GCSEEnglish LiteratureAQAExam Questions4. The Poetry AnthologyPower & Conflict

Power & Conflict (AQA GCSE English Literature): Exam Questions

Exam code: 8702

13 hours286 questions

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Power & Conflict

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11 mark

How are the soldiers described as keeping watch in the night?

  • alert but calm

  • wearied and nervous

  • joyful and confident

  • rested and relaxed

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21 mark

What causes the soldiers’ “brains [to] ache” at the start of the poem?

  • the merciless iced east wind

  • the constant sound of gunfire

  • the shouting of officers

  • the weight of their rifles

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31 mark

What does the refrain “But nothing happens” emphasise?

  • The soldiers feel relief and safety.

  • The enemy has surrendered and war has ended.

  • The monotony and futility of trench warfare.

  • The soldiers are asleep and dreaming.

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41 mark

How is dawn presented in the poem?

  • as a hopeful beginning bringing light and warmth

  • as a military leader with an army of storm clouds

  • as a memory of childhood mornings

  • as a peaceful symbol of rest

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51 mark

What is described as “less deadly than the air”?

  • the enemy’s sharp bayonets

  • the successive flights of bullets

  • the freezing silence of night

  • the soldiers’ own haunting despair

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61 mark

What metaphor describes the soldiers’ eyes at the end?

  • “Eyes like shattered glass”

  • “Frozen pearls in their faces”

  • “All their eyes are ice”

  • “Eyes of stone in the frost”

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71 mark

How do the soldiers feel about God in the later stanzas?

  • reassured by His eternal protection

  • afraid that His love seems to be fading

  • comforted by visions of heaven

  • inspired to keep fighting bravely

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11 mark

What is the central message of Exposure?

  • War is noble and full of glory.

  • War is meaningless and nature is the greater enemy.

  • Soldiers are always victorious in the end.

  • Nature is a gentle protector in wartime.

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21 mark

Why does Owen describe dawn as attacking “in ranks on shivering ranks of grey”?

  • to show how the soldiers’ fear fades at sunrise

  • to suggest that nature restores order after chaos

  • to compare the weather to a disciplined enemy army

  • to depict the soldiers preparing for a counterattack

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31 mark

What effect does the repetition of “Our brains ache” have on the reader?

  •  It suggests that the soldiers are unaffected by their surroundings.

  • It shows that the soldiers are beginning to recover their senses.

  •  It indicates the soldiers’ physical toughness and endurance.

  • It creates sympathy for the soldiers’ shared mental exhaustion.

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41 mark

How does Owen use sound imagery to convey the soldiers’ anxiety?

  • The “mad gusts tugging on the wire” suggest confusion and fear among the men.

  • The “drooping flares” show the soldiers’ hope flickering but not yet extinguished.

  • The “flickering gunnery” implies constant distant threat that unsettles the soldiers.

  • The “silence” between noises increases tension by making them anticipate attack.

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51 mark

What does the contrast between “war lasts” and “but nothing happens” reveal?

  • that the fighting has finished completely

  • that the soldiers have accepted their eventual victory

  • that time feels frozen despite the ongoing war

  • that Owen is hopeful the war will soon end

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11 mark

Compared with Bayonet Charge, how does Exposure present the soldier’s experience of war?

  • Both portray soldiers as noble yet forgotten by their nation.

  • Exposure shows numb waiting; Bayonet Charge shows frantic motion.

  • Exposure stresses comradeship; Bayonet Charge reveals isolation.

  • Both present soldiers as calm observers within the chaos.

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21 mark

In both Exposure and Remains, how is the psychological impact of war depicted?

  • Exposure shows shared numbness; Remains reveals private guilt.

  • Both present fear that endures but never truly heals.

  • Both show trauma fading once soldiers return to safety.

  • Exposure focuses on dread of death; Remains on pride in survival.

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31 mark

In both Exposure and Storm on the Island, how is nature’s power portrayed?

  • Both reveal nature’s violence but suggest human courage endures.

  • Exposure shows nature as hostile; Storm on the Island as indifferent.

  • Both present nature as vast, harsh, and unpredictably destructive.

  • Exposure depicts nature as cruel; Storm on the Island as impersonal.

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