Lesson video

In today's lesson, we're going to recap the context, the background of the poem.

And also think about how to apply that to the poem itself.

We're then going to look, more specifically, at imagery in the poem 'If We Must Die'.

Then focusing even closer on sound imagery.

And finally, writing our first paragraph about the poem.

So let's have a recap of the context.

We'll go through the Harlem Renaissance, Claude McKay, and the Red Summer.

What I've done here is left some gaps in some sentences, which describe each of these different things.

I want you to read through and work out what the missing words are.

So pause the screen now and have a go.

Hopefully, you've got something like this.

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural and intellectual movement led by African-American artists in the 1920s and 1930s.

Claude McKay is a poet, writer and activist.

And the Red Summer was a time of mass violence in America in 1919, where there were a series of racists riots and murders.

We're now going to apply some of that context to the poem 'If We Must Die'.

See what we can remember about the poem and about the things we've learned about that context.

So remember, we have racial oppression.

We learned about oppressing people because of the colour of their skin.

And this is something that we see in the poem.

And these two quotations, which show it.

'Hunted and penned', 'pressed to the wall'.

They both show the community that Claude McKay is talking about being oppressed because of the colour of their skin.

Then we have humane versus bestial.

So there's images which suggest people are like human.

They're noble, good humans.

And others, which suggest they're acting more like animals.

So we have the 'Kinsmen' versus the 'dogs' and 'monsters'.

And then we have blood and fire.

Remember, that's how Frank Harris described the poem.

And we see that in two quotations, 'precious blood' and 'fighting back'.

Now in a moment, I'm going to ask if you can remember these quotations.

So let's go through them one more time.

Racial oppression.

'Hunted and penned'.

'Pressed to the wall.

' Humane versus bestial.

'Kinsmen' versus 'dogs' and 'monsters'.

And blood and fire.

'Precious blood'.

'Fighting back'.

Let's have a go.

Okay, so pause the video now and see if you can remember these quotations.

Let's check how you did.

Racial oppression.

'Hunted and penned'.

'Pressed to the wall'.

Humane versus bestial.

'Kinsmen' versus 'dogs' and 'monsters'.

And blood and fire.

'Precious blood' and 'fighting back'.

Well done if you remembered those quotations.

We're now going to focus on imagery in the poem 'If We Must Die'.

So what is imagery? Well, imagery is really the language you use to evoke our senses.

Language is used to create pictures in our mind.

Those pictures might be visual, or they also might be pictures that allow us to kind of imagine what a scene sounds like.

Or imagine what a scene might smell like.

Or perhaps to describe a taste.

Or describe something that we might be able to feel.

So imagery really brings the picture to life.

It brings the text to life and helps us to imagine it.

But how do writers create imagery? Well, I'm sure you've probably covered this a bit already, so we're just going to go over this quickly.

There are two particular ways that writers create imagery.

One, is they use descriptive language.

You might describe the stars shone brightly in the sky.

And we start to see this picture of what the stars might look like and how bright they are in the night's sky.

Or if you wanted to create a picture to do with sound, you might say something like, "The car horns beeped loudly in the street." And those words, 'beeped' and 'loudly' help us to imagine those sounds.

Sometimes writers also use figurative language.

That's a kind of colourful language in which you might not use in everyday speech.

So, "The sky was covered in a blanket of stars." So it's a kind of comforting image.

You can imagine this beautiful blanket, stretched out across the sky.

In contrast to that, we have, "The car horns screamed and shouted at each other." Now, that makes it sound like the car horns are actually people in some sort of argument.

That gives us a really good sense of the sounds we might be hearing.

We might not talk like that normally.

We probably don't talk about car horns shouting, but we might write like that to really evoke the scene.

Some specific ways we might do that is by using similes.

So simile is a word or a phrase used to describe something by comparing it to something else using 'like' or 'as'.

So if you were trying to describe someone who's angry, what you might do, is you might say, "She was so angry, she felt like a raging fire." That's a really good way to use figurative language.

In this case, a simile, to help bring the scene to life.

We can imagine that raging fire and we think, "Gosh, she's really angry." Another thing you might do is use a metaphor.

And a metaphor is a word or a phrase used to describe something as if it were something else.

So that same thing, if we're describing someone who is angry, instead of they're like a raging fire, you'd say, "A raging fire burnt inside her mind." So here we can see that the writer is using this metaphor to suggest how angry this person is by saying there actually is a fire in her mind.

