Hello everyone.

Ms. Keller here.

I'm so glad you could join me for today's lesson.

In this session, we will be analysing how Charles Causley uses language and structure in his poem, "Eden Rock." For this session, you will need a copy of your "AQA Love and Relationships Poetry Anthology." Okay, so by the end of today's lesson, we will be able to explore how Causley presents an uncanny reunion between the speaker and their parents.

So let's have a look at today's keywords, then.

We have ethereal, biblical imagery, sensory imagery, pluperfect tense, and nuanced.

Let's have a look at what these words mean.

So ethereal is something that is characterised by a delicate, otherworldly, or heavenly quality.

Biblical imagery relates to images that we might see in literature that reference Bible stories.

Sensory imagery is vivid descriptions that invoke the five senses.

The pluperfect tense is a verb tense, which shows that one thing happened before another thing.

So, for example, I had already read the poem "Eden Rock" when I came to analyse it.

And the last one, nuanced, means subtly different aspects or details, often with underlying complexity.

So how is today's lesson going to look? Well, we are going to start by interpreting the poem as a spiritual reunion, and then we are going to focus on writing about multiple interpretations at once.

So I'd like to start off with a discussion.

Our Oak students have been discussing the poem "Eden Rock," and I'd like you to think which of their interpretations you most agree with.

So Jacob says, "'Eden Rock' portrays an idealised view of a child having a summer picnic with his parents." Alex says, "'Eden Rock' is a nostalgic poem.

The dreamy mood implies that it could be a childhood memory." And Sofia says, "'Eden Rock' is vague and hazy.

It could be read as symbolising the speaker's journey to the afterlife." So three quite different interpretations, then.

So pause the video while you discuss this in small groups, or if you're working on your own, that's okay.

Just make a few notes on your paper or in your exercise book, but thinking carefully about which of these interpretations you most agree with and why.

So pause the video for as long as you need to, and click play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, welcome back.

Some really fascinating discussions taking place there, and it was really intriguing to see how people had different interpretations and people agreed with different students.

And this is the beauty of analysing literature because so much of it is down to our personal interpretations.

It's likely that if more than one of us analyse the same text, we will have completely different opinions about the meanings, and the key ideas, and what we like and what we dislike.

So let's have a look at these opinions in a bit more detail then.

It's first important to note that all three of these interpretations are valid, but some were more complex than others.

So let's start with Jacob's view.

So he said that "Eden Rock" portrayed this idealistic view of a child having a family picnic.

And while this was valid, it could have included a bit more detail because Jacob's opinion or his interpretation of the text isn't picking up on that idea of the vague, dreamlike quality of the writing.

So now let's have a look at Alex and Sofia's views.

Well, interestingly, they both did pick up on this dreamlike vagueness.

Alex picked up on the dreamy mood, and Sofia described the poem as vague and hazy.

But interestingly, they have both interpreted it in different ways.

Alex believed that the dreamy mood implied that it could be a childhood memory, whereas Sofia thought that this vague, hazy way of describing things could symbolise the speaker's journey to the afterlife.

So let's explore these two interpretations in a bit more detail, starting with Alex's.

So what evidence do we have from the poem that backs up this reading of it as a childhood memory? Well, we have the idea that the parents are young, so they are too young to have, for example, an adult speaker.

So perhaps our adult speaker is thinking back to a time when he was younger and, therefore, when his parents were younger.

We've also got this idea that the descriptions of the parents are quite generalised and stereotypical, like caricatures of real people.

And that word caricatures means an over-the-top exaggerated portrayal of somebody focusing on just one or two aspects of their appearance or their personality.

And last of all, then, we get this childlike view of them as parents.

In our speaker's descriptions of his parents, we only ever see them, for example, interacting with him, and we don't actually see them interact with each other.

So we could argue that this interpretation of them may be seen through the eyes of the child.

These two people are just parents.

That's the role that our speaker views them in.

