Mr Salles Predicts Power and Conflict Question

0:00 What poems WON'T we have
1:40 Could it be EMIGREE
2:15 read my EXAM ANSWER (Play at half or quarter speed).
2:25 COMAPARE CHECKINGOMH with LONDON
6:46 COMPARE EMIGREE and STORM OTI

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[MrSallesTeachesEnglish]

If you watch from 2 minutes in at half speed you will be able to read my grade 9 essay answer comparing Checking Out Me History and London!

[SaraAli-hzbk]

AQA really put me in shock this year. Bayonet Charge was a poem I hadn't revised in two years because I thought it wasn't going to come up! Oh well.. it's done now!

[lukamiles]

Turned out to be bayonet charge, so I guess the examiners aren't too fussed about current affairs

[adamjohnson]

Damn. AQA absolutely finessed year 11. That question sent me back home, bro

[bee-grwm]

Mr salles you deserve a number one teacher cup

[emil]

The essay from the video:









Both London and Checking out me history are protest poems attacking British political, cultural and social oppression, although the latter also focuses on the suppression of racial identity.

Blake writes in quatrains of mainly iambic tetrameter, like a ballad, or song, creating a memorable rhythm to make his political protest more memorable. He begins with a contrast, “I wander through each chartered street / Near where the chartered Thames does flow”. The freedom of the flowing river “Thames” is contrasted to how control of nature and a public resource has been “chartered”, sold off to the rich, just like each “chartered street” which, presumably, is pricing out the locals. The repetition of “chartered” implies that this is a problem growing out of control, denying London’s citizens free access to the city. Blake juxtaposes this angrily with the internal rhyme of “wander”, which expresses the freedom he longs for. The first two stanzas emphasise his message with the repetition and anaphora “In every voice, in every ban, / The mind-forged manacles I hear”. The repetition of “every” conveys outrage and certainty that no one in “London” can be free. Blake’s alliterative metaphor of “manacles” and “mind” implies that citizens have been brainwashed into accepting the status quo, accepting the dominance of the ruling classes. But “mind-forged” also conveys his disgust that this involves self-deception, as though citizens have chosen to be slaves in “manacles”.

This is a contrast to Agard’s narrator who has not been complicit in his own brainwashing, and is now determined to reverse it. The third stanza attacks the “church” for not intervening, despite being appalled by the poverty which necessitates the dangerous child labour of “the chimney sweep”, but his main focus appears to be on prophesying revolution: “And the hapless soldier’s sigh / Runs in blood down palace walls”. “Hapless” and the sibilance of “soldier’s sigh” suggests that the military will realise too late that they are powerless to defeat the people, if only this people will free themselves from their “mind-forged manacles”. To hammer this message home, the first letters of each line spell out the acrostic “hear”, echoing the final word of the second stanza. Agard only alludes to the idea of revolution in his choice of historical figure, particularly “Nanny de Maroon” and “Toussaint L’overture”. He only hints that his readers could have a similar revolution of ideas, rather than violence.

But Blake’s volta in the final stanza is to turn away from politics and direct his greatest anger at the behaviour of men throughout London, also conveyed by the plosive alliteration of “b”: “the youthful harlot’s curse / Blasts the new-born infant’s tear. / And blights with plagues the marriage hearse”. These “plagues” appear to be literal, as they are STDs, like syphilis with with the husbands infect the wives after they have sex with “harlots”. The addition of “youthful” conveys that male lust is indifferent to the exploitation of women, and suggests that men deserve to be “cursed”. However, wives are also victims, so that marriage becomes their “hearse” - both because their husbands have betrayed them, but also because of the decline in health caused by STDs. Most shockingly, pregnant mothers would also pass on these to their “new-born” babies, damaging generations and the most innocent. Although Agard’s protest is less full of fury, he also examines male and female in society, scrupulously citing several female role models from balck history. Agard begins by shaking off his “mind-forged manacles”, realising British education “bandages up me eye with me own history / Blind me to me own identity”. “Own” emphasises that his British history has acted like a “bandage”, covering up his Afrocentric history. Like Blake, he emphasises “I”, his personal identity, and four “me’s” and the homophone “eye” assert it strongly, as does speaking in dialect.

