Power & Control: Ozymandias, My Last Duchess & London

This focused revision session explores how poets present power, authority, and control in the AQA Power and Conflict Poetry Anthology for AQA English Literature GCSE Paper 2. Through Ozymandias, My Last Duchess, and London, students will examine how these poems expose pride, oppression, status, corruption, and the abuse of power, while developing the comparative skills and analytical precision needed for strong exam responses.

This session can be booked as a standalone class, but it is also one of five sessions in the full Easter poetry revision course. Across the full course, students will study the eight most flexible poems in the anthology in great depth, building a secure core of knowledge that can be adapted confidently in the exam. The remaining seven poems will also be covered with a lighter touch, focusing on their main themes and key quotations, so that students are equipped to make a comparison with any of the 15 poems in the anthology that AQA may choose for the named poem on exam day this June.

This makes the session particularly valuable for students who want more than just poem-by-poem revision. Many students can remember individual ideas, but feel less confident when they need to compare poems quickly and effectively under pressure. This session is designed to give students a clear, markscheme-led approach to one of the most important clusters of poems in the anthology, helping them understand how these texts connect and how those connections can be used successfully in exam answers.

It is especially useful for students who want to move up the mark scheme levels but are not sure what is required. Students often know the content of the poems reasonably well, but struggle to turn that knowledge into the kind of precise, comparative, and purposeful analysis that examiners reward. This session offers examiner-led advice on comparison, quotation selection, analytical writing, and structuring a stronger response, so that students can see more clearly what separates a basic answer from one that is more thoughtful, developed, and convincing.

There will be a particular focus on the demands of the mark scheme: how to make meaningful comparisons rather than simple links, how to use references with purpose, and how to analyse methods in a way that genuinely supports an argument. Students will be encouraged to move beyond feature-spotting and broad comments, and towards a more confident understanding of how to write responses that are relevant, well-judged, and aligned with the assessment objectives. For those who need a more secure framework for poetry comparison, or who want clearer guidance on what strong analysis looks like, this session provides practical and highly focused support.

A companion workbook will be available before the session so that students can prepare in advance and get the most from the teaching. The recording will be shared afterwards with all participants, allowing students to revisit the session as they continue revising in the lead-up to the exam. Optional essay marking can also be added, giving students the opportunity to apply what they have learned and receive feedback on how to improve further.

Whether booked individually or as part of the full five-session course, this class offers structured, exam-focused preparation designed to help students approach the anthology with greater confidence, sharper comparison skills, and a much clearer understanding of what success looks like in AQA English Literature GCSE Paper 2.