Hello and welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Ms. Watson, and I'm really looking forward to teaching you today.

We are going to be reading one of my favourite poems. It's a poem that's also being turned into a song, and it's one of my favourite songs.

It's called "Where Have of All the Flowers Gone?" and I can't wait to get started.

So let's go.

So the outcome of today's lesson is that you will be able to explain how structure and imagery can be used to take a stand.

As ever, we will begin with the keywords.

They are poignant, melancholy, to reinforce, refrain, and indictment.

Let's see what they mean.

Something that is poignant, it makes you feel sad often in a very sort of touching or moving kind of way.

If you're feeling melancholy, you're feeling or you're expressing a very deep sadness.

To reinforce is to make something stronger.

And a refrain is a short part, often just a line of a song or a poem, that is repeated.

And indictment.

To indict something means to show that a policy or a system is bad or wrong.

Now, if you'd like a little bit more time to familiarise yourself with the keywords and their definitions, feel free to pause the video and then rejoin us when you're ready.

So in today's lesson, there are two learning cycles.

We're going to be start by looking at the structure of the song, and then we're going to move on to the imagery in the song.

So off we go with structure.

We're gonna start by reading the text and you need to find the song, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" and you need to read the lyrics.

And you need to discuss these questions.

What is your first impression of the lyrics? Do you like this song, this poem? And how would you describe its mood? You need to pause the video while you do that.

I'm really looking forward to hearing what you think of the song.

And off you go now.

So welcome back.

Isn't it a poignant foot song full of melancholy? Remember, those are our two key words, meaning essentially evoking and expressing sadness.

Now let's have a quick check for understanding.

Which of the following statements are true? Is it A, the song begins and ends with a reference to graveyards? B, the song begins and ends with a reference to flowers.

C, the song has no clear pattern in its structure or lyrics.

Or D, the question where is repeated in every stanza.

Have a think and then when you're ready, I'll let you know what the answer is.

The correct answers are B and D.

Flowers appears in the first and last stanza and the question where is repeated in every stanza.

There are graveyards mentioned in the poem but only at the end, and there are very, very clear pattern to its structure, which we're now going to look at in more detail.

So a little bit of context about this poem and/or song.

"Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" It was song that was originally a poem, which explains why I use the term interchangeably.

It was written by somebody called Pete Seeger in 1955.

Now, Seeger was an American folk singer and a political activist, and he was inspired by a traditional song sung by Cossack soldiers.

It was a war song by Cossack soldiers.

Apparently they sang it as they rode off to war.

And then Seeger later set that poem to music.

And the song gained huge popularity during the folk revival of the 1960s.

And various artists have covered it.

And over time the song has been embraced by various peace movements, and it is widely regarded as an anti-war song.

Now, I want you to have a discussion.

I want you to discuss among yourselves, how does knowing the context affect your response to the poem? If you're working on this on your own today, just have a think about how the context affects your response to the poem.

You need to pause the video while you have your discussion.

So, welcome back.

What an interesting discussion that was.

And I'd like to share with you what the Oak pupils said.

Alex said that, "Knowing that it is an anti-war song helps to explain its melancholy tone." And he thought that the poem has something of a challenge in it because the refrain is asking us why we don't learn from our mistakes.

And Izzy said, "It's a very simple but powerful indictment of war." War is being criticised here as bad or wrong.

And she thought that the use of repetition supports the idea that wars are never ending.

And wars all have the same ending, which is that young men die.

And I think what is so interesting and so good about those, this discussion is, well, one of the reasons is that Alex and Izzy both used the key words, but also they stayed focused on the idea of the structure by talking refrain is a structural technique, and repetition is a structural technique.

So really, really good discussion there.

Is there anything you would like to add to the discussion or anything you would like to take away from the discussion? Now's your opportunity to do that.

If you would like, you can pause the video while that happens.

So let's look at the structure of this song.

It has a circular structure.

It begins with flowers and these flowers are gathered by women or young girls as the poem says.

And they then go on to marry men.

And then the men join the army and go off to war.

The young men become soldiers and they are killed in war and buried in graveyards, and in those graveyards flowers grow, and we are back at the beginning where flowers are growing.

So there's the structure of the poem.

Let's have a quick check for understanding.

Which two stages are missing from this diagram? Have a think and then I'll tell you what the answer is.

Young girls who pick the flowers and soldiers who end up in the graveyards.

Very well done.

Let's move on.

Now, below are two explanations about the poem's use of structure.

They are both really good explanations and I'm gonna read them to you now.

One, the circular structure reinforces the poem's message about war.

So that is makes stronger.

And number two, repetition is key to the poem's message about war.

And both those statements are really good and really interesting and I think could be supported by looking at the poem.

And I want you to discuss which statement you most agree with and why.

And I'd like you to pause the video while you do that.

Welcome back.

Again, I'm gonna share with you what the oak people said.

Alex said that, "The circular structure of the poem reinforces the inevitability of war." It goes round and round.

"It's as if violence is like a trap and we just go round and round and can't break out of that cycle." And Izzy thought the second point about repetition being key because the poem repeats where at the start of every stanza, and that's creates a sound sense of, sorry, a profound sense of loss because it's as if we are looking for something, the flowers, the girls, the young men, the soldiers, and so much youth and beauty is lost in war.

And Izzy thinks that the repetition of where really brings that point home.

Great points.

Were your ideas similar? And is there anything you would add? You can pause the video if you would like a little bit of extra time to either add something or take something away.

So, that was a fantastic bit of learning and thinking and discussing from you when we looked at the structure of the song.

And now we are going to look at imagery in the song.

So look at these flowers, they're wild flowers, and I want you to think about what images and feelings do you associate with flowers? Have a think.

