Comparing "Power and Conflict" war poems. Hello and welcome.

My name is Mr. Young and I'm so glad that you could join me on another lesson in this "Power and Conflict" lesson series.

Today's lesson is all about comparing poems in the anthology that focus on war.

So shall we get started? So, today's lesson has a very clear learning outcome.

And that learning outcome is, I can draw interesting comparisons between two war poems. And just as in any English lesson, we have some very important words, our keywords.

So I do encourage you to pause the video and jot these words down and their definitions, particularly if they are new to you, 'cause we are going to be using them quite a bit.

So let's take a look at what they are; compliment, when something supports something else or makes it more effective.

So we want our writing, the evidence we use, our analysis to be constantly complimenting one another to make our writing as strong as it can possibly be.

Contrast, if one thing contrasts with another, it is very different from it.

So we might want to be thinking about different contrasts in the poems, in the anthology, particularly the war poems. And finally, intention, the reason or purpose behind a decision or action.

So we always want to be bringing our analysis back to the writer's intention, which we're gonna have a go at today.

So two very clear learning cycles in today's lesson.

And they are as follows.

So our first learning cycle is going to be all about drawing comparison.

So looking at the similarities between the war poems in the anthology.

And then we are going to put all of that fantastic work together in learning cycle two by planning a really excellent comparative response.

Really looking forward to seeing how you get on with that.

So let's get started with learning cycle one.

So here are some poems from the "Power and Conflicts" anthology.

We've got "Charge of the Light Brigade", "Bayonet Charge", "Exposure", "Remains", "War Photographer", "Poppies" and "Kamikaze".

So my very first discussion question for today's lesson is as follows, what do all of these poems have in common? So hit that pause button, have a quick discussion, jot down some ideas if you're working independently, and then do push play when you'd like to continue.

Okay, fantastic effort on that.

My goodness, what an excellent start to today's lesson and well done to everybody who identified it as war.

Each of these poems is about war.

They're all about war, aren't they? And we might already be starting to think about some of the nuance differences between them.

And we're gonna unpick that a bit in a minute.

So second discussion question for me then please.

If you had to sort these poems into two groups, how would you group them? So we know they're all about war, but how could we divide that further? Are there any differences or similarities in their depictions of war? So really excited to see how you group these.

So hit that pause button, complete the task, and then do push play when you'd like to see some feedback.

Okay, once again, fantastic effort on that.

And I totally agree, there are different ways that we could divide these poems aren't there? Let's look at some examples.

So here are Laura's groupings and Laura has grouped them in the following way.

So she has group A, which can consists of "War Photographer", "Poppies", "Kamikaze", and she has group B, which consists of "Charge of the Light Brigade", "Bayonet Charge" "Exposure" and "Remains".

So really interesting groupings there from Laura, aren't they? So let's discuss that a bit.

Why has Laura decided to group the poems in this way? What does she see differently between these poems? Why is "War Photographer", "Poppies" and "Kamikaze" on one side and "Charge of the Light Brigade", "Bayonet Charge" "Exposure" and "Remains" on the other? Really excited to see what your interpretations of this are.

So hit that pause button, have a quick discussion, and then push play when you'd like to see some feedback.

Okay, fantastic work on that.

It's quite tricky, that one isn't it? But I really feel like we can see in group A that these represent poems which present the effects of war on those who do not participate.

Whereas group B contains poems which looks at the soldiers directly involved in war.

We see that quite a bit, don't we? We see that certainly in the "War Photographer", their reflections of the family potentially in "Kamikaze", totally different to group B, where its soldiers kind of in the thick of the action, isn't it? Well done if you have picked up on that.

Okay, let's look at a different way we could have approached it.

So Aisha has done it the following way.

She has group A, which is "Charge of the Light Brigade", "Bayonet Charge", "Exposure", and group B, which is "War Photographer", "Poppies", "Kamikaze", and "Remains".

Once again, give each group a title by considering what the poems within these groups have in common.

So a little bit more challenging from that last task.

So work out what the kind of commonality is between group A and group B and then try and work that out by giving it a title to explain that a little bit further.

So once again, hit that pause button, complete the task, and then do push play when you'd like to see some feedback.

Okay, once again, some really excellent work on that.

Really, really well done.

And I'm hoping you are hopefully seeing the differences, the lots of differences we could pick between these poems. So Aisha has done it completely differently to Laura, hasn't she? So what we've got here, we've got group A could be poems about trauma during the war, whereas group B can be poems about the traumatic aftermath of war.

So totally different approach to Laura, thinking about focusing on trauma of war and focusing about when and where that trauma takes place.

Another really, really good way we could categorise these poems. Okay, so you'll be given one poem from the anthology and asked to compare it to another poem that is the standard way that we will analyse them.

