Reflections on Week 1

Hargrave Park The Lifesaver

Ambler RED

St Marks 3 & 1

St Josephs There’s more than meets the eyeThe circle of life

Forgotten Happiness

Grafton The chicken’s Lord of LifeA wheelbarrow of poetry

Duncombe A Garden’s Needs

Montem The Strange Mind &Beside the White Chickens

Gillespie Red and White

Christ the King MY life as a wheelbarrow

Yerbury DependingEverything is important to someone

Poole’s Park Lonely Days

Pakeman Down in the farmImagine

Red barrow nonsense

Alternative Titles

Yerbury’s audio recording

• Click here and select open.

Spotlight on Yerbury

• "The teachers at Yerbury School are very friendly and helpful. The topics are really interesting. This term we are learning about World War Two. We do a lot to help the environment - for instance we have solar panels on the roof. We have lots of nice displays and the subjects are interesting. The classrooms are really bright and cheerful. The school is 125 years old this year. We have big playgrounds with two climbing frames and a football pitch."

A Year 6 Pupil’s from Yerbury tells us about their school

Lord Alfred Tennyson

The Poem

First Thoughts• In the last line of the poem we

discover the eagle “falls”. What different meanings can you find in this term?

• What do you believe happens to the eagle?

• Tennyson called the poem a fragment? Does the poem seemed finished to you? Why do you think this?

Language• Make a list of difficult/unknown words

from the poem.• Find the meanings in a dictionary.

• Were you able to understand the meaning of the poem before understanding every word?

Personification• Personification is a figure of speech

in which inanimate objects or creatures are given human qualities.

• Can you find examples of Tennyson using personification? Why do you think he chooses to give the eagle human qualities?

Symbolism• Symbolism is the use of symbols to

represent things such as ideas and emotions. For example, a dove is a symbol of peace.

• What do you think an eagle is a symbol of?

To Christians, the eagle can represent John the Evangelist because of his lofty and "soaring" gospel.

Native American Indians associated the eagle with courage, wisdom, and a special connection to the creator. 

Why do you think the American Presidents’ seal contains an eagle?

Compare and Contrast

• Which poem do you think is older The Eagle or William Carlos Williams poem about a red wheelbarrow?

• Why do you think this? List evidence to support your response

The Poet• Tennyson was born in 1809. He had an

unhappy time at school and left to be tutored at home.

• He became poet laureate in 1850.• Tennyson was a Victorian poet.• Some of his other famous poems

include: The Charge of the Light Brigade, The Lady of Shallot, In Memoriam and Ulysses.

Writing Extension• Rewrite the poem turning it into prose.

Try to keep some of Tennyson’s language but use paragraphs instead of verses and write in greater detail.

• A possible beginning could be:

• Perched high above the steep cliffs the eagle looked down….

If you like that, try these

• If you like poems about animals, try the following:

• Judith Nicholls – Bluebottle• William Blake – The Tyger• Brian Patten – A small dragon