Complete the grid on Out of the Blue 15 minutes

Literature Unit 2: Set Poetry planning and writing your exam answer

Unit 2 layout: 1.Set poetry question (45 mins): - comparison of 2 poems from the Conflict cluster in your anthology - one poem will be named- you choose the poem you will compare it with - choice of 2 questions - worth 36 marks 2. Unseen poetry question( 30 mins)

Set poetry question: What you are marked for AO1: Respond to texts critically and imaginatively; select and evaluate relevant textual detail to illustrate and support interpretations. AO2: Explain how language, structure and form contribute to writers’ presentation of ideas, themes and settings. AO3: Make comparisons and explain links between texts, evaluating writers’ different ways of expressing meaning and achieving effects.

a.k.a Show you understand the meanings, ideas, feelings, opinions in the poems; select evidence effectively to back up your understanding; infer, deduce, consider different meanings Analyse in detail how language, structure and form create and shape meanings Compare and contrast ideas, feelings, language, tone, voice etc in the two poems

Comparing the poems AO3 is the most rewarded assessment objective for this question; it is essentially worth 18 of the marks As long as you stay focused and relate your comparisons to the overall title, you could compare: voice, tone, ideas, feelings, attitudes, settings, language, structure, sound etc

Planning comparatively Spend 5-10 mins planning for a series of comparative points e.g. Point 1:A&B Point 2:A&B Point 3:A&B Point 4:A&B DO NOT write about one poem followed by the other

Compare the methods the poets use to present feelings in Out of the Blue and one other poem. PLAN: Out of the Blue & Poppies 1.Imagery repeated in poems to show changing feelings: ‘white cotton shirt twirling’ shifts to ‘the white of surrender is not yet flying.’ to ‘I am failing, flagging’ to show how speaker has given up hope. Compared to ‘a single dove’ shifting to ‘The dove pulled freely against the sky’ perhaps symbolising freedom of the soul of the dead. 2.Both poems use a first person speaker in a dramatic monologue to present the feelings of those affected by conflict: ‘I am not at the point of leaving, diving.’ and ‘I was brave, as I walked/ with you to the front door’ We see inside the mind of the persona the poet has created. 3.Both speakers address their words to another presenting their feelings of being abandoned: ‘You have picked me out’ an address to the world? But ‘After you’d gone, I walked into your bedroom’ a much more specific relationship 4.Armitage uses rhyme to suggest the feelings of desperation of the speaker: ‘waving/saving’, ‘driving/diving’ whereas Weir uses free-verse to suggest the speaker’s sadness as she reflects: ‘Three days before Armistice Sunday/ and poppies had already been placed/on individual war graves’ 5.The immediacy of the speaker’s feelings in Out of the Blue are presented using present tense: ‘The heat is behind me bullying, driving’ whereas Poppies uses the past tense throughout, suggesting this sadness is an ingrained feeling: ‘I listened, hoping to hear/your playground voice catching on the wind’

THE WRITTEN ANSWER A sustained comparison Comparative points are developed with analysis- you need a good number of comparative points. Comparative points and analysis are relevant to the question

Compare the methods the poets to present feelings in Out of the Blue and one other poem In both Out of the Blue and Poppies the poets create a voice for individuals affected by conflict by using the first person so that we can gain vivid impression of the speakers’ feelings about their situation …………………..………….………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………....………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………. Both poems use repeated imagery to show the changes in feelings in the speakers……….………………………………………………………… …………………. ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………. Whilst Armitage uses a regular rhyme scheme to present the speaker’s feelings of desperation Weir uses free verse to suggest the speaker’s sadness as she reflects on her situation ………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………... ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Developed Points It is not enough just to make comparative points. Each needs to be developed: evidence provided, meanings reflected upon, poets’ choices of language and form- interpreted and commented upon. The following slide has an example of a point which is not fully developed:

(Un-)Developed Points Both Out of the Blue and Poppies use a first person speaker to present the feelings of those affected by conflict. In Out of the Blue the speaker says ‘I am not at the point of leaving, diving.’ which shows us how he is thinking and feeling at that point. In Poppies the mother says ‘I was brave, as I walked/ With you to the front door’ so we can see that she felt she was putting on a brave face for her son. There is a comparison here, but little attempt to comment upon how the meanings are created. How does this use of language help show us the feelings of the speakers? What is it about the choice of the first person that helps us understand the feelings of the speakers?

