Hi everyone, this is Mr. Chandra Parler here, and I'm really looking forward to working with you today.

We're gonna be reading Clarke's "Catrin," which is a fascinating poem, which really explores the depths of motherhood and parental relationships.

Often we associate motherhood with maybe quite maternal gentle feelings, but Clarke almost flips that on its head through the semantic field that she uses over the course of the poem and the really abstract imagery that sort of challenges us emotionally.

Let's dive in.

So if today's lesson, we're going to explain how Clarke uses language, form, and structure to express her viewpoint.

Our key words for today include duality, which is the opposing or contrasting elements existing together, often symbolising balance or conflict.

We're gonna need to be confident with what a semantic field is, which is a set of words grouped by a common theme.

We'll also need to be aware of what abstract imagery is, which is descriptive language that evokes ideas, emotions, or concepts rather than tangible objects or scenes.

We're gonna be considering what symbolising something is, which is when we have a concrete representation of an abstract idea, such as hearts being symbolic of love.

And finally, we'll be considering that word; manifestation, a noun which suggests how abstract ideas or emotions appear in the real world through behaviours, actions, and other things.

So we're gonna start off by analysing the poem "Catrin", specifically looking at motherhood.

So I want you to turn to "Catrin" in your poetry anthology, and I want you to read the poem independently first.

Pause the video, do that, and when you're ready, hit play.

Fantastic.

So just a couple of key words that you'll need to know for your glossary when thinking about the poem.

So we've got the word confrontation, which is an argument or direct conflict.

The adjective disinfected, which means cleaned or germ-free.

The adjective tender, which means soft and gentle.

And finally, the adjective defiant, which means boldly resistant or challenging authority.

Make sure you get those words down so that you can use them later in your analysis of this poem.

Pause the video, add those to your anthology, and when you're ready, hit play.

Fantastic.

This is a really good bank of words to be building up, not only for this poem, but for later in your course.

So I want you to start off by having a look and identifying any words that you would associate with the semantic field of motherhood.

So even up on the board, there are maybe two words that I would say linked to motherhood.

Tender and defiant are both words that maybe I would link to motherhood, but for quite different reasons.

Tender, because often being maternal is linked to the idea of being gentle, but also defiance, the idea of being resistant, being clear in what you think.

Pause the video, see what you would pick out for the semantic field of motherhood.

And when you're ready, hit play.

Some really interesting ideas there, everyone.

Let's see what you could have said.

So, when identifying words linked to motherhood or childhood, you may have picked out the words child, confrontation, love, paintings, toys, wild, tender, two, rosy, as I mentioned, defiant, heart's, love, conflict, and you ask.

All of these linking to these two major concepts of motherhood or childhood within the poem.

But can we sort these words into groups? They're quite broad at the moment, and even when I was giving that option of tender and defiant, both of those words came up here, but they're two totally different ways of looking at it.

Sort these words into groups and decide what order do you think they have? What do you think links them together, those individual groups? Pause the video, work in your pairs, or work in your threes, or if you have to work alone, that's absolutely fine.

And maybe try and come up with your own individual categories.

Once you've done so, hit play.

Some lovely ideas there everyone.

So several of you were discussing the concept of well, symbols of motherhood and childhood, like child, paintings, toys, two, rosy, defiant, and you ask, that thing of, you know, constantly being asked questions when you are a mother by a young child.

But then there's also words and emotions that describe the maternal relationship, like wild and tender and love and conflict and confrontation and heart's.

But are any of these words repeated? Are any of these ideas repeated? You may want to start thinking about why they are, but pause the video, see which ones are repeated, and when you've done so, hit play.

Fantastic work.

So I can see so many of you annotating, circling where these words are repeated.

Well, confrontation and love and conflict are repeated.

Love is even repeated within my list, but that's really interesting.

We've got that confrontation and conflict going up against love.

So we have these repeated words, but two of them are very different, seemingly, to the other.

At both beginning and end of the poem, Clarke explores the duality of maternal relationship.

Here she's implying it is compromised of both love and conflict, which are these two contrasting ideas.

Pause the video and make sure you've got that note.

And when you're ready, hit play.

Fantastic work there, everyone.

This is a really key idea to have right at the top of our heads as soon as we start looking at this poem.

We're now gonna zoom in on lines nine to 16 from it was to separate.

Here, Clarke is using abstract imagery to describe the birth of the child.

Notice how she uses the word disinfected.

It's a clean, sterile area.

We've got the walls, the clean.

And then in contrast, the wild.

