Victoria Granger-Jones
Eng 112B
5/9/07
Unit Plan
�My
subject is War, and the pity of War.
The
Poetry is in the pity.� Wilfred
Owen1
Imagery, empathy & imagination -
viewing war through a prism of the poetic voice.
War has inspired literature from its earliest
origins: Gilgamesh, the Bible, and the Iliad bring to life
ancient battles and conflicts.
Human history is a narrative of conflict and war. This unit aims to explore how the
poetic voice has changed throughout history. As a canonical text the unit focuses on The Penguin Book
of First World War Poetry.
War is not remote from the American high school
classroom. Currently the US is embroiled in conflicts in Iraq and
Afghanistan. In Iraq alone
there have been 24,645 casualties, of which over 3,400 were fatal2. Most
likely, students will have relatives and friends serving in the armed
services. In a survey on issues
facing the nation, half of young Americans today say that either
"Iraq," "the War," the "War on Terror" or
"domestic security" is the most concerning national issue.3 The military establishment is actively recruiting in
high schools across the country.
This unit aims to use literature, poetry in
particular, as a prism to see as many perspectives of war as possible. There is a value in literature which
takes young adults out of their familiar surroundings and experiences and which
challenges their preconceptions and prejudices. The poems, fiction and quotations used in this unit were
selected to reflect a multiplicity of viewpoints. The aim of this unit is not to promote a single attitude to
war, but to invite students to explore different perspectives. It is hoped that the power of
language and the richness of imagery will stimulate the imagination and that
the students will connect with and develop empathy for the poetic voices that
emerge from the literature.
A primary aim of this literature unit is to
familiarize students with the literary conventions of poetry. Although removed
form the direct experience of the American teenager, the poets of the First
World War use vivid and hard hitting images, which grab attention. This unit
aims to deepen students� understanding and appreciation of poetry. It hopes to show that the poem is a medium
though which ideas, feelings and images can be powerfully expressed. It aims to build understanding and
guide students into discovering for themselves �the pity of war.�
In addition to studying First World War Poetry, there
is a parallel independent reading project to compliment their in-class
study. The independent reading
project reaches out to students and invites them to read a novel or autobiography
that they might not ordinarily pick up to read. The books chosen for the independent reading project were
selected to meet the criteria for good historical fiction as outlined in Literature
for Today�s Young Adults. The
fact that so many of today�s teenagers are non-elective readers means that it
is important to provide entertaining as well as thought provoking
literature. Some of the novels are
more challenging and guidance is needed to help students find an appropriate
match for their ability and interests.
The protagonist of each of texts has a strong voice.
In researching this unit, I
encountered some of the attitudes of American adolescents today. In his memoir,
Ishmael Beah gives a haunting testimony of the horrors he experienced as a boy
soldier in Sierra Leone. There is
heavy irony in the opening pages of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy
Soldier:
My high school friends in New York City have begun to
suspect I haven�t told them the full story of my life.
�Why did you leave Sierra Leone?�
�Because there is a war.�
�Did you witness some of the fighting?�
�Everyone in the country did.�
�You mean you saw people running around with guns and
shooting each other?�
�Yes, all the time.�
�Cool.� (3)4
Beah�s high school contemporaries have only a limited
view of war and Beah�s memoir tries to provide another perspective. In the documentary film, Fahrenheit
911,5 Michael Moore takes his camera to
the streets of Baghdad and interviews young soldiers. These teenage soldiers describe how they channel rap music
through their tank�s communication system whilst they go into action. This
starkly contrasts to the visceral reality outside their tank. The attitudes of
these soldiers and Beah�s high school friends make up part of the rainbow of
perspectives that emerge from the prism of war and are understandable, but they
need to be challenged. The
classroom is a safe and appropriate place to do that.
Launching the Unit
War
quotes activity
Suggestions for quotations
in Appendix A.
Each student has a quote
that they have to read out and share with the class. They have to explain what they think that viewpoint
means. This can be done through
role play: e.g. �Emperor Hirohito, ruler of Japan during World War II, would
you like to tell us what you think about war?� Teacher to provide context for
the quotation if necessary or useful.
After all students� have
shared their quote, a complete list of quotes is distributed to the class. Each student is to choose a quote with
which they strongly agree and one with which they strongly disagree. For homework, the students write about
their chosen quotes, expressing their own point of view and justifying their
choices.
