Hello there.

Mr. Barnsley here.

Fantastic to see you today.

Thank you so much for joining me as we continue to study the Edexcel Belonging Poetry Cluster.

Now in today's lesson, we're gonna be doing some comparison.

We're gonna be looking at three poems in particular, and thinking about the similarities, but also the subtle differences that might exist between them.

So you are going to need a copy of the anthology, make sure that is in front of you.

If you don't, at the very least, you're gonna need to make sure you have got a copy of "Peckham Rye Lane," a copy of "Jamaican British," and a copy of "Island Man" in front of you.

So they are the three poems that we are looking at in today's lesson.

So once you're prepared, once you are ready, then I think it is time for us to begin.

Let's get started.

So let's have a look at the outcome of today's lesson then, shall we? By the end of the lesson, you are gonna be able to describe the differences between the different types of cultural belonging we see in this poetry cluster.

So some words to keep an eye out for, one, multicultural.

This means relating to or containing several cultures or ethnic groups within a society.

Belonging, a key word in this cluster means a feeling of being happy or comfortable as part of a particular group.

Heritage is the history, the traditions, the practises of a particular country or society.

Your identity is the set of qualities, beliefs, personal traits, and appearance that categorise you as a person.

And nuance, nuance means a very slight difference in appearance, meaning, or sound.

Okay, keep an eye out for all five of these words and see if you can use them in your own discussions and writing today.

So in today's lesson, we are gonna be thinking about the different types of cultural belonging that we see in some of the poems in the anthology.

And we're gonna be looking at three poems today, "Peckham Rye lane," "Island Man," and "Jamaican British." And we're gonna take it in turns to compare pairs of these.

So let's start by comparing "Peckham Rye Lane" and "Island Man." So when you're comparing poems in the anthology, it's very common that you will work comparing two at a time.

Now, all of the poems in the anthology have been chosen because they're all in some way linked to the idea of belonging, social change or identity.

However, you will find that some poems form more natural partnerships than others, and it's up to you to try and choose the most appropriate pairings, depending on the question or the focus that you've been asked to look at.

So I think it's really useful when you're comparing poems to think about it as if it's the two poets having a conversation with each other.

For example, we might imagine Blakemore who wrote "Peckham Rye Lane" and Nichols who wrote "Island Man," having a conversation about multiculturalism and this idea of belonging.

Do you think then the authors, the poets of "Peckham Rye Lane" and "Island Man," do you think there would be big ideas that they would agree on? Is the similarities in kind of what they're writing about and their messages? What big ideas might they agree on? Over to you for this one, so do pause the video.

If you've got a partner, you can talk through this with them, otherwise you can just think through this independently.

All right, over to you, pause the video, give us a go, and press Play when you think you're done.

Welcome back.

I heard lots of you talking about the similarities between these poems, and I heard quite a few of you saying something similar to what Alex said, which was, "I think they'd both agree on this, that a sense of place and a sense of community, are really important for belonging." So that seems to be a real commonality between them, that the importance of place and community, and how they affect our sense of belonging.

Well then, if you said something similar to Alex, but of course, you might have had slightly different ideas as well.

So let's consider some of the language used in these poems. So here's two words from Nichols' "Island Man," surf and wombing.

I want to open your copy of the anthology, make sure you've got your copy of "Peckham Rye Lane" in front of you.

And I want to see if you can find any similar imagery or words in "Peckham Rye Lane." Can you make a connection between these words from "Island Man," and some of Blakemore's vocabulary choices in "Peckham Rye Lane?" All right, pause the video.

You can do this in pairs.

You can work by yourself.

Can you find any similar imagery or words? Press Play when you think you're done.

Welcome back, it was great to see you looking so carefully at the poem there.

Now, two examples of words that you might have picked, of course, you might have picked others as well.

So surf, you might have linked to jellyfish, and wombing, you might have linked to comfort.

What are the connotations then of each of these pairs of words? What are the connotations of each of these pairs of words? Pause the video, have a think, and press Play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back.

I can hear some great ideas there.

And I heard lots of you making this connection between surf and jellyfish, and saying, "Well, this is the imagery of the sea." I'm seeing imagery of the sea here.

And taking that one step further and thinking, "Well, the connotations of the sea could be peace, could be freedom, could be the coexistence, the jellyfish living among in the sea, amongst all the other creatures that live there." For wombing and comfort, I heard lots of you talking about words like safety and protection, and again, this sense of peace.

So when comparing poems, you really want to consider the similarities in the poet's ideas, but you also really want to be thinking about the subtle differences.

