AQA, GCSE Power and Conflict Anthology

"Checking Out Me History" was written by the British Guyanese poet John Agard and first published in 2005, in the collection Half-Caste. The poem focuses on the holes in the British colonial education system—particularly that system's omission of important figures from African, Caribbean, and i...

The Emigree is a poem about a person who was forced to leave their home country and journey to foreign shores to be safe. The first person speaker looks back with affection at the land they once called home but which is now possibly run by a tyrant or caught up in war.

Bayonet Charge' is a poem written by Ted Hughes. It is included on the English Literature GCSE syllabus. It depicts the thoughts and feelings of one soldier as he charges at the enemy and begins to question his role in the battle.

he poem tells the story of a brigade consisting of 600 soldiers who rode on horseback into the “valley of death” for half a league (about one and a half miles). They were obeying a command to charge the enemy forces that had been seizing their guns.

“Ozymandias” is a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley that describes the ruins of a statue of Rameses II, also known as Ozymandias. The poem's speaker meets a traveler who tells him about a decayed statue in the desert of an “antique land.”

The poem describes a walk through London, which is presented as a pained, oppressive, and impoverished city in which all the speaker can find is misery. It places particular emphasis on the sounds of London, with cries coming from men, women, and children throughout the poem.

“My Last Duchess” is a dramatic monologue in which the Duke of Ferrara tells the messenger of his potential wife's family about his previous wife, the “last” duchess of the poem's title. ... Throughout the poem, the duke reveals his belief that women are objects to be controlled, possessed...

In this poem extract of The Prelude, Wordsworth presents two contrasting ideas about nature, and allows the reader to decide what nature means to him or herself personally. ... Wordsworth's prelude explores his childhood thoughts and the ways in which he has changed and grown over time.

Wilfred Owen's poem focuses on the misery felt by World War One soldiers waiting overnight in the trenches. ... 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...

Storm On The Island is a poem that gives voice to a people who live in constant fear of the power of natural storms. The poem's theme is therefore the ongoing conflict between humans and nature.

'Remains' is based on the experiences of a soldier who served in Basra in Iraq. ... He turned to drink, drugs and crime on his return to Britain and the poem focuses on his overwhelming feelings of guilt and his struggle to come to terms with his experience.

The poem references 'Armistice Sunday' which is also known as 'remembrance day' acts as a symbol for grief and loss, setting a mournful tone. and poppies had already been placed. The imagery of the 'poppies' is a piece of emotive symbolism that signifies the bloodshed of war as well as the mou...

"War Photographer" is a poem by Scottish writer Carol Ann Duffy, the United Kingdom's poet laureate from 2009 to 2019. Originally published in 1985, "War Photographer" depicts the experiences of a photographer who returns home to England to develop the hundreds of photos he has taken in an unsp...

Tissue by Imtiaz Dharker. The poem Tissue by Imtiaz Dharker reveals the power of a paper, and how one can use it for many different things. It is about the fragility and power of humanity, which is used as an extended metaphor all through the poem.