English Literature Power and Conflict - context

• Kamikaze - Beatrice Garland


  Set in Japan WW2, when the emperor ordered (in desperation) Japanese pilots to fly directly into enemy war ships in suicide missions. At the time, if anyone refused, they were deemed cowards and shunned/outcast from society.
• Checking Out Me History - John Agard


  Agard's poetry challenges racism and prejudice, and often explores identity and feeling out of place in Britain.
• The Emigree - Carol Rumens


  The home country is not revealed: this ambiguity gives the poem a timeless relevance that's increasingly relevant to many people in current world climate.
• Tissue - Imtiaz Dharker


  Dharker was born in Pakistan and grew up in Glasgow and draws on her multicultural experience throughout her work. This poem comes from a collection that questions how well we know the people around us, and how well we understand ourselves and the fragility of humanity.
• War Photographer - Carol Ann Duffy


  Duffy was the Poet Laureate and was inspired to write this poem by her friendship with a war photographer. She was intrigued by the challenge faced by people whose job requires them to record horrific events without being able to help. The location is ambiguous and therefore universal.
• Poppies - Jane Weir


  The conflict is deliberately ambiguous to give the poem a timeless relevance to all mothers and families, as Weir said she wanted 'to explore the universal experience of loss'.
• Remains - Simon Armitage


  From a collection of poems called 'The Not Dead'. Remains explores a soldier opening fire on a looter and then struggling with PTSD after. Armitage said 'These are poems of survivors - the damaged, exhausted men who return from war in body, but never, wholly, in mind.
• Bayonet Charge - Ted Hughes


  Most likely set in WW1, as Hughes' father survived the battle of Gallipoli so he may have wanted to draw attention to the hardships of trench warfare. Famously soldiers were mown down by machine guns.
• Storm on the Island - Seamus Heaney


  The poem was published in 1966 at the start of 'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland: a period of violence between those who wanted to remain part of the UK and those who wanted to become part of Ireland. The first 8 letters of the title spell 'Stormont', which is the name of Northern Ireland's parliament.
• Exposure - Wilfred Owen


  Written in 1917 before Owen went on to win the Military Cross for bravery, and was then tragically killed in battle in 1918, just one week before the war ended. There were many needless deaths due to the mismanagement of the war, as no one expected soldier's to die to the elements.
• The Charge of the Light Brigade - Alfred Lord Tennyson


  As poet Laureate, he had a responsibility to inspire the nation and portray the war in a positive light: propaganda. Although Tennyson glorifies the soldiers who took part, he also draws attention to the fact that a commander had made a mistake. The poem describes a disastrous battle between the British cavalry and Russian forces during the Crimean War when a terrible misunderstanding led to soldiers going into a valley surrounded by guns with only swords.
• My Last Duchess - Robert Browning


  Browning was a British poet that lived in Italy. Browning may have been inspired by the story of an Italian Duke (Duke of Ferrara): his wife died in suspicious circumstances and it was rumoured that she had been poisoned.
• The Prelude - William Wordsworth


  William Wordsworth was born and lived in the Lake District and this background greatly influences his writing and appreciation of nature. He was one of the first romantic poets.
• London - William Blake


  Published in 1792, a time of great poverty in many parts of London. Much of Blake's work was influenced by his radical political views: he believed in social equality. This is because he was a romantic poet who was very anti-establishment. These views were considered to be treasonous at the time, so he disguised all of his messages in metaphors. He was also previously arrested for sedition.
• Ozymandias - Percy Bysshe Shelley


  Shelley was a poet of the 'Romantic period' (late 1700s and early 1800s). Romantic poets were interested in emotion and the power of nature. Shelley also disliked the concept of a monarchy and the oppression of ordinary people. He had been inspired by the French Revolution. The poem is based on the Pharaoh Ramses II, but could be an allegory for King George III.