1. Ozymandias Writer’s intentions
The writer is highlighting how fragile human power is compared to nature and that nature will always reclaim power
What are 3 key quotations?
“two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand in the desert”
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: look on my works ye mighty and despair”
“round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare”
What is it about?
It is about a statue that the narrator finds in the desert.
It is a statue of a king who used to rule. He was a proud, arrogant man who used to boast about his powers
The statue has crumbled away and is being reclaimed by nature (sand)
What poems does it link to?
‘My Last Duchess’
‘The Prelude’
‘Exposure’
‘Storm on the Island’
What are the key themes? Pride Power of humans Power of nature
Any Questions

2. London Writer’s intentions
The writer is critical of those in power and how they ignore those who are suffering. He promotes equality and believes institutions are failing their citizens
What are 3 key quotations?
“marks of weakness, marks of woe”
“how the chimney-sweeper’s cry every black’ning church appals”
“Youthful harlot’s curse blasts the new-born infants tear, and blights with plagues the marriage hearse”
What is it about?
Blake is walking the streets of London and commenting on the poverty and misery he sees.
Everywhere he goes he sees relentless suffering and despair that is inescapable (not even the young or innocent are spared)
He criticises the people in power and how they do nothing to stop the suffering (church, palace, land owners)
What poems does it link to?
‘The prelude’
‘The Emigree’
‘Exposure’
‘Remains’
What are the key themes? Power of humans Loss and absence Anger Individual experiences Power of place
Any Questions

3. The Prelude Writer’s intentions
The writer is commenting on the power of nature and how, although it is beautiful, it is ultimately dangerous and should be respected by man
What are 3 key quotations?
“It was an act of troubled pleasure”
“my boat went heaving through the water like a swan”
“a huge peak, black and huge, as if with voluntary power instinct upreared its head”
What is it about?
A boy (our writer as a young boy) steals a boat and rows across a lake. He describes how beautiful and peaceful nature is.
As he rows he comes across a huge peak that petrifies him and he describes its size and power.
He turns the boat around and returns home however his view of nature has changed forever.
What poems does it link to?
‘Exposure’
‘Storm on the Island’
‘Remains’
‘Kamikaze’
What are the key themes? Power of nature Memory Fear Pride Individual experience
Any Questions

4. My Last Duchess Writer’s intentions
The writer is commenting on the power of humans and how they can abuse their power. It discussed the relationship between men and women and is critical of the controlling nature of men within society at this time
What are 3 key quotations?
“none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you but I”
“she thanked men – good! But thanked somehow – I know not how – as if she ranked my gift of a nine- hundred-years-old name with anybody's gift”
“Notice Neptune, though taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity”
What is it about?
A Duke describes a portrait of his former wife and how he can now show her off to whoever he chooses.
The Duke is angered by the Duchess and how she is friendly to everyone and that she treated him like everyone else.
He acted to stop the Duchess’s flirty behaviour and hints that he had her murdered
He continues to talk to his guest and we learn that the Duke is getting married again
What poems does it link to?
‘Ozymandias’
‘Checking Out Me History’
‘Remains’
What are the key themes? Power of humans Memory Pride Identity Anger
Any Questions

5. The Charge of the Light Brigade
Writer’s intentions
The writer is commenting on how he admires the bravery of our soldiers and how they should be remembered as heroes. He also wants to highlight the horrors of battle.
What are 3 key quotations?
“theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, their but to do or die”
“ boldly they rode and well into the jaws of death into the mouth of hell rode the six hundred”
“Storm’d at with shot and shell while horse and hero fell they that had fought so well come thro’ the jaws of hell all that was left of them”
What is it about?
The poem describes a battle between the British cavalry and Russian forces during the Crimean War.
After a misunderstanding the brigade was ordered to advance into a valley surrounded by enemy soldiers.
The brigade was armed with swords compared to the Russians’ guns. Many of the Brigade were killed and other retreated
What poems does it link to?
‘Poppies’
‘Remains’
‘War Photographer’
‘Bayonet Charge’
‘Exposure’
What are the key themes? Effects of conflict Reality of conflict Identity Pride War
Any Questions