Wow, great ideas.

Let's look at a few of them.

Beauty, flowers are beautiful and they blossom, which might suggest really good health courtship and marriage.

Yes, you always have, you nearly, yeah, you always have flowers at weddings and they're associated with Valentine's Day and partnerships.

Good idea there.

Life and death, interesting because flowers grow and flowers die.

Absolutely.

And when you pick them, they are, that's basically the end of their life.

And death because flowers are put on graves by grieving relatives.

Absolutely.

Flowers are as much a part of funerals as they are of weddings.

Now there's four images and feelings and ideas there and I want you to think about this.

Which idea do you think is most relevant for understanding the poem? You can pause the video while you think about that.

You can make some notes if you have your book with you, or you can just think it through or talk about it with the person next to you.

So we're back with our Oak pupils again.

This is what they said.

Alex thought that the association with blossoming beauty was the most important.

He thought it was key that the poem stresses that the girls and the men are youthful, and that makes a soldier's death more tragic.

And Izzy thought that the idea of flowers as having a lifecycle is the most important.

And that it represents, the flowers are representing the idea that human beings also have a lifecycle.

We're all going to be born and die and the inevitability of death is very poignant, very moving.

This is what they said.

Again, were your ideas similar? You can take any of their ideas.

Quick check for understanding.

Flowers in the poem are used to blank, the life and death of the young men.

Should that blank be filled by the word describe, represent, convey, or honour? Which one do you think is the correct word? Have a think and then I'll let you know.

Represent.

Yes.

They stand in for, the flowers are used to stand in for the life and death of the young men who are dying in war.

Very good.

Very well done.

Now, you're going to think about the poem in a little bit more detail.

And I want you to think about this statement, the poem or song "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" is a powerful message against war.

And I'd like you to think up to what extent do you agree with that? And in your answer, you could include these ideas.

The context of the poem.

What you've learned about Pete Seeger and where the poem that inspired him, where he got his ideas from, and the tradition of the poem being used as an anti-war poem.

You could talk about the structure of the poem, the way we begin and end with flowers and the imagery on the poem.

Really focus in on what the imagery of flowers blooming healthy blossoming flowers or their associations and why the poet might, what he might be trying to convey by using that imagery.

I'd like you to include the keywords, and I'm gonna put them up as a reminder of what they are.

They are poignant, which means like moving or touching.

Melancholy which is deep, deep sadness.

To reinforce, which means to make stronger.

A refrain, which is a repeated line in a poem or a song.

And there are two repeated lines in this poem.

And indictment.

If you say it's an indictment of war, you are saying it is a criticism.

It is telling us what is wrong with war.

So, you're going to need to pause the video to do this task.

Please could you do that now? Off you go.

Well done.

Welcome back.

What fantastic focus you saw there.

And I'm getting the impression that you really, really like this poem, that you are moved by the song.

I know that I am.

I think this is a lovely piece of poetry and a lovely piece of songwriting.

Now, this is what Izzy wrote.

Okay, I'm going to read it to you and then we're gonna see what makes it such an effective response.

So Izzy wrote this.

"From its creation in 1955, the song and poem "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" by Pete Seeger, was regarded as a poignant and anti-war message.

Structurally, the poem employs a circular narrative, where each stanza builds upon the previous one, ending in the haunting refrain about the inability of people to learn.

This repetition not only reinforces the cyclical nature of war, but also highlights society's failure to listen to what history teaches us.

Vivid imagery paints a melancholy picture of loss with flowers representing the beautiful lives lost to the horrors of war.

Ultimately, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" serves as a powerful indictment of war, urging listeners to confront the tragic consequences of violence and strive for a more peaceful world." Fantastic response, Izzy.

What I want us to do now is to see what makes it such an effective response.

Now you can see that one of the things that Izzy has done is that she has used all the key words.

They are in bold and that gives her analysis a particularly sort of sophisticated and academic sounding response.

Now we're gonna look at the response in a little bit more detail.

So first of all, she says, "From its creation in 1955," and she explains the context.

And in that complex sentence, she basically gets in all the context you need.

When it was created, the fact it's both a song and a poem, its title, its writer, and the fact that it has long been seen as an anti-war message.

Really, really good opening sentence.

Then she goes on to talk about structure.

And I would say that she explores structure here because she writes about the circular narrative and I think narrative's the right word there because there is a kind of story within this poem.

And she talks about the refrain and she talks about repetition.

So that is, she says a lot about structure and then she goes on to talk about the imagery, the melancholy picture of loss and what the flowers represent.

And finally, she makes a very clear response to the statement.

The statement being that "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" is a powerful anti-war message.

And she says that it serves as a powerful indictment of war.

And she goes on to say what she thinks the intention is that the writer, Pete Seeger, wants listeners to confront the tragic consequences and strive for a more peaceful world.

Excellent response.

Now with that criteria in mind, I'd like you to compare your response with Izzy's.

You'll need to pause the video while you do that.

If there's anything you felt that you could have included that you didn't, please do that now.

Join us when you are ready.

Now, before we say goodbye, I'd like to summarise what you have been learning today.

You have been learning that a poem can be turned into a song and used to take a stand.

You've learned that "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" is a famous anti-war song.

The song uses a cyclical structure to show the inevitability of war.

The imagery of flowers in the poem reflects the beauty and innocence that is destroyed by war.

And the repetition of where and learn reinforces the sense of loss and history's inability to teach us about violence.

It's been fantastic teaching you today.

I've so enjoyed it, partly because you have been so amazing and also because I love that song and that poem, and it's been great to share it with you.

Thank you so much for your hard work and I look forward to seeing you again in another lesson where we take a stand.

Bye for now.