Hello everybody.

It's lovely to have you all here.

My name's Miss Halladay and I'll be teaching you today.

In today's lesson, we are continuing our study of the Eduqas poetry anthology, looking specifically at the poem, "The Manhunt" by Simon Armitage, which actually just happens to be one of my very favourites in the anthology.

For today's lesson, you will need a copy of your Eduqas poetry anthology.

So if you haven't got this in front of you, you will need to pause the video and run to go and get it.

Now that you've got it, let's get started.

So today's lesson is called understanding "The Manhunt", and by the end of today's lesson, you will be able to understand the story of the poem, "The Manhunt", and why it was written.

Here are some keywords for today's lesson that will help you to unlock your learning.

So let's take a look at these keywords now, starting with the word harrowing.

Now, if something's harrowing, it's very distressing and or traumatising.

The word to caress means to touch or stroke very gently and lovingly.

Now, the speaker in this poem has to overcome some adversity, and that is a challenging circumstance or hardship as she tries to comprehend what her husband has been through.

And to comprehend something means to be able to fully understand or appreciate it.

And finally, the abbreviation PTSD stands for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and that is a mental illness resulting from trauma in which the patient might experience flashbacks, depression, anxiety, or hallucinations.

And that is an illness that is massively associated with soldiers in war.

It used to be known as shell shock, and it is now known as PTSD.

If you would like to take a moment to pause the video and jot any of these definitions down, then please feel free to do just that now.

Here's today's lesson outline.

We're going to begin by reading this fantastic poem that I just know you are going to love before moving on in the second half of the lesson to exploring the context.

But first of all, let's begin by reading the poem.

Now we know that the title of this poem is in fact "The Manhunt", and I'd like you to think, well, what is a manhunt? And if you're not quite sure, think about what to hunt means.

So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you consider those two questions, either independently or with the people around you, whichever works best for you today.

Pause the video and off you go, before we share ideas together.

Brilliant discussions and really well done to those of you who identified that a manhunt is actually an intensive search for a wanted person.

So bearing that information in mind, I'd like you to think, well, what do you think that the poem might be about? So I'm inviting you here to make predictions about what you think the story of the poem might be.

So again, you can do this independently if you're working on your own or feel free to do it in small groups if you are able to in the environment that you are working in today.

So pause the video and try to make predictions about what you think this poem might be about based on the information we've just been given.

Off you go.

Thank you, and let's come back together.

Some really interesting predictions there.

So let's see if we are right, shall we? So this poem is about scars, and I'd like you to discuss now, well what are scars? What do they represent and what different emotions or reactions might different people have towards their own scars? So again, I'm going to invite you now to pause the video and discuss this with the people around you.

If you don't feel comfortable discussing this with people around you, that's absolutely fine.

You can just reflect on these questions independently or jot some ideas down if you have paper in front of you.

So pause the video and discuss those questions now.

Fantastic discussions there, and it was great to see so many of you really understanding how different people might respond to their own scars.

So as Aisha points out, well scars are the marks that we get on our skin from healed wounds.

Some people really love their scars as they see them as symbolic of having overcome adversity or challenges and having been brave.

However, some people can actually resent their scars because they can be reminiscent of hard or difficult times.

So people have very mixed responses to scars and mixed reactions to getting and acquiring scars over their lifetime, but many people do have at least one scar.

So it is something very, very normal for people to have.

So thank you for those discussions and brilliant work.

So for this section of the lesson, you will absolutely need to have your Eduqas anthology in front of you and have it open on the poem, "The Manhunt".

Now, I'm going to invite you in a moment to pause the video and read this poem through in full.

But before I do that, I think it's really important for me to clarify that actually when you read this poem, it's really important, A, that you can read it aloud, if that is possible for you today.

Obviously, if you are in a crowded room with lots of other people, that may not be so possible.

But if you're working independently or if you're in a small or quiet room, then please do try and read the poem out loud as poems are designed to be read aloud and it's easier for you to be able to establish tone, but also pace and rhythm if you are reading the poem out loud.

So please do try to read the poem out loud if it is possible for you today.

Secondly, when you are reading this poem, whether that be out loud or in your head, it's really important for you to pay particularly close attention to the punctuation that Armitage may, or in fact, may not have used as that indicates the pace at which you read the poem and also informs the tone of voice that you might use in your head or out loud when you are reading.

So there's something really important that I want you to keep an eye out for as you're reading the poem to make your reading of the poem as accurate as possible.

So what I'm going to invite you to do now is pause the video while you go and read that poem.

Once you've done that, we'll come back together and we'll be discussing some key ideas and moments in a lot more detail.

