Tasks
1. Identify the key events in the first chapter. Place in chronological order, and then in the sequence that the author adopts in the narrative. Why are the two sequences different, and what is the author’s purpose in changing the chronological sequence?
2. In groups of 3 analyse the style of the passage describing Father’s death (pages 13–15). You should read it all on your own first.
Focus on the following:
# the tense of the verbs and the purpose/effect of this
# focus on the length of the sentences (there is a good variety of long and short throughout – sentences lengthen to reflect the ‘frozen time’ when the tree appears to be falling, but shorten in the next paragraph when everything happens quickly)
# focus on the language and style (you should look for powerful nouns, adjectives and verbs; any imagery; the simplicity of the style in the last section when the facts are bare and hard).
3. The first chapter contains several features – an end (Father’s death) as well as a beginning (first day at school), a mystery at the very beginning, several important characters, and a strong relationship between Charlie and Tommo. Is the first chapter effective in drawing the reader into the book?
4. Read the episode of the yellow aeroplane (pages 55–58). What are the key aspects that make this a narrative text? With these key aspects write a newspaper account of the yellow plane incident.
5. What kind of writing is the recruiting sergeant’s speech and what is the purpose of the speech? List the techniques employed in the speech.
6. Imagine that you are giving a speech in Hatherleigh square with the opposite message – that men shouldn’t join up. What will your arguments be and what techniques will you use?
. Emotive language. Using language with strong positive or negative connotations to get the audience on your side, for example, ‘Protect your innocent children’, ‘The dictator’s henchmen’.
. Sound devices. Using sound effects, such as alliteration, assonance and rhyming, to make the message or point more attractive, for example, ‘Fight a fair fight, my friends’, ‘It’s not a bad law, just a mad law’.
. Figurative language. Using metaphors, similes or personification to draw a picture in the audience’s mind, for example, ‘This war is a cancer’, ‘like vultures circling over their prey’.
.Exaggeration. Overstating a view or statistic to impress the audience, for example, ‘There are thousands of cases where …’
.Contrast. Putting two opposing ideas or facts next to each other to show up how different they are, for example, ‘Should we support the tiny groups of protesters or the vast armies of the police?’
.Using personal pronouns. Using ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘they’, etc. to make the text more personal, and to include or exclude groups (see above), for example, ‘I strongly believe’, ‘We cannot allow this to happen’.
.Repetition. Repeating the same word, phrase or sentence structure to hammer home the point, for example, ‘We shall fight them on the beaches, we shall fight them on land and in the air.’
.Making a list. Listing different examples of the same thing emphasises the point and builds up momentum, for example, ‘Do this for your children, for your mothers and fathers, and for your sisters and brothers.’
.Rhetorical question. A question which does not need to be answered: it is asked for effect, for example, ‘Are we going to give up before we’ve even started?’
.Using quotations. Quoting other people or famous lines from books to show that your view is backed up by others, or to appeal to a shared culture, for example, ‘As the prime minister himself remarked…’, ‘Mary really is “quite contrary” if she believes…’
7. Add all the punctuation marks to the first paragraph so that the meaning is clear.
i shant beat about the bush ladies and gentlemen he began I shant tell you its all tickety-boo out there in france theres been too much of that nonsense already in my view Ive been there Ive seen it for myself so Ill tell you straight its no picnic its hard slog thats what it is hard slog only one question to ask yourself about this war Who would you rather see marching through your streets Us lot or the Hun make up your minds Because mark my words ladies and gentlemen if we dont stop them out in france the germans will be here right here in hatherleigh right here on your doorstep
I could feel the silence all around
Theyll come marching through here burning your houses killing your children, and yes violating your women theyve beaten brave little belgium, swallowed her up in one gulp and now they've taken a fair slice of france too i'm here to tell you that unless we beat them at their own game theyll gobble us up as well his eyes raked over us well do you want the hun here do you
No came the shout and i was shouting along with them
shall we knock the stuffing out of them then
yes we roared in unison
the sergeant major nodded good very good then we shall need you he was pointing his stick now into the crowd picking out the men you and you and you he was looking straight at me now, into my eyes. and you too my lad
until that very moment it had honestly never occurred to me that what he was saying had anything to do with me i had been an onlooker no longer
your king needs you your country needs you and all the brave lads out in france need you too his face broke into a smile as he fingered his immaculate moustache and remember one thing lads - and I can vouch for this - all the girls love a soldier
8.Find an example of the following animal (trout, wolf, mice, foxhound, rat and lice) in Private Peaceful, ensure you quote the page number. What are the animal’s significance in the story? Are any other animals mentioned in the story? Where do most of the animals appear in the story and why?
9. Reread and compare two similar episodes from Private Peaceful - Tommo’s first day at school (pages 7–13) and Tommo and Charlie’s first taste of action at ‘Wipers’ (pages 139–143). Ensure that your discussion addresses the following questions:
What themes and events run through both these episodes?
What are the most important differences between the two episodes?
Why does the author include both of these episodes?
