Year 11 - English
Understanding ideas of belonging in McKay's 'I Shall Return'
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 read and analyse four poems from the Eduqas poetry anthology. Pupils complete two lessons about each poem: one on understanding and one on analysis. At the end of the unit, pupils analyse themes from across the anthology and practise crafting a sophisticated comparative essay.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to explain how McKay presents ideas of belonging and heritage in 'you shall return'.
Key Notes
- Arguably, the speaker associates their home with beauty, joy, and a sense of being carefree.
- Conversely, the speaker presents their current situation as bringing them pain.
- Potentially, we might also suggest the speaker feels as if they must hide their heritage in their current situation.
- McKay arguably suggests that returning home will relieve the speaker of this pain.
- We might suggest that we can see an idealised view of rural, peasant life in 'I Shall Return'.
Vocabulary To Learn
- belonging: a feeling of being happy or comfortable as part of a particular group or particular place
- heritage: the history, traditions, practices, etc. of a particular country or society that continue to be important
- loiter: stand or wait around without apparent purpose
- native: associated with the place or circumstances of a person's birth
- idealise: to think of or represent someone or something as perfect
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Typically, literature presents the idea of a simple life as dull and monotonous.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.
Arguably, the speaker associates their home with beauty, joy, and a sense of being carefree. Conversely, the speaker presents their current situation as bringing them pain.
2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'belonging'
a feeling of being happy or comfortable as part of a particular group or particular place.
3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.
Mistake: Typically, literature presents the idea of a simple life as dull and monotonous. Correction: Literary movements such as the Romantics presented an idealised view of a simple, rural existence.
More Lessons In This Unit
- Analysing ideas of belonging and heritage in McKay's 'I shall return' Study Guide
- Analysing ideas of belonging in Wordsworth's 'I wandered lonely as a cloud' Study Guide
- Analysing ideas of dehumanisation and apathy in Ghose's 'Decomposition' Study Guide
- Analysing the poem 'War Photographer' Study Guide
- Comparing belonging in 'I wandered lonely as a cloud' and 'I Shall Return' Study Guide
- Comparing ideas of art in Duffy's 'War Photographer' and Ghose's 'Decomposition' Study Guide
- Planning an extended written response on the Eduqas 2025 poetry anthology Study Guide
- Understanding ideas of belonging in Wordsworth's 'I wandered lonely as a cloud' Study Guide
- Understanding ideas of dehumanisation and apathy in Ghose's 'Decomposition' Study Guide
- Understanding the poem 'War Photographer' Study Guide
- Writing an extended written response on the Eduqas 2025 poetry anthology Study Guide
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