Lesson video

Hello everyone.

It's lovely to see you here today.

My name is 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 the World in Resistance "and Out of the Blue.

" So we're going to listen to Armitage talk about the inspiration behind the poems and the process of writing them.

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

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

So, by the end of the lesson, you'll be able to respond to how Armitage writes about the world in Resistance and Out of the Blue.

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've tried to point that out as well, so you can see them being used in context.

Our first keyword is resistance, which means the act of fighting against something that's attacking you, or refusing to accept something.

Armitage says that writing poetry can be a form of resistance.

Our second keyword is provoke, which means to excite to some action or feeling.

Armitage says he felt provoked into writing the poem Resistance when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Our third keyword is traumatic, which means causing severe and lasting emotional shock and pain, deeply disturbing or distressing.

Now the events that Armitage is writing about in Resistance and Out of the Blue are traumatic events.

Our fourth keyword is responsibility, which means something that's your job or duty to deal with.

And our final keyword is accountability, which means the acknowledgement of and assumption of responsibility for actions and decisions.

Armitage suggests when you're writing about real-world events, you have a responsibility and an accountability to those who are affected by it.

So, I'll just give a minute 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 three learning cycles in our lesson today.

For our first learning cycle, we're going to listen to Armitage talk about the inspiration behind Resistance.

We're going to think about how we respond to the poem.

For our second learning cycle, we're going to listen to Armitage talk about the process of writing Out of the Blue and how he approached writing about such a sensitive topic.

For our third learning cycle, you're going to have a go at writing your own poem about a world event.

So, let's begin by watching Armitage introduce and read Resistance.

Now, we're going to watch the video through twice, so you can take in all of the information.

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

So, question one: why did Armitage say he wrote Resistance?

And question two: what does Armitage say about poetry and war?

So, let's watch the video now.

<v ->Not long after I'd become Poet Laureate,</v> Russia invaded Ukraine and I felt provoked into writing something.

I wanted to write something.

But poets have always written about war.

Right from the very beginnings of poetry in ancient Greece, you know, through the First World War, poets who were so important, they were the bloggers of their day.

They were sending back personal accounts of a war that undermined the official news channels.

I think poetry has always got a responsibility to speak about these things.

I grew up in an era that we've sometimes described as peacetime.

This is effectively the period of history from the end of the Second World War.

Peacetime, so-called peacetime.

But if you look into it, we've pretty much been continually in conflict, armed conflict with other countries and other groups since then.

And I've sometimes thought of myself as a war poet because I've written a lot of poems about war and battle and conflict.

Some of it in my own lifetime.

But to see this war again in Europe and to watch it in terms of watching documentary footage of the Second World War was really shocking and harrowing.

We thought we'd moved on and we hadn't.

I suppose what I'm trying to do in this poem is say that, in my view, writing poetry is a form of resistance.

We can't all be there on the front line with guns and drones and tanks.

Most of us don't want to be, but we can still contribute meaningfully through language and show support and sympathy and outrage where it's needed.

"Resistance.

" "It's war again.

"A family carries its family out of a pranged house "under a burning thatch.

"The next scene smacks of archived newsreel.

"Platforms and trains.

"Never again.

"Never again.

"Toddlers passed over heads and shoulders.

"Lifetimes stowed in luggage racks.

"It's war again.

"Unmistakable smoke on the near horizon "mistaken for thick fog.

"Fingers crossed.

"An old blue tractor tows an armored tank "into no man's land.

"It's the ceasefire hour.

"Godspeed the columns of winter coats and fur-lined hoods.

"The high-wire walk over buckled bridges, "managing cases and bags, balancing west and east.

"Godspeed.

"It's war again.

"The woman in black gives sunflower seeds to the soldier, "insists his marrow will nourish the national flower.

"In dreams, let bullets be birds, "let cluster bombs burst into flocks.

"False news is news with the pity edited out.

"It's war again.

"An air-raid siren can't fully mute the cathedral bells.

"Let's call that hope.

" <v ->Welcome back everyone.

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

Now Armitage says he felt provoked to write the poem when Russia invaded Ukraine.

He also says that poetry has always been written about war, and that poetry has a responsibility to speak about these issues.

So, now we're going to watch the video again, and this time I'd like you to answer the following questions.

So question one: how does Armitage say he felt to see the Ukrainian war unfold?

And question two: what does Armitage say he's trying to do in the poem?

