Hello, everybody, and a really warm welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Miss Halliday and I'll be teaching you today.

In today's lesson, we're going to be looking at one of the greatest war poems in this anthology, and that is Rupert Brooke's "The Soldier", which offers us a slightly different perspective and presentation of war than some of the other war poems that we have looked at.

So I'm really looking forward to seeing what you think of this one.

So let's get started.

So today's lesson is called Understanding "The Soldier", and by the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to understand how Brooke presents the experience of dying at war.

Here are some key words that you'll need for today's lesson, starting with the word patriotism.

Now, patriotism is having or expressing devotion to and support for one's country.

Now, soldiers often express their patriotism by sacrificing their lives for that of their country, and a sacrifice is to give something valuable up for the benefit of others.

Now, if you sacrifice your life for something, you must be very, very devoted to it.

So devotion means an unwavering commitment to something.

Now in this poem, we're going to have a look at Rupert Brooke's view of war, which some arguably say is quite idealistic.

Now idealistic means having unrealistic expectations, and often this can include glorifying something that perhaps shouldn't be glorified.

So glorify means to praise something or make it seem good or special usually when it is not.

Now these are really, really important keywords.

So if you think that you might forget the definitions, then please do feel free to take a moment to pause a video and jot any of them down.

We're going to begin today by first of all reading the poem and gathering our initial impressions together and establishing a basic understanding of what the poem is about before moving on to examining the context that inspired the writing of this poem and learning a little bit more about Rupert Brooke.

But let's start off first of all by reading the poem.

So I'd like you to discuss, well, at the beginning of World War I, there was real optimism in Britain and I'd like you to think about why that was, using the images below to help you.

Now, this can be done as a discussion task with people around you, or you can consider these questions independently if you would prefer, but I'd like you now to pause the video while you consider that question now.

Fantastic discussions, and it was really great to see many of you identifying that what we have on screen here are two examples of World War I propaganda.

Now, propaganda often presented war as a real adventure, something exciting so that young men would enlist into the army, and this propaganda gave people a real sense of optimism about the war and made them almost excited to go away and sacrifice their lives for their country.

So well done if you got this link between propaganda and the optimism at the beginning of World War I.

Really great work there.

So onto the part of the lesson that I've been so looking forward to, which is where we're going to actually read this fantastic poem in full.

You will need to have your EDUQAS Anthology open on page seven so that we can read through "The Soldier" together.

As I'm reading, it's really important that you are following along very closely, paying really close attention to the pace that I'm reading at, but also the tone of voice that I'm using to read this poem as that will aid your understanding of it.

Once we've read through the poem, we'll then discuss some ideas in more detail.

So get ready to follow along.

I'm going to start reading the poem now.

So this poem is called "The Soldier".

"If I should die, think only this of me: that there's some corner of a foreign field that is forever England.

There shall be, in that rich earth, a richer dust concealed.

A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, gave once her flowers to love, her ways to roam, a body of England's breathing English air, washed by the rivers, blessed by suns of home.

And think this heart all evil shed away.

A pulse in the eternal mind, no less, give somewhere back the thoughts by England given, her sights and sounds, dreams happy as her day and laughter learnt of friends and gentleness, in hearts at peace under an English heaven." Such a beautiful poem there.

Really impactful and really moving, I'm sure.

So when we read a poem for the first time, it sometimes feels a little bit overwhelming.

You might not be sure what that poem's about, and that's absolutely fine because understanding a poem takes time and it takes multiple readings and it takes a lot of thinking.

What we can establish on the first reading, though, is our personal response to that poem.

And in order to gauge our personal response, what we can do is we can ask ourselves questions like the ones on screen.

So we can think, well, what are our first impressions of the poem? Did we like it? Did we not like it? Why or why not? And also, how did the poem make us feel? And again, why did it make us feel that way? Now, establishing your personal response is super important, and it's also really useful in establishing what you think that poem is about.

So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you go and consider your own personal response to this poem with the people around you if you can or just independently if you are working alone today.

I'm really looking forward to hearing your ideas.

So pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic discussions.

And it was great to hear so many of you talking really passionately about this poem and saying how sad it makes you feel, because obviously, the poet is talking about an instance in which he might die and perhaps he's writing to a loved one in this moment and that made many of you feel quite sad.

So thank you very much for your personal responses.

It was lovely to hear them all.

So what we're gonna do now is have a look at the poem in more depth stanza by stanza.

