Hello, my name is Ms. Grant.

I'm so glad you've decided to learn with me today.

We're in the unit "Single poet study: Maya Angelou." Today we're going to be looking at a poem, a poem that an Oak pupil has written, and we're gonna think, how could we refine this to make it even better? We're gonna pay particular attention to the sounds of the poem.

How does this poem sound when we read it aloud? And how could we make it sound even better? We're gonna pay close attention to rhythm, to rhyme, to word choice.

Now today, when we are looking to refine this poem, we're going to look at one of Maya Angelou's poems to inspire us.

We're going to look at "Still I Rise", which was published by Penguin Random House in 1978.

So the first thing I'd like you to do is pause the video and go and get a copy of "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou.

Pause the video now.

Welcome back.

Now you've got that copy of "Still I Rise", we are ready to get started.

I'm gonna be your support and guide as we work through today's lesson together.

Let's get going.

So by the end of today's lesson, you're going to have refined a poem by playing close attention to its harmony and dissonance.

So we're gonna look at a poem that an Oak pupil has written, and we're going to think, how does it sound really good? Which bits sound excellent? Which bits sound really nice when we read it aloud? Because we know that the way a poem sounds is really, really important to poetry.

And what lines are dissonant? Which lines do not work together very well at this moment in terms of sound? And how could we refine them to make them sound a little bit better so overall the poem is harmonious? Now we're gonna have a look at these terms, harmony and dissonance, in our keyword section.

And then we're gonna develop our understanding of them and their importance to poetry throughout today's lesson.

So much so that at the end of the lesson, you'll be able to refine a poem by listening to, hearing its harmony, and working out where it is dissonant.

So as I say, there are some keywords which are gonna help us unlock our learning today.

They're gonna help us achieve our objective.

The two most important I'm going to read out now.

They are the first word, harmony, which is, in music, a combination of sounds that sound nice.

And then its opposite, the penultimate word, which means second to last word, "dissonance".

In music, a combination of sounds that don't sound nice.

So these two terms often come up in relation to music, but today we are going to apply them to poetry.

If you'd like to spend a bit more time with our other keywords, there are three more keywords, five in total.

Then please pause the video now and you can read through each, or make a few notes if you wish to.

Otherwise, we'll go through each of these words, as and when we come up against them in the lesson.

Our lesson outline for today, we're gonna start off by hearing a poem's harmony and dissonance.

So we're gonna think, "What does it mean for a poem to be harmonious? What does it mean for a poem to be dissonant?" And we're going to think a little bit about the ways in which poets create harmony in their poems. And then in the second lesson, second learning cycle, sorry, we are going to refine a poem's harmony.

So we're going to look at a poem that is not quite harmonious, and then we're gonna work out how to make it more harmonious.

So let's start off with hearing the poem's harmony and dissonance.

Now Maya Angelou followed a writing routine.

She worked from 7:00 AM to 2:00 PM in a hotel room, with a dictionary, Bible, deck of cards, and a bottle of sherry by her side.

And in the evening, she might read her work aloud to hear any dissonance.

So after a long morning's work, she would return home, she'd have a bit of a break, but she would often read her poems aloud and see if she could hear any dissonance, any sounds that did not work well together, that did not sound nice.

Now, this idea of dissonance is very important to poetry, not just to Maya Angelou, but to many, many poets.

Like music, poems are really meant to be heard, so we see poems on the page, and we might read them in our heads, but actually, they're often meant to be heard aloud.

Poets pay such close attention to the sounds that their poems make, and obviously, the most easy, the easiest way to hear these sounds is to read the poem aloud.

So poets pay close attention to how poems sound, as well as what the words express.

So they're both very important to poetry.

You might like a poem for its harmonious sound before you understand its meaning, and here I often think of the idea of music or a song.

Often I hear a song that I think, "Oh, I really, really like the way that sounds." Something in that song connected to me, but I didn't catch the lyrics, so I don't actually know what it's about yet.

Well, it's the same with poetry.

You might hear a poem and think, "That sounded really nice.

I'm not quite sure I understand what it means at all, or even, I've got one of their meanings, but not all of the meanings.

I don't quite understand it yet." And that is a very legitimate way to engage with a poem, to think, "It sounds nice, I'm not quite sure what it means yet.

Maybe I'll return to it and understand what it means, give it a little bit more time." But hearing a poem and liking the way it sounds is a great way to enjoy poetry.

Now, when Angelou read her poems aloud, she was trying to hear what sounded good, harmonious, and what sounded bad, dissonant.

She wanted the whole poem to sound harmonious and edited to achieve this harmony.