So let's watch the video again.

<v ->Not long after I'd become Poet Laureate,</v> Russia invaded Ukraine, and I felt provoked into writing something.

I wanted to write something.

But poets have always written about war.

Right from the very beginnings of poetry in ancient Greece, you know, through the First World War, poets who were so important, they were the bloggers of their day.

They were sending back personal accounts of a war that undermined the official news channels.

I think poetry has always got a responsibility to speak about these things.

I grew up in an era that we've sometimes described as peacetime.

This is effectively the period of history from the end of the Second World War.

Peacetime, so-called peacetime.

But if you look into it, we've pretty much been continually in conflict, armed conflict with other countries and other groups since then.

And I've sometimes thought of myself as a war poet because I've written a lot of poems about war and battle and conflict.

Some of it in my own lifetime.

But to see this war again in Europe and to watch it in terms of watching documentary footage of the Second World War was really shocking and harrowing.

We thought we'd moved on and we hadn't.

I suppose what I'm trying to do in this poem is say that, in my view, writing poetry is a form of resistance.

We can't all be there on the front line with guns and drones and tanks.

Most of us don't want to be, but we can still contribute meaningfully through language and show support and sympathy and outrage where it's needed.

"Resistance.

" "It's war again.

"A family carries its family out of a pranged house "under a burning thatch.

"The next scene smacks of archived newsreel.

"Platforms and trains.

"Never again.

"Never again.

"Toddlers passed over heads and shoulders.

"Lifetimes stowed in luggage racks.

"It's war again.

"Unmistakable smoke on the near horizon "mistaken for thick fog.

"Fingers crossed.

"An old blue tractor tows an armored tank "into no man's land.

"It's the ceasefire hour.

"Godspeed the columns of winter coats and fur-lined hoods.

"The high-wire walk over buckled bridges, "managing cases and bags, balancing west and east.

"Godspeed.

"It's war again.

"The woman in black gives sunflower seeds to the soldier, "insists his marrow will nourish the national flower.

"In dreams, let bullets be birds, "let cluster bombs burst into flocks.

"False news is news with the pity edited out.

"It's war again.

"An air-raid siren can't fully mute the cathedral bells.

"Let's call that hope.

" <v ->Welcome back everyone.

</v> Now Armitage says, it was shocking and harrowing to watch it unfold.

He also says he thinks of poetry as a form of resistance.

It's a way of contributing meaningfully and offering support.

So, what I'd like you to do is read Armitage's Resistance.

There's a copy of the poem in the additional materials.

As you're reading, I'd like you to 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, read the poem now.

Welcome back everyone.

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

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.

Is it true or false that Armitage suggests that poetry is a form of resistance?

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 that poetry is a way of showing support and contributing meaningfully to a situation where you cannot be physically present.

So very well done if you got this right.

Amazing work everyone.

We're now at the first task of the lesson.

Now resistance means the act of fighting against something that's attacking you or refusing to accept something.

And what I'd like you to do is think of the poem and answer the following questions.

So question one.

Can you say a poem such as Resistance can be a form of resistance?

Why or why not?

Question two.

Which imagery in the poem do you think is most evocative of ideas of resistance?

Question three.

Can you say a poem such as Resistance could be a form of support?

Why or why not?

And question four.

Which imagery in the poem do you think is most evocative of ideas of support?

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 ideas with a peer and reflect on the following questions.

So did you have similar or different thoughts on the poem as a form of resistance?

Why?

Did you have similar or different imagery for the most evocative image of resistance?

Why?

Did you have similar or different thoughts on the poem as a form of support?

Why?

And did you choose similar or different imagery for the most evocative image of support?

Why?

So pause the video, reflect on the questions now.

Welcome back everyone.

Now moving on to the second learning cycle.

We're going to listen to Armitage talk about his poem "Out of the Blue.

" Amazing work everyone.

Now the second learning cycle.

We're going to listen to Armitage talk about his poem Out of the Blue, and how he approached this sensitive topic.

So we're going to begin by watching Armitage introduce and read Out of the Blue.

Now I'm going to watch the video twice to make sure you can take in all of the information.

On this first watch, I'd like you to answer the following questions.

So question one.

What does Armitage say Out of the Blue was written for?

And question two.

What does Armitage say he remembers about watching archival footage of that day?

So let's watch the video now.

