Hello, my name is Ms. Grant.

I'm so glad you've decided to learn with me today, we are in the "Unit: Myths and Legends".

Today we're going to look at a fantastic poem by W.

H.

Auden called "Musee des Beaux Arts".

This is the French name of a museum in Belgium where Auden saw a number of paintings which inspired this poem.

Now the first thing we need to do is get a copy of the poem, "Musee des Beaux Arts", by W.

H.

Auden.

Now this is in the 1979 edition of selected poems edited by Edward Mendelson, it published by Curtis Brown.

As I say, you are looking for "Musee des Beaux Arts" by W.

H.

Auden.

So pause the video and go and get your copy of the poem now.

Welcome back.

Now you have your copy of the poem.

We can get started with our lesson.

Let's get going.

So by the end of today's lesson, you're going to have written a creative paragraph inspired by W.

H.

Auden's ekphrastic poem "Musee des Beaux Arts".

So this poem is an ekphrastic poem.

It means that it is inspired by an artwork and that it describes it.

Now, this poem was inspired after a visit to Belgium.

Auden saw some pictures, especially by Peter Bruegel.

He was inspired by one called "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus".

And this is mentioned particularly in stanza two of Auden's poem.

So just as Auden was inspired by Peter Bruegel, we too are gonna be inspired by Auden and we are going to be inspired to write a creative paragraph.

So these two things are gonna tie together, and we are going to end up at the end of this lesson with a lovely paragraph inspired by Auden's poem, which was inspired by a painting.

Now there are some key words, which again, help us achieve our objective today.

They're gonna be referenced throughout today's lesson.

If you would like to pause the video so you can make a note of them or read through them in your own time, please do.

They are gonna be referenced throughout.

But I'm gonna draw attention to two of the words just now.

The first one is apathetic, which means showing little interest or feeling in response to something.

And that's how you pronounce that word, apathetic.

And then the final one is the final word on the board, which is martyrdom.

That's how you pronounce that word, martyrdom.

And it's the death or suffering of someone because of their religious beliefs.

Now, the other words, you'll already recognise one of them, ekphrastic, we talked about that when we talked about our objective for today.

But if you'd like to pause the video so you can spend a bit more time with these words, please do.

our lesson outline for today.

First of all, we're going to explore "Musee des Beaux Arts", which is our poem for today.

And then we are going to write about Bruegel's ploughman.

So the ploughman, the farmer is the central figure in Bruegel's painting "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus".

W.

H.

Auden mentions the ploughman specifically in his poem, "Musee des Beaux Arts".

And we are gonna do some writing as this ploughman.

But let's start off with exploring "Musee des Beaux Arts".

And so here are some words from the poem we are going to read today.

Suffering, martyrdom, that's one of our key words.

So death or suffering because of your religious beliefs.

Torturer's, disaster, forsaken, which means abandoned.

I'd like you to discuss what do you think the poem might be about, what tone, atmosphere, or ideas might be created in the poem? Pause video and discuss these two questions now.

Welcome back, some really lovely inferences there, some lovely predictions about this poem.

Lots of people grouping these words together and saying they're all quite depressing.

Some of them are indeed quite scary.

They suggest pain, they suggest suffering.

So we've got that word suffering.

We've also got this word martyrdom, which we need, we know means pain, suffering, or death because of your religious beliefs.

We've got this very powerful idea of a torturer being in this poem that there's a disaster and someone feels abandoned.

So all of these words are quite negative, so the tone might be quite pessimistic.

There might be some real intense pain or suffering captured within this poem.

Now here's some more words from the poem.

Eating, walking, skating, dogs, leisurely.

Now I'd like you to discuss what tone, atmosphere or images are created by these words.

How do these words contrast to the earlier ones we discussed? And what further predictions can you make about the poem? Pause a video and discuss these questions now.

Welcome back.

So quite strange to see these words compared to the much more aggressive, pessimistic, scary words that we saw earlier.

Because these are all quite normal day-to-day activities.

Eating, walking, the idea of seeing a dog, leisurely means moving at a very calm, not rush, not hurried pace, skating is a fun activity.

So we've got these words in direct contrast to the earlier ones.

So they definitely, definitely contrast to the earlier ones.

