Hello, everyone, my name's Miss Keller, and welcome to today's lesson.

In this session, we are going to be analysing Denise Levertov's poem, "What Were They Like?" So by the end of today's lesson, we'll be able to explain how Levertov uses language, form and structure to express her viewpoint.

So let's explore today's keywords: We have juxtaposition, which is placing two or more things side by side and contrasting them for effect or emphasis, free verse, which is a style of poetry that doesn't allow for a specific rhyme scheme, metre or other traditional poetic conventions, harmony, which is a pleasing combination of elements, for example, sounds or colours, which result in a sense of unity or balance, culture, which are the shared customs, beliefs, practises, and social institutions of a particular group of people or society, and finally, chemical warfare, which is the use of chemical substances such as napalm or Agent Orange to injure or kill enemy forces or civilians.

So how is today's lesson going to look? Well, we're going to start off by exploring Levertov's use of juxtaposition and imagery.

And then once we've done that, we are going to explore how she uses form and structure.

So I'd like to start off by thinking about that important keyword, "culture".

So take some time to discuss this question with the people around you, or if you're working on your own, that's okay, just make some notes on your paper or in your exercise book.

But I'd like us all to be thinking about this.

How do we learn about other people's cultures? So pause the video here while you take some time to think and discuss and make your notes.

And when you are ready to continue, click play and we'll go through it together.

Okay, welcome back.

A really interesting discussion there to start us off.

And it was really interesting to hear people discussing perhaps the differences between their own cultures in their small groups and thinking perhaps about how people might have learned about their culture or how they've learned about somebody else's.

So well done if you are also picking up on those ideas in your discussions as well.

So I'd like to start by thinking about symbols of culture.

So what do we associate with culture and perhaps which may be symbolic objects or practises do we use to learn about other people's cultures? So some really interesting responses that I overheard then.

First of all, music, which is a really, really fantastic way to learn about somebody's culture.

Music is very, very different across the globe.

Literature, which is another great way to learn about people's culture, what's been written about it or what has been written by people who are part of that culture.

Artwork.

Again, similarly, what artwork has this culture perhaps produced and what artwork perhaps have other people produced about that culture? It gives us this idea of different perceptions of a culture.

Food, clothing, religion and spiritual beliefs.

This is something that we consider to be quite an important part of culture, the spirituality behind it perhaps or the religion that maybe the majority of people in this culture follow.

And cultural objects, and these could be anything from perhaps historical artefacts, religious objects, items of clothing, musical instruments.

The list is endless.

So here we've got some really important symbols of culture and ways that we learn about other cultures in the world.

So in the opening stanza of "What Were They Like?", Levertov's first speaker questions the other speaker about aspects of Vietnamese culture.

And actually if we look in the poem, we can see this first speaker referring to a lot of these different cultural symbols.

So we have the links to music and literature there with the quotes, "singing" and "poem".

These are things that that first speaker inquires about.

And then also we have links to religion and spiritual beliefs and cultural objects in these quotes over there on the right hand side, "ceremonies", "ornament" and "lantern", which themselves could all be part of perhaps the religious aspect of this culture or just objects that are important to that culture.

So already we're starting to see then that this first speaker is inquiring about these different important aspects of somebody's culture.

So as the poem continues, the second speaker answers each of these questions posed by the first speaker, exploring how these important aspects of Vietnamese culture have been lost since the Vietnam War.

And remember that this poem is set in that alternate future where the anti-communist forces supported by the US won the Vietnam War.

So that's really important to remember when we are thinking about this discussion that takes place between the two speakers.

So let's explore the first question then, which was, did the people of Vietnam use lanterns of stones? So we've got that quotation from the first stanza, and now let's use that numerical reference, that one, to match it up with the answer to that question from the second stanza.

So the second speaker responds, "Sir, their light hearts turned to stone.

It is not remembered whether in gardens stone lanterns illumined pleasant ways." So with each of these questions and answers, what I would like to explore in a bit more detail, is how that answer directly responds to the aspect of culture that is mentioned in the question, and in particular how it emphasises and conveys that sense of devastation and the effects of the war on the Vietnamese culture.

So looking then at this first answer, we've got an example here of Levertov using imagery: "in gardens, stone lanterns illumined pleasant ways." We've got this really peaceful and tranquil image.

