TRAINING MODULE
POEM:
THE CHARGE OF THE
LIGHT BRIGADE
BY
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
Developed by Helena Cheah/ MGS/ 2016
The Right Honourable
The Lord Tennyson
FRS
1869 Carbon print by Julia Margaret Cameron
Born
6 August 1809
Somersby, Lincolnshire, England
Died
6 October 1892 (aged 83)
Lurgashall, Sussex, England[1]
Occupation
Poet Laureate
Alma mater
Trinity College, Cambridge
Spouse
Emily Sellwood (m. 1850)
Children

Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson

Hon. Lionel Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS (6 August 1809
– 6 October 1892) was Poet Laureate of Great Britain and
Ireland during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one
of the most popular British poets.
Tennyson excelled at penning short lyrics, such as "Break,
Break, Break", "The Charge of the Light Brigade", "Tears, Idle
Tears" and "Crossing the Bar".
A number of phrases from Tennyson's work have become
commonplaces of the English language, including "Nature, red
in tooth and claw" (In Memoriam A.H.H.), "'Tis better to have
loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all", "Theirs not to
reason why, / Theirs but to do and die", "My strength is as the
strength of ten, / Because my heart is pure", "To strive, to seek,
to find, and not to yield", "Knowledge comes, but Wisdom
lingers", and "The old order changeth, yielding place to new".
He is the ninth most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford
Dictionary of Quotations.
A common thread of grief, melancholy, and loss connects much
of his poetry (e.g., Mariana, The Lotos Eaters, Tears, Idle
Tears, In Memoriam), likely reflecting Tennyson's own lifelong
struggle with debilitating depression.
T. S. Eliot famously described Tennyson as "the saddest of all
English poets", whose technical mastery of verse and language
provided a "surface" to his poetry's "depths, to the abyss of
sorrow". Other poets such as W. H. Auden maintained a more
critical stance, stating that Tennyson was the "stupidest" of all
the English poets, adding that: "There was little about
melancholia he didn't know; there was little else that he did."
The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Overview of ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’
The poem tells the story of how
Stanza 1
Stanza 2
Stanza 3
Themes
HOTS
1. If you were a journalist covering the war, how would you describe the battle scene in
Stanza 1:
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
Stanza 2:
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
Stanza 3:
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
2. If you were the Prime Minister, how would you honour these soldiers who have
sacrificed themselves for the country?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
3. Who do you think is at fault in this battle?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
4. What action must be taken to make sure that such an incident would not occur
again?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
TRAINING MODULE
POEM:
A POISON TREE
BY
WILLIAM BLAKE
Developed by Helena Cheah/ MGS/ 2016
William Blake Biography
Artist, Poet (1757–1827)
William Blake was a 19th century writer and artist
who is regarded as a seminal figure of the Romantic,
Age. His writings have influenced countless writers
and artists through the ages, and he has been deemed both a
major poet and an original thinker.
Synopsis
Born in 1757 in London, England, William Blake began writing at an early age and claimed
to have had his first vision, of a tree full of angels, at age 10. He studied engraving and grew
to love Gothic art, which he incorporated into his own unique works. A misunderstood poet,
artist and visionary throughout much of his life, Blake found admirers late in life and has
been vastly influential since his death in 1827.
Early Years
William Blake was born on November 28, 1757, in the Soho district of London, England. He
only briefly attended school, being chiefly educated at home by his mother. The Bible had an
early, profound influence on Blake, and it would remain a lifetime source of inspiration,
coloring his life and works with intense spirituality.
At an early age, Blake began experiencing visions, and his friend and journalist Henry Crabb
Robinson wrote that Blake saw God's head appear in a window when Blake was 4 years old.
He also allegedly saw the prophet Ezekiel under a tree and had a vision of "a tree filled with
angels." Blake's visions would have a lasting effect on the art and writings that he produced.