Which episode do you think is the most successful, and why?
Remind students to look for specific references and quotations to back up their ideas
10. Write a definition for ‘Metaphor’, ‘Simile’ and ‘Personification’ and find examples from the novel.
11.Read the description of the gas attack from Private Peaceful (pages 153–155). What imagery is being used to describe the gas?
Writing an argument
Write a convincing argument on the following-‘Charlie is incredibly selfish.’
- Make notes on all the reasons you can think of that this is true.
- Find evidence in the novel that proves each of your ideas
Use each of the following argument techniques in your essay:
*emotional words
*repetition
*an outraged tone
*a shocked tone
*a disappointed tone
Writing the argument:
A.Write an introduction of agreement, without being too specific- just outline your argument.
B. Write all your arguments, grouping them together with evidence from the novel.
C. Finish with a conclusion that sums up all your arguments.
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Extension task
Now do another essay on the following, using the above format- ‘Charlie is selfless.’
Poetry
War is like a tsunami, it drowns people in waves of sorrow.
War is like _______________________________________________________________________________
War is like _______________________________________________________________________________
War is like _______________________________________________________________________________
Peace is like ______________________________________________________________________________
Peace is like ______________________________________________________________________________
Peace is like ______________________________________________________________________________
Peace is like ______________________________________________________________________________
Poets on the Battlefield
The experience of World War One can be brought home to us very clearly, thanks to the work of several young poets, who joined up and went to fight in the trenches, many of whom did not come back again. These men were the leading poets of their generation and many had already had poems and collections of poems published back in England. Rupert Brooke and Wilfred Owen offer two different and interesting perspectives on the conflict. Brooke died in the first year of the war and his poetry retains the patriot fervour of the new recruit. Owen, who joined up with the same sense of patriotism and duty at the start of the war, served throughout, with his poetry reflecting the gradual disillusionment that most soldiers felt.
Rupert Brooke 1887-1915
Brooke actually saw little combat during the war; he contracted blood poisoning from a small neglected injury and died in April 1915, in the Aegean. Brooke's reputation, aside from the myth of the fallen ‘golden warrior’ that his friends set about creating almost immediately after his death, rests on the five war sonnets of 1914. Some of his earlier poetry - ‘Fish’, ‘Helen and Menelaus’, and ‘Heaven’ - however, shows us a much different side of Brooke's talent and temperament.
Rupert Brooke was born into a well-to-do, academic family; his father was a housemaster at Rugby School, where Rupert was educated before going on to King's College, Cambridge. He was a good student and athlete, and--in part because of his strikingly handsome looks--a popular young man who eventually numbered among his friends E. M. Forster, Maynard Keynes, Virginia Woolf, and Edward Thomas. Even as a student he was familiar in literary circles and came to know many important political, literary and social figures before the war. Brooke actually saw little combat during the war; he contracted blood poisoning from a small neglected injury and died in April 1915, in the Aegean. Brooke's reputation, aside from the myth of the fallen ‘golden warrior’ that his friends set about creating almost immediately after his death, rests on the five war sonnets of 1914. Some of his earlier poetry - ‘Fish’, ‘Helen and Menelaus’, and ‘Heaven’ - however, shows us a much different side of Brooke's talent and temperament.
Wilfred Owen 1893-1918
Wilfred Edward Salter Owen was born on March 18, 1893. He was on the Continent teaching until he visited a hospital for the wounded and then decided, in September 1915, to return to England and enlist. ‘I came out in order to help these boys - directly by leading them as well as an officer can; indirectly, by watching their sufferings that I may speak of them as well as a pleader can. I have done the first’ (October, 1918). Owen was injured in March 1917 and sent home; he was fit for duty in August 1918, and returned to the front. November 4, just seven days before the Armistice, he was caught in a German machine gun attack and killed. He was twenty-five when he died. The bells were ringing on November 11, 1918, in Shrewsbury to celebrate the Armistice when the doorbell rang at his parent's home, bringing them the telegram telling them their son was dead.
Poetry
At the beginning of World War 1, many of the young volunteers felt priveledged to be able to fight for their country. One such young recruit was Rupert Brooke who died of illness on 23 April 1915 before having seen action. His poem, The Soldier, full of patriotic fervour, shows how proud he was to be able to offer his life for the country that had given him life and joy.
THE SOLDIER
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think. this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
RUPERT BROOKE
Examining the Poem
1. What does the poet suggest would happen to his body if he were to die fighting in a foreign land?
2. Explain the meaning of 'In that rich earth a richer dust concealed".
3. What impression of England does Rupert Brooke give the reader?
4. What is the poet's attitude to death as shown by his poem?
5. Do you agree with Rupert Brooke's attitude to war? Explain your view.
6. What is the poet's message in 'The Soldier"?
7. What does the poem reveal about the character of Rupert Brooke?
8. What are some of the feelings and moods revealed in 'The Soldier"?
Disabled
He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark,
And shivered in his ghastly suit of grey,
Legless, sewn short at elbow. Through the park
Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn,
Voices of play and pleasure after day,
Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him.