6. Exposure Writer’s intentions
The writer is trying to highlight the realities of war and the suffering the men went through that isn’t necessarily acknowledged. The writer was a soldier himself and shows how he is angry at the war’s waste of life and its horrific conditions
What are 3 key quotations?
“Our brains ache, in the merciless iced winds that knive us….”
“shutters and doors all closed on us the doors are closed”
“the frost will fasten on this mud and us”
What is it about?
Exposure describes soldiers in the trenches of WW1 on their night shift as they fear enemy attack.
Their main enemy however seems to be nature and their battle to survive is against the cold, snowy, wintery conditions.
The men are home sick however they know that sacrificing themselves a war is the only way to keep their loved one safe.
What poems does it link to?
‘Charge of the Light Brigade’
‘Bayonet Charge’
‘Storm on the Island’
‘London’
What are the key themes? Power of nature Effects of conflict Reality of conflict Loss and absence
Any Questions

7. Storm on the Island Writer’s intentions
The writer is trying to highlight how unpredictable nature can be and how helpless people are. It shows that the power of nature will always be greater than the power of humanity
What are 3 key quotations?
“We are prepared: we build our houses squat’
“when it begins the flung spray spits like a tame cat turned savage”
“It is a huge nothing that we fear”
What is it about?
The poem describes an island hit by a ferocious storm.
The people of the island think they are well prepared however as the storm develops their confidence disappears and the power of the storm strikes fear into them.
What poems does it link to?
‘Bayonet Charge’
‘The Prelude’
‘The Emigree’
‘London’
What are the key themes? Power of humans Power of nature Fear Pride
Any Questions

8. Bayonet Charge Writer’s intentions
The writer is challenging patriotism and he criticises the reasons why soldiers are at war. He questions whether patriotism is enough to justify the fear and suffering.
What are 3 key quotations?
“suddenly he awoke and was running”
“He was running like a man who has jumped up in the dark and runs listening to the footfalls for the reason of his still running”
“then the shot slashed furrows threw up a yellow hare that rolled like a flame”
What is it about?
The poem describes a single soldiers experience of war as he charges towards enemy lines. It describes his thoughts and actions as he tries to stay alive.
The soldiers main emotion is fear which replaces his patriotism that he held before the violence
What poems does it link to?
‘Exposure’
‘The charge of the light brigade’
‘the Prelude’
What are the key themes? Effects of conflict Reality of conflict Fear Individual experiences Identity
Any Questions

9. Remains What are 3 key quotations? Writer’s intentions
“probably armed, possibly not’
“end of story except not really. His blood shadow stays on the street”
“His bloody life in my bloody hands”
Writer’s intentions
The writer is trying to highlight the devastating impact war has on a soldier’s humanity.
What is it about?
A group of three soldiers shoot a man who is running away from a bank robbery and his death is described in graphic detail
The soldier isn’t sure if he is armed or not and this tortures his mind.
When he arrives home from duty he is overwhelmed with PTSD and is driven to drink and drugs but he is still haunted by this situation.
What poems does it link to?
‘Kamikaze’
‘Poppies’
‘Bayonet Charge’
‘War Photographer’
What are the key themes? Effects of conflict Reality of conflict Memory Guilt Individual experience Identity
Any Questions

10. Poppies Writer’s intentions
What are 3 key quotations?
“I wanted to graze my nose across the tip of your nose play at being Eskimos like we did when you were little”
“I was brave, as I walked with you to the front door, threw it open, the world overflowing like a treasure chest”
My stomach busy making tucks, darts, pleats”
Writer’s intentions
The writer is trying to highlight the plight of those left at home when soldiers leave for war. It shows the longing for them to return and the torment that they have to endure.
What is it about?
The poem describes a mother experiencing her son leave home seemingly to join the army.
It shows her emotional reaction to her son leaving and how she feels sad, lonely and scared for his safety.
She wallows in her memories of him and hold onto them as if they are the most precious thing to her.
What poems does it link to?
‘War photographer’
‘Kamikaze’
‘The Emigree’
What are the key themes? Effects of conflict Loss and absence Memory Fear Identity Individual experience
Any Questions

