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 is the speaker in Poppies?

  • a soldier describing his own experience

  • a teacher speaking to her class

  • a mother addressing her son

  • a neighbour watching the family

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21 mark

What does the mother do to her son before he leaves?

  • She sews a poppy into his sleeve.

  • She ties a scarf around his head and smartens his hair.

  • She straightens his collar and smooths his clothes.

  • She polishes his shoes.

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31 mark

How is the son’s nose described against the window?

  • flattened against the glass

  • pressed into the corner

  • scratched by the frame

  • reflected like a mirror

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41 mark

What phrase does the mother use to claim her own courage?

  • “I stayed calm”

  • “I was brave”

  • “I held my nerve”

  • “I kept strong”

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51 mark

What personal act does the mother imagine as she recalls letting go?

  • walking with her son to the school gate

  • writing a letter to him at war

  • praying in a church for her son’s safety

  • sewing another blazer

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61 mark

What is the effect of the image “Sellotape bandaged around my hand”?

  • It mixes domestic imagery with war-like violence.

  • It suggests the mother is wounded in battle.

  • It shows the son is injured at school.

  • It describes how she makes first aid kits.

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71 mark

What does the image of the “treasure chest” suggest about the world?

  • It suggests prosperity must be stolen.

  • It is locked away from her son.

  • It contains gold and money.

  • It is overflowing with opportunity and wonder.

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81 mark

What does the image of the dove symbolise?

  • sacrifice and loss

  • hope and peace

  • freedom and release

  • memory and mourning

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91 mark

What is the central theme of Poppies?

  • the lasting impact of war across generations and families

  • the grief and sacrifice of a mother sending her son to war

  • the pride of military service and honour

  • the tension between memory and reality

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11 mark

What emotion is most strongly conveyed when the speaker recalls “I was brave, as I walked with you to the front door”?

  • pride in showing courage through restraint

  •  resentment at being left to face fear alone

  • anxiety that bravery might seem unfeeling

  • determination to hide her pain

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21 mark

What effect does Weir achieve by opening the poem with the reference to “Armistice Sunday”?

  • It suggests the poem celebrates military victory.

  • It sets a scene of national unity and pride.

  • It introduces remembrance and grief as central themes.

  • It contrasts peace with a hopeful new beginning.

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31 mark

How does the image “spasms of paper red” shape the reader’s response?

  • It conveys the sharp sting of emotional pain.

  • It describes the physical strain of remembrance.

  • It links remembrance to the violence of war.

  • It hints at the soothing comfort of handmade poppies.

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41 mark

How does Weir use the free-verse dramatic-monologue form to express the parent’s emotions?

  • It allows spontaneous expression without structure.

  • It mirrors the flow of memory and shifting feelings.

  • It gives rhythmical control to steady the grief.

  • It separates public and private voices clearly.

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51 mark

How do enjambment and caesura together reflect the parent’s emotional state?

  • They create a disrupted rhythm mirroring grief.

  • They impose a regular pace to represent control

  • They produce a steady beat symbolising endurance.

  • They suggest formal restraint and detachment.

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61 mark

What is the effect of contrasting domestic and military imagery, such as “Sellotape bandaged around my hand”?

  •  It links gentle household acts with the language of injury and war.

  • It fuses homely and military imagery to show how conflict invades daily life.

  • It portrays ordinary care as an emotional wound inflicted by absence.

  • It suggests the speaker’s routine has become a symbolic act of remembrance.

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71 mark

How is the final image of the parent “hoping to hear your playground voice catching on the wind” most effectively interpreted?

  • as evidence that the child has returned safely

  • as comfort found through faith in peace

  • as enduring grief that can never be resolved

  • as an acceptance of the natural cycle of life

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11 mark

When comparing Poppies and War Photographer, which statement best explains how structure and viewpoint shape their portrayal of grief?

  • In Poppies, first-person memory makes grief intimate; in War Photographer, third-person distance makes it observational.

  • In Poppies, short stanzas and broken lines suggest control, while in War Photographer, strict form releases emotion.

  • In Poppies, the narrator’s empathy softens grief; in War Photographer, the voice of others intensifies it.

  • In Poppies, a circular structure restores peace; in War Photographer, disjointed flashbacks break continuity.

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21 mark

How do Poppies and Remains each portray the lasting impact of war memories?

  • Both show memories fading with time; Weir’s speaker finds gradual acceptance, while Armitage’s narrator learns to forgive himself.

  • Both use flashback to recall the past vividly, but Weir’s memories comfort while Armitage’s destroy.

  • Both suggest memory keeps the pain of war alive, yet Weir’s is personal grief and Armitage’s is survivor’s trauma.

  • Both treat memory as distortion, revealing emotion rather than literal truth about the past.

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31 mark

How do Poppies and War Photographer each reveal the emotional cost of witnessing conflict from afar?

  • Both show emotional distance protecting the speakers from grief; Weir’s mother gains perspective, while Duffy’s photographer feels detached peace.

  • Both show distance offering safety but deepening emotional strain.

  • Both present emotional paralysis; Weir’s grief mirrors Duffy’s drained detachment.

  • Both suggest recalling others’ pain brings calm rather than distress.

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