Hello, my name's Ms. Keller and welcome to today's lesson.

In this session, we are going to be working with lots of different poems from the conflict cluster, and we're going to be thinking really carefully about the connections and the relationships between these texts.

So by the end of today's lesson, we will be able to make detailed and nuanced thematic connections between the poems. So let's just take a look at today's keywords.

We have comparative conjunctions, correlative conjunctions, superlatives, thematic, and subtle.

So do pause the video here and take some time to familiarise yourself with these words because we will be encountering them quite a lot in today's lesson.

But before we move on, I'd just like to track your attention to the two words at the bottom.

We've got the word thematic, which means related to the central subject or underlying message of a literary work.

The theme.

So this is when we start thinking about how we can compare poems by the themes that we can identify in the poems. And this is really useful because it means that the two poems we're comparing don't necessarily need to be about the same subject.

And then we have that adjective there at the bottom, subtle, which means not obvious, requiring careful attention to notice or to understand.

And the context that we are going to be looking at the word subtle in today is when we're thinking about making subtle connections.

So perhaps connecting two texts in a way that is not obvious or perhaps will require a bit more development and explanation in order to make that connection clear to your reader.

So how is today's lesson going to look? Well, we are going to split it into three parts.

We're going to start off by conceptualising comparison and thinking about what it means to compare two texts.

And then we're going to have a look at comparing themes and attitudes.

So thinking about those thematic connections we were talking about a moment ago.

And then finally, we are going to explore comparing the poet's use of methods.

So let's begin by thinking about comparison.

So a comparison is a consideration or evaluation of the similarities or differences between two things or people.

So we've got those really important keywords there, similarities or differences.

And that really is the bread and butter of comparison.

That is what we are identifying when we compare two things.

So how does that look when we compare two texts? Well, when we talk about comparing text, we mean that we're finding the similarities or differences in how the text approach certain ideas or themes.

So we're thinking really carefully about the messages perhaps or the attitudes in each text and how we can compare them.

So my first question to you today, then take some time to discuss this with the people around you, or if you are working on your own, that's okay.

Just make some notes in your book or on your paper.

Is it more important to focus on similarities or differences? So pause the video here while you take some time to discuss it or make your notes.

And when you're ready for us to discuss it together, click play and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back.

I definitely overheard some of you matching up the correct language types there.

So let's just quickly run through them.

So comparative conjunctions we had, whereas, correlative conjunctions we had both and and and superlatives, we had most dramatic.

So let's just explore each of these language types in a bit more detail.

So starting with correlative conjunction, so the one in the middle of that list.

So correlative conjunctions help us to group similar texts or similar ideas.

For example, both apples and bananas are types of fruit, or neither apples nor bananas are citrus fruits.

So interestingly there we can talk about things that perhaps both the ideas do contain, but we can also think about the similarities between two things in that they both don't contain something as well.

So that's a really good way of thinking about similarities there.

Comparative conjunctions then, they help us to identify similarities and differences.

So apples are red, whereas bananas are yellow or bananas are often used in cake recipes and apple flavoured desserts are also very popular.

So if you notice at the top we've got a, whereas which is a word that signifies a difference.

And then we've got also, which is an example of a comparative conjunction that indicates a similarity.

So there are different comparative conjunctions that we can use depending on whether we want to highlight a similarity or a difference.

And finally, superlatives.

Superlatives enable us to evaluate texts against each other.

And what I mean by evaluate here is to make a value judgement.

So not necessarily just exploring how things are similar or different, but perhaps considering which thing is most effective or does a certain thing the most or the least, it's adding that value judgement.

So examples here we have apples are the crunchiest fruit or bananas are the most yellow fruit.

And with superlatives, there are two ways that we form them and it really does depend on the word that we want to use.

So if we have a look at that first sentence, then we can see the first way of building a superlative.

And that is using the EST ending.

So here we have crunchiest, but we could have biggest or loudest for example.

And the second way is to use the word most as a prefix.

So to put the word most before a word.

And we tend to do that when an EST ending wouldn't work.

So here the yellowish fruit doesn't really sound as good as most yellow.

So there's lots of different words that we can use to build most something superlative statement.

So when you come to using your superlative, it's a really great way to work out which way around to do it is to say the word out loud and usually it will sound the best one way or the other.

So now it's time to pause and check our understanding so far.

