"Understanding the poem 'Kamikaze.

'" Hello and welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Mr. Young and I'm so pleased to see you again on another lesson in this "Power and Conflict" series.

So in today's lesson we're gonna be looking at a really powerful poem in the anthology, and that poem is "Kamikaze," so let's get started.

So today's lesson has a very clear learning outcome, and yep, you've guessed it, today's learning outcome is all about understanding the events and the big ideas of the poem "Kamikaze." And we have some very important words, our keywords, which are essential for today's lesson, so I do encourage you just to pause the video, jot them down and their definitions, particularly if they are new to you, 'cause they are very, very relevant for today's lesson.

Let's take a look at what they are.

Honour, good character and reputation, highly respected, a key theme of the poem.

Shame, loss of honour or respect.

Shunned, persistently avoid or reject something or someone.

So we can talk about a person being shunned, for example, if they are ignored or rejected by others.

And finally, poignant, evoking sadness or regret.

So if you find something poignant, it means it evokes those feelings of sadness or regret within you, and we'll see how that links to today's poem.

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

In learning cycle one, we are going to be exploring that fantastic poem, "Kamikaze." I always enjoy reading this poem and really enjoy the kind of ideas it brings to mind and I hope you do too as you read it.

And then learning cycle two is going to be all about learning about the context of that poem.

And remember the context of a poem is all of the kind of background information that helps us understand it just a little bit more.

So let's get started with learning cycle one.

Okay, so open your anthology please and read the poem "Kamikaze." So what I would like you to do is open up your anthology, find that poem, have a quick read through, and then, when you've done that, do look at the two questions we have on the board.

The first one is, what are your first impressions of the poem? Do you like it? Why? Why not? Remember, poems are there to be enjoyed and you are there to take something from them.

We don't just go straight to studying and analysis.

So what is your kind of first impression of that poem? And secondly, how did the poem make you feel? And why do you say that? So pause that video, read the poem, complete those tasks, and then do push play when you would like to continue.

Okay, well done on that, excellent work on that very first task in today's lesson and I really hope you enjoyed that poem.

It's such a powerful poem, isn't it? Full of really, really interesting ideas and interesting ideas about war as well.

Very different to some of the other poems in the anthology, isn't it? So let's proceed.

So let's read the poem together.

So you've had your initial view and now we're gonna read it together as a class.

Once again, have that copy of the poem in front of you.

Have your anthologies in front of you, let's read.

"Her father embarked at sunrise with a flask of water, a samurai sword in the cockpit, a shaven head full of powerful incantations, and enough fuel for a one-way journey into history.

But halfway there, she thought, recounting it later to her children, he must have looked far down at the little fishing boats strung out like bunting on a green-blue translucent sea.

And beneath them, arcing in swathes like a huge flag waved first one way then the other in a figure of eight the dark shoals of fishes flashing silver as their bellies swivelled towards the sun, and remembered how he and his brothers waiting on the shore built cairns of pearl-gray pebbles to see whose withstood longest the turbulent inrush of breakers bringing their father's boat safe.

Yes, grandfather's boat, safe, to the shore, salt-sodden, awash with cloud-marked mackerel, black crabs, feathery prawns, the loose silver of whitebait, and once a tuna, the dark prince, muscular, dangerous.

And though he came back, my mother never spoke again in his presence, nor did she meet his eyes, and the neighbours too, they treated him as though he no longer existed.

Only we children still chattered and laughed, till gradually we too learned to be silent, to live as though he had never returned, that this was no longer the father we loved.

And sometimes, she said, he must have wondered which had been the better way to die." So a really fantastic poem there full of really, really rich and vivid ideas.

Let's unpick them in a bit more detail.

So now we have read the poem twice, let's answer some questions below.

So you have three questions to answer on the board in front of you.

Your first question, how many perspectives do you think there are in the poem? So what we mean by that is how many kind of speakers, how many viewpoints are there.

And I'll give you a clue, there's more than one.

Who do you think the he of the story is? There is a central subject that is referred to again and again, who is that person? And finally, what might the story of the poem be? What is it about? So hit that pause button, have a discussion of these questions or do jot down some ideas if you're working independently, and then do push play when you'd like to proceed.

Okay, excellent work on that.