What meanings are being created here? How does Clarke present motherhood through each of these key words? Pause the video, have that discussion, and when you're ready, hit play.

Excellent work there everyone.

So some of you will have discussed the, maybe, contrast in maybe the presentation of clean and wild and actually how they have very different connotations and how Clarke is maybe trying to explore the conflict even within the mother of that experience of what motherhood can be like.

Some of our Oak students interpreted these lines as well.

Sam said, "Well, the shapes could symbolise society's "expectation of mothers.

"The fact that there's that need "for order versus unpredictability, "the emotional versus the rational, "the independence versus their nurture." Whilst June said, "Well, the shapes could symbolise the "physical square of the hospital room "and the metaphorical circle "of the developing maternal relationship." It's a really nice idea that almost wild, that circle, contrasting everything that's expected.

That phrase of square pegs don't go in round holes, or really round pegs don't go in square holes here, right? Where actually there's almost that conflict fighting against what the expectations are.

Alex points out the shapes could symbolise the birth.

The mother cries out words and pain in the circles could be the baby's crying mouth, which is a really interesting read of that.

But which one do you agree most with? Why? You want to split up into threes and each of you take a different person and advocate for that person.

Take on the role of Sam and argue that point, the role of June, argue that point, the role of Alex, argue that point.

Or you may want to just agree amongst yourselves, which one you most agree with.

Pause the video, have that discussion.

When you're ready, hit play.

Fantastic work there everyone.

So let's have a quick check for understanding here.

When Clarke explores the duality and complexity of the maternal relationship, using the words from what does she use? Does she use the semantic field of shapes, the semantic field of conflict, the semantic field of love, or the semantic field of motherhood? Pause the video, select an option, and when you're ready, hit play.

Fantastic work there, everyone.

We can clearly see it's the semantic field of motherhood.

There are words linked to conflict, but it's really falling in within a wide, there's a whole broad semantic field going on there.

So I want you now to pause the video and I want you to annotate the images to make notes on your interpretation of lines nine to 16.

Your notes should include reference to relevant quotations, the identification of literary methods and language choices, how you interpret Clarke's reference to each image, and relevant links to context.

Once you've done so, hit play.

Some fantastic annotations there, everyone, some really detailed, developed thought there, which is really gonna help us further down the line.

So here's how you could have annotated the first image, potentially.

Disinfected or disinfected and blank convey the clinical coldness of the mother and daughter's first meeting.

It's not this overwhelming, celebratory moment.

It's almost like there's a coldness there.

There's a lack of connection in that, in the disinfection.

The fact that there's no paintings, no toys.

Well that's that idea of the first emotional experience of motherhood is not as the speaker expected.

Clarke wrote this after the birth of her first daughter.

Perhaps motherhood doesn't go with what she initially expected it to.

Everything about the room where she delivers the child is blank and impersonal.

The birth is a blank slate from which the maternal relationship is built.

But what pressures does that put on it? Pause the video, if there's anything that you didn't get down or in your own notes, you may want to add them now.

And once you've done so, hit play.

Excellent, really good annotation there, everyone.

So I want you now to review the rest of your annotations, making sure that you included relevant quotations, identification of literary methods, language choices, how you interpret Clarke's reference to each image, and relevant links to context.

Once you've done so, hit play.

Some excellent work there, everyone.

I can see that you are all taking that feedback from the previous slide and almost using those skills, that thought process to build your own thought.

Well done.

I want you now to challenge yourself a little bit further to see if you can extend your notes even further.

And once you've done so, hit play.

Excellent work there everyone.

Let's keep going.

So we're now gonna be focusing on interpreting conflict.

So I want you to reread the poem, "Catrin".

Once you've done so, I want you to see if you can identify any words that link to conflict.

Pause the video, underline any words linking to conflict.

And once you've done so, have that discussion, share back with your partner.

When you've done that, hit play.

Excellent work there everyone.

So you may have picked out the word hot, fierce, confrontation, red, fought, wild, struggle, shouted, struggle, fighting, defiant, and conflict.

But again, can we group these words? Pause the video, see if you can group these words.

Maybe one of you chooses to take a a selection and try and categorise them.

Another tries to do that independently.

And once you've done so, hit play.

Excellent work.

So you may have noticed the words, hot, fierce, red, wild, defiant, all linking to words that describe anger and frustration, really.

Whilst confrontation, fought, struggle, shouted, fighting, conflict, these all are manifestations of conflict.

They're the products of conflict.

Point of view now, make sure to just underline, get those two group headings into your work, into your anthology, and then you may want to highlight those and then use them as a key to just note down those keywords.

