English resources/Power and Conflict/Power of humans
Power of humans in Power and Conflict
Kings, dukes, generals, teachers. People with power use it on people without it. Most of these poems are about the ones without.
The quotes
19 quotes, in the order they happen.
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Shelley · Ozymandias · power of humans · power of nature
The king's boast on his statue. Look at what I built and be afraid. Around it there is nothing.
Nothing beside remains
Shelley · Ozymandias · power of humans · power of nature · loss
The statue is broken. The empire is gone. The sand is what lasts.
sneer of cold command
Shelley · Ozymandias · power of humans
The face on the statue is cruel and proud. The sculptor caught it. The king did not notice.
mind-forg'd manacles
Blake · London · power of humans · identity
Chains made in the mind. The people of London are locked up by their own thoughts and by the powerful.
In every cry of every Man, In every Infant's cry of fear
Blake · London · power of humans · loss
Everyone is crying. Even babies are afraid. Blake hears it on every street.
Every black'ning Church appalls
Blake · London · power of humans
The church is going black with soot and shame. It does nothing for the poor.
the hapless Soldier's sigh Runs in blood down Palace walls
Blake · London · conflict · power of humans
The soldier's sigh turns into blood on the palace. The rich send the poor to die.
I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together
Browning · My Last Duchess · power of humans · conflict
The Duke had his wife killed because she smiled at everyone. He says it calmly, in passing.
That's my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive
Browning · My Last Duchess · power of humans
He shows off her portrait like a possession. As if she were alive. She is not.
I choose Never to stoop
Browning · My Last Duchess · power of humans
He would not lower himself to tell her what annoyed him. So he had her removed.
Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die
Tennyson · The Charge of the Light Brigade · conflict · power of humans
Soldiers do not ask why. They obey and they die. Someone made a mistake and they paid.
In what cold clockwork of the stars and the nations
Hughes · Bayonet Charge · conflict · power of humans
Mid-run he wonders what machine put him here. Stars, nations, cold clockwork. He is a part in it.
King, honour, human dignity, etcetera
Hughes · Bayonet Charge · conflict · power of humans
The big words for why he is fighting. Etcetera. They fall away when the bullets come.
turned into your skin
Dharker · Tissue · power of humans · identity
Paper that becomes skin. Maps, receipts and records are all thin. So are we.
Paper that lets the light shine through
Dharker · Tissue · power of humans · power of nature
Thin paper lets light in. Dharker wants buildings and borders made that way too.
Maps too. The sun shines through their borderlines
Dharker · Tissue · power of humans
Borders are lines on paper. The sun does not see them.
Dem tell me Dem tell me Wha dem want to tell me
Agard · Checking Out Me History · identity · power of humans
They taught him their history and hid his. The beat is a drum.
Bandage up me eye with me own history Blind me to me own identity
Agard · Checking Out Me History · identity · power of humans
School wrapped a bandage over his eyes. He could not see who he was.
a shaven head full of powerful incantations
Garland · Kamikaze · conflict · power of humans
The pilot's head is full of the words that sent him to die.
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