Skip to content
Oak National Academy
Oak National Academy
Teachers
Pupils
icon-background-square
New
New
Year 7

Analysing ‘This Poem is Taking Place on Stolen Land’

I can explain how Clarke presents colonisation in 'This Poem is Taking Place on Stolen Land'.

Download all resources
arrow-right
Share activities with pupils
arrow-right
icon-background-square
New
New
Year 7

Analysing ‘This Poem is Taking Place on Stolen Land’

I can explain how Clarke presents colonisation in 'This Poem is Taking Place on Stolen Land'.

Download all resources
arrow-right
Share activities with pupils
arrow-right
warning

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.
View new resources
arrow-right

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. 'This Poem is Taking Place on Stolen Land' is a poem about the colonisation of Native America.
  2. Clarke shows her condemnation of Native America's colonisation through the title and the description of the colonisers.
  3. Clarke laments the devastating effects that colonisation has had on Indigenous populations.
  4. Clarke ends the poem by emphasising the strength and resilience of Indigenous populations.

Keywords

  • Indigenous - people inhabiting land before the arrival of colonists

  • Colonialism - the practice of acquiring control over another country

  • Displaced - move something from its usual position

  • Connotations - the feelings, images or associations that come to your mind when you hear a word

Common misconception

Students may not immediately understand the title if they have never come across 'colonialism' before.

Take some time unpicking why Clarke equates colonisation to stealing.


To help you plan your year 7 english lesson on: Analysing ‘This Poem is Taking Place on Stolen Land’, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

If your students need more context around colonialism to understand the poem, feel free to supplement the information displayed with the first reading of the poem with your own notes/visual cues/video.
speech-bubble
Teacher tip
equipment-required

Equipment

You will need a copy of 'This Poem Is Taking Place on Stolen Land' by Emily Clarke.

content-guidance

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
supervision-level

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

copyright

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

Skip lesson video

Loading...

Starter quiz

Download starter quiz

6 Questions

Q1.
What does it mean to be savage?
Correct answer: be vicious, violent, uncontrolled
be calm and softly spoken
be rude and argumentative
Q2.
Which words belong to the first person plural?
I, me
Correct answer: we, our, us
she, her
they, them
Q3.
If using the word 'you', a poem is being written in ...
first person.
Correct answer: second person.
third person.
Q4.
Why might a poet choose to write in the second person?
Correct answer: to make the reader personally reflect on what is being written
to exclude the reader
to make themselves feel more important than the reader
Q5.
What is a connotation of the word 'dove' (the bird)?
violence
power
Correct answer: peace
Q6.
What might the poem 'This Poem is Taking Place on Stolen Land' be about?
Correct answer: crime
love
Correct answer: conflict
unity

Exit quiz

Download exit quiz

6 Questions

Q1.
What is colonisation?
when Indigenous people are left to have complete power and freedom
Correct answer: when other countries take control over another country and its land
when a country asks another country for help rebuilding it
Q2.
What is 'This Poem is Taking Place on Stolen Land' by Emily Clarke about?
Correct answer: the colonisation of Native America
Indigenous life before the 16th century
civil war
Q3.
What was one effect of the colonisation of Native America?
relations between European colonists and Native Americans improved
Indigenous culture became more valued and appreciated
Correct answer: Indigenous people had their culture uprooted
Q4.
'This Poem is Taking Place on Stolen Land' is addressed to …
Indigenous populations.
Correct answer: colonisers of Native America.
Clarke's family.
Q5.
Why might Clarke have written the poem 'This Poem is Taking Place on Stolen Land' using first person plural?
Correct answer: to give voice to a community who had been denied power and self-expression
to accuse the colonisers of a crime
to show the effects of colonisation on only her
Q6.
What does Clarke's transition from calling the indigenous people "pests" and then "eagles" suggest about her feelings towards colonisation in 'This Poem is Taking Placce on Stolen Land'?
Correct answer: that Indigenous people were made to feel useless when they are powerful
that Indigenous people were harmful and became predatory
Correct answer: that after colonisation, Indigenous people found their strength again