So we're emphasising that peaceful time that existed before the Vietnam War.

And then we've got a metaphor here up at the top, "their light hearts turned to stone." So this image emphasises the sadness and the devastation now.

So we've got that real shift from that peaceful image to this one now of sadness and loss following the events of the Vietnam War.

And then if we have a look, what's really interesting about this response is that Levertov uses the word "stone" in both the example of imagery and the metaphor, but she uses it to have a completely different meaning.

So she's working on this double meaning of the word "stone" here.

So in the first image, the "light hearts turned to stone", in the present, it symbolises perhaps how emotionally dead or numb, maybe, they feel the love is gone from their hearts because of the devastation that they've witnessed.

Whereas the stone in the image at the bottom is the stone lanterns that are lighting the gardens and the pleasant ways.

So we've really got that same word, but all the other words around it, the context that goes around that word really changes its meaning.

So as we go through these different questions and answers, I'd like you to think really carefully about how Levertov uses repetition and symbolism to link the past and the present in this way and show how the country has changed.

So let's have a look then at the second question.

So each of the answers, as I was just saying, juxtaposes these images of before and after to illustrate the devastating effect that it could have on Vietnam and its culture.

Because remember at the point where this poem was published, the war hadn't ended.

So this second question then, I'd like to hand over to you and see if you can explode the quote as we were just doing together before.

So I'd like you to think, how does Levertov use language to convey the devastation and tragedy caused by the war? So here is your second question and the second answer.

So pause the video while you have a read through and take some time to identify any methods that you can see in these quotations.

And also thinking really carefully about those key inferences and key ideas.

How is Levertov conveying the devastation and tragedy? So pause the video here for a moment and when you're ready to continue and discuss it together, click play and we'll carry on.

Okay, welcome back.

Some really interesting discussions taking place there.

So let's just pick up on some of the ideas that I overheard.

So first of all, I heard lots of people discussing this example of emotive language, "gathered once to delight".

So just as we got with that first question then, Levertov gives us this image of happiness, the image of what life was like before the Vietnam War started.

And this is juxtaposed by this quotation towards the end of the response, "their children were killed, but there were no more buds." So we've got that link there to the wider context because we've got this idea that the children were killed and also that there were no more buds.

And these could both be references to the use of chemical warfare by the anti-communist forces and the US, in particular, napalm, which was used to injure civilians, and a lot of famous pictures of the time show civilians fleeing from these devastating napalm attacks.

And one particularly famous picture of the Vietnam War shows a young child running away from a napalm attack, so it could potentially link to this idea.

And also Agent Orange, which was a toxic herbicide that was sprayed over croplands and forests and killed all vegetation in its way.

So we've got this idea that the youth and the new crops, the new buds, have all been killed by the Vietnam War.

So well done if you are managing to draw that important link then.

So we have a link here between blossom and buds, and we could argue that the buds actually symbolise new life and growth like the children, and both have been killed so therefore, the progress of Vietnam and Vietnam's culture and perhaps Vietnam's history has stopped.

So now let's have a look at the third question and answer, and I'd like you to do the same thing again.

Explode this quotation.

So question three then, we are thinking about laughter this time round.

So take a moment to read through these quotations and to discussing with the people around you or make some notes and when you're ready to go through it together, click play and we'll carry on.

Okay, welcome back, some really fascinating discussions taking place there again.

So let's pick up on some more of these great ideas.

So first of all, then I heard lots of people picking up on the use of emotive language and a metaphor here, "the laughter is bitter." So we've got this image of what Vietnam was like perhaps after the conflict.

So the "laughter is bitter to the burned mouth," which could imply that their happiness has turned to resentment because we've got that double meaning of the word bitter.

We've got that something can perhaps taste bitter.

It's not a nice experience for you to have it in your mouth like the laughter, but we've also got a reference to how bitter can refer to resentment.

If you're bitter about something, you're perhaps feeling quite resentful about it.

So this could suggest that their happiness has turned to resentment over what has happened to their home.

So maybe this could link to maybe how Vietnamese people themselves felt about what had happened to Vietnam following the war.

And we've also got another link to context there with that word "burned" because it really emphasises the devastating effects of the napalm attacks on civilians.

