Lesson video

Hello, and thank you for joining me for today's English lesson.

My name is Mrs. Butterworth.

Now, today's lesson is quite special and I'm really excited about it as we have the poet, Simon Armitage himself, talking about his poem, "The Manhunt", whilst also discussing his writing in general.

So we're going to listen to these videos, discuss them, and think about how we can use his ideas to develop our own interpretations.

So sound good? Great, then let's get started.

So in this lesson, you will use Simon Armitage's comments to develop your own interpretations of the poem, "The Manhunt".

Now, before we dive into the lesson, let's look at those all-important keywords which are trauma, sentimental, repercussion, and dispassionate.

Now, trauma refers to the emotional response to a deeply distressing or disturbing experience.

And this is a really important word with reference to this poem if we're thinking about PTSD and the after-effects of war.

The word sentimental means to express or be influenced by tender feelings or emotions, oftenly excessively, The word repercussion, you might wanna think of this as another word of consequence or effect.

So it's the effect or consequence of an action, event, or decision.

And then finally, dispassionate, showing no strong feeling or emotion, detached and impartial.

Now as you watch the videos, you may see Simon Armitage using some of these words himself.

Now the outline of our lesson looks like this.

We're going to begin by reading "The Manhunt" with Simon Armitage.

We're then going to move on to considering Simon Armitage's intention.

So we'll listen to him talk about what he's inspired by, how he approaches his writing, and then finally, we're gonna think about developing our analysis of the poem with the help of Simon Armitage.

So let's get started with the first part of the lesson.

In a moment, you are going to watch a video of Simon Armitage introducing his poem, "The Manhunt".

Then you're going to be required to answer some questions.

So let's read through those questions first.

So what does Armitage say the poem describes? Why does Armitage say it was important to write the poem from Laura's perspective? And what is the significance of the title "The Manhunt"? So as you watch the video, you may want to have those questions in the back of your mind and listen out for those answers.

So make sure you are ready to watch the video because it is going to play now.

<v ->This is a poem taken from a film that I made</v> with Channel 4 called "The Not Dead", which is about PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder.

And we made the film by interviewing lots of service personnel, people who'd been in the army and had fought in lots of different conflicts across the decades, and had then come home suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatised by experience that they had and things that they'd seen during conflict.

And this poem was written about a soldier called Eddie, and it describes the wound and the course, the journey that a bullet had taken through his body when it had hit him.

But I actually wrote it for his wife Laura, and she read this poem in the film.

I thought it was important to have a woman's voice in a film about war.

She hadn't fought on the front line, but she had experienced the repercussions of war as he'd brought them home with him afterwards.

And the poems called "The Manhunt" because when she talked about how this round had hit him and it had travelled through his body and come to halt down here somewhere, it was if she was describing a journey that she would have to make herself if she wanted to bring her husband back because he'd become lost to her.

<v ->Okay, thank you, everyone.

</v> Hopefully you had a good listen because now you need to take a moment to answer the following questions.

What does Armitage say the poem describes? Why does Armitage say it was important to write the poem from Laura's perspective? And what is the significance of the title "The Manhunt"? You'll need to pause a video to give yourself time to answer those questions.

Off you go.

Thank you, everyone.

Let's just feed back some answers and check we have something similar.

So what does Armitage say the poem describes? So you may have said that Armitage states that the poem is about a soldier called Eddie.

He says that the poem describes his wound and the journey that the bullet had taken when it hit him.

And Armitage explains that the poem is written for his wife Laura.

Now, why does Armitage say it was important to write the poem from Laura's perspective? Now, you may have said that Armitage states it is important to have a woman's voice in a film about war.

He states that although Laura did not fight on the frontline, she still experienced the repercussions of war.

And I think this is really interesting, isn't it, to think about the importance of hearing a woman's voice in poems and a film about war.

And then what is the significance of the title "The Manhunt"? So you may have said that Armitage retells how Laura talked about how the round hit him and the scar that it left.

And Armitage describes the title as the journey Laura would have to make herself to bring her husband back because he had become lost to her.

So that's a really a poignant explanation from Armitage there.

Okay, A, B, or C, you need to select an answer to the question which statement offers the best interpretation of the title "The Manhunt" according to Armitage? Now pause the video so you can pick your answer now.

Okay, well done to everyone that picked C.

It symbolises Laura's journey to reconnect with her husband after his trauma.

Well done.

The next video you are going to watch is Simon Armitage reading the poem, "The Manhunt".

Now for your first practise task, you are going to watch this video and you are going to pick out five words or phrases that come across powerfully in the reading.