The Young Artist
Blake's artistic ability became evident in his youth, and by age 10, he was enrolled at Henry
Pars's drawing school, where he sketched the human figure by copying from plaster casts of
ancient statues. At age 14, he apprenticed with an engraver. Blake's master was the engraver
to the London Society of Antiquaries, and Blake was sent to Westminster Abbey to make
drawings of tombs and monuments, where his lifelong love of gothic art was seeded.
Also around this time, Blake began collecting prints of artists who had fallen out of vogue at
the time, including Durer, Raphael and Michelangelo. In the catalog for an exhibition of his
own work in 1809, nearly 40 years later, in fact, Blake would lambast artists "who endeavour
to raise up a style against Rafael, Mich. Angelo, and the Antique." He also rejected 18th
century literary trends, preferring the Elizabethans (Shakespeare, Jonson and Spenser) and
ancient ballads instead.
The Maturing Artist
In 1779, at age 21, Blake completed his seven-year apprenticeship and became a journeyman
copy engraver, working on projects for book and print publishers. Also preparing himself for
a career as a painter, that same year, he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Art's Schools
of Design, where he began exhibiting his own works in 1780. Blake's artistic energies
branched out at this point, and he privately published his Poetical Sketches (1783), a
collection of poems that he had written over the previous 14 years.
In August 1782, Blake married Catherine Sophia Boucher, who was illiterate. Blake taught
her how to read, write, draw and color (his designs and prints). He also helped her to
experience visions, as he did. Catherine believed explicitly in her husband's visions and his
genius, and supported him in everything he did, right up to his death 45 years later.
One of the most traumatic events of William Blake's life occurred in 1787, when his beloved
brother, Robert, died from tuberculosis at age 24. At the moment of Robert's death, Blake
allegedly saw his spirit ascend through the ceiling, joyously; the moment, which entered into
Blake's psyche, greatly influenced his later poetry. The following year, Robert appeared to
Blake in a vision and presented him with a new method of printing his works, which Blake
called "illuminated printing." Once incorporated, this method allowed Blake to control every
aspect of the production of his art.
While Blake was an established engraver, soon he began receiving commissions to paint
watercolors, and he painted scenes from the works of Milton, Dante, Shakespeare and the
Bible.
The Move to Felpham and Charges of Sedition
In 1800, Blake accepted an invitation from poet William Hayley to move to the little seaside
village of Felpham and work as his protégé. While the relationship between Hayley and
Blake began to sour, Blake ran into trouble of a different stripe: In August 1803, Blake found
a soldier, John Schofield, on the property and demanded that he leave. After Schofield
refused and an argument ensued, Blake removed him by force. Schofield accused Blake of
assault and, worse, of sedition, claiming that he had damned the king.
The punishments for sedition in England at the time (during the Napoleonic Wars) were
severe. Blake anguished, uncertain of his fate. Hayley hired a lawyer on Blake's behalf, and
he was acquitted in January 1804, by which time Blake and Catherine had moved back to
London.
Later Years
In 1804, Blake began to write and illustrate Jerusalem (1804-20), his most ambitious work to
date. He also began showing more work at exhibitions (including Chaucer's Canterbury
Pilgrims and Satan Calling Up His Legions), but these works were met with silence, and the
one published review was absurdly negative; the reviewer called the exhibit a display of
"nonsense, unintelligibleness and egregious vanity," and referred to Blake as "an unfortunate
lunatic."
Blake was devastated by the review and lack of attention to his works, and, subsequently, he
withdrew more and more from any attempt at success. From 1809 to 1818, he engraved few
plates (there is no record of Blake producing any commercial engravings from 1806 to 1813).
He also sank deeper into poverty, obscurity and paranoia.
In 1819, however, Blake began sketching a series of "visionary heads," claiming that the
historical and imaginary figures that he depicted actually appeared and sat for him. By 1825,
Blake had sketched more than 100 of them, including those of Solomon and Merlin the
magician and those included in "The Man Who Built the Pyramids" and "Harold Killed at the
Battle of Hastings"; along with the most famous visionary head, that included in Blake's "The
Ghost of a Flea."