In the next lesson,
encourage students to share their writing and establish ground rules for
respecting differing viewpoints � not arguing with each other, but with the
quotes.
******
Outline
of Independent Reading Project
Before starting to study the
poetry, launch the Independent Reading Project, using book pass activity. The aim of this project is to
supplement the study of war poetry with an enjoyable but enriching novel. The two pieces of written work to come
out of this cover research requirements and creative writing. The students should show through their
own poetry and awareness of literary conventions.
See Appendix B for student handout and list of suggested texts.
The
books listed are set during a true historical conflict and feature strong young
protagonists. Students should
choose one of the books to read independently at home. They are expected to research and
present a one-sided outline of the historical setting of their book. After they have finished their book,
they choose a character from the novel and write a �war� poem with that
character�s voice. Drafts of the poem must be submitted along with the final
version.
Literary
Terms Game
To help remind and
familiarize students with literary terms, half the students are given literary
terms, half are given examples. In
5 minutes they have to find their match in the room. The terms are then shared (some may not have successfully
found their partner!) and collected on the board and notes taken. See Appendix C.
****
Studying First World War
Poetry
Poetry
Thought Map
Introduce this method of
reading a poem. Students should
use a pencil to circle and jot down notes around a poem, creating an idea or
�thought� map.
Use with Rupert Brooke�s
Sonnet V �The Soldier�.
- Read the title. The author has chosen this title carefully; what does
it suggest to you? Jot down
ideas that spring into your mind.
- Look at the shape of the poem before you read
it. Does it have regular or
irregular verses? How is it
shaped? When you start
reading the poem, the shape could be significant to you understanding of
the poem.
- Read the poem silently to yourself. Underline any words or phrases
that stand out as being unusual. Look out for odd vocabulary or imagery, which
draw the reader�s attention.
- Listen to the teacher read out the poem. Listen
out for the rhythm of the poem.
Mark any paces where you think the rhythm is disrupted or where you
think it particularly flows.
Listen out for rhyme in the poem; is there any? How is rhyme
significant or not? Listen
out for the sounds of the words.
Can you hear any onomatopoeic words, alliteration or
assonance? Does
the poet use repetition? How does the punctuation in the poem force the
reader to emphasize certain words?
- Silently, for 5 minutes, read over the poem and
make notes around the poem.
- What is the tone/mood of the poem? Who is the voice in the poem?
- How does the poem make you feel?6
****
A
historical Perspective � Part 1
In this lesson, students
will compare two poems: an excerpt from the Anglo-Saxon poem �The Battle of
Maldon� and �The Last Laugh� by Wilfred Owen.
Students should be guided to
look out for the use of alliteration and onomatopoeia. Alliteration was particularly a feature
of Anglo Saxon poetry. Both of
these poems use alliteration and onomatopoeia for effect. Compare the horrors of war and the idea
of the hero in these two poems.
From �The Battle of Maldon�
(fought in 991)
Flashed a dart from Danish
hand,
Fist driven, and flew too
truly,
Bit the Earl, Aethelred�s
thane.
There stood at his side a
stripling warrior,
Young Wulfmaer, Wulfstan�s
son,
Fresh to the field. In a flash he
Plucked from its place the
blood-black point,
Flung back the filed spear;
again it flew.
Home sank the steel,
stretched on the plain
Him so who late had pierced
the Prince so grievously.
Anonymous (The Earliest English Poems, translated by Michael Alexander,
Penguin Classics, 1966)
Irony
Using �Base Details,� by
Siegfried Sassoon, create a brief thought map around the poem. Share ideas. Teacher should explain the importance of irony in this poem
if it doesn�t come out in discussion.
As a written exercise,
try rewriting this poem,
expressing the same message, without using without using irony.
****
Imagery
Read:
"Dulce
et decorum est pro patria mori:
mors et
fugacem persequitur virum
nec
parcit inbellis iuventae
poplitibus timidove tergo." Horace (Odes iii 2.13):
�How sweet
and lovely it is to die for your country:
Death
pursues the man, who flees,
spares not
the hamstrings or cowardly backs
Of
battle-shy youths." (translated)7
What is the
voice here?
What values
is Horace promoting?
Explain
how this became corrupted in to a nineteenth century drinking toast, especially
popular amongst students! Then
read and draw a thought map around Wilfred Owen�s �Dulce et Decorum Est.�
****
A
Historical Perspective � Part 2
�St. Crispin�s Day
Speech,� William Shakespeare
�In Defense of Fort
McHenry,� Frances Scott Key
�Charge of the Light
Brigade,� Alfred Lord Tennyson
The purpose of
looking at these poems and what should come out during subsequent class
discussion is how these poems convey a strong sense of patriotism, a
glorification of war and valor.