So as you are watching and listening to the video, make sure that you are thinking about which five words or phrases really stand out to you.

Okay? So the video is going to play now.

<v ->"After the first phase,</v> after passionate nights and intimate days, only then would he let me trace the frozen river which ran through his face.

Only then would he let me explore the blown hinge of his lower jaw and handle and hold the damaged porcelain collarbone and mind and attend the fractured rudder of shoulder blade and finger and thumb, the parachute silk of his punctured lung.

Only then could I bind the struts and climb the rungs of his broken ribs and feel the hurt of his grazed heart.

Skirting along, only then could I picture the scan, the foetus of metal beneath his chest where the bullet had finally come to rest.

Then I widened the search, traced the scarring back to its source, to a sweating, unexploded mine buried deep in his mind around which every nerve in his body had tightened and closed.

Then, and only then, did I come close." <v ->Okay, so hopefully you have your five words or phrases</v> or you may just wish to take a moment to make sure you have got them down.

And then you are going to discuss why did you choose these words and what impact did they have on you? If you are working by yourself, you may wish to just sit quietly and think to yourself or even jot down a few ideas, but you will need to pause the video to answer that question.

Off you go.

Great, thank you so much.

I really enjoyed hearing your personal responses to those words and phrases that you chose.

And we actually have some Oak pupils here sharing their answers.

So let's read those.

So Andeep picked unexploded and states, "That it stands out because it suggests that his trauma is still dangerous and unresolved, creating a tension and a sense of tension and vulnerability." Sofia picked out that word foetus and she says, "That it is striking because it is a really stark and harrowing image." Absolutely.

"When contrasted with war and conflict.

It seems to hint at a vulnerability." So really excellent explanation there from Sofia, about how this impacted her.

And then finally, Izzy says, "I picked porcelain because it suggests fragility, as if his body is delicate and easily broken, emphasising the lasting impact of war on him." Some really great answers from our Oak pupils there.

So what I would like you to do now is just pause the video and discuss, think, or write who do you agree with most and why? Off you go.

We are now going to move on to the next part of the lesson, which is all about considering Simon Armitage's intentions.

So the next video you are going to watch is Armitage explaining what he was trying to achieve with the poems "Remain" and "The Manhunt" from the film "The Not Dead".

As you watch the video, think about the following question, why does Armitage say he wrote the poems? Okay, so get ready to watch the video as it is going to play now.

<v ->At the time when I was involved</v> in making the film "The Not Dead",' PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, it was a big issue.

It was in the papers, people were talking about it on the TV, they were campaigning about it.

There were people coming back from lots of different conflicts really struggling because of what they'd done and what they'd seen.

And I think I was, you know, lending my voice to a concern about that situation.

I'm not an apologist for soldiers who go away and kill people or for what the army does, but I think if you ask people to go off and, you know, commit the ultimate sacrifice, which is to maybe give their life for the cause of your country, or you ask them to kill other people on behalf of your country, at the very least, I think you've got a duty to look after them.

And I don't think they were being looked after at the time.

And so my sympathy in those poems is not with the things that they've done or necessarily the causes that they've fought for, it's just to see them as very broken human beings who need help.

And my heart goes out to them in the form of the poems. <v ->Okay, great.

</v> So now you'll need to pause the video to give yourself time to answer that question.

Off you go.

Okay, let's just feed back some answers.

So you may have said at the time, PTSD was a big issue being covered by media and campaigns, and lots of people were returning from different conflicts and struggling.

So this really inspired Armitage to write this and he wanted to lend his voice to a concern.

So in this next video, we are going to watch Simon Armitage explain how he writes about traumatic events.

Then you're going to answer the following question.

So look out for these as you are watching the video.

What words does Simon Armitage use to describe his poetry? Why does he think it's important to write about such things? And Simon Armitage says he writes from a distance under laboratory conditions.

What does he mean by this? And why is it important? Okay, so the video will play now.

<v ->Some of my poems,</v> quite a lot of my poems are about quite gritty, grizzly, sad subjects.

I'm not a sad person.

I'm hilarious usually.

I think it feels important to explore and negotiate those ideas and those situations that we find ourselves in.

I feel as if it's my job as well to make in a poem a piece of art that's going to provoke a certain emotion or response in a reader.

And to do that, I've got to be quite dispassionate and detached.

I've got to sort of pull away from the subject a little bit when I'm writing, otherwise, you know, I would be a big, soggy mess.

And so would the poem and then it's not going to do its job.

