THEME: CONFLICT

LO: to explore the use of symbolism in ‘Poppies’

War is essential to a modern

society.

Do you agree or disagree with this

statement? Why?
 THEME: CONFLICT
LO: to explore the use of symbolism in ‘Poppies’

What is the cost of war?

 £37 billion
Cost of war in Iraq and Afghanistan to Britain

4
 1,500
Estimated civilian casualties in war in
Afghanistan

5
 454
• Number of British servicemen and women
killed in Iraq and Afghanistan

8
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,
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
upturned collar, steeled the softening
of my face. I wanted to graze my nose
across the tip of your nose, play at
being Eskimos like we did when
you were little. I resisted the impulse
to run my fingers through the gelled
blackthorns of your hair. All my words
flattened, rolled, turned into felt,
slowly melting. I was brave, as I walked
with you, to the front door, threw
it open, the world overflowing
like a treasure chest. A split second
and you were away, intoxicated.
After you'd gone I went into your bedroom,
released a song bird from its cage.
Later a single dove flew from the pear tree,
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.
 THEME: CONFLICT
LO: to explore the use of symbolism in ‘Poppies’

Read the interview

• What is the poem with the poet, Jane
about? Weir

• What symbols are

Does it change your
used? Why?
opinion on what the
poem is about?
• What is its key
message?
Why individual war graves? What is the What do the poppies
effect? symbolise?
What is a
bloackade?
Three days before Armistice Sunday What does this
refer to?
and poppies had already been placed
on individual war graves. Before you left,
I pinned one onto your lapel, crimped petals,
spasms of paper red, disrupting a blockade
of yellow bias binding around your blazer.

What is the effect of

using ‘I’ ?

Where else might you see a blazer? Stretch yourself:

What does this link to? What is the What is the effect of the use
effect? of colour in this stanza?
 Where would you normally see a bandage?
What does this link to? How might it link to
What is the effect of
her emotions?
repeating the ‘s’ sound
with the sibilance?
Sellotape bandaged around my hand,
I rounded up as many white cat hairs
as I could, smoothed down your shirt's
upturned collar, steeled the softening How did she
of my face. I wanted to graze my nose treat him?
across the tip of your nose, play at
What is
being Eskimos like we did when
the effect
of this
you were little. I resisted the impulse What is the effect
anecdote? to run my fingers through the gelled of this list of
blackthorns of your hair. All my words three?
flattened, rolled, turned into felt,

Developing original ideas:

What is the effect of this Is there anything else you
metaphor? What does it would select that shows her
make the son sound like? feelings about her son?
What does this simile suggest How did she act?
that her son felt about the What is the effect of
Is there anything to suggest
world? the mention of time in
how she was feeling deep
this way?
down?

slowly melting. I was brave, as I walked Why might the

with you, to the front door, threw son be like this
it open, the world overflowing song bird?
like a treasure chest. A split second What might
and you were away, intoxicated. this
After you'd gone I went into your bedroom, symbolise?
released a song bird from its cage.
Later a single dove flew from the pear tree,
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.
What is the effect of this personification? Stretch yourself:
What does it show us about how she is How is the use of symbolism
feeling? effective in this stanza?
What does a dove What does this What is this a
represent? line remind us reminder of?
of?

On reaching the top of the hill I traced What does this

the inscriptions on the war memorial, simile suggest
about her state
leaned against it like a wishbone. at this point?
The dove pulled freely against the sky,
an ornamental stitch. I listened, hoping to hear
your playground voice catching on the wind.

What is the effect of

the caesura? (pauses in
the middle of a line)

Something small and What is the tone (mood)

delicate yet beautiful. What at this point in the
might this link to? poem? How is this
created?
 THEME: CONFLICT
LO: to explore the use of symbolism in ‘Poppies’

Pick three different symbols that occur in the poem

‘Poppies’. Create a symbolism card for each.

Symbol: dove Symbol: Symbol:

Quote: Quote:

Interpretation(s): Interpretation(s):

Quote: “a single dove flew

from the pear tree”
Interpretation(s): doves
symbolise peace – she wants
the war to end or the son has
found peace after his death
What is the main emotion expressed in the
poem?
Support it with a line from the poem.

