Hello, everyone.

Pleased to see you here today for the first lesson in the World at War Poetry Unit.

My name's Dr.

Clayton and I'm here to guide you through your learning today.

Today's lesson is the first lesson in the world at war poetry unit, and it's designed to introduce you to some of the context from World War I in order for us to gain a better understanding of how the experience of World War I might be reflected in the poetry.

This will be incredibly useful across the unit as you'll be able to see how different aspects of the war might have influenced different moments in the poems that we're going to be studying.

Our key words for today are patriotic, empire, propaganda, censorship, and provocative.

The definitions for our keywords are appearing on your screen now.

These words will help you to unlock the learning for today, and you'll see them across the learning material.

If you can, try to use them in your written work and discussions today.

So we have three learning cycles in our lesson today.

For the first learning cycle, we're going to look at the context of World War I and the British Empire.

So we're gonna delve a little deeper into who fought for Britain and think about what their experience might have been like.

For our second learning cycle, we're going to explore the life of a soldier in World War I by examining what the recruitment process was like as well as what the actual experience on the front lines might've been like.

Finally, we're going to connect those ideas to that of war poetry.

While war poetry has always been part of literature.

It's particularly associated with World War I.

And we're gonna examine not only why people might write poetry about their experience of war, but also why people might want to read that poetry.

Now, world War I is something that many of you may have studied before.

If we look at our own characters, when Lucas says that they're going to be learning about World War I, Alex responds, he already knows the war started in 1914 and finished in 1918.

Lucas then says, he knows it was Britain fighting against Germany.

And Alex responds that it was Britain who won the war.

Now, all of that information is technically true about who fought in World War I and who won, but there's a lot more to it than simply Britain fighting Germany.

So I'd like you to have a quick discussion about what other information you might know about who fought in World War I.

Pause the video and take a few minutes to discuss.

Really well done everyone.

You might have said that in 1914, Germany and its allies fought against the whole of the British Empire rather than just Britain.

So what did the British Empire look like for World War I? Over 3 million soldiers and labourers from across the empire and the commonwealth served alongside the British Army in World War I.

Men came from India, which included Pakistan and Bangladesh at the time, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe.

What I'd like you to do is discuss the fact that all of these men were volunteers rather than conscripts, which means they were all there technically by choice rather than force.

Why do you think they came to fight for Britain? Consider the fact that each of these countries were governed by Britain.

Pause the video and take a few minutes to discuss.

Amazing.

I had some great ideas there.

Now, we can't know for certain why these men might have volunteered.

However, we might say that potentially they may have done so because they thought they were fighting for the greater good, or perhaps, they believed that they, in their countries, would be considered in a better light if they came to fight rather than being seen as inferior and in need of government by another country.

Now, for a quick check for understanding.

Which two of the following sent men to fight for Britain and World War I.

Is it a, America, b, Canada, c, Italy, or d, India? Pause the video and make your selection.

The correct answers are b, Canada and d, India.

So very well done if you selected those answers, We're all doing amazingly well, everyone.

We're now onto our first task of the lesson.

One of the ways that countries encouraged men to volunteer was through the use of recruitment posters.

They were used across the British Empire as well.

What I'd like you to do is consider what you think this recruitment poster says about the attitude of Britain towards recruits from across the empire.

Create a mind map to show your ideas and use the following questions as guides.

The poster says, "The Empire Needs Men." What is the effect of saying, "The Empire," rather than, your empire? How do you think this might make men feel? The poster also states, "All must answer the call.

Helped by the young lions, the old lion defeats his foes." What is the effect of saying, "His foes" rather than our foes? What might this make men feel towards fighting? The image from the poster is that of a male lion surrounded by younger lions.

What does the lion imagery in general represent? What do you associate with a lion? And finally, what might the effect of Britain being the old lion be? Pause the video and take a few minutes to create your answers.

Amazing.

Well done, everyone.

You might have said that by saying, "The Empire," it gives it an air of importance since it says, "The Empire," rather than a empire.

The fact that it says, "The Empire," rather than your empire also suggests the empire does not belong to the men who are reading the poster.