So true or false, correlative conjunctions are words such as also and whereas.

So pause the video here while you take some time to think.

And when you're ready for me to reveal the correct answer, click play and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back and well done to those of you who said false.

So now it is time to justify our response.

So take a moment to read these two explanations, decide which one you think best supports our answer above.

And when you're ready for me to reveal the correct answer, click, play, and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back and well done to those of you who said false.

So now it is time to justify our answer.

So pause the video and take a moment to read through these two possible explanations and decide which one you think best supports our answer above.

So pause the video and click play when you're ready for us to continue.

Okay, welcome back and well done to those of you who said b, correlative conjunctions enable us to group two texts together, for example, using both and and and as a result, they are always a pair of words.

So that is really important to remember about correlative conjunctions.

You will always find them in pairs.

So now it's time for the first practise task of today's lesson.

And I'd like to give you an opportunity to practise using these types of comparative language.

So what we have here are two images.

I would like you to summarise the similarities and differences between them.

So you should include comparative conjunctions, correlative conjunctions, and superlatives.

So pause the video here while you give this a really good go.

And when you're ready for us to feed feedback together, click play, and we'll continue.

Welcome back and well done for giving that such a good go.

I could see lots of you trying to get these different types of vocabulary into your response.

Which one did you perhaps find easiest to use and which one do you think you might need a bit more practise with? So let's have a look at one of our oak students, Aisha and see how she compared the images.

Both image A and B are of a natural landscape.

Image A is the most bright and colourful, whereas image B is dull and eerie looking.

Neither A nor B feature any humans or wildlife.

Image A contains lots of trees and flowers.

Similarly, image B also contains trees.

However, there are no flowers.

The bench in image B gives the impression that this picture has the biggest trees, yet image A has the most trees.

So let's see where Aisha used these three types of comparative language in her response.

So first of all, we had correlative conjunctions.

We had both and neither because remember, you can use correlative conjunctions to say what two things have or what two things do, and also what they don't have or they don't do.

We also had lots of comparative conjunction.

So we had similarly and also which we used to indicate similarities.

And then we had however and yet which we use to indicate differences.

And finally we had superlatives there at the end and we had biggest using that EST ending and we also had most that prefix.

So take a moment to discuss with the people around you.

Did you manage to use all three types of comparative language and perhaps share some examples of how you used each type.

And then before you continue, take a moment to redraft your response and add in any types that you may have missed.

So pause the video here while you take some time to review and redraft.

And when you're ready to continue, click play and we'll carry on.

Okay, so now we've had a chance to think about what it means to compare two things.

And we've also explored this comparative toolkit.

It's time to put this into practise.

So we're going to start off by thinking about how we might compare the themes and attitudes between two poems in your conflict cluster.

So when comparing two poems, it's always best to focus on connections between key themes and ideas in order to avoid feature spotting.

So feature spotting is when we lead our analysis paragraphs by perhaps saying both writers use a simile.

While this is a connection, often the question that you'll be given will relate to a theme or a key idea.

For example, how do the poets explore conflict or how do the poets explore war? So in order to make sure that your connection links to that question focus, it's really important that all your connections lead with key ideas.

So in order to do this, it may be useful to ask yourself the following questions.

What do you think both poets would say to one another if they were in the same room? Do you think they would say a similar thing about a certain theme or idea? How have the poets created subtle differences in meaning around a similar theme or idea? And why do you think the poets might have created subtle differences? So let's have a go at thinking about a question and how we might use these four important questions to help us form connections.

So say we were answering this, how do the poets present suffering and "Exposure"? And one other poem.

So let's use these questions to compare ideas and "Exposure" and "Extract from the Prelude".

So the first question, and what do we think the poets would say to one another if they were together? So both poets may discuss how their own life experiences influenced their writing and the ideas explored in their poetry.

So here we've been able to draw out a really important contextual link between the poems. So do you think they would say a similar thing about certain theme or idea? Both poets may have similar ideas about inner conflict in particular around how the natural world can cause psychological conflict.

That third question.

So how they created subtle differences.

So both explore how nature can cause suffering.

Or in depicts nature attacking humans, whereas Wordsworth focuses on the sublime.

So if we look at that second and third bullet point, we've got that initial similarity leading with those key ideas, the fact that they both focus on in a conflict and it's linked to nature.