So now let's have a look at some supporting evidence for Sofia's view that this poem symbolises the speaker's journey to the afterlife.

So first of all, we have the use of ethereal and biblical imagery.

And these are two key words from today's lesson.

So remember in that ethereal is that delicate, heavenly quality, and biblical is references or links to Bible stories.

We also have what we know about the context of the poem that Causley the often wrote about loss.

So this could indicate that this scene might be a way of processing a loss of some sort.

And last of all, the resolution of the poem is quite ambiguous.

We have this scene where the parents are beckoning the child to cross the stream, but actually, by the end of the poem, we don't know whether they do or they don't.

So while Alex's interpretation is detailed and valid because it has this supported evidence, Sofia's is also nuanced because she links to methods and contextual knowledge.

And remember that word nuanced, again, one of our key words, relates to very specific details and underlying complexities.

And here, because she's linking to Causley's use of methods and also to things that we know may have influenced the choices that Causley made, we can argue that her interpretation is a bit more nuanced than Alex's.

So let's explore Sofia's interpretation further, starting with Causley's use of biblical and ethereal imagery.

So we've got the title "Eden Rock," and in particular the word Eden and how that links to the Garden of Eden from the Bible, which gives us the impression of this place as a hallowed and sacred place.

And we've also got that link to the couple who lived there alone.

So Adam and Eve lived alone in the Garden of Eden.

And here we've got this scene of two people seemingly alone at "Eden Rock." And we've also got this idea that the Garden of Eden symbolises a place of knowledge, temptation, and natural beauty.

So here with this naming of it as "Eden Rock," we have this impression that perhaps the speaker may know something while they're there or learn something, perhaps the idea of temptation and the idea of natural beauty.

And also then on line eight, we have the description of how the light shines through the mother's hair, giving her an ethereal glow.

And this gives us the impression that the speaker perhaps used their mother as angelic in some way.

Or if we are to read this impression of the speaker's journey to the afterlife, perhaps the mother here is a guardian angel of some sort.

Perhaps the parents are there as guardians to accompany their child on this crossing.

So we can also read this interpretation into the interaction between the speaker and his parents.

And in particular, we have some key words.

We have the word looks on line 14, the word beckon on line 17, and the word here on line 18.

And if we think about these three words together, we get this idea of sensory imagery.

It's very precise compared to the hazy, dreamy feel of the earlier stanzas.

So when Causley's describing the setting, it is very vague, very dreamy, using words like somewhere to very vaguely locate where the speaker and his parents might be.

However, when it comes to this interaction between the speaker and his parents, it is very precise.

And we also get this idea then that the first interaction between the speaker and his parents in this poem doesn't happen until the very end.

It very much seems like the speaker has stood at a distance, watching his parents, up until this point.

And until the mother looks over at him and then they beckon for him to cross the stream, we are not actually sure that the parents are aware that he is there at all.

And then, if we look at these keywords from the very end of the poem, then, the stream path and the word crossing, we've got this idea that the parents are encouraging their child to cross the stream.

And streams often symbolise some sort of separation when we see them in literature.

They run between two separate things, keeping them apart.

And in particular, we have a very famous river or stream from Greek mythology, which is called the River Styx.

And in Greek mythology, the River Styx separated the living world from the underworld, and souls of people that had recently died entered the underworld by crossing this river.

So in this sense, that word crossing their on line 19 could further imply that the speaker is crossing over, a euphemism for death, they're crossing over into the afterlife.

And finally then the resolution of the poem.

So on the very last line of the poem, Causley uses the pluperfect tense.

And remember one of our keywords, the pluperfect tense indicates that one thing happened before the thing that's being described in the sentence.

So we've got this idea of the pluperfect form, which shifts us further back in time even before the memory that is being described here.

So we have this idea that when our speaker considers that this scene or this image doesn't quite meet their expectations of what they thought it would be, that we've got this other point in time which suggests that they've thought about this before, they considered what this memory might be like, and it hasn't actually matched up to their expectations.

