The best way to prepare for Power and Conflict is not to reread the poems again, it is to practise answering questions on them. These practice questions copy the AQA format exactly, so you can rehearse the one skill the exam really tests: reading a printed poem, choosing a strong second poem, and planning a comparison under time pressure.
What the AQA question looks like
In the real exam you get one poem printed on the paper and a question that names a theme, for example: compare how poets present ideas about power in this poem and one other poem from Power and Conflict. It is worth 30 marks and rewards AO1, AO2 and AO3. You do not get to pick the printed poem, but you do choose the second one, so practise with a poem forced on you and your choice made quickly.
How to plan one in five minutes
Read the printed poem twice and underline three things the poet does with the theme. Choose the second poem you can say the most about. For each of your three points, decide how the second poem compares. That is your essay: three paragraphs, each holding both poems. If you can do that in five minutes, you can walk into the exam calm.
Practice questions
For each of these, plan a full answer choosing your own second poem. The theme is given in bold to steer your choice.
- Compare how poets present the power of nature in Storm on the Island and one other poem.
- Compare how poets present pride in Ozymandias and one other poem.
- Compare how poets present the reality of war in Bayonet Charge and one other poem.
- Compare how poets present the effects of conflict in Remains and one other poem.
- Compare how poets present memory in Poppies and one other poem.
- Compare how poets present the abuse of power in My Last Duchess and one other poem.
- Compare how poets present identity in The Emigree and one other poem.
- Compare how poets present suffering in War Photographer and one other poem.
- Compare how poets present ideas about conflict in The Charge of the Light Brigade and one other poem.
A worked example
Take the first one: compare the power of nature in Storm on the Island and one other poem. Here is the five-minute plan.
- Second poem: Exposure, because both make nature an armed enemy that people can only endure.
- Point 1: both use military imagery for the weather (Heaney's "strafes", Owen's "merciless iced east winds"), so nature becomes an attacker, not a backdrop.
- Point 2: both trap humans who can only wait, but Heaney's islanders are defiant while Owen's soldiers are past defiance, being quietly killed.
- Point 3: context and ending: Heaney leaves us on the paradox of fearing "a huge nothing", Owen on the flat "But nothing happens", both refusing any heroic climax.
When your plan is ready, check your pairing against my comparison guide, see a full answer on the Grade 9 essays page, and revise the poems themselves through the 15 poem pages.