I'm hearing some really fantastic answers to these questions, some really fantastic ideas flying around the classroom, which is what I love to see, so let's unpick these in a bit more detail, here's what you could have said.

So there are four generations to be aware of in this poem.

So firstly, we have a narrator.

The person telling most of the story is a woman telling the story of her father to her children.

And the woman's father is a kamikaze pilot.

We do not hear from his point of view directly.

And remember, a kamikaze pilot is a pilot that would deliberately fly their aeroplane into an enemy target, in the process killing themselves as well.

So quite a kind of tragic, dramatic way to die.

The woman's mother we also hear from is referred to in the sixth stanza.

And finally the pilot's father is referred to in the fourth stanza.

So lots of interesting changes in perspective and lots of different generations of the family mentioned within this poem.

So my discussion question for you is as follows.

Why do you think Garland chose to refer to four generations in this poem? Why did she choose to do that? So hit that pause button, have a quick discussion, jot down some ideas, push play when you'd like to proceed.

Okay, some fantastic discussions taking place once again and really well done to everybody who's picking up on the idea of the impact of war across the generations.

Some of the poems in the anthology really just focus on the individual soldier, don't they, in a war zone.

Whereas some of them are a bit more nuanced, a bit like "Kamikaze," where we get that impact across generations in this way.

Really well done if you picked up on that.

Okay, check for understanding for me then please.

The pilot being described in the poem did not intend to come home.

Is that true or is that false? Okay, well done if you identified that as true.

It is absolutely true.

He did not intend to come back home.

The mission of a kamikaze pilot is to not return.

So how can we justify that statement then? Is it A, he embarked with enough fuel for a one-way journey? Or is it B, he was shunned by his family? Hit that pause button.

Which one of those can justify that statement? Okay, excellent work to everybody who identified it as A, he embarked with enough fuel for a one-way journey.

Okay, if he only has enough fuel for a one-way journey, that indicates to us that he's simply not coming back.

Okay, second check for understanding for me then please.

How did the family treat the man in the poem once he returned home? Is it A, they welcomed him with open arms? Is it B, they ignored him? Or is it C, they accused him of treachery.

So once again, hit that pause button, choose the correct answer, and then do push play when you'd like to see which is correct.

Okay, excellent work if you identified B, they ignored him or they shunned him, we could say.

They are shunning him for his cowardice.

He has not completed his mission and as a result he has brought kind of shame on himself and his family, at least according to the poem.

Okay, we have reached our first practise task of today's lesson where you are going to develop your understanding of "Kamikaze" just a little bit more.

So I would like you to answer the following questions to explore the poem further.

And those questions are, number one, why do you think the pilot only had enough fuel for a one-way journey? Two, what does the phrase "into history" make you think about this journey? Three, zooming into stanzas two, three, and four, why do you think the pilot came back home? Four, what emotion can you sense in the narrator's mother as you read stanza six? And five, zoom into the last line.

Did the pilot physically die? What do you think this line means? So really excited to see how you got with these.

So pause the video, complete the task, use your anthology as you do so, and then do push play when you'd like to proceed.

Okay, excellent work on that, really well done, really great job for linking all of your work in your anthologies and your annotations into answering those really challenging questions about the poem.

Here are some ideas you may have had.

So firstly, why do we think the pilot only had enough fuel for a one-way journey? Well, we could say the pilot may have had only enough fuel for a one-way journey as he was not intending to come back.

It was not his intention to return.

Two, what does the phrase "into history" make you think about this journey? Well, we could say that the phrase "into history" makes me think that the pilot would be remembered for this journey.

He's not gonna come back, he's going to effectively kill himself as part of this mission by flying his plane into an enemy target, and he will be remembered in history for his kind of brave and heroic deeds.

Three, zooming into stanzas two, three, and four, why do you think the pilot came back home? Well, we could say it's really about nature, isn't it? There are lots of references to nature here.

And nature seems beautiful in stanzas two and three.

Perhaps witnessing this made the pilot want to come back home, gave him a certain appreciation for life, potentially.

Question four, what emotion can you sense in the narrator's mother as you read stanza six? Well, I think it really comes across the idea that the narrator's mother doesn't look the pilot in his eye when he returns home, suggesting that she feels ashamed of him, she doesn't meet his eye.

And our last question, question five, zooming into the last line.

