Hello, everybody, and a really warm welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Miss Holiday and I'll be teaching you today.

I'm really looking forward to today's lesson as we're going to be diving deeper into one of my absolute favourite poems on this anthology, Simon Armitage's "The Manhunt." Now, for this lesson, you will need a copy of your Eduqas Poetry Anthology, so make sure that you have that in front of you.

And if you don't, you need to pause the video and run to get it now, please.

Fantastic.

You've got it.

So let's get started.

So today's lesson is called Analysing "The Manhunt," and by the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to analyse how Armitage presents the harrowing effects of war.

But first, here are some key words that you will need in order to unlock today's learning, starting with the word harrowing, which we've just seen in the pupil outcome.

Now, something harrowing is very distressing and/or traumatising to somebody, and witnessing something harrowing could leave somebody feeling very vulnerable, and vulnerable means able to be easily physically or mentally hurt.

Now, PTSD is a mental illness resulting from trauma in which the patient might experience flashbacks, depression, anxiety, or hallucinations.

Now, this used to be known as shell shock, but we now refer to it as PTSD, and it is a mental illness that many soldiers still suffer from today.

A rhyming couplet is a pair of successive lines of verse that are rhyming and typically of the same length.

And finally, enjambment is the continuation of a sentence beyond the end of a line, stanza, or couplet.

And that is a poetic term, so we use it only to refer to poetry.

If you'd like to take a moment to pause the video and jot down these keyword definitions, then please feel free to do so at your leisure.

Here's today's lesson outline.

We're going to begin by analysing Armitage's use of figurative language before moving on to examining his use of structure.

We're looking at both of these methods with a view to establishing exactly how Armitage is able to present the harrowing effects of war.

But let's start first of all by examining his use of figurative language.

So Lucas read this poem and he had this to say, "I absolutely love this poem.

I think the way that Armitage uses figurative language to describe the injuries that the soldier has sustained is really effective and moving," and I have to agree with Lucas there.

Armitage's use of figurative language in this poem creates really vivid imagery of the soldier's injuries for the reader.

So I'd like you to discuss, first of all, before we move on to look at the figurative language, well, what actually is it? Can you give any examples of language devices that make use of figurative language? I'd like you now to pause the video while you discuss those two questions onscreen now.

Fantastic discussions, and really well remembered to those of you that remembered that figurative language is any language that is meaningful, but it's not literally true.

Now, examples of figurative language include similes, metaphors, zoomorphism, symbolism, and pathetic fallacy.

And figurative language almost often than not involves some kind of comparison between two things that are very similar but are not exactly the same.

So well done if you remembered that.

Really great work there.

So what we're going to do, first of all, is we're going to reread the poem in full.

Now, as you're reading the poem, I would like you to be highlighting any examples of figurative language that you find.

It might be a good idea to reread the poem twice, once just to jog your memory and the second time highlighting those examples of figurative language.

Remember that as you're reading the poem, you need to be taking really close note of any punctuation or lack thereof that Armitage uses to characterise the pace and tone with which you read the poem.

So think carefully about the way in which you're reading the poem as you're reading it out loud.

So what I'm going to invite you to do now is pause the video while you reread the poem and highlight any use of figurative language throughout.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

So pause the video and off you go to do that now.

Brilliant.

Fantastic work.

And really well done there.

Some brilliant examples of figurative language have been highlighted.

So what we're going to do now is we're going to work our way through the poem, looking at some examples of Armitage's use of figurative language that you've just identified, starting first of all with the image of a river that Armitage uses near to the beginning of the poem.

And I'd like you to consider, well, what might the river mentioned in line four represent and how does this make you respond to the soldier? Now, I've put a picture of a river on the screen here so that you can start to consider what the river might be representing on the soldier's face.

So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while, again, you discuss that with the people around you or just think about it independently if you're working on your own today.

Pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic work, and really perceptive and insightful suggestions made there.

