Cover Work Tuesday 28/03

TASK 1

Complete the following table in a word document for the 2 poems we have studied so far.
Guidelines to completing the table:

• Type of conflict = The main issue/concept/idea represented in the poem. You should think of at least 3 types of conflict for each poem
• Stand-out imagery = the images the poem creates in your head, how it makes you feel, how it affects you

Include as much detail as possible by developing your ideas and explaining them. Use full sentences and your own words, avoid copying phrases from the poems directly in your explanations.

TASK 2

Once you have fully completed the table with detailed explanations complete the following task.

Analyse the following image. You must:

1. Simply describe what you can see in the image.
2. Discuss what types of conflicts and feelings are present in the image and why.
3. Relate the image to the poems we have studied by saying how they both share certain types of conflict and emotions. You should directly quote lines from the poems to support your arguments.
4. Give your personal opinion of the image and whether you think it is powerful compared to the poems studied

Out of the Blue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufZey15WTAk

Out of the Blue

You have picked me out.
Through a distant shot of a building burning
you have noticed now
that a white cotton shirt is twirling, turning.

In fact I am waving, waving.
Small in the clouds, but waving, waving.
Does anyone see a
soul worth saving?

So when will you come?
Do you think you are watching, watching
a man shaking crumbs
or pegging out washing?

I am trying and trying.
The heat behind me is bullying, driving,
but the white of surrender is not yet flying.
I am not at the point of leaving, diving.

A bird goes by.
The depth is appalling. Appalling
that others like me
should be wind-milling, wheeling, spiralling, falling.

Are your eyes believing,
believing
Here in the gills
I am still breathing.

But tiring, tiring.
Sirens below me are wailing, firing.
My arm is numb and my nerves are sagging.
Do you see me, my love. I am failing. Flagging.

The Manhunt

The Man Hunt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGX4vwXvek4

The Manhunt Questions

Use these sentence starters to help you:

•This suggests…

•This indicates that…

•It makes me feel that…

•The poet tries to convey to the reader the idea of…

•Therefore we understand that…

•This links to the speaker´s message that…

•The feeling is created by…

•This shows/proves/highlights….

Answer 10 of the following questions by providing quotes and analysis.

Stanza 1

1. What does the phrase ‘passionate nights and intimate days’ initially suggest the poem might be about?

2. What other meanings could ‘passionate’ and ‘intimate’ bring, given the context of the rest of the poem?

Stanza 2

1.     What does ‘only then would he let me trace’ imply?

2.     What might the metaphor ‘the frozen river which ran through his face’ be describing?

3.     What other meaning(s) could ‘frozen’ bring to the poem?

Stanza 3

1.     Why does the narrator use the word ‘explore’ – what connotations does it bring?

2.     The poem is broken up into two-line stanzas.  Why do you think Armitage has used this technique?

3.     What meaning(s) does the phrase ‘blown hinge’ add to the poem?

Stanzas 4-6

1.     Up to now, the couplets have been rhymed; why do you think that Armitage doesn’t rhyme all of the couplets?

2.     Is ‘porcelain’ a good word to describe his collar bone?  Explain your answer fully.

3.     What’s the effect of Armitage’s use of repetition of words and style in these stanzas?

Stanza 7

1.     Armitage starts a new sentence in the poem here; why do you think he does so?

2.     How does this stanza suggest that the narrator is trying to help her husband recover?

Stanza 8

1.     What do you notice about the form of this stanza?  Why might this be important?

Stanzas 9-10

1.     Why does Armitage describe the bullet as a ‘foetus’?

Stanzas 11-12

1.     What sorts of ‘scarring’ is the narrator talking about in these stanzas?

2.     How effective is the metaphor of the ‘mine’ in his mind?  What does the description of it as ‘sweating’ suggest about him?  How does it bring an association of danger?

Stanza 13

1.     What phrase suggests that the narrator is finding it hard to connect to the man?

2.     ‘Then, and only then, did I come close’: close to what?

3.     Look at the last words of each line of the couplet.  What reasons can you think of for Armitage choosing these?  Hint: think about the idea of things which are ‘missing’ or incomplete.

4.     How effective and appropriate is the poem’s title?  Explain your ideas fully.