Year 10 - English
Comparing ideas of love and identity in 'Catrin' and 'Origin Story'
Poetry anthology (Assessment from summer 2027)
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
In this unit, pupis explore 11 of the 15 poems from the Eduqas poetry anthology. Pupils complete two lessons about each poem: one on understanding and one on analysis. Pupils study the poems in a thematically linked order so they can complete comparative and thematic lessons during the unit.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to compare ideas of love and identity in Clarke's 'Catrin' and Ewing's 'Origin Story'.
Key Notes
- Both 'Catrin' and 'Origin Story' explore the complexities of relationships and the impact of different types of love.
- Clarke presents love as intense and restrictive, whereas Ewing suggests that love is fragile but enduring.
- Both Clarke and Ewing write using a first-person perspective which shapes how their experiences are presented.
- Both poems use metaphor and symbolism to represent different aspects of love and perspective.
- The poets use structure to emphasise the different sides or stages of love and identity.
Vocabulary To Learn
- conflict: an active disagreement between people with opposing opinions or principles
- maternal: relating to a mother or motherhood
- nostalgia: a sentimental longing or affection for the past, often idealised
- symbol: a word, object, or image that represents a bigger idea or meaning beyond itself
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Both poems use a first-person persepctive and therefore express similar attitudes towards love and identity.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.
Both 'Catrin' and 'Origin Story' explore the complexities of relationships and the impact of different types of love. Clarke presents love as intense and restrictive, whereas Ewing suggests that love is fragile but enduring.
2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'conflict'
an active disagreement between people with opposing opinions or principles.
3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.
Mistake: Both poems use a first-person persepctive and therefore express similar attitudes towards love and identity. Correction: While both use first-person perspective, 'Catrin' shows intense, ongoing maternal love, and 'Origin Story' reflects on a past, fragile romantic love. The attitudes differ because one is direct and personal, the other reflective and shaped by memory.
More Lessons In This Unit
- Analysing extended responses to the Eduqas poetry anthology Study Guide
- Analysing ideas of love and relationships in Ewing's 'Origin Story' Study Guide
- Analysing ideas of uncertainty and intensity in Kay's 'Dusting the Phone' Study Guide
- Analysing ideas of war and inevitability in Hardy's 'Drummer Hodge' Study Guide
- Analysing ideas of war and isolation in Owen's 'Disabled' Study Guide
- Analysing ideas of youth and nature in Blake's 'The Schoolboy' Study Guide
- Analysing ideas of youth and nostalgia in Heaney's 'Blackberry Picking' Study Guide
- Analysing the poem 'Catrin' by Gillian Clarke Study Guide
- Analysing the poem 'Cousin Kate' by Christina Rossetti Study Guide
- Analysing the Poem 'Kamikaze' Study Guide
- Analysing the Poem 'Remains' Study Guide
- Analysing the poem 'Sonnet 29' by Elizabeth Barrett Browning Study Guide
- Comparing ideas of identity and isolation in 'Disabled and 'Kamikaze' Study Guide
- Comparing ideas of love in 'Sonnet 29', 'Cousin Kate' and 'Dusting the Phone' Study Guide
- Comparing ideas of war in Hardy's 'Drummer Hodge' and Armitage's 'Remains' Study Guide
- Comparing ideas of youth and nature in 'The Schoolboy' and 'Blackberry Picking' Study Guide
- Developing interpretations of 'Remains' with Simon Armitage Study Guide
- Exploring and responding to the Eduqas poetry anthology Study Guide
- Planning a written response on the Eduqas poetry anthology Study Guide
- Reviewing a written response on the Eduqas poetry anthology Study Guide
- Understanding ideas of love and obsession in Kay's 'Dusting the Phone' Study Guide
- Understanding ideas of love and relationships in Ewing's 'Origin Story' Study Guide
- Understanding ideas of war and isolation in Owen's 'Disabled' Study Guide
- Understanding ideas of war in Hardy's 'Drummer Hodge' Study Guide
- Understanding ideas of youth and nature in Blake's 'The Schoolboy' Study Guide
- Understanding ideas of youth and nostalgia in Heaney's 'Blackberry Picking' Study Guide
- Understanding the poem 'Catrin' by Gillian Clarke Study Guide
- Understanding the poem 'Cousin Kate' by Christina Rossetti Study Guide
- Understanding the Poem 'Kamikaze' Study Guide
- Understanding the poem 'Remains' Study Guide
- Understanding the poem 'Sonnet 29' by Elizabeth Barrett Browning Study Guide
- Writing a written response on the Eduqas poetry anthology Study Guide
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