Now, in terms of what the river could represent or reflect, well, it could actually reflect the tears that the soldier has cried, both as a result of his experiences at war, but also the resulting PTSD attacks that he is suffering.

Okay, so this is clearly a soldier who is suffering from mental illness as a result of what he has witnessed at war, and therefore those tears could be cried because of the original experience, but also because of how much he's suffering having returned from war.

Now, it could also reflect the scars that the soldier has on his face, the physical wounds and the physical effects of war, and the fact that his face has perhaps changed in some way as a result of some injuries that he might have sustained at war.

So two really valid suggestions there as to what the river might represent in this part of the poem.

So really well done there.

Brilliant work.

Now, in terms of how this makes us respond to the soldier, well, arguably, this metaphor makes us respond with real sympathy for the soldier because the public perception or the stereotype of soldiers is that they do not show emotion.

And here we are shown the soldier's emotional vulnerability and we can empathise with his distress.

You know, when we think of soldiers, we think really brave, strong, fearless, but, actually, the image that's being presented to us here directly contradicts that stereotype or that public perception because actually what we can see here is a broken man, somebody who has gone to war and witnessed the most harrowing things and has come back and he's still suffering from the trauma of what he has witnessed.

So here we see the soldier as actually really quite vulnerable and that evokes a real sense of pity for the soldier from the reader.

So really well done if you got those ideas.

Brilliant analysis work.

So let's move on to looking at another one of Simon Armitage's images that he uses in this poem.

And I'd like you to consider, well, what connotations does the word porcelain have and why is this such an emotive word choice in line eight? And in fact, this is actually, I'll let you into a secret, this is one of my favourite word choices that Armitage makes throughout the entire poem.

I just think it is brilliant.

I think his use of imagery here is absolutely fantastic.

And when you're thinking about why this is such an emotive word choice, I'd like you to try and think, well, what would happen if you dropped this porcelain plate that I've put on screen for you? And then think about how perhaps that reflects what's happening to the soldier right now.

So again, I'm going to invite you to pause the video while you discuss that with the people around you or consider it independently, whichever you'd prefer.

Pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic discussions.

I'm going to share some of the ideas that I heard that I liked the best.

So first of all, somebody mentioned the fact that porcelain is actually really fragile and it's very easily broken, and this could reflect the state of the men at war.

Again, the public perception of soldiers is that they're super strong, super brave, fearless, indestructible, but actually, that isn't true.

They're only human and they therefore are really vulnerable in terms of they're very easily physically hurt when faced with the kind of weapons that they are at war and the level of violence that they have to confront whilst in combat.

So thank you to the person who raised that suggestion.

Really great idea there.

Somebody else also mentioned the fact that porcelain is actually very valuable.

And again, that could reflect how valuable the lives of the men are and how great the waste of life that war encourages actually is.

So again, this valuable human being has been utterly destroyed by the war, and perhaps Armitage is kind of criticising that and saying what a futile waste of valuable life war actually is.

And finally, and this was probably one of my favourite ideas that I heard mentioned, is the fact that, actually, porcelain once it's broken is really difficult to fix.

If you imagine dropping that plate on the floor, you'd have to find all little bits together.

It chips off into the most minuscule little bits and it would be so difficult to put those bits back together.

And what's also really significant is the fact that even if you managed to collect all of those bits together and put them back into the shape of the plate, you would definitely still see the cracks and you would absolutely still see the breakages.

Even though it looks fixed, it would never look the way it did before again.

And again, that represents the lasting impact of war on these men because even though they might look the same, they're absolutely not the same.

And if you examine, you know, their mental state in more detail, we can really see the damage that that violence has done to them.

So in that way, this porcelain is a really good metaphor for the soldiers themselves and how easily broken they are and how difficult it is to mend or to fix or to heal them once they've returned from war.

So again, thank you so much to the three students who contributed those ideas.

I thought they were absolutely brilliant.

Really well done.

