Poetic techniques

Before tackling 'Dulce et decorum est' it is important that you have an understanding of the main poetic techniques that Owen uses in the poem. These being: metaphor and simile.

Below you will find a link to the poetic terms handout that you were given:
http://www.box.net/shared/rr4y43z3b0

In order to fully understand these terms in practice we had a look at that most prevalent form of poetry around in society today- song.

First of all we examined "Pretty like drugs" by the excellent band Queen Adreena:

"Pretty Like Drugs" - Queen Adreena


Before listening to the song and looking at the song lyrics I showed you a montage video that I had created on the subject of drugs, showing both sides of drug-taking: good and bad. We then discussed the simile in the song 'pretty like drugs' - we know that it is a simile since something is being described by comparing it to something else and saying that it is similar to it. In this case:

What was being described? the singer
What was it being compared to? drugs
What effect does this have/what does it tell us about the thing? It tells us that the singer is addictive and enthralling just like drugs are - that she has a certain attraction to her. However, it also tells us that she is dangerous, just like drugs are dangerous, that just as drugs destroy things so too does she.

We then went on to examine the use of metaphor in song. The first song being "Bullet with butterfly wings" by the Smashing Pumpkins:

"Bullet With Butterfly Wings" - Smashing Pumpkins



The first metaphor in the song is "The world is a vampire". We know that this is a metaphor as it compares two things by saying that the first thing is the second thing.

What is being described? The world
What is it being compared to? A vampire
What is the effect/what does it tell us about the thing? That the world sucks life from things, that it is draining.

The other metaphor in the song is "despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage". Can you analyse this metaphor for yourself? Use the formula above.

Have a look at this song "Butterfly" by Crazy Town.

"Butterfly" - Crazy Town


Can you find and explain the metaphor in this song?

WWI Poetry

You're now experts on life at the Front in World War 1 - you've written an imaginative journal from the point of view of a junior officer serving at the Western Front. Now we shall focus on a poem written by a poet who actually fought during WWI - Wilfred Owen's 'Dulce et decorum est'.

This lesson I gave you a little bit of information about Wilfred Owen:

• Wilfred Owen 1893-1918


• He wanted to make ordinary civilians back home understand the realities of trench-warfare. He wrote about the horrors faced by soldiers fighting in the war.


• He did not want to write about the honour and glory of fighting for one's country, the truth of the war for him was in the suffering of the soldiers and his pity for them.


• In a letter he wrote “My subject is war and the pity of war”.


• He was killed in action during a dawn attack on 4/11/1918 - just one week before the end of the war.

I also told you a little bit about the poem "Dulce et decorum est", explaining that the title refers to a poem written by the Roman poet Horace that was published in about 23BCE. The last lines of the poem are:

"The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori"

Translated from the Latin these lines mean 'How sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country'.

As you can see from this image of the original manuscript the poem is dedicated to 'Jessie Pope etc.' - Jessie Pope being the name of a famous propagandist at the time who was ardent in her support of the war and who fervently urged men to join up and fight. This dedication is ironic since Owen himself disagreed with Pope's beliefs.

For Owen it was important that the"old lie" that it was good to die fighting for your country ha to be destroyed. He believed that civilians had to be told of the realities of war, that it was a dirty and painful business and that rather than being "glorious" death in battle was actually horrific and painful. In "Dulce et decorum est" he uses graphic imagery to convey the realities of war to his readers back home who would have been encouraging their sons/husbands/brothers to join up and fight.

World War 1 - Journal

For the first part of our unit on World War 1 you are tasked with writing a war journal from the perspective of a junior officer fighting in the trenches. Put yourself in the shoes of an officer fighting at the front during WWI and in the journal describe your thoughts and feelings on certain subjects - using varied descriptive language to describe the reality of life at the front.

Below you will find some information to help you understand what life was like in the trenches during WWI:

http://www.slideshare.net/dmcdowell/a-soldiers-life
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/worldwarone/
http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/trenchlife.htm
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/memories_from_the_trenches.htm

Family Guy - Essays

So you've analysed the characters in 'Family Guy' and you've had a close look at one particular episode - so now is the time to write your folio pieces!

Below you will find a link to a writing frame that you can use for your essays:

http://www.box.net/shared/c99ny8gctu

You can find the links to documents on characters etc. in previous posts on this blog.

Saving Private Brian

After analysing the characters themselves for satiric techniques it's time to have a close look at a particular episode. The episode that we analysed was 'Saving Private Brian'.

