Hello everyone.

My name's Ms. Keller, and welcome to today's lesson.

In this session, we will be analysing how Seamus Heaney uses language and structure in his poem, "Follower".

For this lesson, you'll need a copy of your AQA Love and Relationships poetry anthology.

Okay, so by the end of today's lesson we'll be able to explore how Heaney presents the admiration found in a parental relationship and how this changes over time.

So let's have a look at today's key words.

We have awe, prowess, earnest, quatrain, and caesura.

So what do these words mean? Well, awe is a feeling of wonder or admiration, often mixed with fear or amazement.

Prowess is an exceptional skill or ability, especially in a particular field or activity.

Earnest is serious and sincere in intention and effort, showing deep conviction or dedication.

A quatrain is a four line stanza in a poem, and caesura is a pause or break within a line of poetry, often marked by punctuation.

So how is today's lesson going to look? Well, we are going to start off by comparing the father and the son.

And then when we've done that, we are going to move on to exploring Heaney's use of form and structure.

So when we start thinking about the father and son, I would like to zoom in on this idea of prowess, so being particularly skilled or talented at something.

And I'd like to look at physical, intellectual, and emotional prowess.

Now, we often use parts of the body to describe when somebody is particularly skilled at something.

For example, "They have arms of steel" Is another way of saying they're particularly strong.

"She has an eye for design" Is another way of saying she's skilled at designing things.

And, "He has a good heart" Again, is another way of saying he is skilled with kindness and compassion.

So if you can see in each of these examples, rather than using the word, "Skilled" For example, we're zooming in on the particular body parts that each of these people would use for that particular skill.

So for example, if you're really strong, it's because of your arms that you are strong.

So I would like to hand over to you for a discussion.

So thinking about this idea of using body parts to describe skills, Heaney does exactly this to describe the father's prowess as a farmer.

So can you find any examples of this in Follower? So pause the video while you grab your copies of the poem and have a good read through and take some time to discuss this with the people around you or to make some notes on your paper or in your exercise book if you're working on your own.

And when you're ready to discuss your responses, click play and we'll continue.

Okay, some really fantastic discussions there to start us off, and I liked that we were all picking up on different parts of the poem because there are actually multiple examples of Heaney doing this in the text.

So let's just explore some of the responses that I overheard.

First of all, we had this idea that he was clicking to control the horse there on line four.

So zooming in on his mouth or his voice.

It's the noises that he makes that makes him so skilled at controlling this horse.

And then down on lines 11 and 12, Heaney refers to the speaker's eyesight, talking about how he narrowed his vision so that he was able to map the land in front of him, which implies that he has a shrewd eye and he knows the land well.

And then on line two, we had a simile whereby the speaker's father's body was likened to a sail, which gives the impression that he is big and strong like a ship.

And then there on line 15 we had that description of how when the speaker kept falling over on the land, his father picked him up and gave him a piggyback.

And this verb, "Rode" Has connotations that the father is strong and he has stamina 'cause perhaps it reminds us of riding a horse, for example.

And if we take that comparison even further, we could also infer that this presents the father as quite dependable.

He's almost a trusty steed to our speaker.

And then online 18, we had the description of how the speaker wanted to be like his father when he got older.

And one of the ways that he describes how he's going to be an expert farmer is by using his strength and a stiffening is one of the movements that he described.

So he's going to go rigid and strong just like his father was.

And if we compared this description of perhaps a speaker's body to that one just above it, we also had this idea that the father's arms were perhaps quite stiff like the mast of a ship.

And then finally on line 13, we've got this word, "Wake" To describe the area or the gap that the speaker is following behind.

So this implies that the speaker's father traverses the furrowed land quite easily, which we know is not necessarily an easy thing to do because it's something that our speaker struggles to do himself.

So now we've discussed a few examples, I'd like to hand back over to you and I'd like you to think about why you think Heaney describes the father in this way and what it suggests about the speaker's feelings towards him.

So we're really zooming in on the writer's intentions here.

So take some time to discuss this with the people around you or make some notes on your paper or in your exercise book.

Click pause and then click play whenever you're ready to continue.

Okay, welcome back.

Some really interesting discussions taking place there.

And I liked how you was zooming in on Heaney's intentions and thinking about why he perhaps chose to describe the father using the specific words that he did.

So I'd like to pick up on some important ideas that I overheard.

So these descriptions depict the father as an expert farmer and help him to convey a sense of awe and admiration that his son feels for him.

Perhaps Heaney does this to capture the sense of wonder many of us feel when observing our parents completing adult tasks that seem enormously challenging to us as children.

