Literature Revision
Literature Revision
Section A
• Compare two poems from the ‘Conflict’ cluster.
Preparation:
Read and re-read all of the poems
Annotate the poems for: poetic techniques, structural devices and themes/ideas
Plan for questions using comparison grids
Practise writing comparative questions
Essay writing:
You will need to COMPARE (look at two poems together and discuss similarities/differences)
You MUST talk about the poet’s purpose (why he/she has done certain things and what impact are they trying to create)
You will need to PEE (Make a point, add evidence and then explain)
You should try to evaluate
You should think about other people’s interpretations
Section B
• Respond to an unseen poem
Preparation:
Read some of the poems in the anthology which you have NOT studied
Annotate the poems for: poetic techniques, structural devices and themes/ideas
Practise writing PEE paragraphs about: language, imagery, themes and ideas, structure, poet’s purpose
Possible questions:
1. How does ‘Bayonet Charge’ and one other poem explore a soldier’s experience of war?
2. War doesn’t only affect soldiers- how does ‘The Falling Leaves’ and one other poem show how conflict can affect others?
3. Conflict makes people behave in ways they wouldn’t normally. Explore this idea by looking at ‘Flag’ and one other poem.
4. Explore the ways in which ‘At the Border’ and one other poem deal with conflict affecting the environment
5. Examine the presentation of war in ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ and one other poem
6. Looking at ‘Next to of course america god I’ and other poem, consider how poets examine the immorality of war
The Mark Scheme: Can you get top marks?!
[pic]
|‘The Right Word’ |Quotation or evidence to support the point |Are there any similarities or differences in the extract |Quotation or evidence to support your point |
| | |from ‘Out of the Blue’? | |
|Point 1 | |Yes/No, because… | |
| |“God help me” | | |
|Terrorism can make people fearful | | |“I am waving waving” |
| |“No words can help me now” |Yes because the narrator is a victim of the 9/11 attacks | |
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|Point 2 | |Yes/No, because… | |
| |‘is that the wrong description’ | | |
|Don’t know how to describe terrorists | |No, the narrator doesn’t know it is a terrorist attack and|“So when will you come” |
| |‘I haven’t got this quite right’ |therefore there is no anger/description of terrorists- | |
| | |only the situation and the only people addressed are his | |
| | |loved ones, the crowds below and the hope of help | |
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|Point 3 | |Yes/No, because… | |
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|Shouldn’t be prejudiced and assume that people are |‘a boy who looks like your son too’ |No because in ‘Out of the Blue’ it is describing an actual|“Do you see me, my love, I am failing, flagging” |
|terrorists | |terrorist attack. The victim is unaware of anything but | |
| | |his current situation and is merely trying to get help | |
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|Point 4 | |Yes/No, because… | |
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|Terrorism is violent |‘lurking in the shadows’ |Yes because we see the effect of terrorism |Personification: ‘the heat behind me is bullying, driving’|
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|Point 5 | |Yes/No, because… | |
| | | |“does anyone see a soul worth saving” |
|Terrorism doesn’t affect everyone |‘The child steps in carefully’ |Yes, people who are watching it aren’t physically hurt BUT| |
| | |saying that, they might be mentally scarred (links to | |
| | |ideas in ‘The Right Word’ | |
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Next Step:
Create comparative paragraphs by putting your points together using PEE
A* E.g:
In ‘Out of the Blue’ the poet explores the fact that many people are fearful of terrorism. Lines such as ‘God help me’ and ‘no words can help me now’ are really successful at showing the deep fears people can have. I think that the poem is trying to show that many people in modern society are genuinely afraid that terrorism will affect them. This terror is also experienced in ‘Out of the Blue’ where a victim of the 9/11 attacks frantically says ‘I am waving, waving’. The poet’s use of repetition really conveys the man’s fear. The obvious difference here is that he is totally unaware of the cause of the ‘burning building’ he is trapped in. Unlike the narrator in ‘The Right Word’ he IS a victim of terrorism and has every right to be afraid of it. Ironically though, it isn’t the idea of terroism he is afraid of, but the reality of it- although he is an unknowing victim of it. I think that fear is a very strong emotion in both poems but I think that ‘Out of the Blue’ is more effective- the fact that the man does NOT know his attackers makes his terror all the more tragic.