The teacher should invite the students to think about the poetic voice
in each of the passages. Tennyson
was the poet laureate during the Crimean War and was writing a commemorative
poem. No individual soldiers are
mentioned here. Shakespeare was
writing during a time when there were English armies embarking on conflicts
with Ireland and Spain. The dramatic voice of this poem is Henry V and he is
writing about a battle that took place 150 years beforehand. Unlike Tennyson and Shakespeare,
Frances Scott Keys� poem is based on an eyewitness account. Significantly, this poem, adapted and set
to music, became very popular in the during World War I (a time of increased
nationalism) and was only adopted as the National Anthem in 1931
The teacher should
read aloud the following passages of poetry. The three poems are lengthy and students should jot down
ideas whilst they are being read allowed.
What era they think the poem is from. What is the mood of each poem? Describe the voice in each poem? The language of the poems is challenging and much of it will
be unfamiliar and daunting to the students. The teacher should acknowledge that and explain that the
students are invited to offer their first impressions, not an in depth
analysis.
****
Drafting
Compare the two versions of
�Anthem for Doomed Youth�. In
pairs, read the two versions to each other, and discuss why Owen made the
choices he did. This is good preparation
for the work the students will be doing on their own poems, as they will have
to submit drafts of their work.
****
Images
of War
Students should search
through the anthology to find poems or lines from poems to use as captions with
the photos of the First World War. 8
****
Historical
Perspectives � Part 3
One of the conundrums of
modern day conflicts is that a terrorist or freedom fighter is a difficult
enemy to fight through conventional means. The Vietnam War was the first major war where overwhelming
conventional force was repelled through guerilla tactics. The moral confusion of developing
tactics to combat terrorists/freedom fighter, so relevant in the current arenas
in Iraq and Afghanistan, are explored in this poem by Vietnamese writer Ho
Thien.
�Green
Beret�
He was twelve years old,
and I do not know his name.
The mercenaries took him and
his father,
whose name I do not know,
one morning upon the High
Plateau.
Green Beret looked down on
the the frail boy
with the eyes of a hurt
animal and thought,
a good fright will make him
talk.
He commanded, and the father
was taken away
behind the forest�s green
wall.
�Right kid tell us where
they are,
tell us where or your father
� dead.�
With eyes now bright and filled
with terror
the slight boy said nothing.
�You�ve got one minute kid,�
said Green Beret,
�tell us where or we kill
father�
and thrust his wrist-watch
against a face all eyes,
the second-hand turning,
jerking on its way.
�OK boy ten seconds to tell
us where they are�
In the last instant the
silver hand shattered the sky and the forest of trees.
�Kill the old guy� roared
the Green Beret
and shots hammered out
behind the forest�s green
wall
and sky and trees and
soldiers stood
in silence, and the boy cried
out.
Green Beret stood
in silence, as the boy
crouched down
and shook with tears,
as children do when their
father dies.
�Christ,� said one mercenary
to Green Beret,
�he didn�t know a damn thing
we killed the old guy for
nothing�
so they all went away.
Green Beret and his
mercenaries.
And the boy knew everything.
He knew everything about
them, the caves
the trails the hidden places
and the names,
and in the moment that he
cried out,
in that same instant,
protected by frail tears
far stronger than any wall
of steel
they passed everywhere
like tigers
across the High Plateau.
Ho Thien (Axed
Between the Ears, edited by David Kitchen)
****
Dramatic
Reading
Students in small groups
should select a war poem to present a dramatic reading to the rest of the
class. No duplication of poems
allowed. They should discuss the
meaning and identify power lines and images, before practicing their
presentation.
Wrap up of Unit
Historical Perspectives �
Part 4
Show clip from Fahrenheit
911. What attitudes might a
soldier have had going to Iraq in 2003?
What might be their attitude leaving now?
In a piece of writing under
open-book test conditions, reflect on a favorite poem, explaining why it was
significant and how effective the voice in the poem was.
For a final homework
assignment, students should go back to their original opinion writing in
response to the war quotations.
How have their attitudes changed or be reinforced?