Now we know there isn't a real fire in there, but it helps us to imagine how angry this person is.

Let's have a look at some of the metaphors and similes used in Claude McKay's poem.

'If we must die, let it not be like hogs hunted and penned.

' That's a simile.

'In an inglorious spot, while round us bark the mad and hungry dogs.

' You see in purple, I've highlighted the metaphors.

'Making their mock at our accursèd lot.

If we must die, O let us nobly die, so that our precious blood may not be shed in vain; then even the monsters we defy shall be constrained to honour us though dead! O kinsmen! We must meet the common foe! Though far outnumbered let us show us brave, and for their thousand blows deal one death-blow! What though before us lies the open grave? Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack, pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!' So let's have a look at these metaphors in a bit more detail.

What do you think? Which of these is a metaphor to describe the oppressors in the poem? Is it option one, common foe, option two, mad and hungry dogs, option three, like hogs, option four, cruel beasts.

What do you think? One, two, three, or four? Yeah, option two.

Mad and hungry dogs.

You see, this metaphor, the oppressors aren't actual real dogs, they're people.

But they're acting as if, not only are they dogs who are angry, but they're mad.

Hungry dogs.

Dogs that are almost starving and ready to attack.

What about this? Which of these is a simile to describe the treatment of the oppressed in the poem? So is it option one, like men, option two, kinsmen, option three, like hogs, option four, nobly die.

One, two, three, or four? Have a think.

Okay, let me know.

Yeah, option three.

So this is a simile to describe the treatment.

It says these people are not going to be treated like hogs.

They're not going to die like hogs.

He's try to compare them by saying that they will not be like that.

They must be treated humanely.

So in the poem, we can see there's lots of animal imagery.

There's lots of times when Claude McKay uses descriptions of animals to make a point.

So we've got that first one.

That they will not die like hogs.

So they oppressed will not be treated like hogs who are ready to slaughter.

Whereas the oppressors are described as these mad and hungry dogs.

That's a metaphor saying they actually are these things.

The oppressors behaviour is bestial or animalistic.

So acting like they're animals.

They're as cruel and violent as mad, hungry dogs.

So we can see why he's used similes and metaphors here.

The simile's used here to show the oppressed should not be compared to animals.

Their deaths will be noble.

Not like animals at all.

Whereas the metaphor is to show the oppressors are comparable to animals because they're violent and they lack humanity.

And it's not to say that all animals are terrible and violent, but in these descriptions, we can see that it's talking about the type of hogs who are deliberately raised to be killed.

And dogs who are mad and hungry, so it's unpleasant animal imagery, as well.

Okay, so let's think about that quotation, 'Let it not be like hogs.

' What does this image suggest? We've seen this already, so see if you can remember it.

Okay, option one, it is a metaphor which suggests the oppressed will have a noble death.

Option two, it's a simile which suggests the oppressed will die like pigs.

Option three, it's a simile which suggests the oppressed will have a noble death.

Option four, it's a metaphor which suggests the oppressed will die like pigs.

Which one do we think it is? You can pause the video and have a think.

If you know, you can shout it out.

Yeah, option three.

It's a simile.

It suggests the oppressed will have a noble death.

They're not going to be treated like animals ready for slaughter.

Okay, 'mad and hungry dogs'.

We've looked at this one.

What does this image suggest? So option one, it's a metaphor which suggests the oppressors are violent and they lack humanity.

Option two, it's a simile which suggests the oppressors are actually dogs.

Option three, it's a simile which suggests the oppressors will have a noble death.

Or option four, it's a metaphor which suggests the oppressors will be hungry.

Have a think about that one.

What do you think? Yeah.

Option one.

It's a metaphor which suggests the oppressors are violent and they lack humanity.

Okay, time for some vocabulary adventures.

I love new words.

Okay, so our new vocabulary.

These are going to be important for us talking about the poem.

Bestial.

We've talked about this one a bit already, it just means acting like animals or beasts.

And the opposite is humane.

So we can say, in the poem, that the oppressors are acting like animals or beasts.

Whereas the oppressed are being humane.

We can also talk about brutality, which means excessive.

Too much cruelty and violence.

And we know that's something that the oppressors are being as well, they're being very brutal.

Acting brutality.

