Hello there.

Welcome to today's lesson as we are gonna be analysing the poem "Homing" by Liz Berry.

My name is Mr. Barnsley, and I cannot wait to continue exploring the AQA World and Lives anthology with you today.

It's gonna be really important for today's lesson that you have your own copy of the anthology.

So please make sure you have this in front of you so you can see a version of the poem.

Okay, I think it's time for us to get started.

Let's go.

So let's have a look at today's outcome.

All right, we are gonna be explaining how Berry uses language and structure to create meaning.

Five keywords then today.

Look out for them in today's lesson and let's see if we can use them in our own analysis.

All right, they are dialect, onomatopoeia, guttural, cacophonous, and anaphora.

All right, let's have a look at more closely at what each of these means.

So dialect is a particular form of language which is peculiar to a specific region or a social group.

Okay, so it might be some words or phrases that we might only hear in a very specific part of a country.

Onomatopoeia is a method, and it's words that imitate the natural sound associated with their meaning.

Some of the more obvious examples might be like bang or pop.

But actually when we look at, apparently when we're trying to use onomatopoeia in our own work, we might look for some things that are a little bit more subtle.

So guttural is an adjective, and it means being or marked by an utterance is strange or unpleasant.

So it's a sound that might feel strange and pleasant and ultimately quite disagreeable.

Cacophonous is another adjective, and this is used to describe, again, sounds, something that's very harsh, discordant, really a mixture of different kind of often very loud sounds.

And anaphora is another method that we'll be looking at today.

And this is the repetition of words or phrases in the first part of successive clauses.

All right, let's keep an eye out for these methods and how Berry uses them and also think about how these other words and adjectives might be useful in our analysis today.

So we're gonna break today's lesson down into two sections.

Firstly, we're gonna be analysing the language and then we're gonna move on to analysing structure.

So let's start by looking at some language, shall we? So today we're gonna be specifically analysing the language that has been used around or to describe the subject's accent.

Remember, this is a poem about the speaker longing to really engage with, hear more of kind of a subject.

So we assume to be a family member's accent, an accent that they were once very ashamed of and tried to lock away.

So throughout the lesson we are gonna use our analysis to consider this question.

How does Berry connect the idea of voice and identity? So let's start by thinking about what we understand by that word identity.

Why don't you pause video? If you've got a partner, you can discuss with them.

But don't worry if you're working by yourself.

You can just think through this independently.

All right, what do you understand by the idea identity? Over to you.

Pause the video and press play when you're ready to move on.

All right, welcome back.

Some really nice ideas there.

I really wanna shine a light on people who said something similar to this we can see on the screen.

Our identity is essentially who we are.

So we are gonna be considering in this lesson how Berry connects the idea of voice and dialect, kind of language that might be from a specific region to who we are as people, okay, and how they kind of help make us who we are.

So in the second stanza, the speaker refers to the accent as escaping.

Okay, beyond the idea then of a voice trying to be released, what other implications can we gather from the use of this verb escape? Why don't you pause the video, discuss, or think through to yourself like what, other things beyond just this, it's an idea of a voice trying to be released, trying to get out, what other implications can we make? What other the links can we make from this word escape? All right, over to you.

Pause the video and press play when you have think you've got a response.

Okay, really well done if you've said anything about this, actually personifying the accent.

It suggests that it is sentient, that it is capable of feeling.

It's not just a sound, it's not just the voice of a person, but it's a thing in its own right.

Why do you think Berry might have done this then? Again, let's take a moment to pause, reflect, think about this, and then press play when you are ready to continue.

Why might Berry have done this? Over to you.

Some really, really interesting ideas there.

And I could see some people kind of going back and forth.

So potentially, we can't be sure, but potentially Berry might be trying to show the emotional connection between the voice and the individual.

And since the voice is trying to be released, it's trying to get back to them.

And I think this is a really interesting idea and one we'll look at in more detail, like how important is voice in making us who we are, and, you know, if we are separated from our voice or if our voice is locked away from us, if we try and change our voice, how much that change the identity or the way that we're trying to present ourselves.

Really interesting ideas there.

Well done if you said something similar.

Okay, let's do a little check then.

True or false, referring to the accent as sometimes escaping personifies this.

This is an example of personification.

Is that true or false? Pause video, have a think, and press play when you are ready to find out the answer.

Yeah, really well done if you said that was true.

Let's justify that now.

So does this suggest that the accent has sentience or has a sentience, or is it attributes emotions to the accent? What do you think? Pause video, have a think, and press play when you are ready to find out the response.