And we've also got this keyword this.

If this was a memory, so if this was something that our speaker has pictured in their mind, why would the speaker be surprised that this was what it was like, that this particular image surprised them? Surely it would be what they perhaps had expected because they'd conjured it in their own mind.

So this element of surprise that we can pick up in that final line from our speaker definitely enables us to read into this interpretation that perhaps this scene draws on a memory but isn't quite what they'd imagined it to be like.

And that links to this idea that humans often consider what comes after death.

I think it's probably fair to say that most people will consider this at some point in their life, what happens next, what it might be like, perhaps where people go, and it draws on that idea.

And in this sense, then, the resolution is quite ambiguous because, if we read this word crossing as perhaps symbolic of crossing over to the afterlife, our poem ends simply with this reflection of surprise from the speaker.

We don't see whether they do cross the stream or whether they don't.

So let's pause here and check our understanding of this interpretation of the poem.

So true or false, the title "Eden Rock" is an example of biblical imagery.

So pause the video while you make your mind up, and when you think you've decided, click play, and I'll reveal the correct answer.

Okay, welcome back, and well done to those of you who said true.

So now it's time to justify our response.

So have a look at these two explanations and decide which one you think best supports this idea that the title is an example of biblical imagery.

So pause the video while you have a read, and then when you're ready for me to reveal the correct answer, click play.

Okay, welcome back, and well done to those of you who said A, it could symbolise the Garden of Eden, implying that the setting of the poem is sacred, hallowed ground.

So now it's time for our first practise task of the lesson.

And what I'd like you to do is to complete the table, finding evidence to support both Alex and Sofia's interpretations of the poem.

So remember, we had Alex's interpretation that the poem depicted a childhood memory, and then we had Sofia's interpretation that the poem was a symbolic depiction of the journey to the afterlife.

So you've got two columns there to fill in.

So first of all, in the middle, we've got the evidence column.

So we need to find key words, key phrases from the text that support each of these interpretations.

And then, most importantly, over there on the right, we have space for our inferences.

So this is where we can zoom in and annotate any methods that we might see, any key words.

And we can also begin to think about the implied meanings that this evidence suggests.

Take as much time as you need to do this, have a really good think about supporting evidence and your inferences.

And then, when you've completed the table, take some time to discuss or to make some notes about which interpretation you most agree with and why.

Pause the video, and then when you are ready to feedback your responses, click play, and we'll carry on.

Okay, welcome back.

Really fantastic effort that I could see taking place there.

Lots of people going over that poem with a fine-tooth comb and trying to pick out not just the first relevant quotation but the best relevant quotation, which is fantastic to see.

So let's have a look then at how you could have completed the table.

So starting with this first interpretation that the poem depicts a childhood memory.

So for evidence, then, we could have had that reference to light on line eight and the word trembling on line four, because, if we remember, these two words helps to describe the speaker's parents and portrayed them as caricatures as if through the eyes of a child.

The mother is kind, and gentle, and almost angelic, whereas the father is strict and intimidating.

So we've definitely been able to pick up on this idea that we are seeing the parents through the child's eyes in these descriptions.

And then onto that second interpretation, then.

The poem is a symbolic depiction of the journey to the afterlife.

We could have had the verb beckon on line 17 and that word crossing on line 19, because the verb crossing could be read as symbolising crossing over, so euphemism for death, suggesting that the parents are there to guide the child to the afterlife.

So take some time to review your answers against what you can see here.

Remember that there is never just one valid interpretation of a text.

So don't worry if you've not chosen the same evidence as you can see in the table here.

As long as what you've written in your evidence column is linked to that interpretation and to your inferences, it's likely that your ideas are also valid.

So pause the video while you review your own answers, and click play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, so we are halfway through today's lesson, so well done for all your efforts so far.

