1. From Tractor by Ted Hughes

2. Starter Write a short account about a time when a vehicle let you down (broke down, wouldn’t start, puncture etc.)

3. Learning Objectives As we study this poem you will learn: the story of the poem More about the terms, Free Verse: Personnification: Oxymoron: Onomatopoeia: Enjambement: Alliteration: Imagery: Pace/Tempo how to read out one stanza to the class in a group You will also complete some mini tasks and a test on the poem.

4. The tractor stands frozen - an agony To think of. All night Snow packed its open entrails. Now a head-pincering gale A spill of molten ice, smoking snow, Pours into its steel. At white heat of numbness it stands In the aimed hosing of ground-level fieriness. It defies flesh and won't start. Hands are like wounds already Inside armour gloves, and feet are unbelievable As if the toe-nails were all just torn off. I stare at it in hatred. Beyond it The copse hisses - capitulates miserably In the fleeing, failing light. Starlings, A dirtier sleetier snow, blow smokily, unendingly, over Towards plantations Eastward. All the time the tractor is sinking Through the degrees, deepening Into its hell of ice. The starting lever Cracks its action, like a snapping knuckle. The battery is alive - but like a lamb Trying to nudge its solid-frozen mother­ While the seat claims my buttock-bones, bites With the space-cold of earth, which it has joined In one solid lump. I squirt commercial sure-fire Down the black throat - it just coughs. It ridicules me - a trap of iron stupidity I've stepped into. I drive the battery As if I were hammering and hammering The frozen arrangement to pieces with a hammer And it jabbers laughing pain-crying mockingly Into happy life.

5. The tractor stands frozen - an agony To think of. All night Snow packed its open entrails. Now a head-pincering gale A spill of molten ice, smoking snow, Pours into its steel. At white heat of numbness it stands In the aimed hosing of ground-level fieriness. It defies flesh and won't start. Hands are like wounds already Inside armour gloves, and feet are unbelievable As if the toe-nails were all just torn off. I stare at it in hatred. Beyond it The copse hisses - capitulates miserably In the fleeing, failing light. Starlings, A dirtier sleetier snow, blow smokily, unendingly, over Towards plantations Eastward. All the time the tractor is sinking Through the degrees, deepening Into its hell of ice. The starting lever Cracks its action, like a snapping knuckle. The battery is alive - but like a lamb Trying to nudge its solid-frozen mother­ While the seat claims my buttock-bones, bites With the space-cold of earth, which it has joined In one solid lump. I squirt commercial sure-fire Down the black throat - it just coughs. It ridicules me - a trap of iron stupidity I've stepped into. I drive the battery As if I were hammering and hammering The frozen arrangement to pieces with a hammer And it jabbers laughing pain-crying mockingly Into happy life. Mini Task 1 In the group you have been allocated, practice reading out your section of the poem so you can read it to the class.

6. The Story Of The Poem Mini Task 2 Write down what you think has happened in the poem

7. The Story Of The Poem A tractor has been left standing out in a field overnight. It has become stuck in the freezing mud and snow. It is so cold that the farmer is finding it impossible to get the engine started. The farmer feels as if the tractor has taken on a life of its own and has decided to refuse to start just to annoy him. Eventually he does manage to get it started.

8. The Story Of The Poem Stanza by Stanza Mini Task 3 Write down what happens in each stanza of the poem

9. The Story Of The Poem Stanza by Stanza Stanza 1: This stanza describes what the farmer felt when he discovers the tractor frozen in the snow and mud of an open field. Stanza 2: This stanza describes how he fails to start the tractor as well as a description of his surroundings. Stanza 3: This stanza continues describes how he fails to start the tractor but also describes how uncomfortable he is sitting on the tractor in he cold. Stanza 4: This stanza describes how he finally manages to get the tractor started by pouring ‘sure fire’ into the engine.

10. The Structure Of The Poem Composition The poem is written in FREE VERSE and is composed of four unequal stanzas of 8,12, 7 & 8 lines. The line length is also uneven. There are a few lines that rhyme, but they appear randomly and cannot be considered frequent or regular enough to describe the poem as having a rhyme scheme: Ex: Snow packed its open entrails. Now a head-pincering gale And It ridicules me - a trap of iron stupidity I've stepped into. I drive the battery As if I were hammering and hammering The frozen arrangement to pieces with a hammer And it jabbers laughing pain-crying mockingly Because of this, the poem r eads more like prose than a poem.