Yeah, well done if you said A.

It almost suggests that the voice is capable of feeling.

Okay, so we know that "Homing," because it's a poem about accent, has particularly vivid sound imagery.

So it really makes use of sound within the poem.

For example, when referencing the subject's industrial upbringing, so the family member's industrial upbringing, the speaker uses the onomatopoeic thunking.

Okay, so this word thunking, you can hear it.

Okay, you can almost picture that, you know, you can almost hear the sound when we say thunking.

Why do you think though Berry has chosen to use onomatopoeia here? Why don't you pause the video, have a discuss, and press play when you are ready to move on? Really interesting discussions there.

I liked people who were trying to kind of think about what thunking might mean and how they can link it to other sounds that they know of.

So you might be saying here that actually onomatopoeia creates a really strong sense of time and place.

When we hear something, we almost kind of picture us.

Okay, where did I hear that sound? What does that sound remind me of? Where does that sound remind me of? So potentially Berry is trying to emphasise the connection between words and place, and it shows how the subject, the family member's accent really transports the speaker to a very certain place and potentially even time in her memories.

Really well done if you said something similar to this.

But as well as onomatopoeia, we know that the speaker uses phonetic dialect.

So these are words that are very specific to the region.

And they've been kind of written phonetically, so not how they're necessarily spelled, but how they sound.

So when we read it, we can almost imagine how it sounds.

And these are words that we would associate with this specific region, that being the Black Country.

These words or two examples of these words are saft and fittle throughout the poem.

Okay, why then do you think Berry might have done this? What's the effect of including dialect within her poem? What do you think? Pause the video, have a thing, have a discuss if you've got partner, or just think through this independently if you're working by yourself.

Why might Berry have used this dialectal vocabulary within her poem? Over to you.

Well done.

Welcome back.

Some nice discussions there.

So potentially, again, whenever we're talking about our interpretations, it's great to be tentative.

We don't know for sure exactly, and so we want to be tentative here.

So potentially Berry does this in order to foreground the regional dialect, give it priority, give it importance, and actually giving it a voice rather than just speaking about it.

Rather than just saying, "Look, this is the accent, and we're gonna talk about it, and it's important," actually, we are making the accent kind of central to this poem.

And furthermore, actually these kind of dialectal words are likely unknown or not recognisable to many people outside of that region.

It might be, you know, maybe people who live close to that region or have family members from that region might recognise those words.

But actually these words are probably unknown to vast amounts of people who do not live in the Black Country.

Therefore, by using them it creates this real sense of intimacy, this closeness between the speaker and the subject, the person that they're talking about and to in the poem.

So the phonetic dialogue words that Berry chooses, there are more of these, such as blart, use harsh consonants, these quite harsh sounds, and they work together to create this cacophonous sound.

They almost sound like they shouldn't go together.

They create this kind of like noisy sound where the consonants sounds are overlapping with each other.

And this coupled with the use of the word guttural creates actually quite an association of harshness with these dialect words.

They sound quite harsh.

They're not particularly easy to listen to.

Again, I want you to think about why might Berry have done this? This is supposed to be about a love and appreciation of accent.

Yet she's actually chosen some words that maybe are not particularly easy on the ear.

Why? What's the impact of this? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you are ready to continue.

Some really interesting here.

People really trying to balance clearly Berry's or the speaker's love for the accent and love for the subject with actually what feels like quite contrasting thing to do here to bring in these kind of cacophonous and guttural dialectical words.

So again, potentially Berry is choosing these words to form a connection between the dialect and the harshness of the industrial working conditions.

Remember we said the black, or you might be aware that the Black Country is kind of very industrial area.

So it perhaps suggests actually being from such a place should be worn as a badge of honour, and your accent is a representation of that, and you should wear that with pride rather than hiding it away as the subject of the poem did.

Or perhaps it is acknowledging that do you know what? The way of speaking accents are not necessarily gonna be pleasant to everyone.

People are gonna have accents that they like and they're gonna have accents that they dislike, and that's okay.

But actually, you know, people saying, "Oh, I'm not sure I like that accent, I'm not sure I like the sound," does not make it any less important, does not make it any less worthy of being heard.

And I think that's a really interesting point of view, 'cause you might sometimes hear people talk about accents in a derogatory way, and actually that can be really quite harmful because, as we've said, those accents can be a real representation of identity and heritage.

And actually, you know, so what, so what? I think is Berry might be saying here, "So what if you don't like my accent? So what if you don't like that accent? I'm proud to wear.