So what I'd like you to do first of all is read the first stanza again.

And you might be thinking, "Oh, I've just read it.

I don't need to read it again." But you really, really do.

As I said, your understanding of a poem grows every single time you read it again.

So it's really important to keep rereading that poem, to strengthen your understanding of what it's about and how it makes you feel.

So I would like you to read the first stanza again using the glossary at the bottom of the screen to make sure that you understand the vocabulary that is being used in this stanza.

Once you have done that, I would like you to think about the following questions.

Well, first of all, who is speaking in this poem and how does this person feel about England and how does this person feel about death? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you reread the first stanza and consider those questions again, either independently or with the people around you, if that's what you would prefer.

If you want to write annotations on your anthology, then please feel free to do that as these will be really useful moving forward.

Pause the video and off you go now.

Fantastic discussions and some really insightful suggestions there with some great understanding of the poem demonstrated already.

So in terms of the speaker, well, the speaker in the poem is a soldier, probably Brooke himself, we assume.

The speaker is clearly very patriotic, clearly very devoted to their country.

They love England, okay? And the soldier speaker sings England's praises throughout the poem and speaks about her as if she is his mother.

The soldier has really fond memories of England, and that's very clear in this poem.

Now because of his love for England, the soldier speaker is very, very comfortable, it seems, with sacrificing his life for her.

And he seems fairly accepting of the idea of death because he says, "If I should die", okay? So he's clearly accepting the fact that death is a very real possibility for him, and he seems to have made peace with that.

So really well done if you've got those ideas, fantastic understanding and reading of the poem.

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

True or false, the speaker is not afraid of death because he views it as a sacrifice he's happy to make for his family, especially his mother.

I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you consider whether you think that statement is true or whether you think that it's false.

So pause the video and off you go to decide that now.

Fantastic, and congratulations if you correctly selected false, you are absolutely right.

What I'm going to ask you to do now is the hard part, and tell me why that statement is false using one of the two justifications below.

So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you read both justification A and justification B, and decide which you think is the correct one for that statement being false.

So pause the video and off you go now.

Fantastic and really well done if you correctly selected A.

This is not correct because actually the she that the speaker references in the poem is actually England itself because Brooke has personified England to show the speaker's patriotism.

So really well done if you've got that.

Brilliant understanding.

So let's have a look at the second stanza now.

And again, I'd like you to reread it.

It's really important to reread the second stanza to jog your memory and deepen your understanding of the poem.

So make sure that you've have done that.

Remember to use the glossary as you're reading to clarify any vocabulary that you might not be sure of such as shed and eternal.

Once you have done that, I'd like you to consider the following questions.

First of all, what does the soldier believe death will bring him? What kind of tone is used in this stanza and how does it make you feel? And what can we infer about the soldier's faith? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video again while you consider these questions either independently or discuss them with people around you, ideally making notes in your anthology as you are discussing or considering.

So pause the video and off you go to do that now.

Brilliant.

And it's really great to see your confidence growing as we move through the poem.

Poetry can be really difficult and people can often feel quite intimidated by it, but there's no need to worry about it because really there is no right or wrong answer.

It's just about your response to the poem.

And as I said, it's great to see your confidence in responding to this poem growing as we progress through the lesson.

So in terms of some of the things that I heard you say that I really liked, well, first of all, the soldier believes that dying for his country will cleanse his soul and bring him eternal peace in heaven.

And that's perhaps why he seems to have made peace with the possibility of dying in the beginning of the poem.

Now, furthermore, the poet creates a very peaceful and a very calm tone in this standard by using that alliteration and the internal rhymes like happy as he.

This creates a really hushed and soothing tone.

Okay, so we hear this kind of sights and sounds, dreams as happy as her day.

Laughter, learnt to friends and gentleness.

Okay, these are all very drawn out sounds and the alliteration of sights and sounds creates that really hushed tone that creates a very kind of soft and soothing tone here in the stanza, okay? And perhaps that's because Brooke is trying to reassure whoever he's writing to that he's going to be absolutely fine even if he does die.

He's grateful to have had the opportunity to fight for his country, and he's also very much at peace with his own death because he's going to be eternally rewarded for his sacrifice.

So perhaps the hush tones here are used to reassure the person that he's writing to.

Now, finally, I heard somebody mention that actually from the poet's reference to the eternal mind and his certainty that dying for his country will take him to heaven, it's possible to infer that the poet's spirituality and faith brings him comfort here.