11. War Photographer Writer’s intentions
The writer is trying to highlight the power of photography and how humans now ignore the suffering of others.
What is it about?
A war photographer is developing pictures that he has taken of war zones and contemplates the contrasts they have to safe, calm England.
The photographer criticises the fake tears of the English and highlights how they don’t care about the people and places within these photographs.
What are 3 key quotations?
“spools of suffering set out in ordered rows”
“A strangers features start to twist before his eyes, a half formed ghost”
“The reader’s eyeballs prick with tears between the bath and pre lunch beers”
What poems does it link to?
‘Remains’
‘Bayonet Charge’
‘Kamikaze’
What are the key themes? Effects of conflict Reality of conflict Memory Anger Guilt Individual experience
Any Questions

12. The Emigree
Writer’s intentions
The writer is trying to highlight how nostalgia can be blinding and how there is no place that can replace home.
What are 3 key quotations?
“I left it as a child but my memory of it is sun light clear”
“It may be at war, it may be sick with tyrants but I am branded by an impression of sunlight”
“They accuse me of absence, they circle me. They accuse me of being dark in their free city”
What is it about?
The poem describes a woman speakng about a city which she left as a child. She sees the city in a purely positive light even though the city seems war torn.
She describes it as being unreachable and terrorised by a tyrant
The speaker was forced to leave the city and does not feel fond of her current ‘home’
What poems does it link to?
‘Kamikaze’
‘Poppies’
‘London’
What are the key themes? Loss and absence Memory Identity Individual experiences
Any Questions

13. Kamikaze Writer’s intentions
What are 3 key quotations?
“looked far down at the little fishing boats strung out like bunting on a green-blue translucent sea”
“they treated him as though he no loner existed, only we children still chattered and laughed until gradually we too learned to be silent”
“this was no longer the father we loved and sometimes she said he must have wondered which had been the better way to die””
Writer’s intentions
The writer is highlighting the pride placed on patriotism and the destruction that shame can cause
What is it about?
A Japanese kamikaze pilot sets off on his suicide mission which is a great honour to the country
The pilot witnesses nature below him and remembers his innocent childhood which makes him abandon his mission.
When he returns home the pilot is shunned by everyone and even his family.
What poems does it link to?
‘Checking out me history’
‘Kamikaze’
‘Poppies’
‘The Prelude’
What are the key themes? Power of nature Effects of conflict Loss and absence Memory Identity Individual experience
Any Questions

14. Checking out me history
Writer’s intentions
The writer is critiquing the education system for not embracing all cultures and instead only teaching British history. He promotes taking ownership of all elements of culture
What are 3 key quotations?
“bandage up me eye with me own history blind me to me own identity”
“dem tell me what dem what to tell me”
“Now I checking out me own history. I carving out me new identity”
What is it about?
The narrator is contemplating his own identity and how it was formed
He comments on how he was taught British history but not the history of his Caribbean roots. He lists famous figures from other cultures who are ignored by the British education system.
He promotes creating his own identity based on his heritage.
What poems does it link to?
‘London’
‘Tissue’
‘War photography’
What are the key themes? Power of humans Anger Identity
Any Questions

15. Tissue
Writer’s intentions
The writer is trying to show how human life is controlled by external factors although we feel we have ultimate power. The writer promotes us breaking free of restrictions
What is it about?
The poem describes the importance of paper and the integral part it plays however paper can be fragile in some instances, strong in others but no matter what it controls ours lives.
Paper can represent life and how flexible life is.
What are 3 key quotations?
“paper thinned by age or touching”
“Maps too. The sun shines through their borderlines”
“pages smoothed and stroked and thinned to be transparent turned into your skin”
What poems does it link to?
‘Ozymandias’
‘Poppies’
What are the key themes? Power of humans Power of nature Identity
Any Questions