Year 10 - English
Understanding ideas of love and relationships in Ewing's 'Origin Story'
Poetry anthology (Assessment from summer 2027)
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Study Guides
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 explore ideas of love and relationships in Ewing's 'Origin Story'.
Key Notes
- The speaker of the poem is most likely Ewing herself, sharing her own personal experience.
- The poem explores different types of love: romantic, familial, and love linked to self-identity.
- Arguably the poem subverts the conventions of a love poem, offering a realistic presentation.
- The title foregrounds the importance of placing value on Black lived experiences and reimagining narratives.
- Ewing has said that her work falls under the genre of Afrofuturism.
Vocabulary To Learn
- lineage: the members of a person's family who are directly related to that person
- familial: related to family or the relationships between family members
- origin: the beginning or cause of something
- idealised: shown as perfect or better than it really is
- Afrofuturism: a genre that centers Black history and culture and incorporates science-fiction, technology, and futuristic elements
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- This poem doesn't seem like a typical love poem because it doesn't present love as happy or ideal. Most love poetry tends to focus on idealised romantic love.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.
The speaker of the poem is most likely Ewing herself, sharing her own personal experience. The poem explores different types of love: romantic, familial, and love linked to self-identity.
2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'lineage'
the members of a person's family who are directly related to that person.
3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.
Mistake: This poem doesn't seem like a typical love poem because it doesn't present love as happy or ideal. Most love poetry tends to focus on idealised romantic love. Correction: Ewing shows love as fragile but meaningful. By exploring romantic, familial, and self-love, she challenges idealised love poetry and redefines what love can look like—real, complex, and powerful.
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 and identity in 'Catrin' and 'Origin Story' 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 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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