Poetry Work Pack Summer 2

Year 10 Contents:

Page 3: Glossary of Structural Features. Page 4: A step by step guide for revising poetry.

Page 5-6: ‘ Remains’ – Context and Writer’s Message. Page 7: ‘Remains’ –Reading the poem and looking for structural features. Page 8: ‘Remains’ –Additional Information and Questions. Page 9: ‘Remains’ –Theme sheet. Page 10-11: ‘Remains’- Top Quotes. Page 12: ‘Remains’ –Mini Quiz.

Page 13: ‘Bayonet Charge’ – Context and Writer’s Message. Page 14: ‘Bayonet Charge’ –Reading the poem and looking for structural features. Page 15: ‘Bayonet Charge’- Additional Information and Questions. Page 16: ‘Bayonet Charge’ –Theme sheet. Page 17-18: ‘Bayonet Charge’-Top Quotes. Page 19: ‘Bayonet Charge’ – Mini Quiz.

Page 20: ‘Poppies’ –Context and Writer’s Message. Page 21: ‘Poppies’ – Reading the poem and looking for structural features. Page 22: ‘Poppies’ –Additional Information and Questions. Page 23: ‘Poppies’ –Theme Sheet. Page 24-25: ‘Poppies’ –Top Quotes. Page 26: ‘Poppies’ – Mini Quiz. Glossary of structural features

Stanza: Another word for verse. This is what we call the ‘paragraphs’ in a poem.

Free Verse: When a poem doesn’t rhyme or have a regular rhythm. A step by step guide for revising Poetry You will need to complete these steps for each of the three poems in this pack. The video on the school website will also talk through some of the key information in this booklet.

Step 1 Read and learn the context and writer’s message for each poem. This is in your pack.

Step 2 Read the poem twice. Look up any words or phrases that you don’t know the meaning of. Use your ‘Glossary of Structural Features’ to look for any structural features that you can find in the poem. Step 3 Read the additional information on the poem and answer the questions.

Step 4 Complete the Theme Sheet for the poem. Try to think of how the poem links to each of the themes on the table.

Step 5 Learn the ‘Top Quotes’ and analysis and test yourseld.

Step 5 Without looking at the rest of the booklet or at your notes, take the ‘Mini Quiz’ on the poem. The answers for this will be released in the feedback booklet. Remains by Simon Armitage What happens?

• Simon Armitage is the current Poet Laureate. The poem is the story of Guardsman Tromans in Iraq. He talks about killing a man and then • He was involved in the production of a Channel 4 struggling with PTSD as he is haunted by the documentary in 2007 called ‘The Not Dead’. The memories of war. documentary was all about soldiers that had been to war and survived and the effect that war had had on them.

• Armitage wrote poems based on each of the soldiers’ stories and put them together in a poetry anthology called ‘The Not Dead’. message • All of the poems are anti –war. It seems that Armitage is angry about the fact that we, as a country, are happy Simon Armitage perhaps wrote his to send people to fight for us, but when they come home, not enough is done to support them and help them poem in order to explore the lasting live normal lives after the traumas they have suffered. psychological damage caused by • Remains is based on the story of Guardsman Tromans conflict. who was stationed in Iraq. The poem ‘Remains’ is about a soldier called Guardsman Tromans. When Armitage wrote the poem, he wrote it from the perspective of Guardsman Tromans so Guardsman Tromans is the speaker of the poem.

Guardsman Tromans was stationed in Basra, Iraq. The poem tells the story of him spotting someone looting (stealing) from a bank in Basra.

Guardsman Tromans couldn’t tell if the looter was armed but he assumed that he probably was and so Tromans and two other soldiers started shooting at him and killed him.

Tromans saw the man lying on the floor in agony with his insides literally on the floor next to him. Someone picked up his insides, put them back into his body and threw the body into a lorry.

