AQA Power and Conflict Poems: All 15 Poems Explained

The AQA Power and Conflict cluster contains 15 poems, drawn from the anthology Poems Past and Present and set for Paper 2 Section B of AQA GCSE English Literature (8702), where students compare the poem printed on the exam paper with one other poem from the cluster chosen from memory. The poets studied together are Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Blake, William Wordsworth, Robert Browning, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Wilfred Owen, Seamus Heaney, Ted Hughes, Simon Armitage, Jane Weir, Carol Ann Duffy, Imtiaz Dharker, Carol Rumens, John Agard and Beatrice Garland.

Because Paper 2 is a closed-book exam, no copy of the poems is allowed in the room, so each poem needs at least one quotation learned by heart alongside its central idea and a sense of how it connects to others by theme. The sections below summarise twelve of the fifteen poems with a quotation to learn, group all fifteen by theme to help plan comparisons, and set out how the Section B comparison question works.

Which poems are in the AQA Power and Conflict cluster?

The AQA Power and Conflict cluster contains 15 poems, each written by a different poet and studied together in the anthology Poems Past and Present for Paper 2 Section B of AQA GCSE English Literature (8702).

• Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley
• London by William Blake
• Extract from The Prelude by William Wordsworth
• My Last Duchess by Robert Browning
• The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson
• Exposure by Wilfred Owen
• Storm on the Island by Seamus Heaney
• Bayonet Charge by Ted Hughes
• Remains by Simon Armitage
• Poppies by Jane Weir
• War Photographer by Carol Ann Duffy
• Tissue by Imtiaz Dharker
• The Emigree by Carol Rumens
• Checking Out Me History by John Agard
• Kamikaze by Beatrice Garland

What happens in Ozymandias, London and My Last Duchess?

Ozymandias, by Percy Bysshe Shelley, is a sonnet in which a traveller describes to the speaker a ruined desert statue of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II, its broken face still marked with arrogance long after his empire has vanished. London, by William Blake, follows a speaker walking through the city hearing the suffering of its people, tracing that suffering back to institutions such as the Church, the monarchy and marriage.

My Last Duchess, a dramatic monologue by Robert Browning, is spoken by the Duke of Ferrara, who shows an envoy a portrait of his late wife and reveals, through what he says about her smiles and his own commands, that he most likely had her killed for failing to value him above everyone else.

• "sneer of cold command" describes the broken face of the statue, as told to the speaker by a traveller who found it in the desert. The word sneer fixes the ruler's arrogance onto stone that has otherwise crumbled, so pride outlives the man but not his power.
• "The mind-forged manacles I hear" is the speaker's response to the cries he hears walking through London's streets. The image suggests that oppression is imposed by institutions and also internalised, trapping people in ways they cannot see.
• "all smiles stopped together" is how the Duke describes the end of his late wife's warmth towards others, implying he had her killed. The flat, offhand phrasing shows how completely he controls the story he tells, even of a death he caused.

What happens in Exposure, Storm on the Island and Bayonet Charge?

Exposure, by Wilfred Owen, follows soldiers in the trenches of the First World War through a freezing night in which the weather, not the enemy, becomes the real threat, with a repeated refrain marking their exhausted waiting for an attack that never comes. Storm on the Island, by Seamus Heaney, describes island people who build sturdy houses expecting storms, only to find during one storm that what frightens them most is intangible.

Bayonet Charge, by Ted Hughes, follows one unnamed soldier charging across a field under rifle fire in the First World War, tracking the moment his patriotic ideals collapse into pure instinct to survive.

• "But nothing happens" is the refrain repeated through the poem describing soldiers waiting in freezing conditions on the Western Front. The flat statement turns anticlimax into dread, showing that the weather, not the enemy, is the real threat the soldiers face.
• "a huge nothing that we fear" is how the speaker, describing islanders battered by a storm through military language, sums up what they are actually afraid of. The paradox of fearing nothing suggests the real threat is intangible, closer to dread itself than to any visible enemy.
• "King, honour, human dignity, etcetera" lists the ideals the unnamed soldier abandons as he runs under rifle fire in the poem's third stanza. The dismissive etcetera shows patriotic language collapsing under the pressure of real fear.

What happens in Remains, Poppies, War Photographer and Kamikaze?

Remains, by Simon Armitage, is spoken by a soldier recalling how he and two others shot a looter on patrol, and how the memory of the killing returns to him long after the event, reflecting what is now recognised as post-traumatic stress. Poppies, by Jane Weir, is spoken by a mother remembering the day her son left home, implied to be for the armed forces, as she pins a poppy on his lapel and later visits a war memorial alone, never certain whether he has died.