<v ->This poem, this piece, is an extract</v> from a longer poem written for television called "Out of the Blue" about the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.

The film is called Out of the Blue because if you've seen film footage of that day and the aeroplanes crashing into the buildings, you'll remember that it was a clear, perfectly blue sky that morning.

I remember watching archive footage of somebody in one of the towers leaning out of a broken window and waving something white, you know, trying to attract somebody's attention for help, but of course there was no kind of help that they could give.

So I was thinking about that person and just putting words into their mouth, into their situation, to describe what they were going through, which, of course, is indescribable.

"You have picked me out.

"Through a distant shot of a building burning, "you have noticed now that a white cotton shirt is twirling, "turning.

"In fact, I am waving, waving.

"Small in the clouds, but waving, waving.

"Does anyone see a soul worth saving?

"So when will you come?

"Do you think you are watching, watching "a man shaking crumbs or pegging out washing?

"I am trying and trying.

"The heat behind me is bullying, driving, "but the white of surrender is not yet flying.

"I am not at the point of leaving, diving.

"A bird goes by.

"The depth is appalling, "appalling that others like me should be windmilling, "wheeling, spiraling, falling.

"Are your eyes believing, "believing that here in the gills I am still breathing?

"But tiring, tiring.

"Sirens below are wailing, firing.

"My arm is numb and my nerves are sagging.

"Do you see me, my love?

"I am failing, flagging.

" And that last line is a throwback to.

For the film I sat and listened to a lot of the recordings that people had made of their family and loved ones ringing up from the tower.

I think knowing that there was probably no escape and I'd expected just to listen to lots of phone calls of panic and fear, but it was mainly people ringing up to tell other people that they loved them, which I found very moving and very positive about our human situation.

And the reason the poem keeps repeating those particular words is because the filming was very jumpy.

It was amateur filming and whoever was holding the camera for this particular shot their hand was quite shaky.

And so those repeated words are sort of like the shot going out of focus and then jumping back in.

And the gills that I mention in the poem are actually an attempt at a description of the building itself which had these long vertical lines down it.

<v ->Welcome back everyone.

</v> Now Armitage says, the poem was written for a film about the 9/11 attacks.

He says he remembers seeing someone in one of the towers in the archival footage leaning out of the window and waving something white trying to attract attention and help.

So now we're going to watch the video again.

This time I'd like to answer the following question.

What does Armitage say about what he was trying to do with the poem?

So let's watch the video again.

<v ->This poem, this piece, is an extract</v> from a longer poem written for television called "Out of the Blue" about the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.

The film is called Out of the Blue because if you've seen film footage of that day and the aeroplanes crashing into the buildings, you'll remember that it was a clear, perfectly blue sky that morning.

I remember watching archive footage of somebody in one of the towers leaning out of a broken window and waving something white, you know, trying to attract somebody's attention for help, but of course there was no kind of help that they could give.

So I was thinking about that person and just putting words into their mouth, into their situation, to describe what they were going through, which, of course, is indescribable.

"You have picked me out.

"Through a distant shot of a building burning, "you have noticed now that a white cotton shirt is twirling, "turning.

"In fact, I am waving, waving.

"Small in the clouds, but waving, waving.

"Does anyone see a soul worth saving?

"So when will you come?

"Do you think you are watching, watching "a man shaking crumbs or pegging out washing?

"I am trying and trying.

"The heat behind me is bullying, driving, "but the white of surrender is not yet flying.

"I am not at the point of leaving, diving.

"A bird goes by.

"The depth is appalling, "appalling that others like me should be windmilling, "wheeling, spiraling, falling.

"Are your eyes believing, "believing that here in the gills I am still breathing?

"But tiring, tiring.

"Sirens below are wailing, firing.

"My arm is numb and my nerves are sagging.

"Do you see me, my love?

"I am failing, flagging.

" And that last line is a throwback to.

For the film I sat and listened to a lot of the recordings that people had made of their family and loved ones ringing up from the tower.

I think knowing that there was probably no escape and I'd expected just to listen to lots of phone calls of panic and fear, but it was mainly people ringing up to tell other people that they loved them, which I found very moving and very positive about our human situation.

And the reason the poem keeps repeating those particular words is because the filming was very jumpy.

It was amateur filming and whoever was holding the camera for this particular shot their hand was quite shaky.

And so those repeated words are sort of like the shot going out of focus and then jumping back in.

