New
New
Year 9

Comparing views in ‘The Soldier’, ‘In Flanders Fields’ and ‘The Gift of India’

I can make detailed comparisons between how Brooke, Naidu and McCrae present ideas around war and the experience of dying at war.

New
New
Year 9

Comparing views in ‘The Soldier’, ‘In Flanders Fields’ and ‘The Gift of India’

I can make detailed comparisons between how Brooke, Naidu and McCrae present ideas around war and the experience of dying at war.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Both Naidu and Brooke personify their respective countries but they have different effects on the reader.
  2. Both Naidu and McCrae utilise natural imagery, but they have different effects on the reader.
  3. Thinking about poets as being in conversation with one another is a useful way of thinking about a comparative essay.

Common misconception

That comparative essays should only focus on the differences between poems.

The most successful comparative essays focus on both the similarities and the differences between the poems.

Keywords

  • Attitude - The attitude of a poem is the way the writer thinks or feels about the subject they are writing about.

  • Mood - The mood of a poem is the emotional undertone.

  • Patriotic - Being patriotic means showing your love for your country.

  • Content - Being content means being pleased with your situation and not looking to improve it.

  • Duty - Duty is a moral or legal obligation or responsibility.

You can get students to create single paragraph outlines after each comparative slide to make a detailed plan.
Teacher tip

Equipment

You will need access to copies of Brooke's 'The Soldier', Naidu's 'The Gift of India', and McCrae's 'In Flanders Fields' for this lesson.

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is the most valid interpretation of 'blood' in a war poem?
Passion
Red
Correct answer: Pain
Fragile
Q2.
'Scattered like shells' is an example of .
A metaphor
Correct answer: A simile
Pathetic fallacy
Personification
Q3.
Match the adjective with the most appropriate connotation.
Correct Answer:Blood,Pain or injury

Pain or injury

Correct Answer:Alien,Something that doesn’t belong

Something that doesn’t belong

Correct Answer:Torn,Ripped or ruined

Ripped or ruined

Q4.
If something is 'fragile', then it is considered .
Valuable
Precious
Tough
Correct answer: Delicate
Q5.
What might a rhyming couplet indicate?
Correct answer: Inevitability
Chaos
Disorder
Q6.
If an object is 'strewn', what is that most likely to indicate?
That care has been taken over the object.
Correct answer: That the object has been treated carelessly.
That the object is being honoured.

6 Questions

Q1.
The mood of a poem is .
the writer's intentions
Correct answer: its emotional undertone
the legacy of the poem
the analysis of language
Q2.
'Being pleased with your situation and not looking to improve it' is the definition of .
romantic
Correct answer: content
despair
pride
Q3.
The idyllic language of Brooke's 'The Soldier' creates mood.
a pessimistic
a romantic
Correct answer: an optimistic
a grieving
Q4.
A duty is .
Correct answer: a moral or legal obligation
a pessimistic attitude
an unusual task
a job you want to do
Q5.
Both Naidu in 'The Gift of India' and Brooke in 'The Soldier' personify their respective countries as a .
Correct Answer: mother, Mother, mum
Q6.
The euphonic sounds in McCrae's 'In Flanders Fields' create a tone.
Correct answer: soothing
harsh
proud
negative