So in relation to, for example, the poems that I'd written about the soldiers and what was going on for them, you know, there's quite a lot of blood and guts in those poems. They're quite disturbing at some level.

I never met the soldiers that I was writing about because I think if I had have done, I would've become too involved, over-involved.

And then poems would've become sentimental.

And they needed to be harder hitting than that.

They needed to reflect some quite difficult and hard truths.

And that means writing at a distance sometimes.

I've said before that for me writing, it's a bit like, it's a bit like dissecting a rat, you know, it's done under laboratory conditions.

And occasionally what that means is that, you know, a number of years later, I might be reading the poem and I'll suddenly affected by it or I'll realise, you know, what emotions it's dealing with.

But at the time of writing, I've got to be fairly cold and calm and collected.

<v ->And now we have watched that video,</v> it's time for you to answer those questions.

So pause the video to give yourself time to do that.

Off you go.

Okay, great.

Thank you, everyone.

So let's just feed back some answers from that video.

So what words does Simon Armitage use to describe his poetry and why does he think it's important to write about such things? So you may have picked up that he uses these words gritty, grizzly, and sad.

I really like this moment from the video where he uses these words to describe his poetry, but then says he's not really like that.

And he's actually really funny.

I did chuckle to myself then.

And Armitage states that it is important to explore and negotiate difficult situations.

And I think that's a really interesting point from Armitage that actually it's important to use poetry to explore these things.

And he emphasises the importance of creating art that provokes a specific emotion.

And this is a really important intention when we are thinking about "The Manhunt".

So we can think about what Simon Armitage is trying to achieve with his art and what specific emotion he is trying to provoke.

And then he talks about writing from a distance and under laboratory conditions.

So what does he mean by this and why is it important? So you may have said that Armitage reveals the difficulties in writing about trauma.

So he states that he needs to be dispassionate, almost like you saying that he needs to protect himself from being, what he says, a soggy mess.

And he wants his writing to be hard hitting and not become sentimental.

So he doesn't want that to detract from his message.

And he describes needing to be calm and collected so he is able to write about the horrific events truthfully.

Okay, so true or false, Armitage emphasises the importance of poetry and its job in reflecting a sentimental point of view.

Is that statement true or false? Pause a video to select your answer now.

Okay, are we ready for the answer? Which is false, but we now need to explain why that statement is false.

So again, pause the video to come up with your explanation.

Okay, so I'm going to share an answer.

Hopefully you have something similar.

Armitage states that his writing needs to avoid being overly sentimental.

So that's why the statement is false 'cause he says that it needs to avoid being sentimental, and this is because it needs to do its job of representing hard truths accurately and honestly.

Okay, so moving on, we are now going to watch another video.

And in this video, Simon Armitage explains why he considers writing from an individual perspective important.

So as you watch it, you'll need to think about this question.

What does Simon Armitage identify as the strengths of poetry and an individual perspective? Okay? So the video will play now.

<v ->I sometimes worry that</v> if I try and articulate political causes from a mass point of view, it's just going to sound like, you know, a 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 in the world from a different point of view as it sees things in a different dimension.

<v ->Okay, some more really insightful stuff there,</v> but now you'll need to pause the video so you can answer that question what does Simon Armitage identify as the strengths of poetry and an individual perspective? Off you go.

So you may have considered some of the following.

That Armitage states that poetry describes personal responses and values the human and the individual.

He states that poetry comes at life from a different point of view, meaning it represents different opinions and perspectives.

And then finally, Armitage says that individual perspectives can help us see things in a different dimension.

And I think these comments are really important when we consider the perspective of "The Manhunt".

So what is Armitage doing in that poem with perspective in order to give us a different point of view or in order to help us, the reader, see things in a different dimension? So for our second practise task, you will need to make sure you have a copy of "The Manhunt" in front of you.

So make sure you've got that.

And then you are going to identify which quotations from the poem best support the following ideas from the videos and explain why.

So the statements are Armitage wants to show the effects of PTSD authentically, Armitage states that it is important to create art that provokes a specific emotion, Armitage reveals his opinion that it is important for poetry to do its job of reflecting hard truths, Armitage emphasises the power of writing from individual perspectives, highlighting its ability to approach life from a different point of view.

So you will need to pause the video to identify those quotations and explain why you have picked them in relation to those statements.

So pause the video and off you go.

Okay, fantastic.

What we are going to do now is look at how Lucas has answered.

You may have something different, which is absolutely fine.

This is about your choices and your explanations.

