New
New
Year 10
AQA

Analysing Berry's 'On an Afternoon Train from Purley to Victoria, 1955'

I can explain how Berry uses contrast and structural progression to express ideas of connection and humanity in 'On an Afternoon Train from Purley to Victoria, 1955'.

New
New
Year 10
AQA

Analysing Berry's 'On an Afternoon Train from Purley to Victoria, 1955'

I can explain how Berry uses contrast and structural progression to express ideas of connection and humanity in 'On an Afternoon Train from Purley to Victoria, 1955'.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Berry may have utilised contrasting pairs to show the inherent differences between people
  2. The existence of these contrasting pairs within the framework of the poem could represent people coexisting in society.
  3. The structural progression of the poem shows the subjects forming a connection.
  4. Berry may have done this to show how open communication can lead to connections

Common misconception

That the use of contrast in a poem is always intended to show friction and tension.

While the use of contrast shows difference, it doesn't necessarily have to show friction; instead, it might represent how we can coexist even though we are different.

Keywords

  • Humanity - the quality or state of being human

  • Contrast - the state of being strikingly different from something else in juxtaposition or close association

  • Conceptually - in a way that relates to ideas or principles

  • Inclusion - the act of including someone or something as part of a group

You could ask the students to rewrite their paragraph using the ideas in the model as inspiration for homework.
Teacher tip

Equipment

You will need access to a copy of the AQA World and Lives anthology for this lesson.

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content

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.
To open a dialogue with someone you generally say...
Correct answer: hello
goodbye
farewell
Q2.
Contrast means...
Correct answer: an obvious difference between two or more things
an obvious similarity between two or more things
a subtle similarity between two or more things
two completely unrelated things
Q3.
Match the contrasting pairs of words.
Correct Answer:"silence","loudly"

"loudly"

Correct Answer:"lit","darkness"

"darkness"

Correct Answer:"sunny","snow"

"snow"

Q4.
Which pronoun shows a group of people?
"I"
"you"
Correct answer: "us"
Q5.
Inclusion means...
Correct answer: including someone
excluding someone
greeting someone
talking about someone
Q6.
The opening sentence of a paragraph that explains the main focus or argument is the sentence.
Correct Answer: topic

6 Questions

Q1.
Berry's decision to start 'On an Afternoon Train from Purley to Victoria, 1955' with "hello" suggests a...
Correct answer: welcoming attitude
combative attitude
disengaged attitude
Q2.
Berry's decision to end 'On an Afternoon Train from Purley to Victoria, 1955' with "us" suggests...
the subjects have formed a relationship
Correct answer: the subjects have formed a connection
the subjects have had a conversation
Q3.
Berry's use of contrasting pairs in the poem may show...
Correct answer: how different people can coexist
how similar people can coexist
how different people cannot coexist
Q4.
The purpose of a concluding sentence of a single paragraph outline is to...
outline arguments of each paragraph
Correct answer: summarise argument in each paragraph
outline key language, form, structure or contextual detail
Q5.
To talk about something in a way that relates to ideas or principles is called talking about it...
Correct answer: conceptually
clearly
concisely
convolutedly
Q6.
The quality or state of being human is...
Correct Answer: humanity