A Student's Guide to AQA Power and Conflict Poetry
- May 18
- 13 min read
There are fifteen poems in the AQA Power and Conflict cluster so, course, the idea of revising all of them is going to feel overwhelming.
However, once you understand what each poem is trying to say (and how they're all connected by similar themes ) it becomes much easier to remember them.
This guide will help you get there.
Ozymandias
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
This poem describes a broken statue in the middle of the desert: what’s left of a once powerful king. All that remains is “a shattered visage,” with “a sneer of cold command,” suggesting he was arrogant, even cruel. His power might have seemed unstoppable at the time, but now? Just ruins. The message feels clear: no matter how mighty you are, time and nature will outlast you. Human power doesn’t stick around forever.
One of the most powerful lines is the inscription on the statue: “Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!” It sounds commanding and proud, but there’s a bitter irony in it. There’s nothing left. His “works” are gone. It turns what was meant to be a boast into a warning about pride and ambition.
Shelley uses strong imagery to show the emptiness: “The lone and level sands stretch far away.” The landscape has completely taken over. Nature has erased the ruler’s legacy without effort.
Themes: Power, pride, decay and nature’s dominance.
Language: Shelley uses irony and vivid imagery. The poem is a sonnet, but not a romantic one: it’s more of a critique. The structure feels controlled, but the message is about how control can collapse.
Context: Shelley was a Romantic poet and didn’t trust authority. He often challenged ideas of kingship and empire. This poem reflects those beliefs as it's clear that he’s not mourning the fall of a tyrant.
Compare with: My Last Duchess (both focus on powerful men who wanted control and whose legacies are more disturbing than glorious).
London
by William Blake
This poem feels like a slow, heavy walk through the city, where every street seems weighed down by misery.
Blake paints a picture of suffering that isn’t just personal: it’s everywhere and it’s caused by systems meant to protect people.
He’s angry and it shows.
The repetition of the word “chartered” in “chartered Thames does flow” and “chartered street” really drives home the idea of control. Everything, even the river, is owned or restricted by those in power. It’s unnatural. Rivers are supposed to be free, right? But not here. It makes the city feel claustrophobic and regulated.
Blake also describes seeing “marks of weakness, marks of woe” on the faces of everyone he passes. It’s subtle but powerful. These “marks” aren’t just signs of sadness: they're like permanent imprints of pain, as if society itself has stamped suffering onto its people.
And then there's “the mind-forged manacles.” This line stands out. Blake suggests people are trapped by invisible chains: not physical ones, but mental ones created by government, religion and social expectations. It’s a striking image of how power can control not just our actions, but our thoughts.
Themes: Oppression, control, suffering and anger.
Language: Repetition builds tension. Blake uses stark, emotive language and imagery to show a city full of psychological and physical pain. The tone is hopeless and bitter.
Context: Blake lived in London during a time of rapid change. He saw industrialisation and the rise of institutions like the Church and monarchy as deeply damaging. He was especially critical of how the poor were treated.
Compare with: Checking Out Me History (both challenge systems of power and show how authority can control what people see, believe, or become).
Tissue
by Imtiaz Dharker
Possibly one of the most challenging poems in the AQA Power and Conflict Poetry Anthology. This poem is quiet. Reflective. It doesn’t shout its message but lets it unfold gently.
Dharker explores how fragile paper is… and how fragile human systems are, too. Everything we build, including cities, borders and beliefs, can be torn apart just as easily.
The line “paper thinned by age or touching” captures that fragility beautifully. Paper can hold maps, receipts, histories but is still so delicate. The poem uses paper as a metaphor for the things we think are solid but aren’t.
There’s no clear story, no character. Just an idea: what if we let things be softer, less rigid? Would that make us stronger?
Themes: Fragility, power and identity.
Language: Extended metaphor, gentle rhythm and a soft tone. The structure flows like a series of thoughts.
Context: Dharker often writes about culture, identity and the human condition.
Compare with: Ozymandias (both remind us that nothing, not even power, lasts forever).
Extract from The Prelude
by William Wordsworth
This extract captures a moment when nature stops being gentle and suddenly becomes something huge and overwhelming.
