Hello and welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Ms. Watson and I'm delighted that you have decided to join me for another lesson about "The Twisted Tree." This lesson is going to be amazing.

We are going to be looking at that villain of villains, the draugr.

So you will need a copy of "The Twisted Tree," and you really need to have the edition, which is by Hotkey Books published in 2019.

It will make giving you paper references so much easier if you have that edition.

So when you have your book and when you are ready, we will get started and meet the draugr.

By the end of today's lesson, you will have analysed how Burge has characterised the draugr as a fearsome creature.

We are going to begin with the key words.

There are four today and they are all really useful for unlocking your learning.

Now, the draugr, that is the villain of this novel, and it is an undead creature from Norse mythology that haunts the living.

And a metaphor, that is a literary device and it is a way of describing something by saying it is something else.

And you use a metaphor to show a comparison or similarity between two things.

Now, imagery is visually descriptive writing.

Can you see that the word image is there? So imagery paints fantastic pictures for the reader to see in their own mind, and something that is fearsome is frightening, especially in appearance.

Now, if you would like a little bit more time to familiarise with yourself with the key words, please feel free to pause the video, do that and then rejoin the lesson when you are ready.

There are two learning cycles in today's lesson.

The first one is the dreadful draugr.

Hope you like the alliteration there.

And then we are going to look at describing the draugr.

Now, we're going to start with a discussion and a bit of a recap.

And I would like you to talk to each other about what you remember about the draugr.

And if you are working by yourself, I would like you just to pause the video and make a few notes.

So off you go.

Welcome back.

You remember a lot about the draugr.

That's fantastic.

So you might have said something like this, that the draugr is an undead creature from Norse mythology that haunts the living.

During on what we said in the key words, and you might have gone on to say that Burge was heavily influenced by this mythology when creating the character.

And the draugr is the novel's chief antagonist, and it is finally killed by Martha with an axe.

Martha is the protagonist, the main character here in the novel, and the antagonist is the character that gets in her way and creates obstacles, the draugr.

So now, I would like you to have another discussion.

How does Burge make the draugr seem fearsome? Remember, fearsome means frightening, especially in a appearance.

Pause the video where you have that discussion or pause the video and just make a few notes if you're working by yourself.

Off you go.

Well done.

Some great discussions there.

And I'd like to share with you some of the things that you may have said.

Now, you may have said that Burge makes the draugr seem fearsome by using a range of metaphors to describe it.

That literary device where a writer says something is something else.

By regularly linking it to death.

From the start, the draugr is associated with death and using terrifying imagery to describe its violent potential, so that we have a really clear picture of the draugr and what it is capable of.

And gradually increasing the detail of its description to increase the terror.

Burge is brilliant at building the tension and the terror.

Now, I would like you to have a discussion.

I would like you to look at the four things in that bullet pointed list and see if you can think of any examples of them in the novel.

Pause the video while you do that.

Off you go.

Now, remember we said that a metaphor is a way of describing something by saying it is something else to show a comparison or a similarity between the two things.

And in "The Twisted Tree," metaphors are used to describe the effect that the draugr has on others.

For example, Martha notes that the draugr turns her stomach to ice.

So obviously, she's not literally ice.

Her stomach is now metaphorically ice.

And I want you to think about and discuss what is the effect of that metaphor, or just pause the video and make a few notes.

But either way, pause the video and think about that metaphor.

So you might have said something like this, that the metaphor vividly conveys Martha's intense fear and dread, making the reader feel her chilling, paralysing terror.

You know how we say sometimes you go cold all over, you get the chills.

That's what's happened to Martha when she thinks about the draugr.

I've got another metaphor for you to think about and discuss.

So after injuring Stig, Martha describes the blood as a river.

What effect does that metaphor have? Pause the video and think about that.

Welcome back.

And you are right, it is a very, very vivid visual metaphor.

And you might have said that the metaphor emphasises the large amount of blood.

So river, a wide body of water.

And that highlights the severity of Stig's injury and it gives us that dramatic, intense visual.

Very well done.

Let's move on.

And now, I've got tremendous set of words for you, all taken from the novel and all used to describe the draugr.

We have corpse, that's a dead body.

We have rotting, we have putrid, that is also to do with rotting.

We have decay, we have burial pile, we have dead.

And I want you to think about and discuss what link can you make between these words? Pause the video where you have your discussion, or if you're working by yourself, pause the video and make a few notes.

Well, you might have said something like this, that throughout the novel, the draugr is associated with death to heighten the terror and make the reader fearful for Martha's life.

Brilliant thinking.

Well done, let's move on.

Now, we talked about the building of mystery and terror.

And one of the things that Rachel Burge does is initially, she builds a sense of mystery around the draugr, but as the novel proceeds, she reveals more and more details about the draugr.

I'm gonna give you an example of that.

So in chapter nine, the draugr is described simply as a strange figure in a book that Martha is reading.

And by chapter 21, Burge is using this animalistic imagery about claws and sharp teeth to hint at the draugr's violence and terror.

So it is not just a strange figure anymore, we've got a real sense of how dangerous it would be.

