STARTER
•Underline all the ‘we’s in the poem
•Underline all the violent words
•Now, circle all the full stops
Seagull
We are the dawn marauders.
We prey on pizza. We kill kebabs.
We mug thrushes for bread crusts
with a snap of our big bent beaks.
We drum the worms from the ground
with the stamp of our wide webbed feet.
We spread out, cover the area like cops looking for the body
of a murdered fish-supper.
Here we go with our hooligan yells
loud with gluttony, sharp with starvation.
Here we go bungee-jumping on the wind,
charging from the cold sea of our birth.
This is invasion. This is occupation.
Our flags are black, white and grey.
Our wing-stripes are our rank.
No sun can match the brazen
colour of our mad yellow eyes.
We are the seagulls.
We are the people.
By Brian McCabe
Who knows what alliteration is?
The repetition of initial consonant sounds in
neighbouring words
She sells sea shells by the sea shore.
The shells she sells are surely seashells.
So if she sells shells on the seashore,
I'm sure she sells seashore shells.
Alliteration is used in many places, not simply in
tongue twisters…
•Bertha Bartholomew blew big, blue bubbles.
•Hattie Henderson hated happy healthy hippos.
•Dwayne Dwiddle drew a drawing of dreaded Dracula.
•Patsy planter plucked plump, purple, plastic plums.
Can you think of one?
Miss Williams walks wobbly
wearing wide waterproof
wellies.
Think of one for your
name
Now, underline all the examples of alliteration you can
find in the poem.
Seagull
We are the dawn marauders.
We prey on pizza. We kill kebabs.
We mug thrushes for bread crusts
with a snap of our big bent beaks.
We drum the worms from the ground
with the stamp of our wide webbed feet.
We spread out, cover the area like cops looking for the body
of a murdered fish-supper.
Here we go with our hooligan yells
loud with gluttony, sharp with starvation.
Here we go bungee-jumping on the wind,
charging from the cold sea of our birth.
This is invasion. This is occupation.
Our flags are black, white and grey.
Our wing-stripes are our rank.
No sun can match the brazen
colour of our mad yellow eyes.
We are the seagulls.
We are the people.
By Brian McCabe
Think about the
sounds used in
these examples
of alliteration.
Why are they
effective?
Ok, we’ll come back to what we’ve underlined later.
Put the date and the title…
Seagulls – Summary
in your jotters
Copy and complete in your jotters…
•Lines 1 – 9 describe________________________
•Lines 10-13 describe_______________________
•Lines 14-20 describe_______________________
Lines 1-9 analysis
So, now you know what these lines are about, now we need to
analyse the way they are written which helps to add meaning
and gives us a better understanding.
METAPHOR
What is a metaphor?
METAPHOR
A metaphor is figure of speech that compares two
things; usually by saying one thing is another, for
example,
‘she is a diamond’.
Metaphor can also take a name or a descriptive term
and apply it to a person or object, for example,
‘the heart of the matter’.
It’s raining cats and dogs
She’s the apple of my eye
Can you spot any metaphors in the first nine lines?
We are the dawn marauders.
We prey on pizza. We kill kebabs.
We mug thrushes for bread crusts
with a snap of our big bent beaks.
We drum the worms from the ground
with the stamp of our wide webbed feet.
We spread out, cover the area like cops looking for the body
of a murdered fish-supper.
We have already identified the technique of short
sentences when we identified the full stops:
We are the dawn marauders.
We prey on pizza. We kill kebabs.
We mug thrushes for bread crusts
with a snap of our big bent beaks.
We drum the worms from the ground
with the stamp of our wide webbed feet.
We spread out, cover the area like cops looking for the body
of a murdered fish-supper.
…we’ve already identified alliteration.
…and repetition…
There is another technique used in these lines…
We are the dawn marauders.
We prey on pizza. We kill kebabs.
We mug thrushes for bread crusts
with a snap of our big bent beaks.