And those who weren't killed ended up with life changing injuries because napalm was a form of jellified petrol.

So when it was sprayed out, it would stick to civilians and many people ended up with quite severe and life-changing burns following these attacks.

So did we manage to find a link then between the past and the present here? Well, we have got this link to symbolism.

We've got this idea of perhaps laughter that may be the happiness that used to exist before contrasted or juxtaposed with this idea of a burned mouth.

The mouth has been so injured that perhaps they're unable to laugh, maybe physically unable to laugh, but also that they no longer have anything to feel happy about.

So we've really got that shift again between before the war and after the war.

So let's pause here and just check our understanding.

So can you complete this sentence? Levertov, what, images of before and after the Vietnam War to explore how the devastation could affect the country and its culture? So take a moment to read through these options and decide which word you think best fills that gap.

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 juxtaposes.

Because remember, what is important about these images of before and after, is that they contrasting, it's showing that really drastic contrast of life before the war versus life after the war.

Now, there was one other option that you could have chosen that would still have been valid, and that is the word includes because you could have said Levertov includes images of before and after the Vietnam War to explore how the devastation could affect the country and its culture.

Now that is valid, but juxtaposes is a much better way to explain Levertov's use of imagery here because it's through that comparison of both images that she's able to illustrate the devastating effects of the war.

By simply just including them, she wouldn't be able to show that relationship between what life was like before and what life is like after.

Okay, so it is time for the first practise task of today's lesson.

And what I would like you to do is to explode the last three of those answers from the poem.

So we've done the first three together, thinking about Levertov's use of methods, thinking about the inferences and those subtle meanings that she uses to convey that sense of tragedy and devastation.

So take some time to read through these last three questions and answers carefully and explode those quotations.

So annotating, drawing arrows off, perhaps highlighting or underlining keywords and making those all important detailed notes about your interpretations.

So pause the video here and take as much time as you need to give this a really good go.

And when you're ready to feedback your responses, click play and we'll carry on.

Okay, welcome back.

And can I just say a massive well done for the effort that you all put into that first task? It was so great to see so many of you engaging with the language of these quotations on such a small scale, really zooming in onto those individual words and phrases and drawing out those inferences.

So fantastic job.

So let's just explore some of the things that you could have unpicked in each one of these quotations then.

So starting with number four: So question four: Did they use bone and ivory, jade and silver for ornament? "A dream ago, perhaps.

Ornament is for joy.

All the bones were charred." So some things that you could have pulled out of this quotation then.

First of all, that metaphor, we've got this idea that happiness and joy are so far away now that they seem like a dream.

This phrase, "A dream ago, perhaps," which suggests that Vietnam post the Vietnam War is not a joyful place, and in fact those times of joy are so long ago.

We also had another link to context as well in that word "charred" because that's another word that links to this idea of burning.

So that also emphasises the death, the pain and the devastation of those napalm attacks on civilians.

And then we've got that relationship there in the word "bone", because we had the word "bone" in the question as a material that are used to make ornaments.

Whereas here, bone, we're getting that double meaning because we've got bones perhaps referring to the bones of the citizens or the civilians who were involved in those napalm attacks.

So very cleverly there, Levertov shifts that meaning of bone from something valuable to something valuable, but in a very different way, human loss, as opposed to simply material that we value.

Next one then, number five: Had they an epic poem? "When peaceful clouds were reflected in the paddies and the water buffalo stepped surely along the terraces, maybe fathers told their sons old tales.

When bombs smashed those mirrors, there was only time to scream." So what could we have pulled out of this quotation then? Well, first of all, there is lots of emotive language, which really emphasises that transition from those peaceful times, indicated there by the "peaceful clouds", to the devastation and horror.

And we've got these dramatic words at the bottom, "smashed" and "scream", which show us that the time after the war was a time full of fear.

And again, we've got another link to context here because we have got this link to how the crops were destroyed by Agent Orange, that other chemical weapon that was used because the paddies, which was another word for the rice fields reflected like mirrors before in this peaceful time.

And then that mirror was later smashed.

So we've got this link there between the mirror and how it's now been smashed, and that's an example of symbolism.

And we also have another example of symbolism in this quotation with the tales of history that were passed on from the fathers to the sons are now tales of horror and sadness.

