warning

Content guidance

Depiction or discussion of sensitive content

Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering

Adult supervision recommended

Hello there.

Welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Mr. Barnsley.

Thank you so much for joining me.

It is great to see you today.

I'm really looking forward to continuing to explore poems from the AQA World and Lives Poetry Anthology.

Today, we're gonna be analysing "A Century Later" by Imtiaz Dharker, a fantastic poem.

You should have already read it, so if you haven't, then you might want to take a moment to read it, because we're gonna be analysing it in detail.

You are gonna need your copy of the AQA World and Lives Poetry anthology in front of you.

Do make sure you've got it, because you are gonna want to see the poem.

All right, let's get started.

So the outcome of today's lesson, by the end of the lesson, you are gonna be able to explain how Dharker, the poet, uses language and structure to express her viewpoints.

There are five keywords in today's lesson.

They are natural imagery, symbolise, bloom, personification, and conceptual.

Let's have a look at what each of those words mean, so we feel confident using them in our own analysis.

So natural image is the use of images of animals, landscapes, and nature in a poem.

Symbolise means where an image, an object, or an idea, or a symbol is used to represent something other than its literal.

Meaning to bloom means to produce flowers, to grow or develop successfully.

Personification is the attribution of human characteristics to non-human things.

If something is conceptual, it means we're considering ideas and delving into philosophical issues.

All right, keep an eye out for these words as they appear in today's lesson.

Let's dive straight in.

So we are gonna be analysing the poem 'A century later' in more detail, and we're gonna do that in three different ways.

We're gonna look at the natural imagery, we're gonna look at the use of personification, and we're gonna analyse the structure.

Let's start by analysing the natural imagery, shall we? So Dharker utilises natural imagery throughout 'A century later'? Let's think, let's start with a discussion then.

What might the use of natural imagery in general symbolise.

And not necessarily in the poem.

Let's just think about more generally why might people use natural imagery? What natural imagery, what might symbolise, what might we associate with nature? All right, if you've got a partner, you can discuss this with them.

If you're working by yourself, don't worry, you can think about this independently.

Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you are ready to continue.

Yeah, some nice ideas there.

We might associate nature with ideas of growth, health, beauty, life.

Well done if you said any of those things.

I heard lots of fantastic ideas as you were discussing there.

So how might we then, let's start zooming in on the poem, how might we apply these ideas to the girls' protest for their right to education in 'A century later'? What do you think? Pause the video, have a little bit of a think.

Discuss if you've got a partner.

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

Over to you.

Right, perhaps then I heard some great ideas, but I heard people saying perhaps Dharker is using this natural imagery to symbolise the growth of the girls' movement, the growth of the resistance, and the fact that their protest is continuing.

It is not going to be stopped.

Really well done if you said anything like that.

I really liked ideas like that.

Of course, you might have had other interpretations.

They are valid as well as long as they're logical, and can be argued using reference to the text.

But well done if you said something similar on the screen.

I think that's a really nice interpretation.

Okay, now, let's consider some of the specific natural imagery that we see in 'A century later'.

So you might have spotted Dharker's reference to an orchard.

So what might we associate with an orchard? There's an image on the screen there to help you.

What comes to mind when I say the word 'orchard'? Why don't you pause the video? Have a think, and press play when you're ready to hear some responses? Hmm, lots of interesting ideas there.

So I heard people saying you might associate an orchard with fruit, food, nourishment.

All of these things come to mind when we think of an orchard.

Now, Dharker actually doesn't specify what type of orchard, what's growing in this orchard, but actually, I think when most people think of an orchard, they associate it with apples.

I know, I certainly do.

So what might apples symbolise to you? All right, pause the video.

Have a think, what might apples symbolise? Pause the video, have a think through this independently, and then just press play when you are ready to hear some responses.

Yeah, some really interesting ideas there.

Now, I heard people talking about the religious associations apple have, and ultimately, because of that, they become symbols of knowledge, immortality, desire, and temptation.

If we think about the story of the fallen man, the garden of Eden.

Okay, so actually, apples can symbolise many different things.

So Dharker says the orchard is blooming.