Now, let's have a check for understanding.

Describing the draugr as having sharp claws is an example of, is it A, a metaphor, B, violent imagery, C, a link to death, or D, alliteration? Have a think.

Make your choice.

Did you say violent imagery? Well done, if you've got the right answer.

Let's move on.

Now, it's time for you to do some reading.

I want you to turn to page 176 and to read the description of the draugr on that page.

It is on the third paragraph of page 176, and the paragraph begins with the word A.

And as you read, I would like you to make notes on how Burge presents the draugr as a fearsome creature using examples from the text to support your ideas.

For example, you might pick out words like howls and barks.

And you might say that Burge uses these animalistic verbs to portray the draugr as a wild, dangerous creature, a howling wolf or an angry barking dog.

So you are going to need to pause the video while you do this task.

Find page 176 in the book and off you go.

Welcome back and excellent focus.

Let me share with you ways that you could have approached this task.

You might have picked out the word ghostly and said that this adverb links to the supernatural capabilities of the draugr and it really highlights its power.

And you might have picked out the word rot and noted that the entire setting is described in this way with images of decay and all that links to the deathlike atmosphere that accompanies the draugr.

And you might have picked the word skull because the draugr's head is described in this way and that really reinforces the terror of its corpse like appearance.

Now, if there are any ideas from here that you would like to take and add to yours, please do that now.

Pause the video while you do it and then rejoin me for the second half of the lesson.

We're making really good progress today.

We've looked at the dreadful draugr, and now, we are going to do some work on description.

Now, inspired by Burge's novel, Alex wrote the following description of the draugr.

The draugr emerged from the shadows like a storm cloud swallowing the moon.

Its eyes cold as winter's grip glinted with malice, flesh hung from its bones like tattered sails on a ghost ship, and the stench of decay clung to it like a shroud.

As it moved, the ground seemed to tremble, whispering tales of death and despair.

With each step, the air grew colder, a creeping frost of terror that slowly tightened around the heart.

Now, I'd like you to have a discussion about how this description is effective in making the draugr seem fearsome.

Alex has done some brilliant things there and I'd like you to look really closely at what he's written and think about why it works so well.

Pause the video where you have that discussion or pause the video while you make a few notes.

Off you go.

So let's look at his description in more detail.

You might have noticed that it uses metaphors to heighten the terror of the draugr.

The flesh is like the tattered sail on a ghost ship.

That's a real shivering kind of metaphor, isn't it? And it's clearly linked to the imagery of death.

You've got the word death and you've got the word shroud, which is the cloth that you wrap dead bodies in.

And there is this really violent imagery used to portray the draugr's power because as it moves, the very ground trembles and it makes the air grow colder.

It was a really, really good description from Alex.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Martha gasped as she saw the draugr, her heart was a time bomb ready to explode.

What literary device has been used in that sentence? Is it A, a metaphor, B, violent imagery, or C, a simile? Have a think.

Make your choice.

It's a metaphor.

It is saying that her heart was the time bomb using the verb to be, not literally, it's a metaphor.

Very well done if you got that right.

Let's move on.

Now, it's over to you to write your own description of the draugr.

I wanna give you some guidelines so you know what you are aiming for.

I need you to ensure that your description uses a range of metaphors to describe the draugr or the effect it has on people.

A range, I mean, around three plus.

And I also want your description to clearly link the draugr to death.

You can use words like corpses or skull or rotting.

And I also want you to use really terrifying imagery to describe the draugr's violent potential, its hidden violent power.

I'm gonna give you this sentence starter to get you going.

Emerging from the shadows, the draugr.

So gather all your thoughts and any notes you've made and get ready to write.

Pause the video while you do that.

I'm so looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

But pause the video now and off you go with your description.

Welcome back.

Excellent focus.

Let me share with you what Jun wrote in response to the task.

He wrote this, emerging from the shadows, the draugr jumped up to its immense size.

It's eyes, I see and lifeless gleamed with a cold fire that froze the soul.

Its fingers twisted and gnarled like ancient roots, seemed to reach into the very essence of fear.

With each step, the ground trembled as if whispering forgotten tales.

Now, what I would like you to discuss, which technique has Jun not included? It's a fabulous description, but there is something missing.

So pause the video, read over Jun's writing, and then decide what he has not included.

Off you go.

That's right, he has not linked the draugr to death in any way.

So this is what I would like you to do is to amend Jun's paragraph so it links the draugr to death.

Pause the video while you do that and then join me for the end of the lesson.

So before we say goodbye, I would like to summarise what you have been learning today.

You have been learning that a range of metaphors are used to describe the draugr and you have been learning that the draugr is associated with death to heighten its terror and make the reader fear for Martha's life.

And Burge waits until the end of the novel to introduce a full description of the draugr in order to create mystery.

And you've learned that the draw's curved claws are a symbol of its terrifying violence.

And you've put the techniques that Burge has used into your own writing.

Fantastic lesson.

It's been a real pleasure to teach you.

I wish you a brilliant rest of the day and I look forward to seeing you again in another lesson about "The Twisted Tree." Bye for now.