battle.
question the politicians and generals example, is broken by four shorter Note the sound of bullets in line
who led them. lines, while stanza five has only two 22 ("shot and shell"). The poem
short lines (lines 42 and 48). The has a strong rhythm. For example
desperate attempt to retreat is "half a league, half a league" two
expressed in the run of six longer light beats followed by a heavy
lines (43-48). Stanza six is a short, beat expresses the sound of the
sharp conclusion written as if they are horses galloping.
the lines we should remember the
Light Brigade by.

Belfast Confetti The conflict in Northern Ireland began The poem is about how the confusion of the riot
in the 1960s when the minority causes psychological confusion in the mind of the
Catholic population began poet. How can he respond to this chaos? These
campaigning against discrimination by feelings are expressed in the language and imagery,
the Protestant majority. By the 1970s, as well as the form. The title, for example, creates a
some Irish nationalist groups had striking poetic image – the soft alliteration of 'f'
started using violence to force the UK appropriate to the idea of a wedding celebration. In
government to make the region fact it is the sound of a bomb about to go off. The
independent of Britain. British troops kind of confetti Carson is referring to is the debris
became an everyday presence on the falling after an explosion. The poetic language is also
 streets of Belfast, the Northern Irish pushed out by harsh, unpoetic words. These are
capital. At first they had come to presented in simple lists to express their lack of
protect the Catholics from Protestant emotional associations (e.g. line 3). Carson also lists
violence. Before long they became, to the street names in lines 11-13. These work both on
nationalists, symbols of an unwanted a literal level (they describe where he lives and how
army of occupation. Violent clashes well he knows these streets) but also the metaphoric
between protesters and the 'security level. The streets are named after generals and
forces' (the police and army) were battles and places from the Crimea War, a war the
common. British fought in Victorian times against the Russians.
He therefore likens the riot to a battle in a bigger war.
Force is used when spoken communication has
broken down. So Carson cannot complete a
sentence. All he can think of is punctuation marks
with no words to punctuate. Sound The feeling of the
poem is too unstable for the poet to carefully craft
rhymes. But there are two key sounds that we can
hear – the 'f' of the title, then the 'k' of the cracking
social order, of the bomb and of the riot-policemen's
truncheons. All but four lines contain one or more
examples of the sound.

The poem is set in the present day Sound Like the form, the sounds of the poem are The poem appears to have a strong, The poem is about the nature of
but reaches right back to the restrained. Rhyme would seem inappropriately lively. regular sense of form. There are four grief. The mother is speaking
beginning of the Poppy Day tradition. Language The colour and texture of the poppies is clear stanzas, the first and last with directly to her son but a son who
Armistice Sunday began as a way of expressed through powerful language in the first six lines, the second with 11 and the shifts in time. There is:  The son
marking the end of the First World stanza. The detailed description of the blazer is third 12. On closer inspection, leaving home for school on his
War in 1918. It was set up so people emphasised through alliteration on "bias binding… however, we can see a great deal of own for the first time.  The son
could remember the hundreds and blazer". We feel the closeness between mother and movement within this outwardly who has just been killed. 
thousands of ordinary men who had child the moment she kneels to pin the poppy to the regular form. 19 lines out of 35 have Beneath the surface the son
been killed in the First World War. lapel. In words such as "spasms", "disrupting" and breaks in the middle of the lines - dying violently in a field hospital
Today, the event is used to remember "blockade" however, she may be also recalling the marked by commas or more strongly in Afghanistan. It is as if all these
soldiers of all wars who have died violence of his death. Imagery This sense of her by fullstops. These breaks are called different versions of her son fixed
since then. blocking out the memory of his violent death with a caesuras. This careful variation in exist together inside her. When
sweeter, purer memory is sustained in the second form suggests the inner emotion of a the poem reaches a moment in
stanza: "Sellotape bandaged around my hand". This narrator who is trying to remain calm the present (line 26) she is
image carries echoes of battlefield injury as well as and composed but is breaking with vulnerable, without protection.
Poppies cleaning the cat hairs off the blazer. The contrast sadness inside. The biggest The final lines then go back to the
between the death in battle and the domestic movement in the poem, however, is past tense "I traced…". It is as if
happiness (the boy has been cuddling his cat) is in the narrative structure – how the the present holds too much pain
powerful. Metaphor and symbolism In the third story is told. The time sequence keeps and her memories can only be
stanza, the language becomes metaphorical and changing along with her emotions. It expressed if distanced in imagery
symbolic. The door to the house is the door to the goes from "Three days before" (line 1) held safely in the past.
world. The song-bird is a metaphor for the mother to "Before you left" (line 3) to "After
setting the child free. This then changes into the you'd gone" (line 23) to "later" (line
dove, the symbol of peace – but here the peace the 25) and the present in "this is where
son has found is only the peace of death. it has led me" on line 26. It ends with
her suspended, on the hill, between
the present and the past.