He talks about this idea of being eternally rewarded for his sacrifice, which suggests that he's going to find comfort in death, and he's not going to be too worried about, you know, losing his life because he's taking comfort in his spirituality and his faith.

So thank you very much for those suggestions.

I thought that all of your contributions were really valuable and really perceptive.

So a massive well done.

I'm really impressed.

Which brings me onto the first task of the lesson where you are going to write an explanation of how each of these qualities is exemplified, so it is demonstrated, is shown in the poem.

And the words that I've given you for this task are, in fact, the keywords from the lesson.

So you'll need to make sure that you have a really solid understanding of what those words mean so that you can undertake this task.

So the first key word that I've given you is the word patriotism, which remember, it means that really strong devotion, commitment, and love for one's country.

And I'd like to think, well, where do we see that devotion, that commitment, that love, that patriotism in the soldier? And give me an example of where we see that.

Secondly, that word sacrifice, which means to give something valuable up for the sake of others.

Again, where do we see that in the poem, "The Soldier"? And finally that word devotion, that commitment and loyalty to something.

Again, where is that idea and that quality exemplified in this poem? I'd like you to pause the video now while you have a go at writing those explanations of how each of those qualities is exemplified in the poem.

So pause the video and off you go to do that now.

Fantastic work, really great effort there.

I could see everybody giving absolutely 100% to this.

And it was great to see so many of you completing this activity with your anthologies wide open as you were referring back to the poem throughout.

So first of all, in terms of that word patriotism and where we see it in the poem, well, in the first stanza, particularly, the speaker's patriotism is evident because England is likened to a nurturing mother who has shaped the soldier into the man that he is.

Now, in terms of sacrifice, well, the speaker very clearly views his possible death as a worthy sacrifice that he's absolutely willing to make for his country.

And he seems to really accept and welcome dying in this way as he views it as a noble and honourable way to pass.

And finally, that word devotion, okay? We see that all the way through the poem because the speaker is clearly very devoted, not only to his country, but also to his faith and spirituality as he imagines himself being eternally rewarded in heaven for his effort.

And it is perhaps that faith that makes him fearless in the face of death as he doesn't worry, you know, about being gone forever.

He believes that his soul will live on because of the sacrifice that he has made.

So really, really great responses there.

And you might want to take a moment to pause the video and compare your responses to the ones on screen, taking any vocabulary or phrases that you think would strengthen your responses further.

So I'll leave you for a few moments now to do that if you should choose to.

So onto the second half of the lesson now where we're going to look at examining context and getting to know who Rupert Brooke was in a little bit more detail.

So Rupert Brooke was born in 1887, and he began writing poetry at a very early age and continued to write throughout his education at Rugby School and Cambridge University.

Now, his poetry largely centred on themes of love and nature, and he's considered representative of the optimism of the opening months in World War I.

So remember, if you think back to the beginning of the lesson where we looked at those two examples of propaganda, the optimism about this war was really evident.

And Rupert Brooke's poem is really kind of demonstrative of that optimism in England at the time.

So at the outbreak of war, Brooke immediately volunteered and joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve.

And I'd like to think in a little bit more detail about why that was, perhaps.

So I'd like you to discuss now, well, based on the poem that we've just read, what do you think might have motivated Brooke to immediately volunteer for the war effort? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while I discuss that question, either with the people around you or consider it independently if that's how you're working today.

Pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic discussions, and really well done if you remember that in the poem, we see Brooke's devotion to his country and his unwavering patriotism.

And this might have really motivated him to volunteer for the Royal Navy.

And this decision might have also been influenced because of the propaganda that was being circulated at the time, which presented dying for one's country as highly noble and highly honourable.

Whatever Brooke's motivations were, I'm sure we can agree that this was massively courageous because it sounds like fighting and dying for his country wasn't even a question because he immediately volunteered, okay? So he was immediately willing to sacrifice his life for a country that he was so passionate and so devoted to, which is really, really very brave.

So we've got a lot of respect for Brooke in that sense there.

Really brave decision and bold decision from him.

And well done if you recognised that.

So Brooke's first posting was in Antwerp in Belgium, where his unit experienced no military action.

Now, during a sea voyage to Dardanelles, which is in Turkey, in 1915, Brooke suffered blood poisoning from an insect bite and unfortunately, died.