So we're really picking up on that idea there that we are seeing the father through the eyes of his son who admires him.

So now it's time for us to zoom in on how Heaney describes the speaker.

So I'd like you to go back over the poem again and find any examples of how the speaker is described, and a really helpful hint is to look for descriptions that use that first person pronoun, "I." So pause the video while you take some time to read through and discuss the evidence you found, and when you're ready to continue, click play.

Okay, welcome back.

So let's have a look at some of these descriptions of the speaker.

So first of all, on line 17 we've got that verb, "Wanted" Which suggests that our speaker is ambitious and he looks up to his father because when he's an adult he wants to be just like his dad.

And then on line 22, we've got another verb there, "Yapping" Which presents our speaker as noisy, as chatty and perhaps as a distraction to his father, so actually quite the opposite of this person who wants to be an expert farmer when he's older.

And then look, we've got these references to this ungainly and clumsy side to our speaker.

So on lines 13 and 14, we've got this idea that he stumbled and then he fell.

And then down on line 21 we've got this idea of him tripping, which suggests that it's not easy for our speaker to walk over the furrowed land in quite the way it was for his father.

And finally then we've got this reference again to how his father gave him a piggyback and he rode along.

And also on line 19, we've got the word, "Follow" Which shows that our speaker is walking behind his father.

And both of these descriptions show how dependent he is on his dad.

This is not something that our speaker is an expert at himself in the way that his father is, and he needs his father's help and support while he's accompanying him out on the fields.

So again, it's time for us to think about Heaney's intentions here.

So why do you think he describes the speaker in this way, and what does it tell us about how the speaker views himself? So pause the video here while you discuss this with the people around you or make some notes on your paper and when you're ready to discuss it, click play and we'll feedback responses.

Welcome back, again some absolutely fantastic discussions taking place there.

And I was really impressed to see that not only were people zooming in on keywords and phrases, but they were also starting to identify Heaney's use of methods, which is fantastic because we're gonna be zooming in a bit more on Heaney's use of methods in the second half of today's lesson.

So how did all these descriptions present our speaker, and why do we think that Heaney chose to describe the speaker in this way? Well, Heaney's descriptions of the speaker present him as a clumsy, noisy distraction.

This suggests that he has a low opinion of himself as a nuisance compared to his father, the expert farmer.

Arguably Heaney describes him in this way to emphasise the earnest enthusiasm of children.

Despite his lack of physical prowess, the speaker is undeterred in his ambitions to plough like his father when he's older.

Perhaps Heaney is suggesting that the physical and intellectual skills possessed by the father are things that come with age.

So here Heaney's really capturing that earnest enthusiasm of children who aren't put off by the fact that perhaps they're not very good at something, it can still be something that they strive to do in later life because they have this earnest ambition that in time they will gather those skills.

And perhaps here Heaney is implying that the skills a father has come with age, this physical strength and the wisdom and the knowledge of the land are all things that the speaker's father has acquired over the course of his lifetime.

So now it's time to pause and check our understanding.

So which of these body parts does Heaney use to emphasise the father's physical prowess? So pause the video while you have a think and 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 C, shoulders.

He actually likens them to a sail, giving the impression that they are strong like a ship's mast.

So now it's time for the first practise task of today's lesson, and what I would like you to do is to complete the following sentences, supporting your ideas with evidence from the text.

So as you'll see in a second, each of these sentences are more or less the same sentence stem.

However, they all begin with different words.

And for that reason it allows us to take these sentences on a different journey.

So for example, our first one, "Where the father is" Something, "The son is" Something.

So we have that opportunity to compare them.

"Whilst the speaker is" Something, "The father is" Something else.

"Despite the son being" Something, "The father is" Something.

And finally, "Although the father is" Something, "The son" Something else.

So you've got four different ways there of being able to compare these two characters in the poem.

So take as long as you need and think really carefully about how Heaney shows important differences between these two people in the poem.

So pause this video while you give this a really good go and click play when you're ready to feedback your responses.

Okay, welcome back.

So here's just an example of what you could have written.

Remember that this task very much asks for your personal interpretation, so don't worry if what you've written is not exactly the same as what you've got here.

As long as you are using that all important evidence from the text, it's likely that your responses are also valid.

So number one then, "Where the father is able to traverse the "Sod" With ease, the son is unable to do so without, "Tripping" As he walks behind in his "Wake".

This emphasises his physical strength in the eyes of the speaker." Okay, the next one then.