Often the poems that you're gonna pick to compare, you're gonna pick because they have these overarching similarities.

But to do a really interesting comparison, you don't want to just be saying how these poems are really similar.

You want to be looking for those subtle differences.

So poetry is born out of imagination, it's born out of different people's experiences, and their own individuality.

Therefore, you know there is always going to be subtle differences in the poet's intention and the message they're trying to get across, even if the overarching big ideas are the same.

And so if we return to our analogy of poetry comparison, being like a conversation between poets, we know there's always gonna be subtle differences.

Because in any conversation, it's unlikely that two people are gonna agree about absolutely everything.

We're gonna expect in any two people, there'll be some element of difference or disagreement.

So arguably, in both of these poems, we've said that the image we use creates this sense of peace, this sense of freedom, this sense of safety.

Discussion question for you.

Do Nichols and Blakemore attribute this sense of peace, freedom, and safety to the same concept of big idea? So do the two poets kind of link this idea of safety to the same idea? Is there a lot? Are we saying these poems are about exactly the same thing, or is there some difference here? Pause the video, have a think in pairs or by yourself, and press Play when you are ready to continue.

Welcome back.

I heard lots of you saying some great ideas, and I want to shine a spotlight on something fantastic that I heard one of the two of you saying.

I heard lots of you saying this idea that, "Actually no.

Whilst the big ideas here in the poems are quite similar, Blakemore arguably attributes these ideas of what makes you feel peaceful, what makes you feel free, what makes people safe to multiculturalism.

This idea of different cultures, all kind of living alongside each other, working alongside each other." In Blakemore's poem, it implies that people are stronger together, and they should be free to live how they want.

Whereas in Nichols' poem, it really suggests that this sense of freedom, links much more closely to heritage.

We know the Island Man kind of feels his most free and most safe when he's thinking and dreaming of his island, where he was from, the island that represents his culture and his heritage.

So you can see that both poems are connected in the way that they kind of focus on this idea of peace and freedom of safety.

But what brings that peace? What brings that freedom? What brings that safety is different across the two poets.

All right, let's check to see how we're getting on then, shall we? True or false, both Blakemore and Nichols use imagery that suggests a sense of safety and protection.

Is that true or false? I also wants you to explain why.

Why did you say it was true or why did you say it was false? Pause the video, give this a go, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

Welcome back, well done if you said that was true, and you might have justified that by using those words, wombing and comfort, which both have these connotations of safety and protection.

Okay, over to you then for our first task in today's lesson.

So in an essay, an introduction moves from the general to the specific, and we're really gonna be focusing on introductions in today's lesson.

So they move from the general to the specific.

That means we should always start by writing a sentence which explores kind of this overarching similarity, between the poems that we've chosen.

We then might narrow down on the similarities in both poems in relation to the big ideas.

So be a bit more specific about what those ideas are.

But then we want a thesis, an argument, and it's easier to have an argument if we look for those nuance, those subtle differences, within that similarity.

So we start at the big, these poems are similar because these got similar big ideas.

We start to zoom in, be a bit more specific about these ideas, but then we have a very specific thesis which says, "Within all these similarities, there is some subtle differences." Let's have a look at an example then.

Your task for the first or your first task of today's lesson is to annotate, to highlight and label where this response, this introduction starts at the bigger picture from the similarities, and works to those nuanced differences.

Let's read it together, and then I'll hand over to you to do some annotating.

"So both Blakemore and Nichols express the importance of place and community to developing a sense of belonging.

More specifically, both poems attach a sense of peace, freedom, and vitality to the concept of belonging.

However, Blakemore foregrounds how multiculturalism brings peace and life to a community, while Nichols suggests that the speaker doesn't feel a sense of belonging because he's separated from his heritage." All right, over to you, now pause the video, annotate and label this.

Can you three see the three different sections of an introduction starting from the big and similarities, moving to the subtle differences? All right, pause the video, give this go and press Play when you are done.

Right, welcome back.

Let's have a look at how you might have labelled this paragraph.

So that first sentence about both poems and how the poets explore overarching similarity.

This here focuses on how place and community create this sense of belonging.

We then move on to being more specific.

Both poems attach a sense of peace, freedom, and vitality to the concept of belonging.

But it's the thesis where I draw attention to the differences because that is actually gonna be my argument that whilst there's a lot of similarity between these poems, I am gonna think about how they are different in different ways.

And this kind of my thesis there draws on the fact that Blakemore focuses on how multiculturalism can create this sense of peace and community.