About this time Town used to swing so gay
When glow-lamps budded in the light blue trees,
And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim,-
In the old times, before he threw away his knees.
Now he will never feel again how slim
Girls' waists are, or how warm their subtle hands.
All of them touch him like some queer disease.
There was an artist silly for his face,
For it was younger than his youth, last year.
Now, he is old; his back will never brace;
He's lost his colour very far from here,
Poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry,
And half his lifetime lapsed in the hot race
And leap of purple spurted from his thigh.
One time he liked a blood-smear down his leg,
After the matches, carried shoulder-high.
It was after football, when he'd drunk a peg,
He thought he'd better join. - He wonders why.
Someone had said he'd look a god in kilts,
That's why; and maybe, too, to please his Meg,
Aye, that was it, to please the giddy jilts
He asked to join. He didn't have to beg;
Smiling they wrote his lie: aged nineteen years.
Germans he scarcely thought of; all their guilt,
And Austria's, did not move him. And no fears
Of Fear came yet. He drought of jewelled hills
For daggers in plaid socks; of smart salutes;
And care of arms; and leave; and pay arrears;
Esprit de corps; and hints for young recruits.
And soon, he was drafted out with drums and cheers.
Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer Goal.
Only a solemn man who brought him fruits
Thanked him; and then enquired about his soul.
Now, he will spend a few sick years in institutes,
And do what things the rules consider wise,
And take whatever pity they may dole.
Tonight he noticed how the women's eyes
Passed from him to the strong men that were whole.
How cold and late it is! Why don't they come
And put him into bed? Why don't they come?
Move him into the sun--
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields unsown.
Always it awoke him, even in France,
Until this morning and this snow.
If anything might rouse him now
The kind old sun will know.
Think how it wakes the seeds--
Woke, once, the clays of a cold star.
Are limbs so dear-achieved, are sides
Full-nerved,--still warm,--too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth's sleep at all?
Six Young Men
The celluloid of a photograph holds them well -
Six young men, familiar to their friends.
Four decades that have faded and ochre-tinged
This photograph have not wrinkled the faces or the hands.
Though their cocked hats are not now fashionable,
Their shoes shine. One imparts an intimate smile,
One chews a grass, one lowers his eyes, bashful,
One is ridiculous with cocky pride -
Six months after this picture they were all dead.
All are trimmed for a Sunday jaunt. I know
That bilberried bank, that thick tree, that black wall,
Which are there yet and not changed. From where these sit
You hear the water of seven streams fall
To the roarer in the bottom, and through all
The leafy valley a rumouring of air go.
Pictured here, their expressions listen yet,
And still that valley has not changed its sound
Though their faces are four decades under the ground.
This one was shot in an attack and lay
Calling in the wire, then this one, his best friend,
Went out to bring him in and was shot too;
And this one, the very moment he was warned
From potting at tin-cans in no-man’s land,
Fell back dead with his rifle-sights shot away.
The rest, nobody knows what they came to,
But come to the worst they must have done, and held it
Closer than their hope; all were killed.
Here see a man’s photograph,
The locket of a smile, turned overnight
Into the hospital of his mangled last
Agony and hours; see bundled in it
His mightier-than-a-man dead bulk and weight:
And on this one place which keeps him alive
(In his Sunday best) see fall war’s worst
Thinkable flash and rending, onto his smile
Forty years rotting into soil.
That man’s not more alive whom you confront
And shake by the hand, see hale, hear speak loud,
Than any of these six celluloid smiles are,
Nor prehistoric or, fabulous beast more dead;
No thought so vivid as their smoking-blood:
To regard this photograph might well dement,
Such contradictory permanent horrors here
Smile from the single exposure and shoulder out
One’s own body from its instant and heat.
Ted Hughes
Contemplating the Poem
1. What words of the poet indicate that the photograph was taken a long time ago?
2. What is the meaning of 'Four decades.......have not wrinkled the faces or the hands'?
3. Explain the meaning of 'Though their cocked hats are not now fashionable'.
4. In what ways are the different personalities of the young men revealed in the photograph?
5. How does the poet shock the reader at the end of the first stanza?
6. What were the young men about to do just after the photo was taken?
7. Why do you think the poet describes the beauty of nature surrounding the young men in the photo?
8. What is the meaning of 'Though their faces are four decades under the ground'.
9. Describe how some of the men in the photo were killed.
10. What is the meaning of 'six celluloid smiles'?
11. Do you feel that in some way the young men are still alive?
12. How does the poet use this photograph of the six young men to condemn war?
ICT
Tommo and Charlie write letters home to Molly, mother and Big Joe.
Send a series of txt messages home as either Tommo or Charlie.
- Try to explain more about why you joined the army, what life is like, what you miss about home etc
- Each txt can have no more 255 characters
- Remember that your txt would be read, and CENSORED, so you may need to explain how you feel in a way which would not get you into trouble.
- You may choose to write home from early training at Salisbury Plains, or from Etaples in France.