"Whilst the speaker is easily frustrated with himself, describing how he is a "Nuisance" The father is patient and kind, even carrying his son when he struggles to walk on the uneven ground." And the next one.

"Despite the sun being "Always" Noisy and chatty, the father is patient with him, still allowing him to accompany him out on the fields." Finally, "Although the father is an "Expert" Who knows the land better than his young son, the son believes he may develop these skills as he gets older since he's undeterred from "Wanting" To do the same job as his father." So take a moment to review your work and most importantly, check that you have included some evidence from the text in each of your responses.

So pause the video while you reread your work and redraft if you need to, and when you're ready to continue, click play.

Okay, so we've made it to the halfway point of today's lesson, and a massive well done for all the effort that you've put in so far.

So now we've compared the father and the son, it's time for us to explore Heaney's use of form and structure.

So I'd like to start by focusing on the resolution of the poet.

So in the final stanza of Follower, Heaney shifts forward in time to what he describes as, "Today." So at this point in the poem, we can assume that we're not dealing anymore with this child speaker and perhaps now we have an adult who's looking back at this particular memory.

And what we learn by the end of the poem is that the father and son's roles have reversed.

The father now echoes the ungainly and clumsy actions of the son in the earliest standards, and we can see that in Heaney's use of repetition of this word, "Stumbled" Or, "Stumbling" Because we have it there on line 13 to describe how the son stumbled when he was a child, and then on line 23, we have it to refer to the father.

So we get this idea that where the son was the follower that were there from the title earlier on, it's actually now the father who follows the son.

And this seems supported again by an echoing of ideas because on line 19 we've got this description of how the son follows his father, whereas on line 24 we get the description that now the father is behind the son.

So again, they've physically swapped places there in terms of who is in front and who is behind.

So I'd like to take this idea even further and I'd like to think about Heaney's use of structure.

So over to you.

Would you describe the structure of the poem as regular or irregular? So pause the video while you have another look at the text and discuss it with the people around you or make some notes, and when you're ready to feedback, click play and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back.

So well done if you picked up on this idea that the poem has a regular structure.

It's made up of six quatrains, one of our keywords from today's lesson, and a quatrain is a four line stanza.

So we've got these regular chunks, each one containing an even, regular number of lines, and those lines are all of roughly similar lengths.

And we can see this when we look down at the poem because it isn't going like this on the page, but rather it runs in quite a neat and ordered block.

So now we thought about the structure, let's think about the form.

So how does Heaney use rhyme? So what I would like you to do is have a look at stanza one of Follower, and in particular those rhyming words that come at the end of the line.

So I've just put them on the screen there for you.

So just looking at these four words, can you see any pattern to the rhyming words here? So pause the video while you discuss this or make some notes, and when you're ready to feedback, click play.

Welcome back.

So well done If you picked up on this idea that we've got these two rhyming lines, line two and line four, "Strong" And, "Tongue." And then if we look at lines one and three, we've got, "Plough" And, "Furrow".

So these words don't rhyme.

However, there are some similarities between them in that they both use open vowel sounds, so plough and furrow.

So they're not completely different.

There's still some sort of relationship between those two lines.

So let's think about how he uses rhyme throughout the rest of the poem.

So I'd like you to have a look through the rest of the poem and underline any more rhyming words that you can see and start trying to think about whether there's any pattern to how these rhyming words are used.

So pause the video while you reread the poem and pick out those rhyming words and when you're ready to discuss it, click play and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back.

As I'm sure you've probably noticed there are quite a lot of rhyming words in this poem.

So here are the final words from every single line in the poem, and if we look, we've got lots of rhyming words.

And actually, if we look at each of the stanzas, we can see that there is a pair of rhyming words in every single stanza.

Now they don't necessarily always appear in the same place.

We have some stanzas that have lines two and four as our rhyming lines, such as stanza one, four, five, and six.

And then we also have stanza two and three, which still have a pair of rhyming lines.

However, this time they are lines one and three.

So there is some sort of pattern here and there is a regularity in that each stanza has some sort of alternating rhyming lines every other line.

So we could describe the rhyme scheme in this poem as semi-regular.

There are certain rules, but perhaps they don't always occur in exactly the same pattern.

And Heaney often uses open vowel sounds to link the non-rhyming lines.

So we've also got that other relationship there between those two non-rhyming lines.

So over to you again then for another discussion.

Why is this significant? So thinking really carefully about Heaney's use of form here and perhaps what deeper meanings that we can infer from that.

So pause the video where you discuss this with the people around you or make some notes and click play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, welcome back.

So the semi-regular rhyme scheme could symbolise the stable nature of a parental relationship.