War This poem, War Photographer,

 centers around the tragic, comparing
poverty to leisure. The author, Carole
Satyamurti, is known for facing pain
and suffering head on in her works of
poetry. The words of these poems
center around modern warfare, and
explicitly reveal the minor details of
the effects war has on individual lives.
Photographer
Rather than seeing war as a whole,
the author reveals that the details
seen by a war photographer reveal
that war is individual and personal.

The Class Game The poem considers the differences in Structure 1st person perspective –
social class and attitudes arising from dramatic monologue exploring the
this difference. This is portrayed by working class persona’s thoughts and
the vocabulary and poetic devices feelings about being judged on the
uses in the poem. In particular, the way they speak and their social
reader experiences the reaction of background. The persona is from a
narrator on being judged by how they working class background ‘we live in a
speak. corpy’ whereas the listener is from a
middle class background ‘pretty little
semi’ (see the link here to ‘Parades
End’). The poet decided to write the
poem as one long stanza to indicate
the feelings of frustration and anger
experienced by the persona (see ‘Half
Caste’). The title suggests that the
division in social class is not to be
taken seriously and the persona
systematically attacks middle class
prejudice towards the working class.
The rhythm and rhyme of the poem
could suggest the light-heartedness
linking with the notion of a game.
However, the fact that the poet
introduces internal half-rhyme at the
beginning of the poem ‘nose/clothes’,
‘Tara/Ma’ and rhyming couplets as
the poem progresses ‘card/yard’,
‘mother/brother’ emphasises the
narrator’s mounting anger towards
the unfair treatment of the working
class. The short line lengths speed up
the ending of the poem to indicate
the narrator’s contempt at the
prejudice experienced. The
exclamation mark in ‘Well, Mate!’
enhances the defiant tone which
concludes with the final line ‘And I am
proud of the class that I come from.’
 Dub poetry developed in the West
Indies (Caribbean) out of dub reggae
music (spoken word over heavy,
mellow and often psychedelic
sounds). It is written for live
performance and chanted with strong
rhythms and gesture. Dub poets are
generally concerned with issues
related to social justice and equality.
‘No Problem’ is no exception. It has
strong rhymes that underpin the
conflict in the opening 16 lines: ABAB
where only line B rhymes as beat is
rooted in the sound of reggae music.
In the second and final stanza, when
the poet reflects on his experience
No Problem and what is means, the rhyme and
rhythm are looser and a more
contemplative mood is created. 'I am
not de problem' opens the poem and
its repetition gives this statement a
rhetorical force as well as structuring
ideas in the opening 16 lines. In each
ABAB quatrain (4 lined section), an
aspect of the black stereotype is
explored and rejected (e.g. athletic,
dancer)

