LO: Plan and write critical

comparative arguments
 Get started: a critical tone
• “She talks about / he says that”
• “This shows that”
• “This links to”

Sounds like lower quality work: why?

 Replace them! – what can you come up
with?
“She talks about / he says that”

• See handout
 Easy way to include comparison
• LINK the poems by content (what
happens/who is affected) in the poem. This is
the broad similarity.
• Then DIFFERENTIATE the poems by message.
This is the point of difference and enables you
to write complex ideas about the writer’s
perspectives.
 Messages grid
Poem Message about power Message about conflict
Charge of the Tennyson condemns the reckless power that Tennyson promotes the patriotic bravery of the
Light Brigade those in charge have to control the lives of soldiers in the face of conflict.
others.
Remains Armitage highlights the power and Armitage exposes the traumatic psychological
inescapable nature of memory and its ability effects that extend beyond the time of the
to inflict pain long after the event. conflict itself.
Exposure Owen highlights the power of nature to Owen exposes the psychological and physical
destroy the lives of soldiers trauma of conflict and its ultimate futility.
Bayonet Hughes highlights the power that conflict has Hughes exposes the crippling effects of conflict
Charge to harm the environment around it and those both on the soldiers themselves and on the
involved. natural world.
Kamikaze Garland questions the power that cultural Garland explores the continuous conflict
traditions and expectations have in our between personal and cultural expectations.
perception of events.
 Try this out
• Compare the ways in which ‘Bayonet Charge’
and one other poem present experiences of war.

• One poem which is similar in CONTENT to

‘Bayonet Charge’ under the terms of the focus.
(“They’re both about experiences of war”)
• Then a difference in what the poems are
challenging / criticising / condemning
 Who or what is being criticized?
• Bayonet Charge – propaganda peddlars who
encouraged people to fight; blind patriotism;
tacticians
• Exposure – those in charge/higher-ups; those back at
home who don’t understand the true horror of war
• TCOTLB – those in charge of the troops
• Remains – those in charge; war itself
• Kamikaze – rigid societal expectations; the older
generation of the family; blind patriotism
 My choice – ‘Exposure’
In ‘Exposure’ and ‘Bayonet Charge’, both Wilfred
Owen and Ted Hughes respectively present
soldiers fighting in the First World War, and both
explore the emotional impact of fighting on the
soldiers. However, Owen’s criticism is for the
army leadership who subject the men to draining
stalemates, while Hughes’s anger is reserved for
the recruiters who persuaded soldiers to enter
dangerous and terrifying battlefields with
promises of glory.
 Consider the options and decide which you
will choose.
Compare how poets present the ways that people are
affected by war in ‘Kamikaze’ and one poem from Power
and Conflict

Make a plan, to include intro and CTS ideas.

When you’ve done that, you can start thinking about the
AO2 and AO3 you will bring in.

Once you’ve finished planning, you should start writing up

a main paragraph, using some of the phrases from the
sheet.
Exemplar: comparative topic sentences: two
points
1. In ‘Checking out me History’, Agard criticises the oppression of people in
colonized countries, suggesting they have been denied access to their
cultural heritage by the colonizers in power.
2. Similarly, in ‘London’, Blake criticizes the abuse of power by those in
authority, suggesting the church and state in late 18 th century England lacked
all compassion in its treatment of the poor.

3. Agard suggests that the oppression of the colonizers is something that can
and should be rallied against by colonized peoples, and uses his poem to
offer stirring encouragement to challenge the History oppressed people have
been taught by those in power.
4. However, in ‘London’, Blake offers a bleaker picture of those who have been
oppressed, suggesting they are too accustomed to their oppression to make
change.
Themes grid