Comparing ideas of love and identity in ‘Catrin’ and ‘Origin Story’
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can compare ideas of love and identity in Clarke’s ‘Catrin’ and Ewing’s ‘Origin Story’.
Key learning points
- Both 'Catrin' and 'Origin Story' explore the complexities of relationships and the impact of different types of love.
- Clarke presents love as intense and restrictive, whereas Ewing suggests that love is fragile but enduring.
- Both Clarke and Ewing write using a first-person perspective which shapes how their experiences are presented.
- Both poems use metaphor and symbolism to represent different aspects of love and perspective.
- The poets use structure to emphasise the different sides or stages of love and identity.
Keywords
Conflict - an active disagreement between people with opposing opinions or principles
Maternal - relating to a mother or motherhood
Nostalgia - a sentimental longing or affection for the past, often idealised
Symbol - a word, object, or image that represents a bigger idea or meaning beyond itself
Common misconception
Both poems use a first-person persepctive and therefore express similar attitudes towards love and identity.
While both use first-person perspective, ‘Catrin’ shows intense, ongoing maternal love, and ‘Origin Story’ reflects on a past, fragile romantic love. The attitudes differ because one is direct and personal, the other reflective and shaped by memory.
Teacher tip
It might be useful to recap the poems before beginning this lesson. Reading the poems aloud can be a great way to engage with the different tone and attitudes expressed in the poems.
Equipment
You will need a copy of the Eduqas 2025 Anthology for this lesson.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which of the following is an accurate summary of the poem 'Catrin' by Gillian Clarke?
Q2.Which of the following is an accurate summary of the poem 'Origin Story' by Eve L. Ewing?
Q3.What does the form free verse mean in poetry?
Q4.Is this piece of biographical context true or false? Eve L. Ewing, the writer of the poem 'Origin Story', is also know for writing Marvel comics.
Q5.Which of the following words would you use to describe a mother-daughter relationship?
Q6.What does a first-person perspective mean in a poem?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What type of love is primarily explored in the poem 'Catrin'?
Q2.Which best describes the structure of the poems 'Origin Story' and 'Catrin'?
Q3.Which answer best describes how the metaphors in 'Catrin' and 'Origin Story' reflect different experiences of love?
Q4.How does free verse enhance the emotional tone in 'Catrin' and 'Origin Story'?
Q5.Which word beginning with 'n' can be described as: a sentimental longing or affection for the past, often idealised?
Q6.Which answer best describes how 'Catrin' and 'Origin Story' challenge traditional ideas about love and family relationships?
To help you plan your 10 English lesson on: Comparing ideas of love and identity in ‘Catrin’ and ‘Origin Story’, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 10 English lesson on: Comparing ideas of love and identity in ‘Catrin’ and ‘Origin Story’, 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 4 English lessons from the Poetry anthology (Assessment from summer 2027) unit, dive into the full secondary English curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.