Hello there, fantastic to see you today.

My name's Mr. Barnsley, thank you so much for joining me for today's lesson as we continue to explore Unseen Poetry.

In today's lesson, we're gonna be focusing on tone.

We're gonna try and understand the concept of tone, what does it mean? And then we're gonna start applying that knowledge to an unseen poem.

So you're gonna need a copy of the poem, "Borrowed Time," which is in your additional materials, make sure you have that in front of you.

Now, I think it's time for us to dive in, let's go.

So let's have a look at today's outcome then, shall we? So by the end of the lesson, you're gonna be able to conceptualise, understand the concept, and then explain the use of tone in an unseen poem.

There are five key words I want us to keep an eye out for in today's lesson, they are; mortality, which is, refers to the state of being mortal.

So that you are, we are destined die, we are all mortal, we are not immortal.

Immortal means we will live forever, being mortal means we will die eventually.

So when we talk about mortality, we are talking about the fact that we will all die.

Okay, that's gonna be an important kind of theme or idea that runs through today's lesson.

Well, the key words to look out for are reflective, tone, desperate, and frantic.

So, tone we know is a really key, important word.

It's in the title and the outcome of today's lesson.

And the tone is, the thing that expresses the writer's attitude towards, or feelings about the subject matter that they are talking about.

And the adjectives reflective, desperate, and frantic could all be really useful in describing the tone of a poem.

All right, so if you want to pause the video and read through each of these keyword definitions, and even if you want to make a note them down somewhere, now is the time to do so.

Do press play when you are ready to move on.

Okay, so we are gonna be analysing tone in an unseen poem.

We're gonna do that in two steps.

In the first learning cycle, we're gonna try and understand this concept of tone.

What do we mean by tone, and why is it so important to look for in poetry? And then we're gonna apply what we've learned in that first learning cycle to a poem.

We're gonna really try and understand the tone that has been used within that poem.

But let's start by thinking about this concept, the idea of tone.

So in literature, the tone of literary work really expresses the writer's attitude towards, or their feelings about a subject matter, or an audience, something that they are kind of talking about or to.

Now a writer can convey tone through their writing, and specifically through this word choices.

So let's start by thinking about, why do we even bother looking at tone? Why is it important that we think about the tone, the attitude, the feelings of a writer? Why might that be important? Pause the video, if you've got a partner, you can talk through this with them.

If you're working by yourself, you can just think through question independently.

Alright, pause the video, over to you to do some thinking, and press play when you have some ideas that you are ready to share.

Okay, welcome back, some really lovely ideas there.

I just wanna collect some of the fantastic things that I heard.

So you might have said something along the lines of that tone might tell us about the writer's relationship with the subject matter.

It really helps us understand how they feel towards whatever it's they're talking about.

It might even help us think about if there's any deeper messages.

Okay, what are they trying to say about that subject matter? It could also let us think about what the, the effect they're trying to have on the reader, how they're trying to make us feel about whatever it is, or whoever they are talking about in their poem.

So, really useful for us to dig deep and think about what is the tone in this poem really helps us understand, and that will therefore help us kind of create our own personal responses to the poem.

So in order to determine the tone of a poem, there are some questions that you might want to ask yourself.

First, you might want to think about, how would the poem sound if it was spoken aloud? What would that the voice of the speaker sound like to you? What mood do you think the speaker would be in while they were saying that poem? Okay, so when we think about that poem being said out loud, we automatically start thinking, okay, what kind of mood would the speaker be in? I think happy, sad, desperate, angry, frantic, relaxed, reflective? Okay, that's what we need to think about, how would that poem sound out loud, how would that speaker feel? Other things to look out for is, what punctuation marks are used? That can be really helpful in us assessing the tone of a piece.

Also, we might think about the language being used.

What specific words is the speaker using, has the poet chosen to place in their poem? And does that convey some sort of emotion, and tone, and mood to us? But also we can think about the structure of the poem, how it's laid out on the page.

That can sometimes be really useful in helping us assess the tone, the mood of a poem.

So they're the things to look out for.

How would it sound spoken aloud? What do you think the mood of the speaker might be? Punctuation, language and structure, all of those things can be really, really helpful in us determining the tone of a poem.

Okay then, so let's think about how we might approach punctuation.

'Cause you might be saying, Mr. Barnsley, I'm not sure how punctuation relates to tone.

Well, let's work through this together.

So I want you to imagine on the left you can see a diagram that represents a poem and every line ends with an exclamation mark.

What sort of tone might you expect in a poem where every line ends with that exclamation mark? Pause the video, if you've got a partner, you can talk through through with them.

Otherwise you can just think through this independently.

So pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some answers that you are willing to share.

Some fantastic ideas there, and it was great to hear that not everyone was saying exactly the same thing.

Because ultimately, this is our personal interpretation.