But then in that third bullet point, we're unpicking that similarity in order to draw out those subtle differences.

And that final question then, why do you think the poets might have created subtle differences? So I'm gonna hand over to you here to have a think about this.

How would you respond to that final question.

So use lots of information from the second and third bullet point there to help you have a think perhaps discuss it with the people around you.

And when you're ready for us to feedback together, click play and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back.

Hear lots of fantastic suggestions there with people really engaging with those similarities and differences that we'd already drawn out.

So for this question then you might have said, Owen's poem focuses on the speaker's experience in the trenches and presents the natural elements as yet another enemy the speaker must face.

Whereas Wordsworth speaker is alone in the poem and his reflections are thus much more introspective internalised, focusing on the speaker's perception of the natural world.

Owen was a World War I soldier whose experiences resulted in him suffering with PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, meaning that his inner conflict was initially triggered by external experiences of war.

Wordsworth, however, was a romantic poet.

Romantic literature was known for its focus on introspection and self discovery.

So the speaker's conflict in this poem is arguably more internalised.

So if you see that we are really starting to draw out those similarities and differences.

So the answer began by explaining what they were and then began to pick up on this contextual knowledge that we'd already pulled out in order to perhaps think about why those differences might exist.

So did your discussions cover any of these ideas? And were you using any of that comparative language in your discussions as well? So let's pause here and check our understanding again.

So after identifying initial similarities, the best comparative analysis will explore the something between both poems. So take a moment to have a look at the options and when you think you have decided on the best words to fill that gap, click play and I'll reveal the correct answer.

Okay, welcome back and well done to those of you who said b, subtle differences.

Exploring subtle differences between the text helps to produce a detailed and nuanced analysis.

So now we are onto the second practise task of today's lesson, and this time we're going to have a go at putting this comparative toolkit to good use.

So imagine that you have been given this question, how do the poets present relationships in a "Catrin" and one other poem? So it is up to you to choose which other anthology poem you would like to compare to "Catrin" but we need to be thinking really carefully about which other poems link or connect in terms of this key idea relationships.

So what I would like you to do is use the following questions that we were discussing earlier to compare key ideas in capturing and your other chosen poem.

So pause the video here, grab your copy of your anthology if you haven't already, and take some time to really get to grips with comparing "Catrin" to one other poem.

Press pause and click play when you're ready for us to feed back together.

Okay, welcome back.

And a massive, massive well done for all your hard work with that practise task.

It is not easy to compare to literary texts.

So well done for giving it such a good go.

So Jun, another one of our oak students chose to compare Catherine with "The Class Game".

So let's have a look at how he responded to the four questions.

So number one, what do you think the poets would say if they were together? Well, he said if both poets met up, I think they would discuss the importance of society's expectations of people and the challenges this causes.

And here, that's quite a subtle difference actually because I would argue perhaps that's a bit more obvious in "The Class Game." But with "Catrin", I think this idea that the speaker thinks quite carefully about society's expectations of motherhood was definitely a more subtle meaning that Jun was able to draw out there.

Number two, do you think they would say a similar thing about a certain theme or idea? So he said, "I think they would have similar ideas about challenging these outdated expectations or stereotypes as they're often restrictive." So he is really developing that idea that he began to draw out in question one.

So number three, how have the poets created subtle differences in meaning around a similar theme or idea? So Jun said, "Although they both focus on society's perceptions of particular people or groups, Clarke focuses on challenging expectations of mothers, whereas Casey focuses on challenging stereotypes around social class." So we have got that difference there between expectations versus stereotypes.

And finally, why do you think the poets might have created subtle differences? So Jun said, "Casey wrote this poem as Margaret Thatcher became UK prime Minister.

It has often been said that she waged war on the working classes.

So Casey may be exploring the divisions that the UK faced at this point in history.

Clarke wrote "Catrin" shortly after the birth of her first daughter.

As a new mother, Casey may have been more acutely aware of society's expectations of mothers at this point in her life, exploring these expectations alongside her own experiences of motherhood." So here Jun was able to draw out lots of contextual knowledge in order to begin thinking about why writers perhaps make certain creative decisions.

So just take a moment to discuss your responses with the people around you and perhaps share some of your insights with your peers.

So which of these questions did you find easiest to answer and why do you think this is? So pause the video here while you take some time to discuss it or make some notes.