So it's not just that hearing poems aloud is really nice for us as readers of poems, but it's also a really useful technique for writers of poems, because it helps them with the editing process.

Now, there are lots of ways to create sound in a poem.

Here are four methods Angelou often relied on to create harmony.

So lots and lots of different ways, but let's look at four, which Angelou often relied on in her poems. First is rhythm.

Her poems have a flow or recognisable beat.

The number of syllables in each line of poetry often creates this beat.

So syllable, the number of beats in a particular word, so the word "poem" has two beats, the word "have" has one beat, one syllable.

The word "flow" has one beat, one syllable.

And often, when we're reading her poems, I find if I read them aloud, the lines really carry me along.

There is this idea of flow, one line flowing into the next.

And often it is the number of syllables in each line, or rather that's one aspect which helps her create this flow.

Now I wonder why, perhaps this is why Angelou used a dictionary.

We know that in her writing routine, she had a dictionary by her side.

Maybe she was trying to find words that had the right meaning, sure, but also the right sounds and the right syllables, so that her poems could achieve this lovely rhythm.

Rhyme.

Now parts or whole poems use rhyme.

So Angelou often relies on rhyme, the idea that two or more words sound the same.

Now rhyme can be really memorable.

It sounds nice.

And sometimes a poem's rhyming pattern changes.

And whenever there's a change in a poem, I always think, "Ah, the poet is directing me to pay attention.

They've lulled me into this idea of a pattern within their poem, and now if they're changing that pattern, then I need to pay attention." So rhyme can sometimes signal that we need to pay attention to something in particular.

Refrain.

Refrains help create a steady, recognisable rhythm, a message we return to time again, like a chorus in a song.

So I always return to the refrain in "Equality", one of the most powerful refrains I think that Angelou has.

And she repeats that.

That's the main message from her poem.

And even though we might not remember every single word of her poem, we can definitely remember that refrain that she uses.

And then finally, repetition.

Repetition helps create sound patterns, a form of harmony in poetry.

So this phrase, sound patterns, can be useful, and it particularly applies to phrases which repeat previous phrases.

So repetition can really help create harmony within a poem, and something that lots of poets rely on, particularly Maya Angelou.

So here are four methods that Angelou particularly relies on to create harmony in her poem.

Rhythm, rhyme, refrain, and repetition.

So let's apply this to one of her poems. What I would like you to do is reread "Still I Rise".

Read it aloud if you can, and then we will consider its harmony together.

So pause the video, reread "Still I Rise".

If you can, read it aloud, and then we'll consider why it sounds so good, why all the words work together to create this harmonious sound.

Pause the video and reread "Still I Rise" now.

Welcome back.

So lovely to hear you rereading "Still I Rise".

What a beautiful poem.

And I could see people paying particular attention to the sounds, so they could really hear that harmony in this poem.

So let's consider how Angelou creates this harmony, looking at the four methods that she often relies on.

The first one is rhythm.

The lines in stanzas one to seven are about the same length.

You can see that when you look at it on the page, and they have the same number, roughly, of syllables, of beats.

This helps create harmony between lines.

So we know that we can follow this pattern, this beat, this flow, in each line.

However, in stanzas eight to nine, the pattern changes.

There's a contrast of longer to shorter lines.

It disrupts the harmony, so we pay attention, and we actually end on this message.

This word "rise" is repeated over and over, and that is the slight change in the rhythm in the final two stanzas, so we really pay attention to what is happening there.

But there's a beautiful rhythm throughout this poem.

Rhyme.

There are rhyming words in most stanzas, and often words rhyme with the word "rise", which is the poem's most important word, so we will continue to remember that word even when we're not saying it, because some of the words rhyme with that word "rise".

In the final two stanzas, there's lots of rhyme, and this builds to an even steadier and more powerful harmony.

So the idea that the sounds all start to blend together to create this beautiful harmony, and that's what we end the poem on.

Refrain and repetition.

The poem repeats the refrain many times, especially near the end of the poem.

Everything in the poem works in harmony to express the idea that the speaker rises.

The refrain stays with us.

We might not remember the whole poem, but we know the speaker rises.

So absolutely fine to not remember the whole poem.

We couldn't be expected to, but we do remember this central idea about the speaker, that she rises.

So a couple of ways in which Angelou creates harmony within this poem, "Still I Rise".

Now a check for understanding before we apply what we have learned about a poem's harmony and dissonance, how that can be created, to an Oak pupil's poem.

Which of these words is an antonym for "harmony"? Pause the video, read through A, B, C, and D, and select your response now.

