Power Conflict

• The Power of the natural world • Conflicting beliefs

What elements of the themes do you think you might be questioned on?How do the writer’s of the poems present…..?

Power Conflict

• ….of nature• ….of men• ….of identity• ….of individuals• ….of memory and the past• ….of historical events• ….of resistance

• Inner conflict• War• The effects of war on people• Conflict of identity• The reality of conflict• Conflicting experiences• Conflict of beliefs

Compare how poets present the effects of war in ‘Bayonet Charge’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and conflict’.

Compare how poets present ideas about power in ‘Ozymandias’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and conflic

Compare the ways poets present the power of the natural world in ‘Storm on the Island’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and conflict’.

Compare how poets present the effects of conflict on people in ‘Poppies’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and conflict’.

Compare the ways poets present ideas about power in ‘Ozymandias’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and conflict’.

Bayonet Charge Exposure Remains

Makes young men sign up out of idealism

Wastes lives exposing them to futile deaths

Puts men in impossible situations

Creates inner conflict and results in a loss of belief

Isolates men cutting them off from their own identity

Creates guilt and inner conflict

Physically destructive and futile Turns men into ghosts of themselves Physically and emotionally destructive

Treats men as disposable objects Results in a loss of belief Trivialises life

Compare how poets present the effects of war in ‘Bayonet Charge’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and conflict’.In the grid below I have begun by making 4 points about the effects of conflict for each poem.

Bayonet Charge Exposure Remains

Makes young men sign up out of idealism• The patriotic tear that had brimmed in

his eye sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest

Wastes lives exposing them to futile deaths• Our brains ache, in the merciless iced

east winds that knive us• But nothing happens• The burying party, picks and

shovels…all their eyes are ice

Puts men in impossible situations• We get sent out • Probably armed possibly not

Creates inner conflict and results in a loss of belief• King, honour, human dignity, dropped

like luxuries in a yelling alarm

Isolates men cutting them off from their own identity• Shutters and doors all closed…we turn

back to our dying

Creates inescapable guilt and inner conflict• His blood shadow stays on the street• Probably armed, possibly not• His bloody life in my bloody hands• Blink…sleep…dream

Physically destructive and futile• He lugged a rifle numb as a smashed

arm• Rolled like a flame and crawled in a

threshing circle• His terrors touchy dynamite

Turns men into ghosts of themselves• Is it that we are dying• Slowly our ghosts drag home• We turn back to our dying

Physically and emotionally destructive• Rips through his life• On the ground sort of inside out

Treats men as disposable objects• Suddenly he awoke and was running• In what cold clockwork of the stars and

nations was he the hand pointing that second?

Results in a loss of belief• For god’s invincible spring our love is

made afraid• For love of god seems dying

Trivialises life• Tosses his guts back into his body• Carted off in the back of a van• Sent out to tackle a looter raiding a

bank

Compare how poets present the effects of war in ‘Bayonet Charge’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and conflict’.On this slide I have chosen the quotations I might use to help me prove each point.

Task

• For each theme, select the poems that best fit

• Don’t just pick your favourites; you will not be preparing points and quotes for this

• Provide reasoning or suggested quotes to help explain your choice

Everything you do from now on you are doing for yourselves and for each other.

You will be under time pressure and have time limits for each task

Everything you write will become part of your own revision notes as I will photocopy for everyone, so keep it tidy

Compare how the poets present the power of the past and of memory

Compare how the poets present the corruption of power

Compare how the poets present conflicts of identity

Compare how the poets present conflicting emotions

Task 2

• You must now take into account their choices and make a decision

• Write the 3 chosen poems in the grids on slides 13 - 16

Task 3

• Make clear points for each poem

• You need to make clear statements that relate to the poem and the question

Bayonet Charge

Makes young men sign up out of idealism

Creates inner conflict and results in a loss of belief

Physically destructive and futile

Treats men as disposable objects

Task 4

• Now choose quotations to help explore the idea within the poem

Compare how the poets present the power of the past and of memory

Compare how the poets present the corruption of power

Compare how the poets present conflicts of identity

Compare how the poets present conflicting emotions

Bayonet Charge Exposure Remains

Makes young men sign up out of idealism• The patriotic tear that had brimmed in

his eye sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest

Wastes lives exposing them to futile deaths• Our brains ache, in the merciless iced

