Transcript Unit 3: Interpretations of Prose and Poetry

Unit 3:
Interpretations of
Prose and Poetry
Analysis Skills:
How do style and language work?
Miss McClue
Starter
How does a poet use
structure, form and
language to shape
meaning within their
poetry?
Then…
Write the definitions to the following literary
terms:
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Subject matter
Theme
Diction
Imagery
Form
Structure
Direct Speech
Tone
Metaphor
Learning Objective
• To investigate how
language and style
work within
poetry.
Key Words:
•Perspective (point of view)
•Persona
‘Break of Day in the Trenches’
BY ISAAC ROSENBERG 1890–1918
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB-zIQw1-7U
The darkness crumbles away
It is the same old druid Time as
ever,
Only a live thing leaps my hand,
A queer sardonic rat,
As I pull the parapet’s poppy
To stick behind my ear.
Droll rat, they would shoot you if
they knew
Your cosmopolitan sympathies,
Now you have touched this
English hand
You will do the same to a German
Soon, no doubt, if it be your
pleasure
To cross the sleeping green
between.
It seems you inwardly grin as you
pass
Strong eyes, fine limbs, haughty
athletes,
Less chanced than you for life,
Bonds to the whims of murder,
Sprawled in the bowels of the earth,
The torn fields of France.
What do you see in our eyes
At the shrieking iron and flame
Hurled through still heavens?
What quaver -what heart aghast?
Poppies whose roots are in men’s
veins
Drop, and are ever dropping;
But mine in my ear is safe,
Just a little white with the dust.
Activity 1
1. Read the poem aloud.
2. Make a first response to this poem in a small group. What is
Rosenberg’s perspective?
3. Feedback to the class.
4. Using the FLIRTY model, identify and make notes on key
aspects of the poem. Comment on the language and tone of
the poem. What style has the writer adopted?
5. What are you thoughts about the poem.
6. Write a short analysis of the way Rosenberg creates meaning
in ‘Break of Day in the Trenches’
You need to understand and learn
the following definitions:
Subject matter – this is what the poem
describes.
Theme – ideas that are explored through the
subject matter.
Activity 2
• Complete the table below:
Subject Matter
Themes
Exam Writing Tip
• Begin your analysis by giving your initial
response to the poem’s meaning. You could
begin by writing: ‘ The main theme seems to
be…’ or ‘The poet focuses on X, which
suggests that…’.
Plenary
What is the crucial
difference between
theme
and subject matter?