Hello, everyone.

My name's Ms. Keller.

And welcome to today's lesson.

I'm so glad you're able to join us.

We're going to be focusing on Andrew Waterhouse's poem, "Climbing My Grandfather" and analysing how the poet uses language.

This poem is featured in the AQA Love and Relationships Poetry cluster.

By the end of today's lesson, we will be able to analyse how Waterhouse uses language and structure to convey the complexity of reminiscing about a lost loved one.

The key words for today's lesson are extended metaphor, ambivalent, precarious, juxtaposition, and stanza.

Let's look at what these words mean.

An extended metaphor is the repeated use of the same metaphorical idea throughout a text.

If you feel ambivalent, it means you are experiencing conflicting emotions about something or someone.

Precarious means a situation that is unstable, risky, or dangerous.

Juxtaposition is two contrasting ideas that appear next to or near to each other.

And finally, a stanza is a group of lines in a poem that function like a poetic paragraph.

We can spot a stanza because you'll see a blank space before and after separating this chunk of text from the rest.

So, how are we going to go about analysing this poem? We are going to approach it in two steps.

Step one, we are going to think about how Waterhouse uses extended metaphors to track the speaker's journey.

And then secondly, we're going to look at how Waterhouse uses juxtaposition, symbolism, and structure.

I'd like to start off the first part of the lesson with a discussion.

So, you can have a chat with the people around you about this, or if you're working on your own, that's okay.

Just make a few notes on your piece of paper or in your exercise book.

I'd like us all to be thinking about this question.

"What words might you use to describe climbing a mountain?" Pause the video, have your discussion, and then when you are ready to feedback your answers, click play and we'll continue.

Okay.

Welcome back.

I heard some really great ideas there.

Lots of people thinking about the different emotions or the different words that you might think or feel as you're climbing a mountain.

'Cause like any experience, it's not just purely positive or negative.

So to start with, I was hearing lots of negative vocabulary.

For example, dangerous, risky, challenging, exhausting.

But I was also hearing lots of positive vocabulary such as peaceful, amazing.

Someone even said the word sublime, which is a really fantastic piece of vocabulary.

That means that something is so enormous or so amazing and dramatic that we are forced to stop, stand still and look at it, and realise how small we are compared to the size of the enormous world that we live in.

So in this poem, Waterhouse uses an extended metaphor.

He compares the speaker's journey, climbing up his grandfather's body to climbing a mountain.

And he reflects on how the speaker's climb is an exciting yet precarious adventure.

So just as in your discussion, you are perhaps focusing on the positives and the negatives of mountain climbing.

Waterhouse is using that very same idea.

Let's pause here and check our understanding.

Complete this sentence, pause the video for a moment, have a look at the answers and decide which one you think best fills this gap.

When you're ready to continue, click play and we'll carry on.

Welcome back.

Congratulations if you said extended metaphor.

The reason we call it an extended metaphor is because we have the metaphor, the comparison of the speaker's journey climbing his grandfather to the mountain.

And it's extended because it's repeated throughout the entire poem.

Before we can analyse "Climbing My Grandfather", we'll need to read it.

It doesn't matter if you've already read it before.

That's great, and we'll help you to understand the message of the poem in even more depth.

But I'd like you to read it again now.

While you are reading, you will need two different coloured pens.

Using the first colour, I would like you to underline any words that you can see related to mountain climbing.

And with your second colour, I would like you to underline any words you can see that relate to the grandfather.

So, pause the video here while you have a good read and underline the words in the two different colours.

And then, when you are ready to continue, click play.

Welcome back, everyone.

Looking around, I can see lots of different colours over everybody's poems, which is a really good sign that we were able to identify that key vocabulary related to mountain climbing and related to the grandfather.

Let's start by having a look at the key quotes linked to climbing.

Have a look at the quotes in the table below.

Hopefully you were able to identify some of these key quotes as well.

If there are any that you've missed, feel free to take the colour pen you are using for climbing words and underline some extra quotes on your copy of the poem.

Now, as you can see, I have sorted these quotes into two groups.

And in those empty boxes above, I have put two different titles to categorise each group of quotes.

I'd like you to pause the video for a moment and look carefully at the quotes that appear in each group and discuss with the people around you how you would categorise each of those groups.

So, pause the video here and click play when you're ready to continue.

Okay.

Welcome back.