Cousin Kate A young woman has been jilted by The poem is a monologue, directly
her lover, a "great lord". He seduced addressed to "Cousin Kate", who is
her when she was an innocent low- called "you" throughout, although
born "cottage maiden". Having set she is clearly not present. It is written
her up as his mistress, in his house, he in a traditional ballad form. This
saw her Cousin Kate one day. Kate is means that it alternates 8 and 6
"pure" so the lord casts aside the syllable lines, with a regular rhyme
narrator of the poem, and marries scheme. In this case, every other line
Kate instead. The speaker is bitter in a stanza rhymes. There are six
because she has been betrayed by her stanzas, each of eight lines. Ballads
cousin. She says that if their positions are often narrative poems, like this
were reversed, she would not have one. Cousin Kate’s structure follows
acted like that. Finally she reveals her this narrative, telling the story of the
revenge: she has a son by the great relationship the speaker had with the
lord, and her cousin does not. It is a lord, then the betrayal, and finally, in
poem about love, the inequalities the last few lines, the twist ending, of
between men and women (the the speaker’s son.
 speaker is ruined while the lord just
moves on!), and about the bitterness
of being dumped.

Denise Levertov was born in England

in 1923 and went to live in the USA in
1946, where she died in 1997. As a
child, she observed her mother and
father help Jewish refugees from Nazi
persecution. During the Second World
War she was a nurse, experiencing
the bombing of London and its effects
on civilians. In the USA she taught
Literature and was active in the
protest movement against America’s
involvement in the Vietnam War in
the 1960s and 70s. After the Second
World War, Vietnam had declared
their independence from the French
Empire. America feared Vietnam
would become a Communist country
and so they supported anti-
communist leaders in South Vietnam
and gave them money to fight the
communist North Vietnamese. After
an American ship was attacked, the
What Were They US sent American troops to fight in
Like? Vietnam. ‘These wars, whether in
Asia or in Latin America or wherever
they erupt, are wars of national
liberation, in which people are
fighting for self-determination against
America’s puppet governments,
America’s CIA and its “advisers”,
America’s napalm, America’s giant
corporations, even when American
troops are not involved... Anyone who
works to end the war in Vietnam but
does nothing to stop the political and
racial oppression that is happening
around us simply does not
understand where it’s at.’ Denise
Levertov speaking at an anti-war rally,
15 April 1970, University of
Massachusetts

Exposure Wilfred Owen’s poem

focuses on the misery
felt by World War One
soldiers waiting
overnight in the
trenches. Although
nothing is happening
and there is no
fighting, there is still
danger because they
are exposed to the
extreme cold and their
wait through the night
is terrifying. The
eight stanzas are
gripping because the
speaker describes the
trauma of living and
struggling in such poor
conditions. There is a
sense of despair and
of lost hope.
The immediate and
repeated use of
the pronouns ‘our’ and
‘we’ show that Owen is
describing a situation
he was part of. The
individual is sharing in
the collective suffering
and horror of the war.
The poet has a sense
of injustice about the
way the soldiers are
being treated. If being
‘exposed’ to gunfire
does not kill them, then
exposure to the brutal
weather conditions
might do. Alongside
the more obvious
 meanings of the title,
there is also the idea
that Owen has set out
to expose the
conditions the soldiers
have experienced to
the world.
By repeating the
phrase ‘But nothing
happens’, the poem
emphasises the agony
of waiting and that war
is not all about action.
By the end of the
poem there is a sense
of hopelessness and
despair where the men
see their deaths as
inevitable. The poet’s
tone is deliberately
provoking and emotive
language is used with
the intention of
involving and even
upsetting the reader.

