Conflict (Edexcel GCSE English Literature): Flashcards
Exam code: 1ET0
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- FrontA Poison Tree
Fill in the gap: "I was ＿＿＿＿＿ with my friend"
Blake
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Cards in this collection (150)
Fill in the gap: "I was ＿＿＿＿＿ with my friend"
Blake
Answer: "I was angry with my friend"
Fill in the gap: "And I water'd it in ＿＿＿＿＿"
Blake
Answer: "And I water'd it in fears"
Fill in the gap: "And I ＿＿＿＿＿ it with smiles"
Blake
Answer: "And I sunned it with smiles"
Fill in the gap: "Till it bore an apple ＿＿＿＿＿"
Blake
Answer: "Till it bore an apple bright"
Key quote: "I told my wrath, my wrath did end"
Blake
Analysis
The repetition of "wrath" and the firm full stop show that voicing anger brings it to a clean end. Honesty resolves the anger.
Key quote: "I told it not, my wrath did grow"
Blake
Analysis
The parallel structure makes silence the turning point: concealment lets the anger grow instead of ending.
Key quote: "Night and morning with my tears"
Blake
Analysis
The time phrase "night and morning" shows the anger is constant and all-consuming, an unhealthy obsession.
Key quote: "And with soft deceitful wiles"
Blake
Analysis
The gentle word "soft" makes the deception more disturbing, as the speaker hides his hatred behind a false mask.
Key quote: "And he knew that it was mine"
Blake
Analysis
The foe recognises the anger as the speaker's, showing that concealed hatred always reveals itself in the end.
Key quote: "My foe outstretch'd beneath the tree"
Blake
Analysis
The implied death is the deadly outcome of unexpressed anger, and the speaker feels only "glad", showing his corrupted morality.
Fill in the gap: "The Assyrian came down like the ＿＿＿＿＿ on the fold"
Byron
Answer: "The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold"
Fill in the gap: "And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and ＿＿＿＿＿"
Byron
Answer: "And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold"
Fill in the gap: "For the Angel of ＿＿＿＿＿ spread his wings on the blast"
Byron
Answer: "For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast"
Fill in the gap: "Hath melted like ＿＿＿＿＿ in the glance of the Lord"
Byron
Answer: "Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord"
Key quote: "And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea"
Byron
Analysis
The simile comparing the spears to "stars on the sea" makes the army seem countless, magnifying the power that God later overcomes.
Key quote: "Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green"
Byron
Analysis
The natural imagery of summer "leaves" shows the army at its peak, setting up the shocking contrast with its decay.
Key quote: "That host on the morrow lay wither'd and strown"
Byron
Analysis
The words "wither'd and strown" turn the leaves to death overnight, showing how sudden and total the destruction is.
Key quote: "And breathed in the face of the foe as he pass'd"
Byron
Analysis
A single breath kills the enemy, showing that God's power needs no weapons and the deaths are eerily calm.
Key quote: "And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still"
Byron
Analysis
The caesura slows the line to focus on the final, fatal heartbeat, marking the soldiers' death.
Key quote: "And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail"
Byron
Analysis
The grief of the "widows" back home creates pathos and exposes the human cost behind the victory.
Fill in the gap: "It was an act of ＿＿＿＿＿"
Wordsworth
Answer: "It was an act of stealth"
Fill in the gap: "And ＿＿＿＿＿ pleasure"
Wordsworth
Answer: "And troubled pleasure"
Fill in the gap: "Went heaving through the water like a ＿＿＿＿＿"
Wordsworth
Answer: "Went heaving through the water like a swan"
Fill in the gap: "＿＿＿＿＿ its head"
Wordsworth
Answer: "Upreared its head"
Key quote: "One summer evening (led by her) I found"
Wordsworth
Analysis
The word "her" personifies Mother Nature as the guiding force, showing she controls the speaker from the very start.
Key quote: "Proud of his skill"
Wordsworth
Analysis
The boy's confidence in his "skill" is an illusion; nature, not skill, is really directing him.
Key quote: "a huge peak, black and huge"
Wordsworth
Analysis
The repetition of "huge" and the plain, dark language convey the mountain's overwhelming threat.
Key quote: "I struck and struck again"
Wordsworth
Analysis
The frantic repetition of "struck" shows the boy's panic as his earlier control collapses.
Key quote: "Strode after me"
Wordsworth
Analysis
The mountain seems to chase him, and this personification asserts nature's power over the boy.
Key quote: "huge and mighty forms, that do not live"
Wordsworth
Analysis
The haunting after-images of "huge and mighty forms" show the lasting psychological effect and his loss of innocence.