Possible Extension of
Unit
Study the role of propaganda
in our society. Look at the use of
language during war: students
should record news items or cut out newspaper/magazine articles and examine the
choice of vocabulary that the media uses; words that are used on �our� side,
words used for the enemy.
Appendix
A - List of Quotations
Never has there been a
good war or a bad peace
All men are brothers, like
the seas throughout the world; So why do winds and waves clash so fiercely everywhere?
What difference does it
make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is
wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and
democracy?
Vietnam was the first war
ever fought without any censorship. Without censorship, things can get terribly
confused in the public mind.
General William
Westmoreland
We make war that we may
live in peace. Aristotle
The direct use of force is
such a poor solution to any problem; it is generally employed only by small
children and large nations.
David Friedman
They have not wanted Peace
at all; they have wanted to be spared war -- as though the absence of war was
the same as peace.
Dorothy Thompson
For everything there is a
season�
A time to keep silence,
and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time
to hate,
A time for war, and a time
for peace. Ecclesiastes
3:1-8
I hate war. Franklin
D Roosevelt
There is nothing so likely
to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy.
George Washington
During times of war,
hatred becomes quite respectable, even though it has to masquerade often under
the guise of patriotism.
Howard Thurman
War is an ugly thing, but
not the ugliest of things�The person who has nothing for which he is willing to
fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a
miserable creature, and has no chance of being free unless made or kept so by
the exertions of better men than himself.
John Stuart Mill
It is well that war is so
terrible, or we should grow too fond of it. Robert E. Lee
The first casualty of war
is truth. (Attributed
to Aeschylus)
An eye for an eye makes
the whole world blind.
Mohandas Gandhi
When I take action, I'm
not going to fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in
the butt. It's going to be decisive.
George W. Bush
I just want you to know
that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace.
George W. Bush
It is sometimes very hard
to tell the difference between history and the smell of skunk.
Rebecca West
America loves a winner,
and will not tolerate a loser, this is why America has never, and will never,
lose a war.
General S. Patton
No bastard ever won a war
by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die
for his country.
Mankind must put an end to
war, or war will put an end to mankind.
John F. Kennedy
Sometimes I think it
should be a rule of war that you have to see somebody up close and get to know
him before you can shoot him.
M*A*S*H, Colonel
Potter
A soldier will fight long
and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.
Napoleon
In war, there are no
unwounded soldiers.
Jos� Narosky
In former days we used to
look at life, and sometimes from a distance at death, and still further removed
from us, at eternity. Today it is
from afar that we look at life, death is near us, and perhaps nearer still is
eternity.
Jean Bouvier (French
subaltern Feb 1916)
Peace for me means having
toenails for the first time in 16 years.
Anonymous from Sudan
Appendix A
- Independent Reading
Project
All of the books listed below are set during a true
historical conflict and feature strong young protagonists. Choose one of the books to read
independently at home.
Research and present a one sided outline of the historical
setting of your book.
With reference to the poems that you have read and the work
we have done on poetic conventions, choose a character from your book and write
a �war� poem with that character�s voice.
Your drafts of the poem must be submitted along with the final version.
A Long
Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Ishmael
Beah
True
account of a boy�s horrific experiences during the recent civil war in Sierra
Leone.
Fallen
Angels
Walter Dean
Myers
A
volunteer finds himself on the front line of the Vietnam War confronting racism
as well as the Viet Cong.
Milkweed
Jerry
Spinelli
Story of
a gypsy boy surviving in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II.
Under a
War Torn Sky
L.M. Elliot
A U.S.
pilot shot down tries to escape occupied France during World War II.
The
Diary of Anne Frank
Anne Frank
Diary of
a Jewish girl in hiding in Amsterdam during World War II.
Stonewall�s
Gold: A Novel of the Civil War
Robert J.
Mrazek
Adventure
story set in the Shenendoah Valley in the Civil War.
My
Brother Sam is Dead
James and
Chris Collier
A story
of brothers and divided loyalties set in the Revolutionary War.
The
Eagle of the Ninth
Rosemary
Sutcliff
A young
Roman officer�s quest to find his legion set in Roman Britain.
Empire
of the Sun
J.G.
Ballard
A boy
comes of age during the Japanese invasion of China and the dropping of the
first atomic bomb.
Private
Peaceful
Michael
Morpurgo
An
underage boy enlists to go to the trenches with his brother during World War I.
I am
Regina
Sally M.
Keehn
Based on
the true story of a girl captured by Allegheny Indians during the French-Indian
War.