The Man He The Man He Killed was written in The structure of the poem moves
Killed 1902, at the time of the Second Boer from a friendly opening to the idea
War. The Boer Wars were fought that the speaker is talking about an
between the British and the Dutch enemy soldier, to the realisation that
settlers of the Boer republics in what he is not an enemy, and finally to the
is now South Africa. There were a last stanza which sums up the futility
number of wars throughout the 19th of war and its effect on the people
century which were aimed at who fight. This reflects the developing
consolidating British rule throughout realisation on the part of the soldier.
the Empire. Hardy was against the
Boer War. Like many liberals of the
time, he thought the Boers were
simply defending their homes. Why
did the British feel the need to keep
their territory so strongly? Perhaps
the diamond and gold mines of the
 area had something to do with it. The
Man He Killed deals with the futility,
or pointlessness, of war. It is told from
the point of view of an ordinary
working-class soldier, who is
reflecting on the idea that the man he
killed in battle probably had a lot in
common with him. The idea of having
a drink together suggests a sense of
brotherhood between the ordinary
soldiers. The lack of conviction in the
narrator’s voice about the necessity
of killing the enemy man emphasises
the idea that the soldiers who fight
just follow orders, rather than
knowing what it is they are doing.It is
generally thought that the speaker is
a soldier who has just returned from
the Boer War, and that he is talking in
the pub with his friends. setting the
scene in a particular inn in Dorset.

'Half-Caste' is a poem about how The poem is a powerful

language can be used to control, hurt, expression of Agard's anger and
suppress and demean people. Agard frustration with racist thinking.
takes the until-recently common term The tone is one of confrontation,
'half-caste' and unpacks it of its of a clear challenge to racist
prejudiced associations. With great people to try to justify their
verve and energy he demolishes opinions. Despite the strong
these associations, presenting instead feelings there is also humour in
'mixture' as an essential part of the poem. The opening image,
nature and great art. Agard is for example, is jokey, absurd.
attacking full-on racism and a mind- Agard also uses irony in the
set that believes in racial segregation. fourth stanza.
He makes such ideas seem as absurd
and foolish as they are. His tone is
commanding 'Explain yuself', 'what yu
Half-caste
mean', and the rhythm is emphatic,
beating out its rhymes with
confidence. Agard uses phonetic
spelling to create the sense of a
spoken voice. Here the accent is Afro-
Caribbean. But Agard also uses many
more recognisable standard words.
The language of the poem is a
mixture of English's. Agard rejects
conventional punctuation; there isn't
a comma or full-stop in the whole
poem.

Memory and Loss

 There are no stanzas: the writing is Attitudes and ideas: Wordsworth
continuous though there is plenty of does not view humanity as
punctuation to help us read it. This having authority over nature. If
extract is a complete story in itself. It anything, it's the other way
starts with "One summer evening..." round as we can see from his
and finishes with the effects on his description of the huge
Extract from The
mind of the boat trip: "a trouble to mountain. Wordsworth also
Prelude
my dreams". realises that once an event has
happened, that doesn't mean it's
over; the effect stayed with him
for days afterwards.

This intensely personal poem is a

mother’s reflection upon the
changing relationship with her
daughter. It does not shy away from
talking about the tensions that can
arise from time to time but at the
same time affirms the permanence of
unconditional maternal love. This is
Catrin
also a poem that simultaneously
celebrates the individuality of mother
and daughter and their shared
characteristics.