Fill in the gap: "Had he and I but ＿＿＿＿＿"
Hardy
Answer: "Had he and I but met"
Fill in the gap: "And ＿＿＿＿＿ him in his place"
Hardy
Answer: "And killed him in his place"
Fill in the gap: "Because he was my ＿＿＿＿＿"
Hardy
Answer: "Because he was my foe"
Fill in the gap: "Yes; quaint and ＿＿＿＿＿ war is!"
Hardy
Answer: "Yes; quaint and curious war is!"
Key quote: "We should have sat us down to wet"
Hardy
Analysis
The dialect and the shared drink suggest the two men's common working-class bond, the friendship they might have had.
Key quote: "I shot at him as he at me"
Hardy
Analysis
The balanced syntax makes the men mirror images of each other, stressing their equality rather than any real difference.
Key quote: "I shot him dead because –"
Hardy
Analysis
The dash breaks the rhythm, exposing the speaker's faltering struggle to explain why he killed.
Key quote: "Off-hand like – just as I –"
Hardy
Analysis
The casual phrasing and dashes stress how alike the two men's reasons for enlisting were, revealing their shared humanity.
Key quote: "Was out of work"
Hardy
Analysis
The plain admission "out of work" shows that economic need, not patriotism, drives men to enlist, a point about class.
Key quote: "You'd treat if met where any bar is"
Hardy
Analysis
The shift to "you" makes it universal: in normal life he would buy this man a drink, not kill him, contrasting fellowship with war.
Fill in the gap: "I was a ＿＿＿＿＿"
Rossetti
Answer: "I was a cottage-maiden"
Fill in the gap: "He ＿＿＿＿＿ me to his palace-home"
Rossetti
Answer: "He lured me to his palace-home"
Fill in the gap: "He changed me like a ＿＿＿＿＿"
Rossetti
Answer: "He changed me like a glove"
Fill in the gap: "I sit and ＿＿＿＿＿ in dust"
Rossetti
Answer: "I sit and howl in dust"
Key quote: "Why did a great lord find me out"
Rossetti
Analysis
The rhetorical question and "find me out" make the lord a hunter and the speaker his powerless prey, hinting at his predatory power.
Key quote: "To lead a shameless shameful life"
Rossetti
Analysis
The near-paradox of "shameless shameful" captures her inner conflict and the harsh shame society places on her.
Key quote: "His plaything and his love"
Rossetti
Analysis
The jarring pairing of "plaything" and "love" exposes the lord's deceit: he claimed love but treated her as an object.
Key quote: "So now I moan an unclean thing"
Rossetti
Analysis
Calling herself an "unclean thing" shows she has taken in society's rejection and feels dehumanised.
Key quote: "Who might have been a dove"
Rossetti
Analysis
The dove metaphor mourns her lost innocence, contrasting what she was with what she has become.
Key quote: "My fair-haired son, my shame, my pride"
Rossetti
Analysis
The clashing words "shame" and "pride" show the son is both her disgrace and her one source of triumph over Kate.
Fill in the gap: "But nothing ＿＿＿＿＿"
Owen
Answer: "But nothing happens"
Fill in the gap: "Slowly our ＿＿＿＿＿ drag home"
Owen
Answer: "Slowly our ghosts drag home"
Fill in the gap: "All their eyes are ＿＿＿＿＿"
Owen
Answer: "All their eyes are ice"
Fill in the gap: "For love of ＿＿＿＿＿ seems dying"
Owen
Answer: "For love of God seems dying"
Key quote: "Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us"
Owen
Analysis
The personification of the wind that "knive us" makes nature a violent attacker, deadlier than the human enemy.
Key quote: "What are we doing here?"
Owen
Analysis
The rhetorical question voices the soldiers' growing doubt about the purpose of their suffering.
Key quote: "Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles"
Owen
Analysis
The disturbing simile blurs the wind in the wire with the bodies of dying men, stressing their suffering.
Key quote: "Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army"
Owen
Analysis
Nature is personified as a military commander gathering its forces against the men, in a battle of man versus nature.
Key quote: "the air that shudders black with snow"
Owen
Analysis
The colour imagery of air "black with snow" makes the weather a deadly, oppressive threat, worse than any bullet.
Key quote: "Pale flakes with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces"
Owen
Analysis
The personified snow stalks the men "with fingering stealth", like a creeping, murderous assassin.
Fill in the gap: "Charge for the ＿＿＿＿＿!"
Tennyson
Answer: "Charge for the guns!"