So what do you think that might say about the nature of knowledge and education in this poem? So if we take apple as a symbol of knowledge, we talk and how Dharker says the orchard blooms, blooming? How can we take these ideas, link these ideas together, knowledge and education, the orchard is blooming, what? What do you think Dharker is saying here? Pause the video, have a think.

If you've got partners, discuss with them.

Otherwise, just think through this independently.

Remember to press play when you are ready to hear some ideas.

Yeah, some great discussions going on there.

I really want to shine a light on those of you who are saying something similar to this, that potentially Dharker might be using the image of the blooming orchard to symbolise the growth and expansion of knowledge throughout the poem.

And that's happening because the girls are protesting.

All right, some really, really nice ideas and exploration behind the use of that word 'orchard'.

So we know, let's check how we're getting on.

We know that apple has several associations.

Which one do you think is most relevant for 'A century later'? Is it knowledge, temptation, or desire? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Yes, if you said A, I agree, that is knowledge.

Of course, we know the apple can symbolise sensation, desire from the story of the fallen of man, but I don't think that feels like a relevant link or connotation to make to link to a central later.

Whereas, Apple being a symbol of knowledge I think is kind of really ties in to the themes in the poem.

So as well as considering the ideas of the fruit blooming, perhaps, we can also apply this concept, the concept of blooming to the girls themselves.

So what similarities could we draw between the younger Izzy? So here's Izzy when she's younger, one of our eight pupils, and the flower bud where it's kind of not unfolded yet.

You can see it circled in the image.

What similarities could we draw between the younger Izzy and the flower? But what do you think? Pause the video, over to you, have a think, have it discussed, and press play when you are ready to share some ideas.

Oh, I had some really great things there.

So potentially, we could say that younger Izzy hasn't reached her full potential yet.

She's not bloomed.

If we think of that flower, you know, it's not the full flower that it will become.

So it's not reached it's full potential.

In comparison, what similarities could we draw between Izzy as she ages and the rose as it has kind of come out to bloom? What similarities could we draw? Why don't you pause the video, have a think, and press play when you are ready to hear some ideas.

Again, some really great discussion.

I'm really, really impressed with what I'm hearing.

So potentially, we could say that older Izzy has experienced some personal growth and is now reaching her potential because she has bloomed.

So how might we apply these ideas of blooming to the experience of the girls in 'A century later'? Okay, so we kind of tie these to Izzy at one of our Oak pupils, but how might we tie these to the girls in the poem? Okay, why don't you pause the video, give yourself some time to think through this.

And again, if you've got a partner, you can share your ideas with them.

Otherwise, you can think about this independently.

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

Great work there.

I really liked ideas similar to that I can see on screen that potentially Dharker could be suggesting that even though the girls are young, they still have the rounded cheeks and the unlined skin.

We know that the girls are growing and reaching their full potential through the act of fighting for their right to an education.

They're blooming through having to fight, okay? It's helping them.

Not only will education help them reach their full potential, but the fact that they're fighting for this really shows growth in these girls.

All right, which interpretation, let's check how we're getting on which interpretation of blooming is most appropriate for 'A century later'.

Is it Laura's interpretation that blooming could imply that the girls are becoming more beautiful as they get older? Or is it a Alex's interpretation? Blooming could imply that the girls are growing and beginning to reach their full potential.

What do you think? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you're ready to find out the answer.

Yes, well done you if you said Alex.

Alex's interpretation here seems much more logical and valid and appropriate for 'A century later'.

The girls are growing and beginning to reach their full potential.

Okay, there, as well as the imagery of fruit and flowers, Dharker also arguably uses the image of bees through the noise of buzzing.

So that automatic word 'buzzing' we see in the poem, and that has connotations of a bee, which we can see in the image.

So how might we connect the imagery of bees to the girls and their protest? All right, over to you to have a think about this, pause the video, think, discuss, and press play when you are ready to hear some ideas.

Well done.

Really great hearing some of those connections being thrown about there.

I want to just share some of the great ideas that I heard.

So we might generally associate bees with the idea of a collective, a group of people, a hive-mind people who think and work together.

So potentially, we might say that Dharker is expressing ideas of the girls working together and having a really collective purpose.

