TRAINING MODULE

POEM:

THE CHARGE OF THE

LIGHT BRIGADE

BY

ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

Developed by Helena Cheah/ MGS/ 2016

The Right Honourable

The Lord Tennyson

FRS

1869 Carbon print by Julia Margaret Cameron

Born 6 August 1809

Somersby, Lincolnshire, England

Died 6 October 1892 (aged 83)

Lurgashall, Sussex, England[1]

Occupation Poet Laureate

Alma mater Trinity College, Cambridge

Spouse Emily Sellwood (m. 1850)

Children Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson

Hon. Lionel Tennyson

Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS (6 August 1809

– 6 October 1892) was Poet Laureate of Great Britain and

Ireland during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one

of the most popular British poets.

Tennyson excelled at penning short lyrics, such as "Break,

Break, Break", "The Charge of the Light Brigade", "Tears, Idle

Tears" and "Crossing the Bar".

A number of phrases from Tennyson's work have become

commonplaces of the English language, including "Nature, red

in tooth and claw" (In Memoriam A.H.H.), "'Tis better to have

loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all", "Theirs not to

reason why, / Theirs but to do and die", "My strength is as the

strength of ten, / Because my heart is pure", "To strive, to seek,

to find, and not to yield", "Knowledge comes, but Wisdom

lingers", and "The old order changeth, yielding place to new".

He is the ninth most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford

Dictionary of Quotations.

A common thread of grief, melancholy, and loss connects much

of his poetry (e.g., Mariana, The Lotos Eaters, Tears, Idle

Tears, In Memoriam), likely reflecting Tennyson's own lifelong

struggle with debilitating depression.

T. S. Eliot famously described Tennyson as "the saddest of all

English poets", whose technical mastery of verse and language

provided a "surface" to his poetry's "depths, to the abyss of

sorrow". Other poets such as W. H. Auden maintained a more

critical stance, stating that Tennyson was the "stupidest" of all

the English poets, adding that: "There was little about

melancholia he didn't know; there was little else that he did."

The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Overview of ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’

The poem tells the story of how

Stanza 2

Stanza 3

Stanza 1

Themes

HOTS

1. If you were a journalist covering the war, how would you describe the battle scene in

Stanza 1: _______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Stanza 2: _______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Stanza 3: _______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

2. If you were the Prime Minister, how would you honour these soldiers who have

sacrificed themselves for the country?

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

3. Who do you think is at fault in this battle?

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

4. What action must be taken to make sure that such an incident would not occur

again?

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

TRAINING MODULE

POEM:

A POISON TREE

BY

WILLIAM BLAKE

Developed by Helena Cheah/ MGS/ 2016

William Blake Biography Artist, Poet (1757–1827)

William Blake was a 19th century writer and artist

who is regarded as a seminal figure of the Romantic,

Age. His writings have influenced countless writers

and artists through the ages, and he has been deemed both a

major poet and an original thinker.

Synopsis

Born in 1757 in London, England, William Blake began writing at an early age and claimed

to have had his first vision, of a tree full of angels, at age 10. He studied engraving and grew

to love Gothic art, which he incorporated into his own unique works. A misunderstood poet,

artist and visionary throughout much of his life, Blake found admirers late in life and has

been vastly influential since his death in 1827.

Early Years

William Blake was born on November 28, 1757, in the Soho district of London, England. He

only briefly attended school, being chiefly educated at home by his mother. The Bible had an

early, profound influence on Blake, and it would remain a lifetime source of inspiration,

coloring his life and works with intense spirituality.

At an early age, Blake began experiencing visions, and his friend and journalist Henry Crabb

Robinson wrote that Blake saw God's head appear in a window when Blake was 4 years old.

He also allegedly saw the prophet Ezekiel under a tree and had a vision of "a tree filled with

angels." Blake's visions would have a lasting effect on the art and writings that he produced.

The Young Artist

Blake's artistic ability became evident in his youth, and by age 10, he was enrolled at Henry

Pars's drawing school, where he sketched the human figure by copying from plaster casts of

ancient statues. At age 14, he apprenticed with an engraver. Blake's master was the engraver

to the London Society of Antiquaries, and Blake was sent to Westminster Abbey to make

drawings of tombs and monuments, where his lifelong love of gothic art was seeded.

Also around this time, Blake began collecting prints of artists who had fallen out of vogue at

the time, including Durer, Raphael and Michelangelo. In the catalog for an exhibition of his

own work in 1809, nearly 40 years later, in fact, Blake would lambast artists "who endeavour

to raise up a style against Rafael, Mich. Angelo, and the Antique." He also rejected 18th

century literary trends, preferring the Elizabethans (Shakespeare, Jonson and Spenser) and

ancient ballads instead.