And you'll be asked to compare the two poets presentations of a theme.

So for example, nature or war.

And when you are given your first poem, you'll need to consider how does the poet present this theme? Is their attitude towards a theme, positive or negative? And then you can start to think about other poems that compliment this poem or contrast with it.

So look for those kind of similarities and differences or similarities within differences as well.

So imagine that this was your question, compare how poets present ideas about war in "Exposure" and one other poem from the "Power and Conflict" anthology.

Really nice question, this one, isn't it? So Sophia has said the following, "I think I'd like to compare 'Exposure' with "Kamikaze" because 'Kamikaze' is my favourite poem so I'll find plenty of quotes." So let's unpick that a bit more.

Quick discussion question for me, why might this not be the most effective approach to take for Sophia? So hit that pause button, have a quick discussion, and then push play when you'd like to proceed.

Okay, yep, you're absolutely right for picking up on that idea of Sophia "Kamikaze" being Sophia's favourite poem.

It's really great that Sophia engages with the poems in such a personal way, but this might not necessarily be too helpful for her analysis.

So we would say that the poems need to be compared thematically and not because you like a poem or think you know it well.

You need to think carefully about the poem's similarities or differences and choose from them.

So it needs to be thematically led.

We don't really just want to pick a poem 'cause we know it really well or it's our favourite.

So Sophia says, "I've decided to compare 'Exposure' with 'Remains' because both poems explore the traumatic events of war.

So let's unpick that again.

So has Sophia chosen a poem that compliments the one she has been given or contrast with it? "Exposure" and "Remains", are they complimentary or are they contrasting? Once again, hit that pause button, complete the task, and then do push play when you'd like to see the correct answer.

Okay, fantastic work on that and well done to everybody who picked up on the idea that they compliment each other, don't they? "The poems compliment one another well because they are both firsthand accounts of the harrowing nature of war." Really, really lovely comparison there from Sophia that can form a basis of a really fantastic essay about those two poems. Okay, so examining the question you are given is very important.

Imagine that this was your question.

So we've got another question.

Compare how poets present ideas about conflict in "Kamikaze" and one other poem from the "Power and Conflict" anthology.

So once again, quick discussion question which poems compare well with "Kamikaze" on a theme of conflict? So over to you, hit that pause button, complete the task, and then do push play when you'd like to see some poems that we could use.

Okay, once again, some lovely conversations taking place there.

The ones that really stuck out to me were "Poppies" and "Kamikaze".

I think both "Poppies" and "Kamikaze" explore how conflict affects family and the family dynamics of the soldiers at war.

I think that would be a really, really nice comparison.

So second discussion question, what key differences are there between "Poppies" and "Kamikaze"? So it's really, really important that we are able to pick up a general similarity and how the poems complement each other.

But it's also really, really great analysis to unpick very slight differences between that similarity.

So my question for you is what key differences are there between "Poppies" and "Kamikaze"? So once again, hit that pause button, have a quick discussion, or jot down some ideas if you're working independently.

And then do push play when you'd like to see the correct answer.

Okay, fantastic work again, some really, really excellent discussions taking place today.

You are working incredibly hard, so let's keep that going.

So what we could have said is, whilst "Poppies" depicts a mother's grief about her son dying at war, "Kamikaze" depicts a pilot's family's shame about him not sacrificing his life.

Thus "Poppies" and "Kamikaze" both compliment and contrast with each other.

So we've got some really interesting similarities and differences there between the presentation in those two poems. Okay, quick check for understanding for me then please.

Which of the following poems will compare well with "Kamikaze" in terms of its presentation of the effect of war? Is it A, "Charge of the Light Brigade"? Is it B, "Poppies" or is it C, "Exposure"? Really looking forward to seeing how you get on with this one.

So hit that pause button, complete the task, and then do play when you'd like to see which one is correct.

Okay, fantastic job to everybody who picks up on the idea of "Poppies".

"Poppies" and "Kamikaze" present really good way to focus on the impact of war on families, on the soldiers' families.

Really great job if you picked up on that.

So both "Kamikaze" and "Poppies" explore the effect of war on families and this is a similarity.

However, the effect war has on each family is very different.

And this allows you to unpick the similarity quite well.

So that's similarity within a difference.

Okay, we have reached our first practise task of today's lesson and I'm super excited to see how you get on with this.

So my question for you is as follows, what might the question focus have been if the poems chosen for comparison were the following? Number one, "Exposure" and "Bayonet Charge".

Number two, "Exposure" and "Kamikaze".

Number three, "Poppies" and "War Photographer".

And number four, "Bayonet Charge" and "Charge of the Light Brigade".

