URGENT- Would anyone be willing to mark some English essays?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
(GCSE)

Could you mark these please?: 😁
Compare the way that poets present memories in 'Remains' and one other poem from 'Power and Conflict'. [30 marks]
The poem 'Remains' describes the traumatic experiences of Guardsman Tromans, a British soldier who fought in Iraq and was sent out to kill a looter robbing a bank. He is haunted by the vivid memories of killing a possibly unarmed man. The poem 'War Photographer' also discusses the theme of memories. The memories of the levels of suffering in warzones is shown to have a profound effect on the war photographer and he begins to question society and morality.
In Remains, memories are presented as having a powerful and long-lasting effect on humans. The narrator says 'I see every round as it rips through his life'. The vivid recollection of this violent experience shows the profound effect that it had on him, and also the usage of present tense (although this likely happened a few months ago), reflects how he is constantly haunted by reliving the traumatic event. He can remember that the looter was lying 'sort of inside out'. This almost child-like description of the dead body reflects how he does not have the vocabulary to describe the suffering him and his fellow soldiers have inflicted on a 'possibly' unarmed civilian. The man's 'blood-shadow' haunts the soldier, as he is forced to walk past it every day, serving as a physical reminder of the killing. The ground being stained with blood could represent how the brutal killing sticks in his mind, 'dug in behind enemy lines', day after day, even when he returns home (hence the military metaphor). 'Enemy lines' suggests the soldier feels the memory has the potential to destroy him.
The poem War Photographer also presents memories as having a significant effect on humans. Although the photographer has returned to his peaceful, home country of 'Rural England', he cannot escape the images of suffering that he has witnessed whilst going about his duties in unnamed warzones. Whilst looking at some pictures, which he emotively describes as 'spools of suffering', he has a flashback to a man dying, now a 'half-formed ghost' (he has been mutilated and is now dead), and the cries of his wife. He is compared to a soldier- 'He has a job to do', and there is no time for emotion. It is only when he returns to his darkroom, 'finally alone' to process his thoughts and experiences, where his hands start to 'tremble'. Perhaps this is due to the desensitisation he experienced in the warzone, but after having went home to his relatively peaceful life in England, the desensitisation has worn off and he is now able to fully understand the horrors he has witnessed. 'A hundred agonies in black and white' (emotive language), suggests he is now feeling the full force of his emotions, as the memories being printed out into images has solidified the suffering, and attempted to organise the chaos he has seen. 'black and white' could alternatively imply that he feels the images would be too enotionally painful to look at if they were put into colour.
Remains also suggests some level of a delayed emotional reaction to the killing, meaning the memory was more scarring than the experience. After having been in an area of conflict for so long, the soldiers have become used to witnessing such agonies, and it is a normal part of their jobs (hence 'On another occasion'). One of the soldiers with him 'tosses [the looter's] guts back into his body'. The jarring lack of care for another person presented in this poem may suggest that the poet feels that war results in the devaluation of human life, as death becomes so common. This image forces the reader to think of binmen, pouring rubbish into a bin truck. The soldier had expected that going home would be the end of his guilt and regret, as 'Then I'm home on leave.' is a short, straightforward sentence, with a full stop (caesura) in the middle of the line. He had expected a simple ending. But it is not, and the memory had a more significant effect than the actual killing. After he returns home, he develops PTSD, and turns to 'drink and drugs' in an attempt to 'flush out' the memory of the looter. 'Flush out' is a military term, which means to bombard the enemy in the hopes that they will retreat. The usage of military terminology (again) when he is no longer fighting reflects that he has not escaped and is ever-haunted by the experience. The poem ends by describing the moment as still feeling as though it is 'here and now'.
The memories of suffering in the war zones are also shown to be significant to the war photographer in the sense that they have changed his perception of his home country of England. This idea is first introduced over the course of the first two stanzas. In the first stanza, names of countries experiencing civil wars (often considered to be the worst type of wars as they only harm the country's own people) are listed one after another, followed by full stops to force the reader to consider such conflict and those affected by it (which is the purpose of the poem). Fricative alliteration makes these names sound jarring. In the second stanza, embedded in the middle of the line, a peaceful area, 'Rural England' is mentioned. These soft sounds contrast the relatively luxurious and pleasant lifestyle in the western world with life in other countries, where people experience great hardships on a day to day basis. The war photographer now feels isolated from the typical person in his country, who he believes only experience 'ordinary pain, which simple weather can dispel'. The last stanza criticises the average news reader and media-producer in the West. The reader's eyes 'prick' with tears (suggesting a very small and brief amount of pain), before they are soon washed away again by 'beers'. The rhyme of 'tears' and beers' further accelerates up the sentence, reflecting the speed at which people forget about the suffering they have heard about in 'foreign' countries. The poem ends with the war photographer staring 'impassively' out of the window of a plane. He feels disillusioned with the society he was brought up in, and hates the lack of care for others of the people around him. He feels it is his duty and responsibility to do the work that he does, despite the moral conflict he experiences, but he ultimately knows it is futile. The poet feels that such apathy from the general public towards foreign conflicts is a general problem that has existed throughout time, as no specific war is named, making it universally applicable.
In conclusion, both poems present memories as having a significant and long-lasting impact on people. War Photographer focuses on how the photographer's worldview has been affected by the inhumane actions he has witnessed in warzones, whereas Remains mainly focuses on the individual experiences of a soldier sent out to fight in Iraq and his personal guilt throughout the poem as he regrets his actions of shooting a looter.