In this next section, we are going to be writing about multiple interpretations of the text.

So effective analysis writing is detailed, tentative, and nuanced.

And today I would like to explore how we produce a nuanced analysis.

So let's just recap this key word nuanced.

What does it mean? Take a minute or two to discuss with the people around you, or make a few notes on your paper, and when you think you've got a definition in your mind, click play, and we'll discuss it.

Okay, welcome back.

I could hear lots of fantastic definitions there.

So well done if you picked up on the idea that nuance links to subtly different aspects or details.

So it's dealing with those real fine details, often with an underlying complexity.

So when we think about that with regards to analysis writing, it's linked to hidden or less obvious meanings or ideas.

So if we're writing a nuanced analysis, we are not just taking the most obvious interpretation, but perhaps we're considering more than one interpretation, and we're also considering subtle interpretations that might be a bit less obvious to us.

So Laura and Jun then are having a go at writing a nuanced analysis, and Laura is helping Jun, who's never done this before.

So Jun says he understands now what nuance means, but he's not quite sure how to include nuance in his writing.

And Laura has two top tips to help with that.

Firstly, she suggests writing about multiple interpretations of the text, and secondly, she recommends using the wider context of the text to help write about writers' intentions.

So thinking really carefully about why writers made the choices they did based on what we might know about their life or what we might know about their influences or beliefs.

So let's use Laura's advice as a checklist for our writing in this section.

So we'll pop that there as a reminder.

So let's have a look back at Sofia and Alex's interpretations from earlier on and borrow some of their ideas to help write our nuanced analysis.

So just a reminder then of their interpretation.

So we had Alex, who said that the poem depicted a childhood memory, and we had Sofia, who suggested that the poem was a symbolic depiction of the journey to the afterlife.

So to start with then Laura asks an important question, "Can we link these ideas in any way to consider the writer's intentions?" So I'd like to just throw that question out to you.

So take a moment or two to discuss it with the people near you or make some notes.

How could those two interpretations possibly be linked? So pause the video here while you have your discussion, and when you're ready to feedback your responses, click play, and we'll carry on.

Okay, well done.

Some really fantastic ideas there.

I like the creative ways that we were trying to link these two interpretations.

So well done if, like Jun, you picked up on this idea that we can link them because Causley's choice to describe what seems like a childhood memory could be a representation of the afterlife used to comfort the speaker on their journey.

So he is picking up on this idea that perhaps crossing over to the afterlife is something that naturally somebody might find traumatic or quite upsetting.

So maybe this use of a safe and familiar childhood memory as the setting helps to ease this trauma a little bit.

So Laura says, "Great idea, Jun." So now it's time to think about her second top tip.

So how could we link this idea to the wider context? Well, Jun says that Causley's poetry often focused on themes of love and loss, and we've obviously got that word loss there, which could link to the idea of death and the afterlife.

So if we put all of these pieces of information together, we actually have the building blocks of our nuanced analysis.

So let's use a single-paragraph outline to put this information together.

So here we have a grid that we could use to plan our paragraph.

We have our topic sentence at the top, which introduces our point, we have space for up to four examples of supporting detail, and then we have a gap at the bottom for our concluding sentence, where we summarise our arguments for that analysis paragraph and perhaps link to the writer's intentions or what we might know about the wider context of the poem.

So how could we put these four pieces of information into that single paragraph outline? Well, let's start with our topic sentence.

So we could say something like, "'Eden Rock' seems to depict a childhood memory, but it could also be interpreted as the speaker's journey to the afterlife after their death." And this is a particularly effective topic sentence because it is clear and concise, and it introduces those multiple interpretations.

So it is nuanced.

So now let's jump down to the concluding sentence.

So we've done our analysis in the middle.

Let's imagine how might we summarise this paragraph and link to the writer's intentions.

Causley's poetry often dealt with themes of love and loss, so it's likely that this memory is a representation of the afterlife used to comfort the speaker on their journey.