Poppies The poem is set in the present day Sound Like the form, the sounds of the poem are The poem appears to have a strong, The poem is about the nature of
but reaches right back to the restrained. Rhyme would seem inappropriately lively. regular sense of form. There are four grief. The mother is speaking
beginning of the Poppy Day tradition. Language The colour and texture of the poppies is clear stanzas, the first and last with directly to her son but a son who
Armistice Sunday began as a way of expressed through powerful language in the first six lines, the second with 11 and the shifts in time. There is:  The son
marking the end of the First World stanza. The detailed description of the blazer is third 12. On closer inspection, leaving home for school on his
War in 1918. It was set up so people emphasised through alliteration on "bias binding… however, we can see a great deal of own for the first time.  The son
could remember the hundreds and blazer". We feel the closeness between mother and movement within this outwardly who has just been killed. 
thousands of ordinary men who had child the moment she kneels to pin the poppy to the regular form. 19 lines out of 35 have Beneath the surface the son
been killed in the First World War. lapel. In words such as "spasms", "disrupting" and breaks in the middle of the lines - dying violently in a field hospital
Today, the event is used to remember "blockade" however, she may be also recalling the marked by commas or more strongly in Afghanistan. It is as if all these
soldiers of all wars who have died violence of his death. Imagery This sense of her by fullstops. These breaks are called different versions of her son fixed
since then. blocking out the memory of his violent death with a caesuras. This careful variation in exist together inside her. When
sweeter, purer memory is sustained in the second form suggests the inner emotion of a the poem reaches a moment in
stanza: "Sellotape bandaged around my hand". This narrator who is trying to remain calm the present (line 26) she is
image carries echoes of battlefield injury as well as and composed but is breaking with vulnerable, without protection.
cleaning the cat hairs off the blazer. The contrast sadness inside. The biggest The final lines then go back to the
between the death in battle and the domestic movement in the poem, however, is past tense "I traced…". It is as if
happiness (the boy has been cuddling his cat) is in the narrative structure – how the the present holds too much pain
powerful. Metaphor and symbolism In the third story is told. The time sequence keeps and her memories can only be
stanza, the language becomes metaphorical and changing along with her emotions. It expressed if distanced in imagery
symbolic. The door to the house is the door to the goes from "Three days before" (line 1) held safely in the past.
world. The song-bird is a metaphor for the mother to "Before you left" (line 3) to "After
setting the child free. This then changes into the you'd gone" (line 23) to "later" (line
dove, the symbol of peace – but here the peace the 25) and the present in "this is where
son has found is only the peace of death. it has led me" on line 26. It ends with
her suspended, on the hill, between
 the present and the past.

Denise Levertov was born in England

in 1923 and went to live in the USA in
1946, where she died in 1997. As a
child, she observed her mother and
father help Jewish refugees from Nazi
persecution. During the Second World
War she was a nurse, experiencing
the bombing of London and its effects
on civilians. In the USA she taught
Literature and was active in the
protest movement against America’s
involvement in the Vietnam War in
the 1960s and 70s. After the Second
World War, Vietnam had declared
their independence from the French
Empire. America feared Vietnam
would become a Communist country
and so they supported anti-
communist leaders in South Vietnam
and gave them money to fight the
communist North Vietnamese. After
an American ship was attacked, the
What Were They
US sent American troops to fight in
Like?
Vietnam. ‘These wars, whether in
Asia or in Latin America or wherever
they erupt, are wars of national
liberation, in which people are
fighting for self-determination against
America’s puppet governments,
America’s CIA and its “advisers”,
America’s napalm, America’s giant
corporations, even when American
troops are not involved... Anyone who
works to end the war in Vietnam but
does nothing to stop the political and
racial oppression that is happening
around us simply does not
understand where it’s at.’ Denise
Levertov speaking at an anti-war rally,
15 April 1970, University of
Massachusetts

War This poem, War Photographer,

Photographer centers around the tragic, comparing
poverty to leisure. The author, Carole
Satyamurti, is known for facing pain
and suffering head on in her works of
 poetry. The words of these poems
center around modern warfare, and
explicitly reveal the minor details of
the effects war has on individual lives.
Rather than seeing war as a whole,
the author reveals that the details
seen by a war photographer reveal
that war is individual and personal.

Identity
This intensely personal poem is a
mother’s reflection upon the
changing relationship with her
daughter. It does not shy away from
talking about the tensions that can
arise from time to time but at the
same time affirms the permanence of
unconditional maternal love. This is
Catrin
also a poem that simultaneously
celebrates the individuality of mother
and daughter and their shared
characteristics.