I'm really looking forward to hearing your ideas about the poem.

So pause the video and off you go to read it.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Fantastic reading and really, really well done.

Brilliant work.

Now, when we read a poem for the first time, it can sometimes feel a little bit overwhelming.

It can be quite hard to work out what you think the poem's about, but what you can always establish is what your first impressions of the poem are, and whether or not you like it or not.

So I would like you to consider that now, along with how the poem made you feel, and again, why it made you feel that way.

Now these two questions are really useful questions in establishing a basic understanding or a personal reaction to the poem, both of which are really useful.

So what I'm going to invite you to do now is again, pause the video while you answer these two questions, either independently or with the people around you.

So pause the video and off you go to discuss your initial reactions now.

Fantastic discussions and great to see so many of you really enjoying and appreciating this poem because it is an absolute masterpiece and I think it is one of the most moving poems in the anthology.

So it's great to see that many of you agree.

So what we're going to do now is start to work our way through the poem, tracking some of the key ideas and images that Armitage is using throughout.

So what I would like you to do, first of all, is reread stanza one.

Now again, this is really important.

You might think, "But I've just read the poem, I don't need to read it again." And my response to that is, "Yes, you do." Okay, the more times you read a poem, the better understanding you have of it.

So it is really important to read a poem multiple times.

So I am going to insist that you read stanza one again, and once you've done that, I'd like you to discuss the following question.

So first of all, who is it that you think is speaking in the poem? So what I'm going to do now is invite you to pause the video while you reread the first stanza and consider that question.

Off you go.

Fantastic discussions and well done, as many of you were able to identify that the speaker in this poem seems to be a wife, and we can assume that that is the wife of a soldier.

So thank you to Lucas for putting the idea forward and well done to all of you who also got the same idea.

So the next question I'd like you to discuss is, well, where has the husband returned from? So again, I'm going to invite to pause the video while you discuss that or consider it independently, whichever works best for you.

Off you go.

Fantastic discussions and really well done if, like Alex, you were able to understand that the husband has in fact returned from military service, so we can infer that the speaker is the wife of a soldier who has just come back from service.

And the final question I'd like you to consider is, well, what do the husband and wife focus on in the first few days of his return? So again, rereading stanza one and considering that question, pause the video and off you go.

Again, some fantastic discussions and some really great comprehension of this text being demonstrated already.

So well done.

So as we see here, the couple are really focusing in the first few days of his return on reestablishing their physical connection, so reestablishing their physical intimacy that they are used to having as husband and wife.

So really well done if you managed to understand that.

Brilliant, brilliant comprehension work and let's move on to looking at some more stanzas in greater depth.

So let's have a look now, again, rereading stanzas three to nine.

And once you've done that, here are some questions that I would like you to consider in relation to those stanzas, tracking them through chronologically.

So first of all, what do you think that the river that the speaker mentions is? I'd like you to make a list of the soldiers' injuries that are mentioned between stanzas three and six.

And I'd also like you to consider how the wife handles her husband's injuries.

What can we infer about the way that she feels about him? So again, I'm going to invite you to pause the video while you undertake that reading and have those discussions or just those considerations if you are choosing to work independently today.

I'm really looking forward to hearing your ideas.

So pause the video and off you go to consider those questions now.

Fantastic discussions, really well done and a massive congratulations if you are able to identify that actually the river that the speaker refers to is, arguably, a river of tears that her husband has shed but also continues to shed because we can tell that something is really negatively affecting him in this poem.

Now, in terms of the soldier's injuries, we learned from the poem that the soldier has sustained some very, very serious injuries whilst he's been away at war.

And some of these injuries include a broken jaw, a fractured shoulder, a pierced lung, cracked ribs, an injured collarbone, and a bullet wound.

So some very, very serious injuries there.

And we can tell that he's been through some real trauma here and that his body has been very physically challenged.

So he has some really, really traumatic injuries both physically and mentally, I'm sure.

And finally, in terms of the wife handling her husband's injuries, well, we learned that the wife caresses her husband's injured body with real care and attention.

She seems to be examining his injuries throughout the poem, perhaps because she's trying to comprehend or understand what he has actually been through at war.

Obviously she wasn't there, so it's difficult for her to be able to empathise with exactly what he's been through.

So she's exploring his body in order to try and establish what it is that he's been through so that she can support him to get better.

Now, this shows her intense love for him and the fact that she wants to nurse him back to health also shows her devotion and commitment to her husband.

So well done if you've got those ideas.

Brilliant reading of the poem there.

So let's check for understanding before we move on.