Secondly, to say his foes suggests the enemies are that of Britain's, but the other countries should help anyway.

This suggests that Britain's interests are the most important consideration.

Thirdly, lions are symbol of England.

You might know that the England football teams, for example, are called the three lions and the lioness respectively.

By using this symbol, the posters privileging English imagery even though the poster is being distributed in Australia, Canada, India, and New Zealand.

Finally, England as an old lion positions England as having more wisdom than the other countries.

Since the younger lions are looking up to the old Lion, there's also a sense of the old lion perhaps being seen as a parent figure to the younger lions and they now have an obligation to help their parent since the parent has helped them grow.

In a similar manner, how England believed they were helping other countries grow by governing them.

Amazing work so far, everyone.

We're now onto our second learning cycle of the lesson.

For this learning cycle, we're going to look at what life as a soldier would've been like in World War I from their recruitment process to their experience on the front lines.

When World War I broke out, England had a small army which consisted of 250,000 regulars as well as 250,000 territorials and 200,000 reservists.

This meant they had to embark on huge recruitment campaign in order to encourage men to volunteer for the war.

What I'd like you to think about is, would you have immediately volunteered to fight? Why or why not? Pause the video and take a few moments to consider? Amazing.

I had some great ideas there.

There's some great discussions about how people might feel as their duty to volunteer and how they may even have felt more obliged to do it if they were seeing everyone else around them volunteer.

In the first weekend of the war, 3,000 men volunteered.

And by the end of 1914, just over 1 million men had enlisted.

While the army was supposed to have strict rules around age, you were supposed to be 18 to legally serve in the army, there were vast numbers of boys who lied about their age in order to serve.

The youngest reported was a boy of 12.

There were also certain medical criteria for signing up to the war, but again, men were so keen to fight, they lied about those on the forms as well.

One of the most effective and well-known methods of encouraging people to sign up for the war was the use of propaganda posters.

Around 54 million of them were created in their efforts to get men to volunteer.

These posters range from telling men that the war effort needed them and appealing to their patriotism.

For most people, the famous posters that comes to mind as that of Lord Kitchener pointing at the reader, telling them that they are needed in the war.

The posters also relied on emotive language, such as asking them if their home was worth fighting for and suggesting that their children will one day ask them what they did in the war.

The implication being your children would not be proud of you if you hadn't fought.

Finally, the posters also depicted German soldiers breaking into homes and applying the brutality of them by depicting them as animals.

Now, what I'd like you to do is discuss why these posters might be considered propaganda.

How might the information in them be considered biassed? Pause the video and take a few moments to discuss.

Amazing.

Some great ideas there.

You might have said that the posters are considered propaganda because they create a bias view of the war as honourable and righteous in order to promote a particular political cause to get men to volunteer.

Now, what I'd like you to think about is how these posters might have made you feel if you walk past one.

Pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great ideas there.

Like Aisha, you might have said, "The post would make you feel as if you could do something to make a difference for your country, and therefore it might make you feel good about yourself." Or like Jacob, "You might actually felt a sense of pressure to volunteer since you may think that people be ashamed of you if you didn't.

There was definitely a sense that those who did not volunteer were cowardly and there were depictions in the press to undermine and humiliate those who did not fight.

Now for a quick check for understanding.

Which two of the following statements about recruitment for World War I are true.

Is it a, propaganda posters appeal to men's patriotism, b, the propaganda posters weren't particularly effective, c, the propaganda posters can be considered propaganda because they included false information or d, the propaganda posters can be considered propaganda because they contained biassed information.

Pause the video and make your selections now.

The correct answers are a, that the propaganda posters appealed to men's patriotism and d, that the propaganda posters can be considered propaganda because they contained biassed information.

So well done if you selected those answers.

In terms of what the experience of actually fighting during the war would've been like, World War I is particularly known for trench warfare.

Trench warfare is where opposing armies attack, counter attack and defend from trenches dug into the ground.

What I'd like you to do is think about what you think the dangers of fighting in trenches dug into the ground might be.