So for the first statement, Lucas answered with the quotation "To a sweating, unexploded mine buried deep in his mind." And Lucas states that this powerfully represents PTSD through the metaphor of an unexploded mine, highlighting the soldier's underlying psychological trauma and tension.

Great explanation from Lucas.

So I'd like you now just to spend a few moments discussing or thinking to yourself to what extent do you agree with Lucas and why? Pause the video and off you go.

Okay, for the second statement, Armitage states that it is important to create art that provokes a specific emotion.

Lucas has chosen the quote, "Feel the hurt of his grazed heart." And he explains this provokes a specific emotion of empathy, not only for the soldier's pain, but also for the wife's emotional struggle as she tries to reconnect with him.

So again, just spend a few moments discussing or thinking to yourself to what extent do you agree with Lucas and why? Pause the video and off you go.

For the third statement, Lucas has said that in response to Armitage reveals his opinion that it is important for poetry to do its job of reflecting hard truths, he has picked the quotation, "The foetus of metal beneath his chest where the bullet had finally come to rest." And he explains that this metaphor creates a harrowing image and emphasises the lasting trauma of war and the loss of innocence.

It also contrasts the idea of new life with the destructive impacts of war, reinforcing the unsettling reality of living with trauma.

Again, just pause the video to give yourself time to discuss or think quietly to yourself to what extent do you agree and why.

Pause the video.

And then for the final answer, I'm going to ask you to pause the video, ask you to read Lucas' response, and then discuss to what extent do you agree and why.

So pause the video to read that response and discuss or think about the answer to what extent do you agree and why? Off you go.

Okay, fantastic.

We are now onto the final part of the lesson where we'll be thinking about how we can begin to really use these comments to develop analysis of the poem.

So in this video, you will watch Simon Armitage explaining the importance of using the partner's perspective in "The Manhunt".

And I want you to listen for what reasons does Armitage give for why he used Laura's perspective.

Okay, so get ready because you are going to watch the video now.

<v ->So "The Manhunt" was part</v> of a film called "The Not Dead".

All the soldiers that we'd interviewed were men.

And I just thought it was really important to have a woman's voice in this film.

So Laura hadn't, you know, served in the army.

She hadn't fought on the frontline.

She couldn't tell us those kind of stories, but she had experienced, you know, the echoes of war and the repercussions and the reverberations of war because Eddie, her husband, had brought them back home with him.

And that is an important part of conflict.

Its effect on, you know, domestic circumstances.

And she was almost his carer.

She was trying to, you know, heal him of the things that he'd seen and the things that had happened to him and the things that he'd done.

And her role in all that I don't think should be minimised.

So yeah, it felt essential and it gave the film a different texture, a different perspective.

And there was a kind of loving note in her voice as well when she talked about this wound, this disfigurement, which he was very self-conscious about where the rounded had hit him.

And to have that note of compassion as well felt really powerful in the film.

<v ->Okay, fantastic.

</v> So now just spend a few moments answering the question.

You'll need to pause the video to be able to do that.

Off you go.

Okay, so let's just feed back what you might have said.

So Armitage explains the importance of including a woman's voice as they too experience the echoes and reverberations of war.

Armitage suggests that domestic circumstances are an important part of conflict, and that's a really interesting point from Armitage there, considering, yeah, the domestic side of war, not just the conflict itself.

He emphasises how essential it is to hear a different perspective and he describes how it adds a loving note, suggesting that the perspective adds a layer of compassion, which is powerful.

So these comments are really useful when thinking about the poem "The Manhunt", and we can use some of these own ideas in our interpretations and our own writing on the poem.

And I think it's a really great to hear from the poet himself.

So true or false, Armitage suggests that domestic circumstances are an important part of conflict.

Is that true or false? Come up with your answer now, please, by pausing the video.

Okay, well done to everyone that said true, but you'll need to pause the video to come up with your explanation as to why that is true.

Off you go.

Okay, right.

So let's just share, and hopefully we have something similar.

So this is true because Armitage shows that conflict affects not only the soldiers, but also relationships and situations at home.

Okay, so in this next video, Simon Armitage discusses "The Manhunt".

So he talks in depth about some of his choices.

Now, why does Armitage write the poem in couplets? So listen out for that.

And why does he say that it does not follow a strict rhyme scheme? So listen out for those as you watch and listen to the video, which is going to play now.

<v ->I suppose there's also that sense in the poem</v> that she's following a fuse wire or a trip wire, something very tense as well as tender in the poem because, you know, he was like a bomb waiting to go off.

And the poem's written in couplets, stanzas of two lines each.

And that's because it's about two people.

It's trying to match the form of the poem with the content, its shape, with its subject matter.

