How Armitage writes about personal events and memories in 'Harmonium'
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can respond to how Armitage writes about personal events and memories in ‘Harmonium’.
Key learning points
- Armitage wrote ‘Harmonium’ as a response to his memories of church and his relationship with his father.
- Armitage suggests that you should avoid being too sentimental when writing poetry about personal events.
- Instead, you need to think about how the function of a poem is to convey an emotion.
- For him, he wants the emotion to be recognisable to people who may not have had the same experiences.
Keywords
Harmonium - a keyboard instrument that produces sound through foot operated bellows
Sentimental - strongly influenced by emotional feelings
Recognisable - familiar because of having been seen or experienced before
Common misconception
Poetry about a personal event should be as emotional as possible.
Armitage suggests that poetry about personal events should convey emotion without being too obvious or too sentimental.
Teacher tip
Students should not be expected to share the sentences they write about someone close to them.
Equipment
You need access to a text copy of Simon Armitage's poem 'Harmonium' for this lesson.
Content guidance
Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.If something is too obvious then it is which of the following?
Q2.'Belonging to or affecting a particular person' is the definition of which of the following?
Q3.'A figure of speech that directly compares two unrelated things by stating that one is the other' is the definition of which word beginning with 'm'?
Q4.If something is recognisable then it is which of the following?
Q5.'Strongly influenced by emotional feelings' is the definition of which of the following?
Q6.'A version of metaphor that extends over the course of multiple lines, paragraphs, or stanzas of prose or poetry' is an metaphor.
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.'A keyboard instrument that produces sound through foot operated bellows' is the definition of a __________.
Q2.Armitage wrote 'Harmonium' about which of the following?
Q3.Armitage suggests that he wants to convey which of the following in this poetry?
Q4.In 'Harmonium', Armitage says he wanted to portray the harmonium as which of the following?
Q5.Is the following statement true or false: 'Armitage suggests that poetry about personal events can be too sentimental'.
Q6.Is the following statement true or false: 'Armitage says that he wants the emotion in his poetry to be indecipherable to others'.
To help you plan your 9 English lesson on: How Armitage writes about personal events and memories in 'Harmonium', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 9 English lesson on: How Armitage writes about personal events and memories in 'Harmonium', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 English lessons from the Simon Armitage: writing your world unit, dive into the full secondary English curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.