The rest of the poem deals with Tromans not being able to forget the memory and the effect this has on him. 1. Read through the poem. Look up the meaning of any words that you don’t Remains by Simon Armitage know the meaning of. 2. Use your ‘Glossary of Structural Features (Page 3) to find any structural On another occasion, we got sent out features in the poem. to tackle looters raiding a bank. And one of them legs it up the road, End of story, except not really. probably armed, possibly not. His blood-shadow stays on the street, and out on Structural Features: patrol Well myself and somebody else and somebody I walk right over it week after week. else Then I'm home on leave. But I blink are all of the same mind, so all three of us open fire. and he bursts again through the doors of the bank. Three of a kind all letting fly, and I swear Sleep, and he's probably armed, and possibly not. Dream, and he's torn apart by a dozen rounds. I see every round as it rips through his life - And the drink and the drugs won't flush him out – I see broad daylight on the other side. So we've hit this looter a dozen times he's here in my head when I close my eyes, and he's there on the ground, sort of inside out, dug in behind enemy lines, not left for dead in some distant, sun-stunned, pain itself, the image of agony. sand-smothered land One of my mates goes by or six-feet-under in desert sand, and tosses his guts back into his body. Then he's carted off in the back of a lorry. but near to the knuckle, here and now, his bloody life in my bloody hands. TASK: When you’ve read the information, have a Remains Additional Information go at answering the questions below:

This poem contains the features below: 1. Can you find any examples of colloquial language in the poem. Why do you think Armitage has used them? Colloquial language This is a formal way of saying ‘chatty 2. In the last part of the poem, Armitage alludes to a Shakespeare language’. It just means the sort of language play. Which play is being alluded to and what could it represent? we used when we are communicating casually. 3. Can you find any lines in the poem that suggest that the soldier is For example, ‘Let ‘im have it.’ suffering from PTSD?

4. Can you find any metaphors in the poem? An Anecdotal style **CHALLENGE** Some people say that this poem is written in an An anecdote is a short story based on a anecdotal style. If any anecdote is supposed to be funny, why has real life person or event that is usually Armitage used this style? funny. If something is written in an anecdotal style it is written like a light- hearted story.

allusion For example, ‘There was once a boy In a piece of writing, allusion is when the writer called Sam who was quite a Romeo.’ mentions something, usually from history, the This tells us that the boy was quite Bible or literature that people will have heard romantic. We know this because lots of of. It helps the writer to get their point people know about the character Romeo across. from Romeo and Juliet as it is a famous play. remains theme sheet A few of the spaces have been completed for you so that you can see what to do. Theme How does this theme link to Remains? If you don’t think the poem links to a particular theme, leave it blank. Power The soldier is powerless to his own emotions.

Conflict

Power of Nature

Power of Man

Effects of War This shows the negative effects of war. The soldier has been emotionally damaged by war. Reality of War

Identity

Memory

Loss (what is being The soldier is losing his identity. All he can think about is his time at war. lost in the poem?) remains: top quotes Learn the top quotes for this poem and the analysis in the ‘Language Features’ section.

Quote Language Features Which themes does it link to?

