Lesson video

Hello everyone.

It's lovely to see you here today.

My name's Dr.

Clayton, and I'm here to guide you through your learning journey today.

So today's lesson is called, "How Simon Armitage writes about climate change in 'Futurama'." So we're going to be listening to Armitage talk about the inspiration behind the poem, and the emotions he wanted to communicate through it.

And we're going to think about how we might respond creatively.

So if you're ready, grab your pen, laptop, whatever you need for this lesson, and let's get started.

So by the end of the lesson, you'll be able to respond to how Armitage presents ideas of the future and climate change in "Futurama".

So we have five words today we're going to be using as our keywords.

They'll be identified in bold throughout the learning material, and I'll try to point them out to you as well, so you can see them being used in context.

So our first keyword is "apocalyptic", which means showing or describing the total destruction and end of the world, or extremely bad future events.

Armitage described the world in "Futurama" as apocalyptic.

Our second keyword is "uncertainty", which means a situation in which something is not known or certain.

And our third keyword is "anxiety", which means a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, about something with an uncertain outcome.

Armitage suggests that the emotions he wanted to represent in "Futurama" are uncertainty and anxiety.

Our fourth keyword is "perspective", which means a way of regarding situations or facts and judging their relative importance.

So when we talk about personal perspective, we mean looking at the world through your own eyes and judging what you think about it.

Our final keyword is "metaphor", which means a word or phrase used to describe something as if it was something else.

We're going to be thinking about how we might use metaphors in our own poetic writing.

So I'll just give you a moment to write down those keywords and their definitions.

So pause the video, write them down now.

Fantastic.

Let's get started with the lesson.

So we have two learning cycles in our lesson today.

For our first learning cycle, we're going to be listening to Armitage talk about his poem, "Futurama", and thinking about how we respond to the poem.

For our second learning cycle, we're going to be thinking about how we can create our own poem about climate change.

So let's start by listening to Armitage introduce "Futurama".

While you're watching, I would like you to answer the following questions.

So question one, what inspired Armitage to write "Futurama"? And question two, what does he say the poem describes? So let's watch the video now.

<v ->Well this is a strange poem.

</v> It's called "Futurama".

I wrote it during the COP26 Summit, a summit about environmental issues, climate crisis slash catastrophe.

And the poem describes somebody coming out onto the roof and just trying to get his bearings in a world where everything seemed slightly apocalyptic and a little bit surreal.

When I became poet laureate, I said that I was going to dedicate a lot of my thinking and writing to environmental concerns.

And this poem, I guess, is part of that perspective, part of that mentality.

And I wrote the poem with a view to publishing it in a newspaper at the same time as the COP Summit was taking place.

<v ->Welcome back, everyone.

</v> I really hope you enjoyed the video.

Now Armitage says, he was inspired to write "Futurama" by the COP26, which was a summit about climate crisis and environmental issues.

He says the poem describes someone trying to get their bearings in a world where everything seems apocalyptic.

Now, apocalyptic is one of our keywords.

It means showing or describing the total destruction and the end of the world, or extremely bad future events.

So it's a world where everything feels extremely bad.

So, now we're going to read through Armitage's "Futurama" together.

<v ->I crawl out onto the rooftop</v> above the world's junkshop, lean against the warm chimney and eyeball the city.

The vibe is.

let's say ethereal, rows of TV aerials spelling out HEAVEN, spelling out ARMAGEDDON.

It's T minus zero of the Petroleum Era - and all my neighbours are burning tomorrow's newspapers in their back-gardens, getting their alibis sharpened.

As the hours evaporate I say to my spirit I can't really pilot this smouldering twilight over the scars and crevasses, but I'll put on my best sunglasses and steer the cockpit of morning into the oncoming.

<v ->Now, there's a copy of Armitage's "Futurama"</v> in the additional materials.

What I'd like you to do is highlight the five words that stand out to you the most, and explain why those five words stand out to you.

So pause the video, highlight your words now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now I think that's a really useful exercise, because it helps us start thinking about the choices a writer has made, and how those choices affect us as the reader.