Pause the video and take a few moments to discuss.

Amazing.

I had some great ideas there.

I particularly like discussions around how exposed the trenches were, which would make them very vulnerable to attacks.

It's also likely they wouldn't have been able to spend long working on the trenches either, so they may not have been particularly structurally sound.

Now, let's think about what living in the trenches would've been like.

Since the trenches were exposed to the air, the trench experience involved exposure to mud, slime as well as disease.

Since so many men were living in close quarters without access to sanitary facilities to wash or go to the bathroom.

Heavy artillery and poison gas were constant threat from afar since there was no cover in the trenches.

And there was always a threat of having a trench raided by the enemy, which would involve hand-to-hand combat with knives and clubs.

Soldiers spend an average of four days at a time living and fighting in the trenches.

What I'd like you to do is discuss what you think that would've felt like.

Pause the video and take a few minutes to discuss.

Amazing.

Some great ideas there.

You might have said, the prolonged exposure to the weather and the constant fear of attack would've likely left the soldiers emotionally, mentally, and physically drained even if they weren't seeing any actual hand-to-hand combat.

There was also the constant tension of not knowing when they'd be asked to go over the top of the trench and fight the enemy.

Since the war was fought before the advent of many modern technologies, one of the only ways for the soldiers to communicate with their loved ones was to write letters back home to them.

However, the letters first had to be censored by officials before they could be sent.

What I'd like you to do is discuss why you think the government would want to censor the soldier's letters.

What information might they be trying to keep secret.

Pause the video and take a few minutes to discuss.

Amazing.

Some great ideas there.

You might have said the government may perhaps been worried about the soldier's positions or military tactics being leaked through letters to the enemy.

However, they might also have wanted to stop information about the terrible conditions on the front lines spreading as it would hurt morale back home and make it less likely that people would volunteer to fight.

When the war was first declared, people thought it would be over in four months and that everyone would be home for Christmas.

However, the war actually lasted four years instead of four months.

In total, around 8.

5 million men lost their lives in World War I.

From the British Empire, nearly 1 million men died, and over 2 million were wounded.

Amazing.

You're all doing really well, everyone.

We're now onto our second task of the lesson.

What I'd like you to do is summarise in note form the information about life as a soldier in World War I into the following table.

So what information did we learn about recruitment? What did we learn about trench warfare? And what did we learn about censorship? Pause the video and create your answers now.

Amazing.

Well done, everyone.

For recruitment, you might have said that the propaganda posters appealed to men's patriotism and pride and that just over 1 million men volunteered by the end of 1914.

For trench warfare, you might have said that the constant threat and exposure to weather meant an extreme physical, mental, and emotional toll on the soldiers.

And for censorship, you might have said, the soldiers' letters back home were censored in order to protect military secrets, but also to hide the realities of trench warfare.

You are all doing really well, everyone.

We're now into our final learning cycle, but we're going to explore war poetry in more detail and think about why people might want to write war poetry, but also why people might want to read it as well.

War poetry can be defined as poetry on the topic of war.

While war poetry has been written for centuries, we specifically think of war poetry as being associated with World War I.

It was a particularly prolific time for war poems since over 2,000 poems are written about World War I.

Now, what I'd like you to think about is who do you imagine would write war poetry and what might it be about? Pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great ideas there.

Like Lucas, you might have said that we typically think of soldiers writing war poems and we think they'd be about honour and glory of war or like Jacob, you might think the typical imagery we could expect from war poetry will be that of death, destruction, and gore.

Taking those initial responses, I'd like us to now think a little bit more about that question and write a quick response.

Who do you imagine would write war poetry and what might it be about? Pause the video and create your answer.

Amazing.

Some great ideas there.

You might have said that while the stereotypical image is that of a soldier writing poetry from the front lines of the war.

War poetry is much broader than that.

Taking World War I as our example, while there are many famous soldier poets such as Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, there were also poems written by fathers of soldiers such as Rudyard Kipling's, "My boy, Jack," and poems written by nurses such as Henrietta Tayler.