Although some elements of this rhyme scheme, and perhaps a parental relationship, are unpredictable, the love of the parent is regular and stable, possibly symbolised in the cohesion of the regular rhymes.

It may also signify he's deep respect for the past and traditions since alternate rhyming lines is characteristic of ballads, one of the oldest poetic forms. So you've got two possible inferences that we can make about Heaney's use of form here.

One that it's helping to symbolise the nature of that all important parental relationship, but also perhaps a wider contextual link in that it might draw on Heaney's love of the past and traditions by perhaps having some relationship to that alternate rhyming structure of poetic ballads.

Finally, then I would like to look at Heaney's use of caesuras, and in particular two examples.

So lines 8 and 24 have the same structure, using a caesura indicated by comma in both cases to separate two linked clauses.

And I'd like to think really carefully about what Heaney is saying on each of these lines to think about the significance of that repeated structure.

So what is interesting about both of these lines? So take some time to have a look at them and discuss them with the people around you or make some notes about what is being said in these lines and what the relationship between them might be.

So pause the video here and click play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, welcome back.

So well done if you picked up on this idea that both lines signify a turning point.

So line eight, it describes the point in the narrative where the father turns the plough at the head-rig, so he physically turns the plough around and starts to make his way back to the farm.

Arguably line 24 also signifies a turning point since this is when the father's and son's roles have been reversed and now it's the father who follows the son.

So on line 24, we've got a bit more of a metaphorical turning point.

Both of these lines with the repeated structure do indicate a shift or a turn of some sort.

So that's really interesting to think about.

So let's pause here and check our understanding of Heaney's use of form and structure.

So true or false? Arguably, Heaney's use of alternating rhyming lines in each stanza could symbolise his deep respect for the past and traditions.

So pause the video here while you have a think and click play when you'd like me to reveal the correct answer.

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

So now it's time to justify your answer.

So have a look at these two possible explanations and decide which one you think best supports our idea above.

So click pause while you have a look at the answers and make your mind up, and 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, this rhyming pattern is characteristic of ballads, one of the oldest forms of narrative poetry.

Okay, and now it's time for the final practise task of today's lesson.

So what we'd like you to do is to write an analytical paragraph answering the following question, "What do you think the message of the poem, "Follower" Is?" And I would like you to use this checklist to ensure that you add enough detail to your response.

So thinking really carefully about using clear topic sentence to introduce your argument clearly, backed up by evidence from the poem.

An analysis of writer's methods, so zooming in on keywords and phrases and identifying Heaney's use of methods.

And then exploring the writer's influences and links to the wider context.

So pause the video for as much time as you need to give this a really good go, and when you are ready to feedback your response, click play and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back.

So now it's time to self-assess your answer using the checklist.

So I'd like you to take a moment to really think carefully about whether or not you included each of these things.

So pause the video while you review your work, and perhaps underline or tick off or annotate where you've included everything from that checklist.

And if you haven't managed to include everything, don't worry.

That's okay because it is an opportunity for you to improve next time, so maybe just give yourself an, "Even better if" Underneath or set yourself a target, reminding yourself which things you need to make sure you include next time round.

So pause the video while you do this and click play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, welcome back.

I hope you had a chance to review your work and think really carefully about your what went wells and your even better ifs for next time.

So one final thing that I would like you to do then.

I would like you to read your answer one more time and think about whether you remember to use tentative language to indicate that your ideas are personal interpretations.

And I've put some examples of tentative language in that box there.

So we're thinking about words like, "Suggest, implies, perhaps, arguably." So take a moment to read your answer again and underline or highlight where you've used tentative language.

And again, if you haven't, don't worry, that's an opportunity for you to improve, so just take a few minutes to redraft your answer to include some of the words from that box.

So pause the video here and click play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, so we've made it to the end of today's lesson and a massive well done for all your hard work today.

I hope you're feeling a lot more confident when it comes to analysing how Heaney uses language, form, and structure in the poem, "Follower." So let's just summarise what we've covered in today's lesson.

Heaney uses imagery to convey the sense of wonder or an admiration felt towards a parental figure.

Heaney uses powerful verbs to suggest how the speaker felt inadequate when with his father.

Heaney uses a resolution to reveal how the roles of the father and son are reversed in their later years.

The stable rhyme scheme could mirror the stable nature of parental support the speaker felt.

And finally, Heaney's use of caesura could indicate a turning point in the poem at the end of stanzas two and six.

So thanks again for joining me and I hope you enjoyed today's lesson as much as I did.

I look forward to seeing you again soon.