AQA GCSE Eng. Lit

GCSE English Literature
Poetry Cluster
Walking/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’
in comparative poem
Venn diagram?

Mind map?
in ‘Storm on the Island’
in comparative poem

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

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/structure
Topic 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

AQA GCSE Eng. Lit

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