Free Posters for GCSE English Literature AQA Power & Conflict Poetry Collection

If you need something to brighten up your classroom wall, then look no further.  I took a little while to create these posters – and trying to tame AI to produce something faithful to them was an uphill struggle.  

However, here are the finished items, which you can download free of charge here.  And yes, they do use AI but because that means that you and I do not have to worry about copyright issues. I see so many posters created by well-meaning teachers who have blithely used the work of others to illustrate the literature that they teach – I wanted to avoid that altogether and now technology has finally caught up with that desire!

I started with Ozymandias, which I have very fond memories of studying while I was at school. Its message is as powerful today as it was when Shelley wrote it, reminding us that even the mightiest rulers, empires and achievements are ultimately fleeting, while time and nature outlast them all.  

My teacher did some marvellous things with her voice when reading the poem out loud – and although in hindsight it may have been a little too bombastic (you should have seen her doing Charge of the Light Brigade), we enjoyed her theatricals.

If You Said This Was London’s Oldest Outdoor Statue, You’d Be Half Right

Tucked away in London’s Trinity Church Square stands a tall statue.  Larger than life, it stands 8.5 feet high (2.6 metres), depicting a wise old king. Who that king is, no one is completely sure but it is widely believed to be a representation of King Alfred the Great, who ruled in the 9^th century. The statue was once thought to have been made at some point in the 1300s as it reflects the statuary style then prevalent. Simply put, no one ever knew its true provenance although debate raged off and on (no doubt in a very polite British way). Image

Image Credit

What is known with certainty is that it has been in the square since 1831 – getting on for two hundred years. Rather annoyingly and contrary to the often meticulous record-keeping habits of Victorian Londoners, the name of who gifted it to the square is not recorded. So, for all that time, no one knew much about it at all or could offer anything more than educated guesswork. But the statue held a secret or two.

Social Singing in New Cross: Find Your Voice (and Your Community)

If you’ve ever longed to sing in good company - without the pressure of auditions or polished performances - Social Singing at The New Cross House (London, SE14) could be your perfect fit. Happening on Tuesdays from sunset until 11 PM, this open‑singalong event invites singers of all abilities to gather, harmonise, and explore vocal improv in a warm, social setting.

What truly sets this experience apart is how effortlessly it bridges music and connection. Lyrics are projected on a big screen, so you can focus on your voice, not fumbling with words. Whether backed by live instruments or backing tracks, the music is there to support you - not overshadow you. And there’s no pressure to go solo: the emphasis is on group singing and shared fun.

Expect a joyful playlist - pop, folk, holiday tunes, musicals, or decade‑specific favourites - all easy to follow and fun to harmonise with. Perhaps you’ll join in with simple thirds or fifths, experiment with call‑and‑response, or even layer voices in unexpected ways. The playful spirit of vocal improv lets you try scat singing, counterpoint, or ambient drones - no prior training required.

If you'd like to take a little spotlight, apply for a featured performance spot via the website - that way you can share your unique style.

Beyond music, it's truly a social gathering - a chance to meet new people, catch up with friends, or simply relax and feel uplifted. The venue - a charming, open‑plan Victorian pub - complements the vibe beautifully, blending elegance with approachability.

Whether you're a seasoned vocalist, a shy hobby‑singer, or simply looking for a lively, musical evening, Social Singing is a space to raise your voice, share a laugh, and perhaps discover musical creativity you didn’t know you had.

Register via www.socialsinging.co.uk

Vhils: Graffiti Art as Architectural Archaeology

Disintegrating walls and peeling posters may not be everyone’s cup of tea. In fact I would venture that to most people they are a rather dispiriting sign of urban decay.  Yet to one artist the sight of crumbling architecture and aged billboards posted one atop another atop another are a creative spur. Vhils creates art not by adding but by taking away.

Image Credit Flickr User Lord Jim

Image Credit Flickr User Salotte

Vhils, born Alexandre Fartos in 1987 in Portugal, chips, slices, cuts and hammers his remarkable art out of the sides of buildings.  It started when he was a youth in Lisbon.  Portugal’s recent history meant that billboards advertising expensive consumer goods could be pasted directly over posters of socialist ideals left over from the 1974 revolution in a layer which could, depending on the amount of posters, centimeters thick.

Welcome to London - A Short Hyperlapse Film

Take a trip around London without getting out of your chair.  This wonderful hyperlapse by Mattia Bicchi features a number of the English capital’s well-known architectural features including a stunning shot of Tower Bridge.

Hyperlapse really is a labor of love so many thanks to Mattia for this superb example of a fairly new form.

