Study these two images

What is represented by each image?

Which poem from your selection do the pictures relate to, and in

what way?

Be thinking about…

Homework: due tomorrow

• Read and annotate the poem “Continuum”. • Note down any questions as well as

observations.

• Be ready to discuss and explore

Horses

By Edwin Muir

Revision!

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=K3ZbQpqyYHmL_M&tbnid=uEXqX7CNYa6COM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http://www.greatdreams.com/revelation/four_horsemen_of_the_apocalypse.htm&ei=l1l2UvGBH8Kg0wW2vYDQDQ&bvm=bv.55819444,d.ZG4&psig=AFQjCNHFjZTt8FIGSKfcEHVUVHy8lJ1Yqg&ust=1383574286246064

A Cloze Exercise:

In ________, you are going to ____________ the __________ ‘Horses’ by _________ ________. This will allow you (and ____) to see how well you can _________ the vocabulary of the poem. If you have looked over the poem during the long ____-_____, you should be able to make __________ guesses. If you have ___________ effectively then you might be able to use the ___________ word.

pairs

reconstruct

Edwin

Muir

recall

poem

me

Half-term

sensiblerevised

correct

You have 6 minutes

6 m

inutesstar

t

lumbering terrible

childish

fearful

rain

pistons

hooves

gold marched

snakes

fire

apocalyptic

fearful

dusk

Those lumbering horses in the steady plough, On the bare field - I wonder, why, just now,They seemed terrible, so wild and strange,Like magic power on the stony grange.

Perhaps some childish hour has come again,When I watched fearful, through the blackening rain,Their hooves like pistons in an ancient millMove up and down, yet seem as standing still.

Their conquering hooves which trod the stubble downWere ritual that turned the field to brown,And their great hulks were seraphims of gold,Or mute ecstatic monsters on the mould.

And oh the rapture, when, one furrow done,They marched broad-breasted to the sinking sun! The light flowed off their bossy sides in flakes;The furrows rolled behind like struggling snakes.

But when at dusk with steaming nostrils homeThey came, they seemed gigantic in the gloam,And warm and glowing with mysterious fireThat lit their smouldering bodies in the mire.

Their eyes as brilliant and as wide as nightGleamed with a cruel apocalyptic light,Their manes the leaping ire of the windLifted with rage invisible and blind.

Ah, now it fades! It fades! And I must pineAgain for the dread country crystalline,Where the blank field and the still-standing treeWere bright and fearful presences to me.

Technical checklist:

• What is the:

• Rhyme scheme?

• Rhythmic metre?

• Poetic Form?

• Voice?

• Chronological structuring?

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=d8Y4NAgT9XuzmM&tbnid=mk_lOM4N7m1eFM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffolk_Punch&ei=VQ9hUsHxHMSV0AWf-YHADQ&bvm=bv.54176721,d.d2k&psig=AFQjCNEkjrBqdQNkbB-PFkGr1iUsRAVqoQ&ust=1382178894546372

I wonder why,…

• The poet adopts a first person narrative voice• The poet is contemplative• The tone is thoughtful; the mood is serene

Those lumbering horses…

• An visual observation is made• This visual observation is what prompts the rest of the poem• A visual catalyst is given

Think about the poem’s opening:

Write about the ways in which the openings of any TWO poems from the

selection are crafted to be powerfully effective.

You should make close reference to the poets’ use of language, form and structure in your answer.

Those lumbering horses in the steady plough, On the bare field

Identify the

adjectives in the

first two lines

Effect?

-- I wonder, why, just now,They seemed terrible, so wild and strange,Like magic power on the stony grange.

terrible

wild

strange

Perhaps some childish hour has come again,When I watched fearful, through the blackening rain,Their hooves like pistons in an ancient millMove up and down, yet seem as standing still.

childish hourblackening rain

“Pistons in an ancient mill…”

“Their hooves”When the writer refers to being like “pistons in an ancient mill”…

the reader is forced to think about…

This simile ensures that…

Their conquering hooves which trod the stubble downWere ritual that turned the field to brown,And their great hulks were seraphims of gold,Or mute ecstatic monsters on the mould.

Which are they?

Seraphims of gold? Mute ecstatic monsters?

And oh the rapture, when, one furrow done,They marched broad-breasted to the sinking sun!The light flowed off their bossy sides in flakes;The furrows rolled behind like struggling snakes.

But when at dusk with steaming nostrils homeThey came, they seemed gigantic in the gloam,And warm and glowing with mysterious fireThat lit their smouldering bodies in the mire.

Their eyes as brilliant and as wide as nightGleamed with a cruel apocalyptic light,Their manes the leaping ire of the windLifted with rage invisible and blind.

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=vuj5EALc6WatQM&tbnid=Cn2caZelBVQF5M:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http://www.simplepastimes.com/pd_the_four.cfm&ei=Elp2UvLpM8Wc0AX6koDgBg&bvm=bv.55819444,d.ZG4&psig=AFQjCNHFjZTt8FIGSKfcEHVUVHy8lJ1Yqg&ust=1383574286246064

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=v1DRh730ZMC24M&tbnid=vZ5eeNRZ4jXUiM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http://skywiseunlimited.com/2012/09/16/with-a-grain-of-salt/&ei=OB5hUvayGafP0QXIpIGADg&bvm=bv.54176721,d.d2k&psig=AFQjCNHacpQs8sYNThlOcbFKZ9xOlcxybA&ust=1382182713330033

Ah, now it fades! It fades! And I must pineAgain for the dread country crystalline,Where the black field and the still-standing treeWere bright and fearful presences to me

Make a plan for this essay:

• Remember that the ‘How’ in the title invites you to look at: – THE WAYS IN WHICH he does it– THE METHODS HE USES to do it– THE DEVICES HE EMPLOYS to do it

Write about the ways in which Muir vividly conveys his childhood

feelings for the horses in this poem?