Kipling�s
Choice
Geert
Spillebeen
Fictional
biography of the son of the author Rudyard Kipling, set during World War I.
Appendix
C - Literary Terms & Examples for Pairing Game.
� ONOMATOPOEIA - This is a word that recreates the sound it describes.
� bang,
crash, boom, slap, gush, splash, buzz
� SIMILE
- This occurs when comparing two things that are similar and the words 'like'
or 'as' to compare them
� The principal was like a pitbull terrier.
� METAPHOR
- This occurs when directly comparing two things that are similar, not using
the words 'like' or 'as'
�
The school was a
prison.
� PERSONIFICATION - This means giving human qualities to objects, using verbs to make
them come alive and be able to do human things.
�
The school entrance
glowered forbiddingly at the freshmen students.
� HYPERBOLE
- This is a wild exaggeration. We exaggerate to make something sound worse or
to make it sound better than what it is.
� Never in a million years will I be able to finish my
homework.
� ALLITERATION - This occurs when the sounds of the consonants in a sentence are the
same.
�
Peter Piper picked a
peck of pickled peppers!
� ASSONANCE
- This occurs when the vowel sounds in a sentence are the same.
� A dull thudding drum beating.
� RHYME �
Two words ending in the same sound.
Poetry often has regular rhyme schemes.
� house / mouse
sand / land working / shirking
� RHYTHM
� Rhythm is the use of stress weight and length of sounds to create patterns or
disrupt patterns in a poem.
� Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
You are cool,
and I can�t be bothered to write any more.
� RHYME SCHEMES � This is a way of knotting rhyme; the first line is an a and the next line to rhyme with that ending is also
an a. The next different word is a b and a word rhyming with that is also a b. The
next word is a c and so on.
� Roses are red,
a
Violets are blue, b
Poetry is cool, c
And so are you! b
� IRONY �
This is saying the opposite of what is meant
� I really love spending 4 hours a night on my
homework.
� IMAGERY
� The use of word-pictures for vividness of description.
� The gymnasium had paint peeling from the wall and the
air felt heavy with scent of decades of unwashed socks.
� REPETITION � When a word or phrase is repeated to produce emphasis or a special
effect.
� The science teacher droned on and on and on.
Bibliography
& Works Cited
Central text of the unit:
The Penguin Book of First
World War Poetry
Edited by Jon Silkin
Penguin Books, 1979
Alexander, M. (1966). The
Earliest English Poems, Penguin Classics, 1966.
Ballard, J.G. (2005) Empire
of the Sun, Simon & Schuster, reprint.
Beah, I. (2007). A
Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Sarah Cruchton Books.
Benton, M. & P.
(1986). Examining Poetry, Hodder & Stroughton.
Collier, J. & C. (1972) My Brother Sam is Dead, Scholastic Paperbacks.
Donelson, K. &
Nilsen, A.P. (2006). Literature for Today�s Young Adults, Pearson
Education.
Elliot, L.M. (2001) Under a War Torn Sky,
Hyperion.
Frank, A. (1947). The
Diary of Anne Frank, reprinted by Bantam.
Keehn, S.(1991) I am
Regina, Penguin Putnam.
Kitchen, D. (1987). Axed
Between the Ears, Poetry Anthology, Heinemann Educational.
Morpurgo, M. (2006) Private
Peaceful, Scholastic
Myers, W.D. (1988) Fallen Angels, Scholastic.
Mrazek, R. (1999). Stonewall�s Gold: A Novel of
the Civil War, St. Martin�s Press.
Salbi, Z. (2007). The
Other Side of War: Women's Stories of Survival and Hope, National
Geographic.
Spillebeen, G. (2005). Kipling�s
Choice, Houghton Mifflin.
Spinelli, J. (2003) Milkweed,
Borzoi Books.
Stallworthy, J. (1983), Wilfred
Owen, The Complete Poems and Fragments, Chatto & Windus.
Sutcliff, R. (1954) The
Eagle of the Ninth, Oxford University Press.
Vansittart, Peter
(1981). Voices from the Great War, Penguin
Books.
Webster, C. (1988). Pen
Rhythms, Stanley Thornes Publishers Ltd.
Fahrenheit 911,
Lions Gate Films, 2004
http://www.quotegarden.com/war.html
http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_war.html
http://www.allgreatquotes.com/war_quotes.shtml
http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/firstworldwarpictures.htm