east winds that knive us• But nothing happens• The burying party, picks and

shovels…all their eyes are ice

Puts men in impossible situations• We get sent out • Probably armed possibly not

Creates inner conflict and results in a loss of belief• King, honour, human dignity, dropped

like luxuries in a yelling alarm

Isolates men cutting them off from their own identity• Shutters and doors all closed…we turn

back to our dying

Creates inescapable guilt and inner conflict• His blood shadow stays on the street• Probably armed, possibly not• His bloody life in my bloody hands• Blink…sleep…dream

Physically destructive and futile• He lugged a rifle numb as a smashed

arm• Rolled like a flame and crawled in a

threshing circle• His terrors touchy dynamite

Turns men into ghosts of themselves• Is it that we are dying• Slowly our ghosts drag home• We turn back to our dying

Physically and emotionally destructive• Rips through his life• On the ground sort of inside out

Treats men as disposable objects• Suddenly he awoke and was running• In what cold clockwork of the stars and

nations was he the hand pointing that second?

Results in a loss of belief• For god’s invincible spring our love is

made afraid• For love of god seems dying

Trivialises life• Tosses his guts back into his body• Carted off in the back of a van• Sent out to tackle a looter raiding a

bank

Compare how poets present the effects of war in ‘Bayonet Charge’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and conflict’.

Example task

• Before you have a go at writing a response, you should consider how you will write your answer

• On the following slides, I have written a response in a grid

• Each row shows that I am doing something else which would achieve marks on the mark scheme.

• Try and label where I have• Made a clear point• Provided evidence• Analysed at word level• Analysed a technique or method• Analysed structure or form• Explained how the analysis proves the point• Directly answered the question• Made a comparison statement

Makes young men sign up out of idealism• The patriotic tear

that had brimmed in his eye sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest

Creates inner conflict and results in a loss of belief• King, honour, human

dignity, dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm

In the poem Bayonet Charge, war is presented as something that encourages idealism, but results in despair and a loss of belief.

The soldier in the poem is first affected by the conflict because it makes him feel patriotic. In the poem the writer describes how ‘the patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye.’

This image of patriotism uses the metaphor of a ‘patriotic tear’ to imply that his sense of national identity perhaps makes him feel proud and emotional. The choice of the tear may also suggest that his pride is also the result of loss and grief.

Further to this the verb ‘brimmed’ creates the suggestion of his patriotic pride spilling over. The poet may be making this suggestion to impress on the reader how overwhelming such feelings can be.

This image reminds the reader of recruitment parades where young men would have been persuaded to join up with powerful images of patriotism and exaggerated national stereotypes.

The poet seems to be implying that one effect of war is that it can stir strong emotions particularly of patriotism and pride and make people feel the need to fight for abstract ideas such as national identity.

Makes young men sign up out of idealism• The patriotic tear

that had brimmed in his eye sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest

Creates inner conflict and results in a loss of belief• King, honour, human

dignity, dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm

However, it is also noticeable that this image of patriotism has become painful to the soldier in the context of the battlefield itself.

The writer goes on to describe how the ‘patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye’ is now ‘sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest.’

The verb ‘sweating’ and the adjective ‘molten’ create the impression of a burning heat that is both uncomfortable and capable of destruction.

Further to this, the symbolic effect of placing these feelings in ‘the centre of his chest’ create the impression that his emotions and his humanity are in conflict with his patriotism. It could be suggested that the heat implied by the molten iron is symbolic of his anger towards the feelings of patriotism he once had.

The writer seems to be suggesting that the soldier feels both emotional and physical discomfort and pain as a result of the patriotism he once felt.

The writer seems to be implying that the war has deeply affected the soldier and turned pride into pain. The context of the war has completely changed his perspective and made him angry. There is even the suggestion that the feelings of anger he has are self-destructive in the way that molten iron would burn and destroy material and in this case moral beliefs.