It's a badge of honour.

It's a badge of who I am.

It's a badge of my identity and my culture." All right, let's do a little check then.

Which of the following statements is true? Is it A, Berry uses euphonic sounds throughout the poem which create a soothing atmosphere? Is it B, Berry uses cacophonous sounds throughout the poem which create a harsh atmosphere? Or is it C, Berry uses cacophonous sounds throughout the poem which create a calm atmosphere? All right, over to you.

Have a think and press play when you are ready to continue.

Yes, well done if you said B.

There are these cacophonous sounds that actually create this harsh atmosphere in the poem.

All right, over to you for our first task today.

Though it is now used to describe harsh or disagreeable sounds, the adjective guttural was originally applied only to sounds and utterances that were produced in the throat.

So if the sound that you were creating came from back here, you might notice when you speak that your tongue moves around your mouth and sounds come from different areas of your mouth.

But guttural sounds come from all the way back here in your throat.

I want you to write a short answer to these questions.

What do you think the throat might symbolise? How might this connect to the ideas of voice and identity and connect them together? And why might Berry be using this word, this guttural word that links the idea of the throat to describe the dialect words? Over to you now.

Pause the video, give this a go.

Really think about, like start with that first question about what a throat might symbolise.

I think that might help you work through the other two questions, and just give this your best shot.

All right, pause the video, over to you, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Really great work there.

It was lovely seeing your perseverance on what's quite a challenging question.

So really well done for giving this a go.

All right, what I'm gonna do now is we're gonna reflect on our own work by comparing it to one of our eight pupils.

So Laura has given this task a go, and I want to think about do you agree with Laura's ideas? Why or why not? So Laura said, "The throat is where we find our voice.

Therefore, the throat might symbolise ideas of truth and clarity.

This forms a connection between voice and identity because it suggests that how we express ourselves is linked to our intrinsic truth about ourselves, about who we are.

Berry might have used it to describe the dialect words because it shows that these words are the truth of who the subject is." Really interesting ideas here.

Why don't you take a moment to pause the video and think about whether you agree with Laura, why or why not.

And if you do like some of our ideas, why don't you try and build them into your own writing? All right, pause the video, and see if there's anything that you like from Laura's work that you can add to your own.

Over to you.

All right, press play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, welcome back.

We're now gonna move on to analysing some structure.

So the poem is made up of five stanzas, each with five lines.

And this suggests a real idea of regularity, conformity.

There's a really kind of strict and clear rule.

Five stanzas, five lines.

However, if you were to look within those stanzas, there doesn't seem to be any pattern to the rhyme or the rhythm.

So even though it looks like it conforms when we first look at the shape of the poem on the page, actually when we look at it in more detail, there doesn't seem to be that regularity or conformity that we might expect.

How then do you think you can link the structure of the poem what it looks like when we first look at it in comparison to when we look at it in detail? How can we link this to the idea of an accent escaping, that kind of that verb that we looked at in the first learning cycle? What links can you make? All right, challenging question here.

So give yourself plenty of time to think it through or discuss it with a partner.

All right, over to you to the video and then press play when you're ready to move on.

Yeah, really well done.

Not the easiest of questions, but I was really impressed with how you threw yourself into that and really started to try to be creative with those links.

I want to shine a spotlight to a response like this 'cause I heard some of you saying something very similar.

So arguably the structure of the poem feeds into these ideas around the accent escaping because the structure mirrors this notion of the idea of trying to contain something, force it into conformity, like the subject is trying to, through the elocution lessons, force their accent to change into something that's not meant to be.

But actually when we look closer, kind of trying to force this accent into the box, forcing the structure into this regular, this kind of conformed structure, we actually see that there isn't kind of that pattern, there isn't the rhyme, and this represents the accent trying to escape, trying to be released from the constraints of what a voice should sound like.

That's really, really interesting idea, and well done if you've got something similar to that.

Okay, let's check how we're getting on then.

The use of regular stanzas yet an irregular rhyme and rhythm creates what? Is it A, a sense of straining against conformity in the poem? Is it B, a sense of chaotic energy in the poem? Or is it C, a sense of order and conformity in the poem? What do we think? Pause a video, over to you, and press play when you are ready to check your response.

Great work if you said A.

Yes, this creates a sense of straining.

There is a conformity that the subject is trying to get their voice to sound like how they think it should sound, train, get rid of that accent, and speak in what might be viewed as the right way of speaking, but ultimately that accent is always constraining against it and trying to break free.

Really well done if you've got that right.

