Year 9 Literature

Unseen Poetry A Revisit

Lessons w/b: 6th JulyRemember you will be required also be required to log on to

GCSE pod and completed the assigned activities.

Key: Highlighted tasks:Yellow = must be completed

Purple = challenge tasks (optional- by completing these you are helping develop your subject knowledge to achieve a Grade 9)

Blue = completed response must be sent to class teacher for marking.

Lesson One:Task 1: In the Unseen section of Literature Paper 2, you will be given a copy of a poem that you haven’t studied before. You will only be assessed against two of the assessment objectives:

A01: Understanding, reading and responding to texts.

A02- Analysing and exploring writers use of language and structure.

Log on to GCSE Pod, complete the assignment titled: ‘Lesson 1- approaching Unseen poetry’. These pods will help develop your understanding of how to tackle an unseen poem.

Task 2: You been told to explore a poem by using the following mnemonic:

To recap and show your understanding, explain what each of these features refers to.

Title/Theme

Language

Form

Structure

The Little Fat Sloth

Title/theme

Language

Form

Structure

Task 3: This lesson you are going to be exploring a poem by Simon Armitage.

Step 1- Explore the Title

About His Person

Step 2- Language- Read the poem- can you identify any interesting language techniques? Semantic fields?

Annotate all of your ideas onto the poem.

Can you offer more than one interpretation?

About His Person

Five pounds fifty in change, exactly,

a library card on its date of expiry.

A postcard stamped,

unwritten, but franked,

a pocket size diary slashed with a pencil

Where have you heard this phrase before?

What is the effect of this pronoun?

What does this word emphasise?

What themes do you expect to arise in the poem? Why?

from March twenty-fourth to the first of April.

A brace of keys for a mortise lock,

an analogue watch, self-winding, stopped.

A final demand

in his own hand,

a rolled up note of explanation

planted there like a spray carnation

but beheaded, in his fist.

A shopping list.

A giveaway photograph stashed in his wallet,

a keepsake banked in the heart of a locket.

no gold or silver,

but crowning one finger

a ring of white unweathered skin.

That was everything.

Step 3- Form: (this refers to the physical appearance and patterns in the poem)

Can you see any rhyme scheme? Any interesting physical characteristics?

Step 4- Structure: How is the poem structured into stanzas? Has does the themes or ideas develop? Any there any patterns? Repeated ideas?

Review:

What have you learnt this lesson?

Is there anything you would like more explanation of?

Lesson 2:Task 1: Log on to GCSE Pod, complete the assignment titled: ‘Lesson 2- writing a response to an Unseen poetry’. These pods will help develop your understanding of how to tackle an unseen poem.

Task 2: Last lesson you looked at the poem ‘About His Person’. This lesson you are going to write a response to an exam style question.

Exam question: . In ‘About His Person’, how does Armitage create a sense of the character’s identity?

In other words, the question is asking you to explore what type of character the person is and how do you know.

Complete the thought shower plan to help you organise your ideas. In the exam you will only have 30 minutes to write your response, so make sure you pick interesting quotations to analyse.

About His Person- identity

What type of character is he? Refer to ideas evoked by the title.

Pick 3 lines (or refer to a group of words: semantic field) which give you a clear insight into what the person was like.

What do the structural features used by the writer suggest about the identity of the character?

What does the form of the poem suggest about the identity of the character?

Task 3: Write your response to the exam question:

In ‘About His Person’, how does Armitage create a sense of the character’s identity?

Success criteria:

Link back to the key word in the question Analyse language techniques used by the

writer Analyse the structural techniques used by

the writer Offer multiple interpretations Integrate references to support your ideas.

Sentence stems to help:

Armitage clearly conveys the character’s sense of identity to the reader by….

This is evident when…..

The use of….. implies……

Armitage may have chosen to present the character in this way because…..

Write your response here:

Review: using the success criteria identify which elements you

have achieved:

• Link back to the key word in the question

• Analyse language techniques used by the writer

• Analyse the structural techniques used by the writer

• Offer multiple interpretations

• Integrate references to support your ideas.

Lesson 3Task 1: Log on to GCSE Pod, complete the assignment titled: ‘Lesson 3 - writing a response to an Unseen poetry’. These pods will help develop your understanding of how tackle an unseen poem.

Task 2: Look at the title of the poem that you will be looking at this lesson:

‘Children In Wartime’In the boxes below paste or draw images that you would associate with this title. These can include emotional and visual imagery.

Task 3: Read the poem and complete the tasks below:

Children In Wartime

Sirens ripped open

the warm silk of sleep;

we ricocheted to the shelter moated by streets

that ran with darkness. People said it was a storm, but flak

had not the right sound

for rain;

thunder left such huge craters of silence,

we knew this was no giant playing bowls.

And later,

when I saw the jaw of glass, where once had hung

my window spun with stars;

it seemed the sky

lay broken on my floor.

Isobel Thrilling

1. A semantic field is a group of words that belong together- highlight any words that you think belong together. Explain why you have grouped certain words together.