Or

Tweet the key ideas of the poem in less than 140

characters
 THEME: CONFLICT

LO: to consider the key themes and ideas in Bayonet Charge.

Fighting for your country is a complete

waste of time.

Do you agree or disagree? Why?

 THEME: CONFLICT
LO: to consider the key themes and ideas in Bayonet Charge

Think about war films that

you have seen/heard of.
List as many words as you
can to describe how the
soldiers in the films are
presented.

The End
 THEME: CONFLICT
LO: to consider the key themes and ideas in Bayonet Charge

“Over the top”

Watch the video of a (fictional) experience of going over the
top of the trenches.

Make a list of things that people may have been afraid of /

uncomfortable with in this situation (especially if you only
were using a bayonet!) E.g.
• The distance required to travel
•
•
•
•
•
Legends of the Fall trenches clip
LO: to consider the key themes and ideas in Bayonet Charge

Suddenly he awoke and was running – raw

In raw-seamed hot khaki, his sweat heavy,
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.
LO: to consider the key themes and ideas in Bayonet Charge

Suddenly he awoke and was running – raw Annotate the poem and find the following
In raw-seamed hot khaki, his sweat heavy, techniques:
Stumbling across a field of clods towards a green hedge
That dazzled with rifle fire, hearing
simile, metaphor, enjambment, verb
Bullets smacking the belly out of the air –
He lugged a rifle numb as a smashed arm;
sets, sibilance, caesura.
The patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye
Sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest, –
4: Highlight key words/phrases
In bewilderment then he almost stopped –
and identify the technique used
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 5: Explain the effect of the
Statuary in mid-stride. Then the shot-slashed furrows words/phrases
- What does it make the
Threw up a yellow hare that rolled like a flame reader think/feel?
And crawled in a threshing circle, its mouth wide - What does imply about
Open silent, its eyes standing out.
how the people are feeling?
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 6: Explain what the writer
His terror’s touchy dynamite.
might be suggesting
 THEME: CONFLICT
LO: to consider the key themes and ideas in Bayonet Charge

Key words to include:

• What does Hughes want us to Core:

Soldier
think/feel for the soldier? War
• What does Hughes want us to Fear
think/feel about war?
Challenge:
• Could this message be interpreted in Helpless
more than one way? Shock
Horror

Super:
Patriotism
Naivety
Futile
LO: to consider the key themes and ideas in Bayonet Charge

Imagine you are the soldier in the poem

…

Fighting for your country is

a complete waste of time.
Do you agree or disagree with the statement now? Why?

Use evidence from the poem to support your ideas.

LO to understand the themes and ideas in the poem ‘Exposure’

Imagine you are this solider.

How are you feeling?

 ‘Exposure’
• Before we look at the poem, what does
exposure (or exposed) mean?

• What does it suggest that the poem may be

about?

(Hint: The poet, Wilfred Owen, was a famous WW1

poet)
 https://
www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=3zD
nzb06Kfc

Whilst the poem is being read the second time, highlight or

underline any words or phases you think link to power and conflict.
In groups of four, you will be given a stanza.
You must analyse your stanza, addressing the
following questions:
• Does your line use any poetic techniques?
• What is the deeper meaning in your line?
• Is there a rhyme scheme?
• How does it link to power and conflict?
• What is the impact on the reader? (What does it
make us think?)
• Comment on the punctuation – how does this affect
the reading of the poem (faster/slower – how does
this link to the content?)
 THEME: CONFLICT

Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east

winds that knife us...
Wearied we keep awake because the night is
silent...
Low drooping flares confuse our memory of
the salient...
Worried by silence, sentries whisper,
curious, nervous,
But nothing happens.
 THEME: CONFLICT

Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on

the wire.
Like twitching agonies of men among its
brambles.
Northward incessantly, the flickering gunnery
rumbles,
Far off, like a dull rumour of some other war.
What are we doing here?
 THEME: CONFLICT

The poignant misery of dawn begins to

grow...
We only know war lasts, rain soaks, and
clouds sag stormy.
Dawn massing in the east her melancholy
army
Attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks
of gray,
But nothing happens.
 THEME: CONFLICT

Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the

silence.
Less deadly than the air that shudders black
with snow,
With sidelong flowing flakes that flock, pause
and renew,
We watch them wandering up and down the
wind's nonchalance,
But nothing happens.
 THEME: CONFLICT

Pale flakes with lingering stealth come feeling

for our faces -
We cringe in holes, back on forgotten dreams,
and stare, snow-dazed,
Deep into grassier ditches. So we drowse, sun-
dozed,
Littered with blossoms trickling where the
blackbird fusses.
Is it that we are dying?
 THEME: CONFLICT

Slowly our ghosts drag home: glimpsing the

sunk fires glozed
With crusted dark-red jewels; crickets jingle
there;
For hours the innocent mice rejoice: the house
is theirs;
Shutters and doors all closed: on us the doors
are closed -
We turn back to our dying.
 THEME: CONFLICT

Since we believe not otherwise can kind fires

burn;
Now ever suns smile true on child, or field, or
fruit.
For God's invincible spring our love is made
afraid;
Therefore, not loath, we lie out here; therefore
were born,
For love of God seems dying.
 THEME: CONFLICT

To-night, His frost will fasten on this mud and

us,
Shrivelling many hands and puckering
foreheads crisp.
The burying-party, picks and shovels in their
shaking grasp,
Pause over half-known faces. All their eyes are
ice,
But nothing happens.
 THEME: CONFLICT

Once you have put your stanza on the wall (under the
correct stanza) – take your own copy of “Exposure”
and add to your annotations using the work on the
walls.

I would suggest assigning stanzas to people in the

group then share your findings as a group . (That way
you only have to look at 2 stanzas)
 Quick questions
1. What is the narrator exposed to? (try to find
alternative readings/meanings) – AO3
2. What is the narrator’s opinion of WW1?
(Support your answer with a quote from the
poem) – AO1
3. Why does Owen end every stanza with either
a short statement or a rhetorical question? (As
a reader, what does it make you think about?)
– AO2
Do you agree or disagree with the following
statement …?

Power is based on who is the

most intelligent.
 THEME: CONFLICT

These images show the Charge of the Light Brigade.

In pairs, discuss:

• What do they tell you about this event?

• What year might it have taken place?
• How might these men have felt?
 THEME: CONFLICT

What does this report suggest about the

battle?

Causeless and fruitless, it stands by itself as a grand

heroic deed, surpassing that spectacle of a shipwrecked
regiment, setting down into the waves, each man still in
his rank. The British soldier will do his duty, even unto
certain death, and is not paralysed by feeling that he is
the victim of some hideous blunder.

The soldiers were magnificent, but it is not war. It is

madness.

Which words suggest this?

 Contextual Background
• It’s the 1850s; Great Britain is at war with Russia…
• On 25 October 1854 British C-in-C, Lord Raglan, decided to attack
the Russians. He sent an order but it was fatally misinterpreted, and
673 Light Brigade cavalrymen were sent charging down the valley
with Russian guns and units on 3 sides... Between 100 and 200
soldiers are thought to have died.
• Summarise
Raglan's order the
was context
badly written.
of theIt told
poemcavalry
in 30commander
words orLord
less
Lucan "to go quickly to the front... & try to stop the enemy carrying
away the guns". The order was delivered by his aide, Captain Nolan,
and Lucan asked Nolan what it exactly meant. Nolan impatiently
pointed down the valley and replied: "There, my Lord, is your enemy;
there are your guns." Captain Nolan was killed moments later during
the ill-fated charge.
• The whole torrid affair lasted no more than 20 minutes!
 THEME: CONFLICT

Now, let’s listen to the poem

The Charge of the Light Brigade
 THEME: CONFLICT

Task: In pairs, find and label the following features in the

poem ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’:

•Alliteration
•Metaphor
•Triplets
•Similes
•Personification
•Onomatopoeia
•Repetition
Ext: The poem could be said to show a balance between the bravery
and nobleness of the soldiers and the horror of war. Find words that
indicate this balance.
 THEME: CONFLICT
Repetition of
short phrase. What technique is
What effect this? What does it
does it mean? What is the
create? What connotation of this
sound is it 1. image?
meant to be?
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said: Who is
‘he’?
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Why is this line repeated
throughout? What could the
effect be? What could it
mimic?
 THEME: CONFLICT

What type of statement

is this?