So it's quite hard to make predictions about this poem, but some people relied on this word apathetic, which we looked at in, when we were looking at our key words for today's lesson.

The idea that showing little interest in something and maybe what or is exploring is the idea of apathy and suffering.

These two things side by side.

Now the poem we're going to read is called "Musee des Beaux Arts" by W.

H.

Auden.

"Musee des Beaux Arts" a reference to a museum in Belgium, which Auden visited in 1938.

There he saw a number of paintings by painters we often refer to as "Old Masters".

Another one of our keywords, these paintings are described in Auden's poem, so Old Master is any skilled painter painting in Europe before about 1800.

So it doesn't sound like a technical term, but it actually is.

It's referring to skilled painters painting in Europe before about 1800.

Poems that are inspired by pieces of art are called ekphrastic poems. Ekphrastic poems are not just inspired by an artwork.

They also describe the artwork in detail.

So "Musee des Beaux Arts" is an ekphrastic poem because it's inspired by some paintings by Old Masters.

And it also describes those paintings.

Each painting which inspired Auden's ekphrastic poem depicts tragic events.

However, what inspired Auden were the people in the paintings who seemed to have an apathetic response to these tragic events.

So apathy, they don't seem very interested in the tragic events.

Auden notes how the Old Masters always include people in their paintings who are not interested in the tragedy, who are apathetic.

Instead, the Old Masters show them getting on with their lives as normal.

So the paintings themselves might show intense suffering, but the Old Masters, they make sure to include figures who are getting on with their lives as normal.

The painting that Auden refers to most clearly is Peter Bruegel's "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus".

This painting was inspired by Greek myth and just a reminder of this Greek myth, Icarus and his father dead have been imprisoned by King Minos on the island of Crete.

Daedalus, an inventor, constructs wings made of wax and birds feathers so they can escape.

Daedalus warns his son not to fly too close to the sun or the wax will melt.

Icarus excited by the feeling of flying, flies higher and higher.

The sun melts the wax and Icarus falls into the sea and drowns.

So this is the myth, "The Fall of Icarus" Greek myth, a story, an ancient story.

And Peter Bruegel captured this myth in his painting "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus".

Now, Auden saw this painting and was inspired to write his poem and he refers very clearly to it in the second stanza of his poem, "Musee des Beaux Arts", which is our focus of today.

So I'd like you to look really carefully at the ploughman in "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" by Peter Bruegel.

Auden focuses on this painting in stanza two of his poem.

So the ploughman is the central figure, the largest figure who's wearing red and the smock.

And he is using the plough, that piece of equipment to plough his field to get it prepared for growing crops.

And so look really carefully at the ploughman in "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" and I'd like you to discuss, why might we describe the ploughman as having an apathetic response to Icarus drowning? Now remember that Peter Bruegel does depict Icarus drowning, but in the bottom right hand corner of his painting, a very small moment where we just see two legs poking out of the water.

So why might we describe the ploughman as having an apathetic response to Icarus drowning? What do you think the ploughman is thinking about? Pause the video and discuss these two questions now.

Welcome back, welcome for using those two key words, ploughman and apathetic.

So we might describe the ploughman as having an apathetic response to Icarus drowning because he's not interested in it.

He is looking at the ground.

In fact, he's looking at the field that he is ploughing, making sure that he's ploughing in nice straight lines, the field, the plough.

This is his work, this is his job, and that is what he's focused on, his livelihood.

He's not focused on Icarus falling into the sea.

What do you think the ploughman is thinking about? Lots of people saying, "Well, I think he's thinking about his job." He needs to make sure that the field is ploughed correctly and that requires some skill and some concentration.

So the ploughman definitely seems to be having an apathetic response to Icarus drowning.

And this is what Auden focuses on in stanza two of his poem.

Now I'd like you to look at some of the words in the poem again, we had suffering, martyrdom, torturer's, disaster, forsaken, and we also have eating, walking, skating, dogs, leisurely.

Discuss: knowing a bit more about the poem, What do you understand about the relationship between these words now? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back.

Really lovely to hear people using that word apathetic and some words from the poem as well.

So the idea that what Auden is interested in is the apathetic response of people to intense suffering.

So Auden introduces this idea of suffering.

In fact, suffering is that one of the first, in the first line of the poem.