We drum the worms from the ground
with the stamp of our wide webbed feet.
We spread out, cover the area like cops looking for the body
of a murdered fish-supper.
What is this technique?
Which examples of onomatopoeia would
you apply to the following?
ASSONANCE
What is assonance?
Assonance is the repetition of vowel
sounds without repeating consonants.
Can you find an example of assonance?
We are the dawn marauders.
We prey on pizza. We kill kebabs.
We mug thrushes for bread crusts
with a snap of our big bent beaks.
We drum the worms from the ground
with the stamp of our wide webbed feet.
We spread out, cover the area like cops looking for the body
of a murdered fish-supper.
REMEMBER! You are looking for repeated
vowel sounds
IMAGERY
Imagery is when pictures are
created in your head.
Techniques commonly used to create
imagery are: similes, metaphors
and personification
Imagery is when sights are created
in your head.
Sights analysis-’dawn marauders’
LITERAL
Violent, take what
they want
greedy
aggressive
Seagulls
seabirds
sea
violent marauders
greedy
Pirates - sea
IMAGE
Sights analysis – ‘We mug thrushes’
What do seagulls and muggers
have in common?
Seagulls
Muggers
“We prey on pizza. We kill kebabs.”
What makes
these
descriptions of
the seagulls
eating food
effective?
Write our ideas in your jotter,
explain as fully as you can.
SOUNDS
• Alliteration
• Assonance
• Onomatopoeia
• Repetition
Look at the letters used in the
alliteration in lines 1-4. They make
harsh sound. Why is this effective?
Assonance
Look at the ‘u’ ‘u’ ‘u’
sound. What sound do
you think the writer is
aiming for?
Onomatopoeia
• What is important
about the
onomatopoeic
sounds?
• What information
do they give us?
Repetition
Finally, ‘we’ is
repeated
several times.
Why?
Now we need to put all that
analysis to good use and write a
critical essay!
You have already looked closely at the first nine lines
of the poem and analysed how sights and sounds are
conveyed.
You revised and learned the poetic techniques:
• ALLITERATION
• ASSONANCE
• ONOMATOPOEIA
• REPETITION
• METAPHOR
ESSAY QUESTION
What picture does the poet, Brian
MacCabe, give us of seagulls in his
poem ‘Seagulls’
INTRODUCTION
Name of poem
(all essays need an introduction)
Name of poet
Refer to question
In this case the question is:What
picture does the poet, Brian
MacCabe, give us of seagulls in his
poem ‘Seagulls’.
Perhaps: “Brian MacCabe uses a
variety of techniques to paint an
image of seagulls as violent villains in
his poem ‘Seagulls’.
Discuss
Metaphors
You should always remember SQA:
• Statement – ‘The seagulls are shown
as violent pirates’
• Quotation – ‘We are the dawn
marauders’
• Analysis - Discuss how the quote
proves your statement.
You should discuss
‘We are the dawn
marauders’ and how
this makes the
seagulls appear
violent. How they
are made out to be
pirates.
You should discuss
‘We prey on pizza’ or
‘We kill kebabs’ and
what this makes us
think about the
seagulls. You can
mention both if you
want.
Discuss
Onomatopoeia
Discuss at least
two examples of
onomatopoeia.
Explain how they
make the seagulls
sound violent and
dangerous. What
do these sounds
make us think of?
Remember S, Q, A
Discuss
Repetition
Discuss the use
of repeating ‘we.
How does it make
the seagulls sound
intimidating? Is
it effective?
Think about the
fact that there
are lots of them
as well as the
narrative voice
Remember S, Q, A
Discuss
Assonance
Discuss why you
think the author
repeats the ‘u’,
‘u’, ‘u’ sound.
What is the
effect? How
does it effect
your image of
the seagulls?
Think about the
noise they make.
What does it
sound like?
Remember S, Q, A
Conclusion
Sum up what you have discussed
in the main body of the essay
Conclude/ refer to the question.