And the gills that I mention in the poem are actually an attempt at a description of the building itself which had these long vertical lines down it.

<v ->Welcome back, everyone.

</v> Armitage says, he was trying to put words into the mouth of a person waving out the window and describe what they were going through.

So, now what I'd like you to do is read Armitage's Out of the Blue.

There's a copy of the poem in the additional materials.

As you're reading, I'd like you to 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, read the poem now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now, as I said earlier, I think that exercise is really useful because it helps us start thinking about the choices the poet's made and the effect those choices have on us as a reader.

So, now what I'd like us to do is watch Armitage's outro to Out of the Blue.

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

So, question one: What does Armitage say about the final line of Out of the Blue?

And question two: What does Armitage suggest about the repetition in the poem?

So, let's watch the video now.

<v ->And that last line is a throwback to.

</v> For the film I sat and listened to a lot of the recordings that people had made of their family and loved ones ringing up from the tower.

I think knowing that there was probably no escape and I'd expected just to listen to lots of phone calls of panic and fear, but it was mainly people ringing up to tell other people that they loved them, which I found very moving and very positive about our human situation.

And the reason the poem keeps repeating those particular words is because the filming was very jumpy.

It was amateur filming and whoever was holding the camera for this particular shot their hand was quite shaky.

And so those repeated words are sort of like the shot going out of focus and then jumping back in.

And the gills that I mention in the poem are actually an attempt at a description of the building itself which had these long vertical lines down it.

<v ->Welcome back, everyone.

</v> Armitage says he was thinking about the phone calls that people made to their loved ones and how they were messages of love.

And he says the repetition in the poem reflects the shakiness of the archival footage.

So now we're going to watch Armitage talk about approaching writing about a topic as sensitive as 9/11.

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

So question one: how many years after 9/11 does Armitage say he wrote the poem?

Question two: what does Armitage say about the idea of writing about it straight away?

And question three: what did the time difference allow him to do?

So let's watch the video now.

<v ->With Out of the Blue, the 9/11 poem,</v> a number of years had gone by before we made that film and before we wrote the poem.

I think five years, maybe.

And I'm tempted to say that the dust had settled a little bit by then.

I think it would have been vulgar to try and write about it straight away.

Plus, everybody was writing about it.

You know, it was a subject to begin with that was better covered by news organizations.

People who were there on the ground, people who were reporting in documentary fashion what was happening.

I mean, I still had thoughts and feelings about it, but I'm not sure that there was a space to put them into at the time.

So the poem tries to be reflective and respectful.

But the time that had gone by, I think, allowed me to make some comments and explore feelings that at the time, straight after it happened, would have been too raw.

<v ->Welcome back, everyone.

</v> Armitage says about five years had passed when he wrote the poem.

He says it would have been vulgar, so inappropriate, to try to write the poem straight away.

And he says he wanted the poem to be respectful, but the distance allowed him to say things that would have been too raw to say at the time.

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 it would be more powerful to write Out of the Blue immediately after 9/11.

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

Now 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 it would have been vulgar to write about it straight away, and the feelings around it would have been too raw.

So very well done if you got those right.

Amazing work, everyone.

We're on to the second task of the lesson.

Now both Armitage's Resistance and Out of the Blue are about traumatic world events.

Resistance is written from a third-person perspective that doesn't focus on individual experiences of the war.

Out of the Blue, on the other hand, is written from an individual perspective of someone experiencing a traumatic event.

So what I'd like you to think about is which perspective do you think is most powerful?

Why?

So pause the video, take a few minutes to discuss.

Welcome back, everyone, some great work there.

What I'd like you to do is think about Aisha and Andeep's ideas.

Whose ideas align most closely with your ideas?

So Aisha said, I think the third person is more powerful because it allows you to see the wider impact of the traumatic event on a country and its people.

And Andeep said, I think the first person is more powerful because it lets you see the event through someone's eyes and think about how that event affected individual people.

So pause the video, think about whose ideas align most closely with your ideas.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now there's no right answer to this question.

It's entirely your own personal opinion about which one you find the most powerful.

Amazing work, everyone.

And now the third learning cycle, where you're going to talk about writing your own poem about a world event.

So what I'd like us to start off by doing is listen to Armitage talk about the challenges of writing about world events.

And I'm going to watch the video through twice to make sure you can take in all of the information.

So on this first watch, I'd like to answer the following questions.