And then he explores how the Old Masters, lots of people use that key phrase as well.

The Old Masters depict in their paintings not just the suffering, but also the apathetic response of people to that suffering.

A check for understanding before we look at the poem in its entirety.

Auden explores Icarus's apathetic attitude towards his own death.

It's his true or false? Pause video and select your response now.

Well done if you selected false.

I'd like you to justify your answer.

Is that A, Auden explores the world's apathetic reaction to suffering, or B, Auden explores the apathy of Old Masters in their paintings.

Pause a video and select your justification now.

Well done if you selected A, Auden explores the world's apathetic reaction to suffering.

The Old Masters are not apathetic in their paintings.

The Old Masters paint their paintings.

They are interested in their paintings, they're interested in depicting certain things, feelings, people in their paintings.

So they are the opposite of apathetic.

They are very interested in what it is they are doing in their paintings.

So here is a summary of Auden's poem.

In stanza one, the speaker reflects that the Old Masters understood that intense human suffering takes place at the same time as other people who are going about day-to-day lives.

So he looked at a number of paintings by Old Masters in this museum in Belgium, and he noted that all of them seem to understand there is intense human suffering, but at the same time, people have to go about their day-to-day lives.

In stanza one as well, the speaker reflects even when Jesus was born, there will have been young people who were apathetic about it happening.

Not particularly interested.

Stanza two, the speaker focuses on Bruegel's "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" picking out different figures in the painting who are apathetic about Icarus drowning.

So stanza two is focusing on the painting that we looked at earlier in this learning cycle where we discussed of the ploughman definitely is apathetic to Icarus drowning.

Now I'd like you to read Auden's poem twice and then you're gonna look at Bruegel's "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" and discuss this question.

What words or phrases from stanza two can you match to the painting? So read the poem twice.

You might want to read it out loud.

And then in your head you might want to read it twice out loud.

You can decide how you best want to read this poem to engage with it.

And then I'd like you to look at Bruegel's "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" and discuss what words or phrases just from stanza two, can you match to the painting? Pause a video and complete these tasks now.

Welcome back.

Lovely to hear you reading that poem.

Always getting to grips with the poem is such a joy.

It's such a thrill.

I have read this poem many times over a number of years, so I encourage you to keep, keep coming back to it.

You'll keep seeing new things.

Don't worry if you haven't completely understood every single thing about it.

In these first two readings, it's about developing a connection and understanding with the poem.

And the first way we're gonna develop that connection and understanding is just looking at stanza two and discussing what words or phrases can you match to the painting.

So I had lots of people saying, "Well, Auden seems to focus on the ship." He describes it as delicate.

We've also got the description of Icarus is described as falling out of the sky.

And we've got this, the description of the ploughman and the direct reference to the ploughman as well the idea that it might have heard a splash.

So we do have some words and phrases from stanza two that we can directly map onto this painting so we can really see that it is an ekphrastic poem.

Now check for understanding before we move on to developing our connection with this poem.

Who does Auden present as apathetic to the death of Icarus? A, Bruegel, B, the ship.

C, the Old Masters, D, the ploughman? Pause the video and select your responses now.

Well done if you selected the ship and the ploughman.

So the ploughman that central figure, he's definitely apathetic.

He doesn't turn even if he maybe hears the splash.

But we've also got the ship.

The ship is personified and it's depicted as sailing away, even though it might have seen Icarus falling into the sea.

So here are some moments of human suffering from stanza two in "Musee des Beaux Arts".

This is our practise task where we're gonna apply all the discussion and thinking that we've done earlier in this learning cycle to some independent work.

So here's some moments of human suffering just from stanza two of "Musee des Beaux Arts".

We've got the disaster line 17, splash line 18, cry line 18, disappearing line 20, and falling line 22.

So these are all moments of suffering.

Something bad is happening in the poem.

I would like you to reread stanza two.

So just the final standard of this poem and find a quotation which shows how the world reacts with apathy.

So we've got all these moments of suffering, but we know that the reaction to this suffering is not worry, is not anxiety, is not people trying to help, is not compassion, but is in fact apathy.

So find a quotation which shows that the world is reacting with apathy to these moments of suffering.

Pause the video, spend some time with this task so that you are really exploring stanza two and the balance between suffering and apathy.