The Beatles - Animated History of a Rock Band

If you are a fan of The Beatles then you will absolutely adore this – guaranteed. As a standalone piece of animation it gives us a glimpse in to the career of (possibly) the best rock band in history. We see stylised versions of Liverpool, London and New York as the Fab Four take us on a Magical Mystery Tour all of their own.

In fact, this was almost inspirational piece of animation was created by Pete Candeland of Passion Pictures. It was used for the intro of The Beatles: Rock Band game, which was launched in September 2009. I have absolutely no idea how the game fared in the marketplace but if it was a complete flop then it was worth it just for these 2:36 of complete bliss. This animation works wonderfully well independent of the game.

Hard Day’s Night, Paperback Writer, Here Comes The Sun and I Am The Walrus all feature in this wonderful animated medley. It's just a joy to watch!

Here is the shorter but equally lovely outro.

The Cast Courts

The Cast Courts of the V&A museum in London are simply exhilarating although many people puzzle why what are effectively copies should entrance visitors to such an extent.  You get the answer in this video which takes a close look at some of the gallery’s most famous pieces.  The two which stand out, of course, are the plaster cast of Trajan’s column and the 5.5 metre high cast of Michelangelo's David which we see getting to see really close up here. Fascinating.

London – An Animated Interpretation of the William Blake Poem

Would William Blake recognize the London of 2021? London was published in 1794 by Blake in his Songs of Experience collection.  It was a time of great upheaval – the French Revolution had just happened and London was feeling its repercussions. There was much social unrest, due mostly to the social inequalities of the time. It seemed that the rich were just getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

So, yes – it is quite likely that Blake would be able to identify the city and its themes – not only from the landmarks that still persist from his time but because so little has changed. This animation by Alex Robinson seamlessly transposes the poem over visions of an imagined present day London. As the city (or those in charge of it) attempts to fool the world that this is a city of shiny, happy people on shiny, happy streets in the build up to the London Olympics, this comes as a welcome relief. The city, as in Blake’s day, still has very much an underbelly.

A Magical Mermaid Miscellany

The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, Denmark, has entranced onlookers since it was erected in 1909. Yet there are statues of mermaids the world over – a testament to the way in which these alluring ladies of the sea have embedded themselves in global popular culture. Let’s take a tour around the world and visit some of the best.

Baltinore Easter Ross, Scotland

Image Credit Flickr User Mikeseye

Image Credit Flickr User IrenicRhonda

The Hardy Tree: An Early Work of a Great Novelist

In the churchyard of St Pancras Old Church in London, hundreds of old gravestones circle an ash tree. Of course, these were not how they were originally laid out. So, how did they get to this, their final resting place, as it were? And who was responsible?

Long before he became famous for novels like Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Far From the Madding Crowd and The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy (like any other aspiring writer) had to find employment with which to pay his way through the world. His chosen field was to be architecture.

Image Credit Flickr User ChrisJohnBeckett

Image Credit Flickr User Prof Shorthair

However, it is unlikely that the would-be author could guess what one of his firm’s projects would demand of him. He probably didn't sign up for architecture to then be sent to excavate a graveyard. Yet, like many a young man finding his path, sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

Victorian Street Life in London

In 1876, six years after the death of Charles Dickens, the streets of the English capital still looked very much like the famous author had described. Poverty, disability and filth were everywhere: people lived a precarious and marginal existence working on the streets of London. Two men became determined to document this – and the book they produced shocked a nation.

Radical journalist Adolphe Smith conducted interviews with the poor and down and outs of London. Yet this had been done before. The unique selling point of this book was his collaboration with photographer John Thomson. These pictures - such as the one above of a young girl searching drinking houses for an inebriate parent, were taken with a camera using the glass plate method (Eastman would not develop film until the next decade). They stunned the British middle classes and made their book – Street Life of London – an immediate best seller.

A Father’s Day

So, you may know how we at Kuriositas love anything undeadish so how could we possible ignore a short film like A Father’s Day?  It is set – as so often – in a post-apocalyptic world (here it is the UK, possibly post-Brexit too!).  A father is unexpectedly reunited with his daughter among the ruins of the world as they knew it, a father is determined to make this day special, even if they are already dead. A Father’s Day was written and directed by Mat Johns with funding by Creative England and BFI Newtork.

The Fleet – London’s Underground River

If you listen carefully just above this unassuming grate you can hear the ripple and splash of flowing water. This is the sound of the River Fleet, London’s largest subterranean river. Forced underground by the city’s burgeoning populace the river still flows from its source to its mouth where it joins London’s main waterway, the Thames. Yet what lies beneath?