Once you've done that, hit play.

Excellent work there everyone.

So we could describe these words as belonging to the semantic field of conflict.

But why do you think Clarke uses so many words from this semantic field? Is that what we would normally expect of maternity, of motherhood? What effect is that creating? Pause the video, have that discussion, and when you're ready, hit play.

Some excellent ideas there, everyone.

So arguably this presents motherhood as a battlefield.

It's not sunshine and roses.

In fact, it's two different people who were once together but are now separated, navigating each other as their relationship develops.

In a weird way, both of them are learning each other about the same time, aren't they? So it's obviously gonna be really challenging.

Pause the video, make sure you've got that note.

And when you've done that, hit play.

Excellent work there everyone.

So here we have Sam, Jun, and Alex who are all commenting on how the theme of conflict is woven throughout the structure of the poem.

But, can you fill in the gaps to complete each of their responses? Pause the video, see if you can work out.

Maybe one of you take Sam, one of you take Jun, one of you take Alex.

Try to complete their response.

And once you've done so, hit play.

Excellent work there.

So let's go through.

So for Sam, Clarke repeats the phrase on line one later in line six.

Emphasising how this conflict is personal to the mother.

You may want to underline that so that you are clear on why that's being done and add that annotation.

Jun points out, Clarke's use of personal pronouns shifts between I, you, and we, implying that the mother and daughter fluctuate between closeness and distance.

Again, you may want to circle those personal pronouns and make sure you've got that note.

And Alex points out, well at the end of the poem, Clarke shifts to the present tense, suggesting that the conflict in the maternal relationship is ongoing.

That's a really nice spot from Alex, that actually, because he's really carefully paid attention to the tense and thought about how it affects the reading.

So again, you may just want to box off that moment where it turns into present tense, and then explain why.

Once you've done so, hit play.

Some lovely work there, everyone.

So let's just have a quick check for understanding here.

True or false, Clarke presents motherhood as an ongoing battle between two very different individuals? Pause the video, select true or false, and then hit play.

Excellent work there everyone.

It is indeed true.

But can we justify the answer? Is it A, because she uses the present tense to convey the continual nature of the conflict and repeats many words linked motherhood? Or because B, she weaves words from the semantic field of conflict throughout and shifts to the present tense in the later half of the poem? Pause the video, select A or B, and then hit play.

Lovely work there, everyone.

It is indeed B, she weaves these words from the semantic field of conflict throughout the poem and then shifts to the present tense.

It's not just the present tense alone, and really that the repetition of the words linked to motherhood doesn't really demonstrate the ongoing battle.

So we're just gonna practise putting all of this together.

I want you to write a paragraph answering the following question.

How does Clarke present conflict in "Catrin"? Your success criteria for this is to include a topic sentence, which is clear, comparative, and linked to the question.

Support ideas with judiciously chosen evidence from the poems. Provide a detailed comparative analysis of the poet's use of language form and structure, and use relevant links to context to strengthen your interpretation.

So for example, we mentioned earlier the fact that Clarke wrote this having already delivered her first child, having just given birth.

Pause the video, complete that, and once you've done so, hit play.

Some really thoughtful work there.

Looking at how Clarke presents conflict in "Catrin".

So let's just review our response using the success criteria.

I want you to label where you've met each part of the success criteria as part of your response.

So have you made sure that your topic sentence is clear and linked to the question? Have you chosen specific evidence from the poem? Have you made sure that you have analysis of the language form and the structure? Have you used relevant context? When we're talking about analysis, you may be wanting to talk about the semantic field of motherhood or the semantic field of conflict and maybe exploring the connotations of a particular word.

If you've not done any of these things, that's absolutely fine, just in a different colour pen make sure that you're adding that in and once you've done that, hit play.

Excellent work there everyone.

Some really reflective work.

And I'm so impressed by the way that you've been able to discuss this poem today.

So we're just gonna summarise analysing this poem, "Catrin".

Clarke uses the semantic field of motherhood to explore the duality of parental relationships.

Through the semantic field of conflict, she's able to represent motherhood as a battle.

The change in tense between standards reflects how this conflict is an ongoing one whilst the repetition of the first line implies this as an authentic account of a personal conflict.

Her use of abstract imagery in lines nine to 16 can be interpreted both as physically and emotionally symbolic.

Hopefully you have not found this a continuous struggle and conflict.

I've really enjoyed working with you today.

I hope you've enjoyed the lesson.

I hope to see you again very soon.

Bye for now, everyone.