Miss Lynch's KS4 Class of 2019 English Blog

Kamikaze Ideological power (Japanese culture of honour and the impact of shame) and the impact that society has on family members. The pilot suffers from inner conflict as he wishes to live but also honour his country, his inner conflict is not resolved due to his family ostracizing him and so “he wondered which had been the better way to die”. We never hear from the pilot, the effect of this is to silence his voice from the reader and show his isolation – as we hear of him but not from him, he does not have a voice, he has been silenced. The reader could interpret his actions as powerful as he does not conform to the cultural pressure to be a suicide bomber despite his “shaved head and powerful incantations”. The poem shows the power of the family which is stronger for him than state power. Nature’s beauty and preciousness as shown through the “silver” fish helps the pilot to turn around. Nature has a positive role in this poem.

The Prelude is a poem which explores the power of experiences and our inability to forget them as they are “huge”. Similarly Poppies also explores the experiences of the speaker and her inability to move on from the memories of her son who she has lost at war, however it differs in that Poppies is from the perspective of something outwith the main experience(that of war) thus highlighting the many different people that are affected by an experience that they are not even present at, whereas The Prelude is focused on one person’s experience and their internal conflicts and journey.

Tissue is a poem which explores the ultimate powerlessness of humans as we are reminded repeatedly of the process of “thinning”. Similarly Bayonet Charge also explores the eventual powerlessness of humans as the soldier begins “running” but them is reduced to “stumbling”, however it differs in that Bayonet Charge highlights human beings’ negative impact on the world whereas Tissue reminds us of the many positive things we have built from “maps” to the “Koran”.

My Last Duchess is a poem which explores the conflict in the relationship between the powerful duke and the powerless duchess. Similarly Ozymandius also explores a power imbalance, this time between the dictator and his “lifeless things”, however it differs in that Ozymandius is not the most powerful in the poem   (as the Duke is), as Ozymandius’ power is overtaken by Nature whose “lone and level sands drift on”. London is a poem which explores the negative effects of powerful institutions of the church and monarchy on “every infant” and “every man”. Similarly Charge of the Light Brigade also explores the power of the institution of the army – specifically the leadership, whose commands are for the soldiers “not to question why”, however it differs in that The Charge of the Light Brigade explicitly highlights the loss of life that occurs due to bad leadership from powerful institutions, whereas London merely hints at this when it talks of the “blood runs down the palace walls”.