And what's particularly effective about this concluding sentence is it's leading with that contextual knowledge that Causley's poetry deals with themes of love and loss, but also that we've got that tentative suggestion there.

So therefore, it's likely that this interpretation linked to the afterlife is perhaps the one that we think is more compelling.

So it's actually using a bit of evaluation there as well.

We've got the two multiple interpretations, but at the end there, we are even going so far as to say which one we think is more likely based on the evidence.

So let's go back to Jun and Laura.

So Laura says, "Now all we need to do is support our ideas with evidence and analysis, and then we'll be ready to write the paragraph." And Jun says, "Thanks for your help, Laura.

I feel so much more confident about writing a nuanced analysis now." And I hope you do too.

So let's pause and check our understanding.

What were Laura's two top tips for nuanced analysis writing? So pause the video while you have a read of the four options and select the two top tips, and then click play when you're ready for me to reveal the correct answer.

Okay, welcome back, and well done to those of you who said A and D.

Laura's two top tips were to write about multiple interpretations of the text and to use the wider context of the text to help you write about the writer's intentions.

Okay, so it is time to practise these skills and produce a nuanced analysis of our own.

So to start with, I would like you to complete Laura's single-paragraph outline that we were planning on the previous slide.

And I'd like you to do that by adding in the missing supporting evidence.

So we've got that topic sentence and the concluding sentence that we wrote together.

And it's up to you to find these four pieces of supporting detail from the poem.

So we need quotations or references to the text, and some notes about analysis of methods, or zooming in on keywords, or some of these implied meanings, those subtle inferences that we are able to draw out of the text.

And then, when you've done that, I would like you to use this single-paragraph outline to write a nuanced analysis paragraph of your own.

So pause the video and give this a really good go.

Take as much time as you need.

And then, when you are ready to feedback your responses, click play.

Okay, welcome back.

I hope that you all had a chance to give that a really good go, and you've certainly got a much clearer idea of how to write a detailed and nuanced analysis.

So let's have a look at what you could have written.

"'Eden Rock' seems to depict a childhood memory, but it could also be interpreted as the speaker's journey to the afterlife after their death.

Causley's vague description of the parent's location as somewhere gives the poem a hazy dream-like mood, which implies that this scene is a memory of the past.

However, the name of the place, 'Eden Rock,' has biblical connotations, linking to the Garden of Eden.

This creates the impression of the place as sacred, hallowed ground and depicts the parents as symbolic representations of knowledge and truth, much like the original parents, Adam and Eve.

This depiction of a childhood memory arguably creates a familiar environment for the speaker to help them through a traumatic experience, their death.

In this way, the parent's encouragement of the speakers crossing the stream could be symbolic of their spiritual crossing into the afterlife.

Causley's poetry often dealt with themes of love and loss.

So it's likely that this memory is a representation of the afterlife used to comfort the speaker on their journey." So now it's time to review your response against Laura's checklist.

So have a read-through of your paragraph and think really carefully about whether you included multiple interpretations and whether you've linked the writer's intentions to what we know about the wider context.

And once you've had a chance to read through your response, I would like you to set yourself a what went well, and even better if for the next time you write analytically.

So pause the video while you have a chance to review your work, and when you're ready to continue, click play.

Okay, well done.

We have made it to today's finish line.

I hope you feel a lot more confident when it comes to analysing this poem.

So let's just summarise what we've covered in today's lesson.

Causley uses biblical and mythical imagery to suggest his parents are in the afterlife.

Causley uses ethereal imagery to depict his mother as an angelic figure.

Causley uses precise sensory imagery to make the moment of reunion seem like a memory.

Causley uses an ambiguous resolution to leave the nature of the reunion a mystery.

An effective analysis writing is nuanced because it includes multiple interpretations of the text.

I hope you've enjoyed today's lesson as much as I have, and I look forward to seeing you again soon.