So Izzy said, "I've just read line 16 and I don't really understand why Armitage has used the word grazed.

You can't graze the inside of your body.

What does he mean?" And the question that Izzy's raised here is a really perceptive one, because she's right, it does seem like quite an odd word choice from Armitage there to describe the inside of the soldier's body as grazed.

So what I'd like you to think now is, well, can you try and maybe explain to Izzy why you think Armitage might have used the word grazed in his metaphor on line 16? What's he trying to suggest perhaps about the soldier? So again, I'm going to invite you to pause the video while you consider that question either independently or discuss it with the people around you.

Pause the video and off you go.

Brilliant discussions.

And it's great to see your confidence increasing as we progress through the lesson.

Your analysis skills today are so impressive.

So really well done.

So here are some of the ideas that you might have raised.

Well, we know, anybody knows who's ever had a graze, that they really, really hurt.

Okay, we consider them quite a minor injury in some ways, but, actually, they really, really stink.

And perhaps Armitage wants to show the searing pain that the soldier feels in his heart as a result of his harrowing experiences, okay? Now, we also know that a graze is an external wound.

Lots of you may have grazed your knees, especially when you were younger running around on the playground.

So therefore there might be a suggestion that, actually, external and physical wounds result in emotional distress.

So those external wounds actually become internal wounds because it's really difficult to heal from the level of physical harm that these soldiers are facing.

You know, if you imagine a bullet wound, if you imagine a broken shoulder blade, a broken, you know, neck, those injuries take a long time to recover from, and the emotional impact of being injured for that long would definitely take its toll on somebody.

And finally, a graze is a kind of mark.

So perhaps the soldier has been marked by his experience at war, both physically, but also emotionally.

So again, here, Armitage really trying to show us the emotional impact that war has as well as the physical impact.

So really well done if you get those ideas.

Brilliant work.

So what I'd like you to do now is reread lines 17 to 20.

Now, in these lines, Armitage uses a metaphor to describe the bullet as a foetus that has lodged itself inside the soldier.

And I'd like you to discuss, well, why is this an effective metaphor for a bullet? And I'd like you to consider the connotations of the word foetus and what similarities a foetus and a bullet might share.

And I'd like you to use the image of a foetus on the screen right now to help you in your analysis of this image.

So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you have a go at deciding the similarities between the foetus and the bullet and thinking about why this is an effective use of metaphor.

I'm really excited to hear your ideas here.

So pause the video and off you go to get started.

Fantastic discussions, and as always, I was blown away by all of your incredible and insightful suggestions.

So you might have said that Armitage emphasises the soldier's experiences have become part of him in the way that a foetus becomes part of its mother.

So perhaps Armitage is suggesting that the soldier's experiences have actually become part of him in the way that a foetus becomes part of its mother.

So there perhaps Armitage is suggesting that this kind of bullet wound has actually become part of the soldier's identity now because it has impacted him that much.

Now, in terms of the similarities that these two items share and why this is a good metaphor, well, both a bullet and a foetus are very, very small things, but they have a huge impact upon a person's body and life.

They are both life-changing things to have in your body.

And Armitage perhaps juxtaposes the natural image of a foetus with the unnatural image of a metal bullet.

If we think about a foetus, you know, that is supposed to be inside a human being.

A bullet is absolutely not.

And perhaps Armitage uses that juxtaposition to show how unnatural and how wrong war is.

So, again, perhaps Armitage is using this juxtaposition to really criticise the futility of war.

And, again, to show the life-changing impact that war has on not only the soldier, but also the family of the soldier.

So well done if you got that.

So let's check for understanding before we move on.

What kind of figurative language does Armitage use most frequently in this poem? Is it A, similies, B, metaphors, C, personification, or D, zoomorphism? I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you make your answer selection.

Off you go.

And a massive well done if you correctly selected B, metaphors.

Okay, most of the images that Armitage explores in this poem are explored through the use of metaphor.

So really, really well done if you remembered that it is in fact B.