So question one: what does Armitage say the challenges are?

Question two: what does Armitage say you have towards people involved in these world events?

So let's watch the video now.

<v ->I guess one of the challenges</v> in writing about topical events, things that are in the news, is that you're dealing with often real people and real lives.

In some ways you're making documentary, but you're doing it in poetic form.

And you've probably got a responsibility or an accountability to the people that you're writing about.

So when I've written war poems, it's always in the back of my mind that I need to be careful to honor people that have died.

And to honor those people who've lost people in conflict.

In the poems that I've written about soldiers who are suffering from PTSD, these are real people.

I made poems out of their stories.

I want to get these things right.

Because I'm writing about people who are quite damaged and broken.

And in some ways I want the poems to be helpful to their situation.

So there's that, yeah, there's a responsibility.

But I also think you've got a responsibility to your own response.

To what's truly going on inside you.

How you feel about something.

Not just writing what you think people want to hear.

<v ->Welcome back everyone.

</v> Armitage says, one of the challenges is that you're writing about real people and real lives.

He says you have a responsibility and accountability to those people involved in those world events.

Now those are two of our keywords.

Responsibility means your duty to deal with.

And accountability means acknowledgement of and assumption of responsibility for actions and decisions.

So now we're going to watch the video again.

This time I'd like you to answer the following question.

So what does Armitage say about your responsibility to yourself when writing about world events?

So let's watch the video again.

<v ->I guess one of the challenges</v> in writing about topical events, things that are in the news, is that you're dealing with often real people and real lives.

In some ways you're making documentary, but you're doing it in poetic form.

And you've probably got a responsibility or an accountability to the people that you're writing about.

So when I've written war poems, it's always in the back of my mind that I need to be careful to honor people that have died.

And to honor those people who've lost people in conflict.

In the poems that I've written about soldiers who are suffering from PTSD, these are real people.

I made poems out of their stories.

I want to get these things right.

Because I'm writing about people who are quite damaged and broken.

And in some ways I want the poems to be helpful to their situation.

So there's that, yeah, there's a responsibility.

But I also think you've got a responsibility to your own response.

To what's truly going on inside you.

How you feel about something.

Not just writing what you think people want to hear.

<v ->Welcome back, everyone.

</v> Armitage says, you have a responsibility to your own response, how you feel about something.

You shouldn't just write what you think people want to hear.

So we're going to write a poem about a world event.

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

So which event happening in the world today would you like to write about?

What is your personal response to that event?

So pause the video, answer the questions now.

So what I'd like you to think about now is how you want to write about that world event.

So for example, you might choose an individual account of someone experiencing that event, a third person account that describes the event.

So pause the video, think about how you want to describe the world event.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now hold on to those answers, because we're going to use them to help us write a poem 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.

Is it true or false?

Armitage suggests, you shouldn't show your personal feelings when writing about world events.

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

Now the correct answer is false.

Now 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 you have a responsibility to yourself to reflect how you personally feel about an event, and not just write what you think other people want to hear.

So very well done if you got those right.

Amazing work, everyone.

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

Now what I'd like you to do is write a paragraph about your world event, either from an individual perspective of someone experiencing it, or a third person perspective that describes the event.

Then, I'd like you to take your paragraph and manipulate it into a poem.

You might manipulate the language and structure by adding in line breaks and punctuation, tweaking the language to help communicate an idea or an emotion to the reader, adding in poetic language such as metaphors to help communicate an idea or an emotion.

So pause the video, write your paragraph, then manipulate it into a poem.

Welcome back, everyone, some great work there.

What I'd like you to do is reflect on your poem.

And you might think about the following.

Do you think the poem reflects your personal feelings about the world event?

How do you think the poem would be different if you'd chosen a different perspective?

Is there anything you'd now like to change about your poem?

So pause the video, reflect on your poem now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now I really hope you've enjoyed listening to Armitage talk about his poems in this lesson and creating your own poem.

You all did amazingly well today, everyone.

Here's a summary of what we covered.

Armitage's Resistance was written about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Armitage says that poetry can be a form of resistance and support.

Armitage's Out of the Blue was written to be part of a film about 9/11.

Armitage suggests you have a responsibility and accountability when writing about world events.

Armitage also says you need to reflect how you personally feel about world events in your writing.

I really hope you enjoyed the lesson, everyone.

I hope to see you for another lesson soon.

Goodbye.