And I'd like you to consider the following question, how does the speaker feel about her husband? Is it, A, that she resents him because he's not the same person he was before he went to war? Is it, B, that she feels hurt for him because she can see how much he has suffered and endured? Or do you think it's, C, that she feels sorry for him because he's been discharged from the army against his will? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you consider which of the answer options is the correct one.

Off you go.

Fantastic discussions and really well done if you correctly selected B, the wife feels really hurt for her husband because she can see how much he's suffered and endured.

So well done if you got that, brilliant work.

So we're now going to have a look at stanzas 11 to 13 in more detail.

And again, I would like you to reread them.

Once you have done that, you need to be discussing the following questions please.

So first of all, what do you think the wife is looking for when she begins searching? What is it that the wife finds and what do you think that the wife became close to? So again, this would be really good if you could discuss these questions with people around you.

However, if your environment does not allow discussion, that's absolutely fine.

You can just make notes on your anthology or think about those questions in your head.

It's up to you, however works best for you, I'm happy for you to do that.

What I'd like you to do now is pause the video while you consider those questions and before we share some ideas as a group.

Off you go.

Thank you very much.

Some lovely suggestions there and some really unique perspectives on what it is that the wife is looking for and what she finds.

So well done.

Now, we asked Sophia the same set of questions and Sophia had this to say.

She said, "I think that the wife is searching for the man that she once knew as he's returned from war a very, very different person." She says that in her search for the husband that she once knew the wife discovers the source of her husband's change and his suffering, which is that PTSD.

Now the PTSD is presented to us metaphorically as a mine, okay? And remember that PTSD is that mental illness that results from a person's exposure to trauma and it creates a lot of really difficult and challenging symptoms such as insomnia, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and flashbacks and hallucinations.

So here the husband has not only been really kind of compromised physically, but it seems like he's been deeply affected mentally as well, especially as Armitage does use that metaphor which compares his mental illness to a mine.

Okay, so something explosive that, you know, is going to implode at some point.

So really well done if you got that and managed to identify that actually the suffering that the husband endures is not just physical, but also mental as well.

And that that has changed him because he has returned from war a completely different person than the man who went.

So well done if he got that.

And finally, arguably, in terms of what the wife is looking for and what she finds and what she becomes close to, until the wife understands her husband's experiences fully and is able to empathise, she cannot become emotionally close to him again.

Now, in terms of that word empathise, obviously the wife feels sympathy for her husband because he's suffered, but she can't truly understand what he's been through until she has kind of explored his unresolved trauma and kind of explored his injuries.

And that is why she does that, so that she can support him to get better, because then she can understand what it is that he's been through at war.

So again, really well done if you got that idea and the fact that actually the wife is looking to become emotionally close to her husband as well as physically close to him again.

So well done.

So onto our first task of the lesson now.

And I think it's always really useful, especially when we make predictions about a text from its title to then revisit those predictions once we've read that text.

So that is what we are going to do today.

We are going to revisit the poem's title, "The Manhunt".

And I'd like you to write a written explanation of why you think the poem is called "The Manhunt".

So in order to help you, I've given you some questions to consider when you are writing up your explanation.

So consider, well what is it that's lost in the poem? Okay, we know that a manhunt is some kind of search.

So what is it that's being hunted and what is it that has been lost? Why is the prefix man specifically used? Okay, why is it not just called the hunt? Okay, or the wife hunt.

Why is it "The Manhunt"? Or why is it not the men hunt even, or the soldier hunt? Okay, so I really want you to think about that word man, and why that prefix there is so important.

And finally, I'd like you to consider, well, what is found in the poem.

So this is a poem about searching for something.

So what is it that's being searched for and what has been found? So I'd like you to pause the video now while you complete this activity.

If you have your exercise book, feel free to do it in there.

If not, then you can do this on a piece of paper.

But I'd like you now to pause the video while you have a go at writing that explanation of why you think the poem is called "The Manhunt".

I'm really looking forward to hearing your ideas, so off you go.

Fantastic discussions.

And here are just some ideas that you might have raised.

So as Jacob says, "The prefix man is singular.

Arguably this poem is about the search for one man or one individual, the speaker's husband specifically.

Although war affects many people, this poem is about the impact of war on this one family, and the title reflects that." Brilliant idea there from Jacob, so thank you to him.

Sophia adds, well, "The word manhunt has connotations of combat and conflict, which links to the subject of the poem, which is war and its harrowing effects." And finally, Aisha adds, "The wife perhaps feels that she has lost the true identity of her husband because of war." So obviously that idea that he's changed in some way.

So arguably she's searching to find who he was before he went to war.