Relevant Analysis Although in the process of your planning, you should have stayed focused on the question, it is still easy to lapse into irrelevance when analysing. The following slide contains an example of a point which is developed, but does not stay relevant:.

(Ir-)Relevant Analysis In both Out of the Blue and Poppies the speakers address their words to another person to highlight their feelings of being abandoned. The speaker says ‘You have picked me out’ and the phrase ‘picked me out’ with its connotations of bullying suggests that the speaker feels isolated from everyone else. In Poppies when the mother says ‘After you’d gone, I walked into your bedroom’ we understand that she has been left alone. When she is in the bedroom she releases a ‘songbird from its cage’ and we know that she is echoing the freedom she has given to her son as he leaves home to go to war. There is some attempt to comment upon meanings here, but the original comparison point about addressing others to present feelings of abandonment is not backed up by consistently focused analysis – the evidence may be well-selected but this is not clear from how it is analysed. The original comparison is not sustained and the analysis of the second poem moves into a different point about freedom.

The following is an example of a point which is well-developed and stays relevant to the original comparison made. Both poems use repeated imagery to show changing feelings. In Out of the Blue at the beginning of the poem the speaker mentions his ‘white cotton shirt is twirling’. We understand that the speaker is referring to the fact that he is ‘waving’ his shirt as he is desperate to attract attention – he wants to be saved. But in the middle of the poem the ‘white’ of the shirt shifts to image of ‘the white of surrender is not yet flying’. The symbolism of the white shirt has changed to use the connotations of a white flag to signify surrender which implies that his feelings are changing and that he is losing hope of being saved. Nevertheless he tries to be defiant with the use of the negative ‘not’ although the use of the word ‘yet suggests his feelings of defiance are futile. By the end of the poem the image of the flag of surrender has shifted again so that the last sentence, following the caesura in the final line is ‘I am failing, flagging’. The word ‘flagging’ echoes the image of the flag ‘of surrender’ and with its alliterative link to ‘failing’ Armitage emphasises that the speaker has lost all feelings of hope. Unlike Armitage whose imagery is repeated but not using exactly the same wording, Weir uses the word and the image of the ‘dove’ twice in Poppies. The image is first mentioned in the penultimate stanza as ‘a single dove flew from the pear tree’. The use of the dove is interesting as it has connotations of peace but here it also echoes the son leaving home and perhaps serves as an ironic metaphor of her feelings about her son leaving home and going to war. The ‘single dove’ seems lonely and vulnerable as it leaves the shelter of the pear tree. The dove is mentioned again in the final stanza as it ‘pulled freely against the sky’/An ornamental stitch.’. Perhaps here the dove again symbolises her son, or her son’s soul, but the fact that it is ‘An ornamental stitch’ perhaps suggests her son is stitched into the fabric of her world so that ultimately, while the tone of the poem is sad, there are some positive feelings to be found, especially in memories which can be treasured. This is a less despairing end to the poem than in Out of the Blue where there is a feeling of utter loss. Here, the initial comparison is made and sustained throughout the paragraph. It is supported with close reference to the poems and involves developed and relevant reflection on individual language choices and ideas.

1.Compare the ways the poets present the effects of conflict on the individual in ‘ Futility ’ and in one other poem from Conflict. 2.Compare the ways the poets present the influence of conflict on memory in ‘Poppies’ and in one other poem from Conflict. 3.Compare the ways the poets present the effects of conflict on the physical environment in ‘Mametz Wood’ and in one other poem from Conflict. 4.Compare the ways the poets present conflict through the use of metaphor in ‘Belfast Confetti’ and in one other poem from Conflict. 5.Compare the ways the poets show the effects of conflict on civilians in ‘Out of the Blue’ and in one other poem from Conflict.

Homework Write your response to the essay title: Compare the methods the poets use to present feelings in Out of the Blue and one other poem. Use the points we have discussed in the lesson.