Did the pilot physically die? What do you think this line means? Well, we could say the pilot did not physically die, but he dies in the eyes of his loved ones as they ignore him.

This rejection may feel as painful as the thought of physically dying.

So although he hasn't died physically, there is a certain death of the emotion or love that he received from his family we could say here, definitely.

So really well done if you picked up on any similar ideas in your own work.

Okay, then, we have now reached learning cycle two where we are going to develop our understanding of the context of the poem a little bit more, which will in turn help us understand the poem a bit more as well.

Okay, so let's get started.

Okay then, we are now going to develop our understanding of what a kamikaze pilot is, just a little bit more.

So this image depicts the role of a kamikaze pilot, so my question for you is as follows.

So what do you think a kamikaze pilot was? And I probably gave you a few clues about this, didn't I, in learning cycle one.

So hit that pause button, have a quick discussion, jot down some ideas, and then do which play when you'd like to see the correct answers.

Okay, excellent work on that.

Really, really excellent conversations, and well done to everybody who are drawing on specific links in that image about what a kamikaze pilot might be.

So remember, a kamikaze pilot is a pilot who would intentionally fly their plane into an enemy target.

They would destroy the plane, themselves, and hopefully the enemy target.

So it's quite an extreme way to die that required a certain amount of bravery to do that.

Okay, so your task is to develop your understanding of a kamikaze pilot even further.

So you have some contextual information which can be found in the additional materials.

What I would like you to do as you read through that additional materials is to answer these three questions, please.

Question one, what did you learn about kamikaze pilots? So we know a little bit about the background of them.

What further detail did you learn about kamikaze pilots? Number two, what might have felt like to be a kamikaze pilot? What kind of emotions might underpin that role? And finally, what parts of the poem did it help you to understand? Did it help you understand any aspects of the poem even further as a result of reading that contextual information? So really excited to see how you get on with this one, so hit that pause button, complete the task, and then do push play when you'd like to proceed.

Okay, excellent work on that task, and I really hope that that contextual information helped you just unpick the poem and the key themes of the poem just a little bit more.

So after reading a bit more about kamikaze pilots and also having read the poem a couple of times, we can start to form our own understanding of the poem's big ideas, those big themes that kind of underpin what the poem is all about.

So what I'd like you to do is just pause the video, have a quick think about what you think some of the big ideas might be.

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

Okay, excellent work on that, and yeah, I totally agree there are lots of different ways we could interpret that, isn't there? Lots of different big ideas we could associate with that poem.

So a couple that really jumped out to me were as follows.

So firstly, we've got this idea of personal versus national duty.

The extent to which you have to be giving your family a certain amount of duty, but also your country, and I think that conflict is really explored, isn't it, in the role of a kamikaze pilot.

Patriarchal power, we certainly see that, don't we? The power of men, particularly within a family dynamic, particularly after the the soldier returns.

The power of nature, we've got those lovely descriptions, haven't we, of the fish and other elements of nature that really seem to have a powerful impact on the soldier and his decision to return home.

Again, traumatic memories, particularly when the soldier is shunned by his family and the family's own memories as well.

That certainly is a way we could interpret it.

We've also got the idea of the harrowing nature of war.

Although this soldier doesn't carry through his mission, he doesn't destroy his plane on an enemy target, it is still certainly an overarching theme of what he's expected to do, the harrowing aspect of his job.

Again, institutional power.

This soldier is being effectively ordered by his country, by his military, and ultimately objects to that.

We could certainly say institutional power is a big part of the poem.

Again, pride, we could talk about pride, or loss of pride, potentially, by the soldier's decision to return home.

And finally, the futility of war.

I think that certainly comes across as well, doesn't it? The idea that this soldier must destroy his life and to some extent his family by his act of service is, again, a really key idea we could associate with the poem "Kamikaze." So great job if you picked up on anything similar in your own discussions.

Okay, check for understanding time for me then please.

So why did the pilot have only enough fuel for a one-way journey into history? Is it A, he was expected to attack the enemy ships and sacrifice his own life at the same time? Is it B, he was being deployed to another country? Or is it C, he was rejected by his family? Which one of those is the correct answer? Okay, excellent work if you identified it as A, he was expected to attack the enemy ships and sacrifice his own life at the same time.