Whereas in Nichols' poem, the speaker doesn't feel that sense of belonging because he's been separated from his heritage, his home, his culture.

All right, why don't you pause the video and double-check your annotations before moving on? Okay, we've done some excellent comparisons so far of "Peckham Rye Lane" and "Island Man." Now, we're gonna look at "Peckham Rye Lane," and "Jamaican British." So let's consider how these two poems are similar.

Now, how do the words, weapons and war, create a connection between the poems? So these are words from each of the poems. How does it create a connection? And how might these relate to the idea of belonging and multiculturalism? Pause the video, have a think, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

Welcome back.

I heard lots of you saying things like, "It suggests conflict." Like this word, conflict, is really standing out, and it suggests that perhaps both of these poems, there is some kind of resistance or external conflict from other people.

It seems to suggest that multiculturalism and the idea of having a dual heritage, isn't always easy and straightforward.

So what is the difference then between the sense of conflict that we see in both poems? So we've acknowledged that similarity here, there is a conflict, there is this linking idea of conflict, but what is those subtle nuanced differences? Again, pause video, have a think in pairs or by yourself, and press Play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back.

Again, some really fantastic discussions there, well done.

I want to shine a spotlight on what Izzy said 'cause I think it's similar to what I heard some of you saying is that, "Words such as choose and the repeated caesuras in 'Jamaican British,' imply a sense of internal conflict.

The conflict in 'Jamaican British' is particularly internal with the speaker not feeling 100% confident in their heritage and who they are and their identity." This arguably though isn't present in "Peckham Rye Lane," instead, we see the people being described as being really sturdy.

It suggests this kind of confidence in themselves, and in who they are.

So it shows that whilst there is some conflict in both poems, the internal conflict seems to be something that we see much more in "Jamaican British." All right, true or false then.

Arguably, both Blakemore and Antrobus, suggest a sense of internal conflict in their poems. Is that true or false? Make your decision and explain why you decided whether that was true or false.

Pause video, give us a go, and press Play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back, and well done if you said false, and you might have justified that by saying, "Well, the description of the people of Peckham as being sturdy implies that they're confident in themselves rather than experiencing internal conflict." Well done if you've got that.

Okay, our second task in today's lesson then, I want you to consider how we might improve this introduction about conflict in the poems. What would you add to or change about it? So let's read through together.

"In 'Peckham Rye Lane' and 'Jamaican British,' both poets explore ideas of conflict in relation to identity.

More specifically, both poets use references to external conflict to imply that there is still resistance to the idea of multiculturalism and dual heritage.

Remember, an instruction, should explore overarching similarity.

It should narrow down those similarities, but it should also show some nuance differences." Can you spot what's missing and how would you improve it? Pause the video, give this a go, and press Play when you think you're done.

Welcome back.

Really well done if you spotted it was missing, the final part, that kind of more thesis element of our introduction where the nuanced differences should have been discussed.

So let's have a look at what you might have said then to really round this off to make it a fantastic introduction.

You might have said, "In 'Peckham Rye Lane' and 'Jamaican British,' both poets explore ideas of conflict in relation to identity.

More specifically, both poets use references to external conflict to imply that there is still resistance to the idea of multiculturalism and dual heritage.

However, whilst both poems point to external conflict, arguably Antrobus implies a sense of internal conflict and indecision around the concept of identity, whilst Blakemore seems to suggest that people of Peckham are confident in themselves and who they are." Really well done if you said something similar to what you can see on screen, of course, you might not have something exactly the same, and that's okay too.

Right, let's move on to our final comparison in today's lesson then.

And this is comparing "Island Man" and "Jamaican British." So I want us to consider these two poems. I want you to read the following quotations from the poems, and think about the similarities that you can see.

And then I want you to think about what might this suggest about how the speaker feels about identity in the poems. So here are some words; British, how, half, dull, heaves, groggily.

What similarities can you see between these words? And what might this suggest about how the speaker feels about identity in each of the poems? Pause the video, have a think about this in pairs or by yourself, and press Play when you think you've got some ideas.

Welcome back.

You might have said something similar to what Sofia said.

"All the words suggest a sense of resistance or that they are questioning.

Perhaps this suggests the speaker feels a sense of internal conflict and weariness regarding their identity." So both of these poems might have more of that internal conflict and maybe just they're tired.

They're tired of things being difficult perhaps.

So arguably, both speakers in "Island Man" and "Jamaican British," feel a sense of internal conflict concerning their identity and their heritage.

