Year 9 - English
Writing about the self and the world with Simon Armitage
Simon Armitage: writing your world
Study Hub
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, pupils learn more about how to read and write poetry by listening to words of wisdom from the Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage. They read a range of his poems about his life and the wider world, and start to write increasingly poetically in response to them.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to follow Armitage's advice on writing a poem about a newsworthy event or about the self.
Key Notes
- Armitage suggests that daydreaming is an important part of finding inspiration.
- Armitage worries that we don't give ourselves enough time to just let our minds wander in modern society.
- Armitage suggests that poetry is all to do with metaphors and comparisons.
- Armitage says that often you have to approach poetry writing through a different angle rather than head-on.
Vocabulary To Learn
- communicate: to share or exchange information, news, ideas, feelings, etc.
- metaphor: a word or a phrase used to describe something as if it were something else
- provoke: to excite to some action or feeling
- impact: to have a strong effect or influence on a situation or person
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Poetic language does not exist in everyday life.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.
Armitage suggests that daydreaming is an important part of finding inspiration. Armitage worries that we don't give ourselves enough time to just let our minds wander in modern society.
2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'communicate'
to share or exchange information, news, ideas, feelings, etc.
3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.
Mistake: Poetic language does not exist in everyday life. Correction: Poetic language is everywhere since we use metaphors and comparisons in everyday speech all the time.
More Lessons In This Unit
- How Armitage writes about personal events and memories in 'Harmonium' Study Guide
- How Simon Armitage writes about climate change in 'Futurama' Study Guide
- How Simon Armitage writes about hope in 'We'll Sing' and 'Only Human' Study Guide
- How Simon Armitage writes about human connection in 'All Right?' and 'Give' Study Guide
- How Simon Armitage writes about life in 'About his person' and 'Poem' Study Guide
- How Simon Armitage writes about news and media in 'Transmission Report' Study Guide
- How Simon Armitage writes about the world in 'Resistance' and 'Out of the Blue' Study Guide
- Simon Armitage and the power of poetry Study Guide
- Simon Armitage talks about 'I am very bothered' and 'My father thought it' Study Guide
Browse all guides in the Year 9 English guide library.