And when you're ready to continue, click play and we'll carry on.

Okay, so we have made it to the final part of today's lesson.

And in this part of the lesson we are going to be comparing the poet's use of methods.

So once we've identified connections between the key ideas in both poems as we were just doing in the last part of the lesson, we can then begin to explore similarities and differences between how both poets convey these ideas.

It is best to select evidence that links to the key ideas you've identified and then analyse the language, form and structure.

Because remember, the most effective analysis avoids feature spotting.

So here our identification of these features and of how the poets are using language form and structure is something we are using to support our initial comparisons.

And that is the best way around for us to begin thinking about how we would structure an analysis.

So let's look at an example.

So another of our oak pupils, Sam has made the following connection between "The man he Killed" and "Charge of the Light Brigade".

So she says both poets depict soldiers as powerless, they must follow orders even if this causes them harm or goes against their beliefs.

So she then uses a single paragraph outline to plan the paragraph.

So her initial comparison, as we see has gone there in that topic sentence.

So now it's up to Sam to find some supporting detail.

So she then adds some supporting evidence from each poem.

So from "The man he Killed", she chose the quotation.

"I shot him dead because, because he was my foe." And from "Charge of the Light Brigade", "There's not to reason why, there's but to do and die." So over to you for a quick fire discussion.

Take a look at these quotations that Sam has identified and see if you can identify any literary methods.

So pause the video here while you take some time to have a think and discuss it with the people around you or make some notes and when you're ready for us to feedback together, click and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back.

I could overhear lots of people drawing out different methods that we can identify in this quote.

And I think that what was really important there and the point that perhaps you were able to prove is that there isn't necessarily just one way to analyse a quotation because quite often writers are using multiple methods in one single line of poetry.

So let's have a look at some of the methods you could have identified.

So first of all, then we had this idea "The Man he killed" of punctuation, the dash implies that the speaker stutters because because suggesting he doesn't fully understand why he killed the enemy soldier.

Whereas in "Charge of the Light Brigade", we could have identified this contrast of not and do, which emphasises that the soldiers are not there to think or have their own opinions, but rather just there to do, to follow orders.

So both of the analysis here are relevant to that topic sentence because they're both exploring how the soldiers are depicted as powerless, but it would've been more effective to identify similarities in how the poets convey their ideas.

So it is good that they're sticking to the topic sentence here, that Sam is sticking closely to how she begun that paragraph.

However, it would've been a bit more effective if we could have found some similarities here in the use of language.

So she goes back perhaps and tries again, and this time manages to find a similarity in how the poets use language by drawing out the dynamic verbs.

So in "The man he Killed", we have this dynamic verb shocked, which suggests that the soldiers are violent and aggressive causing harm to others without stopping to think about the consequences of their actions because we've got that, it's quite a blunt statement there, I shot him dead, all very short words.

Whereas in "Charge of the Light Brigade", we also have dynamic verbs.

We have do and die.

And again, this blunt phrasing implies that the soldiers do not give the violence a second thought, and perhaps they are desensitised to it.

Do and die is very matter of fact the way that these two words are put together.

So here we do have a similarity in the use of language.

They both use these dynamic verbs.

However, finding this similarity has actually meant that Sam is strayed from the focus of the paragraph because here these two quotations and Sam's analyses of it is focusing more on this side of the soldiers being violent and aggressive and less about them being powerless, which was what she introduced in her topic sentence.

And actually in fact, she misinterpreted some of the key ideas here because we are getting this depiction of the soldiers perhaps as being violent and aggressive and perhaps not caring about the consequences of their actions, which we know is not necessarily what the message of these poems are.

So she has one more try.

And this time she does manage to identify another similarity because she draws out this idea that both of these poems use repetition in these quotations.

So in "The man he Killed", we have the repetition of the word, because, which implies the speaker stutters because he doesn't fully understand why he was ordered to kill the enemy soldier.

And what's interesting there is Sammy's actually making the first point she originally identified when she was talking about the punctuation, but she's now instead referring to the repetition, which also helps to give that impression of a stutter.

And in "Charge of the Light Brigade", we've also got repetition because we're focusing on the repetition of the pronoun, theirs.

So by repeating it for three consecutive lines, which is an example of anaphora, Tennyson emphasises how little say the soldiers had when given orders.

