Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Ms. Watson, and I'm really looking forward to teaching you today.

We're going to be comparing how poets convey their experiences of war.

For this lesson, you are going to need your copy of the Eduqas poetry anthology, so please make sure you have it before you carry on with the lesson, and when you're ready, we will get started.

So the outcome of today's lesson is that you will be able to draw interesting comparisons between two war poems. As ever, we will begin with the keywords.

They are: to complement, to contrast, nuanced, and inferiority.

Let's have a look at what they mean.

To complement something means when something completes or supports something else.

To contrast is to point out an obvious difference between two things.

Something that is nuanced is slightly different in meaning.

And inferiority refers to the state of being less powerful than someone or something else.

Now, if you'd like a little bit of time to familiarize yourself with the key words, please feel free to pause the video while you do that, and then join us when you're ready.

So the outline of today's lesson, we are going to start by drawing comparisons between two war poems, and then we are going to look into planning a comparative response.

So let's go.

So here is a list of poems from the Eduqas poetry anthology.

They are "The Soldier", "Mametz Wood", "Dulce et Decorum Est", "The Manhunt", and "A Wife in London".

Now, what I'd like you to discuss is, what do all these poems have in common? And if you had to sort them into two groups, how would you group them? So pause the video, have your discussion, and I'm really looking forward to hearing what you have to say.

Off you go.

Now, this is what Alex said.

He said each of those poems is about war, which is true.

Very good, Alex, thank you, but I think what we wanna look at now in more detail is, how do they look when we sort them into groups? So this was Laura's groupings.

She had group A and B, and she put "The Soldier" into group A, and that was the only poem she put into group A.

She put "The Manhunt", "Dulce et Decorum Est", "Mametz Wood", and "A Wife in London" into group B.

Now, why did she do that? I'd like you to have a discussion about why you think Laura grouped the poems in this way.

You can pause the video while you do that.

So this is what she said.

She said that group A represents poems which present war in a more positive light, whereas group B contains poems which criticize war, and that perfectly makes sense.

You may have different groupings, and that's fine, but I wanted you to see what another set of groupings might look like, so you have something to compare your ideas with.

Now, Aisha had different groupings.

She put "The Soldier," "Dulce et Decorum Est" and "Mametz Wood" in group A, and "The Manhunt and "A Wife in London" in group B.

And I want you to have another discussion.

This time, I want you to look at that grouping and to give each group a title by considering what the poems within the groups have in common.

So we're gonna call those two lists something different to group A and group B.

Pause the video while you have a discussion about what you think would be the best title for those two lists.

Welcome back.

That was a fantastic discussion, and you all seem to have come to conclusions like this: that the three poems currently in group A can be grouped by saying that they're all about the impact of war on soldiers.

So yes, although we might say that "The Soldier" is a much more positive poem, much more positive about the experiences of war than the other two poems, they, all three poems, center soldiers, and that group B, they're written a long time apart, but they're both about the impact of war on the families of soldiers.

Really good discussion and really good conclusion.

Let's move on.

Now, Sofia looked at Aisha's groupings, here they are, and she said you could organize them in a different way, and she chose, she thought "Mametz Wood" and "A Wife in London" basically could be swapped.

Now, look at that group now, those two groups now, and discuss how has she organized the poem, and I want you to give those two groups another title based on the poems' similarities.

Please pause the video while you do that.

Welcome back.

Another fantastic discussion.

So this is what you seem to think, that "The Soldier" and "Dulce et Decorum Est" and "A Wife in London" are all poems written at the time of war, they are contemporary to the war they are reflecting on.

And group B, they're poems written recently about war, and "Mametz Wood" is in fact not so much about war, but it's about the finding of the bones that are the legacy of the war.

So you can see that five poems can be organized in a range of different ways.

Well done.

Let's move on.

So now I'm going to walk you through how the questions are structured.

You'll be given one poem from the anthology, and you will be asked to compare it to another poem.

You won't see that other poem; there'll be a list of titles, and it's for you to decide which poem.

And you will be asked to compare the two poets' presentation of a theme or maybe an idea.

Could be nature, it could be war, it could be experiences of war, it could be legacies of war.

And when you are given your first poem, you will need to consider: how does that poet present the theme; and is their attitude towards the theme positive or negative? And then you can start to think about other poems that complement this poem or contrast with it.

Poems that have similar ideas, are supporting the same message, that would be complementing ones, or poems that contrast with it.

And I can't stress strongly enough that picking the most suitable poem is one of the most important things you can do for making a really good comparative response.