2.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!" What does this
Was there a man dismay'd? suggest? How
Not tho' the soldier knew would the soldiers
What does Someone had blunder'd: be feeling?
this rhyming Theirs not to make reply,
show? How Theirs not to reason why,
does it Theirs but to do and die:
summarise Into the valley of Death
army life? Rode the six hundred.
Repetition again! What
does this create?
 THEME: CONFLICT

What does the use

of the senses
suggest? What
image does it
create?
3.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them Use of sight and
Volley'd and thunder'd; sound – what effect
Storm'd at with shot and shell, does this imagery
Boldly they rode and well, create?
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
Adverb. Shows
How has the image
what?
changed?
 THEME: CONFLICT
What type of
imagery is this?

Flash'd all their sabres bare, What does this phrase

Flash'd as they turn'd in air, suggest? What is the
Sabring the gunners there, reality?
How does Charging an army, while
the tone All the world wonder'd: What is the purpose of
change in Plunged in the battery-smoke the rhyming couplet?
this stanza? Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd. Repetition of –S sound?
Have they won? Or Then they rode back, but not What is this purpose?
have they lost? Not the six hundred.
 THEME: CONFLICT

5.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Why is this structure and lines
Cannon behind them
repeated?
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death What has changed now?
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
 Rhetorical question =
why use it?

A cry of emotion?
Sums up what the 6.
reader is thinking – When can their glory fade?
WHY??? O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honour the charge they made,
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.
Why the
‘glory’
repetition of
‘honour’
‘honour’?
‘Noble’ = 3 highly
What does it
positive words used
sugggest?
about ‘the 600’
What does the
adjective
‘noble’ suggest
about the men?
 THEME: CONFLICT

How does Tennyson present his views on

war in COTLB?
Point Tennyson describes the tragedy of the soldiers
riding to their death.

Evidence This is seen in the use of the quotation, ‘Into the

valley of Death/ Rode the six hundred’.

Explain This highlights the fear and terror of the men going
into battle. They were about to ride into battle and
ultimately lose their lives. On your tables,
write your own
Develop/ The use of the metaphor, ‘valley of Death’
detail highlights the number of men who are about to die. PEEDE paragraph.
It is huge valley filled with dying soldiers.
Effect This creates a huge sense of sadness for the reader:
we can see the fate of these men.
 Cheddar Cheese comments.
• Tennyson didn’t write “the soldiers wondered” but “the whole
world wondered” This emphasises the scale of the mistake
made by one individual. The reader may begin to question the
worth of a war based on the orders of one man.
• The alliteration in “do or die” emphasises that fact that they
must do as they are told and creates a feeling of inevitability.
• The poet personifies death in the line “Into the jaws of death”,
implying the bullets are teeth marks clamping onto the
soldiers’ bodies.
• “Shattered” could be interpreted as the sabres colliding, but
may also suggest the soldiers giving up due to the certainty of
their death, all their hopes and dreams are gone.
 THEME: CONFLICT
Poppies Bayonet Charge Exposure TCOTLB

Time written and

surrounding context
(where?)

Conflict depicted

Writer’s position e.g.

personal
experience/looking on
from afar

Writer’s perspective on
conflict – patriotic?
Pointless? Dangerous?
Power play?

Emotions expressed/tone

Key language techniques

and quotes

Key structural techniques

and quotes
LO: to explore structure and tone in ‘Remains’

Memorisation game - Remains

In groups of 4 (and one 2!)

Each group must memorise one stanza of the poem ‘Remains’.

You can choose to split the lines between you or all speak each
line. Once you have memorised your lines, we will have a class
recitation!