Pause the video and complete the task now.

Welcome back, well done for building that connection with stanza two and really exploring this idea, which Auden feel the Old Masters captures really well, the idea that the world has an apathetic response to suffering.

So you might have had for the disaster in line 17, what was the reaction? Well, the world looks 'away', doesn't notice that there is a disaster happening.

The splash in line 18 is described as unimportant to the ploughman, to that central figure.

The cry in line 18, the ploughman might have heard it but didn't look.

So he didn't take the time to look because he had to get on with ploughing his field, that what was is what he was interested in.

He's not interested in the cry.

Disappearing line 20, the sun continues to shine as Icarus drowns.

It's not as if the weather changes, even though there's this tragedy happening.

And falling, line 22, the ship sails away calmly despite Icarus's death.

So despite this moment of high tragedy, intensity for Icarus himself, the ship actually sails away very calmly.

Well done if you manage to find the apathetic responses to these moments of suffering, you might have had slightly different quotations, but as long as you understand that there's a balance in this stanza, the exploration of the apathy in response to suffering.

We're gonna move on to our second learning cycle now we're gonna turn our attention to this ploughman that Auden seems very focused on in stanza two.

And we're gonna start flexing our creative muscles.

So learning cycle two, we're gonna write about the ploughman just as Auden has done, but we're gonna develop and rather than writing in poetry, we are going to write in a paragraph.

So you're gonna write a paragraph explaining what the ploughman is thinking, feeling, and experiencing.

You will use Auden's poem as inspiration, as well as Bruegel's painting.

We've already done some thinking about this earlier in this lesson where we thought, well, what might the ploughman be actually focusing on? So this is what Auden was inspired to say about the ploughman after looking at the painting.

This is in stanza two.

What did Auden say? Well, he might have heard a splash.

He might have heard Icarus crying out.

The splash and cry are not important to him.

He continues to experience the sun shining and the green sea.

So this is what Auden said about the ploughman, this is what, how he interpreted the ploughman after looking at this painting, he's like, this is what is happening.

The ploughman might have heard a splash, he might have heard Icarus crying out, but they're not important to him.

He continues to experience the suns shining and the green sea.

So quite a lot that Auden had to say about this ploughman after looking at the painting.

Now I'd like you to develop your own interpretation of the ploughman using these questions guide.

You who've got the picture on the board, circle the ploughman there.

What might he be thinking about? Do you think he notices Icarus? Why? Why not? What is he experiencing through his senses? This is gonna require really careful examination of the painting, but also your own creativity and imagination.

Pause the video and develop your own interpretation using these questions to guide you.

Complete these discussion tasks now.

Welcome back.

I am so looking forward to hearing these creative paragraphs.

People have so many different ideas and so what might he be thinking about? Lots of people saying, well, he does seem very intent on his job, but I also want to develop his enjoyment of the natural world.

It's a beautiful day depicted in this painting.

And so I want to like Auden really develop the idea of the sun shining, of the experience of the breeze of the green trees of the natural world around him.

And I kind of split some people saying, I want him to notice Icarus, but have to continue getting on with his job.

It's not important to him and others saying no, he doesn't even hear Icarus.

Maybe there's a figure down in the bottom right, maybe he notices Icarus, but the plough in himself does not.

So there's some really beautiful evocation and imaginative ideas about the ploughman.

Now here's the start of Sofia's paragraph.

She like you, is completing this imaginative creative task.

And she writes, "The ploughman is apathetic.

He turns from Icarus death because he's focused on the sunshine and his plough.

I'd like you to discuss what feedback might Lucas give Sofia.

So Lucas read Sofia's paragraph and he's gonna give her some feedback.

What do you think he might say? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back.

Showing off your fantastic understanding of the tasks actually in hand because you like Lucas agreed that what Sofia is doing is she's explaining what happens in Auden's poem.

This is meant to be creative task development, develop the ploughman's character and paint a picture with your words.

So Sofia has done some, a bit of analysis, a bit of explanation, rather than being really, really creative.

So Lucas just gives her a nudge and says, you're explaining what happens in the poem.

And this is meant to be creative.

You need to develop the ploughman's character.

So here's Sofia's second draught, and she writes, "The ploughman felt the sun warm his back.

