Exploring themes of hate and anger in 'The Wall'
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Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can reflect on poetry with themes of hate and anger, writing a personal response to a poem.
Key learning points
- 'The Wall' uses symbolism - the use of objects, images, or actions that represent ideas beyond their literal meaning.
- The wall in the poem can represent a physical isolation as well as an emotional one.
- A poem can have several meanings and interpretations; each person’s response can be different and unique to them.
- We can respond to a poem by writing a personal response to it.
Keywords
Symbolism - the use of objects, actions or ideas to represent deeper meanings or concepts
Interpretation - the process of understanding and assigning meaning to a poem
Personal response - reflections that we make about a poem after reading or listening to it
Common misconception
Not all pupils may be familiar with symbolism, especially common symbols.
To support pupils, adults could model out loud the associations that can be made about the objects .
Teacher tip
Personal responses will be unique to the individual. Model referring back to the poem to support pupils when writing.
Equipment
You need a copy of the 2021 Otter Barry edition of ‘Stars with Flaming Tails’, written by Valerie Bloom and illustrated by Ken Wilson Max for this lesson.
Licence
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