GCSE Poetry Unit

Today we are learning to …

…explore and analyse a poem.

Literature: Unit 2 (poetry across time)

Section A• Essay on anthology

poems studied in class.

• Clean copy of anthology provided in exam.

Section B• Analysis of an

unseen poem provided in exam.

Unit 1: Of Mice and Men and

Sunlight On Grass

IN YOUR BOOKS…

TITLE – EXPLORING A POEM

EXPLORING A POEM

IN YOUR BOOKS…

• SUBTITLE – PERSONAL RESPONSE

EXPLORING A POEM

1 PERSONAL RESPONSE

• What is the subject matter of the poem?

• What is the poem trying to do – is there a message?

• Is it trying to create an emotive response from you? What is your response/how does it make you feel?

EXPLORING A POEM

Write bullet –pointed notes

2 VOICE

• Who seems to be speaking in the poem?

• What type of voice and tone of voice do you imagine them speaking in?

EXPLORING A POEM

Try reading lines from the poem to each other out loud. Experiment - use different tones of voice. Try emphasising different words.

Write bullet –pointed notes

Homework: complete the table

POETRY CLUSTER:

Poems focusing on different kinds of conflict • Experienced by people• Caused by people• Conflict within countries (e.g. civil war) and between

countries• Reasons for conflict• Effects of conflict• Contemporary and heritage poetry• Historical and current conflicts• New perspectives on historical conflict• Effects of conflict on the individual, groups and society• Exploring feelings of conflict in a wider sense.

Conflict

Poems we will study

• Flag – John Agard• Out of the Blue – Simon

Armitage (extract)• Mametz Wood – Owen Shears• The Yellow Palm – Robert

Minhinnick• The Right Word – Imtiaz

Dharker• At the Border, 1979 – Choman

Hardi• Belfast Confetti – Ciaran

Carson• Poppies – Jane Weir

• Futility – Wilfred Owen• The Charge of the Light

Brigade – Alfred Tennyson• Bayonet Charge – Ted

Hughes• The Falling Leaves –

Margaret Postgate Cole• ‘Come On, Come Back’ –

Stevie Smith• next to of course god

america i – E. E. Cummings• Hawk Roosting – Ted Hughes

Assessment objectives: what the examiner is looking for

• AO1: respond to texts critically and imaginatively; select and evaluate relevant textual detail to illustrate and support interpretations.

• AO2: explain how language, structure and form contribute to writers’ presentation of ideas, themes and settings.

• AO3: make comparisons and explain links between texts, evaluating writers’ different ways of expressing meaning and achieving effects.

Understand the poems, be able to discuss the themes, meanings and techniques using evidence from the

poems to support your view.

IN OTHER WORDS:

Be able to compare poems based on themes, techniques and meaning. Have your own opinion!

Be able to identify and analyse language techniques and structural features and link them back to the

themes/meaning of the poems.