He looked down at the soft earth, skillfully handling the machine." This is much more creative.

And I'd like you to discuss what would you write as Sofia's next sentence.

Pause video, and discuss the question now.

Welcome back, lovely to hear some beautifully creative ideas about what Sofia's next sentence could be.

I can tell your paragraphs are going to be really, really descriptive, really evocative of this painting.

Some people saying, I'd like the splash to occur in the next sentence and for the ploughman to turn away, and others saying no, I want him to focus on the animal who's helping him with his plough.

That's gonna be his central focus rather than even acknowledging that there is something going on behind him.

So check for understanding before we move on to your own creative writing.

Which sentence is best inspired by Auden interpretation of Peter Bruegel's ploughman in "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus"? A, the ploughman searched desperately for something to get help to help get Icarus out of the water.

B, there was a splash, but it was momentary and the ploughman returned to his work unperturbed or C, the ploughman with apathetic because he continued calmly with his work.

Pause the video and select which sentence you think is best inspired by Auden's interpretation of Peter Bruegel's ploughman in "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus".

Pause the video and complete the check now.

Well done if you selected B.

So here we have an apathetic ploughman.

He's returning to his work unperturbed, which means unworried without anxiety.

A is incorrect.

The ploughman search desperately for something to help get Icarus out of the water, that is not the ploughman how he is interpreted by Auden nor how he's presented by Bruegel.

So it is not inspired by either of those pieces of work.

And C, the ploughman was apathetic because he continued calmly with his work.

This is a bit more like Sofia's first draught where it's explaining what happens in the picture using a quotation from the poem.

Now this is a creative task, so we're looking for you to flex your creative muscles rather than analyse the poem.

So I would like you to write one paragraph inspired by Auden's interpretation of Peter Bruegel's ploughman in "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus".

Use stanza two of Auden's "Musee des Beaux Arts" to support you as well as Bruegel's painting.

Now just a reminder from Lucas, remember, this is a creative task, not an analytical one.

I cannot wait to read all of these paragraphs, give this activity the time that it deserves.

Pause the video and I'll see you back here shortly.

Pause the video and complete the task now.

Welcome back.

Such a pleasure to see some beautiful paragraphs in front of me, such a range of creativity and imagination, and some really accurate writing as well.

Really evoking the picture and clearly inspired by Auden's poem, "Musee des Beaux Arts".

Now I'd like you to look at Bruegel's painting while reading your paragraph aloud, and I'd like you to match words and phrases in your paragraph to the picture showing how your paragraph was inspired by the picture.

Pause the video and complete the self-assessment now.

Welcome back.

It was such a pleasure to hear you reading your work aloud and really celebrating what you have written.

I also find that reading my work aloud always helps me to hear any spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors that I want to fix.

And I saw a few people using their pen just to refine their writing and then matching those words and phrases in your paragraph to the picture.

That means you've got examples there of (indistinct) where you are inspired by a picture and you are describing the picture as well.

So it's really, really nice to hear you writing accurately and creatively and clearly inspired by this picture.

Now I'd like you to discuss this question.

How did you convey the ploughman's apathy to Icarus? Because we know of course, that that is one of the central features of this painting and also one of the central features of Auden's poem, which we were also inspired by.

So discuss: how did you convey the ploughman's apathy in your writing? Pause video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back, really nice understanding of this idea of apathy, the idea of not being interested in the tragedy that is taking place.

Lots of people saying, well, the way I did that is just by having the ploughman and focus on his work, not even being aware of his surroundings, the potential tragedy that might be happening.

Another saying, I did want him to notice the splash, but to be incredibly focused on his work and not think Icarus is someone that I might help, but actually just thinking "I need to get on with my day to day life." In summary, W.

H.

Auden's poem, "Musee des Beaux Arts" is an ekphrastic poem.

An ekphrastic poem is a poem which describes a piece of art and is inspired by it.

Each painting which inspired Auden's ekphrastic poem depicts tragic events.

However, or inspired Auden were the people in the paintings who seem to have apathetic responses to the tragic events.

Auden focuses particularly on the apathy of the ploughman in Bruegel's painting "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus".

It has been such a pleasure to hear your creative work today and hear analysis of this poem, "Musee des Beaux Arts".

I look forward to seeing you next time.