So now I'd like us to watch Armitage's outro to "Futurama".

While you're watching, I'd like you to answer the following questions.

So question one, what does Armitage say about what elements the poem contains? And question two, what is he trying to describe through that? So let's watch the video now.

<v ->I think it's got elements of a dream, that poem.

</v> Not all of it makes complete logical sense, or maybe elements of a nightmare or maybe elements of a surrealist painting where different aspects of the world, which are not always logical and rational, are joining with things which are more recognisable, and just trying to describe uncertainty and anxiety.

<v ->Welcome back, everyone.

</v> Now Armitage says it contains elements of a dream and nightmare or a surrealist painting.

He says he was describing ideas of uncertainty and anxiety.

So now for a quick check for understanding, what I'd like you to do is tell me whether the following statement is true or false.

So is it true or false? Armitage suggests that "Futurama" describes negative emotions.

Pause the video, take a few moments to think about it.

Now the correct answer is true.

Now I'd like you to tell me why it's true.

So pause the video, take a few moments to think about it.

Welcome back, everyone.

You might have said, "Armitage suggests it describes uncertainty and anxiety." So very well done if you got those right.

Amazing work, everyone.

We're onto the first task of the lesson.

Now what I'd like you to do is answer the following questions.

So question one.

Armitage suggests that "Futurama" reflects feelings of uncertainty and anxiety.

Do you get those feelings from the poem? Question two, which words or images in the poem do you think are the most evocative of uncertainty? Now, uncertainty is one of our keywords.

It means a situation where something is not known or certain.

Question three, which words or images in the poem do you think are most evocative of anxiety? Now, anxiety is another of our keywords.

It means a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, about something with an uncertain outcome.

So pause the video, answer the questions now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Some great work there.

What I'd like you to do is share your answers with a peer and reflect on the following questions.

So did you both feel the poem represents uncertainty and anxiety? Why or why not? Did you both choose the same images to represent ideas of uncertainty and anxiety? Why or why not? So pause the video, reflect on the questions now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now moving on to the second learning cycle.

We're going to write our own poem about climate change.

Amazing work, everyone.

We're now onto the second learning cycle, and we're going to watch Armitage talk about why he thinks it's important to write about world events from an individual perspective.

Then you're going to have a go at writing your own poem about climate change.

So what I'd like us to do is listen to Armitage talk about why he thinks it's important to write about world events from an individual perspective.

While you're watching, I'd like you to answer the following questions.

So question one, what does Armitage worry about trying to articulate political positions from a mass point of view? Question two, what does Armitage say about individuality? So let's watch the video now.

<v ->I sometimes worry that if I try and articulate</v> political causes from a mass point of view, it's just going to sound like, you know, political speech.

It's going to be a kind of sledgehammer, really.

And ultimately, I think the strength of poetry is that it describes a personal response.

Poetry values the individual.

It values the human.

We've all got slightly different takes on everything, and I don't just want to lump my opinions in with a great body of people who apparently all think the same thing and speak with the same voice.

And when I read poems like that, somebody offering to speak up on behalf of, I don't know, hundreds of thousands of people, I'm suspicious, because that's what politicians do.

And poetry comes at life and the world from a different point of view as, it sees things in a different dimension.

<v ->Welcome back, everyone.

</v> Now Armitage says, he worries if he articulated political positions from a mass point of view, it would sound like political speech.

He also suggests that poetry celebrates the individual, and the fact we all have slightly different opinions.

So now we're going to watch Armitage talk about how he balances his personal perspective with the bigger picture when talking about world events.

As you're watching, I'd like you to answer the following questions.

So question one, what does Armitage suggest about the bigger picture of news events? Question two, what does Armitage suggest about personal perspectives? So let's watch the video now.

<v ->The bigger picture of news events</v> is always given to us by other people, especially nowadays, through social media.

It's coming at us all the time.

And I think that the personal perspective is often lacking in news reports, about, you know, situations in the world.

