Transcript At the cenotaph: Stimuli - English teaching resources

At the cenotaph: Stimuli
Friday, 17 July 2015
Ideas from the CA:
• The structure of a specially valued poem is held to be complex in
ways which repay close attention; for example, the poem may be
structured as a complex sequence of parallelisms. The more the
reader studies the poem, the more he or she is aware of the poet’s
skill in composing it in this way. The language of valued literary
texts is also typically assumed to be complex: writers do not simply
choose ‘ordinary’ words, like the words we use for conversation,
but words which have resonance, historical associations, beauty, or
‘rightness’ for the particular context.
• The subject-matter of valued texts is generally considered to be
serious, dealing with moral and philosophical topics of
acknowledged importance. Valued texts are supposed to give the
reader an insight into fundamental questions which are of universal
concern, such as the nature of evil, the corrupting effect of money,
the value of love, and so on, and to rehearse the dilemmas of moral
and ethical choice.
Remembrance Day: At the Cenotaph
• I saw the Prince of Darkness, with his Staff,
Standing bare-headed by the Cenotaph:
Unostentatious and respectful, there
He stood, and offered up the following prayer.
“Make them forget, O Lord, what this Memorial
Means; their discredited ideas revive;
Breed new belief that War is purgatorial
Proof of the pride and power of being alive;
Men’s biologic urge to readjust
The Map of Europe, Lord of Hosts, increase;
Lift up their hearts in large destructive lust;
And crown their heads with blind vindictive Peace.”
The Prince of Darkness to the Cenotaph
Bowed. As he walked away I heard him laugh.
Siegfried Sassoon
As he walked away…
• Why does he laugh?
• Why might this be a valuable poem for all
young people to study before they are 18?
• What might you suggest gives this poem
“quality”? Look at the CA for guidance.
• a thinking point