So imagine that this was your question: In the poem "The Manhunt", Armitage explores ideas about war.

Choose one other poem from the anthology in which the poet also writes about war.

And you are to compare the presentation of war in "The Manhunt" with another poet's presentation of war.

Now, that's a really great question, and it will give you the opportunity to bring together all your fantastic ideas and knowledge of poetry.

Now, Sofia said, "I think I'd like to compare 'The Manhunt' with 'A Wife in London', because it's my favorite poem in the anthology and I know it best." What do you think about that response from Sofia? I'd like you to discuss it.

I'd like you to think about why this might not be the most effective approach to take.

You can pause the video while you think about Sofia's response and why it might not be that effective.

So did you say something like this? That the poems need to be compared thematically, and not because you like a poem or think you know it well.

You need to think carefully about the poems' similarities or differences and choose from there, and that's quite right.

Now, it is wonderful that Sofia likes the poems, and I really like it when students have favorites, but that is a reason to enjoy the poem, but it is not a reason for choosing the poem.

So that was really good feedback that we gave to Sofia, so she had a think, and she said this instead.

"I think I'd like to compare 'The Manhunt' with 'A Wife in London', because both poems present the devastating effects of war on soldiers' loved ones." Now discuss that.

Has she chosen a poem that complements the one she has been given, or contradicts it? You can pause the video while you have a think about that.

And she says, "The poems complement one another because they both examine the aftermath of war on the wives of soldiers specifically." So that's great.

Sofia now understands better how to choose a poem for comparison.

Let's move on.

Let's have a quick check for understanding.

Which of the following poems would contrast with "The Manhunt" in terms of its presentation of war? Is it A, "Dulce et Decorum Est"; B, "The Soldier"; or C, "Mametz Wood"? You can pause the video while you have a think.

The answer is "The Soldier", and it's "The Soldier" because Brooke presents war as glamorous and noble in "The Soldier", whereas war is presented as destructive and traumatizing in "The Manhunt".

Well done.

Let's move on.

So here is the question that you will be planning and writing a response to: In the poem "Dulce et Decorum Est", Owen explores ideas about war.

Choose one other poem from the anthology in which the poet also writes about war.

Compare the presentation of war in "Dulce et Decorum Est" with another poet's presentation of war.

So you can see it's the same sentence structure, but the poem you've been given is a different one.

So the first thing you have to do is choose one other poem from the anthology to compare to "Dulce et Decorum Est", and remember to consider why you are comparing them.

What similarities or differences do they have in the way that the poets present war? Will you choose a poem that complements Owen's presentation of war, or one that contrasts with it? So please, pause the video while you do that.

I'm really looking forward to hearing what you say.

So here are some of the comparisons that our Oak pupils will be making.

Sofia says that she will be comparing "Dulce et Decorum Est" to "Mametz Wood", and she's going to be looking at how both portray the brutality of war.

Excellent choice, Sofia.

And Alex says that he is going to compare "Dulce et Decorum Est" to "The Soldier" and examining the writers' different attitudes towards war.

What do you think of their choices? I'd like you to compare their choices with yours, and take some time to think about whether or not you have made the best choice of poem.

So, excellent work so far when we looked at how we go about drawing comparisons and making sure we are choosing the right poem, and now we are going to plan a comparative response.

And this is the question, the "Dulce et Decorum" question.

Just a reminder of what we are doing.

We are looking at how two poets, one of them Owen, explores ideas about war, about how they present war.

Now, when writing up a comparison, it is useful to identify the similarities and/or the differences between the two poems, but within those similarities and differences, you want to look for the nuance that distinguishes them.

You want to look for the subtle, slight differences or subtle, slight similarities.

So for example, if we were comparing "Dulce" with "Mametz Wood", we might say, "knock-kneed, coughing like hags," really, really powerful, poignant quotation from "Dulce et Decorum Est", and we might choose this one-word quote, "china," which is also very, very powerful.

What is the link? Well, both quotations show that men are vulnerable when faced with the brutality of war, but there's a difference in how they do it.

The subtle difference is in the challenging conditions versus the battle itself.

If we were talking about "flung" in "Dulce et Decorum Est", we might compare it with the word "wasted" in "Mametz Wood".

The link is that both verbs convey the futility, the pointlessness, and the lack of dignity and war.

And the subtle difference, well, one is about the waste of life, and one is about a lack of dignity for the dying.