I mean, sometimes we do, you know, get behind the, sort of the screen, and you know, we hear personal stories, but individual responses to what's happening out there in the world are really, really important.

And poetry does that.

It is an individual response.

We all think differently about every single situation.

I think what poetry tells us is that our responses are valid.

<v ->Welcome back, everyone.

</v> Now Armitage suggests that the bigger picture is often given to us by other people.

He also says that personal perspective is often lacking, and that personal perspectives are important, because we all think differently.

So, we're going to write a poem about climate change from a personal, individual perspective.

To help communicate our message, we're going to think about how we can express our emotions metaphorically.

Now, metaphor's one of our keywords.

It means a word or phrase used to describe something as if it was something else.

So we're describing our emotions by comparing them to something else.

So what I'd like you to do is answer the following questions.

So question one, what is your individual perspective on climate change? Question two, how do you feel about it? Question three, how could you represent those feelings through comparisons? So for example, representing anger through a pot bubbling over, or calmness through a long, unfaltering musical note.

So pause the video, answer the questions now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now hold onto your answers, because we're going to turn them into a poem a little bit later in the lesson.

So now for a quick check for understanding.

What I'd like you to do is tell me whether the following statement is true or false.

So is it true or false? Armitage suggests you should try to write about political issues from a mass perspective? Pause the video, take a few moments to think about it.

The correct answer is false.

Now I'd like you to tell me why it's false.

So pause the video, take a few moments to think about it.

Welcome back, everyone.

You might have said, "Armitage suggests we all have slightly different opinions about political issues, and trying to communicate for everyone seems more like a politician than a poet." So very well done if you got those right.

Amazing work, everyone.

We're now onto the final task of the lesson.

So what I'd like you to do is write five sentences about your personal, individual perspective on climate change.

Think about how you can represent your feelings through metaphorical comparisons, to help communicate that emotion to the reader.

Now, once you've written your five sentences, I'd like you to manipulate them to turn them into a poem.

And you might manipulate them through adding in line breaks and punctuation, adding in repetition or rhyme to emphasise certain ideas.

So, here's an example of the sentences that one of our Oak pupils, Lucas, wrote, and how he turned them into a poem.

So his sentences were, "I feel angry at the situation, as if I'm a pot that's bubbling over.

I also feel as if the situation is out of my control.

I feel as if the water is running out and ruining everything, and I can't stop it.

I'm trying to catch the water in my hands and I cannot grasp it.

I feel as if I'm a thermometer, and I'm cracking as the gauge goes up and up." Then Lucas took those sentences and turned them into this poem.

"I feel angry.

I am angry.

I feel like a pot that's bubbling over.

I feel out of control, As if water is running out everywhere it's ruining everything and I can't stop it.

I'm trying to catch the water but it's slipping through my fingers.

I'm a thermometer.

I'm cracking, cracking.

The gauge is going up, up, up." So we can see that Lucas has changed the line breaks to emphasise certain ideas, and isolate certain phrases.

We can also see he's used repetition to emphasise the idea of anger, the idea of something cracking, and the fact that the temperature is continuing to rise.

So pause the video, write your sentences, and then turn them into a poem.

Welcome back, everyone.

Some great work there.

What I'd like you to do is read through your poem and reflect on the following questions.

So do you think your poem communicates your individual, personal perspective? Do you think other people would be able to understand the emotion you feel from your poem? Is there anything you'd like to tweak or change about your poem now? So pause the video, reflect on your poem.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now I really hope you enjoyed listening to Simon Armitage talk about "Futurama" today, and creating your own poem.

You all did amazingly well today, everyone.

Here's a summary of what we covered.

Armitage was inspired to write "Futurama" by the COP26 Climate Crisis Summit.

Armitage suggests that "Futurama" describes ideas of uncertainty and anxiety.

Armitage suggests that writing from an individual perspective is important, because we all have different opinions.

Moreover, Armitage suggests that writing from a mass perspective can sound too much like political speech.

I really hope you enjoyed the lesson, everyone.

I hope to see you for another lesson soon.

Goodbye!.