|‘Mametz Wood’ |Quotation or evidence to support the point |Are there any similarities or differences in |Quotation or evidence to support your point |
| | |‘______________________’? | |
|Point 1 | | | |
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|Point 2 | | | |
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|Point 3 | | | |
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|Point 4 | | | |
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|Point 5 | | | |
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Sample Paragraph
|‘Poppies’ |Quotation or evidence to support the point |Are there any similarities or differences in |Quotation or evidence to support your point |
| | |‘______________________’? | |
|Point 1 | | | |
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|Point 2 | | | |
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|Point 3 | | | |
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|Point 4 | | | |
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|Point 5 | | | |
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Sample Paragraph
Miss Wheater’s Rough Guide to the Poems
Flag:
Themes/Ideas:
Patriotism
Conscience
Loyalty to a country/blind following
Language:
The adjective ‘just’ shows the flag to be physically meaningless but symbolically powerful
‘guts’, ‘coward’= emotional/guilt
‘my friend’= conversational tone
Structure:
Repetition of ‘it’s just a piece of cloth’ reinforces the fact that a flag has no importance in itself- but yet it has a lot of meaning
Links to:
Futility, Charge of the Light Brigade, next to of course god america i
Out of the Blue
Themes/Ideas:
Terrorism
Fear
Violence
Language:
Personification: ‘the heat behind me is bullying’ brings the danger to life
Emotive vocabulary: ‘appalling’, ‘others like me wind-milling, wheeling, spiralling, falling’
Range of emotions- desperate: ‘does anyone see a soul worth saving’ not giving in: I am still breathing’ and finally acceptance: ‘do you see my, my love. I am failing, flagging”
Structure:
Repetition of ‘’waving, waving’ shows panic
Rhyme: poetic style contrasts with the horrific, dark reality
Questions: reflects the man’s disbelief and fear
Links to:
The Right Word, Flag, The Yellow Palm
Mametz Wood
Themes/Ideas:
War
Death
Language:
Metaphor: ‘broken mosaic of bones’ – shows the men were totally destroyed
Personification: ‘nesting machine guns’ makes them sound alive and waiting- safe
Simile- ‘like a wound’= compares the land to an injury
Structure:
Enjambement- conversational like someone looking back
Links to:
Poppies, futility, bayonet charge, falling leaves,
The Yellow Palm
Themes/Ideas:
War
Death
Suffering
Poverty
Innocence vs brutality
Language:
Unfamiliar vocab: ‘muezzin’, ‘imperial guard’ and ‘salaams’ help give a sense of place
Suffering: ‘poison gas’, ‘blood on the walls’, ‘despair’,
Metaphor: ‘fruit’ could also mean missiles
Structure:
Repetition: ‘As I made my way down Palestine Street’ conveys the idea of tourism
Each 2nd line= things the tourist sees/hears/met: ‘I watched’, ‘I heard’, ‘I met’, I smelled’ etc
Juxtaposition: brutality- ‘cruise missile’ vs innocence- ‘a beggar child…blessed it with a smile’ to show that it is the innocent who suffer most
Links to:
Out of the Blue, Flag, At the Border
The Right Word
Themes/Ideas:
Prejudice
Terrorism
Fear
Language:
Fear: ‘terrorist’, ‘martyr’, ‘hostile militant’ etc
Direct speech: ‘you’ makes the poem personal and makes us consider our own views
‘I open the door’ shows that we have to actively address our fears and display love not hostility
Structure:
Each stanza explores a different word- and concludes that it isn’t right- makes us consider carefully the way we judge people
Poem progresses from terror to love
Poem progresses from impersonal to personal
Links to:
Out of the Blue, Flag, next to of course god america i
At the Border, 1979
Themes/Ideas:
War
Environment
Identity
family
Language:
Images of division throughout (literal and metaphorical)
Many references to land and home
Structure:
Enjambement- the lines run on as though the narrator is recalling a memory
Repetition of words such as ‘same’ to show that the physical environment is the same on either side of the border (although the politics are not)
Links to:
Out of the Blue, Flag, The Yellow Palm, Poppies, Belfast Confetti
Belfast Confetti
Themes/Ideas:
War
Violence
Political (Northern Ireland)
Place
Language:
References to punctuation (‘hyphenated line’, ‘stops’, ‘colons’ etc) which shows that life is constantly being punctuated by violence.
Structure:
Lots of hyphens punctuate the lines- like gunshots
Enjambement= reflecting the constant flow of gunshot and violence
Links to:
Out of the Blue, Flag, The Yellow Palm, Poppies
Poppies
Themes/Ideas:
Loss
Grief
Soldiers
family
Language:
Memories: ‘like when you were little’
A mother’s love: ‘I resisted the impulse…’
Grief: ‘I listened, hoping…’
Metaphor: ‘released a song bird from its cage’ shows she had to let her son go
Structure:
Enjambement- recalling memories/conversational
Moves from past to present
Links to:
Out of the Blue, Flag, The Yellow Palm, next to of course god america I, bayonet charge, futility, the falling leaves
Futility
Themes/Ideas:
Death
War
Nature
Soldiers
Language:
Peaceful vocab: ‘gently’, ‘whispering’ etc is a juxtaposition- brutal war vs peaceful in death
Images of death: ‘still warm’
Criticism of war: ‘was it for this the clay grew tall?’