And then we might look at this quotation, "you would not tell with such high zest," "the old Lie," the point at the end of the poem when Owen speaks to somebody about the old lie that war is glamorous, and we could compare that with "earthing." And both quotations explore the lack of understanding about the brutal reality of war, but what's the subtle difference? It's that one experienced himself, one experienced war himself, and the other is realizing the violence secondhand.

So that's a really good sort of structure to have when you are thinking about how you compare, finding the link, looking for the subtle differences.

Let's move on.

So you will need to plan one single paragraph outline per comparison that you make.

Here they are.

What is the purpose of each section? Have a think.

That's right.

The topic sentence outlines the argument of each paragraph and includes key question vocabulary; and the supporting detail are the key quotations, details about writer's use of language, form and structure, and you should also include here relevant contextual detail; and your concluding sentence should summarize the argument in each paragraph, and you should have a sharp focus on the writer's purpose.

Excellent.

Let's move on.

This is how one of these comparisons might look as a paragraph outline.

There's the topic sentence: Both poets illustrate man's vulnerability in war.

However, whilst "Mametz Wood" illustrates the physical vulnerability of man when faced with extreme violence, "Dulce et Decorum Est" also portrays man's vulnerability when faced with the harsh and brutal conditions of living at war in the trenches.

Supporting details would be things like cuffing, sorry, "coughing like hags," the simile used to compare men to old women, which shows their physical weakness; the "china," the metaphor used to compare men to fine china, which is easily broken like the men, shows how their valuable lives can be destroyed in seconds; and then Owen understands the vulnerability firsthand, whereas Sheers is observing the weakness from the "mosaic" of bone.

That would be your supporting details.

And then a concluding sentence would be, "Thus, both poets illustrate the devastating effects of war on the human body, showing man's inferiority when faced with this level of violence and destruction.

Both poets condemn war, suggesting its effects are long lasting." So that's a very clear, very well put together paragraph outline.

So I'd like you to discuss this.

Here's the supporting detail, and I would like you to just analyze it a little bit more closely and to see what we have included.

You can pause the video while you do that.

Okay, welcome back.

Really good discussion.

You said things like this: that the poets' methods are identified and explained, we're actually told why they have been used, and the context has been considered.

It's used as a point of comparison and to consider why the poets have presented war in this way.

They have different experiences of war, and that has fed into how they present war.

Well done.

Let's move on.

Let's have a quick check for understanding.

Which of the following does not need to be included in the supporting detail? Is it A, contextual details about the poets and how this influenced their writing; B, a brief summary of what each poem is about; C, relevant quotations from both poems; D, identification of the poets' methods and why they have been used? Have a think, and then I'll reveal the answer.

Did you say B? You don't need to summarize what the poem is about.

All the others should be in your supporting details.

Well done.

Let's move on.

So this is what I would like you to do is to create a multiple paragraph outline for this question about comparing how poets present ideas about war in "Dulce et Decorum Est" and one other poem.

You see there is a thesis statement which summarizes your overall argument, and then three single paragraph outlines, where you are going to put in a topic sentence and supporting detail and then a concluding sentence, and then a conclusion to the whole essay.

Use all the notes you have made.

Take your time.

Stay focused.

I have every faith that you are going to do this brilliantly.

I'd like you to pause the video now, and off you go.

Well done.

Welcome back.

I can see some fantastic plans there.

I'm so impressed and proud of you.

I'm gonna put up some coaching questions, which I want you to use to assess and improve the quality of your plan.

So here they are.

Do you have an interesting thesis which focuses on the similarities or differences between the poets' presentations of war? Do all of your topic sentences support your thesis? Do you use a range of evidence from across both poems? Do you use context as part of your supporting detail? Do your concluding sentences link back to the question? Is your conclusion focused on the poets' intentions and aims? And have you thought about how the poets use language, form and structure to convey their messages about war? Now, this is your opportunity to refine your plan using those questions.

Please pause the video while you do that, and then join us when you're ready.

So before we say goodbye, I'd like to have a summary of what you have been learning today.

This is what you've been learning.

The poems that you choose to compare should both be linked to the focus and nuances of the questions you are asked.

Focus your introduction and topic sentences on connections and contrasts between ideas, not devices.

It is useful to consider the similarities between poems and then consider any subtle differences between them.

You can consider the different contexts of poems as part of your comparison.

Whereas most of the poems present the horrors of war, Brooke is the most patriotic in his writing.

It's finally just left for me to say thank you for attending today's lesson.

Thank you for your hard work.

I wish you a brilliant rest of the day.

Bye for now.