Bees we know also pollinate flowers.

So potentially, we connect, we can also connect the bees.

So this idea of the girls stimulating growth, we can connect this to that word 'bloom' through their protest, okay? They are helping each other and other girls in the future to grow, and they're doing that through their protest.

So we can link that word 'buzzing' to that word 'bloom' all through this idea of collectivity, this group of people, group of girls working together for a common goal through their protest.

Okay, which two of the following connotations of bees do you think are most relevant to 'A century later'? Is it that they work hard? Is it that they work together? Is it that they pollinate? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you think you are ready for the answers.

Yes, I think we should have said B and C.

Of course, we know the girls are working hard, but actually, what's really important here is they're working together.

They're working as a collective, and the results of their protests will see further growth amongst girls in the future, because education will be available to future generations of girls.

Really well done if you've got that correct.

Now, the one further image, a natural image that Dharker references is the poppy, the flower you can see on the screen.

Now, I want you to think about what poppies might symbolise in general.

When, where do you see poppies? When do we talk about poppies? When might people wear a poppy? And think about how we can connect this to the ideas in Dharker's poem? All right, pause the video, over to you to be doing some thinking now.

Again, if you wish to do this in pairs, if you want to share your ideas, you can do.

Otherwise, just think through this independently.

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

Welcome back.

I could really see the connections thinking about if you've done in our previous sessions, thinking about the connections between Wilfred Owens poetry and the reference to that in 'A century later'.

So poets, poppies are generally associated with World War I.

They symbolise two ideas here, both hope and death.

So the blood red of the petals symbolises the sacrificial blood of soldiers while their growth on the battlefield symbolises hope.

So through this, we might say that Dharker is both acknowledging that sacrifices will have to be made, but there is hope for the girls.

There's hope for the girls because of their protest.

All right, which of the following interpretations of poppies is most relevant to 'A century later'? is Aisha who says, "A poppy can symbolise hope, and therefore, it gives an optimistic tone to the poem as it implies there is hope for the girls' protest." And Andeep says, "A poppy can symbolise sleep, therefore implies that the girls have been oblivious and sleep-walking through the danger to their education." What do you think, pause the video, have a think, and press play when you are ready to continue.

Well done if you said Aisha's response there was most logical and worked best with our reading and understanding of 'A century later'.

All right, over to you for our first task.

We've considered the natural imagery of all the following.

The orchard, bloom, buzzing of bees, and poppies.

I want you to choose one of these natural images and I want you to write an explanation of how its symbolism connects to Dharker's wider ideas of the girls protesting for their right to education.

Things I want you to include: quotations and explanations, and making sure you are always linking back to Dharker's intentions, okay? You don't have to write loads and loads here, but I just want you to start summarising some of the great ideas and discussions that we've had so far.

All right, over to you, pause the video, and press play when you are ready to share some responses.

All right, really well done on that.

I could see you were working really hard.

One of our Oak pupils, Sofia has given this a go, as well.

Let's have a look at her response, shall we? So Sofia wrote, I think Dharker's image of an "orchard" connects the ideas of knowledge and education because it implies that knowledge and education are continuing to flourish and grow despite the threats and violence.

All right, let's try and give Sofia some what went wells.

I think she's done well, and EBIs, even better ifs she can work on in the future.

So for what went well, we could say she uses quotation, she's chosen that word orchard and she's thought about the implication of the quotation and linked that to ideas about knowledge.

Two things Sofia is done well.

What could she do better next time? Well, she could extend her analysis further.

She could have used bloom, a second quotation, to extend that and thinking about the idea of knowledge flourishing.

And I don't think she did enough of thinking about what Dharker was really trying to tell us through her poetry.

She could have linked it more clearly to what Dharker is wanting us as the reader to think about as we read her poetry.

All right, now, we've modelled this on using Sofia's work.

I want you to read through your own answer and I want you to give yourself two what went wells, two things you think you've done a good job with, and two EBIs, two things that you were gonna try and do better next time.

All right, pause the video, reflect on your own work, and press play when you're ready to move on.

Okay, it is time for us now to do some analysis of personification.

So by talking to the bullet in the poem, the subject of 'A century later' actually personifies the bullet.

