Hello, everyone.

Welcome to your lesson today on analysing the poem "Storm on the Island." I'm Miss Sutherland and I'll be teaching you today.

For this lesson you are going to need your copy of the AQA Power and Conflict Anthology.

So make sure you've got that in front of you before you begin this lesson.

Pause video now and go and grab it if you haven't already.

Our learning outcome for today is to be able to explore how Heaney uses structure and form to present ideas about power and conflict.

We have four key words today.

The first one is omnipotent.

Omnipotent means having unlimited power.

So all the poems that explore the supreme power of nature over humans depict nature as omnipotent.

Unrelenting.

Unrelenting means never weakening or ending.

So the power of a storm in "Storm on the Island" could be described as unrelenting.

Half-rhyme.

Half-rhyme is in most instances when the last consonant sounds of words rhyme, but the preceding vowel sounds do not.

This can be vice versa, meaning that half-rhyme can sometimes be when the vowel sounds rhyme, but the consonants don't.

Half-rhyme will probably make a lot more sense as we begin to dig deeper into this poem.

And the last key word is colloquial.

Colloquial means language used in ordinary conversation, not formal or literary language.

Again, we'll take a look at examples of a colloquial language in this lesson, so don't worry if you're not familiar with that.

It will all make sense shortly.

Pause the video now and jot those keywords down or reread them if you need to.

Off you go.

Let's look at our learning cycles then.

In the first learning cycle, we'll be exploring the conflict between nature and man, and how that's presented in the poem "Storm on the Island." And in the second learning cycle, we'll begin to write about the ideas we have about this poem, and convert all our wonderful ideas and explorations into a written response.

So let's begin with exploring the conflict between nature and man in this poem.

In order to help us see how Heaney presents the conflict between nature and man, we need to look at his stylistic choices.

Heaney's stylistic choices encompass both language and structure.

When looking at the structure of a poem, what is important to consider? Pause the video and have a quick think about what encompasses structure.

Now, when we talk about structure, we may be talking about beginnings and endings, rhyme scheme, caesura and enjambment, rhythm, volta and stanzas.

There are likely many more that you could have come up with, but there are some main ones that we can refer to when we analyse structure.

Now, when looking at language of a poem, what is important to consider? Pause the video and have a think about what features encompass language.

Language can refer to the imagery in a poem, the register, the word classes, the emotive language, the sound patterns, for example, alliteration, onomatopoeia, assonance, and the semantic fields.

Well done if you've got any of those.

So bear all of these language and structural elements in mind as we read the poem again now.

So open your anthology to "Storm on the Island" and I want you to read the poem aloud.

Pause the video and have a good read.

Now I want you to discuss, what tone do you notice at the beginning of this poem? Do you recognise a volta in this poem? And what do you notice about this poem's shape and organisation on the page? Pause the video and discuss those three questions now.

Let's take a look at what some of the Oak pupils discuss when they were given that task.

Sam said, the poem seems to begin with a confident tone from the speaker, hence the word prepared.

Jun says, "As the poem progresses, there seems to be a volta where the tone changes from confident to fearful.

This is evident from the word 'but,' which reflects a contrast in itself." And Laura says, "The poem is arranged in one long single stanza and the lines often fall onto one another, the poet uses enjambment a lot here." So the Oak students found lots of interesting aspects of structure within this poem.

I'm sure you did too, but every time we notice something interesting in the poem, we have to ask ourselves why the poet chose to do this.

So discuss, why do you think Heaney wanted the speaker to begin with the tone of confidence and why do you think he then changed this at the volta? Pause the video and discuss those questions.

Perhaps the initial confident tone reflects mankind's attempts to dominate nature.

The volta could signify how nature disobeys and overpowers man.

Heaney's purpose may be to reveal the power of nature.

Now discuss why might Heaney have organised the poem in one long single stanza and why did he use enjambment? Pay attention to lines five to 10 especially.

Consider what we discussed in the previous question to help you, so consider this idea about mankind believing in their own dominance and then nature overpowering man.

Use that to answer this question too.

Pause the video and discuss.

The use of one long single stanza and enjambment may reflect the overwhelming power of nature.

The poem is sturdy and undisturbed, like the power of the storm, and the enjambment may reflect the unrelenting force of the storm.

So just like the lines of the poem seem to never end in the way in which they fall onto each other, that's perhaps reflecting how the force of the storm never ends as well.

If we consider another interpretation, the undisturbed stanza could also represent a desire for a unified island.

However, the unrelenting storm could represent the ongoing "Troubles" in Northern Ireland.

So we could also link our analysis of the structure of this poem to the contextual information that we learned.

I now want you to discuss which diagram do you think best represents what happens to the speaker's control and confidence as the poem progresses, and why did you choose this diagram? So here's diagram A and here's diagram B.

Pause the video and discuss that question now.

Diagram B best represents what happens to the speaker's control and confidence as the poem progresses.

We can see that, because the poem starts with the word prepared, the speaker says they are prepared, but as the poem continues, the overwhelming power of the storm causes the speaker's confidence to fade.