Democracy Kicks In



While watching the episode you completed an anlysis worksheet noting down specific examples and the satiric techniques being used. Below you will find a link to the worksheet:

http://www.box.net/shared/jfire5zemv

To aid you in spotting examples of satire I also created a powerpoint presentation mentioning some specific news stories etc. that are the subject of satire in the episode. A link to this presentation can be found below:

http://www.box.net/shared/59p1p2npfr

Family Guy II

We've looked at the characters and their character traits and decided what comments these characters could be making about society. Now we have to find some quotes from 'Family Guy' episodes to back up our findings: http://www.box.net/shared/a2skqblibj

We also had a think about the title of the programme itself and the song from the opening segment.

What could be the main focus of satire in a show entitled 'Family Guy' about a (supposed) typical American family? Do the lyrics from the opening credits back-up this point of view? http://www.box.net/shared/z4ds5x5z9v

Family Guy

A popular TV series that makes good use of satiric techniques is 'Family Guy'. For your folios you will write a critical essay on 'Family Guy' and its use of satiric techniques. Before analysing an episode in detail however, it is important to gain an understanding of the main characters of the series.

Everyone in the class had watched 'Family Guy' before and the general consensus was that, as a TV series, it was pretty good. So first off we had a little think about the characters and their traits. In your groups you came up with a list of character traits for each of the show's main characters:

• Peter
• Lois
• Brian
• Stewie
• Chris
• Meg
• Quagmire

Follow this link for a list of the characters with associated character traits: http://www.box.net/shared/u3zk5rvr9a

We also tried to think what the purpose was in creating these characters with such character traits and matched up the characters to possible comments on society that could be being made through the characters:http://www.box.net/shared/g4k6ax9n0p

Satiric Techniques

Before starting an in-depth anylsis of a text you need to be aware of the definitions for specific satiric techniques. For the purposes of this unit we have focused on four techniques:

Exaggeration
"To enlarge, increase, or represent something beyond normal bounds so that it becomes ridiculous and its faults can be seen."

Incongruity
"To present things that are out of place or are absurd in relation to its surroundings."

Reversal
"To present the opposite of the normal order (e.g., the order of events, hierarchical order)."

Parody
"To imitate the techniques and/or style of some person, place, or thing."

In your groups you brain-stormed films and TV programmes that you knew of that made use of some of these techniques and that could be classified as satiric. Answers included:

Team America

The Simpsons

Meet the Spartans

Scary Movie

South Park

Epic Movie

Satire 2 - Return of the parody...

In this lesson we focused one one particular satiric technique, the most widely used of all - parody.

Parody
"To imitate the techniques and/or style of some person, place, or thing."

We began by watching a fight scene clip from a Robin Hood film made way back in the day:



After a brief discussion about the clip we filled out some worksheets describing such things as: setting, dialogue, physical action etc.

We then went on to watch a parody of this film clip from 'The Princess Bride' - where Westley and Inigo Montoya fight in a ruined castle at the top of the cliffs of insanity:



You completed your worksheets comparing the 'Princess Bride' clip to the original Robin Hood clip - seeing how the creator managed to imitate the original fight conventions and alter them for humorous effect.

Another film clip that is a classic parody of fairy-tale fighting conventions is the Black Knight scene from 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail':

Satire

What is satire?

Satire

"A literary work that ridicules its subject through the use of techniques such as exaggeration, reversal, incongruity, and/or parody in order to make a comment or criticism about it."

Before we looked to closely at satire and particular satiric techniques I had you jot down the genre-markers of fairy tales (Castle, "Along, long time ago in a land far, far away" etc.) We then examined a scene from a satiric fairytale - Shrek.

We viewed the fight scene from 'Shrek' where Robin Hood and his Merry Men attack Fiona and Shrek. After watching this scene you were asked to think of ways that the scene departed from a typical fairytale. Answers given included:

1. It was Fiona who protected Shrek and not vice-versa. Normally it is the hero that protects the princess.
2. Robin Hood and his Merry Men are normally portrayed as being the good guys.
3. There was a weird musical interlude/singing segment.

We then had a quick think about what the purpose of this scene was. Why portray events in this light? What point was the creator of the scene trying to make?

The subsequent discussions resulted in a consensus that it was commenting on gender stereotyping - the fact that women are usually portrayed as weak whereas men are the big, strong protectors.