So onto the first task of the lesson where we're going to have a look at the final use of figurative language that Armitage uses in the poem and it is between lines 21 and 26.

So I would like you to reread these lines for me.

Once you have reread the lines, I'd like you to read the following information.

A landmine is an explosive weapon hidden under the ground.

It is designed to be trodden on or run over.

This activates a huge explosion which can kill or injure not only the person who stepped on it, but those around them too.

These casualties would be called collateral damage.

Now, what I'd like you to do is annotate your copy of the anthology, explaining what Armitage is trying to show us about war by using the metaphor on lines 23 and 24.

And whilst you're doing that, to help you out, you need to be considering, well, what might Armitage be trying to show us about PTSD and what is the effect of the adjective sweating that he uses? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you have a go at using that information to really unpack and unpick the image that Armitage uses at the very end of the poem.

What's he trying to show us about PTSD and what's he trying to show us about war? I'm really looking forward to seeing your annotations.

So pause the video and off you go to get started on that now.

Fantastic work.

I'm really impressed with the level of detail in those annotations and how perceptive you were all being in your analysis of that image.

So here are some ideas that you might have raised.

First of all, as Jacob points out, well, Armitage compares the soldier's PTSD to a landmine, which shows the dangerous nature of his mental illness.

Like a landmine, PTSD is utterly devastating and destructive not only to the person who steps on it, but also to those around them.

And we know that this poem also explores the impact of returning from war not only on the soldier, but also on the families, who are arguably the collateral damage of war.

Now, as Sophia adds, "the fact that the trauma is buried suggests that it cannot be seen from the outside, showing its danger like a mine." And again, this kind of links back to the fact that a lot of people don't talk about mental illness, and especially men and especially soldiers, because of the public perception.

And so Armitage is showing us often how hard, you know, these returning soldiers perhaps try to conceal their suffering and their struggles and that makes it all the more dangerous because they're not airing their trauma, they're not kind of exercising the harrowing images that they've witnessed while they've been at war.

And finally, as Aisha adds, well, "the word sweating implies that the unresolved trauma is likely to metaphorically explode at any moment.

There is an implication that pressure is starting to build up in the soldier's mind." And again, this links to the point that Sophia was making about the fact that perhaps many soldiers don't want to speak about their experiences at war because it feels very traumatic.

However, speaking about the experiences and exploring them in safe spaces can actually be a way of coming to terms with PTSD and its symptoms. So thank you very much if you raise those points.

Really perceptive ideas there.

So onto the second half of the lesson now where we're going to have a look at Armitage's use of structure in a bit more detail.

So I'd like you to discuss, well, looking at the poem in your anthology, physically, how is it organised? How many lines are there in each stanza? And what is it that you may perhaps notice about the stanzas? So again, I'm going to invite you to pause the video.

You can discuss this in groups or you can think about it independently.

It's up to you.

But I'd like you to have a go at discussing these three questions.

So pause the video and off you go now.

Fantastic work, and really well done to those of you that identified that, actually, the poem is organised into 13 couplets.

It begins with rhyming couplets.

And remember that a rhyming couplet is a pair of successive lines of verse that are rhyming and typically of the same length.

But Aisha adds, "Well, I noticed that the later rhymes aren't exact." So, for example, thumb doesn't exactly rhyme with lung.

And Jacob replies, "Good observation, Aisha.

You're right.

The rhymes begin to fade into half rhymes as the poem continues.

And these half rhymes are what we call pararhymes." And Aisha adds, "Well, I wonder why Armitage used rhyming couplets at the start of the poem, but not the end." And that's a question that I'd like you to discuss now and see if you can help Aisha to understand.

So I'm going to invite you to pause the video while you consider why Armitage might have begun the poem with rhyming couplets and then faded them out towards the end.

Again, this can be done in groups, so you can discuss this with other people, or you can consider it independently.

It's up to you.

But I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you consider that question with the people around you.