Now I want you to open your anthology to "Storm on the Island" again.

I want you to read it aloud once more with each read of the same poem, we unlock new meaning.

So have another read now.

Now I want you to discuss what did you about the rhyme pattern, what do you notice about the rhythm, and what do you notice about the language in line seven, 12 and 16? Pause the video and discuss those questions now.

Now let's look at what the Oak students talked about.

Sam says he noticed there is no rhyme pattern in this poem.

It is written in blank verse.

Laura says, "Let's try and think about why he he chose to do this." So Laura is really reflecting on those important questions.

Jun joins in with some questions that we can ask ourselves to help us analyse Heaney's use of blank verse.

Jun says, "What effect does the lack of rhyme have on the poem and what could the lack of rhyme reflect?" I want you to discuss Jun's questions.

Off you go.

The lack of rhyme scheme creates an unpredictable and chaotic structure in the poem.

This may reflect the unpredictability and chaos of the storm.

Sam now says he's noticed something else.

The two opening and two closing rhymes are arranged in a half-rhyme.

So this means that the consonant sounds in the opening two lines rhyme, but the vowel sounds do not.

And the same pattern occurs in the last two lines of the poem two.

Laura says that's very interesting.

And again, she's asking those important questions.

She asks, why does Heaney choose to do this.

Jun says, "If we look where exactly the half-rhyme occurs, we see that it has been used on lines where the speaker says they're 'prepared' and that they're scared of 'nothing.

'" Discuss how the use of half-rhyme at the opening and closing of the poem linked to the words "prepared" and "nothing." Pause the video and discuss now.

Perhaps Heaney's use of half-rhyme in the opening and closing of the poem together with language such as "prepared" and "nothing" reflects man's attempts to assert his confidence and control over nature.

So look at it like this.

The whole poem does not rhyme.

The whole poem is arranged in unpredictable and chaotic structure, which reflects the dominance and brutality of the storm.

But the first and last lines, in which the speaker seems to have some sense of confidence and control, they are arranged in half-rhyme.

So perhaps the half-rhyme, which gives a tighter structure to the poem, could reflect man's attempt to impose his own control over nature.

Sam has also noticed that this poem is written in iambic pentameter.

Laura says, "Iambic pentameter gives poetry a conversational style.

This could show man's attempts to show his calm in the face of the storm." And Jun says, "On line seven, 12 and 16 there is also some conversational language, which seems out of place in a vicious storm.

This could also suggest that man tries to assert a sense of normality and calm in the face of nature's omnipotence." Let's check your understanding now of what we've discussed in this learning cycle.

Why might Heaney have used half-rhyme in the poem? To reflect nature's weakness, to reflect man's attempt to assert dominance over nature, or to reflect that nature cannot be fully controlled? Pause the video and answer that question.

Heaney may have used half-rhyme in the poem, firstly, to reflect man's attempt to assert dominance over nature, because again, remember how the half-rhyme is used in the opening and closing of the poem in which man seems confident.

Another reason why Heaney may have used half-rhyme is to show that nature cannot be fully controlled.

Notice how Heaney only uses half-rhyme, not full rhyme, and that shows, despite man's attempts to control nature, nature cannot be fully controlled.

Much like the rhyme pattern is not full, it is only half.

In the poem, we see mankind try to assert his dominance, but ultimately Heaney reveals nature's omnipotence.

Complete the tables with evidence and inferences that shows man's attempts to assert dominance and nature's omnipotence.

So you have two tables.

The table on the left hand side is where you're going to put your evidence and inferences to show man's attempts to assert dominance over nature.

In the table on the right hand side, you're going to put evidence and inferences that shows nature's omnipotence.

Pause the video and complete those tables now.

Off you go.

Brilliant effort there.

I am really impressed with all the evidence that you found.

Let's take a look at some ideas.

For man's attempts to assert dominance you could have found the confident tone at the beginning of the poem shown with the word "prepared," the colloquial and conversational language used, for example, line seven, 12 and 16, which are perhaps used by man to assert a sense of calm.

You could have mentioned the half-rhyme in the opening and closing lines to show man trying to exert control, and you could have paid attention to the oxymoronic language in line 13, the storm behaves "comfortably," is man trying to reassure himself that he is safe when he describes the storm as behaving comfortably? All of those pieces of evidence point to man's attempts to assert dominance over nature.

Now let's look at how nature is ultimately dominant over man.

You could have said the poem is arranged in one long stanza reflecting the storm's omnipotence and how it is unbroken and unchanged by anything man does.

You could have talked about the enjambment on lines five to 10, which reflect the unrelenting force of the storm.

The fact the storm never gives way, never ends, much like the lines.

You could have talked about the fact there is no consistent rhyme pattern throughout the poem, which reflects nature's inability to be controlled.

And you could have mentioned the volta on line 14 and the word "but," which reflects nature disobeying man with this unpredictable force.

Well done on gathering all those pieces of evidence and ideas.

Let's move on to writing about "Storm on the Island" now.