Therefore both poets employ repetition as their main rhetorical technique. They both choose a change of examples. Agard first conveys his anger: “Toussaint L'Ouverture” who defeated Napoleon’s armies. He contrasts this amazing historical success with nursery rhyme, “dem tell me bout Dick Whittington and he cat / But Toussaint L'Ouverture / no dem never tell me bout dat”. This suggests that much of British education is not just hiding his own history, but is worthless in its own right. The poem is structured around these contrasts, drumming home his point. “Nanny de maroon” is juxtaposed with the ridiculous nursery rhyme, “de cow jumped over de moon” and the rhyme about “ole King Cole” is juxtaposed with “Mary Seacole”. Italics highlight each stanza about these historical figures, as though the truth is being revealed. More frequent rhymes also highlight their difference. Although “Nanny de maroon” defeated the British in Jamaica, he doesn’t dwell on her success in battle.

Similarly, he only briefly contrasts the righteousness of “Shaka de great Zulu” defending his people with Christopher Columbus’ genocide of “de Caribs and de Arawaks too”. Instead of offering us the rage we might expect, he chooses contradictory examples. Consequently, “Mary Seacole” is revealed as an exact equivalent of “Florence Nightingale”. But whereas she has only “she lamp”, Seacole is contrasted as a “healing star / among the wounded / a yellow sunrise / to the dying”: this celestial imagery makes Seacole godlike, not just for her positive impact on “the dying”, but also in overcoming British indifference. This is a deliberately healing image, as though Agard is offering his own “bandage” to his white British readers it also offers a healing image, to replace the anger which we think is justified. Unlike Blake, he ends with a note of hope: “But now I’m checking out me own history / I carving out me own identity”. This suggests that his poetry is like sculpture “carving out” something permanent and beautiful, which implies his readers can do too, beginning by studying the historical figures he has referenced.

[charlierowan]

Thank you — please can you make a prediction on A christmas carol as that is the first lit exam as well 👍👍

[baharsabet]

Even though this prediction wasn’t correct quite frankly I couldn’t care less! I don’t think anyone would have guessed Bayonet Charge anyway, and I think I still produced a really good essay thanks to all of your advice, so I am forever grateful. Thank you so much sir

[abcdefg]

didn't expect them to repeat a poem that's already been done

[jamesmccarthy]

Sir another good point is that there has never been a question on power of nature. Would recommend storm on the island the prelude. It also is not to do with war.

[eenkalimba]

Mr Salles I'm so glad I found your channel! Today I got 28/30 on a Macbeth essay on Shakespeare's exploration of paranoia

You helped me get from a 5 to an 8- thank you!

[maryamjaberi]

it was bayonet charge effects on conflict

[Harrymcwizard]

It would be great if you could make a more detailed video on comparing the Eimigree and Storm on the Island before Wednesday

[minhxney-]

I remember opening up that booklet and seeing bayonet charge and then laughing for a good 5 minutes, 1 because I, myself thought it was going to be based on identities, and 2nd that I revised and made flashcards for kamikaze last minute just in case and thank god I memorized the quotations and whole context of it, I guess I got lucky!!

[tillysharp]

Please can you do Romeo and Juliet and Pride and Prejudice? Love your channel, it's so helpful!

[vixxa]

bruh it was BAYONET CHARGE 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 I can’t believe they used the same poem they used before it’s horrible

[rrichard]

Would I be right in saying that War Photographer would compare nicely with Checking Out Me History?

They both deal with someone in the media or establishment editing and removing certain parts of real life in order to benefit or appeal to the consumer or student.

They also both deal with the main character feeling different and separate to their peers with who they are, and what they know. However, in WP, the photographer feels disconnected because of what he knows, and the speaker in COMH feels disconnected by what he doesn't (and should) know.

[noormazhar]

sir could you please do a love and relationship poetry prediction? Your videos have improved my grades soo much, thankyou

[dfszf]

Do jekyll and hyde + romeo and juliet please matee

[lovedworm]

i really hope you're right!! i hate the war poems tbh