What do you understand by the term ‘conscientious objector’? Conscientious objectors were people who simply did not want to fight in World War One. They became known as 'conscies' or C.Os and they were a sign that not everybody was as enthusiastic about the war as the government would have liked. Why might people object to the war?

Edna St Vincent Millay’s poem Conscientious Objector written in 1934 expressed her strong views on pacifism. Pacifism is a belief that violence, even in self-defence, is unjustifiable under any conditions and that negotiation is preferable to war as a means of solving disputes. In WWI pacifists became known as conscientious objectors. Some pacifists refused to fight but about 7,000 were willing to help the country by working in non-combat roles such as medical orderlies, stretcher-bearers, ambulance drivers and cooks. By the end of the war, 8,608 COs appeared before Military Tribunals. Over 4,500 went sent to do work of national importance such as farming. However, 528 were sentenced to severe penalties. This included 17 who were sentenced to death (afterwards commuted), 142 to life imprisonment, three to 50 years' imprisonment, four to 40 years and 57 to 25 years. Conditions were made very hard for the conscientious objectors and sixty-nine of them died in prison.

Lesson objectives: To understand what the poem ‘Conscientious Objector’ by Edna St. Vincent Millay is about. To analyse how the poet has used language and structure to convey thoughts, feelings and ideas.

What is personification? When a non-human thing is described using human features/characteristics? Are these personification? The angry shoulders of the mountain raged. The gate creaked like the wind. The sea sprinted up the beach.

What is being personified in the poem ‘Conscientious Objector? Death. How do we know? What language features does the poet use to personify death? Let’s annotate…

Why do you think the poet put Death on horseback? Where are the references to Death being on horseback? Let’s annotate…

The poet uses two metaphors when comparing the persona of the poem … What are they? Why have they been used? (What do the persona and the fox/slave have in common? Let’s annotate…

How does the person speaking convey their determination not to give up on their anti-war principles? What is it that the persona objects to about war? Let’s annotate…

The poet refers to Cuba and the Balkans in the poem – which is the Balkans’ involvement in WWII and Cuba’s in the 1898 Spanish/USA war. However, what other events/wars could it refer to? What does this tell us about the message of this poem? Let’s annotate…

Plenary : our lesson objectives were: To understand what the poem ‘Conscientious Objector’ by Edna St. Vincent Millay is about. To analyse how the poet has used language and structure to convey thoughts, feelings and ideas. In your own words, answer the following questions: What is ‘Conscientious Objector’ about? How do language and structure contribute to meaning?