The subject refers to the bullet as you and says that it has failed.

Why do you think the subject's words to or what, sorry, What do you think the subject's words to the bullet symbolise? What do you think? Why is Dharker had the subject speak directly to the bullet to call it you to say it failed? What's that symbolise? Why don't you pause the video, have a think, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Here's some lovely ideas.

I could see you thinking through.

Well done if you said something similar to this.

Arguably, the bullet is actually a representation of the subject's attackers and her words to the bullet might symbolise their failure not only to kill her but also their failure to silence the movement, their failure to silence her, and stop her to continue biting for her access to education.

Okay, really powerful actually when you think about it.

So true or false, the bullet arguably represent the subject's attackers, what do you think? Over to you, pause the video, have a think, press play when you're ready to know the answer.

Yes, that is true.

I think we can argue that the bullet represents the subject's attackers.

Let's justify that then.

Potentially, the personification of the bullet could be evocative of the subject's anger towards her attackers.

Or is it B, potentially, the subject's words the bullet could symbolise the attacker's failure to silence the movement.

What do you think, over to you, have a think about this, and press play when you are ready to share your response, and find out if you are right.

Okay, over to you.

Congratulations if you said B, I think this feels, I'm sure the speaker fee, sorry, the subject feels anger towards her attackers, but actually, what comes across much more clearly in the poem is that this is a resistance, and we will not be silenced.

Our movement will not be stopped.

And perhaps, this personification can be used to further explore that idea.

Okay, over to our second task then.

This is a discussion task.

If you have a partner, you can work with them.

Don't worry if you're working by yourself, you can always think about what you would say in a discussion.

You can make a few notes, or you can practise discussing to yourself and saying those ideas out loud.

What I want you to be thinking about though is why do you think Dharker chooses to represent the attackers as a bullet rather than referring to the attackers themselves? Things you might want to consider.

What does an anonymity say about the attackers? The fact that we don't give them a name.

Why might you not refer to someone by name? Why might you make that choice? Okay, over to you now, pause the video, give you some time to seriously discuss this.

Think through lots of different options, and remember to press play when you're ready to hear some potential responses.

All right, welcome back.

I heard some great discussions there, people going back and forth.

All right, Lucas gave this a go, and he said, "Maybe the speaker doesn't refer to the attackers themselves because she doesn't know who they are." All right, and why, let's consider this though.

Why might we want to avoid a response like Lucas's? Why don't you pause the video, have a think.

Why might we not want to say something like Lucas has just said? Pause the video, over to you, have a think, and press plate when you're ready to continue.

Yeah, welcome back.

I heard some really thoughtful feedback we could give Lucas.

So Jacob said, "Well, it is logical." I think there's a good chance that the subject doesn't know their attacker's names or exactly who they were.

It doesn't really, Lucas's response doesn't really consider the bigger ideas in the poem, or the conceptual ideas behind names and the power of them.

It feels kind of very surface level.

It's not digging deeper, and giving some really interesting responses around kind of violence around the girl's perspective and actually the power of naming or not naming individuals.

So with this feedback, Lucas had a go at improving his own work, and he said, "Perhaps the speaker does not refer to the attackers themselves, because Dharker wants to emphasise to the reader that it is the girls and their fight for education that is important; moreover, perhaps using the 'bullet' to symbolise the attackers represents the idea that the attackers have been so consumed by their hatred and violence that they have lost part of themselves and their humanity." And names represent humanity and names represent who we are.

But actually, these attackers have lost that, because they've lost the humanity by their violent and despicable behaviour.

All right, why don't you pause for a moment, and reflect on your own discussions or anything that you might have written down if you were doing this independently.

And so read Lucas's improved response, and have a go at rewriting your own or take some of his ideas, and just make a note of them.

You might even wish to use these to annotate your poem, and make a couple of notes on there.

All right, over to you.

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

Okay, welcome back.

It's now time for us to analyse the structure of the poem.

So a caesura is a pause or a break in a line verse, and it's often marked by punctuation.

I want you to pause the video now and read through the poem.

And every time you encounter a caesura, a piece of punctuation, I want you to take a pause.

All right, over to you.

