Poetry of Crisis Part One
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Poetry of Crisis: part one
S3/S4
Teachers’ Notes
by
Jane Bonnyman
MA, PG Dip, PGDE
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Contents
Introduction
Part One: Creative Writing
Activity 1 – C.K Williams and the elongated sentence
Activity 2 – ‘The Race’ by Sharon Olds
Activity 3 – # 7 ‘Out of the Blue’ by Simon Armitage
Activity 4 – ‘I took a deep breath, I said…’
By Jane Bonnyman for the Scottish Poetry Library’s education blog
http://makingmakars.wordpress.com/
Poetry of Crisis Part One
Introduction
This unit aims to focus on developing creative writing skills by exposing pupils to modern
poetry that may challenge and inspire them. The theme of crisis pervades this unit in order to
confront pupils with the tragedy inherent in our modern world and how this is processed as an
attempt to comprehend it and ultimately to move forward.
The structure of the unit is such that it builds up the pupils’ confidence in engaging with new
material and their ability to try writing themselves. They are not asked to write a full poem until
Activity 4, and, instead, will complete shorter more experimental pieces which they can return
to later on. Each activity requires them to produce one piece of writing influenced by the poet
they have encountered.
The Curriculum
The unit is targeted at National 5 level (S3/S4) so finished pieces could be submitted for the
writing folio or as a writing outcome. There is also scope to develop several sections in group
discussion/discursive writing exercises given the topical and explicit nature of some of the
texts. In Part Two there will be additional material on a critical study of another of Armitage’s
poems from the ‘Out of the Blue’ series as well as on a potential exam text (Nat 5) ‘War Poetry’
by Kate Clanchy. Use and adapt as you see fit.
‘The Race’ by Sharon Olds can be easily found online. Poems #7 and #12 from ‘Out of the Blue’
by Simon Armitage are available to view online at the Scottish Poetry Library’s website at
http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poems/out-blue-7
http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poems/out-blue-12
By Jane Bonnyman for the Scottish Poetry Library’s education blog
http://makingmakars.wordpress.com/
Poetry of Crisis Part One
Activity 1 – C.K. Williams and the elongated sentence
Ask the class a 2min question - Do your parents/family ever do anything that irritates you? Get
them to note down responses and share with partner.
Task A
Read the following extract…
Until I asked her to please stop doing it and was astonished to
find that she not only could
but from the moment I asked her in fact would stop doing it, my
mother, all through my childhood,
when I was saying something to her, something important, would
move her lips as I was speaking
so that she seemed to be saying under her breath the very words I
was saying as I was saying them.
C.K.Williams
What is it that irritates the narrator about his mother here?
What do you notice about the structure of these lines? Which is the main clause here?
What is the effect of this structure?
Task A
Read the following extract…
Until I asked her to please stop doing it and was astonished to
find that she not only could
but from the moment I asked her in fact would stop doing it, my
mother, all through my childhood,
when I was saying something to her, something important, would
move her lips as I was speaking
so that she seemed to be saying under her breath the very words I
was saying as I was saying them.
C.K.Williams
What is it that irritates the narrator about his mother here?
What do you notice about the structure of these lines? Which is the main clause here?
What is the effect of this structure?
By Jane Bonnyman for the Scottish Poetry Library’s education blog
http://makingmakars.wordpress.com/
Poetry of Crisis Part One
Task B
Ask the pupils to write a main clause describing their irritation: my father always snores watching
television; my mother swallows really loudly; my brother steals my dinner… Then get them to build in
other clauses around it; give them prompt words like ‘before, until, when, after, just as’. Encourage
them to include parenthetical statements: ‘when I was younger’, ‘all the time’, ‘whenever we were
watching television’ in order to extend the sentence. They can keep this as a verse or develop it into a
poem.
By Jane Bonnyman for the Scottish Poetry Library’s education blog
http://makingmakars.wordpress.com/
Poetry of Crisis Part One
Activity 2- ‘The Race’ by Sharon Olds
Recap the effects of the syntax used by Williams and lead into reading of ‘The Race’ by Sharon Olds,
asking pupils to consider the title first to anticipate its content.
After reading the poem, have a short discussion on the connection between the content and form and
the different effects the syntax has in this context. Ask pupils to consider how many verbs are in the
poem and where the subjects are split from the verbs at the line breaks and why Olds does this.
Task A – reading aloud
In pairs, ask the pupils to pull out one sentence (allocate so that whole poem is covered) and practise
saying it aloud taking each clause alternately; get them to say it as fast as they can. Go round the class,
getting the rest of the pupils to listen carefully.
Task B - collage
Give the pupils x3 minutes to jot down the different images that they see when reading the poem.
airport desk; moustache; big bags; white flower; moving stairs; running legs;
plane door……
Using magazine clippings provided by them or you or both, divide pupils into groups to make their own
collage that depicts the poem; to recreate the sense of different scenes passing quickly; merging
together.
Pupils present their collage to the class, incorporating quotation from the poem as they do so.
Task C- writing
Pupils note down other situations in which they might feel panic and a sense of urgency/ desperation.
They should cite examples from their own experience and finish by jotting down the images they
remember flashing past and the odd details that they remember, like a white flower embroidered on a
jacket. Ask them to write out a paragraph in prose, describing the situation, listing what they remember.