And an exclamation mark could mean slightly different things to some of us.

But I heard lots of you talking about anger.

This could really show that someone's anger, perhaps they're shouting.

I heard other people talking about excitement, that maybe this is gonna be someone who's really excited and that they're exclaiming everything because they're really excited.

I heard the word surprise from some of you as well.

So maybe this is quite shocking idea.

Okay, so we can see that the exclamation mark might mean slightly different things.

So yes, it's gonna give us a hint of the tone, but we can't just judge the tone just because of the exclamation marks, we will need to find some more evidence to help us.

What about if every line ended with a question mark? How might that change the tone in comparison to an explanation mark? What kind of different tones might we expect to see if we, if we saw that every line ended with a question mark? Alright, pause the video again.

You can discuss in pairs, or think through this independently, but press play when you think you have some ideas.

Welcome back, some really fantastic discussions going on there.

I heard people talking about a reflective tone.

Okay, using one of our keywords there, where you are maybe thinking really deeply or carefully about something, thinking back on something.

I heard other people talking about uncertainty.

Maybe someone isn't sure about something.

Or maybe there's an insecurity, someone doesn't feel confident about whatever it's they're talking about.

The speaker doesn't feel confident and so they're questioning themselves.

Again, we can see that there are different clues that this might be directing us to with tone, but it's not, we can't say for certain just because they use a punctuation.

So this is one clue that will help us unearth or decide what we think the tone might be.

But we can't make a sweeping judgement just based on the use of question marks.

It's one clue in a bigger puzzle.

Alright, what if the lines are broken up with caesuras, or dashes? So let's imagine there's kind of full stops, commas, dashes, caesuras in the middle of sentences.

What tone do you think this would create? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you think you've got some ideas.

Some really interesting discussions there.

I heard people, again, use this word, uncertainty.

Maybe the person is pausing to think, am I right here? Am I sure with what I'm saying? I heard other people talking about hesitance, hesitancy here.

So I think the zoa really seems to give this indication that a speaker might not be sure and confident in what they're saying, they're pausing to think.

It might also build on that and support the idea of reflectiveness that we thought about when we saw the question marks as well.

Alright, now let's start thinking about structure.

Again, I've got a little image here which reflects a structure of poem where the stanzas are very regular.

Okay, they are very similar in length, they are kind of grouped in, it might just be one single stanza.

How might a regular structure like this reflect tone? What might, what inferences, what could we make about the tone of a poem through a very regular structure like this? Pause the video, discuss with a partner, have a think or think independently, and press play when you are ready to share some of your ideas.

Some fantastic ideas there.

I heard some of you talking about control.

This seems to be a speaker who's got a lot of control over a situation.

So maybe they're feeling very confident.

Some of you said that this could sound quite monotonous.

So this might be about a topic where the speaker actually isn't enthusiastic.

Maybe it's a real sense of regularity, something that they experience day after day, and there's almost a sense of boredom about kind of what they're talking about.

So again, you can see some quite different interpretations.

So this is just one clue that we might want to use with punctuation and vocab choices to really start to think to kind of create an image of the speaker and the tone and the mood of the poem.

What about then if the structure of the poem is very irregular, represented by the image on the left? Different line lens, different stanza lens, how might this affect our interpretation of tone, do you think? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Some really creative discussions going on, they're fantastic to hear, well done.

Some of you were talking about it perhaps being quite disconnected and unstable.

There's no regularity, and this maybe suggests that the speaker has a kind of distance to the topic that they're talking about, they feel quite disconnected from it.

Other people were talking about this feeling really dynamic and excitable.

There seems to be a real energy here, that the, that the speaker is diving from idea to idea, and this could feel really excitable.

So you can see very, very different interpretations to the structure here.

So as I said before, we're not gonna just use this as the only clue, but one clue that we can use to start to discover what the tone of the poem might be.

Alright, let's pause for a minute, we've done lots of discussing, lots of thinking.

Let's pause and check that we're all understanding what we've done so far.

So true or false? The use of punctuation can affect the tone of a poem.

Is that true or false? Pause the video, have a think and press play when you think you have the right answer.

Well done if you said true, that is absolutely true, now let's justify that.

Is it A, the use of multiple punctuation marks throughout a poem that breakup lines could suggest a confident and controlled tone? Is it the use of multiple punctuation marks throughout a poem that breakup lines could suggest an uncertain and unsure tone.

Okay, which of these feels like a logical inference that we can make, which proves that punctuation can affect tone? Pause the video, have a think, pick A or B, and press play when you're ready to find out which answer is correct.

Yeah, really well done if you said B.

I think logically it makes sense that punctuation caesuras, that breaks up the lines could really suggest this uncertainty unsureness as if a, as if a speaker is really having to think carefully about the subject of their poem.

Alright, over to you for our first task then.