Off you go.

Fantastic discussions, and some great suggestions provided there.

So Jacob replies, "Well, I like his use of rhyming couplets because I think it reflects the idea that the couple are working through the soldier's challenges together.

It shows that they are united in their approach to adversity." I also like that Armitage fades the rhyming couplets out and that the poem ends with non-rhyming couplets.

This might reflect his physical or emotional pain fading with his wife's care.

So I really like there how Jacob has looked at the structure and he's linked it to the themes of the poem, okay, and the ideas that Armitage expressing.

So thank you very much to Jacob and Aisha for that discussion and thank you to you for your suggestions.

Really valuable analysis undertaken there.

So Aisha adds, "Well, seeing as we are sharing things we like about this poem, I really liked Armitage's use of repetition." And I'd like you to take this idea and explore it in a bit more detail and think, well, where does Armitage repetition in the poem and what could this represent? So, again, I'm going to invite you to pause the video while you consider that question with the people around you or consider it independently if you're working alone today.

Pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic discussions, and some great suggestions provided there.

Now, in response to this question, Jacob replies, "Well, I noticed that Armitage repeats the word only at the beginning of several of his stanzas and I thought that this might be to show how important it is to treat those affected by war with kindness.

It's almost as if his recovery depends on his wife's empathy." And I really like that suggestion from Jacob there 'cause that word only is conditional.

So therefore it shows this idea that, actually, the soldier's recovery depends entirely on the condition that he has looked after with an utmost care and respect.

So thank you to Jacob for that suggestion.

Brilliant work.

And Aisha replies, "Well, what about his repetition of and? What do you think that this shows?" And again, I'm going to throw this out to you and I'd like you to discuss this.

So what do you think the effect of Armitage's repetition of and is and why do you think he uses it? So pause the video and discuss those questions with the people around you now.

Again, some really fruitful discussions there with some fantastic suggestions raised.

And in terms of a response to this, well, Jacob replies and says, "I think it possibly shows how long his road to recovery is and how much patience his wife had to have to nurse him back to physical and mental health." The repetition of and turns the poem into a list of acts of care and service that the wife carried out to help heal her husband, showing their love.

So I love this suggestion that that word and and the repetition of it turns the poem into this list of acts of service that the wife carries out in order to help her husband recover.

And again, that shows the devotion and the commitment that she shows for her husband.

So really well done to Jacob for that suggestion as I know that many of you also raised the same idea.

So brilliant work from you as well.

So let's check for understanding before we move on.

What might the poet's repetition of and convey? I'm going to give you a moment to pause the video while you read both answer option A and B and decide which you think is the correct explanation for the poet's repetition here.

Off you go.

Fantastic, and well done if you correctly selected A.

The poet's repetition of and might convey the wife's determination to nurse her husband back to health.

The and turns the poem into a list of actions that the wife undertook to try and reestablish an emotional connection with her husband again.

The repetition reflects her patience and her resilience.

Really well done if you got answer option A.

So I'd like you to discuss now, well, what is enjambment? And I know we talked about this in the beginning 'cause it is one of our keywords, so let's see if you can remember the definition.

Pause the video and see if you can remember it now.

And well done.

Nearly everybody was able to remember that enjambment is when a sentence continues beyond the line of poetry and isn't stopped by any punctuation.

Really, really well done.

Great recall there.

Now, in this poem, Armitage does use enjambment quite a bit and I'd like us to think about why that is.

So I'm going to present to you two different students' ideas about why Armitage uses enjambment in the poem and I'd like you to decide which of the students' ideas you most agree with and why, starting with Jacob's idea.

And he says, "I think the enjambment reflects the idea of the couple being on a continuous journey, this idea that they have to keep moving forward to make progress with their relationship, but also the soldier's health." Now, Sophia's idea is the fact that she thinks "the enjambment reflects the determination of the wife to keep trying to understand her husband's experiences.