“End of story, Volta- This is the turning point in the poem where the poet shifts from a • Effects of war (PTSD) except not nonchalant tone to a serious tone to reveal the soldier’s true feelings and that • Loss –Lost his identity • really. His he is suffering from PTSD. Identity. He has changed because of what has happened and the memory has become blood-shadow “Shadow” This noun has connotations of something that follows you and part of him. stays on the symbolises that the memory is haunting him. It also shows that this memory • Conflict (negative) street” has now become part of him. It is an extension of who he is. He is the • Power (He is powerless to get rid of the ‘shadow’ of what he once was because of what he has been through. memory) The verb “stays” symbolises that he cannot escape the memory. It is • Guilt • permanently with him. Memory “And the drink Alliteration: The repetition of the letter ‘d’ creates a desperate tone as he is • Effects of war (PTSD) and the drugs desperate to get rid of the memory. • Loss –Lost his identity • won’t flush him Metaphor- It sounds as if the man he killed has been planted inside him. He Identity. He has changed because of what has happened and the memory has become out” can’t escape the memory. part of him and he can’t get rid of it. Dynamic verb “flush” has connotations of force and getting rid of something • Conflict (negative) that your body doesn’t want. In this case, the memory. • Power (He is powerless to get rid of the Repetition of ‘and the’ elongates the line, emphasising how difficult it is to memory) remove the memory and the PTSD. • Guilt • Memory “near to the The idiom ‘near to the knuckle’ has connotations of something distasteful • Effects of war (PTSD) knuckle, here and crude. This suggests to the reader that war is not glamorous; it’s • Conflict (negative) • and now. His distasteful and crude. Power (He is powerless to get rid of the memory) bloody life in my Repetition of “bloody” emphasises his guilt. • Guilt bloody hands” “bloody life in my bloody hands” alludes to Shakespeare’s Macbeth and is • Memory symbolic of the guilt and memory that cannot be washed away. remains: top quotes Without looking at the page before, complete as much as you can of the ‘Quote’ and ‘Language Feature’ columns.

Quote Language Features Complete this quiz without looking at the rest of your booklet. Remains Mini Quiz Make sure that you revise all of the information before you attempt it. The answers to this quiz will be released in the feedback booklet.

1. What inspired Armitage to write this poem? (1) 6. Give an example of allusion in the poem and 2. What is Armitage’s opinion on war? Is he pro explain why Armitage might have used it. (2) war or anti war? Explain your answer. (2) 7. “End of story, except not really. His 3. What is the name of the soldier that this blood-shadow stays on the street”. Choose two poem is based on and where was he stationed? words that you could ‘zoom in’ on from this quote (2) and explain their connotations. (2) 4. Write out Armitage's message and fill in the 8. Why do you think Armitage chose to use gaps: Simon Armitage perhaps wrote his poem colloquial language in this poem? (1) in order to explore the lasting p______damage caused by c______. (2) 9. Write down an example of repetition in the poem and explain why Armitage might have used 5. Complete this quote: “And the drink…” (1) it. (2)

10. List three themes that this poem links to and explain the links. (3) Bayonet charge by Ted Hughes What happens?

• Ted Hughes was born after WW1 but his father fought A soldier is running with his bayonet towards a in it and survived. hedge. He almost stops for a moment and thinks ‘why am I here’? He seems to lose his faith in • A lot of his poems are about war, perhaps because he had seen the way that it affected his father. war and propaganda.

• Ted Hughes was anti-war. He thought that propaganda that encouraged young men to go to war was wrong and that they shouldn’t be fighting in the war at all. message • Ted Hughes was inspired by Wilfred Owen. Have a look at Exposure and see if you can see any similarities in their styles. Ted Hughes perhaps wrote the • Hughes grew up on farms. A lot of his poetry includes nature and sometimes the conflict between humans and poem as a critique of the nature. glorification of war. 1. Read through the poem. Look up the meaning of any words that you don’t Bayonet charge know the meaning of. by Ted Hughes 2. Use your ‘Glossary of Structural Features (Page 3) to find any structural features in the poem. Suddenly he awoke and was running – raw In raw-seamed hot khaki, his sweat heavy, Structural Features: Stumbling across a field of clods towards a green hedge That dazzled with rifle fire, hearing Bullets smacking the belly out of the air – He lugged a rifle numb as a smashed arm; The patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye Sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest, –

In bewilderment then he almost stopped – In what cold clockwork of the stars and the nations Was he the hand pointing that second? He was running Like a man who has jumped up in the dark and runs Listening between his footfalls for the reason Of his still running, and his foot hung like Statuary in mid-stride. Then the shot-slashed furrows Threw up a yellow hare that rolled like a flame

And crawled in a threshing circle, its mouth wide Open silent, its eyes standing out. He plunged past with his bayonet toward the green hedge, King, honour, human dignity, etcetera Dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm To get out of that blue crackling air His terror’s touchy dynamite. TASK: When you’ve read the information, have a Bayonet charge Additional Information go at answering the questions below: This poem talks about the soldier feeling powerless. He feels like he has no control over 1. Look at the metaphor (to the left). How does this represent his own fate. We see this in the following quote: the idea that the soldier is powerless?