That is the role of a kamikaze pilot, they are not expected to come back.

Well done if you picked up on that.

Okay, second check for understanding for me then please.

The family of the pilot ignore him upon his return home.

What is significant about this? Is it A, it reflects the significance the family placed on upholding honour? Is it B, it reflects that the kamikaze pilot committed a war atrocity? Or C, it is poignantly ironic because the thoughts of family was one of the things pulling the pilot back home? Which of those is the correct answer.

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

Okay, excellent work if you identified A and C as potentially correct answers.

We could certainly say it's A, because it reflects the significance the family placed on upholding honour.

And because he has not carried out this act, he has lost honour, he has been shunned and shamed as a result of it.

And we could also say it's C as well.

It is poignantly ironic because thoughts of family was one of the things pulling the pilot back home.

He kind of reflects on all of the positive memories he had, particularly in childhood.

And these are a pivotal decision in his decision not to complete his mission.

Well done if you picked up on A or C.

Okay, we have reached our final practise task of today's lesson, so let's make it count.

So your task is as follows.

So, "Kamikaze" can be considered through the lens of conflict and power.

So conflict and power.

The power of nature and personal versus national duty.

So my task for you is as follows.

Create a mind map for each big idea with quotes and contextual information to help you explore each one further.

So by the end of this task, you should have two really, really nice mind maps full of really, really important and interesting details that could support both of those ideas.

Ideas about power and ideas about conflict.

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

Okay, really great effort on that task.

This is such a pivotal part of our writing.

Before we start writing analytically, we really need to develop really clear-cut, really interesting plans in this way.

So really, really great to practise that skill and well done for all your effort on this.

So this is how you could have approached this task.

And remember, yours does not have to be identical to this.

This is just a way that you could have approached it.

So let's look at the first one, personal versus national duty.

So what could we have said in our mind map? Well, we could have said "journey into history," that really powerful quote at the beginning.

It kind of suggests the kamikaze pilot would be honoured by generations to come for his sacrifice on behalf of his country.

We've also got this idea here, "He and his brothers built cairns." So cairns are kind of small structures built by stones that you find potentially on a beach.

So this kind of gives a sense of nostalgia, doesn't it? A longing for the past, showing the pilot reflecting on his idyllic childhood.

It gives him glimpses of the family life he's giving up if he completes the mission.

It's a really powerful link back to family there.

And finally, we could also say, "As though he no longer existed," that really powerful shunning that he receives at the end, that really powerful quote that highlights the treatment he now receives for not carrying through his mission.

And we could say that this shows exactly how the pilot was shunned after not completing the mission.

It shows the importance of national duty over personal duty in the eyes of society.

Great job if you picked up on anything similar in your own mind map.

Okay, let's take a look at the other one.

When we spoke about the power of nature, what could we add to this mind map? Well, some things that really jumped out to me were as follows.

So we could talk about "the dark shoals of fishes flashing silver as their bellies swivelled towards the sun." So shoals are kind of groups of fish.

And we could say that this really paints a tranquil scene and the alliteration adds to the impression of the serene beauty of nature.

So it's almost like he's up in his plane and he reflects actually how beautiful the world is, how beautiful his life is, by seeing this beautiful shoal of fish.

And that has a really important effect on his decision not to carry through his mission.

Also got this idea about the tuna.

"The tuna, the dark prince, muscular and dangerous." So interestingly, in a poem about a war mission, the tuna is presented as the most powerful.

And this could be an allusion to the supreme power of nature.

So once again, almost suggesting that nature is potentially more powerful than war.

And our final one.

Overall, the beauty of nature is enough to lure the man away from his mission, and this speaks to its omnipotence, so how powerful it is.

So really great job if you picked up any similar annotations for your own mind map.

Okay, what a fantastic lesson today.

It's been absolutely great to teach you all about this poem, "Kamikaze." So let's just recap what we've learned today.

So firstly, the poem is based on kamikaze pilots in World War II who sacrificed their lives whilst attacking enemy ships.

Garland explores national versus personal duty in the poem.

In the poem, thoughts of nature and family seem to make the pilot turn back on his mission.

And finally, Garland explores the importance placed upon honour and national duty in the way in which the kamikaze pilot is shunned upon returning home.

Thank you 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.