Pause the video now.

Well done if you selected C, dissonance.

So harmony, the idea that sounds work together to sound nice, and dissonance, the idea that sounds work together, but they do not sound nice.

Okay, Lucas.

Lucas, like Maya Angelou, has written a poem on a topic that is important to him.

To refine his poem, Lucas will read it aloud to hear what sounds harmonious, what sounds dissonant.

He'll consider how to edit the poem to make it all sound harmonious.

So he's gonna be exactly like Maya Angelou here.

He has written his poem on a topic that's important to him.

Of course, Maya Angelou did that time and time again.

Lots of her poems are very personal.

And then, like Maya Angelou would read her poems aloud to hear what was harmonious and what was dissonant, Lucas is going to do that as well.

So what I would like you to do is read Lucas's poem aloud.

You'll find this on the worksheet.

And discuss the questions below to explore its harmony and dissonance.

So for its rhythm, where does the poem flow? Where is there harmony? Where is there dissonance? The rhyme? Where does the poem rhyme? Should other lines and stanzas rhyme too? Refrain.

What does Lucas' refrain help us remember about his main message? And repetition.

Where does Lucas use repetition? Could he increase or decrease his use of repetition? So we're starting to think about how the poem becomes harmonious, how it becomes something enjoyable to read aloud.

You are going to read it aloud and then you will discuss these questions.

You'll be able to say, "This bit sounds a bit dissonant to me.

There's some harmony in these lines, definitely.

I think it comes through from that rhythm, or from that repetition or from the refrain." You're going to discuss the way that Lucas' poem sounds when it is read aloud.

Pause the video, enjoy reading Lucas' poem, and then discussing how it could be refined even further.

Pause the video and complete this task now.

Welcome back.

So lovely to hear you carefully considering Lucas' poem and coming up with some really excellent feedback so that he can refine his poem further.

So here are some of the things that Lucas considered with his rhythm.

He said the harmony is good in stanza two and the refrain, but there's dissonance in stanza one and stanza five.

We're gonna return to this idea shortly.

Rhyme.

He said the rhyme in the refrain makes it memorable.

The rhymes in stanza two are fun, but the whole poem shouldn't rhyme.

So that's what he thinks in terms of the rhyme.

Refrain.

"I repeat the refrain three times.

I think this means my main message is remembered, especially as the refrain sounds good." So he's identified there's some harmony in that refrain.

It is created partly through rhyme, and so he thinks it makes it really memorable.

Repetition.

"I like that I repeat words from stanza one in stanza four, but the rhythm in stanza five isn't right." So a really nice, careful reflection there, in terms of Lucas looking at his poem.

Now I'd like you to discuss, let's have a look at this idea of the rhythm.

Lucas says, "The harmony is good in stanza two and the refrain but there is dissonance in stanza one and stanza five." I'd like you to discuss which lines do you think Lucas might be referring to in these stanzas? Pause the video, discuss the question, and you'll need to look at Lucas' poem again.

Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back, nice careful discussion there, and rereading of Lucas' poem.

So there are some lines that you'll have noticed in stanza one and stanza five which are really much longer than the other lines, and look a little bit more like sentences that you might see in a book.

They don't match the lines that are a bit shorter that come before it, so it might be that those are the moments that you thought, "These lines are a little bit dissonant, and I think Lucas could do some work in order to refine them." Alright, we have learned so much about hearing a poem's harmony and dissonance.

We're now going to apply this.

We're going to refine a poem's harmony.

So Lucas knows that the harmony in stanzas one and five is not quite right.

He starts by focusing on stanza one.

Now we've got, "Idle, ignorant, ignoble.

Sullen, selfish, silent.

These words attack and accuse, jab and swipe.

They knock me down, and when I'm down, what do you say? 'Get up, lazy bones! Why so silent? Do something useful.

'" So that's his first stanza.

And Lucas says, "These lines are dissonant." So he's looking at the last four lines of his stanza.

"Their rhythm isn't good, especially compared to the first two lines where we've got, 'Idle, ignorant, ignoble.

Sullen, selfish, silent.

'" There's a sort of rhythm, a beat there that's recognisable.

"I think they need to be shorter with fewer syllables." So those last four lines, he's saying, "I think they need to be shorter.

I think they need to be fewer syllables so they match the earlier lines in the poem." Nice idea there.

Nice reflection.

Now here is Lucas' redraft.

He's written, "Idle, ignorant, ignoble.

Sullen, selfish, silent.

Words that attack, words that accuse.

Words that hurt me, words that abuse.