The Maturing Artist

In 1779, at age 21, Blake completed his seven-year apprenticeship and became a journeyman

copy engraver, working on projects for book and print publishers. Also preparing himself for

a career as a painter, that same year, he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Art's Schools

of Design, where he began exhibiting his own works in 1780. Blake's artistic energies

branched out at this point, and he privately published his Poetical Sketches (1783), a

collection of poems that he had written over the previous 14 years.

In August 1782, Blake married Catherine Sophia Boucher, who was illiterate. Blake taught

her how to read, write, draw and color (his designs and prints). He also helped her to

experience visions, as he did. Catherine believed explicitly in her husband's visions and his

genius, and supported him in everything he did, right up to his death 45 years later.

One of the most traumatic events of William Blake's life occurred in 1787, when his beloved

brother, Robert, died from tuberculosis at age 24. At the moment of Robert's death, Blake

allegedly saw his spirit ascend through the ceiling, joyously; the moment, which entered into

Blake's psyche, greatly influenced his later poetry. The following year, Robert appeared to

Blake in a vision and presented him with a new method of printing his works, which Blake

called "illuminated printing." Once incorporated, this method allowed Blake to control every

aspect of the production of his art.

While Blake was an established engraver, soon he began receiving commissions to paint

watercolors, and he painted scenes from the works of Milton, Dante, Shakespeare and the

Bible.

The Move to Felpham and Charges of Sedition

In 1800, Blake accepted an invitation from poet William Hayley to move to the little seaside

village of Felpham and work as his protégé. While the relationship between Hayley and

Blake began to sour, Blake ran into trouble of a different stripe: In August 1803, Blake found

a soldier, John Schofield, on the property and demanded that he leave. After Schofield

refused and an argument ensued, Blake removed him by force. Schofield accused Blake of

assault and, worse, of sedition, claiming that he had damned the king.

The punishments for sedition in England at the time (during the Napoleonic Wars) were

severe. Blake anguished, uncertain of his fate. Hayley hired a lawyer on Blake's behalf, and

he was acquitted in January 1804, by which time Blake and Catherine had moved back to

London.

Later Years

In 1804, Blake began to write and illustrate Jerusalem (1804-20), his most ambitious work to

date. He also began showing more work at exhibitions (including Chaucer's Canterbury

Pilgrims and Satan Calling Up His Legions), but these works were met with silence, and the

one published review was absurdly negative; the reviewer called the exhibit a display of

"nonsense, unintelligibleness and egregious vanity," and referred to Blake as "an unfortunate

lunatic."

Blake was devastated by the review and lack of attention to his works, and, subsequently, he

withdrew more and more from any attempt at success. From 1809 to 1818, he engraved few

plates (there is no record of Blake producing any commercial engravings from 1806 to 1813).

He also sank deeper into poverty, obscurity and paranoia.

In 1819, however, Blake began sketching a series of "visionary heads," claiming that the

historical and imaginary figures that he depicted actually appeared and sat for him. By 1825,

Blake had sketched more than 100 of them, including those of Solomon and Merlin the

magician and those included in "The Man Who Built the Pyramids" and "Harold Killed at the

Battle of Hastings"; along with the most famous visionary head, that included in Blake's "The

Ghost of a Flea."

Remaining artistically busy, between 1823 and 1825, Blake engraved 21 designs for an

illustrated Book of Job (from the Bible) and Dante's Inferno. In 1824, he began a series of

102 watercolor illustrations of Dante—a project that would be cut short by Blake's death in

1827.

In the final years of his life, William Blake suffered from recurring bouts of an undiagnosed

disease that he called "that sickness to which there is no name." He died on August 12, 1827,

leaving unfinished watercolor illustrations to Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and an illuminated

manuscript of the Bible's Book of Genesis. In death, as in life, Blake received short shrift

from observers, and obituaries tended to underscore his personal idiosyncrasies at the

expense of his artistic accomplishments. The Literary Chronicle, for example, described him

as "one of those ingenious persons ... whose eccentricities were still more remarkable than

their professional abilities."

Unappreciated in life, William Blake has since become a giant in literary and artistic circles,

and his visionary approach to art and writing have not only spawned countless, spellbound

speculations about Blake, they have inspired a vast array of artists and writers.