I want you to imagine you are writing a poem about facing mortality, about facing the realisation that we will not live forever ever, that ultimately every single one of us will die.

A really tricky topic, and maybe an uncomfortable topic for some of us to think about.

I want you to think about what tone you would use in a poem about mortality.

And I also want you to think about how you would create that tone.

So I want you to just write a very short response and that needs to be a few lines long.

But some things I want you to consider is what effect do you want to have on the reader? How do you want, what do you want to make the reader feel in your poem? I also want you to think about why you might want to have that effect on the reader.

Okay, you know, you're thinking about what you want the reader to feel, but why do you want them to feel that way? And think about how you can use punctuation and structure and you can also start to think about language in order to affect the tone.

Alright, over to you for this.

Pause the video, write a short response and press play when you think you have got a finalised idea.

Pause the video, over to you, good luck.

Press play when you're done.

Okay, welcome back.

That was a really nice little task to get you thinking personally about how you would create tone in your own work.

I'm not gonna ask you to share those, although you may wish to share them with others.

What I want us to do is just sit in a moment of reflection and think about the ideas that we've created.

To do that, I'm gonna share the work of two Oak pupils, or Laura and Izzy, and I want you to think about how these ideas align to those of your own.

Are there any similarities or differences? So Laura said that she wanted to create a reflective tone by using lots of question marks and open an irregular structure.

We might want a reflective tone because actually, thinking about mortality and thinking about your own death really makes you reflect on your life.

That might be the pathway Laura is taking the speaker down, sorry, the reader down.

Izzy said she wants to create actually quite an angry tone.

She'd use lots of exclamation marks and really short, abrupt words.

She might want to really reflect that anger and that frustration people might feel about the end of their lives.

They might not feel that they are ready, and they're really angry about that.

Okay, so pause the video and reflect on Laura and Izzy's answers, think about whether any similarities or difference, and really just reread your work and think about the kind of tone that you want to create in your poem.

If you want to make any changes based on the ideas from Laura and Izzy, now's the time to do so.

Okay, pause the video, take a moment to reflect, and press play when you're ready to move on.

Alright, great work there.

We've done some really fantastic work about thinking about the concept of tone.

Now I want us to apply it to a poem.

So now we are gonna consider how tone has been used in Ruth Fainlight's "Borrowed Time." Now there's a copy of this poem in your additional materials, you do wanna make sure you have got that in front of you.

Okay, so whenever we're reading an unseen poem, the first thing to do is, of course, read it through ourselves.

So pause the video, read through this independently.

You're probably gonna want to read it more than once.

Read it once, twice, maybe even three times to check that you've understood, got a gist of what is happening in the poem.

You think you know what the kind of the headline of what this poem is about.

Okay, over to you then, pause the video, read the poem, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Welcome back, some fantastic reading there, and I was really impressed to see so many of you reading that poem for a second or third time.

Not just reading it once and thinking, oh, I think I understand this, I can move on.

Thinking, no, I'm gonna double check I understand this by reading it a second or a third time, that's fantastic to see, well done.

Okay, so the next step is we always want to just try and summarise that poem in one sentence, just to check that we think we understand kind of what that poem might be about.

Now we can try at the surface level, like what is explicitly happening in the poem, that's great, that's a really good starting point.

But if you can try and dig a little bit deeper and try and think about what some messages might be, that is really great work.

Alright, so let's start that surface level, what do you think the poem is about on the surface? But try and challenge yourself if you can and think, are there any deeper meanings in this poem? Alright, pause the video, see if you can write a one sentence summary of this poem.

You can either just do this verbally with a partner, or you can jot it down if you're working independently.

Alright, pause the video, over to you, and press play when you're ready to move on.

Welcome back.

I saw some really good attempts at summarising there.

Lots of you talked about how the speaker is reflecting on the idea that their partner will die.

This is about someone who is, realises that their partner isn't on borrowed time, that they're coming towards the end of their life.

Some of you went even further and talked about, there was a lot of natural imagery in here, begging the moon and the universe for more time.

Okay, well done if you've said something similar to that.

Okay then, what I want us to think about then is what is the tone of Fainlight's "Borrowed Time." And to do that, we're gonna ask ourselves those questions that we looked at in the first learning cycle.

How do you think the poem would sound if it was spoken aloud? What mood do you think the speaker would be in whilst saying the poem? What punctuation marks were used, and how might that affect the tone? What sort of language is being used, and how does that affect the tone? How is the poem structured, and how might that affect the tone? Okay, if you've got a partner, you can talk through these questions together.

Otherwise you can work through these questions independently.

Alright, pause the video, over to you, think about this poem and press play when you're ready to share some ideas.

Welcome back, some fantastic ideas there.

And I hope you managed to share some ideas with a partner.

But don't worry if you didn't, 'cause I'm gonna share some of the work of one of our Oak pupils, and you can think about how closely aligned your ideas or your partner's ideas were to Sofia's.

