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Year 10
Edexcel

Comparing experiences of war in poetry

I can explore reasons why poets write about war and begin to make connections between the poems in the Edexcel ‘Conflict’ anthology.

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New
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Year 10
Edexcel

Comparing experiences of war in poetry

I can explore reasons why poets write about war and begin to make connections between the poems in the Edexcel ‘Conflict’ anthology.

Download all resources
Share activities with pupils

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Poets have been writing about wars for hundreds of years.
  2. Sometimes poets sensationalise dying for your country as a form of propaganda.
  3. Poets who have first hand experience of combat often depict the brutal reality of war.
  4. Some of the poems in the Edexcel ‘Conflict’ anthology reflect on experiences of particular wars in history.

Common misconception

All of the poems in this anthology focus on a particular war from history.

There are some war poems in the anthology which focus on particular conflicts (e.g. 'Destruction of Sennacherib' and 'Charge of the Light Brigade') but others which focus more on societal conflicts (e.g. racism, social class).

Keywords

  • Honour - behaving with integrity, and moral dignity; show respect or admiration for someone

  • Propaganda - manipulative information disseminated to influence opinions, often biased or misleading

  • Brutal - extremely cruel, harsh, or violent in action or manner

  • Sensationalise - present information in an exaggerated or attention-grabbing way to evoke shock or excitement

  • Cynicism - sceptical or distrustful attitude towards motives, sincerity, or the goodness of human nature

Where we are looking at the titles of the poems in the anthology for learning cycle 1, encourage students to annotate the contents page in their anthology, using the titles to make predictions about what they think will happen in each poem.
Teacher tip

Equipment

You need access to a copy of the Edexcel GCSE Poetry Anthology for this lesson. We will be using the ‘Conflict’ cluster.

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
  • 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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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Some of the poetry you'll read as part of your poetry study is based on World War One. What are the dates for World War One?
1913-1917
1914-1916
Correct answer: 1914-1918
1915-1920
Q2.
What is a theme in literature?
Correct answer: a key idea or topic
the background of the text
the character development
Q3.
What method is used in this sentence: 'It was the biggest pizza she'd ever seen.'?
simile
Correct answer: superlative
personification
Q4.
A particular attitude towards something or a point of view is known as a .
Correct Answer: perspective
Q5.
is the social, historical or cultural background of a text.
Correct Answer: context, contextual information
Q6.
What is meant by the term propaganda?
information, based on truth and fact, used to promote a cause
Correct answer: information, especially of a misleading nature, used to promote a cause
information, of a truthful nature, used to condemn a cause

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match the keywords with their definitions.
Correct Answer:honour ,behaving with integrity and moral dignity

behaving with integrity and moral dignity

Correct Answer:propaganda ,manipulative information disseminated to influence opinions

manipulative information disseminated to influence opinions

Correct Answer:brutal ,extremely cruel, harsh or violent

extremely cruel, harsh or violent

Correct Answer:sensationalise ,present information in an exaggerated or attention-grabbing way

present information in an exaggerated or attention-grabbing way

Correct Answer:cynicism,sceptical or distrustful attitude towards motives

sceptical or distrustful attitude towards motives

Q2.
What is a poetry anthology?
a collection of poems connected by time period
Correct answer: a collection of poems connected to themes
a collection of poems connected to context
Q3.
Before reading a poem, analysing the can help you make predictions about what it's going to be about.
Correct Answer: title
Q4.
Which quotation taken from Jessie Pope's 'Who's for the Game' suggests the war is exciting?
Correct answer: "biggest"
"stand"
"job"
Q5.
Arguably poets who have had firsthand experience of war depict the __________ of it.
glory
Correct answer: brutality
honour
Q6.
Sometimes poets dying for your country as a form of propaganda.
Correct Answer: sensationalise