I heard some fantastic discussions taking place there, and in particular, I could hear people using their debating skills.

Not only to suggest an answer, but to justify why they thought their answer was most appropriate.

This is fantastic because it means we're not just using our inference skills to form opinions about the poem, but we're also supporting our ideas with evidence from the text.

So, let's look at how we might categorise these two groups of quotes.

On the left hand side, we have got quotations linked to the poet's use of verbs and actions.

And if you see, each of the words below are examples of movements or states of being.

Scramble, change, traverse, reaching.

And over on the right we have got quotes that deal with the progression of the speaker's journey.

And if we look at these quotes in order, you will see the development of the speaker's feelings and opinions about their climb as the poem progresses.

So in the beginning, it's an easy scramble and they do it without a rope or net, which suggests that they feel safe and excited to explore.

However, as we get to the middle of the poem, in lines 14 and 15, our speaker is already feeling like the climb is becoming a bit of a challenge.

By the end of the poem in lines 23 and 24, when our speaker has reached the altitude at the summit, both words there related to mountain climbing, they are gasping for breath because they are exhausted.

They have a sense of achievement from reaching the top, but the climb has been a tiring one.

Now, I don't know about you, but one thing I notice when I think back to being a small child is how enormous everything seems. I don't know if you've had this experience, but I visited places as an adult that I went to as a child, and these places look different because suddenly I'm a lot bigger.

So I'm looking at them from a completely different angle.

And this is the same idea that the speaker is trying to get across to us in this poem.

Because in the memory, the speaker is a child, and so their grandfather seems enormous, almost as big as a mountain.

And as they climb or scramble up their grandfather's body, they realise that the climb is becoming precarious.

It's becoming dangerous because they're quite high off the ground.

And the speaker's use of this extended metaphor compares the grandfather to a mountain to emphasise this difference in size.

So, let's look at these quotes linked to climbing in a little bit more detail, and consider how this use of language presents the difference in size between the child and the grandfather.

So I'd like you to take a moment to discuss in pairs with the people around you, how the use of verbs here implies that the grandfather is so much bigger than the speaker.

Again, don't worry if you're working on your own.

Make a few notes and then we can discuss it in a second.

Click pause and then click play again when you're ready to continue and feedback your answers.

Okay.

Welcome back.

Lots of fantastic ideas there in that discussion.

So, let's just unpick a few things I overheard.

Hopefully you were picking up on this idea of difficult, challenging verbs.

And what I mean by that is words such as scramble, pull, and reaching, which all imply that this journey up the grandfather's body was quite tricky.

Scrambling shows that it wasn't necessarily an easy climb.

And again, pull myself up and reaching suggests that our speaker is really having to stretch to reach the next part of the grandfather's body, which only emphasises how big he is in comparison to our child speaker.

Then, we've also got words like rest and lie, which suggests that this climb is quite tiring for our speaker, perhaps because they are so small.

And at various points on their journey, they are having to stop for a breather because it is quite an arduous and difficult climb.

Okay, now let's have a look at the progression of the speaker's journey, and how Waterhouse uses these quotations to show us that the speaker's climb is becoming precarious as it progresses.

Let's look at these quotes and take some time for another discussion.

This time I'd like you to think about how the quotes suggest that the journey is getting progressively more dangerous and difficult as the poem progresses.

So, it might be a good idea to think carefully about how the speaker is presenting the climb at the beginning, and then how they're presenting it towards the end.

Take a few minutes to discuss this or make some notes on your paper, and then click play when you're ready to feedback your answers.

Okay, another fantastic discussion there.

It's so great to hear that you're beginning to unpick the poet's use of language because this is exactly the skill you'll need to use when you come to writing analysis paragraphs about this text.

So, let's have a look at the quotations that we have here.

So, how do they show then that this journey is becoming progressively more difficult? Well, we've got this idea that at the beginning the speaker feels quite well protected.

They don't need a rope or a net, which implies that they feel quite confident about the climb that they are about to do, and they don't feel the need to take any protective equipment with them.

They're not worried about falling.

However, as their climb progresses and they get higher up, they start to realise that it might be dangerous.

We've got that word dangers there on line 15.

And we've also got the poet drawing on quite a common idea in line 14 of not looking down.

And I think this is all a feeling that we can relate to perhaps when we've gone up a tall building or we might have climbed a tree, and we have that knowledge that the ground is suddenly a long way below us and we don't want to look down because it will make us feel terrified.