2. Identify where the writer has used contrasting imagery.

I have grouped these words together because…

3. Identify any metaphorical imagery used by the poet.

4. Has the writer used any interesting structural features for effect?

Task 4: Exam style question: How does this poet present the ways

children are affected by war?

Below is an example response from a student, read through and then, using the marking criteria at the bottom, give the student a level, a WWW and EBI.

Student response:

The poet presents the ways that children are affected by war by showing that it takes away their innocence as it is presented from the perspective of a child. It is shown firstly when “sirens ripped open the warm silk of sleep”. This literally says that the sirens woke them while they were sleeping, however this also represents that during their sleep they can dream however they please, by ripping this away it shows that the war took away all of their dreams and forced them to live in a cold, reality. Before the war they lived happily, they were in a cocoon of childhood which was “warm” and “silky”, they were protected and precious, just as silk is but this was taken away from them by the war and they were forced to live in a cold, cruel world and experience things they shouldn’t have.

The bombs also had a huge impact on their lives, people tried to protect them from the reality but they “knew this was no giant playing bowls”. The poet uses this to show that for a child everything is a game, they play and invent games in any situation, but not even the most

imaginative child could pretend that the bombings were anything else. This is used by the poet to show how greatly a child is affected by war, they can no longer laugh and play games as the bombing has scarred them for life. It also affects how they progress in later life, the poet shows this as the window is now just a “jaw of glass, where once had hung my window spun with stars”. This is used by the poet as the window represents the child’s future, which once spun with dreams and opportunities, just like stars. Yet the war destroyed this as well and to the child it seems that “the sky lay broken on my floor”. The poet has ended the poem like this to show that the whole world has come crashing down around him, even the sky has fallen and lays broken around him. He can see all of the destruction but he can do nothing to fix it.

To conclude, the poet presents the way children are affected by war by telling the poem from the child’s perspective to show how much it affects their lives – their whole world has been broken and their innocence is gone and they are left to helpless with no way of fixing it.

Marking criteria:

GCSE English Literature - Poetry Unseen - Student Friendly Mark Scheme

Level/Mark AO AO1-3 Skills

Level 6 Convincing critical analysis and exploration 21-24

AO1

Critical, exploratory response to task. Sensibly selected references integrated into interpretation.

AO2

Analysis of writer's methods with sensibly selected references to subject specific vocabulary. Exploration of the effect of methods

on the reader.

Level 5 Thoughtful 17-20

AO1

Thoughtful, developed response to task. Apt references integrated into interpretation.

AO2

Examination of writer's methods with appropriate and effective references to subject specific vocabulary. Examination of effect of

methods on the reader.

Level 4 Clear 13-16

AO1

Clear explained response to task. Effective range of references relevant to task.

AO2

Clear explanation regarding writer's methods. Accurate subject specific vocabulary. Understanding of effect on the reader.

Level 3 Explained/ Structured 9-12

AO1Explained response. References support a range of comments.

AO2

Explained comments regarding writer's methods. Subject specific vocabulary. Consideration of effect on the reader.

Level 2 Supported 5-8

AO1Supported comments relevant to task and text.

AO2

Identification of writer's methods. Some subject specific vocabulary

Level 1 Simple 1-4

AO1 Simple comments relevant to task and text.

AO2Awareness of writer making choices and some subject specific

vocabulary

0 marksNo meaningful writing to assess.

AO1 Understand, respond, reference - 12 possible marks

AO2 Analyse language, form, structure and effect - 12 possible marks

Lesson 4

Level awarded:

WWW:

EBI:

Throughout this week you have developed the skills needed to respond to the unseen poetry task in Literature, for this lesson you are going to put these skills into practice by responding to an Unseen poem.

Task 1: Read the poem below and annotate using the features of TLFS

The title of the poem you will be writing an extended response on is:

InvictusUse a dictionary to write a definition of this word, then explore the connotations of it.

Task 2: The exam question you will be responding to is:

Q. In ‘Invictus,’ how does the poet present ideas about fate and determination?

Read the poem below and identify words or techniques which convey ideas about fate and determination.

Tip: think about contrasting imagery and use the questions to help you.

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Definition of Invictus:

Connotations:

1. What is the effect of pathetic fallacy? What does this imply about the narrator’s mental state?

2. why has the writer chosen to use violent imagery? What does this imply about the character’s determination?

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

Task 3: Using the information from the GCSE pods, and the model responses that you have looked at this week, write your own extended response to the question below:

Q. In ‘Invictus,’ how does the poet present ideas about fate and determination?

3. Why has the writer chosen to use contrasting imagery here?

Success criteria:

Links to the key words in the question

Comment on writer’s language and structural techniques.

Explore the intended effect on the reader

Use subject terminology Zoom in key word choices Offer multiple interpretations

Sentence stems to help:

Henley presents ideas about fate and determination through a first person narrative. The writer may have chosen to present his ideas in this way because….

Interestingly, Henley presents the narrator to be…. This is evident when….

The use of….. creates the image of…..

This makes the reader feel…..

Write your response here:

Task 4: review

Using the success criteria, self-evaluate your response:

Write your response here:

WWW-

EBI-