Lesson video

Hi everyone, this is Mr. Chandrapala here, and I'm so looking forward to getting into this lesson about analysing a poem in detail with you.

Analysing poetry is something that is so critical for your English curriculum, both for the seen poetry, but also the unseen poetry section that you have in your exams. If you're someone like me, you will hopefully carry these skills into your later life and actually you find poetry in all sorts of places.

So it is a really helpful skill to be able to have.

We're gonna start off by discussing structure before we get into methods.

And structure is something that I find so incredible to think about when we're looking at a poem because we see the inner workings of a poet and really consider actually why they have made their choices as part of their work.

Let's dive in.

So our outcome for today's lesson is that we can understand how to analyse a single poem in detail.

Our three key words for today's lesson include the noun chronology.

The adjective will be chronological, which is the placement of events in the order in which they occurred.

We'll be looking to establish, so we're setting the foundations of something, and then we're going to metaphorically excavate meaning in this lesson.

So that means we're going to uncover hidden objects.

Sadly, there will be no actual literal excavations, but metaphorical ones are still fun.

So let's start off with analysing structure.

Quickly turn to the person next to you and discuss, what do we mean when we're talking about the structure of a poem? Pause the video now, jot down some ideas if you're working alone or have that discussion, and when you're ready, hit play.

So Izzy, when asked what the structure of a poem, said, "Analysing structure is something that I know lots of students find quite challenging, but it isn't as difficult as you might think.

The structure of a poem is just how the poem has been put together, what comes where, and why it comes there." It can be useful to think about structure using these three terms. I suggest writing these down into your notes so that you have them for later use.

So the poet establishes, the poet builds on, and the poet ends with.

So if we think about establishes, we're talking really about the stuff the poem builds on, we're talking about how an idea progresses, and then the poet ends with what the poem finally focuses on.

Using these three terms helps us to talk about the chronology of a poem and thereby we analyse its structure, what comes where and why it comes there.

So let's take Wordsworth's "The Prelude" as an example considering structure.

First of all, what can you remember about the poem? Pause the video now and see what you can remember.

Once you've done that, hit play.

Okay, well done, some really good memory of the poem there.

I want you to now reread the poem in full, and as you're doing so, ask yourself these three questions.

What does Wordsworth establish at the beginning of the poem, what does he build on throughout the poem, and what does he end the poem with? Pause the video and ask yourselves those three questions and then have a go at answering them.

When you've done that, hit play.

some really lovely ideas there.

Some people were discussing how actually Wordsworth establishes a focus on childhood and naivety right at the start, linking it with the natural world before then actually transitioning to focusing on just childhood for the vast majority of that middle of the poem, again showing that actually there is a joy, there is a group energy to the way him and his friends play, before ending with a much more sombre, thoughtful, almost foreboding tone through the reuse of the natural world.

This is what we're talking about when we're talking about structure.

We're thinking about the way that things are sequenced and why they are done that way.

So you might have said at the beginning of the poem, Wordsworth establishes the setting, a beautiful, rural countryside setting.

Throughout the poem, Wordsworth builds on the setting by showing how the speaker and his friends are using the setting for their own enjoyment and illustrating how the children feel liberated and feel free ice skating in the countryside.

Wordsworth ends the poem with a description of the setting again, however, this time, Wordsworth describes the beauty and magnitude of nature showing how powerful it is versus the insignificance of man.

This way of understanding structure is fantastic, but you'll remember that structure is thinking about what is said when and why it is said.

What we haven't considered yet is why these things happen at the moment that they do.

So what I'm going to ask you to do is pause the video, discuss with your partner, or maybe drop down some ideas.

Why might Wordsworth have structured the poem in this way? Once you've had that discussion, once you've got those initial ideas, hit play.

A really compelling range of ideas there everyone, and I'm so pleased with the way that you were able to think through that.

Let's see what we could have said.

Well, when thinking about structure, it's useful to think about how the impact of the poem might be different if it was structured differently.

For example, if Wordsworth had started with a description of the magnitude of nature and not a description of the rural setting, why might this have a different effect? Pause the video and have that discussion.

Some really interesting thoughts there.

I really do agree with this idea that actually it wouldn't have been so impactful if he had ended, or sorry, if he had started with that sort of more sombre setting.

Perhaps it wouldn't have been able, we wouldn't have been able to link that idea of childhood innocence coming to an end if we didn't start with a much more rural, peaceful, almost joyful presentation of the natural world.

So arguably in establishing a rural setting, Wordsworth creates a dream-like quality in the poem, therefore taking us back to one of his key childhood memories.

The poem begins with a fairytale-esque opening that reflects his nostalgic tone.

