Power and Conflict: Comparing the Poems

Paper 2 Section B is the poetry anthology question. It prints one named poem from your studied cluster and asks you to compare it with one other poem you choose from the same cluster. A typical wording is: "Compare how poets present the ways people are affected by conflict in 'Kamikaze' and in one other poem from 'Power and Conflict'."

The question is worth 30 marks and assesses three Assessment Objectives:

AO	What it rewards	Marks
AO1	Informed personal response, supported by well-chosen references	12
AO2	Analysis of the poets' methods (form, structure, language) with terminology	12
AO3	Understanding of the contexts in which the poems were written	6

AO2 and AO1 carry the most marks, so most of your writing should analyse how each poet creates meaning, not just what each poem is about. AO3 (context) is worth less, so weave it in briefly where it genuinely deepens a point rather than bolting on a paragraph of history.

The named poem is printed for you (the exam is closed book). The second poem is not printed, so you must know your chosen comparison poems well enough to quote from memory.

You cannot revise every possible pairing, so learn the cluster as thematic groups. When the printed poem appears, you pick a second poem from the same group. Many poems sit in more than one group, which gives you flexible choices.

Theme	Poems that fit	The shared idea
The power of nature	Ozymandias, The Prelude, Storm on the Island, Exposure	Nature overwhelms human effort and control
Human and political power	Ozymandias, London, My Last Duchess, Tissue, Checking Out Me History	Power is temporary, corrupting, or built on control of others
The reality of conflict	The Charge of the Light Brigade, Exposure, Bayonet Charge, Remains	What fighting is actually like: fear, chaos, futility
The effects of conflict	Remains, War Photographer, Poppies, Kamikaze, The Emigree	The lasting damage war does to individuals and families

Ozymandias appears twice because it is about both the arrogance of a tyrant (human power) and how the desert has buried his statue (nature's power). Knowing these overlaps means you almost always have a valid partner poem.

A weak answer summarises poem one, then summarises poem two. A strong answer is integrated: it makes a point about an idea, then shows how both poets use methods to present that idea, drawing out a similarity and a difference.

Method means anything a poet does on purpose: form (the type of poem and its shape on the page), structure (the order of ideas, stanza pattern, line length, rhyme), and language (imagery, sound, word choice, voice). Name the technique with the correct term and define it if it is unusual.

A reliable point structure:

1. State a shared idea (the comparison).
2. Name a method poem A uses and quote briefly.
3. Analyse the effect of that method.
4. Show how poem B presents the same idea with a similar or different method, quoting briefly.
5. Analyse that effect and, where it helps, add a short contextual link (AO3).

The exam skill is comparison of methods. AQA's own guidance stresses linking what a poet does to how they do it and why, so every method you name must connect to the poet's message.

Both poems are about human power and its abuse, so they make a natural pairing. Both are public-domain poems, so we can quote a little more freely, but keep quotations short and always analyse them.

Shared idea: powerful men try to control how they are remembered, and the poem exposes their arrogance.

Feature	Ozymandias (Shelley, 1818)	My Last Duchess (Browning, 1842)
Voice	A traveller retells the story, distancing us from the king	A dramatic monologue: the Duke speaks directly, revealing himself
Key method	The sonnet form and the ruined statue mock the tyrant	Enjambment and rhyming couplets show a controlling mind
The power	Time and nature have destroyed his empire	The Duke controls his wife's image even after her death

Shelley uses irony: the boastful command "Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!" survives only on a "colossal Wreck" where "nothing beside remains". The gap between the king's arrogance and the empty desert exposes how power decays. The sonnet form, usually used for love, is turned to mockery.

Browning uses a dramatic monologue (a poem spoken by a single character who unintentionally reveals their true nature). The Duke's smooth enjambment (where a sentence runs over the line break without pause) makes his speech sound controlled and reasonable, yet he casually admits "I gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together"—a chilling hint that he had his wife killed for not showing him enough deference.

Comparison: both poets present male power as fragile or monstrous, but Shelley shows power defeated by time while Browning shows power still active and dangerous in the present. The contrast in whether power is punished is the heart of a strong answer.

AO3 is only 6 of the 30 marks, so context should sharpen a point, never replace analysis. Link the context to the poet's message.

Poem	Useful context	How to use it
Ozymandias	Written in 1817 as ancient Egyptian sculpture arrived in Britain; Shelley distrusted tyrants	Explains the poem's mockery of rulers who think they are eternal
London	Blake wrote during the Industrial Revolution and was angered by poverty and church hypocrisy	Explains the "mind-forg'd manacles" that trap Londoners
Remains	Armitage drew on soldiers' accounts for a TV project on conflict	Explains the poem's focus on lasting trauma, not battlefield glory
Kamikaze	Draws on Japanese WWII pilots and the shame culture around failed missions	Explains why the pilot's family treat him "as though he no longer existed"

For the in-copyright modern poems, keep quotations to a few words embedded in your own sentence, as above. One short, well-analysed phrase earns more than a copied stanza.

A single sentence of context that unlocks a poet's purpose is worth more than a paragraph of biography. Ask: does this fact change how I read the method?

You have roughly 45 minutes for this question. A dependable shape:

1. Comparative opening statement: connect both poems thematically in one or two sentences. AQA's examiners recommend starting with a statement that links the two poems.
2. Three or four comparative points: each following the point structure above, weaving both poems together.
3. A short conclusion: the key difference in how the poets treat the theme, and its effect on the reader.

Model opening for a "power of nature" pairing (Storm on the Island and The Prelude):

Both Heaney and Wordsworth present nature as a force that overwhelms human confidence, but while Wordsworth's speaker is humbled by a single frightening encounter, Heaney's islanders live in constant, uneasy readiness for a storm that is described almost like an enemy army.

That single sentence names both poets, states the shared idea, and flags the difference the essay will develop. From there, each paragraph proves it with methods and brief quotation.

1. Choosing a second poem from outside the cluster

The question requires the named poem and one other from the same cluster. Comparing the printed poem with a poem you happen to like from a different cluster is a rubric infringement and can be capped at the top of Level 2 by the mark scheme, no matter how good the analysis. Only ever pair within Power and Conflict.

2. Writing about one poem, then the other

Two separate mini-essays with a "Similarly..." bolted on is not comparison. Interleave the poems within each paragraph so the reader sees the link. Comparative connectives (whereas, similarly, in contrast, both) should appear throughout.

3. Feature-spotting without effect

Naming "enjambment" or "sibilance" earns little on its own. You must say what the method does to meaning and to the reader. Analysis of effect, not identification, moves you up the levels.

4. Ignoring the poets' methods and just retelling the story

Summarising the events of Kamikaze or the scene in Bayonet Charge answers a different question. The task is how poets present an idea, so structure and language must lead your paragraphs.

5. Over-loading context

Long paragraphs of biography or history crowd out AO2, which carries twice the marks of AO3. Use one precise, relevant contextual point per poem and connect it to a method or a message.