So unfortunately, and rather tragically, despite being such a passionate and brave soldier, Brooke actually never fought in the war, and that in itself is quite heartbreaking.

So what I'd like you to discuss now is, well, does knowing that Brooke never actually fought change the way that you read the poem now? Does it change your response to it in any way? And what do you think some of the other war poets, so maybe Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, might have thought about this poem had they read it? So what I'm going to invite to do now is pause the video while you consider those questions, either with the people around you or just thinking about them independently if you would prefer.

Pause the video and off you go to consider those now.

Fantastic discussions.

And I think there's a real divide of opinion here, because some of you were saying that actually you could, it really does change your understanding and your reading of the poem, because some of you saying you, it makes sense that Brooke would romanticise war because he'd actually never fought in it.

But then many of you also saying it doesn't change your reading of the poem because actually Brooke, you know, his bravery was there, his commitment was absolutely there, and he signed up to war fully accepting of the fact that he would probably die.

And therefore, that doesn't necessarily change our reading of the poem.

So thank you very much for sharing your opinions.

It was lovely to hear them.

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

Which two of the following statements are true of Brooke's experience of the war? Is it A, that Brooke experienced no military action or fighting? B, that Brooke experienced significant military action? C, that Brooke died a week before the war ended? Or D, that Brooke died early in 1915, which was relatively early on in the war? I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you make your answer selection.

And a massive well done if you correctly identified that the following statements are true, A and D.

So first of all, remember that Brooke actually experienced no military action or fighting because he sadly died in early 1915 from an insect bite relatively early on in the war, and therefore, he didn't actually make it to Turkey where he was due to fight.

Well done if you remembered that.

So let's have a little bit of a discussion, and I'd like you to think now, we'll, based on we, what we've just learned about Brooke, how do you think Brooke's lack of experience during the war might have affected his outlook? Do you think that Brooke would have had a different outlook on the war if he had survived until the end of it? How do you think that this poem might have been received by the public when it was published near the beginning of the war? And equally, how do you think this poem would have been received by the public if it was published at the end of the war? Now these are quite juicy questions, so you might want to take some time to debate these with the people around you or some time to consider them independently 'cause there's quite a lot that you can say for these questions.

Now, I am really intrigued and interested to hear your ideas and suggestions.

So I would like you to pause the video while you go and consider these questions, either with the people around you or thinking about them independently, if that's how you're working.

So pause the video and off you go now.

Fantastic discussions.

Some really great answers and ideas raised there.

Now, we asked our Oak pupils the same questions, and here were some of the answers that they had that they really wanted to share with you.

So we'll start off by hearing from Jacob first.

And Jacob says, "Well, I think that Brooke's lack of experience with military action gave him a very idealistic and naive view of war.

I think he felt very patriotic, but didn't really understand what the reality of war was like." And Lucas adds, "Well, the poem was very well received and praised by the public when it was first published.

The government loved the poem." And I'd like you to discuss now, well, why is it that you think the government loved this poem so much at the beginning of the war? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you consider that question with the people around you, or think about it independently if you're working on your own.

Pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic discussions and some great suggestions there.

Now, as Lucas points out, well, perhaps the government loved the poem because it was just another form of propaganda that motivated young men to volunteer by glorifying war.

This poem definitely presents dying in war as a very noble, as a very honourable, as a very kind of worthy sacrifice for one's country.

And this kind of poem is exactly the kind of material that would've really motivated and inspired young men to want to go and fight for their country in the war.

So in that sense, the poem itself became a form of propaganda.

And as the government were already putting propaganda out, this just contributed to their war campaign.

And so therefore, it was very well received and well promoted by the government.

So thank you very much to those of you that identified that.

Really well done and very perceptive ideas there.

Now, Alex adds "Well, I think that if this poem had been published at the end of the war, it would have been met with criticism and perhaps even anger." Now you've got to remember that obviously Rupert Brooke, he actually never fought in the war, sadly.

However, other poets that we are studying on this anthology, like Wilfred Owen, who did fight in the war, present war as a much more brutal and much more harrowing experience than Brooke does in this poem, arguably because they actually experienced it.

So it's fair to say that had this poem been published at the end of the war, it perhaps wouldn't have been embraced and welcomed in the same way that it was when it was published at the beginning of the war.

So well done if you managed to identify that.

So on to our last task of the lesson now, and Laura says this, "I think it was very naive of Brooke to romanticise war in this poem when he had never experienced any military action." And what I'd like you to do now is decide how far you agree or disagree with this statement from Laura.