Some techniques to try:

• Make up actions
• Think of the images
• Putting emphasis on specific words
 Remains
On another occasion, we got sent out
to tackle looters raiding a bank.
And one of them legs it up the road,
probably armed, possibly not.
Well myself and somebody else and somebody
else
are all of the same mind,
so all three of us open fire.
Three of a kind all letting fly, and I swear
I see every round as it rips through his life –
I see broad daylight on the other side.
So we’ve hit this looter a dozen times
and he’s there on the ground, sort of inside out,
pain itself, the image of agony.
One of my mates goes by
and tosses his guts back into his body.
Then he’s carted off in the back of a lorry.
End of story, except not really.
His blood-shadow stays on the street, and out on patrol
I walk right over it week after week.
Then I’m home on leave. But I blink
and he bursts again through the doors of the bank.
Sleep, and he’s probably armed, and possibly not.
Dream, and he’s torn apart by a dozen rounds.
And the drink and the drugs won’t flush him out –
he’s here in my head when I close my eyes,
dug in behind enemy lines,
not left for dead in some distant, sun-stunned, sand-
smothered land
or six-feet-under in desert sand,
but near to the knuckle, here and now,
his bloody life in my bloody hands.
On another occasion, we got sent out
to tackle looters raiding a bank.
And one of them legs it up the road,
probably armed, possibly not.
Well myself and somebody else and somebody else
are all of the same mind,
so all three of us open fire.
Three of a kind all letting fly, and I swear
I see every round as it rips through his life –
I see broad daylight on the other side.
So we’ve hit this looter a dozen times
and he’s there on the ground, sort of inside out
pain itself, the image of agony.
One of my mates goes by
and tosses his guts back into his body.
Then he’s carted off in the back of a lorry.
End of story, except not really.
His blood-shadow stays on the street, and out on
patrol
I walk right over it week after week.
Then I’m home on leave. But I blink
and he bursts again through the doors of the bank.
Sleep, and he’s probably armed, and possibly not.
Dream, and he’s torn apart by a dozen rounds.
And the drink and the drugs won’t flush him out –
he’s here in my head when I close my eyes,
dug in behind enemy lines,
not left for dead in some distant, sun-stunned, sand-
smothered land
or six-feet-under in desert sand,
but near to the knuckle, here and now,
his bloody life in my bloody hands.
LO: to explore structure and tone in ‘Remains’

For your stanza…

Jot down the EMOTION that you think the
speaker is experiencing at that moment.
What words or structural features suggest this
and include the word tone somewhere in your
response.

Be ready to feedback your ideas.

LO: to explore structure and tone in ‘Remains’

How does the tone/emotion change?

Stanza Emotion/tone
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1. How does the poet portray the narrator as being
indifferent to the death of the “looter” in the first four
stanzas?
2. What signals a change in tone in the 5th stanza?
3. How does the tone change?
4. Why does the tone change?
5. What does this reveal about the narrator?
LO: to explore structure and tone in ‘Remains’

Why did Simon Armitage write this poem?

• From a collection of
poetry called ‘The
Not Dead’.
• Inspired by a Channel
4 documentary of the
same name (youtube)
about soldiers who
returned from
conflicts (Malaysia,
Afghanistan and
Bosnia) and how they Watch from 46.05 – 51.00 (Some expletives)
coped. https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvA3K-tC6t8
 What Armitage said…

“These are poems of survivors – the

damaged, exhausted men who return
from war in body but never, wholly,
in mind.”
LO: to explore structure and tone in ‘Remains’

“These are poems of survivors – the damaged, exhausted

men who return from war in body but never, wholly, in
mind.”
LO: to explore structure and tone in ‘Remains’

“These are poems of survivors – the damaged, exhausted

men who return from war in body but never, wholly, in
mind.”
LO: to explore structure and tone in ‘Remains’

“These are poems of survivors – the damaged, exhausted

men who return from war in body but never, wholly, in
mind.”
 Creative task choices
1. Write a poem to describe your emotions
2. Imagine a script between you and a therapist.
3. Write a letter to your family trying to explain why you
behave so differently now.
4. Write an honest job description for a soldier/police officer
5. Imagine you are telling a mate about an event from the
war/your job – what did you see? How has it affected you?
6. Write a letter of advice to a fellow soldier about to go into
battle for the first time.
LO: to explore structure and tone in ‘Remains’
What am I
marked on?
Practise paragraph
1. Detailed
Armitage has used tone to convey the interpretations
speaker’s conflicting emotions. of theme
From the outset of the poem… 2. Quotations
3. Correct
As the poem progresses the tone terminology
changes… 4. Analyse
Armitage also uses structural techniques language
to convey meaning… 5. Analyse
structure
This could imply…
6. Context
This structural technique is effective 7. Compare all
because… these with
The ideas about conflict raised in this another poem