So we have this link to a time where families may have shared tales of adventure perhaps, whereas now these tales are just stories of horror and sadness.

And the last one then, did they distinguish between speech and singing? "There is an echo yet of their speech, which was like a song.

It was reported that their singing resembled the flight of moths in moonlight.

Who can say? It is silent now." So we could have picked up on this metaphor first of all then, this word "echo".

"There is an echo yet of their speech," which implies that faint memories of their culture remain as an echo.

But perhaps the thing with an echo is it's not always clear and it certainly isn't as clear as the sound the first time.

So we are getting this idea that these memories are very, very faint.

And we've also got a simile and some natural imagery later on with this description of how their singing was like moths in the moonlight, this image that their music was beautiful and serene and peaceful.

And then at the end there we've got that rhetorical question, "Who can say?", which suggests that in this alternate future, Vietnam has been obliterated by the war.

And so not much is known about Vietnamese culture.

"Who can say?" The speaker isn't sure.

Because "It is silent now." There's nothing to learn.

There are no stories being told, no songs being sung.

There is nothing that we can learn.

Okay, so we have made it to the halfway point of today's lesson.

So well done for all your hard work so far and keep it up.

In this section we are going to be exploring Levertov's use of form and structure.

So I'd like to start by thinking about Levertov's use of tenses.

So throughout the poem, Levertov uses the past and present tense to explore the effects of war.

And this is something that we've been discussing in that first section.

So thinking about what life was like before the Vietnam War, and then thinking about what life was like after and how these people are looking back on it from that alternate future.

So over to you, what I would like you to do is make a list of all the past tense verbs in the second stanza of the poem.

So you want lines 10 to 31 there.

So pause the video while you have another look over your copy of the poem and identify those all important past tense verbs and then click play when you're ready to discuss it together.

Okay, welcome back.

So lots of you, I overheard identifying the fact that there are quite a lot of past tense verbs in this poem.

We have got turned, not remembered, illumined, gathered, killed, burned, charred, reflected, stepped, told, smashed, reported, and resembled, and a great way to identify past tense verbs, as I'm sure you've discovered there, is looking for that "ed" ending.

Now, there are some irregular verbs that don't use "ed", like told, for example, but most of them do.

So Levertov uses these past tense verbs to explore what was lost in the war.

And I'd like to explore this idea a bit further, picking up on some specific examples.

So this poem has quite a structured timeline and there are three distinct points of time that are referred to in this poem.

We have before the war, during or just after the war, and then this imagined alternate future.

And before the war was a time of peace and progress and happiness.

Whereas during the war it's characterised by this sense of loss and sadness, pain and devastation.

And then finally, the imagined future is characterised by this idea of what was forgotten or destroyed or silent or dead.

So some of the past tense verbs, the ones that I've highlighted there in green show what existed before the war.

So they show this time of peace, progress, and happiness, whereas others, these particular verbs in green, emphasise how it was lost.

So these shift to that during the war time period.

On the final line of the poem, Levertov shifts to the present tense.

So in this final time setting, the imagined future, "Who can say? It is silent now." So I'd like to hand over to you for a discussion.

Why do you think that Levertov shifts to the present tense in this final line? And what effect does this create? So pause the video here while you take some time to discuss this or make some notes if you're working on your own.

And when you're ready to go through it together, click play and we'll carry on.

Okay, some really interesting discussions taking place there.

So well done if you were also picking up on this idea that the shift to the present tense could convey a sense of continued loss and grief, that sense of grief, the silence perhaps that has come from the effects of this devastation is continuing.

It's not over.

So it suggests that the effects of the devastation have had a long lasting impact on Vietnam and Vietnamese culture.

Perhaps it hasn't been able to rebuild after that devastation.

So now I would like to move on to discussing Levertov's use of form and structure, and in particular how it helps to convey this sense of continued grief and loss that we were just discussing.

So the poem is written in free verse, which means there's no rhyming pattern and there's no rhythmic pattern.

So there's no regular pattern throughout this poem in terms of the sounds.

However, Levertov does still use line breaks to organise the lines and the stanzas.

And also with this numerical system of the questions and the answers that match up, we can see that the structure and the organisation of the poem was still something that was very important to Levertov despite the lack of rhyme or rhythm in a pattern.

