Edexcel GCSE Relationships poems: all 15 poems with analysis

The 15 poems in the Relationships cluster of the Pearson Edexcel GCSE English Literature poetry anthology (Paper 2 Section B Part 1: Poetry Anthology (Relationships)), with the key ideas of each one, a printable comparison grid and pairs of poems to compare. Every poem has a free lesson on its context, form and key methods.

All 15 Relationships poems

Poems in lesson order. Key ideas are summaries in our own words; use your anthology for exact quotations.
PoemPoetKey ideasLesson
La Belle Dame sans MerciJohn KeatsDangerous love, ballad form, cyclical structureLesson
A Child to his Sick GrandfatherJoanna BaillieA child comforts a dying grandfatherLesson
She Walks in BeautyLord ByronBalanced, innocent beautyLesson
A ComplaintWilliam WordsworthLove that has dried up, water imageryLesson
Neutral TonesThomas HardyDead love, bleak winter imagery, cyclical structureLesson
Sonnet 43Elizabeth Barrett BrowningLimitless devotion, anaphora, sonnet formLesson
My Last DuchessRobert BrowningDramatic monologue, control, jealousyLesson
1st Date: She and 1st Date: HeWendy CopeTwo hidden sides of a first date (dramatic irony)Lesson
ValentineCarol Ann DuffyThe onion as an extended metaphor for honest loveLesson
One FleshElizabeth JenningsElderly parents apart in separate beds (ironic biblical title)Lesson
i wanna be yoursJohn Cooper ClarkeEveryday objects and a refrainLesson
Love's DogJen HadfieldPaired lines of love and hateLesson
NettlesVernon ScannellA father's protective rage and powerlessness (military metaphor)Lesson
The ManhuntSimon ArmitageA wife's slow search through her soldier husband's wounds, in coupletsLesson
My Father Would Not Show UsIngrid de KokA father who hid his illness and dying, remembered after his deathLesson

Relationships themes

These lessons group the poems by theme and compare them side by side.

Comparison grid

Print this grid and add your own notes and short quotations in the last column as you revise each poem.

PoemThemeFormCompare withMy notes
La Belle Dame sans Merciidealised and dangerous loveA ballad: twelve quatrains rhyming ABCB, telling a story.
A Child to his Sick Grandfatherfamily bondsEight six-line stanzas made of rhyming couplets, with a short, regular rhythm.Nettles
She Walks in Beautyidealised and dangerous loveThree sestets (six-line stanzas) with a regular ABABAB rhyme scheme and iambic tetrameter.Sonnet 43
A Complaintpower, control and love gone coldThree six-line stanzas with an ABABCC rhyme scheme and iambic tetrameter.Neutral Tones
Neutral Tonespower, control and love gone coldFour quatrains with an ABBA rhyme scheme.One Flesh
Sonnet 43idealised and dangerous loveA Petrarchan sonnet: fourteen lines in iambic pentameter, with an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six lines).i wanna be yours
My Last Duchesspower, control and love gone coldA dramatic monologue: only the Duke speaks, so we hear his version, but we can read between the lines.Cousin Kate
1st Date: She and 1st Date: Hemodern voices on loveTwo poems presented as a pair, each a first-person interior monologue.
Valentinemodern voices on loveFree verse with irregular stanzas.Love's Dog
One Fleshfamily bondsThree six-line stanzas with a regular rhyme scheme.The Manhunt
i wanna be yoursmodern voices on loveWritten in lower case with very little punctuation, which gives a casual, modern, spoken feel.Valentine
Love's Dogmodern voices on loveSixteen lines arranged as eight couplets, with no stanza breaks and no punctuation.Valentine
Nettlesfamily bondsA single stanza with regular rhyme and a steady iambic rhythm, like one continuous memory.
The Manhuntmodern voices on loveWritten in couplets, many with half-rhyme, which suggests a pair trying to fit back together but not quite matching.Sonnet 43
My Father Would Not Show Usfamily bondsFree verse with no regular rhyme and stanzas of different lengths, which reflects the unsettled, uneven nature of grief.A Child to his Sick Grandfather

Suggested pairs to compare

Each pair comes from the comparison question in one of our poem lessons, where you will find a worked answer.

How to compare two anthology poems in the exam →

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