And that's exactly what our speaker is experiencing there.

And then, by the end of the poem, when they've reached the altitude at the summit.

So, altitude is when the air becomes thin, perhaps at the top of the mountain, altitude means you are very, very high up the atmosphere in a very high place at the summit, the top of the mountain, the grandfather's head, then our speaker is gasping for breath, perhaps because the air is thin at this height, but also perhaps because they are very tired and they have to rest.

And again, this shows that the climb has become precarious because a speaker has entered an unknown and potentially dangerous environment at the top.

The summit of their grandfather's body.

This extended metaphor of comparing the grandfather to a mountain also presents the grandfather as old, mysterious and intriguing.

And Waterhouse does this very cleverly by using different descriptions of nature to relate to each of the different parts of the grandfather's body.

So, let's have a look in detail how he does this.

In line 2, we've got the quote "dusty and cracked", and this describes the grandfather's "old brogues." Let's have a quick fire discussion here.

Only 30 seconds or so.

Well, what do the "brogues, dusty and cracked" suggest about the grandfather's life and experience? Click pause while you discuss this with the people around you, and then click play when you're ready to continue.

Okay.

Welcome back.

Lots of great ideas there.

Well done if you picked up on this idea that dusty and cracked shoes suggest that they are well worn, they've been used.

The grandfather has walked many places and he has experienced many things.

Let's have a look at another quote.

We've got "earth-stained", which related to the grandfather's hand.

We also have "warm ice", which relates to his finger.

"His finger is smooth and thick like warm ice." And the "glassy ridge" of a "scar." Okay.

Quick fire discussion time again.

30 seconds or so with the people around you or making some notes on your paper.

How do his hands suggest he has had a mysterious past? Fantastic.

There were lots of people picking up on this idea again, like the brogues, that his hands were stained by the earth.

He's got his hands dirty, he's had lots of life experiences.

We also have this idea warm ice.

We have two contrasting ideas, juxtaposition, which suggests that there's this multifaceted descriptions of the grandfather.

There are many layers to his character, and we'll come back to this idea of juxtaposition later on in the lesson.

And finally, the glassy ridge of a scar.

Lots of people picking up on that idea that we get scars from our life experiences.

Someone in particular said they're almost a collage of the things that we've experienced in our lives.

The marks that show we've been experiencing the world, which I really like that idea, so well done.

Okay, onto the next quote.

We have the word screed in line 18.

Now, screed refers to the smooth layer of concrete that sometimes exists under the floor to level things out.

So this smooth, flat quality is being used to describe the grandfather's cheek.

So, what does the word screed here imply? Again, 30 seconds.

A quick fire discussion.

Pause the video and we'll discuss your ideas when you're ready to continue.

Welcome back.

Again, some fantastic ideas.

I particularly liked that people were drawing on the different things that concrete made them think of.

So, some people said his cheeks may be smooth and cold, which I quite liked.

Some other people suggested that the smooth flatness made them think of a vast expanse.

There were lots of space across his cheek for the speaker to explore.

And onto this final quote then, altitude.

This word we discussed before.

Being high up.

And the poet uses the word altitude as part of the line.

"His thick hair, soft and white at this altitude." Again, so what does soft and white hair remind you of? 30 seconds quick fire discussion.

Click pause and then click play again when you want to carry on.

Well done if you picked up on this idea that the soft and white hair reminds you perhaps of fluffy clouds, something we would expect to see at altitude high up.

So, true or false.

The extended metaphor of the mountain is an effective way of showing the multifaceted impressions the speaker has of his grandfather.

Pause the video, decide whether you think it is true or false, and then click play when you are ready to continue.

Well done to those of you that said it was true.

As we've just discussed, the extended metaphor of the mountain is used to present many different aspects of the grandfather's character, his appearance, and also the speaker's impressions of what it was like to climb up his body.

So, let's justify our answer.

Have a look at these two statements and decide which one you think is the best justification for why Waterhouse uses an extended metaphor.

Pause the video again, have a think and then click play when you're ready to continue.

Well done if you said B.

The mountain metaphor implies that grandfather is enormous, old, mysterious, and intriguing.

Okay, now it's time to put on knowledge of how Waterhouse uses extended metaphors to the test with this practise activity.

