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English lit poems aqa, power and conflict

Is it just me, or is it considerably annoying how we have to learn 16 poems but only one is going to come up in the exam... Does anyone have any quick methods to learning these poems?
(edited 6 years ago)

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I wouldn't learn all of them, I'd learn three or four that you can link to anything and group them. That way you don't have too much to remember and if one of those three or four comes up in the exam you have something else to compare it to. For example, Ozymandias links to the power of nature, power in general, and time; Exposure links to conflict, nature, it has an overriding strong emotion, it links to war, and so on and so forth. I'm going to learn these two, The Emigree and probably My Last Duchess.
Hope this helps! c:
Original post by rebecca.jb
I wouldn't learn all of them, I'd learn three or four that you can link to anything and group them. That way you don't have too much to remember and if one of those three or four comes up in the exam you have something else to compare it to. For example, Ozymandias links to the power of nature, power in general, and time; Exposure links to conflict, nature, it has an overriding strong emotion, it links to war, and so on and so forth. I'm going to learn these two, The Emigree and probably My Last Duchess.
Hope this helps! c:


Thank you so much, throughout the anthology, there are about 4 main themes (power of humans, power of nature, power of war, and identity) so I'll pick a few from each that easily compare.

Good luck to you! :P
I swear its only 15 poems and you only get one in the exam not two???
Original post by pineapplepizza
Thank you so much, throughout the anthology, there are about 4 main themes (power of humans, power of nature, power of war, and identity) so I'll pick a few from each that easily compare.

Good luck to you! :P


Thanks, good luck to you too!
Original post by GJONES200
I swear its only 15 poems and you only get one in the exam not two???


my bad it is 15 poems, in the exam they will only give a blank copy of any one out of the 15, and you will have to be able to compare it to another one which we have to memorise quotes for.
Learn the basic points about each poem; what its about, context, and a poem you could compare it with. So for example, 'London' is about how the people in power are living on the pain and suffering of others - they abuse their power. This links to 'My last duchess' as the same thing happens; he abuses his power and gets the duchess killed.

Then you should also learn 2 or 3 quotes from each poem which can be compared to another similarly themed anthology poem. So for the example above, you'd get a quote from each poem which shows how they abuse their power, ''Runs in blood down palace walls'' ''I gave commands, then all smiles stopped altogether'' -- Both these poems have the theme of 'The power of humans'..
Original post by murdering
Learn the basic points about each poem; what its about, context, and a poem you could compare it with. So for example, 'London' is about how the people in power are living on the pain and suffering of others - they abuse their power. This links to 'My last duchess' as the same thing happens; he abuses his power and gets the duchess killed.

Then you should also learn 2 or 3 quotes from each poem which can be compared to another similarly themed anthology poem. So for the example above, you'd get a quote from each poem which shows how they abuse their power, ''Runs in blood down palace walls'' ''I gave commands, then all smiles stopped altogether'' -- Both these poems have the theme of 'The power of humans'..


This is a really good idea, and doesn't seem too time consuming, I shall try it. Thank you, & good luck! :smile:
Original post by GJONES200
I swear its only 15 poems and you only get one in the exam not two???


Yes you get one poem in the exam and have to compare it correctly with another poem with the same meaning and effect
I did my GCSEs this year and I picked 4 poems, and learnt about 6 key quotes from each poem and the techniques to go with them. I got an 8 so I believe this was a good way to learn poems, and then you can adapt the poems you have studied to suit the exam question :smile:
Our school hasn't taught us that yet
Reply 11
CupOfCaramel Which poems did you learn and what did they connect to?
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by rebecca.jb
I wouldn't learn all of them, I'd learn three or four that you can link to anything and group them. That way you don't have too much to remember and if one of those three or four comes up in the exam you have something else to compare it to. For example, Ozymandias links to the power of nature, power in general, and time; Exposure links to conflict, nature, it has an overriding strong emotion, it links to war, and so on and so forth. I'm going to learn these two, The Emigree and probably My Last Duchess.
Hope this helps! c:


Which ones did you learn?
Like what ones are the overall best to relate to everything else? Only 4?

I checked past papers and the questions are usually ‘Link another poem to so and so poem and compare the way they use the power of nature’

What if the so and so poem ( lol ) isn’t one I have studied??

I have 3 months left so I’d really appreciate it
I'm having a late mock on Feb 23rd, so I'm trying out the strategy of revising a few poems only. I'm revising 4 poems, which collectively can be compared with any poem in the whole cluster. I'm also doing this because I'm too lazy to revise all 15 poems - hehe... But I've always gotten 7s and 8s, so trust me on this one.

I'm learning Bayonet Charge, Poppies, London and Kamikaze. These 4 main poems compare with each other too, so you only need these 4.

Key: Main Poem, Other Poem, Theme.

Bayonet Charge compares with: Exposure, Charge of the Light Brigade, Remains, Poppies and Kamikaze. The themes connecting all of these poems are Reality of Conflict, Effects of Conflict, and Individual Experience.

Poppies compares with: London (Loss and Absence) and Bayonet Charge. It also compares with Kamikaze, Remains and War Photographer for 3 same themes - Effect of Conflict, Memory, and Individual Experience.

London compares with: Poppies, Checking Out Me History (Power of Humans, Anger), My Last Duchess (Abuse of Power), and The Prelude (Individual Experiences). It may also compare with Storm on the Island if you interpret the poems as being about political conflict, but this is quite hard to do.