So Sofia said that she thought that the speaker would be talking really quickly if they were saying this poem aloud.

And she thought this because she thought that we'd be in quite a frantic mood.

Okay, there's a real anxiety here, a real nervousness and worry about the fact that the speaker's partner is reaching the end of their life or you know, is going to die.

Now the question marks in this poem could really show how the speaker is trying to find answers to why her part, you know, she's going to lose her partner.

And the use of commas and dashes could represent the speaker really pausing to find their breath perhaps, but also pausing maybe to find answers to these questions.

You might have picked out the use of repetition as well as the references to beg and debt.

And both of these can really show a real desperate tone.

There's a real sense of desperation here in the speaker's voice.

And you might see this reflected in the structure, because there's a real compact structure of the poem, and this could, Sofia argues, represent desperation.

Because all their thoughts and their emotions are coming out at once all in one go.

So why don't you pause for a moment and think, did you agree with Sofia's ideas? Why or why not? Were there any of Sofia's ideas that you thought? I didn't think of that, but I really like that idea, and I might start to, that's starting to change my interpretation of the poem.

Alright, if you've got a partner, why don't you sit and reflect about how similar your ideas were to Sofia's.

And if you're working by yourself, you can just think through, do you agree with Sofia or not? Alright, pause video, do some reflecting, and press play when you're ready to move on.

Okay, welcome back.

Before we move on to our final task, I want just to pause for a moment and check our understanding.

So two pupils, Laura and Izzy have given their own interpretations of the structure of the poem.

I want you to tell me which you think is most effective, most logical that links to the tone of the poem.

So Laura said, I think the compact nature of the structure shows that the poem has a controlled and stable tone.

And Izzy says, I think the compact nature of the structure creates a desperate, overwhelmed tone.

Which of those feels most logical with the content of the poem? Pause the video and decide whether you think it's Laura or Izzy.

Alright, pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got an idea.

Yes, well done if you said Izzy.

Of course, a compact nature of the structure of the poem could represent a controlled and stable tone.

But that doesn't feel logical in a poem that's about mortality.

Okay, so Izzy's interpretation just feels more logical.

And that's kind of goes back to that idea that I was saying earlier, that you want to look for a variety of clues to decide the tone.

You can't just decide the tone of a poem just through structure, or just through punctuation, or just through language choices.

You have to look at all of these things together, kind of put them together and create the best, most logical picture.

And in that case, in this case, this is Izzy.

Well done if you've got that correct.

Okay, our final task then is a discussion activity.

So if you've got a partner, you're gonna want to work through this with them.

If you're working independently, you can just jot some ideas down on what you would say as part of a discussion.

Okay, so the discussion question we're gonna cover is, what tone do you think Fainlight uses in "Borrowed Time" and why do you think she uses that tone? Things I want you to consider as you have your discussions, what effect do you think Fainlight wants to have on the reader? What might Fainlight want the readers to think about in relation to their own life? Okay, pause the video, over to you to have these discussions and press play When you think you are done.

Remember to do really careful listening as well as discussing, and to try and add, build, or even challenge your partner's ideas.

Alright, pause the video, give this a go, and press play when you are done.

Welcome back, some really fantastic discussions there, it is brilliant to see you discussing so respectfully.

So last thing before we finish today's lesson, let's reflect on those discussions that we have had.

I want to share two Oak pupil's responses, and I want you to just take a moment to think about whose ideas most closely aligned to yours.

Is it Laura who said that "I think Fainlight uses a reflective tone to invite the reader to make the most of their time with their loved ones." Or is it Izzy who says, "I think Fainlight uses a frantic tone and wants the reader to understand how unfair life can be" Which of those felt like a more appropriate interpretation to you that was most closely aligned to yours? And can you see the perspective of the other Oak pupil? And has that given you room for thought, and think, yeah, maybe this poem can be interpreted in more than one way.

Alright, pause the video, have a think, have a reflect, and press play when you are ready to move on.

And that's it, we've reached the end of today's lesson, what fantastic work you have done on conceptualising the idea of tone and then applying it to an unseen poem.

Fantastic.

Let's have a look at this summary on screen and make sure we feel really confident of all the learning we've covered today before you move on to your next lesson.

So we've learned that the tone of a literary work expresses the writer's attitude toward, or feelings about the subject matter.

In order to determine the tone, we might ask questions about how the poem would sound if it was read aloud.

We also might ask questions about the use of punctuation, structure and language to help us determine the tone.

And we can interpret Fainlight's "Borrowed Time" as having a reflective, or a desperate tone.

So the tone, there might not be a clear tone in every single poem, there might be multiple ways we can interpret it, and that's great.

That can help us develop our own personal response.

Fantastic work today, thank you so much for joining me.

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

Have a great day, bye-Bye.