We would have quite a different tone if he started off immediately in quite a sombre way because suddenly we don't have nostalgia, we just have the sadness.

So true or false, analysing structure simply means outlining what the poem has established at the beginning, built on throughout, and then end it with.

Selecting true or false.

Pause the video, and once you've selected, hit play.

Well done to all of us who have said false.

This is just the opening.

It is not enough to say outlining alone, but can we justify our answer? Is it A, because outlining is not analysing.

to analyse something, you have to ask yourself the question of why it was done at that point and what the poet might have been trying to achieve.

Or is it B, analysing structure means looking at individual words and phrases that the poet has used and explaining the effects of these choices.

Pause the video, select A or B, and when you've done so, hit play.

And well done to all of us who said A.

Outlining is not analysing.

To analyse, we have to consider why something is done.

So it's really important to ask that deeper level harder question really.

So we're just going to practise our understanding of structure, analysing structure.

If you're given this question, how does Wordsworth present nature in "The Prelude"? I want you to find evidence from the poem to support the topic sentences below.

So you can see the three topic sentences.

At the beginning of the poem, Wordsworth establishes the setting, a beautiful, rural countryside setting, And then what Wordsworth builds on and then what Wordsworth ends with.

I want you to find evidence that support each of these ideas.

You can use the poem.

Pause the video now and find that evidence, and when you've done so, hit play.

some lovely work there from all of you.

We're going to take some feedback now, and as we're doing so, you may want to just add anything that you've missed to your own notes.

So here are some quotations you might have selected.

For the first point, at the beginning of the poem, Wordsworth established a setting, a beautiful, rural countryside setting, you may have wanted to look at the quote, "The cottage windows through the twilight blaz'd." You may have been thinking about the fact of cottages immediately mean rural.

This idea of like quite an isolated childhood, the fact that we've got that twilight, potentially being beautiful, maybe also potentially suggesting sadness if you want to provide an alternate or additional interpretation.

And then that word blazed, that sense of real joy there with that verb.

Or you may have want to have a look at the second topic sentence.

Wordsworth builds on the setting by showing how the speaker and his friends are using the setting for their own enjoyment.

So through the quote, "We hiss'd along the polish'd ice." You may have wanted to point out that verb hissed that actually they're moving at such speed.

There's a joy in it or the fact that the ice seems polished, almost that it's been well taken care of, it's something that they really treasure, or even that collective pronoun, we, the fact that there's a group element to it.

And then finally, the Wordsworth ends the poem by describing the beauty and magnitude of nature, showing how powerful it is versus the insignificance of man.

So in the quote, "The stars, eastward were sparkling clear." You could talk about the significance of the stars and their symbolism, or the fact that they were sparkling, that idea of them twinkling.

So there is a beauty there, but there's also this idea that there's a faintness, that not everything lasts forever.

So now we're going to move on to analysing method.

So again, pause the video and discuss with the person next to you, what do we mean when we're talking about method when in the poem? Once you've done that, hit play.

Some really interesting ideas there.

Jacob said, "Well, when we're thinking about method, it's a deliberate choice that the writer makes.

This can range from bigger methods like the poem as a metaphor, all the way down to individual words or punctuation." So what we're thinking about here is the writer's method is how they convey something.

So if a question has the verb, sorry, the word how in it, you're being asked to examine the writer's use of methods.

If there's anything you need from this slide, jot it down now.

Pause the video and take any notes you need.

Well done, everyone.

Let's keep moving.

So when we're analysing a poem, you're effectively exposing layers of methods and their meanings.

If you think about the poem as having several layers of methods, you can drill down through the layers to explore how the writer has built the poem.

You therefore can explore the holistic view of the poem with specific methods and then individual words.

So if you think about it, that widest level is the holistic view.

So understanding the poem is a vehicle for meaning.

We're then thinking about imagery, metaphor, and the semantic fields within the poem, and finally we're thinking about punctuation and individual words, which really create those key ideas, even for others.

They embellish those ideas.

Pause the video and if there's any notes that you need here when thinking about method, take them down.

Once you've done that, hit play.

Fantastic, everyone.

I'm really glad to see that you're understanding how we're talking about method.

And actually it's not just about saying that actually, oh, the poem's an extended metaphor or just saying the poet uses this singular word.

We're thinking about actually how these two link and how we can overlap these methods to allow us to create a more developed understanding of the poem.

So which of the following is an example of a writer's method? Is it the title of the text, the company who publishes the text, a question mark used in the text, or the poet's name? I'm going to warn you, I think that there are two answers here.

Pause the video now and see if you can select which two are correct for this question.

Really good thinking there, everyone.

Really impressed with the way that you were considering that.

The correct answer is A and C.