“In what cold clockwork of the stars and the nations 2. Can you find any lines in the poem that show that war is Was he the hand pointing that second?” damaging nature? List as many as you can.

In this metaphor, the soldier is being 3. Why do you think that Hughes starts the poem in the middle of described as the arms of the clock. the action – “Suddenly he awoke”? What could this tell us about war? The ‘cold clockwork’ is fate and the government. 4. Look at the end of the poem where Hughes uses words that we “Stars” =fate would usually find on propaganda posters. What is the simile he “nations” = government. uses here? What does the soldier do to the words of They power the clock. propaganda? **CHALLENGE** Why do you think Hughes uses the word “raw” twice to describe the soldier? What are its connotations? The poem also talks about how war is damaging nature.

At the end of the poem, we see the soldier lose faith (give up) on patriotism (loving his country) and propaganda. He thinks that propaganda is a pointless lie. Bayonet charge theme sheet A few of the spaces have been completed for you so that you can see what to do.

Theme How does this theme link to Bayonet Charge? If you don’t think the poem links to a particular theme, leave it blank. Power The soldier is powerless to the government’s orders. Man is more powerful than nature. Conflict

Power of Nature

Power of Man

Effects of War

Reality of War

Identity

Memory

Loss (what is being The soldier is losing his faith in war and propaganda. lost in the poem?) Learn the top quotes for this poem and the analysis in the ‘Language Bayonet charge: top quotes Features’ section. Quote Language Features Which themes does it link to?

“bullets smacking Personification- symbolises that man/war has power over nature. • Power –Man /war is more powerful the belly out of The dynamic verb “smacking” sounds like war is bullying nature. It has connotations of than nature • the air” power, bullying and pain. Loss – Nature has lost its power to The alliteration of the letter ‘b’ emphasises the power of war over nature. man • Effects of War – negative • Conflict –conflict is negative “In what cold Metaphor- The soldier is the arms of the clock and is powerless to the ‘clockwork’ of • Power –Soldier is powerless to the clockwork of the the government. government and war • stars and the Rhetorical question – Shows that the soldier has lost power to war and he is questioning Loss – The soldier his faith in the war. government nations was he • Alliteration of ‘cold clockwork’ emphasises the harsh way in which the government have Effects of War – negative the hand pointing • Conflict –conflict is negative that second?” treated the soldiers. Adjective “cold” emphasises the heartless nature of government who send young men to their deaths. “Threw up a Metaphor –The hair could represent the soldier – out of his depth and frightened. • Power –Man /war is more powerful yellow hare that Simile ‘like a flame’ could symbolise that the negative effects of war spread like fire, than nature • rolled like a flame damaging everything, including nature. Loss – Nature has lost it’s power to Verb “crawled” shows the weakness of nature. man and crawled in a • Cyclical imagery shows the never-ending nature of WW1. Effects of War – negative threshing circle” • Conflict –conflict is negative

“King, honour, List emphasises the propaganda has now become insignificant and irrelevant to the • Power –Soldier is powerless to the human dignity soldier who once believed it. war. Propaganda won’t help him • etcetera, Simile – Dropped like luxuries shows that propaganda won’t help you when you are Loss – Lost his faith in propaganda/ actually fighting in a war. government Dropped like • Abstract noun “luxuries” has connotations of something you want but don’t need/ Effects of War – negative luxuries in a • Conflict –conflict is negative yelling alarm” pointless. This is what propaganda has become to the soldier. Personification –’yelling alarm’ suggests that even the instruments of war don’t want to be involved. Bayonet charge: top quotes Without looking at the page before, complete as much as you can of the ‘Quote’ and ‘Language Feature’ columns. Quote Language Features Complete this quiz without looking at the rest of your booklet. Bayonet charge Mini Quiz Make sure that you revise all of the information before you attempt it. The answers to this quiz will be released in the feedback booklet.