So hit that pause button, complete the task, and then do push play to see how you could have linked these two poems. Okay, fantastic work on that.

Really, really well done.

It's a really, really important skill when we're analysing poetry to look at the similarities of these poems and how we can analyse them in similar ways.

And you are absolutely right to pick on that there are kind of a multitude really of different ways that the poems could be compared.

So let's take a look at them.

So for "Exposure" and "Bayonet Charge", we've got questions about nature, patriotism and the harrowing nature of war potentially.

For "Exposure" and "Kamikaze" we have questions about the power of nature or even futility.

For "Poppies" and "War Photographer", we could have questions about difficult emotions or the aftermath of conflict.

And finally, for "Bayonet Charge" and "Charge of the Light Brigade", we could look at potentially the reality of war or the power of war.

Really nice similarities between those ones.

So great job if you picked up on anything similar in your own work.

Okay, we have reached learning cycle two, which is all about planning a comparative response.

So this learning cycle is gonna be all about putting that fantastic work of learning cycle one into practise by producing a really nice piece of work.

So let's get cracking.

So discussion question for me please, can explain the purpose of different parts of the multiple paragraph outline.

So this multiple paragraph outline is a really, really good way for us to structure our ideas and ultimately structure our analytical writing.

So what is its purpose? So hit that pause button, have a quick discussion, and then push play when you'd like to see some correct answers.

Okay, excellent work on that.

Really, really fantastic discussions and well done to everybody who's linking it back to the key parts of their writing.

So we could speak about the thesis.

The thesis is our overall argument of our entire essay.

So it's our big idea if you like.

We've also got our topic sentences.

So these outline the arguments of each paragraph and include key question vocabulary.

So for example, if our question was about how war is presented as harrowing, our topic sentences would make some links to that key word of harrowing.

Supporting detail will include our key language, form, structure and contextual detail that we want to include in our answer.

Our concluding sentences summarise the argument in each paragraph with a sharp focus on writer's intentions.

That key word of today's lesson, we want to bring it back to what the writer, what the poet is trying to achieve.

And finally our conclusion is a conclusive summary of the author's message, kind of bringing it all together in a really nice, neat and tidy way and linking back to our thesis that we presented at the beginning.

So here is a section of a single paragraph outline comparing the effect of war in "Poppies" and "Kamikaze".

And the thesis, the big idea is this, both poets illustrate the damaging effect of war on family and the complex emotions that come with it.

Whilst "Poppies" explores a mother's grief when met with her son's death, "Kamikaze" shows a family's rejection of a disgraced "Kamikaze" pilot and his emotional death as a result.

What a fantastic thesis.

Really, really lovely big idea.

So topic sentence one.

We could support that now with some very specific sentences that really prove our thesis, that really compliment our thesis.

So we could say both poems explore the uncomfortable emotions placed on families of those involved in war, whilst "Poppies" explores grief, "Kamikaze" explores shame.

And then we want to bring it to our supporting detail.

Arguably the most important bit.

This is all about how we pick specific things from the poem to kind of prove our topic sentence, to prove our thesis.

So for this thesis, for this topic sentence, we could say there's this fantastic quote, isn't there? "Released a songbird from its cage?" And this lovely metaphor shows the mother unleashing her grief.

And we could link that to a another really powerful quote from "Kamikaze", which is, "Nor did she meet his eyes." Explaining the treatment that this pilot receives.

So it tells of the shame the mother of the narrator felt and the use of pronouns show how the pilot was no longer valued.

And finally, we can finally add hoping to hear your playground voice and no longer the father we loved.

These are really good quotes both from "Kamikaze" and from "Poppies" that compliment those ones in the supporting detail even further.

So concluding sentences should summarise argument in each paragraph with a sharp focus on the writer's intention.

So which of the blow would be most effective For the single paragraph outline? We've got concluding sentence A, which says grief seems accepted within "Poppies".

Perhaps this is because mother is at peace with her son's sacrifice.

In "Kamikaze" the daughter's shame seems more uncomfortable.

Garland thus evokes questions about the importance society places on honour whilst Weir gives a voice to the mothers of soldiers.

Versus concluding sentence B, which says "Poppies" explores the devastating emotion of grief whilst "Kamikaze" explores the perhaps more uncomfortable emotion of shame.

Both poets evoke sad feelings of regrets in the reader.

So we would actually say concluding sentence A gives a more thoughtful consideration to each of the writer's intentions and really unpicks why the poets presented the families as having vastly different emotions.

And that nice sentence is really, really nice, I think in concluding sentence A, speaking about Garland evoking certain questions, that's really, really high level analysis.