Image Credit Flickr User sub-urban.com

Below the ground there is a remarkable network of tunnels and chambers, put in to place by Victorian engineers, the final step in a process which took centuries.  For over a thousand years there had been a shipping dock at the mouth of the river – its name comes from the Anglo-Saxon fleot which means a tidal inlet. Yet it was not destined to persevere as a river in its own right.

Cecil: The Lion Sleeps Tonight

The killing of Cecil the lion created a global wave of revulsion – and rightly so.  Artist collective id-iom have come up with this lovely tribute to the lion, shot by a dentist from Ohio on an illegal hunt.  The stencil shows a winged lion with the legend ‘the lion sleeps tonight’ below.  Of course, when it came to choosing the location in London to position the stencil, there was only one place it could go: Cecil Road in the capital’s Haringey area.

Mind the Gap

If you have lived in or visited London over the last thirty years then the three words which make up the title of this short film will be familiar as you will have heard them many time on the underground tube system of the English capital.  For one elderly woman the words have a particular resonance.  Starring Eileen Nicholas and produced, written and directed by Luke Flanagan, Mind the Gap is based on a true story.

What if an Epidemic Emptied London of People?

Can you imagine London without people?  That is quite an ask, particularly if you live there: the one constant you have is the presence of another person in the vicinity.  Yet Clare&Max have done this in Miasmatic and the result is eerie, like 28 Days Later without Cillian Murphy – or any zombies for that matter.  Yet watch closely -  there is still a barely detectable presence here. Find out how they did it here.

Paddington Who? Peter Capaldi Gives our Peruvian Pal a Timelord Makeover

Paddington is an old favorite of Londoners. They (and the Brown family) welcomed the Peruvian bear’s first incarnation way back in 1958.  Just five years later a certain TV show began which, like the Paddington, is still going strong.  Doctor Who lead Peter Capaldi recently joined forces with British charity the NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) to bring us Paddington Who? The statue is located at the Greenwich Meridian, Royal Observatory Greenwich in South East London.

Paddington’s distinctive duffel coat has morphed in to a version of the Tardis while the back features a rather jolly looking disco-dalek.  Capaldi’s creation is one of just 50 versions of Paddington Bear designed by a stellar cast of celebrities including Sandra Bullock and Benedict Cumberbatch.  They have popped up around London in recent days to raise awareness for the ChildLine arm of the charity which enables young people to get help and advice about a wide range of issues.  All 50 bears will be auctioned off later in the year with the proceeds going to ChildLine.

Many thanks to Kuriositas reader Darren Kerrison, who kindly sent us these pictures of Paddington Who? We will hopefully include the others in an upcoming feature.

The Tower of London Poppies: Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red

At the beginning of August a major art installation began to take shape on and around one of London’s most historic landmarks – the Tower of London.  Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red by ceramic artist Paul Cummins now dominates the whole area.  Since the longest-serving yeoman warder at the tower placed the first ceramic poppy in the summer it has been followed by hundreds of thousands of others. On 11 November, Armistice Day, there will be 888,246.  Each one represents a British or Commonwealth soldier killed during the First World War.

Image emmadukew

The project, which has sadly not been short of detractors, is simply breath-taking. A drop of red for each of the men who perished in what was supposed to be the war to end all wars, this artwork does not seek to lionize these soldiers but to solemnly remember them and their sacrifice. It is always, despite the naysayers, forward looking.  Each and every poppy has been bought by members of the public: six armed forces charities will benefit to the sum of over £1 million each, to assist and support ex-service men and women in the future.

Image AdamNSinger

Monty Python’s Dead Parrot Returns (and This Time it’s 50-Foot-Tall)

For Londoners yesterday it was time for something completely different.  Along the banks of the River Thames which runs through the heart of the city a rather large dead parrot, fifty foot in height (or length depending on the time of day and the bird’s recumbence), had been deposited.  Although it may have bemused any number of tourists for most British people a dead parrot is an immediately recognizable cultural icon. It can mean only one thing – Monty Python.

The (in)famous dead parrot sketch was recently voted number one by the British public (in terms of Python sketches and it would without doubt get in to any top ten comedy poll undertaken in the UK).  So when it comes to promoting the live stage show (it should have been called Pension Plan Python) the troupe are currently performing at the city’s 02 Arena, what better than the dead parrot?

London

This video is a time lapse of London shot by Joe Gallon and produced by Louis Theodossiou to bring out the beautiful colors found around London at day and at night. Isla Day reads the lovely poem created by Emma Bennallick for this project. Isla's innocent voice gives extreme contrast to how the poem usually reads and to how London is usually perceived, which creates a whole new way of looking at London.