They knock me down, and when I'm down, what do you say? 'Get up, lazy bones! Why so silent? Do something useful.

'" Now, two lines are more harmonious.

So lines three and four are much more harmonious now.

They sound much nicer.

He's kept the meaning but changed the words.

So he has kept the idea that the words hurt him, but he has changed the words themselves.

The new lines have fewer syllables, and they're more like the first two lines.

And Lucas has chosen to use rhyme and repetition.

He did not have to select those methods.

He could have chosen different methods if he wanted to, but he has chosen to use rhyme and repetition, and that has helped with his rhythm and with the harmony of his poem.

Now I'd like you to discuss how to improve the harmony of the final three lines, so he has not yet corrected those.

I'd like you to focus on word choice and rhythm.

The lines don't necessarily need to rhyme.

You might want them to, but they don't necessarily need to rhyme.

Pause the video, discuss this question now.

Welcome back.

Well done for so carefully thinking about how to refine those final three lines of that first stanza to create a bit more harmony.

Some people have chosen for them to rhyme, and some people have changed the words to keep the same sense, the idea that the speaker in this poem is knocked down and is unhappy about all of the insults that are being thrown at him, but have actually kept that meaning, but changed the words so they're a bit shorter, and so sound a bit more in keeping with the previous four lines.

Well done.

So check for understanding before you refine Lucas' poem even further, and you do some of that independently yourself.

So to improve a poem's harmony, you must make it rhyme.

Is this true or false? Pause video and select your response now.

Well done if you selected false.

Now I'd like you to justify why this is a false response, a false idea, to improve a poem's harmony you must make it rhyme.

This is false, but why? Pause the video and justify your choice now.

Welcome back.

Well done if you said, "Harmony can be achieved in many different ways.

Rhyme can sometimes help with this, but so can many other things.

For example, the number of syllables per line, word choice, repetition, and refrain." So it was nice to hear people saying, "Look, you can use rhyme to help with harmony, but there are other things that you can rely on as well." Our final practise task today.

Now we are going to improve the harmony of stanza five of Lucas' poem.

I'd like you to rewrite particular lines or sections which you think are dissonant.

So that discussion from learning cycle one is really going to help you here.

So you can rewrite particular lines or sections that you think are dissonant.

You can refine other areas of the poem if you wish.

There might be other sections that you really want to help Lucas out with.

You could consider altering the following.

The rhythm, the rhyme, repetition, and you definitely can consider the word choice in order to help achieve this more harmonious stanza five.

So pause the video, give this task the time that it deserves, show off all of your understanding of what it means to create a harmonious poem, harmonious-sounding poem.

You might want to read out lines that you have rewritten just to check that that harmony is there.

Give this task the time that it deserves, and I will see you back here shortly.

Pause the video and complete the improvement of stanza five of Lucas' poem now.

Welcome back.

Well done for applying yourself so carefully to that task and really thinking about how to refine this stanza of Lucas' poem.

Let's do some feedback.

Now I'd like you to read aloud the sections of Lucas' poem that you improved.

Could have been stanza five, or more than that.

You could have improved more than stanza five in your redraft.

Now I'd like you to discuss their harmony using the sentence starters and word bank.

So two sentence starters.

"These lines are more harmonious because.

." So tell me why there is more harmony in the lines that you have altered.

"I altered the dissonant lines by.

." What did you do to actually alter that? Did you change the rhythm, the rhyme, the refrain? Did you include repetition? Did you change some of the words? So I'd like you to pause the video, read the sections of Lucas' poem that you improved so you can really hear how you created harmony, and then you are going to discuss their harmony using the sentence starters below.

Pause the video and complete this reflection task now.

Welcome back.

Well done for completing that reflection task so carefully.

It was lovely to hear people reading out Lucas' poem and the sections that they have improved, and then really exploring how they created harmony within those new lines, relying on that word bank, the idea of, "Oh, I created a more harmonious rhythm because I reduced the number of syllables per line, or I used repetition in order to create this harmonious sound, this sound pattern, and some of the dissonant lines felt a little bit too long.

They didn't use rhyme in a way that was particularly effective, and I changed that in order to create more harmony." Well done.

In summary, poets pay close attention to how their poems sound, as well as what the words express.

You might like a poem for its harmonious sound before you understand its meanings.

Angela created harmonious sounds in her poems, often relying on rhythm, rhyme, repetition, and refrain.

When writing your own poems, reading your work aloud lets you hear what sounds harmonious, and edit what sounds dissonant.

It has been such a pleasure to work through today's lesson with you, and I look forward to seeing you next time.