And sometimes those couplets rhyme and sometimes they're half rhymes and sometimes they don't rhyme at all.

And that's just to try and describe two people who are trying to harmonise with each other.

And sometimes they manage it and sometimes they don't.

<v ->Okay, again, some really insightful stuff there</v> that I will definitely be using for my interpretations.

So I would like you now just to spend a few moments answering those questions.

So pause the video to give yourself time to do that.

Okay, now let's feed back some answers.

And remember, as we think about these answers, think about how you could be using them for your own interpretations and analysis of the poem.

So you may have said that the rhyming couplets is because it is about two people.

So Armitage aims to match the form to the content.

So he talks about its shape and its content matter.

And the irregular rhyme scheme is trying to describe two people who are trying to harmonise with each other and how sometimes they manage it and sometimes they don't.

Okay, so in this video we're going to hear Simon Armitage explain what he considers to be the most significant part of "The Manhunt".

So you may have thought about this yourself.

So I want you to think about what he identifies as the most significant part and why does it say it is deeply ironic.

So again, listen out for those key phrases as you watch the video and it is going to play now.

<v ->There's a moment in "The Manhunt"</v> where I describe the round, the bullet as it's lodged in Eddie's body as being like a foetus.

I say the foetus of metal beneath his chest.

And I suppose that's darkly ironic and I don't think it needs too much explanation.

I mean, you know, this is a poem about a couple and one of the things that couples do is to have children.

And yet there was some kind of weird reversal going on through his injury and through the scans and the x-rays that showed this thing which was almost like a living in his body that had caused so much trauma for him and was the source of so much emotional upheaval.

So I think that's one of the neon words in that poem for I think fairly obvious reasons in a poem which is about a couple and is written in couplets.

<v ->Okay, great.

</v> So now you just need to spend a few moments answering those questions.

So pause the video in order to do that.

Off you go.

Okay, so you may have said the following, that Armitage identifies the metaphor foetus as the most significant part.

Armitage highlights the irony that the scans are for a bullet, not a baby, emphasising the devastating impact of trauma on the couple.

And then finally, and I think this is a really interesting description, he describes a bullet as an almost living thing in his body.

And he uses the foetus metaphor to highlight the irony of trauma growing within him instead of new life.

And I think that description of that metaphor being deeply ironic is really telling in terms of what Armitage is trying to achieve.

Okay, A, B, or C, which statement best describes why the poem has an irregular rhyme scheme according to Armitage? Pause the video to select your answer now.

So who's feeling confident? Lots of you? Well, are you ready for the answer? Which is A, so well done to everyone that said it mirrors the struggle for harmony between two people.

Okay, so we are now onto our final practise task and we have watched a lot today and gathered lots of information.

So now is the opportunity just to reflect on all of that and think about what we can take forward.

So I would like you to write a response to the following, what are five significant things you have learned about "The Manhunt" from listening to Simon Armitage? And I'd like you please to list up to five ways in which listening to Simon Armitage has changed or deepened your interpretation of the poem "The Manhunt".

Okay, so make sure you have everything you need in order to complete this response and I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

So pause the video and get going.

Okay, thank you so much, everyone.

It's been so great to see your different interactions with the videos and different things that you are going to take forward.

So let's just look at part of Jun's response.

So Jun has said, "That he has learned that Armitage writes poetry to provoke specific emotions.

I will be considering this when I analyse the poem further." So that's great from Jun, just thinking about those intentions and where we can see those coming through in the poem.

And Jun is going to take forward the description of the poem structure reflecting its content.

And he says that's really deepened his understanding.

The idea that the irregular rhyme scheme mirrors two people trying to harmonise with each other has really changed how Jun initially viewed the poem.

So some really thoughtful ideas there from Jun.

So I'd like you please just to pause the video and discuss to what extent do you agree with Jun and why.

Off you go.

Okay, excellent work, everyone.

We are now at the end of the lesson and I really hope you have found those videos enriching and inspiring, and I really hope they have helped you to develop your interpretations of the poem.

So let's just remind ourself, we know that Armitage highlights the power of writing from a personal perspective.

He believes art should provoke specific emotions.

The structure and form of the poem reflect its context.

He identifies the dark irony of the foetus metaphor as the most significant part.

And I think this is the most important that Armitage's ideas can help develop interpretations of the poem.

So really think about how we can use some of his own words, some of Armitage's own ideas to really develop our own interpretations of the poem.

Well done, everyone, can't wait to see you all again for another English lesson soon.

So I'll say bye until then.

Goodbye.