1. Hughes wasn’t a soldier in WW1 so what 6. Give an example of a metaphor on the poem inspired him to write this poem?(1) and explain why Hughes might have used it. (2)

2. What is Hughes’ opinion on war? Is he pro 7. “bullets smacking the belly out of the air” war or anti war? Explain your answer. (2) Which language feature is being used in this quote and what does it suggest about war? (2) 3. Which poet was Ted Hughes inspired by? (1) 8. Why do you think Hughes repeated the word 4. Write out Hughes’ message and fill in the “raw” to describe the soldier? What are its gaps: Ted Hughes perhaps wrote the poem as connotations? (2) a c______of the g______of war. (2) 9. “Threw up a yellow hare that rolled like a 5. Complete this quote: “King, honour, human flame and crawled in a threshing circle”. Why dignity etcetera…”(1) do you think Hughes used the simile “like a flame”? (2)

10. List three themes that this poem links to and explain the links. (3) Poppies by Jane Weir What happens? • Jane Weir was born in 1963 and grew up in Italy and . England A mother watches her son leave for war. She • She lived for a while in Northern Ireland, during the still wants to look after him like he is a little boy time of The Troubles. but she controls herself and lets him go.

• She was a textile designer as well as a poet, Look for references to sewing/ materials. • She had two sons. Neither of them went to war. message • She wrote this poem for a collection of poems that Carol Ann Duffy was putting together in 2009 for the Weir perhaps wrote the poem Guardian newspaper. Carol Ann Duffy asked ten poets to write a poem about war. Jane Weir’s is a bit to give a voice to non- different because it writes from a mother’s perspective. combatants ‘left behind’ due to conflict. 1. Read through the poem. Look up the meaning of any words that you don’t poppies by Jane Weir know the meaning of. 2. Use your ‘Glossary of Structural Features (Page 3) to find any structural features in the poem. Three days before Armistice Sunday and poppies had already been placed on individual war graves. Before you left, I pinned one onto your lapel, crimped petals, Structural Features: spasms of paper red, disrupting a blockade of yellow bias binding around your blazer.

Sellotape bandaged around my hand, I rounded up as many white cat hairs as I could, smoothed down your shirt’s slowly melting. I was brave, as I walked upturned collar, steeled the softening with you, to the front door, threw of my face. I wanted to graze my nose it open, the world overflowing across the tip of your nose, play at like a treasure chest. A split second being Eskimos like we did when and you were away, intoxicated. you were little. I resisted the impulse After you’d gone I went into your bedroom, to run my fingers through the gelled released a song bird from its cage. blackthorns of your hair. All my words Later a single dove flew from the pear tree, flattened, rolled, turned into felt, and this is where it has led me, skirting the church yard walls, my stomach busy making tucks, darts, pleats, hat-less, without a winter coat or reinforcements of scarf, gloves.

On reaching the top of the hill I traced the inscriptions on the war memorial, leaned against it like a wishbone. The dove pulled freely against the sky, an ornamental stitch. I listened, hoping to hear your playground voice catching on the wind. TASK: When you’ve read the information, have a poppies Additional Information go at answering the questions below: The speaker in this poem is a mother, watching her son leave to go to war. 1. Look at the second stanza of the poem. What sort of things is the mother doing? What does this tell us about her feelings towards her son? In the poem, she helps him to get ready and she has to stop herself from getting upset. She wants to 2. In the poem, the mother has internal conflict. This means that stroke his hair and act in a motherly way but she she is battling with her emotions. She wants to treat her son stops herself because she knows that she has to let like a little boy but she can’t anymore. Can you find any lines him go. that show this?

When he leaves, she feels lost. She goes 3. What do you think the line “steeled the softening of my face” upstairs and cries and then she goes out to a means? Which language feature is this? graveyard and looks at a war memorial. **CHALLENGE** Which semantic field does Weir use in this poem? Why do you think she has used it?