The title of the text is so crucial.

Remember even when we were talking about "The Prelude," "The Prelude" is such an interesting title to give a poem.

The fact that it comes before something else, a much wider, larger work.

And then a question mark used in the text, that individual piece of punctuation absolutely affects the way that we read the poem.

Both of these are methods, whilst the company or even the poet's name, less important.

The writer doesn't choose their own name most of the time, and the company who publishes the text is just wider context.

It's not really needed for us to know.

So if our question is, how does the writer present nature, we are going to use "The Prelude" as an example.

So on a holistic view, we'll understand that nature is presented as magical and enchanting.

To do that, we'll then think about actually, well, what imagery is being used? And we may find the simile, tinkled like iron.

We may then focus on punctuation and individual words.

For example, tinkled, which has connotations of playfulness.

So as you can see, we started off with the holistic, we then moved to specific imagery, and then we focused on an individual word and we're just moving through that each time.

By doing that, we're going to have really close analysis, which is really important to have.

So how does this look in a paragraph of analysis? Well, let's have a look at this example together.

Wordsworth ends poem with a description of nature conveying its beauty and magnitude by comparison to the insignificance of man.

Wordsworth presents nature as enchanting and magical, using the simile tinkled like iron to describe the mystical sounds of nature.

Wordsworth's choice of verb tinkled portrays nature as mischievous and playful, suggesting that even nature has joined them with the children's fun on the ice.

Nature is echoing the sounds of the children's skates on the polished ice.

Perhaps Wordsworth shows us this to convey how captivating and enchanting the landscape he grew up within was.

Well, let's have a look at how this demonstrates that three-part structure.

We've got the holistic understanding by linking nature to beauty and magnitude and even that fact that nature is enchanting and magical.

We then focus on the simile, tinkled like iron, and then we focus on an individual word.

Can you identify the different layers of methods explored in the response? Pause the video now and just underline or highlight, or if you don't have it out in front of you, maybe just write out where each of those three layers of method are being explored.

Once you've done that, hit play.

Really good work there, everyone.

Really impressive to see you applying this knowledge to a paragraph so quickly.

So exploring layers of methods as well as how the poem has been structured makes your analysis detailed.

In order to examine something in detail, you have to consider individual components of it.

That's why we're talking about excavating the poem, looking at how it has been put together.

You're going to have a go at doing this now.

I want you to write a paragraph of analysis that focuses on how nature's being presented in the following quotation from "The Prelude." Your quotation is, "While the distant hills into the tumult sent an alien sound of melancholy." Remember, to explore the layers of methods, you need to make sure that your response is detailed.

Remember that these are your three layers.

So you start off with that holistic view before moving to specific imagery and then an individual word.

Pause the video now and have a go at doing that for yourself.

And when you're ready, we'll go through.

Really good effort there, everyone.

That is such a hard task for me to give you, but a lot of you took it with real confidence.

Let's go through.

So you might have mentioned nature is presented as vast and awe-inspiring, but somewhat intimidating.

Well, that's our holistic view, followed by our focus on specific imagery.

So I could have focused on the word distant, which shows the magnitude of nature in its power versus man, the distant nature communicates and interacts with the speaker.

I may have wanted to talk about alien, how it has connotations of unfamiliarity and fear.

Andeep had this to say.

"I talked about how the poem was used as a vehicle and about how specific words, but I didn't manage to identify any specific methods like a simile or a metaphor.

Does that mean I haven't analysed the poem properly?" I want you to discuss with your partner, does this matter? Why, why not? Pause the video.

Is Andeep right to be worried about not identifying a simile or a metaphor? Once you've done so, hit play.

A really interesting range of ideas here.

It doesn't matter.

You don't need to find three layers of methods every time.

You just talk about the layers of methods and meaning that you find most interesting here.

Not every single quote you choose will have a simile or a metaphor, and not every simile or metaphor needs discussion.

Don't just go feature spotting.

Choose the parts that you think are most interesting to talk about.

We're not looking for you to talk about things that are just obvious.

We're looking for you to talk about things that are significant.

So Andeep has nothing to worry about here.

Let's summarise our learning from today when we're thinking about analysing a poem in detail.

So analysing a poem in detail means looking at how the poem has been put together.

We're thinking about the poem's structure as well as the poet's layering of methods.

It therefore may be useful to consider what the poet establishes at the beginning of the poem, what they build on throughout, and then what they end with and why.

It might also be useful to analyse the poem chronologically to help you analyse structure.

You have been absolutely fantastic today.

I've really enjoyed this lesson.

I hope you have too.

I'm really looking forward to working with you again.

But until then, I hope you have a very good day.

Bye for now, everyone.