Gunpowder Plot Int. 2 Essay Plan.

Question Choose a poem which seems to be about a common event or experience but which actually makes a deeper comment about life. Explain what the poem is about and go on to show how the techniques used by the poet help you to understand the deeper significance of the poem’s message.

Question Choose a poem which seems to be about a common event or experience but which actually makes a deeper comment about life. (THEME) Explain what the poem is about and go on to show how the techniques used by the poet help you to understand the deeper significance of the poem’s message.(THEME)

Break the question down… What is the common event or experience? –Bonfire Night. This happens every year and the characters in the poem will have participated in this before. (as will the readers) –On the surface, there is nothing unusual or alarming about a fireworks display.

Show how the techniques… You know you will be mentioning the poetic techniques we have answered questions about: –Imagery (similes/metaphors/personification) –Word choice. –Aural imagery – onomatopoeia/alliteration –Structure – enjambment.

understand the deeper significance of the poem’s message.(THEME) You know that the techniques on the previous slide are used to help you understand more about the “deeper significance of the poet’s message”. Your job is to explain HOW these techniques help you to understand the theme.

What is the deeper significance (or theme) of the poet’s message? Scannell’s message is that it is not only those who are killed in war that are its victims. Those who survive also suffer very badly. In this poem, Scannell details the distress of a soldier who survived the fighting but is psychologically damaged by the horrors he has experienced. We are also reminded that the soldiers who fought and died had families who mourn their loss: in this case, the sons of a father who did not return.

Choose a poem which seems to be about a common event or experience but which actually makes a deeper comment about life. Explain what the poem is about and go on to show how the techniques used by the poet help you to understand the deeper significance of the poem’s message. (THEME) “Gunpowder Plot” by Vernon Scannell describes the common, shared experience of a fireworks display on Bonfire Night. The poem opens with a colourful and beautiful description of the fireworks, emphasising the enjoyment and excitement of those present. However, as the poem progresses it becomes clear that the poem is about more than describing Bonfire Night. Scannell demonstrates the effect that the sight and sound of the fireworks have on a veteran of World War Two. In doing so, he helps us to understand that even those who physically survive war are badly damaged by the horrors they have witnessed. Scannell makes use of a variety of poetic techniques to explore the idea of how war can damage lives after the fighting has stopped. Model Introduction

Model Section (Remember the PEAR formula) Firstly, the opening stanzas of the poem introduce the reader to Bonfire Night, a common event many people will have experienced and which will be familiar to the reader. Scannell opens the poem with a description of the fireworks we would expect to see on Bonfire Night: “For days these curious cardboard buds have lain In brightly coloured boxes.” Here, Scannell uses a metaphor to describe the fireworks as “curious cardboard buds”. Like flower buds, the fireworks have yet to open but they are full of potential for life and when they are lit, the fireworks will “bloom “ beautifully and colourfully in the sky. Scannell extends this metaphor when he describes the lit fireworks as ”magic orchids.” Orchids are thought of as rare, exotic flowers and this description of the fireworks emphasises their beauty and the excitement people feel in seeing them. The poet has successfully created the atmosphere of excitement and enjoyment that we would normally associate with Bonfire Night. Moreover, Scannell continues to develop this atmosphere, typical for Bonfire Night, in stanza two when he describes the “frenzied whizz” of the Catherine Wheel. His use of onomatopoeia here suggests a prolonged “fizzing” sound, adding to the excitement and perhaps making the reader think that something is about to happen. Again, this reinforces a picture of Bonfire Night that is common to everyone. However, it is in stanza two that Scannell introduces the idea that the poem, apparently about Bonfire Night, has a deeper, more important meaning. At the end of the stanza two a fire work is described: “the thin Rocket soars to burst upon the steel Bulwark of a cloud. The word choice of “rocket” can mean a firework but it also has connotations of a bomb, or a weapon that can be used in war. The poet also uses enjambment at the end of Stanza two, into stanza three, to draw our attention to the word “Bulwark”. A bulwark is a defensive shield, used in battle, and the poet is using this word to describe how a cloud is trying to protect the sky from the rocket as it flies upwards. Scannell is deliberately using words associated with battle to introduce the idea that the poem has something significant to say about war.

Scannell continues to develop his references to war and battle as the poem progresses, suggesting that the poem is more than a description of a common experience... You should now look for references to war and battle and explain how these descriptions, ostensibly about fireworks, (good word – look it up!) can also be about war. At the beginning of stanza four, we begin to realise that the narrator is distressed by the fireworks. As you choose and analyse your quotations, it will be important that you explain the poet’s message about war; that even those who seems to survive war still suffer, even when the war is long finished. (The uncle and the sons) You need to decide when you need to take a new paragraph but a paragraph for each stanza could be a rough guideline.

Conclusion Follow the same rules for writing a conclusion as you did when you wrote your “Merchant of Venice” essays. You made a good job of those!