What I'd like you to do is complete this quotation grid, explaining what each of the quotes on the left suggest about the grandfather.

Let's have a look at the example.

So, the quote we have is "old brogues, dusty and cracked." And our example response says, "This suggests he is old and has had many life experiences because his shoes are well worn, meaning he has travelled far in them." What's great about this particular response is we have that key inference.

The grandfather is old, and then we have the justification, because his shoes are well worn, meaning he has travelled far in them.

So, when you're thinking about what is suggested, start by thinking what your inference is.

The grandfather is old or mysterious, or enormous.

And then most importantly, use because or since, or as, or another word like that to justify your ideas.

Take as much time as you need to complete this.

Have another read through of the poem if you think you need it.

And when you are ready to feedback your answers, click play and we will continue.

Okay.

Welcome back.

Let's have a look at what you could have written in these other two missing boxes.

So, our second quote, we had "not looking down" and "pull myself up." We could have said that this suggests the speaker sees him as enormous because the journey to climb his body is challenging and scary.

And then for the last one, we had "earth-stained hand" and "the glassy ridge of a scar." And we could have said this suggests he is mysterious because his skin is a patchwork of memories and experiences, but the stories behind them are unknown to the speaker.

Now, these are just ideas of what you could have written.

So, don't worry if your answers don't match exactly to what you see here.

The key thing is that you have made that inference, and you are starting to explain and justify your ideas.

Fantastic.

We have reached the halfway point.

In the next section of the lesson, we are going to be looking at how Waterhouse uses juxtaposition, symbolism, and structure.

So, let's return to one of the lesson's key words.

The speaker feels ambivalent about their grandfather.

Can you remember what ambivalent means? It means to have mixed feelings, to feel conflicted about something.

Waterhouse's use of juxtaposition presents the grandfather as familiar yet mysterious.

Let's have a look at this key quote.

"The skin of his finger is smooth and thick like warm ice." If we have a look at these words, warm ice.

Now, warm and ice are two opposite ideas.

We've got warm and we have got cold.

So, this use of juxtaposition, these two opposite ideas that have been placed next to each other give us this idea of mixed feelings because on the one hand, we have the warmth, the comforting, pleasant side of the grandfather.

And then, on the other we have this idea that there might be a cold, hard, or unpleasant side.

This helps to show the speaker's ambivalence, their mixed feelings about their grandfather, and also presents the grandfather as an ambiguous figure.

It's difficult to describe him.

He's a complex character.

The speaker also feels ambivalent about their childhood memories.

Reminiscing is comforting yet painful, and we can see these two opposite ideas again.

The speaker has positive memories of a fun and innocent time in their life when they were scrambling up their grandfather's body, yet their childhood is history now and their grandfather is now much closer to the end of his life or is already gone.

And this is something very common when we reminisce about the past.

We have nostalgic feelings about the past.

Many of our memories of things we'll cherish and we'll treasure because they were fantastic, fun, positive experiences in our life.

But every time we remember them, they will always be twinged with this little bit of sadness that we'll never get to experience that again.

And we can infer this, these differing contrasting ideas through Waterhouse's use of symbolism and structure.

Let's pause here.

Which of these quotes is an example of juxtaposition? Have a look at the quotes and have a think.

Pause the video for as long as you need to, and then when you're ready to feedback the answer, click play and we will continue.

Well done to those of you that said easy scramble.

We have this idea that it's a scramble.

It's not necessarily a straightforward journey because our child speaker is having to scramble up the body, but they're using that adjective of easy.

Waterhouse uses symbolism and structure to suggest that reminiscing is comforting yet painful.

Let's start by having a look at how Waterhouse uses symbolism.

At the end of the poem, he uses imagery to create a tranquil scene.

Our speaker has made it to the summit and he lies back gasping for breath, watching clouds and birds circle.

This is a lovely peaceful image and the speaker is still and silent, watching the time pass.

However, it could also symbolise death or the afterlife.

This idea of resting in peace, and the silent, quiet tranquillity after the chaos and noise of life has ended.

Now, let's think about how Waterhouse uses structure.

The poem is written in one unbroken stanza, and it ends with a reference to a regular, ongoing beat.

"The slow pulse of his good heart." And this (hands tapping) ongoing rhythm could symbolise the unending process of grieving for a loved one.

It will continue on and on and on very much like a pulse.