So this time Sam has managed to identify nuanced similarities in the poet's use of language, and she has also been able to ensure that this analysis is relevant to the topic sentence.

So she has actually ticked both boxes this time around.

Okay, so now it's time to pause and check our understanding again.

So my challenge to you this time is can you fill in the gaps below? So here we have a bit of a summary about how to use lots of different techniques to create effective comparative analysis writing.

So take a look at the gaps.

I have given you the first letter of each missing word and see if you can work out which words are missing.

So pause the video here while you take some time to have a think.

And when you think you've got all of those missing words, click play and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back.

So let's take a look at these gaps then.

The most effective comparative analysis writing leads by comparing key ideas supported with evidence from each poem is a really good idea to identify similarities in how the poets use language, form and structure to convey these key ideas.

This helps to ensure your analysis is detailed and nuanced.

Did you manage to get all of those words well done if you did.

If not a note of the ones that perhaps you didn't remember this time.

And then you will be able to remember these top tips in future.

So now it's time for the final practise task of today's lesson.

And in this task we are going to be bringing together everything that we have been looking at when it comes to comparison.

So what I would like you to do is complete the following single paragraph outline, comparing "Charge of the Light Brigade and "The man he Killed".

So here is a copy of the single paragraph outline.

And this time we've got a different topic sentence.

So Sam was exploring how the soldiers were powerless, but we are exploring how military conflict can dehumanise the soldiers who are fighting in it.

So it is up to you to select your supporting evidence from each poem and then analyse it, identifying those subtle similarities and differences in how both poets convey their key ideas.

And then when you've done that, it's up to you to write your concluding sentence.

And what you need to do here is summarise your comparative analysis in this paragraph and consider why you think both writers convey their ideas in this way.

So that final question of those four questions we were thinking about earlier, why do you think the poets have created those subtle differences? Is really what we need to be thinking about when we come to write that concluding sentence, thinking about the writer's intentions, but also their influences link into that all important contextual knowledge.

So pause the video here and take some time to give this a really good go.

And when you're ready for us to feedback together, click play, and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back.

So here is how you could have completed the single paragraph outline.

And remember what I was saying earlier, there is no one way to analyse a text, there is no one way to compare it, and there is certainly no one key quote that we could have chosen.

So if your response is slightly different to this one, that's okay.

But as we're coming through it, think really carefully about how effectively you were managing to respond to each part of the single paragraph outline.

So we could have chosen then for our evidence from "The man he Killed" the use of pronouns, he and I and from "Charge of the Light Brigade" also could have focused on pronouns, theirs and them.

So when we came to analysing these key quotations, we could have said, although the speaker identifies many possible similarities between himself and the enemy soldier, the use of he suggests he knows nothing about him.

We get this depiction of him as a nameless soldier, "The man he Killed".

We haven't got a name for him, we know nothing really about him.

And then in "Charge of the Light Brigade", the speaker mostly refers to the soldiers using plural pronouns, which could be dehumanising because they're only depicted as a group.

We never learn anything about the individual soldiers, they are just this group, the 600.

So then for our concluding sentence, we could have said, although both poets use pronouns to imply that war dehumanises the soldiers, they do so in different ways.

Hardy exposes how little the speaker knows the enemy, and Tennyson focuses on a lack of individuality.

So take some time to review your response, thinking really carefully about some of the top tips we've identified in this lesson.

So with your supporting detail, is it relevant to the topic sentence? And are you drawing out those subtle similarities and differences? And with your concluding sentence, remember, are you considering the writer's intentions and/or that wider contextual knowledge that may have influenced them? So pause the video here while you review, and if you need to redraft, and when you're ready to continue, click play.

Okay, so we've made it to the end of today's lesson.

So let's just summarise what we've covered in the session.

Poems can be linked by theme, for example, war or parental conflict.

Poems can be linked by attitude, considering how the poets feel about the subject they're addressing.

Poems can be connected by how poets use similar imagery or techniques to address different issues.

Correlative and comparative conjunctions are useful for signposts in the similarities and differences between both texts.

And finally, superlatives can be used to evaluate the differences between attitudes or key ideas.

So thanks for joining me in today's lesson, and I hope you're feeling more confident when it comes to making connections between the poems in your cluster.

Have a fantastic day, and I hope to see you again soon.