Fill in the gap: "While horse and ＿＿＿＿＿ fell"
Tennyson
Answer: "While horse and hero fell"
Fill in the gap: "Into the jaws of ＿＿＿＿＿"
Tennyson
Answer: "Into the jaws of Death"
Fill in the gap: "＿＿＿＿＿ six hundred!"
Tennyson
Answer: "Noble six hundred!"
Key quote: "Half a league, half a league"
Tennyson
Analysis
The repetition of "half a league" mimics galloping hooves, giving the poem a driving momentum that carries the men onward.
Key quote: "Rode the six hundred"
Tennyson
Analysis
The refrain "Rode the six hundred" commemorates the men as a single, heroic body, stressing their shared sacrifice.
Key quote: "Some one had blunder'd"
Tennyson
Analysis
The line "Some one had blunder'd" hints that the disaster was caused by a commander's mistake, a quiet criticism of the leaders.
Key quote: "Their's but to do and die"
Tennyson
Analysis
The tricolon and firm end-stop convey the men's unquestioning obedience, even when the order is fatal.
Key quote: "Cannon to right of them"
Tennyson
Analysis
The repetition of "cannon" surrounds the men on every side, stressing the impossible odds they face.
Key quote: "When can their glory fade?"
Tennyson
Analysis
The rhetorical question insists that the soldiers' bravery will be remembered forever, celebrating their heroism.
Fill in the gap: "＿＿＿＿＿ yuself / wha yu mean"
Agard
Answer: "Explain yuself / wha yu mean"
Fill in the gap: "an mix a ＿＿＿＿＿ key"
Agard
Answer: "an mix a black key"
Fill in the gap: "so spiteful dem dont want de ＿＿＿＿＿ pass"
Agard
Answer: "so spiteful dem dont want de sun pass"
Fill in the gap: "de other half / of my ＿＿＿＿＿"
Agard
Answer: "de other half / of my story"
Key quote: "I'm half-caste"
Agard
Analysis
The blunt opening "I'm half-caste" confronts the listener directly with the offensive label, setting up the poem's attack on racism.
Key quote: "is a half-caste canvas"
Agard
Analysis
The Picasso analogy of a "half-caste canvas" shows that mixing creates beauty, mocking the racist label.
Key quote: "england weather / nearly always half-caste"
Agard
Analysis
Applying "half-caste" to ordinary English "weather" uses satire to show how absurd the term really is.
Key quote: "I half-caste human being"
Agard
Analysis
The irony of "half-caste human being" attacks the racist idea that he is somehow less than a whole person, a form of dehumanisation.
Key quote: "cast half-a-shadow"
Agard
Analysis
The absurd image of casting "half-a-shadow" satirises the stupidity of being labelled only "half".
Key quote: "an de whole of yu mind"
Agard
Analysis
The line "de whole of yu mind" turns the tables, implying it is the racist whose mind is only half open.
Fill in the gap: "I can remember you, ＿＿＿＿＿"
Clarke
Answer: "I can remember you, child"
Fill in the gap: "a hot, ＿＿＿＿＿ / Room"
Clarke
Answer: "a hot, white / Room"
Fill in the gap: "＿＿＿＿＿ glare"
Clarke
Answer: "Defiant glare"
Fill in the gap: "that old ＿＿＿＿＿"
Clarke
Answer: "that old rope"
Key quote: "our first / Fierce confrontation"
Clarke
Analysis
Framing the birth as a "Fierce confrontation" introduces the theme of conflict from the very start.
Key quote: "Red rope of love which we both"
Clarke
Analysis
The umbilical cord becomes a "Red rope of love", a metaphor for the bond that both connects and restricts mother and daughter.
Key quote: "wild, tender circles"
Clarke
Analysis
The oxymoron "wild, tender" captures the mingled pain and love of giving birth.
Key quote: "To be two, to be ourselves"
Clarke
Analysis
The repetition of "to be" voices their shared, painful desire for separation and independence.
Key quote: "Still I am fighting / You off"
Clarke
Analysis
The present tense "Still I am fighting" shows the conflict continues as Catrin grows up.
Key quote: "Trailing love and conflict"
Clarke
Analysis
The final phrase "love and conflict" sums up the bond as inseparably loving and combative, capturing its duality.
