Explore the following images. Which would you group together and why?
Which would you not put together? Why? Could these pictures ever combine together to make one image?

Write words around the image to describe what you see and how the man might be feeling.
Confused
Contrast loud
Peaceful

• Get yourselves into pairs
• Sit facing each other
• A – clap slowly
• B – read in time to the clap up till
‘groggily groggily’
• Repeat this activity
• B – clap more quickly
• A – read in time to the beat up until
‘groggily groggily’
• Which pace sounded better? Try to suggest why this might be…
• Which way round worked best?
Should it be read half fast, half slow? Does this metre/ beat of the poem reflect Island Man’s feelings of his home country and abroad?

Morning and island man wakes up muffling muffling his crumpled pillow waves island man heaves himself To the s ound of blue s urf
In his head
The steady breaking and wombing Another London day.
Wild seabirds
And fishermen pushing out to sea
The s un s urfacing defiantly
From the east
Of his small emerald island
He always comes back
Groggily groggily
Comes back to sandsisland man
Of a grey metallic soar to surge of wheels
To dull North Circular roar

Is there a line where the mood of the poem changes? How can we tell?
Circle all the verbs – how do choices of verbs reflect the poet’s mood?
Can the verbs be categorized? What do the verbs suggest about the writer’ s feelings for the two places?
What is at the heart of the poem?

Rank order these examples of imagery for their effectiveness. Be prepared to explain your thinking .
‘…the steady breaking and wombing’
‘…the sun surfacing defiantly’
‘…a grey metallic roar’
‘…surge of wheels’
‘…crumpled pillow waves’

At tables, make a visual collage of the poem, Island Man writing out the poem and analysing the key features you identify
– transferring what you have learnt from the poems you’ve studied so far.

Review
• Using the ‘Odd one Out’ grid, annotate similarities between Blessing, Two
Scavengers and Island Man, considering how each poem could be the ‘odd one out’.
Do this on the reverse using a line from each poem.