So how does Heaney present conflict in "Storm on the Island"? That's the question we'll be exploring.

In order to answer this question, we can use a single paragraph outline to help us.

So here is a single paragraph outline.

It should have a topic sentence, supporting detail, and a closing sentence.

The topic sentence is where you'll outline arguments of the paragraph.

The supporting detail is where you'll outline the key language, form and structural details and contextual details that support your topic sentence.

And the closing sentence is where you'll summarise your argument in your paragraph with a sharp focus on the writer's purpose.

Let's check your understanding of your single paragraph outline.

Analysis of language and structure should go in which section of the single paragraph outline: the concluding sentence section, the topic sentence section, or the supporting detail section? Pause the video and answer that question.

Analysis of language and structure should go in the supporting detail section of your single paragraph outline.

The topic sentence section is for giving your overall argument of that paragraph, and your concluding sentence section is for where you summarise the ideas of that paragraph.

That must mean the language and structure analysis should go in the supporting detail section.

Well done.

Now on the left you have three elements that could fit on a single paragraph outline.

Your job is to decide where each of these elements go on the paragraph outline.

So let's read all the elements first.

The first one is: Heaney presents the conflict between mankind and nature as man seeks to assert his own dominance, but it is ultimately nature that is revealed to reign supreme.

Your next element to find a place for on the single paragraph outline is, Heaney, having grown up in the countryside and having a passion for nature, may have wanted to reveal nature's omnipotence.

And the last, the enjambment on lines five to 10 shows how nature is an overwhelmingly powerful presence and its power does not give way, much like the lines that flow unrelentlessly onto the other.

I want you to pause the video now and match each element on the left to where it belongs on our single paragraph outline.

Off you go.

The first one, Heaney presents the conflict between mankind and nature as man seeks to assert his own dominance, but it is ultimately nature that has revealed to reign supreme, that is our topic sentence, that outlines our main focus of our paragraph.

It talks about how we'll be discussing the conflict between mankind and nature.

Next, Heaney, having grown up in the countryside, may have wanted to reveal nature's omnipotence.

That fits in our concluding sentence section.

It's where we summarise our thoughts and with a sharp focus on the writer's purpose.

And lastly, the enjambment on lines five to 10.

That element belongs in our supporting detail section, because that is where we are analysing a structural feature of the poem.

Well done.

Now, here is a completed outline.

I want you to use the single paragraph outline here to write a response to this question.

How does he present conflict in "Storm on the Island"? So you have the topic since it's given to you, you have all the supporting detail given to you, and you have the concluding sentence.

Your job is to convert that plan into a full written response.

Pause the video and complete that task now.

Good luck with your writing.

Great job.

Here's an example response.

Heaney shows the conflict between nature and mankind in the poem "Storm on the Island." The poem begins with the speaker stating that they and others are prepared.

The poem also begins with a steady rhythm created for iambic pentameter.

The verb prepared together with iambic pentameter creates the tone of confidence at the beginning of the poem.

However, this is quickly shattered when Heaney employs enjambment on lines five to 10, as he begins to discuss the power of the storm.

The enjambment shows how nature is an overwhelmingly powerful presence, and its power not give way, much like the lines that flow unrelentlessly onto the other.

Furthermore, Heaney utilises a semantic field of war to describe the storm, including the word "salvo," which evokes an image of heavy artillery fire, thus conveying the storm to be attacking.

It is clear mankind does not stand a chance against the unrelenting force of the storm.

However, the speaker's use of colloquial language is yet another way that mankind is shown to assert his confidence and calm against the chaos of the storm.

The poem seems to be a battle between man and the storm, since the poem's use of blank verse could be seen as the storm's attempt at defying man's control.

The poem ends with half-rhyme, which could be man's last desperate attempt to gain control over the omnipotent storm.

Perhaps Heaney, as an avid nature poet, wanted to reveal the sheer power of nature in his poem and mock man's attempts to control nature.

Now, does this paragraph include everything on the single paragraph outline? Does it include topic sentence? Does it include supporting detail? And does it include a concluding sentence? Let's take a look.

It does indeed include a topic sentence.

It does include a lot of supporting detail, and it includes a concluding sentence where it talks about Heaney's purpose.

I now want you to check your response against the single paragraph outline.

Have you included everything? Edit your work accordingly.

So if you've missed anything, now's your chance to add it.

Pause the video, reread your work, and edit accordingly.

Off you go.

Well done for being so willing to improve your work.

Here's what we've learned today.

Conflict between nature and man seems to be a big idea in the poem.

The speaker opens with a confident assertion becomes increasingly insecure and powerless as the storm progresses.

The use of enjambment, volta, lack of rhyme and single stanza may reflect nature's omnipotence.

The iambic pentameter, colloquial and oxymoronic language creates a conversational style, which may reflect the speaker's attempt to stay calm and confident in the storm, and the half-rhyme may reflect the speaker's futile attempts to assert control over nature.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson.

I hope you've come away with some brilliant ideas for the analysis of "Storm on the Island." I look forward to seeing you again soon.