No Problem Dub poetry developed in the West

Indies (Caribbean) out of dub reggae
music (spoken word over heavy,
mellow and often psychedelic
sounds). It is written for live
performance and chanted with strong
rhythms and gesture. Dub poets are
generally concerned with issues
related to social justice and equality.
‘No Problem’ is no exception. It has
strong rhymes that underpin the
conflict in the opening 16 lines: ABAB
where only line B rhymes as beat is
rooted in the sound of reggae music.
In the second and final stanza, when
the poet reflects on his experience
and what is means, the rhyme and
rhythm are looser and a more
contemplative mood is created. 'I am
not de problem' opens the poem and
its repetition gives this statement a
rhetorical force as well as structuring
ideas in the opening 16 lines. In each
ABAB quatrain (4 lined section), an
aspect of the black stereotype is
explored and rejected (e.g. athletic,
 dancer)

The poem considers the differences in Structure 1st person perspective –

social class and attitudes arising from dramatic monologue exploring the
this difference. This is portrayed by working class persona’s thoughts and
the vocabulary and poetic devices feelings about being judged on the
uses in the poem. In particular, the way they speak and their social
reader experiences the reaction of background. The persona is from a
narrator on being judged by how they working class background ‘we live in a
speak. corpy’ whereas the listener is from a
middle class background ‘pretty little
semi’ (see the link here to ‘Parades
End’). The poet decided to write the
poem as one long stanza to indicate
the feelings of frustration and anger
experienced by the persona (see ‘Half
Caste’). The title suggests that the
division in social class is not to be
taken seriously and the persona
systematically attacks middle class
prejudice towards the working class.
The rhythm and rhyme of the poem
could suggest the light-heartedness
linking with the notion of a game.
The Class Game
However, the fact that the poet
introduces internal half-rhyme at the
beginning of the poem ‘nose/clothes’,
‘Tara/Ma’ and rhyming couplets as
the poem progresses ‘card/yard’,
‘mother/brother’ emphasises the
narrator’s mounting anger towards
the unfair treatment of the working
class. The short line lengths speed up
the ending of the poem to indicate
the narrator’s contempt at the
prejudice experienced. The
exclamation mark in ‘Well, Mate!’
enhances the defiant tone which
concludes with the final line ‘And I am
proud of the class that I come from.’

Belfast Confetti The conflict in Northern Ireland began The poem is about how the confusion of the riot
in the 1960s when the minority causes psychological confusion in the mind of the
Catholic population began poet. How can he respond to this chaos? These
campaigning against discrimination by feelings are expressed in the language and imagery,
 the Protestant majority. By the 1970s, as well as the form. The title, for example, creates a
some Irish nationalist groups had striking poetic image – the soft alliteration of 'f'
started using violence to force the UK appropriate to the idea of a wedding celebration. In
government to make the region fact it is the sound of a bomb about to go off. The
independent of Britain. British troops kind of confetti Carson is referring to is the debris
became an everyday presence on the falling after an explosion. The poetic language is also
streets of Belfast, the Northern Irish pushed out by harsh, unpoetic words. These are
capital. At first they had come to presented in simple lists to express their lack of
protect the Catholics from Protestant emotional associations (e.g. line 3). Carson also lists
violence. Before long they became, to the street names in lines 11-13. These work both on
nationalists, symbols of an unwanted a literal level (they describe where he lives and how
army of occupation. Violent clashes well he knows these streets) but also the metaphoric
between protesters and the 'security level. The streets are named after generals and
forces' (the police and army) were battles and places from the Crimea War, a war the
common. British fought in Victorian times against the Russians.
He therefore likens the riot to a battle in a bigger war.
Force is used when spoken communication has
broken down. So Carson cannot complete a
sentence. All he can think of is punctuation marks
with no words to punctuate. Sound The feeling of the
poem is too unstable for the poet to carefully craft
rhymes. But there are two key sounds that we can
hear – the 'f' of the title, then the 'k' of the cracking
social order, of the bomb and of the riot-policemen's
truncheons. All but four lines contain one or more
examples of the sound.