Structure:
Title links to theme- just like the futility of war, it is futile to move him into the sun- nothing can bring him back to life now
Questions- the narrator is unsure about the meaning of war
Links to:
Mametz Wood, The Charge of the Light Brigade, Bayonet Charge, The Falling Leaves
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Themes/Ideas:
War
Soldiers
Death
Stupidity of decisions
Language:
Patriotic: ‘honour the Light Brigade’ and ‘Noble six hundred’
Metaphorical: ‘valley of death’ and ‘jaws of death’ show the danger
Images of warfare: ‘canon’, ‘fought’, ‘gunners’
Structure:
Repetition to reinforce key ideas and to create rhythm
A very rhythmical poem- the repetetive structure creates a beat and reflects the feel of horses galloping.
Last line always refers to the six hundred. In stanza 4 the inclusion of ‘not’ shows their troops had been decimated
Links to:
Mametz Wood, Bayonet Charge, Futility, The Falling Leaves
Bayonet Charge
Themes/Ideas:
War
Soldiers
Death
Fear
Language:
Personification: ‘bullets amcking the belly out of the air’ conveys the ferocious feel of a battle field
Simile: ‘he was running like a man who has jumped up in the dark’- this shows he has no purpose or reason to run- only the fear keeps him going
The poet’s use of verbs convey how physically hard it was: ‘stumbling’, ‘dazzled’, ‘lugged’ etc
Lots of abstract images of war and fear
Structure:
Poem begins quickly- ‘suddenly’
Enjambement used to reflect the speed with which everything happened
Links to:
Mametz Wood, The Charge of the Light Brigade, Futility, The Falling Leaves
The Falling Leaves
Themes/Ideas:
War
Soldiers
Death
Language:
Metaphors: ‘falling leaves’ = fallen soldiers
Simile: ‘like snowflakes’- this gentle image is a vivid contrast to the violent deaths of the soldiers
Images of youth: ‘beauty’, ‘slain by no wind of age or pestilence’- shows they died too young
Structure:
Epitaph below the title ‘Novelmber 1915’ gives us a strong sense of the poem’s content- it is dated during WW1
Repetition of ‘like snowflakes’ for effect
Links to:
Mametz Wood, Bayonet Charge, Futility, Poppies
‘Come On, Come Back’
Themes/Ideas:
War
Soldiers
Death
Language:
Lots of juxtapositioning used (contrasting images) e.g: ‘icy-amorous’
Abstract imagery
Structure:
Epitaph: ‘incident in a future war’. This is highlighting the idea that war will always happen
The title sounds warm and caring- in fact it is not- it is sinister and used by an enemy soldier
Links to:
Mametz Wood, Bayonet Charge, Futility, The Falling Leaves
Next to of course god america i
Themes/Ideas:
Confusion
Politics
Justification for war
Language:
Politician-like- he uses parts of the national anthem and also there are lots of confused ideas about patriotism, bravery etc- sounds like someone giving a speech
A confused message- on the surface complimenting the bravery of soldiers but an underlying message that war is NOT a game and that political decisions are not always right.
Structure:
Does not give ‘god’ and ‘america’ capital letters (takes away their importance’
Enjambement- rushed feel- as though the politician is trying to get through it quickly (nerves?)
Multiple metaphors mixed together- gives a sense of confusion
Links to:
Bayonet Charge, Flag, Poppies, The Charge of the Light Brigade,
Hawk Roosting
Themes/Ideas:
The morality of war
Nature vs human behaviour
arrogance
Language:
The hawk, like humans, is arrogant- ‘I hold Creation in my foot’. The hawk COULD be a metaphor for human behaviour. We feel powerful and in charge of life and death
The hawk, UNLIKE humans, kills for food but we, ‘kill where I please because it is all mine’. The poet could be highlighting the fact that countries feel they have a right to kill because they are superior to others.
The hawk, LIKE humans in a war situation, will not be deterred through discussion: ‘no arguments assert my right’- the poet suggests here that there is no justification for war/killing but the hawk (and us) don’t care.
The poet suggests things will never change: ‘I am going to keep things like this’
Structure:
Ordered regular stanzas to show the cold, organised nature of those who create war
Calm tone- pauses and full stops- this again shows a lack of passion and suggests confidence’arrogance
Links to:
Mametz Wood, Bayonet Charge, The Charge of the Light Brigade, Out of the Blue, next to of course god america I, flag, The Falling Leaves
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How does ‘The Right Word’ and one other poem explore ideas about terrorism?
How does ‘Mametz Wood’ and one other poem explore the realities of war?
Key Poetic Terminology
Alliteration, caesura, connotation, enjambement, imagery, juxtaposition, metaphor, narrator, onomatopoeia, personification, rhyme, rhythm, simile, stanza, tone
Key Comparative Terminology
Additionally
Also
Alternatively
And
But
Conversely
However
Moreover
Nevertheless
On the other hand
Plus
Similarly
How does ‘Poppies’ and one other poem explore human suffering?
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