So I would like to hand over to you then.

How could Levertov's structural choices here help to convey her attitudes towards the war and the devastation caused? So pause the video while you have a think and you take some time to discuss this or make your notes and click play when you're ready for us to discuss it together.

Okay, welcome back.

Some really imaginative interpretations of Levertov's use of structural choices there.

So, well done.

So just to pick up on some important aspects then.

The lack of rhyme and rhythm could symbolise the lack of harmony brought by the war, since there is no musical quality to the poem.

there Is no music since "It is silent now." And we've got that all important link there to music and singing in that last part of the second stanza.

However, the use of line breaks and stanzas adds some structure and organisation which could imply that there are some remnants or echoes of the society and the culture that have survived.

So what's really interesting there is that we are using this structural analysis to actually link to some of Levertov's language choices as well.

So now it is time to pause and check our understanding.

So this time I would like you to fill in the missing words from this paragraph.

So take some time to read it carefully and decide which words you would use to fill each of those gaps.

And I've given you that first letter there so you can use that as a bit of a clue to jog your memory if you can't remember.

So pause the video while you take some time to have a think.

And when you're ready to go through the answers together, click play and we'll carry on.

Okay, welcome back.

So let's go through these sentences together and fill in those missing words.

So there are three time settings in the poem.

The distant past which was a time of peace and happiness, the more recent past, the war, which was a time of loss, sadness, and devastation, and the present, an alternate future, where the memories of Vietnamese culture have died and been forgotten.

Did you manage to get all four of those words? Well done if you did.

So now it is time for the final practise task of today's lesson.

And what I would like you to do is to write a paragraph answering the following question: How does Levertov use form and structure to convey a continued sense of grief and loss? So I'd like you to use the checklist below to help you add detail to your response.

So I'd like you to begin your response by leading with key ideas and inferences and avoiding feature-spotting, which is when we begin our paragraph by identifying a writer's method.

This is a great thing to do, but it's much more effective later on in our paragraph when we can use it with our supporting evidence.

So it's really important that we lead with those meanings or those inferences and we use that language or structural analysis a bit later on.

We support our ideas with evidence from the poem.

We analyse and zoom in on Levertov's use of methods.

So it is there to use, but remember we are not doing it in that first sentence, link to the writer's intentions or the wider context and use tentative language.

So these are words like "perhaps", "implies", "may" or "could" to identify and indicate those personal interpretations because then that way, we are showing our reader that this is our personal interpretation and we are not trying to state it as necessarily a concrete fact, because we can never know the real reasons why Levertov made the choices that she did.

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

Take as long as you need to write a really detailed question, thinking really carefully about how you are directly responding to that question focus.

So conveying that continued sense of grief and loss.

So pause the video here and click play when you are ready to go through it together.

Okay, welcome back.

So I hope you feel really pleased with the paragraph that you've just produced.

Writing analysis paragraphs is not an easy thing to do, but it's such a useful skill for you to have.

So it's really important that we keep practising and looking at ways that we can continue to add detail to these paragraphs.

So what I'd like you to do now then is to self-assess your work using the checklist.

So I would like you to ask yourself these questions that we went through earlier.

So did you: lead with key ideas and inferences and avoid that feature-spotting? Did you support your ideas with evidence from the poem? Did you analyse or zoom in on Levertov's use of methods? Did you link to the writer's intentions or the wider context? And finally, did you use that tentative language to show those personal interpretations? So I have one final challenge for you in today's lesson.

What I would like you to do once you've self-assessed your work is to set yourself a "what went well" and an "even better if" for next time.

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

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

I hope you feel a bit more confident when it comes to analysing "What Were They Like?".

So let's just summarise what we've covered in this session.

There are many juxtaposed images of beauty and destruction in the poem.

The past tense highlights what is lost in war.

The poem ends in the present tense, creating a sense of continued loss.

The poem is written in free verse, which could represent the lack of harmony and peace the war brings.

And finally, Levertov uses symbolism and repetition to emphasise the contrast between life before and after the war.

So I'd just like to say thank you so much for joining me in today's lesson, and I really hope that you enjoyed it and it helped you to feel a bit more confident with this poem.

Have a fantastic day and I hope to see you again soon.