Okay, so discussion question for me then please, can you come up with two more topic sentences to complete this grid? So looking at that wonderful thesis that we looked at with "Kamikaze" and "Poppies", what other topic sentences could we use to support, to complement that point? So hit that pause button, have a go at the task, and then push play when you'd like to see a little bit of feedback.

Okay, once again, some fantastic effort on that.

My goodness, you are working incredibly hard today, which is lovely to see.

So it is a really, really important skill to be able to link our topic sentences effectively to our overarching thesis, our overarching idea.

If they're not our essay can just seem kind of a bit shaky, lacking a central foundation.

So what we could say is as follows, topic sentence two.

Both poems explore how war inspires nostalgia and powerful memories.

How through nostalgia war can be a vehicle to bring families closer.

Really nice topic sentence.

And again, topic sentence three, both poems explore death and the effects of it on the family.

We can see the difference between an honourable death versus a shameful death.

Again, another really lovely topic sentence.

Remember yours don't have to be identical to this, but as long as they are linking back to the thesis then they're really, really good topic sentences, well done.

Okay, check for understanding time for me then.

Whilst "Poppies" is explores blank, "Kamikaze" explores blank.

Is that guilt and shame, shame and grief or grief and shame.

So really looking forward to seeing how you got on with this one.

So hit that pause button, complete this task and then do push play when you'd like to see which is correct.

Okay, fantastic work to everybody who identified as C is of course grief and shame, isn't it? In "Poppies" is the mother explores her grief at her son's death, whereas in "Kamikaze" it is the shame of the pilot returning from his mission.

Great job if you picked up on that.

Okay, another check for understanding for me then please.

A concluding sentence should rephrase the topic sentence, give your opinion about the poem, or have a sharp focus on the writer's intention.

Which one of those is it? So once again, hit that pause button, complete the task, and then do push play when you'd like to see which is correct.

Okay, fantastic work if you identified C, it should have a sharp focus on the writer's intention.

Remember we want to bring it back to what the writer, what the poet is trying to achieve with their writing.

We don't want it to be A, we don't want to just rephrase the topic sentence.

We wanna make a link to it, but we don't necessarily want to just rephrase it 'cause there is no point to doing that.

It doesn't bring our argument any further.

It doesn't add anything to our argument.

Okay, we have reached our final practise task of today's lesson.

So let's make it count.

So your task is as follows, I would like you to create a multiple paragraph outline for the question.

How do poets present ideas about conflict in two poems from the "Power and Conflict" anthology? So you are totally free to pick whichever two you think would be most appropriate.

And remember that key word is conflict.

We are focusing on conflicts and you can interpret that in whichever way you see fit.

So what I would like you to do is to complete your multiple paragraph outlines.

So you're gonna need a thesis, your big idea, you're gonna need a series of topic sentences supported with really, really good supporting detail, a concluding sentence for each, and then a conclusion to bring it all together.

I am really excited to see how you're going with this one.

And by the end of this practise task, you'll have a fantastic multiple paragraph outline that you should be able to convert into a really, really excellent essay.

So pause the video, complete the task, and then do play when you'd like to see how you could have approached this task.

Okay, fantastic effort on that.

Really, really well done.

It is such an important and a fantastic skill in English to be able to develop really, really effective plans.

And I certainly hope that you found that useful.

So I would like you to do the following then please.

I would like you to use these coaching questions to assess and improve the quality of your plan.

So to have your plan in front of you and use these questions just to make it a little bit better.

Those questions are, do you have an interesting thesis which focuses on the similarities and differences between the poet's presentations of war? Do all of your topic sentences support your thesis? Do you use a range of evidence from across both poems, exploring language, form and structure? Do you use context as part of your supporting detail? Do your concluding sentences linked back to the question with a sharp focus on the writer's intention? And finally, is your conclusion focused on contrasting with each poet's overall intentions and aims for their whole poem? So if you have done all of those things, then my goodness, that is a really excellent plan that will form a really excellent essay.

However, if there's one or two of those things that you feel could be a little bit stronger, then that is absolutely fine, just set that as a target for next time.

Okay, it's been an absolute pleasure to teach you today on this lesson, all about comparing poems in the "Power and "Conflict" anthology.

So let's recap all of those wonderful things that we've learned today.

The anthology war poems can be grouped via their exploration of who war effects.

The anthology war poems can be grouped via their exploration of the effect of war during versus after conflict.

The poems that you choose to compare should both be linked to the focus and nuances of the question you are asked.

It is useful to consider the similarities between poems and then consider on any subtle differences between them.

And finally, concluding sentences should have a sharp focus on the writer's intention.

Thank you very much for such a fantastic lesson, and I really look forward to teaching you on another lesson in this sequence.

So thank you very much and goodbye.