A Poison Tree by William Blake

Overview of A Poison Tree

A poison tree is about

Stanza 2

Stanza 4

Stanza 3

Stanza 1

Worksheet 1

Stanza 1

1. Who is the first person the persona is angry with?

_____________________________________________________________

2. What is the meaning of wrath?

_____________________________________________________________

3. What happens when the persona told his friend his wrath?

_____________________________________________________________

4. Why did the wrath end?

_____________________________________________________________

5. Who is the second person the persona is angry with?

_____________________________________________________________

6. What is the meaning of foe?

_____________________________________________________________

7. Did the persona express his anger? What happened??

_____________________________________________________________

8. What is actually described in stanza 1?

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

Worksheet 2

Stanza 2

9. What is the ‘it’ in stanza 2?

_____________________________________________________________

10. How did the persona treat his anger?

_____________________________________________________________

11. How did the persona water the plant?

_____________________________________________________________

12. What is the meaning of ‘fears’?

_____________________________________________________________

13. What is the meaning of ‘sunned’?

_____________________________________________________________

14. How did the persona sun the plant?

_____________________________________________________________

15. What is the meaning of ‘soft deceitful wiles’?

_____________________________________________________________

16. Describe the actual meaning of stanza 2

_____________________________________________________________

Worksheet 3

Stanza 3

17. What does ‘both’ in the line ‘And it grew both day and night’ imply?

_____________________________________________________________

18. What does an ‘apple bright’ look like?

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

19. What does ‘beheld’ mean?

_____________________________________________________________

20. What would the foe do if he knows that the apple belongs to the persona?

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

21. Explain what happened in stanza 3.

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

Worksheet 4

Stanza 4

22. What does the word ‘stole’ mean?

_____________________________________________________________

23. What happened in the persona’s garden one night?

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

24. What does the ‘pole’ refer to?

_____________________________________________________________

25. What is the meaning of ‘veiled’?

_____________________________________________________________

26. What kind of night is it?

_____________________________________________________________

27. What is the meaning of ‘glad’?

_____________________________________________________________

28. Why is the persona glad?

_____________________________________________________________

29. What has actually happened in stanza 4?

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

Worksheet 5

Literal meaning of poem

Figurative meaning of the poem

Simile/Metaphor Rap

CHORUS

[Sister] Simile says it’s like or as

[Brother] Metaphor says it is or was

[Sister] Simile says it’s like or as

[Brother] Metaphor says it is or was

Simile! He’s as fast as lightning,

Metaphor! He’s a beast, big and frightening,

Simile! She’s as sweet as spice,

Metaphor! His grey eyes were ice.

Simile! The shirt was white like polar bears,

Metaphor! Her voice was music to my ears,

Simile! The small classroom was like a zoo,

Metaphor! When his dog died he sure was blue.

[Sister] Simile says it’s like or as

[Brother] Metaphor says it is or was

[Sister] Simile says it’s like or as

[Brother] Metaphor says it is or was

Metaphor

Symbolism

1. The Tree

2. The Apple

1. A growing tree is a symbol of

2. The poison apple symbolises

3. Night symbolises

HOTS

5. The persona in the poem ‘A poison tree’ is very angry with his enemy. What advice

would you give to the persona to help him cool down.

Advice 1: _______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Advice 2: _______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

6. What is your impression of

a) The persona:

_______________________________________________________

b) The foe:

_______________________________________________________

7. What have you learnt from this poem?

a) _______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

b) _______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

TRAINING MODULE

NOVEL:

SING TO THE DAWN

BY

MINFONG HO

Developed by Helena Cheah/ MGS/ 2016

Meet Min Fong Ho

There is so much, so much beauty and so much pain around me which I want to write about – because I want to share it.

Minfong Ho writes about the people and the places she knows well and cares about. ‘There is so much, so much beauty and so much pain around me which I want to write about – because I want to share it.’

She is born in 1951

Spends her childhood in Singapore and Thailand and became fluent in 3 languages: Chinese, Thai and English.

Ho wrote short story ‘Sing to Dawn’ while studying in Cornell University (history and economics)

She wrote it because she missed Thailand.

She entered it into a short story contest and won an award and was asked to turn the story into a novel which was published in 1975.

Ho used the money earned from the publication of ‘Sing to the Dawn’ to set up scholarship funds for girls in Thailand.

In 1980 Ho saw images of Cambodian war refugees on television.

She took leave of absence from her teaching job and work as a nutritionist and relief worker for Catholic Relief Service on the Thai-Cambodian border.

This experience helped her to write ‘The Clay Marble (1991)

Minfong Ho has a purpose in writing about life in Southeast Asia.