And I think all of these suggestions are really, really valuable suggestions and really insightful suggestions that you could take forward in your analysis of this poem.

So thank you to our Oak pupils and thank you to you for completing that task.

So on to the second part of the lesson now where we're going to have a look at exploring some of the context that inspired the writing of this poem and learning a little bit more about Simon Armitage, the poet.

So I'm gonna begin the second half of the lesson with a discussion.

So I'd like you to think, well, when do you think this poem might have been written? Do you think it was written centuries or decades ago, or do you think it was written more recently? And why do you think that? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you consider that question, again independently, if that's what works for you or with the people around you.

So pause the video and off you go now.

Well done, congratulations for those brilliant discussions.

And as Sophia points out, "The language used in this poem makes me think it is a more recent poem, perhaps written in the last 30 years.

There is no archaic or old language in this poem, so it must be recent." And I think that's a really insightful point from Sophia there because she's right.

And actually the poem was published in 2007 and is our most recent poem in the anthology.

It was written by a Yorkshire born poet called Simon Armitage.

So really well done if you got that, brilliant work.

So "The Manhunt" is from Armitage's 2008 collection titled "The Not Dead", which explores how war affects ex soldiers, particularly those involved in recent conflicts.

And as Sophia points out, "The Not Dead" is an interesting title.

She says, "I wonder why he chose that?" And I'd like you to consider that question now.

So what do you think the significance of that title is and why do you think Armitage might have chosen it for a collection of poems about ex soldiers? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you consider that question with the people around you.

Fantastic discussions.

And I really enjoyed hearing this suggestion that actually, "The Not Dead", implies that these men, they're not dead, but they're also not fully alive because they're suffering so much with the after effects and the aftermath of war.

And the title, "The Not Dead" perhaps reflects that.

So Armitage was involved in the production of a documentary titled, "The Not Dead", through which he interviewed ex soldiers and their families in order to generate ideas for his poetry collection.

Now, the poems in his collection focus on the survivors of war who are damaged and traumatised men who have returned in body, but not in mind.

And I'd like you to think now what that actually means.

So I'd like you to discuss with the people around you, well what does returning in body and not mind actually mean? So again, pause the video and have those discussions if you can, now.

Fantastic discussions and great to see so many of you returning to earlier ideas about this fact that perhaps the soldiers are occupying this kind of liminal state where they've not been killed in the war, but they're also not able to live their full and best lives because of the trauma that they've endured.

So perhaps they're there physically, but mentally and emotionally they are really, really struggling to come to terms with what they've witnessed and the role that they've played in the war.

So well done if you got that, brilliant work.

So this poem is actually based on one of Armitage's interviews with a returned soldier.

And this particular soldier was a fusilier serving in the Balkans who was attached to the UN Peacekeeping Force.

He served in the Bosnian war, which was a conflict between the Serbs, the Croats, and the Muslims, that began in 1992 and ended in 1995, resulting in the genocide of many Muslims. So again, another really quite recent war.

So what makes this poem a little bit different from some of the others in the anthology is actually the fact that it's about a much more recent war.

Many of the poems in the anthology are in fact about World War I or II, but this one is about the Bosnian War, which was a much more recent conflict.

So that kind of distinguishes this poem from some of the others in the Eduqas anthology.

So the soldier in question was shot in the neck, seriously wounded and disfigured.

So parts of his face were changed irrevocably by his injuries.

Okay, he was scarred for life, basically.

He suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder attacks when he returned home, probably unsurprisingly, given the amount of trauma and the kind of horrific scenes that he would have witnessed away at war.

And this, unfortunately, affected his relationship with his wife.

So before we move on and think about that a little bit more, I'd like to just check for understanding of what we've just learned.

So which of the following statements are true of the soldier that Armitage interviewed? Is it A, that he was dishonourably discharged from service, B, he was shot in the neck while serving in the Balkans, C, he suffered from PTSD or D, he served as part of the Air Force in the Balkans? I'd like you to pause the video while you make your answer selection.

Fantastic work and really well done if you selected that B and C are in fact true, the soldier was shot in the neck while serving in the Balkans, and unfortunately he suffered from PTSD as a result of his experiences at war.

So really well remembered if you got that.

So we have learned today that Simon Armitage wrote a whole collection of poems titled, "The Not Dead", and I'd like to think a little bit more about that in detail.

So I'd like you to think, well, why do you think he wrote this poem, "The Manhunt" and the other poems in that collection? What do you think he was trying to show people about war? And why do you think he wrote this particular poem from the perspective of the soldier's wife and not the soldier? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video.