You could prompt them with ideas like – have you ever got lost? Lost something important? Been in an
accident? Had to run away from something? Are you scared of heights? Flying?
By Jane Bonnyman for the Scottish Poetry Library’s education blog
http://makingmakars.wordpress.com/
Poetry of Crisis Part One
Activity 3- ‘Out of the Blue’ by Simon Armitage
An extract from Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, p.3.
Thinking Skills:
Isn’t it so weird how the number of dead people is increasing even though the
earth stays the same size, so that one day there isn’t going to be room to bury
anyone anymore? (…)
So what about skyscrapers for dead people that were build down? They could be
underneath the skyscrapers for living people that are built up. You could bury
people one hundred floors down, and a whole dead world could be underneath
the living one. Sometimes I think it would be weird if there were a skyscraper that
moved up and down while its elevator stayed in place. So if you wanted to go to
the ninety-fifth floor, you’d just press the 95 button and the ninety-fifth floor
would come to you. Also, that could be extremely useful, because if you’re on the
ninety-fifth floor, and a plane hits below you, the building could take you to the
ground, and everyone could be safe.
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What are the narrator’s two ideas here? Do you think they are good? Why/ why not?
Could you really have ‘skyscrapers’ for the dead? What would be the point of this?
What are the problems? Can you come up with another idea?
Why do you think he comes up with this second idea about the fixed elevator?
By Jane Bonnyman for the Scottish Poetry Library’s education blog
http://makingmakars.wordpress.com/
Poetry of Crisis Part One
Play extract from the film version with father leaving messages on answer phone with increasing
urgency. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYuFXnorai4
Ask the pupils to write a short paragraph describing the situation the father is in. They can write it in
first person ‘I’ putting themselves in his shoes or as third person ‘he’ describing the events from a
distance.
Activity 3 continued…
Hand out and read # 7 (Out of the Blue p.19) to the class.
http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poems/out-blue-7
5 minute discussion:
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In what way is it similar to the Sharon Olds poem?
In what way is it different? Look closely at the sentencing.
How does Armitage convey the sense of panic?
What is interesting about the structure of this poem?
In pairs, ask the pupils to study the use of repetition in the poem. Give them 3-5mins and see if you can
elicit from them that the second half of the poem is a reversal of the first with the pivotal sentence
being ‘If we step out there…if we stay in here.’ Discuss why Armitage has done this and why he wants
emphasis on that particular sentence.
Group Task – reading aloud
←
→
‘If we step out there…if we stay in here.’
Divide the class into two large groups. Within each group ask them to form pairs. Allocate x3 lines per
pair and ask them to practise reading them out loud, taking the sentences alternately; they can work on
ways to emphasise words in capitals and how to create a sense of panic. When they get to the pivotal
sentence group one could take ownership of first half and group two could begin their reading with ‘if
we stay in here’. A whole class rendition of the poem should follow.
Writing Task
Ask pupils to return to their prose paragraphs from earlier (Activity 2, Task C), remembering again the
experience that they wrote about. Then ask them to put it away. Give them a piece of blank paper and
tell them that they are going to write about the same experience but they have to do so without
stopping. They must imagine that their pen/pencil is on fire unless they write something. Repetition is
allowed and ellipsis, if their minds go blank.
By Jane Bonnyman for the Scottish Poetry Library’s education blog
http://makingmakars.wordpress.com/
Poetry of Crisis Part One
Activity 4 – ‘I took a deep breath, I said…’
Writing Task
Pupils should now write their own poem of crisis. Encourage them to choose between the Sharon Olds
poem and Armitage’s poem as their model or they could do a mix of both, combining the enjambment
with repetition and short sentences. See what happens!
Approach
Ask them to lay out their hot-pen writing and their paragraph in front of them. They could begin by
underlining/circling phrases/ sentences that they like best from either piece. They could then copy out
those phrases/sentences onto a fresh piece of paper. Ask them to select one as an opening line for a
poem and they can begin to fill in the rest.
If they still struggle, they could take lines from the poems themselves to start them off:
‘A fire alarm drones’
‘Come away from the edge’
‘Come on. Go out’
‘Try the key’
‘A wing and a prayer’
‘I who have no sense of direction raced’
‘I said Help me’
‘I ran up to a man with..’
‘goodbye to comfort’
Ask the pupils to complete one rough draft. Then speak to them about editing their work. Model on the
board using the Armitage or the Olds. Ask them why the second one has more impact.
Maybe I should go up the stairs or maybe I should go down them.
Or I could stay here and wait for a bit and see what happens. I can feel
my mobile phone in my pocket and could use it to make a phone call, but I’m worried it won’t work. Oh
dear I’m feeling very scared now and panicked and stressed; it makes me want to shout out loud but
that’s not going to get me anywhere.
By Jane Bonnyman for the Scottish Poetry Library’s education blog
http://makingmakars.wordpress.com/
Poetry of Crisis Part One
Go up do down. Sit tight for now. Or move. Don’t move. It’s all in
hand. Make a call on the phone. Stay calm. Then shout. Stay calm.
Then SHOUT.
Ask pupils to edit and redraft their work for submission.
By Jane Bonnyman for the Scottish Poetry Library’s education blog
http://makingmakars.wordpress.com/