She wants to increase understanding between cultures and provide realistic descriptions of what life is like for people in different countries.

Her work features young people as protagonist or main characters.

Sing To The Dawn - Minfong Ho (Synopsis)

Chapter One:

Dawan and Kwai sat on the rickety old bridge above the river

Dawan asked Kwai what would he do if he got the scholarship

Dawan felt that she would not get the scholarship because she is a girl, instead Kwai might

get the scholarship

Talked about how unfair it is that the sacks of rice stacked up beneath the house is for the

tax collector

Their parents thought that it was foolish and wasteful to send girls to school

Chapter Two:

Teacher asked students what they saw beneath their house in the morning

Had a long discussion with the students about the landlord taking away sacks of rice

beneath their houses

A student spotted the headmaster heading to their class and the student shouted "he's

coming"

Teacher and student immediately pretended that they are having Geography lessons until

the headmaster went away

Teacher and student discussed what they should do if they won the scholarship

Teacher announced that Dawan won the scholarship

Chapter Three:

Classmates surrounded Dawan as soon as they heard that she won the scholarship

Kwai was unhappy and sad that Dawan won the scholarship instead of him

Dawan told her family that she got the scholarship and that made her parents angry. Her

father was especially angry and said that she took her own brother's chance away from him.

Dawan's grandmother however supported her

Dawan and her grandmother headed to Noi's house and halfway, Dawan's mother decided

to go with Dawan instead of her grandmother

Chapter Four:

Noi said that going to the city was useless

Army officer made deal with Noi's family in order not to bring Ghan to the army

Chapter Five:

Kwai realised that Noi and Ghan do not support Dawan in going to the city

Kwai came in second in the examination

If Dawan does not go to the city, Kwai gets to go instead of her

Chapter Six:

Dawan's father didn't want her to go to the city

Kwai asked his father if he had won the scholarship, would he allow him to go to the city

Kwai's dad thought that boys going to the city to further his studies would be better than

girls

Part 1

"I'm a girl" Gender bias against herself, did not think that she would win the scholarship.

Part 2

Scholarship results announced Kwai runs off.

Part 3

Family reaction

-Father- Angry Kwai didn't win

-Grandmother-Happy for Dawan

-Mother-Not my place to say anything

Part 4

Grandmother convinces mother to visit Noi with Dawan.

Part 5

Dwan: I want to go

Noi: "The city is ugly and cruel"

-village better for girls.

-Theme: social injustice

Part 6

Kwai reveals he got 2nd will go if Dwan doesn't go.

Plot – Events

Chapter 1

1. Where does Dawan live?

___________________________________________________________________________

2. a) How old is Dawan?

___________________________________________________________________________

b) How old is Kwai?

___________________________________________________________________________

3. How are their parents gender biased?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

4. Did Dawan get to go to school? Why?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

5. When does Dawan wake up?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

6. What do Dawan and Kwai do at Dawn?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

7. Why do we remember Dawn in the first chapter?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

8. Why are both Dawan and Kwai so excited that morning?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

9. What is the expectation of both of them?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

10. What are Kwai’s plans if he wins the scholarship?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

11. Why is their father and other villages suffering?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

12. Why does Dawan feel she will not get the scholarship?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

13. What are your views about education for girls in Thailand in Chapter 1?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Literary Devices from Chapter 1

Minfong Ho has a very simple but descriptive style.

She uses a lot of adjectives:

____cool_____ night rain

____________ silence of the after rain

____________ sobbing

____________ rattan mat

____________ moonlight

____________ banana leaves

____________ gossip of the leaves

____________ thatched hut

____________ croaks of bullfrogs

____________ shutters of the windows

____________ stilness

Imagery

Detailed description of

Dawn – see, hear, touch, smell, feel.

Hear - drizzling of the rain

- deep croaking of the bullfrogs - baby’s quiet sobbing

Symbolism

Dawan = almost same sound as Dawn – Homophone

Dawn = beginning of a new day, end of darkness.

What does Sing to Dawn symbolises?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Character

Chapter 1 – Dawan

Character Traits Textual Evidence

Creative ‘ She started singing softly. It was her own song, one which she had made up herself (pg 4)

Early riser Dawn like this part of the day – best of all …. It was beginning to dawn.

Setting

Setting

Dawan’s home - a little

thatched hut

Social Setting – Backdrop

- People’s way of life

- Struggles

- Values

- Dreams

1. An unjust system

2. Gender Bias

Themes

Themes

Importance of Education