There are no stanzas: the writing is Attitudes and ideas: Wordsworth

continuous though there is plenty of does not view humanity as
punctuation to help us read it. This having authority over nature. If
extract is a complete story in itself. It anything, it's the other way
starts with "One summer evening..." round as we can see from his
and finishes with the effects on his description of the huge
Extract from The
mind of the boat trip: "a trouble to mountain. Wordsworth also
Prelude
my dreams". realises that once an event has
happened, that doesn't mean it's
over; the effect stayed with him
for days afterwards.

A Poison Tree A Poison Tree is a short and The vocabulary is simple (even if some of the words Anger
deceptively simple poem about are unfamiliar today). Notice the following:  in the Deception
repressing anger and the first stanza many of the words are monosyllables
consequences of doing so. The except for the word 'angry', which is repeated twice
speaker tells of how they fail to to emphasise emotion and to contrast with the two
communicate their wrath to their foe different ways the speaker deals with this emotion 
and how this continues to grow until the lines in the first stanza all start with 'I' which
it develops into poisonous hatred. emphasises that this is a personal story told from an
The speaker describes how when they individual point of view  seven of the other 12 lines
were angry with a friend, they talked in the poem start with 'and' which helps the story to
to their friend about the issue which build and increase in intensity All of the above
helped them to overcome their anger. makes the poem seem like a piece of verse for
However, the speaker was unable to children and like a simple nursery rhyme with a clear
 do the same with an enemy and this moral message to be learned. The use of 'and'
leads to developing resentment and particularly resembles that of a child telling a story. A
an even stronger degree of hatred. An difficult message is wrapped up in a form and
extended metaphor of a tree growing structure which is deliberately simple and using very
in the speaker's garden demonstrates straightforward vocabulary, to get its point across.
how the anger continues to grow. In
the lines 'And I water'd it in fears' and
'And I sunned it with smiles' the
speaker actively cultivates the
tree/anger. Eventually the anger
blossoms into a poisoned fruit, the
enemy eats the fruit and dies and the
speaker seems to be glad of this.
However, there is also a sense that
they see the destructiveness of what
has occurred. As the first lines
acknowledge, we can easily overcome
our anger if we communicate it
properly

A young woman has been jilted by

her lover, a "great lord". He seduced
her when she was an innocent low-
born "cottage maiden". Having set
her up as his mistress, in his house, he
saw her Cousin Kate one day. Kate is
"pure" so the lord casts aside the
narrator of the poem, and marries
Kate instead. The speaker is bitter
because she has been betrayed by her
cousin. She says that if their positions
Cousin Kate were reversed, she would not have
acted like that. Finally she reveals her
revenge: she has a son by the great
lord, and her cousin does not. It is a
poem about love, the inequalities
between men and women (the
speaker is ruined while the lord just
moves on!), and about the bitterness
of being dumped.

The Man He The Man He Killed was written in The structure of the poem moves
Killed 1902, at the time of the Second Boer from a friendly opening to the idea
War. The Boer Wars were fought that the speaker is talking about an
between the British and the Dutch enemy soldier, to the realisation that
settlers of the Boer republics in what he is not an enemy, and finally to the
is now South Africa. There were a last stanza which sums up the futility
number of wars throughout the 19th of war and its effect on the people
century which were aimed at who fight. This reflects the developing
 consolidating British rule throughout realisation on the part of the soldier.
the Empire. Hardy was against the
Boer War. Like many liberals of the
time, he thought the Boers were
simply defending their homes. Why
did the British feel the need to keep
their territory so strongly? Perhaps
the diamond and gold mines of the
area had something to do with it. The
Man He Killed deals with the futility,
or pointlessness, of war. It is told from
the point of view of an ordinary
working-class soldier, who is
reflecting on the idea that the man he
killed in battle probably had a lot in
common with him. The idea of having
a drink together suggests a sense of
brotherhood between the ordinary
soldiers. The lack of conviction in the
narrator’s voice about the necessity
of killing the enemy man emphasises
the idea that the soldiers who fight
just follow orders, rather than
knowing what it is they are doing.It is
generally thought that the speaker is
a soldier who has just returned from
the Boer War, and that he is talking in
the pub with his friends. setting the
scene in a particular inn in Dorset.