While the stereotypical soldier poets were generally more anti-war, war poetry is not exclusively anti-war.

There are many perms expressing the glory of war and the sacrifice that the soldiers made.

Amazing, everyone.

Now, that we've thought about who might write war poetry, I'd also like us to think about why they would want to write it and who would want to read it.

Pause the video and take a few minutes to create your response.

Amazing.

There's some great ideas there.

You might have said that potentially people wanted to write poetry because it's an expression of emotion and people wanted an outlet for the emotion they were feeling about the war.

Writing could be a form of therapy to help people make sense of an experience.

War poetry can also be particularly provocative because of the heightened emotion involved in war.

Furthermore, people may have wanted to read war poetry because it gave them an insight into what the experience of war was really like, especially since the soldiers' letters back home were being censored.

Now, for a quick check for understanding, which two of the following statements about war poetry are true.

Is it a, war poetry is only written by men, b, war poetry can be written by anyone who experienced war, c, war poetry is only written by soldiers or d, war poetry included multiple perspectives on war, not just anti-war statements.

Pause the video and make your selections.

The correct answers are b, that war poetry can be written by anyone who experienced war and D, that war poetry includes multiple perspectives on war, not just anti-war statements.

So well done, if you selected those answers.

You're all doing amazingly well everyone.

For your final task of the day, what I'd like you to do is consider the following lines from famous war poems and discuss which you think is the most provocative.

To do so you might consider, what emotions do you feel? What images of war does it create in your mind? What experience of war do you imagine the poet had? And do you want to read more of the poem? Your first poem to consider is Wilfred Owen's, "Dulce et de Decorum Est," which opens with the lines, "Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge." Your second option is Siegfried Sassoon's "The Death Bed," which ends with the lines, "But death replied, 'I choose him.

' So he went.

And there was silence in the summer night; Silence and safety and the veils of sleep.

Then, far away, the thudding of the guns." Your third option is Rudyard Kipling's, "My boy, Jack," which opens with the lines, "'Have you news of my boy, Jack,' Not this tide.

'When do you think that he'll come back?" And finally, your fourth option is Edith Nesbit's "In Hospital," which has the lines, "I should have said, 'I love you' and your eyes have said, 'I too.

' The gods saw otherwise for this is winter and the London streets are full of soldiers from that far, fierce fray." Pause the video and take a few minutes to consider which of those you think is the most provocative.

Amazing.

Really well done, everyone.

I had some great ideas there around how evocative some of the imagery was, particularly around the image of death choosing the soldier in Sassoon's poem.

Now, what I'd like you to do is consider whether you agree with these students.

Sam said he found Owen's poem the most provocative since it really evoked the horror of war and the experience of the soldiers.

Owen's poetry is known for exposing the harsh realities of war, and Owen himself fought on the front lines and experienced some horrific moments such as watching his fellow soldiers be blown up in front of him.

His stories particularly tragic since he died one week before the war ended and his mother received the telegram to say he died on the day the ceasefire was announced.

Or you might agree with Izzy, when she said she found Kipling and Nesbit's poems to be the most provocative because they made her feel really emotional about how those at home would've felt.

Kipling's poems particularly heartbreaking since he did have a son, John Kipling, who fought in World War I and went missing an action in the Battle of Loos in 1915.

His body was never recovered.

It's even more tragic considering that Kipling himself used his influence to have John accepted into the army even though he'd previously been rejected for poor eyesight.

This is perhaps why war poetry is so popular.

It gives us a small insight into the emotions of those who've experienced something so heartbreaking and tragic that is war.

You all did really well today, everyone.

Here's a summary of what we covered.

Soldiers from all over the British empire fought in World War 1.

The government employed patriotism, propaganda, and censorship in order to aid recruitment for the war.

Conditions in the trenches took a physical, emotional and mental toll on the soldiers.

And war poetry can be from anyone who experienced war.

It details the emotional response rather than just reactions to fighting.

I really hope you enjoyed today's lesson and hope to see you next time for our first lesson on Rupert Brook's, "The Soldier." Goodbye everyone.