Now, naive means lacking an experience which makes judgement poor.

So if you weren't sure what naive meant, this should help you to understand Laura's statement in a little bit more detail.

So what I'd like you to do now is place yourself on the opinion spectrum and be really ready to justify your opinion using the context that we've discussed and/or a quotation from the text.

So here's the spectrum that I'd like you to place yourself on.

If you put yourself at the far left side of it, you are saying, "I completely and utterly agree with Laura.

There's no doubt in my mind that it was really naive of Brooke to romanticise war.

If you place yourself on the right-hand side, you are saying, "I totally disagree with Laura.

I could not disagree anymore." So you'll need to decide where on the spectrum between totally agree and totally disagree, you think that you sit in regards to this statement.

Now, this is a really thought provoking statement, so I'm very, very excited and interested to hear what you have to say.

So I'd like you to pause the video now while you go and have a go at placing yourself on the opinion spectrum independently.

So we're not discussing this with other people.

So pause the video and off you go to do that now.

Fantastic discussions, and what I thought would be really lovely is if you could share your position on the spectrum with a peer.

Now, as you explain your opinion, try to use as many of these keywords as possible to articulate your ideas.

So we've got patriotism, sacrifice, devotion, idealistic, and to glorify.

So what I'm going to invite you to do now is pause the video while you go and share your positions with your peers.

If you do not have a partner, that's absolutely fine, because what you can do is you can write your explanation down, making sure that you are using those keywords so you're basically sharing your explanation with yourself, but formalising it in the form of a written response.

So what I'm going to invite you to do now is pause the video while you have a go at sharing your position on the spectrum with a peer or reflecting on it independently if you don't have a partner.

So pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic discussions.

And I just wanted to pick out a few things that I heard that I thought were absolutely brilliant and that will be really valuable for other people to hear.

Now, first of all, you know, lots of you are saying you think it was very naive of Brooke to have this, you know, to present war in this way when he didn't actually fight.

And I think that that's a really valid suggestion, a really valid opinion.

But I also think it's very easy for us to judge Brooke based on kind of perhaps his naivety.

But actually, what I think is really important to understand is that so many people were so naive about war before it actually begun and even before they'd fought in the war.

You know, Brooke was by no means the only person that was glorifying war and thinking of how romantic it would be to die in the war, okay? So we're not singling Brooke out as one person who had this really, you know, strange or unorthodox view of war, because actually this view was held by pretty much the entire country in the beginning of the war.

You know, as we said at the beginning of the lesson, people were feeling very optimistic about this war in the very beginning.

So it's really not surprising that Brooke had these views and had these kind of, had this idealistic vision of war.

And he was perhaps simply writing this poem as a way to reassure those at home that he would be okay, but also perhaps to reassure himself that he would be okay 'cause even though he was probably, you know, looking forward to defending his country, he was probably also very frightened of what that would actually look like.

So I think that whilst it's easy to kind of criticise Brooke for his naivety, and you know, I'm not disputing the fact that it possibly was quite a naive view or idealistic view at least of war, I think we should also be careful to remember the fact that this was not, you know, an unorthodox view of war.

And that actually, there was real value in what Brook was saying, and real importance in inspiring and motivating young men perhaps to feel more at peace with the fact that they would die.

So I think that this, regardless of what you think about Brooke's, you know, presentation of war, I think that this is a really valuable and really useful and insightful poem into some of the earlier war attitudes.

So thank you for sharing your opinions, and I hope that moving forward, you will bear in mind that actually this view of war was not that unorthodox, and many people did hold this kind of optimism at the start of the war.

So thank you for your suggestions and brilliant work.

So to summarise the learning from today, well, first of all, Brooke's patriotism is evident in this poem because he views England as paradise.

Brooke's poem arguably glorifies war because he presents an idealistic view of it.

He arguably presents death in war as the ultimate display of patriotism and bravery.

Now, in 1915, when this poem was published, it was praised.

However, modern readers may view this poem as naive.

And finally, despite his bravery and patriotism, Brooke never actually fought in the war because he unfortunately died of an infection on a ship on his way to fight.

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

It's been fascinating to hear your responses to this poem and to hear you debate, particularly in the last task, whether or not you think it was naive of Brooke to write this poem.

Thank you so much for your engagement and contributions.

I've really loved teaching you, and I look forward to seeing you next time.

See you later.