Lesson video

Hi everyone, and welcome to lesson four of the "Refugee Tales" prologue with me, Miss Kuhivchak.

In this lesson, we're going to look at tone.

We're going to look at the tone of the prologue as well as the poetic techniques that are used and the kind of language that's used in the poem as well.

I hope you're ready to learn and I hope you enjoy.

For this lesson, you'll need three things.

You'll need a pen, paper, and your brain.

Now, the lesson will still work if you don't have a pen and paper but it won't work if you don't have your brain switched on.

So make sure you do that first.

If you don't have a pen and paper and you can go and get one, pause the video, go and get them, and then we'll get started.

I'm going to take you through the agenda for today's lesson.

First we're going to think about what is poetic tone? And then we're going to learn about how we can identify the poetic tone of a poem.

Then we're going to look at what the tone of "The Refugee Tales" is and how the language shows this.

Then at the end of the lesson, we're going to have a short quiz for you to review your learning so you can see how much you learned today.

For your first task, I want you to think carefully about the word tone.

This may be a word you've had already.

I want you to write down what you think the tone of the poem actually means.

What is the definition of tone? Take a few moments to pause the video and jot down some quick bullet points to explain what you think the word tone could mean.

There are some pictures on the screen to help you think about the definition of tone.

The poetry, the definition of tone, is the mood or emotions shown by the writer's use of language in a text so when we're thinking about tone in poetry, really we're talking about feelings.

We're talking about the emotions in the text and how they get across to us.

Now there are a few different ways we can identify tone.

I've pulled up three of them, though there are more.

But I wanted to keep things simple for today.

One of the ways we can tell the tone of a poem is the imagery.

And by imagery, I mean the use of descriptive language and the kind of focuses that the poet has chosen to think about.

You might also notice their choice of vocabulary.

That means their choice of words.

And we'll see that in "The Refugee Tales," there's some particular vocabulary choices to get us thinking about the topic.

And finally, another important technique when it comes to tone is repetition, which means the recycling of words of phrases.

They're used over and over again to place a particular emphasis and get us to think about the message of the poet.

We're now going to look at the first extract of the prologue.

We're going to think about the tone that's present, and how that's shown to us.

I'm going to talk you through my method for looking at tone and then I'm going to show you a couple of more extracts to get you to do it on your own.

You should recognise this extract from the previous lesson.

This is the opening of "The Refugee Tales" prologue.

I'm going to read it to you again, and then I'm going to think about what kind of tone is shown in this opening.

This prologue is not a poem.

It is an act of welcome.

It announces that people present reject the terms of a debate that criminalises human movement.

It is a declaration this night in Shepherdswell of solidarity.

Now here are some questions to get us to think about the tone.

First question is to simply think about whether the opening part of this prologue seems funny or whether it seems serious.

Secondly, we might think about which words are repeated and why.

And thirdly, what interesting vocabulary or imagery is used? Now, let's think about these questions.

The first thing to notice is the repetition.

You might have noticed the repetition of the word it.

It is an act of welcome, it announces, and it is a declaration.

The repetition of it really emphasises the importance of this topic and it's said several times to draw our attention to it.

Secondly, we'll notice the vocabulary, which we discussed last lesson.

We have the line that this is a debate that criminalises human movement.

This vocabulary tells us that the theme is serious.

And finally, the imagery of night.

Night is the setting of this poem.

And it suggests that refugees have some kind of struggle.

Remember, previously we talked about Chaucer's prologue being set in spring.

That imagery of spring was cheerful and positive.

However here, with the imagery of night, that suggests some kind of darkness, some kind of challenge.

Therefore we can tell that overall from these clues, this prologue has a serious tone.

It's not meant to be funny or entertaining.

It's getting us to think about a serious topic and it wants us to know that we need to take it seriously.

Let's try again with a second extract.

We've got three questions up on the screen and this is from further along in the prologue.

I'm going to read it to you and then read you the questions, and then I'd like you to pause to think about the answers on your own.

Tender, to hold, from the French tendre.

From the English for listening.

To a story as it is said.

To attend, tendre, and then writing it down.

Because it isn't written, because the hearings of the British immigration system are not courts of record.

Now thinking about this extract, we might notice some interesting things here.

We've got the fact that a French word is used in the middle of an English poem.

And it focuses on a particular word, tender, which is repeated.