Fill in the gap: "this is how things ＿＿＿＿＿"
Satyamurti
Answer: "this is how things are"
Fill in the gap: "a pair of ＿＿＿＿＿, sun-gilded girls"
Satyamurti
Answer: "a pair of peach, sun-gilded girls"
Fill in the gap: "I seek out the ＿＿＿＿＿, the absurd"
Satyamurti
Answer: "I seek out the tragic, the absurd"
Fill in the gap: "mouth too small for her ＿＿＿＿＿ scream"
Satyamurti
Answer: "mouth too small for her dark scream"
Key quote: "The reassurance of the frame is flexible"
Satyamurti
Analysis
The metaphor of a "flexible" frame suggests that a photo lets viewers choose a comforting version of events, shaping how war is represented.
Key quote: "in champagne giggles"
Satyamurti
Analysis
The sensory detail of "champagne giggles" pictures easy wealth, which is contrasted sharply with the horror of the war zone.
Key quote: "staggering down some devastated street"
Satyamurti
Analysis
The harsh image of a child "staggering down some devastated street" conveys the horror of war and the struggle to survive.
Key quote: "She saw me seeing her; my finger pressed"
Satyamurti
Analysis
The stress on "seeing" exposes the photographer's troubled role as a passive witness to suffering, hinting at her guilt.
Key quote: "Even in hell the human spirit"
Satyamurti
Analysis
The false, uplifting caption "Even in hell the human spirit" distorts the tragedy, showing how the media misrepresents war.
Key quote: "arbitrary as a blood stain on a wall"
Satyamurti
Analysis
The simile "arbitrary as a blood stain" links war's violence to its random, careless media representation.
Fill in the gap: "it was raining ＿＿＿＿＿ marks"
Carson
Answer: "it was raining exclamation marks"
Fill in the gap: "an ＿＿＿＿＿ on the map"
Carson
Answer: "an asterisk on the map"
Fill in the gap: "＿＿＿＿＿ end again"
Carson
Answer: "Dead end again"
Fill in the gap: "A fount of broken ＿＿＿＿＿"
Carson
Answer: "A fount of broken type"
Key quote: "Nuts, bolts, nails, car-keys"
Carson
Analysis
The list of everyday objects turned into shrapnel shows how conflict makes even the ordinary deadly, capturing the violence of the bombing.
Key quote: "trying to complete a sentence in my head but it kept stuttering"
Carson
Analysis
The stuttering thought echoes gunfire and shows how the shock of the explosion destroys clear speech, a psychological effect of conflict.
Key quote: "blocked with stops and colons"
Carson
Analysis
The metaphor of being "blocked with stops and colons" fuses the blocked streets with the speaker's own mental blockage, a sense of entrapment.
Key quote: "I know this labyrinth so well"
Carson
Analysis
The paradox that a familiar place becomes a "labyrinth" mirrors the speaker's inner confusion and disorientation.
Key quote: "Every move is punctuated"
Carson
Analysis
The extended metaphor of punctuation makes the speaker feel controlled and halted at every turn, trapped by the conflict.
Key quote: "A fusillade of question-marks"
Carson
Analysis
The military metaphor "fusillade of question-marks" compares the checkpoint questions to gunfire, leaving him unable to answer even who he is, a loss of identity.
Fill in the gap: "＿＿＿＿＿ can you tell what class I'm from?"
Casey
Answer: "How can you tell what class I'm from?"
Fill in the gap: "I can talk ＿＿＿＿＿ like some"
Casey
Answer: "I can talk posh like some"
Fill in the gap: "wear an 'at not a ＿＿＿＿＿"
Casey
Answer: "wear an 'at not a scarf"
Fill in the gap: "my hands are stained with ＿＿＿＿＿"
Casey
Answer: "my hands are stained with toil"
Key quote: "With an 'Olly in me mouth"
Casey
Analysis
The metaphor of a marble ("'Olly") in the mouth mocks the affected "posh" accent and the snobbery behind it.
Key quote: "we live in a corpy, not like some"
Casey
Analysis
The dialect word "corpy" for a council house exposes the assumptions people make about working-class housing, a form of prejudice.
Key quote: "Say toilet instead of bog when I want to pee"
Casey
Analysis
The deliberately blunt diction shocks the reader and satirises the way people are judged by the words they use.
Key quote: "Does it stick in your gullet like a sour plum?"
Casey
Analysis
The simile of choking on "a sour plum" conveys the listener's distaste and the speaker's underlying anger at class prejudice.
Key quote: "A docker is me brother"
Casey
Analysis
The short, punchy line "A docker is me brother" proudly asserts the speaker's working-class roots.
Key quote: "And I'm proud of the class that I come from."
Casey
Analysis
The triumphant closing line turns defiance into pride, the poem's final knockout blow.