RE-CAP: WHAT IS A SEMANTIC FIELD? A semantic field (also known as a lexical field) is when a writer uses a range of words all belonging to the same topic. Look at the example below that uses the semantic field of music:

The sea sounded like a symphony written by an angry composer. The howl of the discordant wind merged with the hissing and spitting of the pure, white froth. Poppies theme sheet A few of the spaces have been completed for you so that you can see what to do. Theme How does this theme link to Poppies? If you don’t think the poem links to a particular theme, leave it blank. Power The mother feels powerless. She is trying to gain power over her own emotions.

Conflict

Power of Nature

Power of Man

Effects of War This shows the damaging effects of war on the people at home. The mother has lost her son and her identity as a mother. Reality of War

Identity

Memory

Loss (what is being lost in the poem?) Learn the top quotes for this poem and the analysis in the ‘Language Poppies: top quotes Features’ section. Quote Language Features Which themes does it link to?

“spasms of paper Semantic field of war –makes the reader think about the son getting • Effects of war red, disrupting a hurt. Shows that the mother can’t get the fear of him being hurt out • Loss blockade of of her mind. • Identity. She is being blocked out of his yellow bias “blockade” – suggests that the mother feels blocked out of his life. life and is scared she will lose herself as binding around Plosives used (repeated ‘b’ sound), creates the effect that she wants she won’t be a mother to him anymore. your blazer” to cry –think blubbering.

“steeled the Sibilance – creates a sinister tone and sounds like she is about to cry. • Effects of war softening of my Personification- Sound like her face has a mind of its own. She is • Loss face” battling to stop it from crying. • Identity – she is trying to be strong Verb – “steeled” has connotations of something hard and impenetrable. when she isn’t. She is blocking off her true emotions so that no one can see them. • Conflict – she is battling with herself.

“I resisted the Juxtaposition of “resisted” (to force yourself not to do something) • Effects of war. She is frightened impulse to run my and “impulse” (a natural reaction) shows that she has conflicting • Loss (losing him and herself as a mother) fingers through emotions and that she is losing her identity as a mother. • Identity – she is losing her identity as the gelled Biblical allusion - “gelled blackthorns” could be alluding to the crown his mother. blackthorns of of thorns that Jesus wore before he sacrificed himself. She is your hair” worried that her son will sacrifice himself at war.

“A split second Sibilance- creates a sinister tone as she fears for his life. • Effects of war and you were “Intoxicated” adjective has connotations of being drunk and danger. • Loss away, He is ‘drunk’ on the idea of war but she fears for him. intoxicated” Without looking at the page before, complete as much as you can of Poppies: top quotes the ‘Quote’ and ‘Language Feature’ columns. Quote Language Features Complete this quiz without looking at the rest of your booklet. Poppies Mini Quiz Make sure that you revise all of the information before you attempt it. The answers to this quiz will be released in the feedback booklet.

1. Who asked Weir to write this poem and what 6. Give an example of a metaphor on the poem for? (2) and explain why Weir might have used it. (2)

2. What makes this different from a typical war 7. “spasms of paper red, disrupting a blockade poem? (1) of yellow bias binding around your blazer” Which semantic field is being used here and why 3. As well as a poet, what else was Jane Weir? has Jane Weir used it? What could it symbolise? (1) (2)

4. Write out Weir’s message and fill in the gaps: 8. Why do you think Weir uses the word Weir perhaps wrote the poem to give a v____ “intoxicated” to describe the son? What are its to n__-c_____ ‘left behind’ due to conflict. connotations? (2) (2) 9. “I resisted the impulse to run my fingers 5. Complete this quote: “I resisted the impulse through the gelled blackthorns of your hair” to …” (1) Can you explain the Biblical allusion in this quote and what it could suggest? (2)

10. List three themes that this poem links to and explain the links. (3)