GCSE English Literature

Poetry ClusterWalking/Talking Mock Exam

Step 1: Highlight the key words in the question. What ‘idea’ is this poem asking you focus your answer on?

1 minute

Now find and highlight examples of that idea in the poem you are given in the exam.

2 minutes

Step 2: Choose your comparative poem and plan your essay.Choose a poem that:• talks about the

idea in the question (the power of nature)

• you know well and can write confidently on

2 minutes

Power of the natural world in ‘Storm on the Island’

Power of the natural world in comparative poem

Venn diagram?

Mind map?

Power of the natural world in ‘Storm on the Island’

Power of the natural world in comparative poem

Power of the natural world in ‘Storm on the Island’ Power of the natural world in comparative poemTable?

Step 3: Two-step introduction

Both ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ and ‘Bayonet Charge’ present soldiers who follow orders without challenge and risk their lives as a direct result. However, in ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ this sense of duty is presented as a willing self-sacrifice, whereas ‘Bayonet Charge’ suggests a sense of coercion and resentment.

Main similarity(related to the question)

Main difference(related to the question)

MODEL QUESTION: Compare how poets present the idea of duty in ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ and one other poem from ‘Power and Conflict’.

5 minutes

Step 3: Comparative analytical paragraphs• Imagery/Language• Form/Structure

How ‘Storm on the Island’ uses imagery/ language to present the power of nature

How comparative poem uses imagery/ language to present the power of nature

How ‘Storm on the Island’ uses form/ structure to present the power of nature

How comparative poem uses form/ structure to present the power of nature

The Charge of the Light Brigade presents duty as something the soldiers do willingly, meaning that the reader blames the people who gave the orders to attack. We are told very early on in the poem that ‘someone had blunder’d but that the soldiers still did as they were ordered: ‘Theirs not to make reply / Theirs not to reason why / Theirs but to do and die’. Tennyson’s repetition of ‘Theirs not to’ suggests that the soldiers have been trained, or even brainwashed, into thinking this way. Furthermore, whilst the attack was clearly a failure (‘they rode back, but not / not the six hundred’), the soldiers are rewarded for the way the fulfilled their duty without questioning why. Tennyson uses imperative verbs and anaphora to command the reader to ‘Honour the charge they made! / Honour the light brigade’, while the soldiers are praised as the ‘Noble six hundred’. Tennyson was the Poet Laureate at the height of the British Empire so he presents the idea of duty as a positive, brave act, an example that the reader should follow.

Topic sentence

Multiple, embedded quotations

Analysis of words and language

techniquesConnectives to show development of

ideas

Social/Historical context

10 minutes

The Charge of the Light Brigade presents duty as something the soldiers do willingly, meaning that the reader blames the people who gave the orders to attack. We are told very early on in the poem that ‘someone had blunder’d but that the soldiers still did as they were ordered: ‘Theirs not to make reply / Theirs not to reason why / Theirs but to do and die’. Tennyson’s repetition of ‘Theirs not to’ suggests that the soldiers have been trained, or even brainwashed, into thinking this way. Furthermore, whilst the attack was clearly a failure (‘they rode back, but not / not the six hundred’), the soldiers are rewarded for the way the fulfilled their duty without questioning why. Tennyson uses imperative verbs and anaphora to command the reader to ‘Honour the charge they made! / Honour the light brigade’, while the soldiers are praised as the ‘Noble six hundred’. Tennyson was the Poet Laureate at the height of the British Empire so he presents the idea of duty as a positive, brave act, an example that the reader should follow.

However, ‘Bayonet Charge’ presents the idea of duty being rejected, showing how the soldiers feel they have been exploited. The charge is not depicted in the dynamic, heroic terms: the soldier is ‘Stumbling across a field of clods’ while he ‘lugged a rifle numb as a smashed arm’. The word ‘lugged’ suggests clumsiness and ‘Stumbling’ has connotations of failure, presenting the soldier as ungainly and inept. Furthermore, the soldier is presented as resenting ideas of duty and patriotism: the ‘patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye’ is referred to in the past tense (‘had brimmed’) and is now ‘sweating like molten iron in the centre of his chest’: a metaphor that suggests the destructiveness of his situation. This ‘bewilderment’ soon turns to an outright rejection of the propaganda that he has been fed: ‘King, honour, human dignity, etcetera / Dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm’. Hughes wrote this poem in the late 1950s and reflects the way Britain was increasingly questioning the righteousness the Empire.

10 minutes

Structurally, the poems are also very different. ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ uses a fast-paced, highly rhythmic style to replicate the speed and urgency of the charge, making it appear exciting and dynamic. The opening repetition of ‘Half a league, half a league / Half a league onward’ mimics the sound of the pounding horses hooves, suggesting an atmosphere of exhilaration, even of success. However, the cyclical narrative structure of the poem reflects the pointlessness of the charge: the poem ends up exactly where it started, only now it’s ‘Not the six hundred’, emphasising the sense of loss and futility. Some people believe that Tennyson was doing this to criticise the British establishment, which would have been a controversial idea at the time.

‘Bayonet Charge’, on the other hand, has a much more disjointed structure, reflecting the soldier’s sense of confusion. The abrupt start to the poem, ‘Suddenly he awoke and was running’, implies a sense of sudden realisation or awakening, which is as sudden for the character in the poem as it is for the reader. This sense of disorientation is emphasised by the poem’s continuous use of enjambment, the soldier is searching for ‘the reason / Of his still running’, which creates a sense of the situation getting out of his control. Hughes’s structure is unregimented, which could be seen as a rejection of the military order that sacrificed so many men, a protest against the establishment that many people looked to blame after the war had finished.

…and then do the same for form/structureTopic sentenceReference to structural devices/techniques

Analysis of structure

Connectives

Social/Historical context

5 minutes each

Step 5: Two-step conclusion

‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ shows duty to be heroic and noble, whereas ‘Bayonet Charge’ shows it to be pointless. This contrast shows how much British attitudes towards duty have changed between the Victorian era and modern times.

Most important message of each poem (related to

the question

...why it is conveyed in this way.

MODEL QUESTION: Compare how poets present the idea of duty in ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ and one other poem from ‘Power and Conflict’.

5 minutes