‘The Falling Leaves’ - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

‘The Falling Leaves’

To understand the impact of context on a poemTo explore the use and purpose of an extended metaphorSlide2

What is Context?The background

, environment, setting, or surroundings of events or occurrences.Circumstances forming a background of an

event

,

idea

or

statement

,

allowing the

audience to understand the 

story

 or a literary piece.

Knowing the context is important in

writing to provide

information

, new

concepts

, and

words

to develop thoughts.Slide3

Margaret Postgate Cole (1893-1980)

Cole was dedicated to political issues from an early age. She was an atheist, feminist and socialist,

and went

to Cambridge University. She became a

pacifist

during the First World War.In addition to writing poetry, she was involved with many of the big social and political issues of her time. She campaigned against the policy of conscription – when ordinary men are forced to join the armed forces and fight in the war. In the late 1930s she rethought her approach to pacifism and supported military intervention in the Spanish Civil War as a way of directly challenging the rise of fascism in Europe.She was a teacher for most of her life.

Atheism

= the belief of the absence of god.

Feminism

= the equal treatment of men and women.

Socialism

= a political system where money, property, and resources are controlled by the public or the state.

Pacifism

= opposition to war, military, and violence.

Fascism

= government built around dictatorship and intolerance Slide4

Today, as I rode by,I saw the brown leaves dropping from their treeIn a still afternoon,When no wind whirled them whistling to the sky,

But thickly, silently,They fell, like snowflakes wiping out the noon;And wandered slowly thenceFor thinking of a gallant multitudeWhich now all withering lay,Slain by no wind of age or pestilence,But in their beauty strewedLike snowflakes falling on the Flemish clay.

Thence

= then, afterwards

Gallant

= gentleman-like, thoughtful

Multitude = crowdWithering

= sarcastic, arrogantSlain = killed, murderedPestilence

= plague, disease

Strewed

= scatteredFlemish clay = Belgian ground/soil

Literally

, what is the poem about?

Figuratively

, what could the falling leaves represent?Slide5

Today, as I rode by,I saw the brown leaves dropping from their treeIn a still afternoon,When no wind whirled them whistling to the sky,

But thickly, silently,They fell, like snowflakes wiping out the noon;And wandered slowly thenceFor thinking of a gallant multitudeWhich now all withering lay,Slain by no wind of age or pestilence,But in their beauty strewedLike snowflakes falling on the Flemish clay.

Rhyme

Semantic Fields

Alliteration

Past verbs

Present verbs

AdverbsSimilesSlide6

Today, as I rode by, A

I saw the brown leaves dropping from their tree BIn a still afternoon, C

When no

wi

nd

whi

rled them whistling to the sky, ABut thickly, silently, B

They fell, like snowflakes wiping out the noon;

C

And

wandered slowly thence D

For

thinking

of a gallant

multitude EWhich now all withering lay, FSlain by no wind of age or pestilence, DBut in their beauty strewed ELike snowflakes falling on the Flemish clay. F

RhymeAlliterationPast verbsPresent verbsAdverbsSimiles

Semantic field of nature

Semantic field of violence

Semantic field of

soundSlide7

Subject of PoemThe Falling Leaves is a woman's response to the huge number of men who died in the First World War.

When it began in July 1914, the war was very popular with the British public. It was seen as a way of punishing an aggressive Germany and politicians confidently predicted that it would be over by Christmas.By November 1915, when The Falling Leaves was written, thousands of soldiers were dying for the sake of a few hundred metres of gained territory.In 1915 alone, the French lost over one million men, the Germans more than 600,000 and the British more than a quarter of a million.Slide8

Attitude of the Poet

Most poetry of the First World War was written by the men who fought in it. It tends to focus on violent action or the death and despair that follow it. The Falling Leaves provides an interesting female point of view. It expresses the

feelings

of someone who is not on the battlefield but yet who still feels the

loss

it brings.There is a great contrast between the quiet, normal everyday life the poet is leading (going out for a relaxing ride) and the violent events happening in the war. Being so far away

, the poet is also able to see the war in perspective. Instead of the death of an individual friend, she sees thousands of bodies returning.Slide9

Extended Metaphor

Natural Element

Element

of War

Brown leaves

Tree

Wind

Snowflakes

Flemish claySlide10

The central metaphor of autumn leaves falling _______________ the soldiers who are dying in Flanders. The sight of leaves ‘dropping’ reminds the speaker how many soldiers – ________________________ –

are being killed. Cole also shows the difference between the leaves and the soldiers: the leaves are _______________ with age but the soldiers’ lives have been cut short while they are young, _______________________ . This __________________ the horror of war.

‘

brown’ ‘in their beauty’

symbolises

emphasises ‘a gallant multitude’Slide11

A point, including the name of the poet, the title of the poem, the technique used and its purpose

At least one piece of evidence that is supporting the pointAn explanation of the figurative and literal meaning of the evidenceAn

explanation

of how the evidence proves the point

An

analysis of the language used, including the connotations of keywordsAn analysis of the technique used, including the effect of the techniqueAn analysis of the poet’s intentions

, including their effect on the reader

How is nature used to present conflict in the poem ‘The Falling Leaves

’? Slide12

In her poem “The Falling Leaves,” Margaret Postgate Cole uses the extended metaphor of nature to present conflict as ______________.

This can be seen in the line “___________________.”Literally, the line describes ______________, but figuratively it describes _______________.This shows that conflict is __________________.The word “___________” connotes _____________.The extended metaphor is used because _______________.

By using the extended metaphor, the poet wanted to ______________, and make the reader ________________.

How is nature used to present conflict in the poem ‘The Falling Leaves

’?