Okay, Berry also utilises anaphora.

Remember that's the kind of repetition at the beginning of clauses.

And this is most obvious in lines 12, 17, 21.

They all begin with the same phrase.

You should have your anthology open, so you might want to look at those line references and just work out, kind of spot, see if you can spot that phrase.

What I want you to think about is what is the effect of this anaphora here? What is the effect of repeating this phrase at the beginning of these three lines? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you are ready to continue.

Welcome back.

Some lovely ideas there.

I really liked some ideas, the ideas which were similar to this, the idea that arguably anaphora emphasises the speaker's desire to form a connection with the subject, with who we assume might be a family member.

They really want to share in their identity.

And they're gonna do that through a shared dialect, a shared voice.

Well done if you said something similar.

And of course you might have said slightly different things, and that's okay as long as you can really clearly justify your interpretations.

Okay, let's double check how we're getting on.

True or false, Berry uses anaphora in "Homing." Is that true or false? Pause, have a think, a press play when you're ready to continue.

Yeah, well done if you said true.

Let's justify that now.

Is it used to emphasise the speaker's desire to share the subject's identity? Or it's used to emphasise the subject's desire to keep their dialect hidden away? Which do you think is the correct answer? Pause, have a think, and press play when you're ready to check your response.

Yeah, well done if you said A.

It really emphasised the speaker's desire to share the subject's identity.

All right, now it's time for us to consider the specific placing of the anaphora in the poem.

Okay, the anaphoric phrase is the second line of stanzas three and four, but it then changes to become the first line of the final stanza.

So when we first see it in stanzas three and four, we see it as the second line, but by the end, by that final stanza, it's actually the first line of the stanza.

It is actually the first line of the stanza.

So let's have a think then.

Why might this change be significant? Why might the placing of this anaphora be so significant? How do you think then it might connect to Berry's ideas of voice and identity? I think this is something we can discuss.

So if you're working with a partner, please kind of share some ideas.

But if you are working by yourself, then please feel free to maybe make a few notes and think about what you are thinking.

All right, over to you.

Let's think about that use of anaphora and its placement within the poem.

All right, pause the video, give this a go, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Welcome back.

Great job.

I really, really love hearing pupils speaking about structure.

I think some people shy away from it and think, "Oh, it's so much harder than talking about language." But I don't think that's always the case.

I think, you know, you always think about the writer's intention, what they're trying to do and think, "Okay, how does that match with their structural choices?" And it was really great to see you having those discussions.

So well done.

Right, what we're gonna do now is kind of reflect on the discussions we had by comparing two of the Oak pupil's responses.

So Laura said, "Potentially Berry wanted to show that the speaker now understands the significance of voice to identity, and therefore it's now placed as first rather than second in the ordering of their thoughts." Sam says, "The final stanza focuses on the speaker's desire to create the subject's voice, and therefore Berry's movement of the anaphoric phrase might symbolise that the speaker now has the responsibility to continue the shared identity." So Laura's argument means that kind of voice is now really important and is now kind of first in their thoughts, whereas Sam's is all about the speaker now taking the reins and being ready to move on and share their accent and dialect kind of as part of their identity.

Two very interesting ideas.

Which did you find the most convincing and why? Okay, pause the video, have a think about this if you're working independently or discuss it with your partner if you're working in pairs.

Whose response did you like more and why? Over to you.

Some really great discussions there, and it was great to hear you going back and forth.

I think there's some really nice valid ideas that we can take from both Laura and Sam's responses here.

So, you know, make the most of them.

Take these, and you can potentially use them in your own analysis in future.

Okay then, right, that's it.

We've reached the end of today's lesson.

On the screen you can see a summary of everything we've covered today.

Let's quickly go through that and check that we're feeling really confident before we move on to our next lesson.

So Berry may have personified the accent in order to show the emotional connection between voice and individual.

We know that Berry uses vivid sound imagery such as onomatopoeia and cacophony within the poem.

Berry's juxtaposition of the regular stanzas yet the irregular rhyme may represent the struggle of the accent to escape.

And finally, arguably the anaphora emphasises the speaker's desire to form a connection and shared identity with the speaker.

Well done if you feel really confident about all those things.

That shows that you've done some fantastic learning in today's lesson.

But don't worry if there's anything that you are struggling with a little bit.

You can always go back and watch certain sections of this video again, so you can leave the lesson feeling really, really confident.

Great work today.

I hope to see you in one of our lessons in the future.

Have a great day.

Thank you.

Bye-Bye.