Ideally you discuss this with people around you, but of course if you're working independently, do not worry.

You can jot ideas down or just think about it in your head.

But I'm really interested to hear what you have to say to these questions.

So I'm not gonna take up any more of your time.

I would like you to pause the video and go and discuss them freely.

Fantastic discussions and some really interesting suggestions raised there as to why Armitage might have written this collection of poems. Many of you saying that perhaps Armitage himself was a soldier.

And whilst that's a really interesting suggestion, it's not quite right, okay.

Armitage has never served in the armed forces.

However, he arguably wrote this collection of poems to explore not only the physical wounds, but also the mental and emotional wounds that soldiers and their families sustain at war.

Okay, so this was clearly a topic that was really important to him, that he felt needed exploring, but that he himself had not experienced.

And that is why he interviewed these soldiers having returned from war so that he could gain insight into what it would be like to be a soldier returning from war.

So well done if you got that.

Now in terms of why the poem was written from the wife's perspective, well, arguably, writing the poem from the wife's perspective represents the idea that the soldier is actually unable to speak about his harrowing experiences because of his PTSD.

So in some way it's not even that he doesn't want to, he perhaps might not want to, but he actually also perhaps can't bring himself to because of the level of violence and trauma that he's been exposed to.

Now, making this choice also allows Armitage to convey the effects of war, not only on soldiers, but also their families.

Because I think sometimes, you know, we do talk about the effects of war on soldiers quite a lot, but we don't talk as much about how war affects families as well and the loved ones of those soldiers who go away and often, more often than not, don't return.

Or do return, but return, you know, with trauma, with a lot of kind of emotional burden that they've picked up.

And that's a challenge in itself as well.

So Armitage is perhaps looking to explore the impact of war on the families of loved ones as well as the soldiers.

Which brings me on to the last task of the lesson.

So I would like you to find the line in the poem that reflects the following aspects of the soldier's experience with war.

So we know that the real soldier that this poem was based on was shot, seriously wounded and disfigured.

Where can we see that in the poem? We also know that this soldier suffered from PTSD when he returned home.

Again, where is that shown in the poem? We know that his relationship with his wife was affected by war.

And again, where is that shown in the poem? So I would like you to find me a line from the poem that exemplifies these three facts about the real life soldier that this poem was based on.

Now it's important to remember that when you are choosing a line or a piece of evidence, you can't just choose the first piece of evidence that you come across, because it probably isn't going to be the best one that really exemplifies that experience or idea.

So when you are choosing your line, I'd like you to try and really evaluate which line is the best at exemplifying the soldier's experience.

So don't just pick the first line that you come across.

Think more carefully.

Think, of these two or three lines that I could choose which one do I think best exemplifies the soldier's experience.

So you can mark this on your anthology, you can write it down, you can discuss it, it's up to you how you want to undertake this task.

Whatever works best for you today is fine, but I would like you to pause the video while you go off and find those lines that exemplify the soldier's experience at war.

Off you go.

Fantastic work.

And here are some of the lines that you might have chosen to select.

So in terms of showing that the soldier was shot, seriously wounded and disfigured, well you might have chosen line 19 or line 6 to exemplify that.

Now in terms of the soldier's suffering from PTSD, you might have chosen line 24 or line 25 towards the end of the poem, where the wife's kind of really trying to get closer to her husband again.

And in terms of his relationship with his wife, again, we see the fact that she is trying to get closer to him, both at the beginning in line three and also again on on the very last line, which is line 26.

Okay, when she talks a lot about kind of reestablishing that emotional connection to her husband and only managing to do that through exploring his physical and emotional injuries.

So really well done if you chose those lines.

Brilliant evaluation work.

Really well done.

So to summarise the learning from today, well first of all, "The Manhunt" is from a collection of poems titled "The Not Dead", which explores the effect of recent conflict on soldiers.

Secondly, the speaker in the poem is a wife looking to reconnect with her husband who has returned from war.

Thirdly, the wife tenderly explores her husband's physical injuries, discovering his considerable mental scarring in the process.

We learned today that the poem is based on the relationship between a fusilier and his wife that Armitage interviewed as part of a documentary called "The Not Dead".

And finally, the poem explores the harrowing physical and psychological effects of war, both on those directly involved, but also on their family members too.

Thank you so much for coming to today's lesson.

I really hope you enjoyed reading this poem as much as I enjoyed teaching it.

I think it is such a powerful and impactful poem, and I love the fact that it's about a more recent war and that that distinguishes it from some of the other poems in the anthology.

So thank you very much for your engagement and your contributions, and I really look forward to teaching you next time.

See you later.