Makes young men sign up out of idealism• The patriotic tear

that had brimmed in his eye sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest

Creates inner conflict and results in a loss of belief• King, honour, human

dignity, dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm

Towards the end of the poem, after the soldier has experienced his own inner conflict about the futility of war, he is shown to have lost all belief and to be facing an existential crisis about the purpose of life itself.

The poet describes how the soldier completely rejects his beliefs in the phrase, ‘King, honour, human dignity, dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm’

The first two nouns in the list, ‘King, honour’ are typical of the concepts taken from the propaganda speeches and posters used in the first world war. They represent national identity and patriotism and suggest that war is justified by high ideals.

The verb ‘dropped’ creates an image of carelessness and suggests that these high concepts as well as the basic human right of ‘dignity’ are dismissed as worthless. The list which ends in the word ‘etcetera’ add to this dismissive tone.

The comparison of these features to ‘luxuries’ in the simile further emphasise to the reader how trivial high ideals and basic human rights have become.

The poet seems to be suggesting that war trivialises everything from basic rights to high moral ideals. The soldier in this poem is presented by the writer as losing all sense of belief and hope as a result of the reality and futility of war.

In a similar way the poet in Remains suggests that the experience that the soldier has does not match what he signed up for. The poet suggests that war places men in impossible situations that they cannot make sense of.

At the beginning of the poem the soldier is presented confessing about an incident which has traumatised him. However, his opening line makes the incident seem like one of many typical examples to begin with.

In the voice of the solder he states, ‘On another occasion we get sent out to tackle looters raiding a bank’

The use of in media res at the beginning makes this feel like a typical incident which the soldier is trained to deal with.

He follows this with the description of how he is ‘sent out’. The imperative implies that the command has given him no choice. In this context though this is both a command and the beginning of his explanation or excuse as it highlights how he is powerless.

The description of the ‘enemy’ is crucial however as the noun ‘looters’ implies a criminal act and the verb ‘raiding’ is violent and criminal. In this way the soldier is made to feel that his actions are justified and fair.

The way that he uses the verb ‘tackle’ implies that he has to prevent the attack. The use of the sporting semantic field here may imply that the event is being played down and the reality of what he is about to do is hidden behind euphemism.

In this way the opening of the poem suggests that the soldier was placed in a situation which, like the soldier in Bayonet Charge, had been idealised. In Bayonet Charge the high morals of patriotism and protection are motivators, whereas in this poem the soldier is presented as the protector and has the role of bringing justice. However, in both cases the reality is far more wasteful and brutal.

Remains

Puts men in impossible situations• We get sent out • Probably

armed possibly not

• Colloquial language – legs it;

The poet then develops the situation with a returning sense of doubt that will be the root of the soldier’s trauma.

In the context of the situation the soldier describes the ‘target’ as ‘probably armed; possibly not.’

The sense of doubt, as with the soldier in Bayonet Charge, is evident in the language. The use of the adverbs ‘probably’ and ‘possibly’ suggest two contrasting approaches. It could be argued that the ‘probably’ is representative of the military training which gives clear instructions and divides people into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ in order to remove the need for complex decision making. Like the language that describes the man in the bank as a ‘looter’ who is ‘raiding’, this word appears as intelligence given to the soldier.

However, the adverb ‘possibly’ could be argued to be his conscience and his human sense of doubt making him question whether the information he has been given is over simplistic. Just as the soldier in Bayonet charge finds himself ‘running’ inexplicably and listens for the ‘reason of his still running’ the writer in Remains suggests that human situations are more complex that war will allow them to consider.

In addition, it could be argued that the tension between the two statements creates a loop of reasoning as the soldier is incapable of

As a result, it could be argued that in both poems the over simplification of war creates allies and enemies. This is used to convince people that what they are doing is right and honourable. However, in both cases, in both poems, the writer’s demonstrate the futility and the complexity of the situations which create a trauma that is inescapable. They bring in doubt which makes the soldier question not only the war, but the nature of belief. Conflict

Remains

Puts men in impossible situations• We get sent out • Probably

armed possibly not

• Colloquial language – legs it;