The speaker is rowing a boat across a lake, feeling calm and confident, but then a massive mountain appears on the horizon and everything changes.
He describes it as “a huge peak, black and huge.” It’s a strange phrase, kind of clumsy, but that’s what makes it feel honest. Like the speaker is struggling to find words for something that shook him deeply. That mountain becomes more than a landscape; it’s a symbol of something bigger, something that reminds him how small he really is.
By the end of the extract, nature has gone from peaceful to powerful, maybe even threatening. It’s a moment that stays with him and may changes his perspective in the future.
Themes: Nature, power, fear and memory.
Language: Long sentences that echo the movement of rowing. Personification makes the mountain feel alive.
Context: Wordsworth was a Romantic poet. He believed in learning from nature, and that powerful emotions often came from personal experience.
Compare with: Storm on the Island (both poems show nature as something we think we understand… until we don’t).
The Charge of the Light Brigade
by Alfred Lord Tennyson
This one’s about a group of soldiers who ride straight into danger because they were given the wrong orders. And they don’t question it. They just go. It’s brave, but also tragic.
Tennyson makes you feel the energy, the movement and the chaos of what they’re doing.
The line “Rode the six hundred” is repeated like a drumbeat. It builds rhythm, like hoofbeats pounding the ground and reminds us just how many were involved. The repetition creates tension and momentum, but it also acts like a chant: a kind of tribute to their courage.
There’s pride in the poem, but there’s also something sad underneath. These men followed orders, even when those orders led them straight into death. You’re not really told how to feel about this... and maybe that’s the point.
Themes: Bravery, honour, sacrifice and conflict.
Language: Repetition and fast-paced rhythm mimic the energy of battle. Heroic language, but not without a hint of regret.
Context: Tennyson wrote this after the real Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War but it's important to note that he wanted to honour the soldiers, not the mistake.
Compare with: Bayonet Charge (both explore soldiers in combat...but from very different emotional angles).
My Last Duchess
by Robert Browning
At first, it feels like the Duke is just showing off a painting of his late wife. But as he keeps talking, things start to feel… wrong. He didn’t like her smiling at other people. Or blushing. Or being kind, really. He thought it was disrespectful, even though she was just being warm.
Then he says, “I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together.” And that’s the line that turns the whole poem. Suddenly we realise that he probably had her killed. It’s chilling because he says it so casually, like it’s just another decision he made.
Now the Duchess is a painting behind a curtain and he can control who sees her. She's become something he owns and can show off... without any of the things that annoyed him when she was alive.
Themes: Power, control, pride and jealousy.
Language: It’s a dramatic monologue, so we only hear the Duke’s voice and this makes it even creepier. The enjambment (lines running over) reflects how he keeps talking, barely thinking.
Context: Browning was interested in power and how it affects people, especially people in positions of wealth and authority.
Compare with: Ozymandias (both poems explore how men try to control how they’re remembered).
The Emigree
by Carol Rumens
This one’s all about memory. The speaker remembers the city they left as a child: a place they still love deeply, even though it might now be dangerous. The interesting thing is, we don’t know the city’s name. It could be anywhere. The point is more emotional than geographical.
“Sunlight” is repeated throughout the poem. Everything is bathed in it and even the negative things are softened by the speaker’s memory. You get the sense that this isn’t just nostalgia, it’s something more powerful. A refusal to let go.
The poem suggests that our identity can be shaped by places we don’t even live in anymore but that you carry somewhere inside you forever.
Themes: Memory, identity, exile and loss.
Language: Repetition, light imagery and personification. The tone shifts between warmth and unease.
Context: Rumens said she wanted the city to feel universal and to stand for anyone who’s ever had to leave home.
Compare with: Poppies (both explore the pain of separation and how we hold on to what we’ve lost).
Exposure
by Wilfred Owen
This one’s quiet, cold and still and focuses on waiting. Soldiers are stuck in trenches during WWI, freezing and slowly falling apart because of the weather and their fear. One of the most important features of this poem is the repetition of the line, “But nothing happens.” It’s haunting.