Do you think though the source of the internal conflict, is the same in both poems? So we've identified the similarity, but is the thing that causes this internal conflict the same for the speaker in "Jamaican British" and the "Island Man?" What do you think? Pause the video, over to you, and press Play when you've done some thinking.

Welcome back.

I heard some really fantastic ideas there.

Here's just one idea that I heard people saying.

Alex said, "No, the 'Island Man' feels internal conflict as they arguably feel as if they belong at home in the Caribbean and feel outta place in London; whereas the speaker in 'Jamaican British,' simply doesn't know where they belong." They feel like they don't really 100% belong anywhere, whereas the "Island Man" is very sure he knows where he feels like he belongs.

And that's in the Caribbean, surrounded by his culture, surrounded by his heritage.

Well done if you said something similar.

All right, let's check to see how we're getting on then.

Which of the following statements are true? Is it A, the subjects of "Island Man" and "Jamaican British" arguably feel as if they don't belong anywhere? Is it B, arguably the "Island Man" feels as if he belongs in London? Or is it C, arguably the "Island Man" feels as if he belongs in the Caribbean? A, B, or C, pause the video, make your choice, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

Welcome back, and well done if you said C.

You might have tempted to go for A, because we know the subject of "Jamaican British," arguably feels like he doesn't belong anywhere.

But I think we know we can confidently say that the "Island Man" does feel like he belongs in the Caribbean.

So he feels like he's got a sense of belonging.

It just happens to not be where he is, and not be where he lives.

All right, really well done if you've got that correct.

Right, onto our final task in today's lesson, and throughout the lesson, we've been looking at introductions.

We've been annotating them, we've been improving them, and now it's over to you to write one of your own.

You're gonna be writing an introduction to the question, how do Nichols and Antrobus present ideas of internal conflict in relation to identity? Remember, an introduction should include the following.

It should explore.

Start by exploring an overarching similarity.

It should narrow down the similarities, before having a thesis that shows nuanced differences.

It's over to you now to give this a go.

I know you can write excellent introductions.

I feel really confident, and I hope you do too.

All right, pause the video, give this a go, and press Play when you're ready to move on.

Welcome back.

It was great to see so many pens moving so quickly there as you were writing these introductions with confidence, and are real well done to anyone who check their spelling, punctuation, and grammar as well, before they put their pen down.

That is what we like to see.

All right, Sofia gave this task a go, and I want us, as we read it together, to think about why it might not read as an effective introduction, why it might not feel as effective as it could do.

Sofia wrote, "The source of internal conflict is different in both poems. Arguably, Nichols implies that the speaker feels outta place in London because they recognise that they belong at home in the Caribbean.

However, Antrobus suggests that the speaker feels internal conflict 'cause they don't feel as if they belong anywhere because of their dual heritage.

Both Nichols and Antrobus explore ideas of belonging in relation to identity and heritage.

More specifically, both poems suggest that the speaker feels a sense of internal conflict, and they feel out of place in their surroundings." Pause video then, have a think just by yourself, even though Sofia has included all the elements, why does it not feel quite right? See if you can identify that.

All right, pause the video, have a think, and press Play when you've got some ideas.

Okay, welcome back.

I wonder if you said something similar to Alex who said, "I think Sofia's introduction doesn't read as an effective introduction because she hasn't started with the overarching similarities at the beginning of the introduction.

Therefore, the reader isn't grounded in the question, can't follow her reasoning." It seems really jarring to start with the differences because actually, I want to see that connectivity, between the two poems and connecting it back to the question that I've been asked about identity.

All right, really well done if you managed to identify why Sofia's instruction maybe wasn't as strong as it could have been.

I want you now to take a moment to check your own instruction to ensure that it's structured cohesively.

All right, pause the video, reread your instruction, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, that's it.

We've reached the end of today's lesson, what fantastic work that you have done today.

You should be really, really pleased with yourself.

On the screen, there is a summary of everything that we've covered today.

Let's quickly go through this together so you can feel super confident before you move on to your next lesson.

So we've learned that when comparing poems, it's useful to think of the poets as in having a conversation with each other.

We know that Blakemore presents a community that is stronger due to different cultures, whereas in contrast, Antrobus depicts his struggle to gain a sense of belonging due to his cultural heritage.

And Nichols presents a character who longs to be more in touch with his cultural heritage.

All right, fantastic work today.

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

Have a great day, however you are choosing to spend the rest of it, and I hope to see you all soon.

Bye-bye.