Half-caste 'Half-Caste' is a poem about how The poem is a powerful

language can be used to control, hurt, expression of Agard's anger and
suppress and demean people. Agard frustration with racist thinking.
takes the until-recently common term The tone is one of confrontation,
'half-caste' and unpacks it of its of a clear challenge to racist
prejudiced associations. With great people to try to justify their
verve and energy he demolishes opinions. Despite the strong
these associations, presenting instead feelings there is also humour in
'mixture' as an essential part of the poem. The opening image,
nature and great art. Agard is for example, is jokey, absurd.
attacking full-on racism and a mind- Agard also uses irony in the
set that believes in racial segregation. fourth stanza.
He makes such ideas seem as absurd
and foolish as they are. His tone is
commanding 'Explain yuself', 'what yu
mean', and the rhythm is emphatic,
beating out its rhymes with
confidence. Agard uses phonetic
spelling to create the sense of a
spoken voice. Here the accent is Afro-
Caribbean. But Agard also uses many
more recognisable standard words.
The language of the poem is a
 mixture of English's. Agard rejects
conventional punctuation; there isn't
a comma or full-stop in the whole
poem.

The Crimean War was fought The poem has a strong rhythm. For Language and Imagery: The
between Britain and Imperial Russia example "half a league, half a league" language of the poem is
from 1853-1856. For the first time in two light beats followed by a heavy understandably military: guns,
history, newspapers carried eye- beat expresses the sound of the soldiers, cannon, sabres and
witness reports as well as detailing horses galloping. There are six gunners set the scene. The power
not just the triumphs of war but the numbered stanzas, as if each stanza is of the poem, however, comes
mistakes and horrors as well. The a memorial stone to 100 of the 600 from the careful use of imagery
most significant moment in the cavalrymen. The length of the stanzas and sound effects. Imagery: The
Crimea came during the Battle of reflect the structure of the story. The strong central image of the
Balaclava. An order given to the first three stanzas - the Light Brigade "valley of Death" (lines 3,7 and
British army's cavalry division (known is approaching the guns. There is a 16) refers to a well-known poem
as the Light Brigade) was strong structure. Three lines (of three in the bible - Psalm 23 - about the
misunderstood and 600 cavalrymen six-to-seven syllables) are followed by 'valley of the shadow of death'.
ended charging down a narrow valley a shorter line (five syllables: "rode the By using this Biblical allusion,
straight into the fire of Russian six hundred"). This pattern suggests Tennyson shows how important
cannons. Over 150 British soldiers the strong formation in which the the event is. Sound: Tennyson
were killed, and more than 120 were cavalry charge. Stanza two – the Light uses a wide variety of techniques
The Charge of the
wounded. At home the news of the Brigade has engaged the enemy so to provide the poem with highly
Light Brigade
disaster was a sensation and a nation the longer stanzas describe the effective sound effects.
that had until then embraced British struggle. The structure starts to break Alliteration, for example, is used
military exploits abroad began to down. The rhythm of stanza four, for to express the sounds of battle.
question the politicians and generals example, is broken by four shorter Note the sound of bullets in line
who led them. lines, while stanza five has only two 22 ("shot and shell"). The poem
short lines (lines 42 and 48). The has a strong rhythm. For example
desperate attempt to retreat is "half a league, half a league" two
expressed in the run of six longer light beats followed by a heavy
lines (43-48). Stanza six is a short, beat expresses the sound of the
sharp conclusion written as if they are horses galloping.
the lines we should remember the
Light Brigade by.