Nature is the real enemy here. The wind is described as “merciless,” the snow “pale flakes with fingering stealth.” It’s like the weather has turned into something alive and cruel. There’s no glory and no action. Just exhaustion, confusion and numbness.
It’s not an easy poem to read, but that’s probably the point. Owen doesn’t want you to feel proud or inspired. He wants you to feel cold, tired and hopeless.
Just like the soldiers.
Themes: Suffering, nature, fear and futility
Language: The mood is bleak. Repetition builds tension and reflects the endless waiting. Personification makes nature feel threatening.
Context: Owen wrote this poem because he fought in WWI and wanted to show the real horrors of war, not the version people were being told back home. Unfortunately, he was killed on 4th November 1918, just a week before the war ended.
Compare with: Remains (both show how war affects people long after the moment has passed).
Storm on the Island
by Seamus Heaney
At the start, this poem sounds confident and the speaker tells us they’re prepared for the storm: “we are prepared.” However, as the storm builds, that certainty fades and the language becomes more violent and more chaotic.
The storm is described as “spits like a tame cat turned savage" which is a strange image, but it works. Something familiar suddenly feels dangerous. The wind becomes almost like a person: aggressive and unpredictable. By the end of the poem you realise that they might not have been as prepared as they thought.
There’s no neat ending. Just fear and isolation. And that last line, “it is a huge nothing that we fear,” leaves you thinking. Maybe it’s not just about weather.
Themes: Nature, fear, isolation and power
Language: Conversational tone, violent metaphors, enjambment reflects natural speech and chaos.
Context: Heaney grew up in rural Northern Ireland. Some people read the storm as a metaphor for political conflict, but it works literally too.
Compare with: The Prelude (both explore how nature can shift suddenly from peaceful to terrifying).
Checking Out Me History
by John Agard
This poem doesn’t hide its frustration. The speaker is angry about the version of history he was taught: one that left out important Black figures and focused instead on white, often British, stories. “Dem tell me” is repeated, like a beat, like a challenge.
Agard contrasts this with vivid, powerful descriptions of people like Toussaint L’Ouverture and Mary Seacole. The tone lifts when he talks about them and it’s like light finally getting in. This isn’t just a poem about anger. It’s also about discovery and pride.
Language is key here. Agard uses non-standard English to take control of the voice and push back against traditional rules. It’s about owning your identity and your history.
Themes: Identity, power, history and resistance.
Language: Repetition, metaphor and a contrast in tone and rhythm. Uses Caribbean dialect and musical phrasing
.Context: Agard grew up in British Guiana, moved to the UK and often writes about cultural identity and colonialism.
Compare with: London (both poems challenge the way power shapes what we’re allowed to know or remember).
Remains
by Simon Armitage
At first, this poem sounds like a story about a soldier casually remembering a moment in battle...but then it shifts. That memory won’t go away. It plays on a loop in his head and you realise, by the end, that this isn’t just a memory. It’s trauma.
The line “his bloody life in my bloody hands” comes at the end and is repeated and loaded with guilt. It’s hard to read because it’s brutally honest and, although he tries to sound detached, the emotion keeps creeping in.
This poem doesn't just describe one moment in war: it's about what comes after and how the war doesn’t stop when the soldier goes home. It follows him.
Themes: Guilt, trauma, memory and war.
Language: Everyday speech, repetition, vivid and graphic images. The tone shifts from casual to haunted.
Context: Based on interviews with real soldiers, Armitage wrote this poem as he wanted to explore the mental scars of war, not just the physical ones.
Compare with: War Photographer (both show how people carry the weight of conflict long after it ends).
Bayonet Charge
by Ted Hughes
This poem throws you straight into the middle of a battlefield. A soldier is running forward, but his thoughts are a mess. He’s scared. Confused. There’s no time to think: just panic.
Lines like “sweating like molten iron,” make him sound less like a person and more like a machine. There’s no glory here - just instinct and survival.
The rhythm is broken and jagged, full of dashes and pauses which mirrors the chaos in his head and the chaos around him. There’s a hare described as “threshing” in pain — and that moment somehow says more about the horror of war than anything else.
