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

Who tells the story of Ozymandias’ statue in the poem?

  • the sculptor

  • the poet himself

  • a traveller the speaker meets

  • Ozymandias directly

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21 mark

What remains standing upright in the desert?

  • the statue’s torso

  • two broken legs

  • a crowned head

  • a raised arm

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31 mark

Which part of the statue is described as “half sunk” in the sand?

  • the face

  • the torso

  • the hand

  • the crown

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41 mark

What does the inscription on the pedestal begin with? 

  • “Behold my greatness and accept my dominion”

  • “I am Pharaoh of all I see”

  • “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings”

  • “Fear my mighty empire”

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51 mark

Who is commanded to “look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair”?

  • his subjects

  • other mighty rulers

  • the gods of Egypt

  • the sculptor and builders

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61 mark

How does Shelley present nature compared with human power?

  • Nature is weaker and fades first.

  • Nature and human power are equal.

  • Nature outlasts human power easily.

  • Nature is ignored in the poem.

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71 mark

What overall message about rulers does the poem suggest?

  • Their kingdoms grow forever.

  • They are remembered with respect.

  • Their power fades and they are forgotten.

  • Their arrogance is justified.

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11 mark

Why does Shelley present the poem as a story told by a traveller rather than by himself?

  • to highlight how truth about power is always distorted through retelling

  • to distance himself from the political criticism aimed at real monarchs

  • to let the traveller marvel at the artistry of the statue’s remains

  • to evoke a myth-like atmosphere of mystery and ancient decay

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21 mark

What effect is created by describing the statue’s “sneer of cold command”?

  • It conveys the ruler’s arrogance and cruelty through harsh sounds.

  • It reflects admiration for the king’s firmness in leading his empire.

  • It reveals human pride turning to lifeless stone as emotion freezes into art.

  • It suggests the sculptor mocked authority using expressive exaggeration.

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31 mark

How does Shelley’s use of sonnet form contribute to his message about power?

  • The irregular sonnet defies tradition, mirroring rebellion against fixed authority.

  • The steady rhyme scheme reflects enduring love between ruler and people

  • The mixture of forms shows harmony between human order and natural law.

  • The broken structure mirrors decayed control and corruption within rule.

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41 mark

How does Shelley use contrast between the statue and the desert?

  • The open desert protects the ruins, showing peace between human dreams and nature.

  • The wide, empty sands judge the king, hinting at punishment instead of slow decay.

  • The quiet horizon keeps the empire’s memory, praising success and lasting strength.

  • The vast, silent desert shrinks the ruins, showing pride as weak and nature as strong.

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51 mark

Which statement best explains the symbolism of “the hand that mocked them”?

  • It shows the king’s own hand commanding obedience, carved to remind all subjects of his lasting power.

  • It refers to the poet’s creative hand reshaping tyranny into verse that survives longer than the empire itself.

  • It describes the traveller’s observing hand gesturing toward the ruins as proof of power’s eventual decay.

  • It means the sculptor’s hand imitated the king’s sneer of cold command, exposing his arrogance through art.

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11 mark

How do Ozymandias and London each challenge established power structures?

  • Shelley shows the weakness of kings through the broken statue, while Blake attacks the Church and the Crown by showing pain in “every cry of every man”.

  • Shelley praises the lasting power of kings carved in stone, while Blake praises brave people who rise up against unfair rulers.

  • Shelley exposes the fall of empire by showing how pride fades, while Blake attacks monarchy and church with anger and emotion.

  • Both poets see hierarchy as necessary for society, with Shelley supporting order and Blake supporting obedience to God and the king.

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21 mark

How do Ozymandias and The Prelude differ in their portrayal of humankind’s relationship with nature?

  • Shelley shows nature as uncaring and powerful, destroying human pride, while Wordsworth shows it as amazing and able to teach moral lessons.

  • Shelley shows nature as a danger outside human life, while Wordsworth shows it as a mirror of feelings, revealing emotion rather than moral change.

  • Shelley focuses on empires ruined by nature’s power, while Wordsworth focuses on personal growth shaped by the beauty and fear of nature.

  • Shelley sees nature as ignoring the fall of empires, while Wordsworth sees it as key to spiritual learning and renewal.

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31 mark

In what way do Ozymandias and Tissue explore the fragility of human achievement?

  • Both poets contrast material power with spiritual strength, as Shelley’s ruins and Dharker’s paper expose the limits of permanence and control.

  • Shelley shows monuments collapsing into ruin, while Dharker’s paper city turns impermanence into wisdom, each transforming destruction into human understanding.

  • Both poets celebrate ambition, presenting Shelley’s sculptor immortalising greatness and Dharker’s architect constructing endurance from delicate design.

  • Shelley mourns the fall of empire, while Dharker condemns fragility as civilisation’s failure to preserve stability and order.

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