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This comprehensive lesson is designed for students following the Edexcel A Level English Literature (9ET0) course, focusing on Simon Armitage’s Chainsaw Versus the Pampas Grass from the Poems of the Decade anthology. It encourages exploration of the poem’s allegorical meanings, technical features, and themes, while also building vital comparison skills for the unseen poetry question.

Lesson Stages:

• Starter Activity: Students evaluate two distinct approaches to poetry analysis—personal response versus technical analysis—and reflect on their own preferences.
• First Reading: Students read Chainsaw Versus the Pampas Grass and discuss surface-level meanings alongside deeper allegorical interpretations.
• Theme Exploration: Using key quotations, students analyse Armitage’s treatment of themes such as masculinity, control, violence, and nature.
• Imagery Analysis: A visual and language-based breakdown of the contrasting imagery linked to the chainsaw and the pampas grass, with optional colour-coded annotation for extension.
• Unseen Poetry Preparation: Students consider how they would approach an unfamiliar poem and develop their critical reading strategy.
• Comparative Study: Students compare Chainsaw Versus the Pampas Grass with Robert Frost’s Out, Out—, focusing on how both poems present power, violence, and the human relationship with tools and the natural world.
• Discussion & Feedback: A final discussion consolidates learning and invites personal and analytical responses.