And we also have this idea of the slow pulse, which perhaps suggests that the grandfather is nearing the end of his life, his lifeline, the rhythm of his life.

His heartbeat is starting to slow down.

Let's check our understanding.

The speaker suggests reminiscing about childhood is comforting but painful, easy but difficult, or exciting but dangerous.

Pause the video and have a think, and then click play when you are ready to reveal the answer.

Well done to those of you that said A.

It's comforting but painful.

Here's what some of our Oak students thought of Waterhouse's use of symbolism.

Who do you think has the best explanation? You can discuss this with a partner or in small groups, or if you're working on your own, make some notes on a piece of paper or in your exercise book.

Click pause, and then when you're ready to continue, click play.

Okay, lots of fantastic discussions and debates taking place there.

I really liked how people are starting to see the importance of justifying their ideas, hearing in lots of sentences, including the word because it shows that people are giving reasons for their ideas, which is fantastic.

I think the majority of us agreed that Alex's explanation was slightly better than Aisha's.

Let's have a look at why that is.

So Aisha said, "Waterhouse uses structure and symbolism to show the speaker's confusion about his childhood memories." Whereas Alex says, "Waterhouse uses structure and symbolism to show the speaker's ambivalence about his childhood memories." Alex here is using one of those key words from the lesson and drawing on that idea that the speaker has conflicted or mixed feelings about his grandfather.

Whereas Aisha has fallen into the trap of one of the biggest misconceptions we often have about why writers use juxtaposition.

There are many examples of writers using juxtaposition to show that a speaker is confused.

For example, in William Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet", Shakespeare often uses juxtaposition to show Romeo's confusion about the love that he feels for Juliet who is in an opposing family, and therefore, someone he shouldn't really be in love with.

So, it is a valid answer to assume that juxtaposition relates to confusion, but this isn't always the case.

And in this case, it shows the speaker's ambivalence, the speaker's mixed feelings.

So, now we've reached the final task of the lesson.

And what I would like you to do is to write an answer to this question.

"How does a poet use language and structure to convey the speaker's feelings about their childhood memories?" And you can use this table to help you build an answer.

So, you start by selecting a quote, then identify a technique, then make an inference.

And then, most importantly, justify your thoughts, making sure you are given a reason that links to the evidence you have provided.

If you'd like to challenge yourself and go on solo, then feel free to pause the video at this point.

Have a go, and then when you click play, we will feedback responses.

Or if you're not quite sure where to start and you'd like a little bit of extra help, then feel free to use this model answer.

So, pause the video and then click play when you are ready to feedback.

So, here's how you could have approached the task.

Remember that when we analyse literature, there's never only one right answer.

And many, many interpretations of the text can be valid as long as you include a quotation as evidence, identify a technique, make an inference, and justify your ideas.

So, let's see how this model answer does that.

It starts by identifying a technique.

The poet's use of symbolism implies that the speaker's memories of their grandfather are mostly positive but tinged with grief.

Then they've included a quote.

The poem ends with the speaker lying back "watching clouds and birds circle." And then, an inference.

This positive, peaceful image indicates that the speaker's memories of their grandfather are comforting to them.

And finally, let's see how they've justified their ideas.

Furthermore, the scene could also symbolise the peace and tranquillity of death and the afterlife, implying that the speaker's memories are laced with grief for the loss of their relative.

So, compare your answer to this checklist.

Which of the bullet points did you include? Even better, mark off where you've included each one on your own answer, and set yourself a target for next time, making a note of any that you have missed.

So, next time you complete a task like this, you'll make sure that you include every single point.

So, we've made it to the end of the lesson.

And let me just take a moment to say, well done for all your hard work today.

It's not easy analysing the language that poets use as it involves remembering lots of language techniques and unpicking what can be quite tricky quotations from a text.

So, well done, and I hope you feel a bit more confident about analysing "Climbing My Grandfather." So, today we learn how Waterhouse uses an extended metaphor to reflect on how the speaker view climbing his grandfather as an adventure.

And throughout the poem, there are many references to mountain climbing and the grandfather's experience.

And the poet uses juxtaposition to show the speaker's ambivalence towards his grandfather.

The use of symbolism implies that the speaker's positive memories of his grandfather are mixed with grief.

And the poem is structured as one unbroken stanza, which could symbolise the unending nature of grief.

Once again, well done for all your hard work and effort today, and I hope to see you again soon.

Have a fantastic day.