World War One Poetry.

L/O: Learning to understand the importance of context to poetry

Copy the statements and add a score out of five depending on your confidence with the subject (5 = really confident)

1. I can identify similes and metaphors.2. I can identify enjambment and alliteration in poems.3. I know the effect of similes and metaphors.4. I can write about poems using pee.5. I can explain why the context of a poem is important to

the understanding of the poem.6. I can compare two poems confidently.7. I can explain the different purposes of a poem using

evidence to support my ideas.8. I can evaluate a poem and justify my views using

evidence.

Revision of poetic terms: Draw in back of book.

Poetic term Definition

Simile

Metaphor

Personification

Enjambment

Alliteration

Stanza

Onomatopoeia

The context of WW1

• What do you know about WW1?

• In pairs make a list of any information that you know.

(5min)

Some information

• 1914-1918• Fought between Germany and England/France/

Belgium and other Allied countries.• Mainly fought in Trenches.• British war dead:• About 880,000 men from the United Kingdom,

plus a further 200,000 from other countries in the British Empire and Commonwealth. German dead: approximately 1,808,000

Some video context of WW1

• Over the top

• The sniper

• The end

Some of the dead.

The men were convinced to fight through effective propaganda.

How are these effective?

Now read the poem ‘Who’s for the game’ (Jessie Pope)

• Who’s for the game, the biggest that’s played, The red crashing game of a fight? Who’ll grip and tackle the job unafraid? And who thinks he’d rather sit tight? Who’ll toe the line for the signal to ‘Go!’? Who’ll give his country a hand? Who wants a turn to himself in the show? And who wants a seat in the stand? Who knows it won’t be a picnic – not much- Yet eagerly shoulders a gun? Who would much rather come back with a crutch Than lie low and be out of the fun? Come along, lads – But you’ll come on all right – For there’s only one course to pursue, Your country is up to her neck in a fight, And she’s looking and calling for you.

Who’s for the game?

• In pairs decide how this poem persuades people to join up:

• Do you think that it successfully achieves its purpose? How?

• Who is this poem targeting?

• What does it compare war to and how?

• Which techniques can you find?

Choose one of the following:

• Either write your own enlisting poem/verse.

• Or

• Design your own Recruiting poster based around the ideas in the poem.