1. Class 5
The transition period has now ended. We have had four weeks in which to become comfortable with unseen poetry. Now we start continuous assessment.
All homework from next week on is to be handed up on A4 sheets from refill pads. This work shall be scrutinized, graded, photocopied and then handed back.
There will be a test in the second half of this class.

2. Today
The class has asked for sheets of notes. If this is to continue, each student must obtain a folder that is to be inspected regularly .
Sheet one contains a short summary of S.P.I.T.S., the most important device you shall possess when examining an unseen poem.
Sheet two contains the general marking scheme, how unseen poetry is corrected and should be answered.

3. What do you see? Why are they like this? When were they?
Have you any good memories of cars?
Or bad memories?
When were they?
How would you feel if one of these were your car?

4. DRIVING INTO HISTORY Once in a while, morning sunshine
filtered through the peeling paint and rust
of that old black banger, perched
like a stylite* up on concrete blocks
in our back garden. The seats were torn,
the wooden dashboard was an altar to insect death,
and yet my first boyhood trips into the world
were in that wheel-less, if not quite lifeless wreck.
But since they took the garden to build a bypass
to our once congested, now double-bypassed town,
I dream little of either speed or novelty
and, truth to tell, I scarcely know the names
of all these cars out here. Now all I wish
is time enough for them to age and rust,
to end up up on blocks in some child’s life,
twentieth century coins down behind their seats,
their vacant windscreens open to the light. Pat Boran

5. Driving into history
1. How, in your opinion, does the poet convey his attitude/feelings towards “the old black banger”?
Explain your answer with reference to the first eight lines of the poem. (10 marks)
Read the question several times. What are the important words here?

6. Driving into history
1. How, in your opinion, does the poet convey his attitude/feelings towards “the old black banger”?
Explain your answer with reference to the first eight lines of the poem. (10 marks)

7. Driving into history
1. How, in your opinion, does the poet convey his attitude/feelings towards “the old black banger”?
Explain your answer with reference to the first eight lines of the poem. (10 marks)
Consider how S.P.I.T.S. helps here.

8. Driving into history
1. How, in your opinion, does the poet convey his attitude/feelings towards “the old black banger”?
Explain your answer with reference to the first eight lines of the poem. (10 marks)
What phrases might you use?

9. Driving into history
1. How, in your opinion, does the poet convey his attitude/feelings towards “the old black banger”?
Explain your answer with reference to the first eight lines of the poem. (10 marks)
If the exam emphasises a line, USE IT !

10. DRIVING INTO HISTORY Once in a while, morning sunshine
filtered through the peeling paint and rust
of that old black banger, perched
like a stylite* up on concrete blocks
in our back garden. The seats were torn,
the wooden dashboard was an altar to insect death,
and yet my first boyhood trips into the world
were in that wheel-less, if not quite lifeless wreck.

11. Once in a while, morning sunshine
DRIVING INTO HISTORY
Once in a while, morning sunshine
filtered through the peeling paint and rust
of that old black banger, perched
like a stylite* up on concrete blocks
What feelings is the poet expressing from the first four lines?

12. DRIVING INTO HISTORY
in our back garden. The seats were torn,
the wooden dashboard was an altar to insect death,
and yet my first boyhood trips into the world
were in that wheel-less, if not quite lifeless wreck.
What feelings is the poet expressing from the next four lines?

13. There is no wrong answer
Just be able to argue. Form an opinion, use quotes and explore the poem.
Also keep question two in mind – his attitude changes?

14. Driving into history
2. In what ways has the poet’s attitude to cars changed in the remainder of the poem?
Explain your answer. (10 marks)
Consider how S.P.I.T.S. helps here

15. Driving into history
2. In what ways has the poet’s attitude to cars changed in the remainder of the poem?
Explain your answer. (10 marks)
Consider how S.P.I.T.S. helps here

16. DRIVING INTO HISTORY Once in a while, morning sunshine
filtered through the peeling paint and rust
of that old black banger, perched
like a stylite* up on concrete blocks
in our back garden. The seats were torn,
the wooden dashboard was an altar to insect death,
and yet my first boyhood trips into the world
were in that wheel-less, if not quite lifeless wreck.
But since they took the garden to build a bypass
to our once congested, now double-bypassed town,
I dream little of either speed or novelty
and, truth to tell, I scarcely know the names
of all these cars out here. Now all I wish
is time enough for them to age and rust,
to end up up on blocks in some child’s life,
twentieth century coins down behind their seats,
their vacant windscreens open to the light. Pat Boran

17. But since they took the garden to build a bypass
to our once congested, now double-bypassed town,
I dream little of either speed or novelty
and, truth to tell, I scarcely know the names
of all these cars out here. Now all I wish
is time enough for them to age and rust,
to end up up on blocks in some child’s life,
twentieth century coins down behind their seats,
their vacant windscreens open to the light.

18. General rule of thumb
For each mark a question gives, a sentence should be given.
10 marks, ten decent sentences, which include commas and the word ‘and’.
Count short sentences as half marks and consider extra sentences as better chances to get marks.

19. SONG OF THE CITY
My brain is stiff with concrete My limbs are rods of steel My belly’s stuffed with money My soul was bought in a deal. They poured metal through my arteries They choked my lungs with lead They churned my blood to plastic They put murder into my head. I’d a face like a map of the weather Flesh that grew to the bone But they tore my story out of my eyes And turned my heart to stone. Let me wind from my source like a river Let me grow like wheat from the grain Let me hold out my arms like a natural tree Let my children love me again. Gareth Owen
Questions
1. Do you think this is a sad or happy song? Give reasons for your answer, based on your reading of the poem. (10 Marks)
2. What does the City hope for in the final 4 lines? Explain you answer. (10 Marks)