I will be looking at how the theme of conflict is presented in the poem Flag written by John Agard.

poem is made up of five stanzas, each stanza contains three lines. The first line of every stanza is a question regarding the flag which is being asked by the naïve questioner, the following two lines then answer the question. The second line in each stanza is the shortest; this creates a blunt and cynical tone. The first and third lines in each stanza rhyme, except in the last stanza, this links the question and the answer and helps make the last word in each stanza significant. The question at the start of the first four stanzas has the same sentence structure; this gives the poet a chance to use a range of verbs about the flag and suggests it can be seen in many places. The poet uses rhetorical language in this poem, he uses powerful commands and sarcastic language to involve and challenge the reader.  The use of informal questions undermines the supposedly noble ideas that a flag inspires. Personification is used throughout the poem, “that will outlive the blood you bleed”, and metaphors such as “that makes the guts of men grow bold”. The poet also uses some alliteration “blood you bleed” to emphasise the barbaric effect the flag can have. The context of the poem is how a flag can cause so many different conflicts between different people in different places all over the world. The poem is timeless as it can be about any conflict that has ever happened in the past or one that is still happening today. The poem is mostly about patriotism. Throughout the poem John Agard comes across as being sarcastic and his attitude towards the flag is that it isn’t as important as people believe it is, as he repeatedly says the line “it’s just a piece of cloth”. He also includes feelings like cynicism; he mocks the way people will allow a symbol of nationalism such as a flag have such power over them and inspire whole countries to go to war. He’s contempt by criticising the way people ignore their sense of right and wrong for the demands of patriotism. The poet also warns us about letting ourselves be manipulated by empty symbols. The tone of the poem changes in the last stanza.