Fill in the gap: "spasms of paper ＿＿＿＿＿"
Weir
Answer: "spasms of paper red"
Fill in the gap: "＿＿＿＿＿ the softening"
Weir
Answer: "steeled the softening"
Fill in the gap: "you were away, ＿＿＿＿＿"
Weir
Answer: "you were away, intoxicated"
Fill in the gap: "Sellotape ＿＿＿＿＿ around my hand"
Weir
Answer: "Sellotape bandaged around my hand"
Key quote: "Three days before Armistice Sunday"
Weir
Analysis
The opening time-marker ties the mother's personal grief to the public remembrance of the war dead.
Key quote: "being Eskimos like we did when you were little"
Weir
Analysis
The tender childhood memory of "being Eskimos" (touching noses) deepens the sense of what the mother has lost.
Key quote: "the world overflowing like a treasure chest"
Weir
Analysis
The simile "like a treasure chest" captures the son's naive excitement for adventure, showing his innocence.
Key quote: "released a song bird from its cage"
Weir
Analysis
The metaphor of freeing a "song bird" symbolises a parent reluctantly letting her child go to war.
Key quote: "leaned against it like a wishbone"
Weir
Analysis
The simile of the bent "wishbone" shows the mother's physical pain and helpless wishes at the war memorial, a sign of her grief.
Key quote: "your playground voice catching on the wind"
Weir
Analysis
The closing image of a "playground voice" leaves the mother straining to hear her child, suggesting grief that has no resolution.
Fill in the gap: "＿＿＿＿＿ is not de problem"
Zephaniah
Answer: "Black is not de problem"
Fill in the gap: "But I bear de ＿＿＿＿＿"
Zephaniah
Answer: "But I bear de brunt"
Fill in the gap: "Now I am branded ＿＿＿＿＿"
Zephaniah
Answer: "Now I am branded athletic"
Fill in the gap: "Yu put me in a ＿＿＿＿＿ hole"
Zephaniah
Answer: "Yu put me in a pigeon hole"
Key quote: "I am not de problem"
Zephaniah
Analysis
The refrain and phonetic dialect of "I am not de problem" assert the speaker's innocence and place the blame on racist attitudes.
Key quote: "Of silly playground taunts"
Zephaniah
Analysis
The sibilance of "silly playground taunts" conveys his contempt for the everyday racist bullying of childhood.
Key quote: "I am born academic"
Zephaniah
Analysis
Claiming "I am born academic" presents intellect as natural to him, setting up the clash with racist stereotypes.
Key quote: "I can teach yu of Timbuktu"
Zephaniah
Analysis
The symbolic city of learning, "Timbuktu", rebuts the racist underestimation of Black intelligence, a source of pride.
Key quote: "But I am versatile"
Zephaniah
Analysis
The self-belief in "I am versatile" and the pointed rhyme break out of the limits others try to impose, showing his resilience.
Key quote: "Sum of me best friends are white"
Zephaniah
Analysis
The irony of "best friends are white" mocks the cliché people use to deny racism, undermining prejudice through humour.
Fill in the gap: "use lanterns of ＿＿＿＿＿?"
Levertov
Answer: "use lanterns of stone?"
Fill in the gap: "＿＿＿＿＿ the bones were charred"
Levertov
Answer: "All the bones were charred"
Fill in the gap: "It is ＿＿＿＿＿ now"
Levertov
Answer: "It is silent now"
Fill in the gap: "there was time only to ＿＿＿＿＿"
Levertov
Answer: "there was time only to scream"
Key quote: "to reverence the opening of buds?"
Levertov
Analysis
The gentle image of revering "the opening of buds" evokes a rich culture, which makes its destruction feel more tragic.
Key quote: "their light hearts turned to stone"
Levertov
Analysis
The metaphor of "light hearts turned to stone" reworks the earlier "stone" into the crushing weight of grief.
Key quote: "It is not remembered"
Levertov
Analysis
The repeated phrase "It is not remembered" builds a cumulative sense of a whole society erased from memory.
Key quote: "after their children were killed there were no more buds"
Levertov
Analysis
Using buds as a metaphor for children makes the killing both shocking and unnatural, capturing the horror of war.
Key quote: "laughter is bitter to the burned mouth"
Levertov
Analysis
The image of a "burned mouth" alludes to napalm, fusing physical injury with the bitterness of suffering.
Key quote: "When bombs smashed those mirrors"
Levertov
Analysis
The jarring verb "smashed" shatters the peaceful image of the paddy-field mirrors, marking the destruction of a way of life.
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