In contrast, we can say that the oppressed group are acting dignified.

They're noble, they're honourable and calm.

Okay, we're going to have a look at these words in some sentences to help you really understand them.

So, bestial.

They tore the food apart with their teeth, their behaviour was bestial.

They lacked humanity, their actions could be described as bestial.

He began a bestial attack on the other man, it was violent and sudden.

Brutality.

The brutality of the scene was too much, they had to close their eyes.

The villagers were scared of the brutality of the soldiers.

It was full of violence, anger and no freedom: it was a brutal situation.

Dignified.

Although everyone was laughing at him, he kept a dignified silence.

She accepted her punishment in a dignified manner.

They had never seen anyone act so dignified despite being treated so cruelly.

So let's go through our new vocabulary.

I want you to write the words down and see if you can remember what the definitions were.

So pause the video now and have a go.

Okay, let's go through them.

All right, bestial was acting like animals or beasts and the opposite is humane.

Well done if you remembered that one.

Brutality means excessive cruelty and violence.

And dignified means noble, honourable and calm.

So let's have a look at some of the imagery used to show this in the poem.

So we have metaphors of bestial brutality.

These are metaphors used to describe the oppressors.

And we can see here, that they're really brutal.

They're violent and they're acting like animals.

Sometimes even worse like animals.

They're described as the monsters.

They're a murderous, cowardly pack.

And we can see that 'pack' there, is that continued metaphor.

First they were called 'dogs' and now they're a 'pack'.

So it's almost suggesting again, that throughout the poem, they're acting more like a pack of awful animals who are ready to attack.

Let's compare that to how the oppressed community are described.

Well, they're described with metaphors of human dignity and nobility.

Their blood is described as precious, and that precious blood is a metaphor for their lives.

So their lives are full of dignity, they're precious, they should be treated so.

'Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back.

' So here, we have this image, really, of them being pushed back, of being attacked by this group, but still defending themselves and doing so in a dignified and noble way.

So let's do some sentence work on the imagery of the poem.

So things we've looked at so far.

I've done a couple sentences for you and I want you to fill in the gaps.

So number one, McKay uses animal imagery such as, and I want you to put the quotation in there, to show that, and a word beginning with 'b', of the oppressors.

It's a word we studied today.

Number two, McKay uses the metaphor 'pressed to the wall', I've given you the quotation there, to suggest that the oppressed are, again, a word starting with 'd' and it's one we've visited before, in the face of blank.

Okay, so pause the video and see if you can complete those sentences.

Okay, so let's go through the answers.

Number one, McKay uses animal imagery such as 'mad and hungry dogs' to show the brutality or bestiality, either of those words is fine, of the oppressors.

And number two, McKay uses the metaphor 'pressed to the wall' to suggest that the oppressed are dignified in the face of, and you might have said violence or oppression or death.

All of those would work.

If you weren't quite sure, you can write these down now.

So you can pause the video again to write them down.

Okay, we're going to now think about sound imagery.

Images that are used to create sounds.

So a quick recap, what is imagery? Well, we know it's a type of language used to create pictures in our mind.

And those pictures might be things we can see or hear or feel, taste or smell.

And this time, we're particular on what we can hear.

So what was it again? How do they create imagery? There's two ways of doing it, descriptive language or figurative language.

So either describing a scene really vividly or using a type of language that's not every day language.

Things like metaphors and similes to help really create the scenes in our minds.

One of the things they can do as well, is use the sounds of words.

And we're going to think about this thing called plosives.

Plosives in English are the letters T, K, P, D, G, and B.

So when we say words with these letters in them, we kind of spit them out.

Let's have a go with these words.

You can say them along with me if you want.

Bang.

Snap.

Crack.

Spot.

Hit.

Dig.

I hope I haven't spat on you there reading those words out.

But they do all have plosives in them, which makes them really strong sounding words.

And McKay uses these in his poem.

Not these words specifically, but he uses plosives.

Let's have a look.

He uses so many plosives that I actually couldn't highlight them all.

But I'm going to look at some of these ones here.

'If we must die, let it not be like hogs hunted and penned in an inglorious spot, while round us bark the mad and hungry dogs, making their mock at our accursèd lot.