Like the continuous enjambment, she provides him with continuous care and love." So what I'm going to invite you to do now is pause the video while you consider which of the students you most agree with and which of the students you think provides the best explanation as to why Armitage uses enjambment in the poem.

So pause the video and off you go to consider that now.

Fantastic discussions, and I'm sure that many of you recognise that, in fact, both students do raise valid points.

So there wasn't necessarily a right or wrong answer here.

It's up to you as to which you think is the best explanation and which explanation resonated with your impression and interpretation of Armitage's use of enjambment the most.

So well done for those discussions, and let's move on.

I'm going to check your understanding of what enjambment is before we move on to our final task of the lesson.

So which of the following is an example of enjambment in the poem? Is it A, line 17? So you'll need to look that up in your poem.

Is it B, line 24, C, line 25, or D, line three? You will need your poem in front of you for this check for understanding.

So make sure you've got your anthology open on the page that has "Manhunt" on it.

So pause the video and decide which of the following lines shows an example of enjambment in the poem.

Off you go.

And really well done if you correctly identified that the examples of enjambment are, in fact, line 24 and line three.

Brilliant understanding.

So onto our last task of the lesson, and it's split into two parts.

Firstly, I'd like you to rearrange the sentence fragments in the box below to create a complex sentence which explains how Armitage uses structure in this poem.

These are the sentence fragments that I'd like you to rearrange.

And secondly, once you've done that, I'd like you to expand on the idea by creating a paragraph that starts with the phrase for example.

Now when you're expanding on this idea, you could discuss one of Armitage's uses of structure.

You could also discuss what the structural method achieves in the poem and what it shows us about war.

So how does it convey Armitage's attitude towards war? So as I said, first of all, you are rearranging the sentence fragments to create complex sentence, and then you're expanding on the idea by giving an example from today's lesson of how Armitage has used structure.

So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you have a go at this activity.

Make sure you put your all into it.

I'm really looking forward to seeing your responses.

Pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic effort there.

Really well done.

And here are the correctly ordered fragments.

Armitage uses structure to reflect the challenges faced by soldiers and their loved ones when trying to rebuild their family units following the harrowing events these soldiers have witnessed at war that have changed the soldiers forever.

So there's a really concise summary of how and why Armitage uses this structure and the fact that he's trying to reflect kind of the impact that war has, not only on soldiers, but also on their families.

So well done if you managed to rearrange those correctly.

Now, in terms of expanding your sentence, well, Jacob points out that structural devices are methods.

They are something that the poet does on purpose.

So it's really important that you have made it clear that the poet is responsible for these choices by using language like Armitage uses or Armitage structures.

Have you done this? And Sophia adds, "Well, it's also really important to explain why the method has been used.

And you can do this by using phrases like because or illustrates or reflects." And again, have you done this in your expansion? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you check that the next sentence that you have written actually achieves this.

So here's an example to compare yours to.

For example, Armitage uses the repetition in the poem to illustrate the enormity of the challenge the couple are facing in the husband's recovery.

So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you check that your expansion actually includes those two tips from our students and ensures that you are focusing on the writer's method and what he achieves in using that method.

So pause the video and check your work now.

Fantastic reflection work and really well done.

So to summarise the learning from today, well, first of all, Armitage uses figurative language to illustrate the severity of the soldier's injuries both physically and mentally.

Armitage's use of figurative language portrays a soldier as fragile and delicate, which shows his vulnerability.

Furthermore, the poet uses rhyming couplets at the beginning of the poem possibly to reflect the unified approach the couple are taking to the soldier's recovery.

The poet then uses repetition throughout the poem perhaps to illustrate the constant and repeated support and care that the wife demonstrates for her husband.

And finally, Armitage's use of enjambment could reflect the couple's continuous journey or rehabilitation and reconnection.

Thank you so much for coming to today's lesson.

It's been an absolute pleasure to teach you.

Thank you for all your contributions and engagement and I really look forward to seeing you next time.

See you later.