Themes: Fear, confusion, instinct and war.
Language: Disjointed rhythm, strong verbs, physical imagery. The language feels breathless, panicked.
Context: Hughes didn’t fight in a war, but he was fascinated by raw experience and primal fear.
Compare with: The Charge of the Light Brigade (they're both about soldiers in action but the tone couldn’t be more different).
Poppies
by Jane Weir
This poem looks at war from a different perspective - a mother watching her son go off to fight. She tries to hold it together, but there’s grief and fear in everything she does. From pinning a poppy to his shirt to brushing dust off his collar, every detail feels loaded with meaning.
There’s a moment where she talks about releasing a songbird from its cage and it’s clear she’s talking about letting him go. Not just physically, but emotionally. It’s painful.
You never hear from the son. He’s just… gone. And what’s left is her memory, her love and a sense of silent waiting for something (and someone) she'll never have again.
Themes: Loss, memory, motherhood and war.
Language: Symbolism, sensory language, gentle tone. The images are soft but deeply emotional.
Context: Written for Armistice Day, this poem reflects the hidden cost of war on those who stay behind.
Compare with: Kamikaze (both show how war changes families and how absence shapes everything).
Kamikaze
by Beatrice Garland
A Japanese pilot sets off on a suicide mission in WWII but, halfway through, he turns back. However, that choice costs him everything as, when he returns home, his family act as if he’s dead. He chose life and he survives... but he’s cut off from the people he loves.
It’s heartbreaking.
The poem reflects on why he might have changed his mind. It’s filled with natural imagery, such as, “green-blue translucent sea" and “flashing silver” fish and you can almost feel the pull of life, of beauty and of memory. He sees all the things he’d lose if he kept going.
It’s a quiet tragedy and one that asks hard questions about honour, duty and and what it means (and costs) to do the right thing.
Themes: Choice, shame, family and conflict.
Language: Natural imagery, shifting perspectives and a gentle tone. It’s told through the eyes of his daughter, years later.
Context: Garland based her poem on the true stories of Kamikaze pilots and imagines the emotional impact rather than just the facts.
Compare with: Poppies (both show the human cost of war from the perspective of those left behind).
War Photographer
by Carol Ann Duffy
A man develops photographs in a darkroom, quietly reflecting on the horror he’s seen. He’s been to war zones, witnessed suffering of others up close and now he’s back... trying to make sense of it all.
The line “a hundred agonies in black and white” really stands out and makes it clear that these photos aren't just images. They’re moments of pain and real lives but, even so, he's clearly aware that the people who view them will probably just glance at the pictures, then turn away. This demonstrates the huge gap between the world he’s just come from and the world he’s returned to and it's clear that he feels caught in between.
Themes: Guilt, suffering, detachment and conflict.
Language: Contrasts between war and peace, formal tone and vivid imagery. There’s a stillness in the language, but it’s heavy.
Context: Duffy was inspired by real war photographers and the emotional cost of witnessing suffering again and again.
Compare with: Remains (both show how violence affects those who see it, even if they’re not the ones fighting).
Revision and Exam Tips for AQA Power and Conflict Poetry
Group poems by theme. Instead of learning each one separately, link them through ideas like power, conflict, nature or memory.
Use flashcards. Put the poem title on one side and key themes, techniques or context on the other.
Mind maps help. Visual learners often benefit from colour-coded diagrams that link poems through comparison.
Know your comparisons. You won’t be comparing all fifteen poems so try and focus on 4 - 5 pairs of poems and practise writing about their similarities and differences.
Quote wisely. You don’t need to memorise whole poems. Learn 2 or 3 key quotes from each and make sure you understand them.
Practise short answers. Even writing just a paragraph now and then is better than nothing. It's about confidence.
Read aloud. Hearing the poems can help you understand tone and emotion better than reading silently.
In the exam: Read the question carefully. Start with what the poem is saying, then bring in your comparison.
Final Thoughts
Don't just think about the poems as lines on a page. Imagine they are song lyrics and think about what the poets are trying to say. What is their message? What are they trying to express or show you about the world?" Once that clicks, everything else starts to fall into place.
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