Kamikaze compares with: Poppies, The Prelude (Power of Nature, Fear, Individual Experiences), Charge of the Light Brigade (common with Bayonet Charge), and Storm on the Island (Power of Nature).

Good luck for the actual GCSEs! :wink2:
Reply 14
Original post by Mehru1214
I'm having a late mock on Feb 23rd, so I'm trying out the strategy of revising a few poems only. I'm revising 4 poems, which collectively can be compared with any poem in the whole cluster. I'm also doing this because I'm too lazy to revise all 15 poems - hehe... But I've always gotten 7s and 8s, so trust me on this one.

I'm learning Bayonet Charge, Poppies, London and Kamikaze. These 4 main poems compare with each other too, so you only need these 4.

Key: Main Poem, Other Poem, Theme.

Bayonet Charge compares with: Exposure, Charge of the Light Brigade, Remains, Poppies and Kamikaze. The themes connecting all of these poems are Reality of Conflict, Effects of Conflict, and Individual Experience.

Poppies compares with: London (Loss and Absence) and Bayonet Charge. It also compares with Kamikaze, Remains and War Photographer for 3 same themes - Effect of Conflict, Memory, and Individual Experience.

London compares with: Poppies, Checking Out Me History (Power of Humans, Anger), My Last Duchess (Abuse of Power), and The Prelude (Individual Experiences). It may also compare with Storm on the Island if you interpret the poems as being about political conflict, but this is quite hard to do.

Kamikaze compares with: Poppies, The Prelude (Power of Nature, Fear, Individual Experiences), Charge of the Light Brigade (common with Bayonet Charge), and Storm on the Island (Power of Nature).

Good luck for the actual GCSEs! :wink2:


No need 2 learn Bayonet Charge as it was on the mock so won't be on real GCSE and how can u learn just 4 poems bc if one of the other ones comes up u won't be able 2 explain their quotes etc
Original post by Soroh Smith
No need 2 learn Bayonet Charge as it was on the mock so won't be on real GCSE and how can u learn just 4 poems bc if one of the other ones comes up u won't be able 2 explain their quotes etc


One poem is given in the exam, so you get its quotes from the paper, the other quotes from one of the 4 poems in ur head.
Original post by Oneiropólos
Which ones did you learn?
Like what ones are the overall best to relate to everything else? Only 4?

I checked past papers and the questions are usually ‘Link another poem to so and so poem and compare the way they use the power of nature’

What if the so and so poem ( lol ) isn’t one I have studied??

I have 3 months left so I’d really appreciate it


Sorry I took so long to reply! I haven’t been on here in ages and i’ve been very busy with a levels.

I did exactly what I said above: learnt those four poems and how they linked to all the others, and picked out different quotes on techniques and themes etc. I also got an 8 so I think it worked c:

Other things I did were practice analysis on every other poem (you don’t have to memorise them, but it helps to have an idea of which quotes to use) and make a mind map linking the themes between poems. Also, watch the Mr Bruff videos - it’s a cliche but it helps!

Hope this helps x good luck!
Original post by Mehru1214
I'm having a late mock on Feb 23rd, so I'm trying out the strategy of revising a few poems only. I'm revising 4 poems, which collectively can be compared with any poem in the whole cluster. I'm also doing this because I'm too lazy to revise all 15 poems - hehe... But I've always gotten 7s and 8s, so trust me on this one.

I'm learning Bayonet Charge, Poppies, London and Kamikaze. These 4 main poems compare with each other too, so you only need these 4.

Key: Main Poem, Other Poem, Theme.

Bayonet Charge compares with: Exposure, Charge of the Light Brigade, Remains, Poppies and Kamikaze. The themes connecting all of these poems are Reality of Conflict, Effects of Conflict, and Individual Experience.

Poppies compares with: London (Loss and Absence) and Bayonet Charge. It also compares with Kamikaze, Remains and War Photographer for 3 same themes - Effect of Conflict, Memory, and Individual Experience.

London compares with: Poppies, Checking Out Me History (Power of Humans, Anger), My Last Duchess (Abuse of Power), and The Prelude (Individual Experiences). It may also compare with Storm on the Island if you interpret the poems as being about political conflict, but this is quite hard to do.

Kamikaze compares with: Poppies, The Prelude (Power of Nature, Fear, Individual Experiences), Charge of the Light Brigade (common with Bayonet Charge), and Storm on the Island (Power of Nature).

Good luck for the actual GCSEs! :wink2:



That seems like a good lot, but what would you do if ozymandias comes up? Which poems can be compared to this? (I'm really paranoid about these bloody poems)
Personally I'm going to learn about 6 or 7 of the poems (roughly a third). The plan is to learn My Last Dutchess (themes of human nature, abuse of power and art), Ozymandias (Time, abuse of power, art), Exposure (nature, negive view point on war), Charge of the Light Bregrade (Glory and a positive view of War), Checking Out Me History or The Emigreé (Time, history and patriotism) and possibly Tissue but I haven't decide on that (it's mostly just human nature, power, religion and fragility but these aren't major themes).

There's no point learning remains of bayonet charge as remains was the poem for last year's exam and bayonet charmge was the mock exam
Original post by peachesforplums
That seems like a good lot, but what would you do if ozymandias comes up? Which poems can be compared to this? (I'm really paranoid about these bloody poems)


Ozymandias won't come up - It's in the specimen papers available online.

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