Make sure you've got your copy of the poem open, read it, and pause every time you see caesura.

All right, over to you.

Welcome back.

How did that feel? How did it feel reading through the poem? And why do you think Dharker may have utilised several caesura across the poem? Why don't you pause the video and have a think about that.

Discuss if you've got a partner, or just think through it independently.

All right, pause the video, and press play when you're ready to hear some potential ideas.

All right, some really great ideas there.

I just want to share some of the great things that I heard.

So Andeep said, "Pausing at the caesura gave the poem a really stop-start feel to it.

And so actually, perhaps that could represent how Dharker was intending to show how the violence was really intended to make the girls stop.

But they continue, they carry on." Really nice idea there.

Linking the structural technique to Dharker's intention.

Great work.

True or false? The caesura arguably give the poem a stop-start feeling.

Is that true or false? Over to you, have a think, and press play when you think you have a response.

Yes, that is true.

Now, let's justify that.

Is it A, that potentially, Dharker included the caesura to show the hesitation of the girls and their fear at pursuing their right to education? Or is it B, potentially, Dharker included the caesura to show how despite the violence, the girls continue to carry on with their protest.

All right, pause the video, have a think, and press play when you think you have an answer.

Yeah, well done if you said that was B.

I think this is a really interesting interpretation that Dharker uses the caesura to show how the violence is not actually going to stop the girls.

In fact, they're gonna carry on and continue with their resistance.

All right, over to you then.

I want you to do some thinking about enjambment.

You should have thought about enjambment before when you've looked at other poems. But enjambment is the continuation of a sentence beyond each line, stanza, or a couplet.

When a line kind of flows between, sorry, when a, kind of, a sentence flows between lines, flows between stanzas, and we see that Dharker has utilised this enjambment throughout the poem.

I want you to think about how might we connect Dharker's use of enjambment to the natural imagery in the poem that we looked at earlier in the lesson.

I want you to write a short answer.

You don't need to write lots on this, but I want you to try and summarise kind of tying in what we are thinking about in structure with what we've already talked about it with natural imagery.

And to do this, you are gonna want to consider that bigger question.

What is Dharker trying to say about the girls' protest for their education? What is the bigger message here? How can we tie enjambment with that natural imagery to this bigger, wider message about the girls' right for education? All right, let's put everything together now.

So I'm gonna hand it over to you to show me everything that you have learned.

All right, best of luck, pause the video, and press play when you're ready to see a couple of model examples.

All right, over to you.

Really, really well done there.

Really impressive to see you writing, and I could see lots and lots of you writing with confidence, which to me, suggests you really, really learn loads in this lesson, and that's fantastic to see.

All right, what I'd like to do now, just to give us a moment of reflection on what we've written, is I want us to compare these responses from two of the Oak pupils.

So John said, "I think Dharker's use of enjambment links to the image of the poppy and how the girls continue to have hope that their protest and sacrifice will be meaningful in the fight for education." And Alex said, "Arguably, the enjambment connects to the idea of nature blooming, because they both have connotations of growth and continuation that may be symbolic of the girls' personal growth and the continuation of their movement." Two really, really nice ideas.

What I want you to do now is just have a moment of reflection.

Whose ideas did you find most convincing and why? Jun or Alex, pause the video, have a think.

Think about what you liked from each of their responses, and press play when you're ready to move on.

Right, well, that's it.

We have reached the end of today's lesson.

You have done a fantastic job.

I am really, really proud of you.

Let's run through the summary of everything that we have learned because I want us to take a moment to make sure we're feeling really confident before we move on.

So today, we learned that Dharker's use of natural imagery may connect to the growth of the girls' resistance and their fight against their oppressors.

The image of the poppy may acknowledge that sacrifices will be made, but there is hope for the girls' protest.

The subject's words to the bullet may symbolise their failure to not only kill her, but also their failure to silence the movement.

And potentially, the enjambment in the poem links to the continuation of the girls' fight.

All right, well, well done for today.

I hope you have a fantastic rest of the day, however you're choosing to spend it.

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

All right, thank you for joining me.

Goodbye.

This site uses cookies to store information on your computer. Some of these cookies are essential, while others help us to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used.