So your first question is, why does the poet use the word tender, which means either to hold or soft and gentle, to describe the use of refugees' stories? Secondly, why do you think the poet uses the French word as well as the English here? And finally, what kind of tone is the poet using? Is it funny, serious, or sad? Pause the video and have a think.

Now don't worry if you didn't get all the answers that I'm going to go through.

This was just a chance for you to think about the tone and think about some of the evidence we might have for the emotions in this poem.

You might have said something like this about the word tender.

It could suggest that refugees need to be treated gently because after all, they have suffered on their way to seeking asylum.

We have the French word tendre, which links the word to Chaucer's "General Prologue." Remember, quite a lot of Chaucer's "General Prologue" sounds different and uses French words.

However, the use of a foreign language might also remind us that asylum seekers often speak other languages.

And part of the challenge of moving to a new country is learning to speak the language of the place that you come to.

Finally, it's a serious tone in a serious poem.

The poet is telling us about the problems with the British immigration system because they're not courts of record for the hearings of asylum.

Therefore, we need to think about recording the stories of refugees, which is what happens in "The Refugee Tales".

Well done if you got some of those ideas.

We're going to look at a third extract from further on in the prologue.

You'll notice that I put in bold some of the words because we're going to go through some of this unfamiliar vocabulary.

I'm going to read it to you and then I'm going to talk about the vocabulary to help you clarify it.

"But this prologue is not a poem.

"It is an act of introduction.

"Bathed every veyne in swich licour, "and all the introduction can do is set the tone.

"Albeit the tone is everything, "and the tone is welcoming, and the tone is celebratory, "and the tone is courteous, and the tone is real." Now you might recognise the first two lines, which echo the first two lines from the beginning of the prologue.

But you'll notice the third line looks a little bit different.

This is a quotation from Chaucer's prologue, describing how the sweet rain makes nature grow.

Albeit is another word for although.

Saying although the tone is everything.

And we have the focus on the tone being welcoming, celebratory, real, and courteous, which means polite.

And we might think about the tone that we use with people.

Why might we use particular tones with people, particularly refugees? When you speak, what kinds of emotions are you showing to that person? Again, I'm going to show you some questions.

I'd like you to think about the questions and pause and then have a go at answering them before we go through the answers together.

Why do you think the poem tells us that introductions should be sweet? What has that got to do with refugees? Which words are repeated the most in this section? And why do you think he tells us that tone is important? Pause the video and have a think.

Now, you might have got some of these ideas down.

Don't worry if you found the questions challenging, that's what they're for.

One of the things you might have got is this idea that introductions should be sweet.

That maybe suggests that refugees need to be welcomed with sweetness, meaning kindness and gentleness.

Remember, we already had the idea about tenderness early on in the prologue.

You might have spotted the word most repeated in this extract is the word tone, which is the topic of this lesson.

And perhaps he suggests tone is important because it means that when we use the right tone, we can be welcoming to others, like a welcoming or courteous tone.

Remember, courteous means polite.

Having looked at three extracts from the prologue, I'd like you to summarise your learning by finishing off these sentences in your own words.

I'm going to read you the sentences and then I'd like you to pause and finish them off yourselves.

Sentence one, when we discuss the tone of a poem, we mean the something or something in the text.

Sentence two, tone can be shown in several ways, such as something, repetition, and something.

Number three, the prologue suggests the tone is important because of the way it makes people.

Number four, the overall message of the prologue is that asylum seekers should be made to feel.

Now, hopefully your answers looked a little bit like this.

When we discuss the tone of a poem, we mean the mood or emotions in the text.

Remember, tone means the feelings present in a text.

Number two, tone can be shown in several ways, such as imagery, repetition, or vocabulary.

Remember, imagery means the description of something and vocabulary is the choice of words.

Number three, the prologue suggests that tone is important because of the way it makes people feel.

And number four, the overall message of the prologue is that asylum seekers should be made to feel welcome.

Well done if you got those answers right.

We've covered a lot this lesson.

We looked at what tone is and how we can identify the tone of a poem.

We thought about the tone of "Refugee Tales" and how it's a serious poem, and we looked at the language that shows this.

Now remember to review your learning with the short quiz at the end so you can see exactly how much you've learned today.

Well done for getting through this unit on "The Refugee Tales" prologue.

I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you enjoyed the rest of your learning for today.