Breathe in: experience. Breathe out: poetry

Use the data projector to watch the clip of The Beastie Boys’ “In a World Gone Mad”. Hand out the song lyrics

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  Question 1 - How is language/speech rhythm used in this piece to create tension and momentum?
  
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  Question 2 - What are the key themes and contentions of the song? How would you describe its tone overall?
  
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  Question 3 - How is the writer trying to persuade or position us as the reader?
  
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  Question 4 – How does the musical composition/instrumentation of the song affect our perception of the lyrics?
  

Now hand out and read aloud Saady Yossuf’s “Postcards from Hajj Omran (sharing reading between students).

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  Question 1 - How is language/speech rhythm used in this piece to create tension and momentum? How does the spacing of the written text effect our perception of it?
  
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  Question 2 - What are the key themes and contentions of the poem? How does it vary in tone and impact compared to “In a World Gone Mad”?
  
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  Question 3 - How is Yossuf relating to the reader/audience? How is the audience positioned in relation to the poem/poet compared to “In a World Gone Mad”?
  

“Scrambled Text” (Short activity)

This is an individual written/oral task that explores how the physical spacing and layout of a poem can effect its impact in relation to notions such as meaning, emphasis, tone and pace.

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  Working individually the internet students find lyrics to a song that they know.
  
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  Students cut and paste the lyric into a word document, deleting all punctuation and ‘returns’ so that the lyric forms a single block of text.
  
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  Swapping computers students now re-write the lyric/text, inserting punctuation and line ends where they like. Encourage creativity in terms of spacing and the physical appearance of the poem.
  
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  Pick volunteers from the class to read their lyric aloud and if possible use the data projector to project their edit of the lyric.
  
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  Now use Youtube/the data projector to compare it to the original version of the song.
  

Prior to the end of the class let the students know that the coming lesson will concentrate upon songs and poems that relate to Northern Ireland. In preparation they should spend 15mins investigating on the internet and be able to define the term ‘IRA’, ‘Bloody Sunday’ and describe a little of the history of the region.

The final unit within this sequence focuses upon Northern Ireland and its history of Protestant/Catholic based violence. Heaney’s poem reveals how simple things, such as a coal sack or an apron, can convey emotional weight and poetic significance. "Two Lorries" takes the romantic innocence of a coalman's truck, circa 1940, with its driver who stops to flirt with the poet's mother, and measures it against a present-day "heavier, deadlier one, set to explode." The poem itself merges past memories of his own mother with the contemporary bombing of a bus station (in Magherafelt 1993). The poem is quite sophisticated in that it is set in both past and present and manages to capture both lyrical/romantic tradition of Irish culture along with the country’s long history of internal division and violence.

U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday” (1983) is an anthemic protest song that is a response to the events of “Bloody Sunday” in Derry in 1972 when 26 unarmed protestors were shot by British soldiers. The language used in U2’s song is far less sophisticated than Heamus’ poem and yet is extremely effective as a protest piece. Both works make use of sentimental imagery and language to affect the audience and make a political statement.

This last lesson focuses on the broader notion of the poet/writer/artist as a member of society and the contribution they make to a society and its identity. It also encourages students to consider the role of protest/political poetry and the types of language an artist might employ to persuade his/her audience. This closing unit also encourages students to consider whether poetry is exclusively the domain of poets, or whether poetic language can find its way into everyday language and culture.