War Photographer, by Carol Ann Duffy, follows a photographer developing images of conflict in his darkroom at home in England, contrasting the suffering he has witnessed abroad with the indifference of readers who glance briefly at his pictures. Kamikaze, by Beatrice Garland, tells of a Japanese pilot in the Second World War who set off on a suicide mission but turned back, and of the silence his family and community showed him afterwards.

• "his bloody life in my bloody hands" ends the poem, describing how the soldier is left carrying the memory of the looter he shot. The repeated bloody works as both description and curse, showing guilt that will not leave him.
• "crimped petals, spasms of paper red" describes the poppy the mother pins onto her son's lapel before he leaves home. The textile imagery and the word spasms turn a small gesture into something closer to pain, hinting at the fear behind it.
• "they do not care" is the photographer's judgement, from the aeroplane, of the readers back in England who will glance at his pictures of suffering. The blunt statement contrasts the intensity of what he has witnessed with the indifference it meets at home.
• "which had been the better way to die" closes the poem as an open question about the pilot's choice to turn back from his mission. Left beside his family's lasting silence, the question refuses to judge him, making the cost of survival as uncertain as the choice itself.

What happens in Tissue and Checking Out Me History?

Tissue, by Imtiaz Dharker, explores different kinds of paper, from the pages of an old Koran to maps and receipts, suggesting through its fragility that human power and borders are as temporary as paper itself, set against the lasting value of human connection. Checking Out Me History, by John Agard, is spoken in Caribbean Creole by a speaker who complains that his education taught him British history and nursery-rhyme figures while hiding Black historical figures such as Toussaint L'Ouverture, Nanny of the Maroons and Mary Seacole.

• "turned into your skin" is the poem's final line, following its exploration of how thin and easily marked paper is. The comparison suggests human life, like paper, is fragile and temporary beside the borders, maps and buildings people build to assert power.
• "I carving out me identity" closes the poem, following the speaker's complaint that his education taught him British history while hiding his own heritage. The present participle suggests identity as something actively made, beyond being inherited or given by others.

How are the 15 poems grouped by theme?

The 15 Power and Conflict poems overlap across five broad themes, and grouping them this way helps with choosing and planning a second poem to compare in the exam. Several poems fit more than one theme, which is useful, since the comparison question can ask about power, conflict or the effects of difficult experiences on people.

• Power of nature: Ozymandias, Storm on the Island and Exposure, where nature or time overwhelms human control.
• Reality of war and conflict: Exposure, Bayonet Charge, Remains and The Charge of the Light Brigade, focused on what combat does to individual soldiers.
• Memory and the aftermath of conflict: Remains, War Photographer, Poppies and Kamikaze, following how conflict stays with those who survive it or wait at home.
• Abuse of power by people and institutions: Ozymandias, My Last Duchess, London and Checking Out Me History, examining rulers, husbands and education systems that control others.
• Identity: Checking Out Me History, Tissue and The Emigree, exploring how identity is shaped, hidden or reclaimed.

How does the Paper 2 comparison question work?

The Paper 2 Section B poetry question prints one Power and Conflict poem on the exam paper and asks the student to compare it with one other poem from the cluster, chosen and written about from memory, for 30 of the paper's 96 marks. Paper 2, Modern texts and poetry, lasts 2 hours 15 minutes and makes up 60% of the GCSE, with Section A worth 30 marks plus 4 marks for accuracy on the modern prose or drama text and Section C an unseen poetry comparison.

Past questions have asked students to compare how poets present the effects of power, ideas about conflict, ideas about power and control, and the ways people are affected by difficult experiences, so the comparison usually turns on a shared theme instead of a shared form. The poetry comparison is marked against AO1, using textual references including quotations, AO2, analysing language, form and structure with subject terminology, and AO3, exploring relationships between texts and their contexts.

How should a second poem for comparison be chosen and learned?

Choosing a second poem works best by starting from theme instead of title, since the exam question is built around a shared idea such as power, conflict or its aftermath, and a poem picked for genuine thematic overlap with the printed poem gives more to write about than one picked at random. Learning one quotation per poem that captures its central idea, of the kind set out above, covers the closed-book requirement without the need to memorise whole stanzas.

Because any one of the 15 poems could be the poem printed on the paper, it helps to know the central idea and at least one quotation for each, then to have two or three well-prepared second-poem options ready for different themes, such as one about the power of nature and one about the human cost of conflict.

Related guides

• AQA GCSE English Literature Paper 2 guide
• Ozymandias poem analysis
• London poem analysis
• My Last Duchess poem analysis
• Exposure poem analysis
• Storm on the Island poem analysis
• Bayonet Charge poem analysis
• Remains poem analysis
• Poppies poem analysis
• War Photographer poem analysis
• Tissue poem analysis
• Checking Out Me History poem analysis
• Kamikaze poem analysis
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