Working towards Level 7
Student name
Date
 Selecting evidence from multiple sources
Refer to other sources to help me argue my point
about a text
Objective
To be able to use additional sources
to develop my argument about a text
Outcome
Produce a paragraph showing that
I can develop my ideas about one
text by referring to others
Introduction
As you become more fluent as a reader, you are becoming more skilled at supporting your
ideas with quotations. It’s also important to use wider sources to develop or strengthen your
line of argument about a particular text. In this session you will be practising your ability to do
this by working with some texts about World War I.
 Read through the following poem by Wilfred Owen. Look at the underlined words and
phrases, which describe the impact of the gas attack. Then read the comments about the
language used to describe the gas attack and its impact on the reader. Are there any ideas
that you would want to add?
Dulce Et Decorum Est
Short
exclamations
show urgency.
The gas is like a
thick green mist,
seen as if
underwater
through the gas
mask.
S1
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Relief – short lived.
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
GAS! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime. –
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
Pulls reader up short.
Gas overcoming the soldier
like the sea overpowering a
drowning man.
Upgrade English: Understand, describe, select or retrieve information
from texts
© Hodder & Stoughton Limited 2012
Working towards Level 7
Nightmare
imagery –
narrator can’t
help.
Description of the
sound of the
soldier breathing
– blood oozing
from his lungs
conveys sense of
horror.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, –
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Powerful verbs
emphasise extreme
physical impact of
the gas.
Soldier cannot breathe.
Think about what we learn about the writer’s attitude to the subject matter. Look at instances
where the writer:
 feels the horror of the gas attack
 describes the impact on one person to really drive home the horror
 uses imagery to intensify the horror and shows his stance – that war should not be seen as
glorious – and his determination to reveal the harsh reality of war.
Now read this extract from ‘Gas Attack’ from Over the Top by Arthur Empey.
Warnings had been passed down the trench to keep a sharp lookout for gas.
We had a new man at the periscope, on this afternoon in question; I was sitting on the fire step,
cleaning my rifle, when he called out to me:
‘There’s a sort of greenish, yellow cloud rolling along the ground out in front, it’s coming –’
But I waited for no more; grabbing my bayonet, which was detached from the rifle, I gave the
alarm by banging an empty shell case, which was hanging near the periscope. At the same instant,
gongs started ringing down the trench, the signal for Tommy to don his respirator, or smoke
helmet, as we call it.
Gas travels quickly, so you must not lose any time; you generally have about 18 or 20 seconds in
which to adjust your gas helmet …
For a minute, pandemonium reigned in our trench, – Tommies adjusting their helmets, bombers
running here and there, and men turning out of the dugouts with fixed bayonets, to man the
fire step …
S2
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Working towards Level 7
Next you are going to look at points (with a quotation) that you could make about Owen’s poem.
You will be asked first to add evidence/evaluation and then to cite evidence from an additional
source to add further support to your argument. For example, the extract you have just read
could be used to provide additional evidence like this:
The urgency of responding to the attack is shown in the change of rhythm in the
poem. The two exclamations of ‘GAS! Gas!’ followed by ‘Quick, boys!’ show the
urgency of the situation. The speaker here only has time to shout the briefest of
warnings. The panic in the reader is highlighted by the description of the soldiers
‘Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time’. The word ‘clumsy’ highlights the
awkwardness of the manoeuvre and the need to act quickly. An eyewitness account
of a gas attack reinforces the way in which Owen creates this sense of panic.
Arthur Empey in 1917 described how ‘… you must not lose any time; you generally
have about 18 or 20 seconds in which to adjust your gas helmet’.
 Begin by watching a short video about poison gas in World War I.
Now finish the PEE sequence for the following point and quotation about ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’.
After you have added an explanation/evaluation, try to reinforce your argument using either the
Empey text or the video as an additional source.
The gas overcomes the soldier like the sea overpowering a drowning man. The
speaker in the poem describes how the gas envelops the soldier ‘As under a green
sea, I saw him drowning.’
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 Now read the following extract from Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. This author creates
another very vivid picture of the impact of a gas attack – but in prose rather than in a poem.
You could watch the video about gas attacks again to remind you of the situations soldiers in
World War I faced.
S3
Upgrade English: Understand, describe, select or retrieve information
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© Hodder & Stoughton Limited 2012
Working towards Level 7
… One morning a boy of nineteen appeared at the end of the ward. His eyes were covered with
pieces of brown paper ... He was trying to scream. His mouth pulled open and the sinews of his
neck were stretched but some throat condition appeared to prevent any sound from issuing.
The MO [Medical Officer] peeled the brown paper from the boy’s face. The skin of his cheeks and
forehead was marked with bluish violet patches. Both of his eyes were oozing, as though with
acute conjunctivitis. They rinsed them in fluid from a douche cup into which the nurse had tipped
some prepared solution. His body stiffened silently … They walked down the ward and when they
came closer, Stephen could see the pattern of burns on his body. The soft skin on the armpits and
inner thighs was covered in huge, raw blisters. He was breathing in short, fast gasps. They
persuaded him onto the bed, though he arched his body away from the contact of the sheet.
Eventually the doctor lost patience and forced him down with hands on his chest. The boy’s mouth
opened in silent protest, bringing forth a yellow froth from his lips.
When the doctor came to inspect them, Stephen asked him what had happened to the boy. He had
apparently been caught by a gas attack some way behind the front line. Blinded by the chlorine, he
had stumbled into a house that was burning after being hit by a shell.
‘Stupid boy didn’t get his mask on in time,’ said the MO. ‘They have enough drills.’
‘Will he die?’
‘Probably. He’s got liver damage from the gas. Some post mortem changes in his body already.’
... Throughout the night they contrived to keep the boy alive. The next day he was quiet, and in the
evening they tried to lever him into the body cradle to get him back in the bath. His limbs dangled
over the side of the canvas. He lay motionless, trailing his raw skin. His infected lungs began to
burble and froth with yellow fluid that choked his words of protest as they lowered him into the
stone bath outside …
Read the following point and quotation about the poem.
Owen creates a vivid picture of the soldier dying from the effects of the gas. He
describes the blood ‘gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs’.
Now, add the explanation/evaluation part of the PEE sequence. You should refer to one of the
additional sources (the video or either text) to support your ideas about the effectiveness of the
imagery used by Owen.
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S4
Upgrade English: Understand, describe, select or retrieve information
from texts
© Hodder & Stoughton Limited 2012
Working towards Level 7
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S5
Upgrade English: Understand, describe, select or retrieve information
from texts
© Hodder & Stoughton Limited 2012