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Original poster

Y9 English Lit - any teachers out there pls

28 replies

vickibee · 20/01/2021 13:50

My son who is ASD so he struggles with communication and empathy has been set two poems this week - Sonnet 29 by Elizabeth Browning and Cousin Kate
I may be being harsh but what 13 yo boy is going to be interested in two love poems that are 200 years old? It was so hard and the questions that were set so deep and difficult. I virtually had to spoon feed him with the answers.
If there is any English teachers out there can you help me understand why this seems so irrelevant for todays teens?
Is this part of the GCSE Syllabus, he will never manange even though he is bright as a button becayse he does not understand inference or impled meanings

OP posts:
ittakes2 · 20/01/2021 14:54

I have girl/boy twins in year 9. My dad has ASD and my son at one point was officially diagnosed as borderline as he had many ASD traits. Most of these are gone now (long story - infant reflexes needed to go dormant) but he is still very very literal and can miss inferences.
But I would say neither of my twins are interested in 200 year old love poems and I doubt too many year 9s are. My children are at different schools and my daughter has been studying poems for three years (she moved school and lucked out I think as if she had of stayed she would have moved onto text). I am a bit poemed out but I realise they use poems as its easier to demonstrate techniques that they can then use in larger texts. Its all about identifying techniques not understanding love or relationships.
ie poems which ryhme are more sing song suggesting lightheartedness.
ie words repeated in poems mean that the poet wants you to pay attention to that word.
ie looking for metaphores in the piece - weather is a good one ie wet weather and rain suggestive of tears and sadness.
My daughter has recently started war poems. Maybe your son might be able to develop his poem skills looking at these?
These are the things my daughter has learned for poems:
Identify the EVIDENCE (or QUOTE) and any relevant TECHNICAL TERMS such as Figurative and Emotive Language and Imagery and/or Structure.

  1. Make sure you include the Evidence and/or Quotes.
  2. Identify the techniques the poet has used with this Evidence and/or Quotes to support the POINT. The techniques include Techniques - Figurative and Emotive Language and Imagery and Techniques - Structure. GLOSSARY OF TECHNIQUES FIGURATIVE AND EMOTIVE LANGUAGE AND IMAGERY Alliteration: Assonance: Constance: Hyperbole: Onomatopoeia: Metaphor: Opposing language: Personification: Sibilance: Similes: STRUCTURE Rhyme: Poem Styles:
Acrostic:
Ballad:
Couplet: 
Epic:
Free Verse:
Haiku:
Limerick:
Narrative:
Sonnet: Rhyme scheme: Regular or irregular rhythm: Repetition: Punctation and pauses (including enjambment)
Original poster
vickibee · 20/01/2021 14:28

Thnx it is way beyond me.
The era was different where a soiled woman and an illegitimate child were shameful. This is the opposite of today's culture is it based on a true story or just fiction.

OP posts:
DeanImpala67 · 20/01/2021 14:03

Your child will need to study an anthology of 15 poems and be able to compare and contrast them for GCSE English Literature Paper 2. Look on YouTube for Mr Salles or Mr Bruff they do great videos explaining the poems. You don't have to feel the poems impact personally as such but you do need to learn how to write about them. Nobody expects a teenager to identify with how Rossetti was feeling when she wrote Sonnet 29, but they will expect them to recognise the literary devices used and the impact of them.