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Year 8 - English

Exploring Walter de la Mare's poem 'Brueghel's Winter'

Myths, legends and stories that inspire

Unit Summary

In this unit, pupils read and explore a range of text types in connection to classical myths and legends. They first look at poetry before doing some descriptive writing inspired by poetry and paintings. They then explore Chaucer and modern retellings of myths to inspire their narrative writing.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to write a descriptive paragraph inspired by Bruegel's painting 'The Hunters in the Snow' and Walter de la Mare's poem 'Breughel's Winter'.

Key Notes

  • Walter de la Mare's 'Brueghel's Winter' is an ekphrastic poem.
  • An ekphrastic poem is a poem which describes a piece of art, and is inspired by it.
  • You can look at a poem as a whole and consider how the descriptions work together to create a particular tone or mood.
  • You can look at the descriptions individually and consider the effect they have.
  • You can consider the tone you wish to create in your own writing, and then select words and phrases to create this tone.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • dominant: most powerful, overbearing, influential
  • ekphrastic: a poem which describes a piece of art, and is inspired by it
  • tone: the attitude and emotion of your voice - written or verbal
  • dejected: depressed, downcast
  • ominous: something suggesting something bad is about to happen

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • The use of adjectives is a simple technique, so there isn't much point analysing a writer's use of them, or planning for them in your own writing.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.

Walter de la Mare's 'Brueghel's Winter' is an ekphrastic poem. An ekphrastic poem is a poem which describes a piece of art, and is inspired by it.

2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'dominant'

most powerful, overbearing, influential.

3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.

Mistake: The use of adjectives is a simple technique, so there isn't much point analysing a writer's use of them, or planning for them in your own writing. Correction: Adjectives are a wonderful way to express tone, nuanced meaning and atmosphere. As such, they can be rich for analysis, and have a powerful effect on your own descriptive writing.

More Lessons In This Unit

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