If we must die, O let us nobly die, so that our precious blood may not be shed in vain; then even the monsters we defy shall be constrained to honour us though dead! O kinsmen! We must meet the common foe! Though far outnumbered let us show us brave, and for their thousand blows deal one death-blow! What though before us lies the open grave? Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack, pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!' Now obviously, he didn't mean the poem to be read exactly like that, but I just wanted to read it like that this time to emphasise how many different plosives there are in this poem.

I didn't even read all of them.

So there are a lot of strong sounds in this poem, so that's probably deliberate.

So what kind of images do we think those plosive sounds create? I want you to put the particular pairs to start with.

Okay, 'die' and 'defy'.

Those words are used to describe the oppressed group.

People suffering from the oppression.

And then we have 'bark' and 'mock'.

And that's imagery to describe the oppressors, the ones who are doing the cruel and unfair things.

So I want you to write two sentences, one that explains why the plosive sounds are used in 'die' and 'defy', and one that describes why the plosive sounds are used in 'bark' and 'mock'.

On the side, I've added some words which I think might help you to answer these questions.

I've also added a sentence starter.

So for the first one, you'd write something like, "The plosive sounds 'die' and 'defy' create," and then you might describe the type of image they create.

In the second one, you would say, "The plosive sounds 'bark' and 'mock' create," and again, you describe it.

You can use those words on the side.

You've got violent, harsh, inspiring.

You can use other words as well, but those might help you to get started.

All right, pause the video now and have a go.

Okay, so you might have created something like these two sentences.

Again, you might have something different and that's fine, but these are just to check in to see the type of thing you might write.

So with 'die' and 'defy', you might have written, "The plosive sounds 'die' and 'defy' create harsh but inspiring images of the oppressed group standing up for their lives.

Because 'die', that's very harsh, but 'defy' is quite inspiring, to stand up against something.

Then we have 'bark' and 'mock'.

Now the plosive sounds 'bark' and 'mock' create violent images of the oppressors attacking and laughing at the oppressed group.

So you might have picked out the violence of those words.

We're now going to use that in a paragraph.

So I said we were going to write a paragraph together and we're going to do that now.

What I'll do, is just get my head out the way, so we can read through the paragraph together.

Okay, McKay challenges oppression through his use of imagery.

He uses the metaphors 'mad and hungry dogs' and, and what I want you to answer here is a quotation you think helps to answer this question.

So I've given you an example.

He uses the metaphors 'mad and hungry dogs', that's my quotation there in green.

I want you to add another quotation there, which is a metaphor to describe the bestial brutality of the oppressors.

He also uses the plosives in the words, blank and blank, and again, those are two worms- two words, not two worms- two words I want you to choose from the poem.

To emphasise the violent attacking and laughter of the oppressors.

In contrast, McKay uses noble and heroic imagery to described the oppressed.

He uses the metaphor, now I want you to choose another example from the poem, to suggest that this group are dignified even in the dace of violence and death.

The use of the harsh and inspiring sounds from the words, blank and blank, again, two more quotations from the poem, also show that the oppressed are brave for standing up for their lives.

The poem shows solidarity in the face of the oppressors bestiality and emphasises the dignity of the African-American community who face this oppression.

So take some time to read through that paragraph again to really understand what we're trying to say, and put in the quotations you think should be in this paragraph.

Pause the video now, have a go, and then we'll go through it together.

Okay, let's check your work.

McKay challenges oppression through the use of imagery.

He uses the metaphors 'mad and hungry dogs' and 'monsters' to describe the bestial brutality of the oppressors.

He also uses the plosives in the words 'bark' and 'mock' to emphasise the violent attacking and laughter of the oppressors.

In contrast, McKay uses noble and heroic imagery to describe the oppressed.

He uses the metaphor 'pressed against the wall' to suggest that this group are dignified even in the face of violence and death.

The use of the harsh and inspiring sounds from the words 'die' and 'defy' also show that the oppressed are brave for standing up for their lives.

The poem shows solidarity in the face of the oppressors bestiality and emphasises the dignity of the African-American community who face this oppression.

Well done! You've done amazing work today and we've actually managed to do a whole paragraph about the language and the imagery in the poem, which is really impressive.

So that's all.

Well done for working so hard.

One last thing, don't forget to complete the quiz so you can show off everything you've learned this lesson.

Well done again for another brilliant lesson.

I'm really looking forward to seeing you for lesson four of five, when we're talking about the form and structure of the poem 'If We Must Die'.

See you then.

Bye.