"Striving for power is ultimately pointless."
Using this statement as a starting point, compare the presentation of human power in 'Ozymandias' and one other poem from 'Power and Conflict'.
Remember to comment on how the poems are written. [30 marks]
The poem Ozymandias decribes the remains of a fallen statue of an ancient, powerful, Greek ruler, Ozymandias. All his work has crumbled and nothing left remains. In this poem, human struggle for power is presented as being ultimately futile as other forces outside of human control will eventually destroy individual human power. The poem 'The Prelude' also describes the limitations of human power, focusing on a narration of a young boy stealing a boat, with the illusion of his dominance over nature.
The king in the poem Ozymandias believed that his power could conquer anything, even other rulers and time itself. Ozymandias is shown to have challenged other kings during his lifetime (he believed himself to be 'king of kings'). However, the enemy he could not defeat was nature and the passage of time. The poem shows that all man-made institutions will eventually fall. The once grand works are now nothing but a 'colossal wreck'. This alludes to the Colossus, a statue in Rome which was built to show its wealth and prosperity to the world. It eventually collapsed (although it would still be part of people's education at the time the poem was written, which does indicate that art, statues and teaching can preserve some element of human creation even after the power the previously had is long gone. Ozymandias is presented as a fool for believing in the illusion of human power, as on the pedastal of his statue is written 'Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair'. This is ironic, as in hindsight we know that it is Ozymandias who should despair, as all of his 'works' are gone. This poem was written as it was predicted that the Duke of Wellington (who had defeated Napoleon) would become the next prime minister. Some feared that they would be governed by the military and the country would become a dictatorship. Perhaps this is a warning to those in power to not abuse the control they have over people, as any success they may achieve will eventually disappear.
The narrator of The Prelude also believed in the illusion of human power. This idea is shown from the first line in the poem- 'On a summer evening (led by her), I found'. 'A summer evening' creates a romantic setting. He is almost in love with nature, and it is personified as her. He describes him going towards the boat as being 'led by her'. This suggests he almost envisions himself as being equal to and in harmony with nature, and they are holding hands. This also suggests a sense of control- nature was leading him all along, but he did not stop to consider it. The words are put in brackets, which shows how he had ignored nature's dominance over humanity. He is overconfident at the start of the poem, and is 'proud of his skill' of being able to row the boat 'in an unswerving line'. Like in Ozymandias, this illusion breaks down towards the end of the poem- he eventually becomes aware of the 'mighty forms' of nature 'that do not live / Like living men'. His thoughts are troubled and he cannot rest for days, symbolising the power of nature over humanity.
In the poem Ozymandias, the power of humans is shown as being subordinate to the power of natural forces such as nature and the passage of time. This is most clearly exemplified during the final sentences of the poem. In a stark contrast to the ruler's grand proclamation about his power that is written on the pedastal, the next line says 'Nothing beside remains'. The suddenness of this line reflects how brief any power that can be held by humans is in relation to the length of time that nature has existed. The desert symbolises the strength of nature. All around the fallen statue, 'The lone and level sands stretch far away'. The two alliterations of 'lone and level' and 'sands stretch' reflect the vast expanse of the desert. Nature is colossal in contrast to any human creations. The passage of time is described as the ultimate destroyer of all things- Ozymandias is no longer relevant. The statue of him was seen by someone from an 'antique' land. Another theorised purpose of this poem is to criticise the power of the Church and organised religion in Europe. It is likely that Shelley believed that the Church's power would eventually disappear like all other human creations.
Nature's ability to dominate over humanity is also shown in 'The Prelude'. The volta of this poem is in line 21, where the young boy finally realises the enormity of the mountain. He is left 'trembling', and his previous understanding of the world is shattered. Limitations in human comprehension are shown- people are incapable of fully realising the power of nature. The narrator says that in his mind, 'There hung a darkness, call it solitude / Or blank desertion'. This isolation and emptiness described in this statement reflects that he does not know what to think of. As he describes his new view of nature, he says that there are 'No pleasant images of trees', 'No colours of green fields'. The repetition of 'No' reflects how the narrator can only list what there is not, rather than what there is. The power of nature is too immense to be percieved by the human mind. He is left 'in grave / And serious mood'. The word 'grave' could link to how all humans will at some point die, and all their works will be destroyed and forgot about, like Ozymandias', whereas 'nature' as a collective, represented by the mountain in the Prelude and the desert in Ozymandias, will last for eternity.
Both poems describe nature as having power over humanity, and portray any influence humans can have over the world as being comparatively limited. Both narrators suggests that ideas of conquering nature and time are merely a fabricated illusion. The Prelude implies that nature is so powerful that humans cannot comprehend its scale. Both poems serve as a warning to rulers and people in positions of influence that they cannot have dominance over nature and should not try to. All human power will ultimately be destroyed and human efforts to preserve it are pointless.

I think they're both really good, you make some great points. Well done! Personally I would say definitely grade 9, so a 26 out of 30 AT WORST, and 28/29 at best. It's not like there's anything much you can improve on now to get 30/30. Most people don't get fullmarks even if it's a great essay so don't worry about that. Just continue doing what you're doing. Practice papers are the key to be honest. But try and read some poetry yourself and practice analysing it yourself. Hope that helps and well done

Thank very much! 😀
I have found loads of practice questions from a textbook and they're really really useful for revision.
Thank you for marking and giving feedback🙂