11. The Structure Of The Poem Key Feature The key feature of this poem is PERSONIFICATION. Personification is where an animal, machine or inanimate object is described in human terms. Mini Task 4 There are many example of Personification in this poem. On your copy of the poem underline or highlight ONE example from each stanza.

12. The Structure Of The Poem Key Feature - Personification The effect of all this is to make the tractor seem ‘human’ and to have its own will; a will that is defying and injuring the farmer. Stanza 1: ∙Snow packed its open entrails. Stanza 2: It defies flesh and won't start. Into its hell of ice. Stanza 3: …like a snapping knuckle. The battery is alive While the seat claims my buttock-bones, bites Stanza 4: Down the black throat - it just coughs. It ridicules me …. And it jabbers laughing pain-crying mockingly Into happy life.

13. The Structure Of The Poem Other Features - Oxymoron Another interesting feature of this poem is the use of Oxymorons to suggest how cold it really is. An Oxymoron is where two words used together have, or seem to have, opposite meanings. In this poem Ted Hughes uses heat as an unusual way to describe the cold. Ex: A spill of molten ice, smoking snow, Pours into its steel. At white heat of numbness it stands and …Into its hell of ice

14. The Structure Of The Poem Other Features - Enjambment Another major feature of the poem is ENJAMBMENT which occurs frequently. MINI TASK 5 On your copy of the poem put an arrow  to mark where you think the Enjambment is in this stanza. I squirt commercial sure-fire Down the black throat - it just coughs. It ridicules me - a trap of iron stupidity I've stepped into. I drive the battery As if I were hammering and hammering The frozen arrangement to pieces with a hammer And it jabbers laughing pain-crying mockingly Into happy life.

15. The Structure Of The Poem Other Features - Enjambment I squirt commercial sure-fire  Down the black throat - it just coughs. It ridicules me - a trap of iron stupidity  I've stepped into. I drive the battery  As if I were hammering and hammering  The frozen arrangement to pieces with a hammer And it jabbers laughing pain-crying mockingly  Into happy life.

16. The Structure Of The Poem Other Features – Onomatopoeia There is in this poem one example of Onomatopoeia. Onomatopoeia is the use of words which sound similar to the noises that the words refer to Ex. ‘Pop’ or ‘Boom.’ In TRACTOR L13 ‘hisses.’

17. The Structure Of The Poem Other Features –Alliteration There are also examples of Alliteration in the first three stanzas. This is the first example in the poem. The tractor stands frozen - an agony To think of. All night MINI TASK 6 On your copy of the poem underline or highlight where you think the other examples of Alliteration are.

18. The Structure Of The Poem Other Features – Onomatopoeia & Alliteration These are the other examples of Alliteration in the poem: A spill of molten ice, smoking snow In the fleeing, failing light. A dirtier sleetier snow, blow smokily, All the time the tractor is sinking.Through the degrees, deepening … but like a lamb While the seat claims my buttock-bones, bites

19. The Structure Of The Poem Imagery The poem also relies heavily on Imagery to create its effects and the use of personification helps to enhance the imagery in the poem. Ex. The pipes of the engine are described as ‘entrails’ the ‘plumbing’ of the human body.

20. The Structure Of The Poem Imagery MINI TASK 7 Look at Stanza 1. Apart from ‘entrails’ what other images are created by poet?

21. The Structure Of The Poem Imagery The tractor stands frozen - an agony  The tractor frozen in the snow. To think of. All night Snow packed its open entrails.  The engine packed full of snow Now a head-pincering gale  A strong, ice cold wind A spill of molten ice, smoking snow, Pours into its steel.  Snow and ice being blown into the engine At white heat of numbness it stands In the aimed hosing of ground-level fieriness.  A freezing wind whipping the snow along the ground towards the farmer.

22. The Structure Of The Poem Tone, Pace & Tempo The tone of the poem is serious, even angry in places. But the tone changes to joy at the end of the poem when the farmer manages to get the tractor going. Pace and tempo of the poem is very even throughout. Although in the final stanza when he is ‘hammering’ the engine to get it started the pace does pick up a little to help express the farmer's frustration and anger.

23. Test Wed 3 Oct