Remaining artistically busy, between 1823 and 1825, Blake engraved 21 designs for an
illustrated Book of Job (from the Bible) and Dante's Inferno. In 1824, he began a series of
102 watercolor illustrations of Dante—a project that would be cut short by Blake's death in
1827.
In the final years of his life, William Blake suffered from recurring bouts of an undiagnosed
disease that he called "that sickness to which there is no name." He died on August 12, 1827,
leaving unfinished watercolor illustrations to Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and an illuminated
manuscript of the Bible's Book of Genesis. In death, as in life, Blake received short shrift
from observers, and obituaries tended to underscore his personal idiosyncrasies at the
expense of his artistic accomplishments. The Literary Chronicle, for example, described him
as "one of those ingenious persons ... whose eccentricities were still more remarkable than
their professional abilities."
Unappreciated in life, William Blake has since become a giant in literary and artistic circles,
and his visionary approach to art and writing have not only spawned countless, spellbound
speculations about Blake, they have inspired a vast array of artists and writers.
A Poison Tree by William Blake
Overview of A Poison Tree
A poison tree is about
Stanza 1
Stanza 2
Stanza 3
Stanza 4
Worksheet 1
Stanza 1
1. Who is the first person the persona is angry with?
_____________________________________________________________
2. What is the meaning of wrath?
_____________________________________________________________
3. What happens when the persona told his friend his wrath?
_____________________________________________________________
4. Why did the wrath end?
_____________________________________________________________
5. Who is the second person the persona is angry with?
_____________________________________________________________
6. What is the meaning of foe?
_____________________________________________________________
7. Did the persona express his anger? What happened??
_____________________________________________________________
8. What is actually described in stanza 1?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Worksheet 2
Stanza 2
9. What is the ‘it’ in stanza 2?
_____________________________________________________________
10. How did the persona treat his anger?
_____________________________________________________________
11. How did the persona water the plant?
_____________________________________________________________
12. What is the meaning of ‘fears’?
_____________________________________________________________
13. What is the meaning of ‘sunned’?
_____________________________________________________________
14. How did the persona sun the plant?
_____________________________________________________________
15. What is the meaning of ‘soft deceitful wiles’?
_____________________________________________________________
16. Describe the actual meaning of stanza 2
_____________________________________________________________
Worksheet 3
Stanza 3
17. What does ‘both’ in the line ‘And it grew both day and night’ imply?
_____________________________________________________________
18. What does an ‘apple bright’ look like?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
19. What does ‘beheld’ mean?
_____________________________________________________________
20. What would the foe do if he knows that the apple belongs to the persona?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
21. Explain what happened in stanza 3.
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Worksheet 4
Stanza 4
22. What does the word ‘stole’ mean?
_____________________________________________________________
23. What happened in the persona’s garden one night?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
24. What does the ‘pole’ refer to?
_____________________________________________________________
25. What is the meaning of ‘veiled’?
_____________________________________________________________
26. What kind of night is it?
_____________________________________________________________
27. What is the meaning of ‘glad’?
_____________________________________________________________
28. Why is the persona glad?
_____________________________________________________________
29. What has actually happened in stanza 4?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Worksheet 5
Literal meaning of poem
Figurative meaning of the poem
Simile/Metaphor Rap
CHORUS
[Sister] Simile says it’s like or as
[Brother] Metaphor says it is or was
[Sister] Simile says it’s like or as
[Brother] Metaphor says it is or was
Simile! He’s as fast as lightning,
Metaphor! He’s a beast, big and frightening,
Simile! She’s as sweet as spice,
Metaphor! His grey eyes were ice.
Simile! The shirt was white like polar bears,
Metaphor! Her voice was music to my ears,
Simile! The small classroom was like a zoo,
Metaphor! When his dog died he sure was blue.
[Sister] Simile says it’s like or as
[Brother] Metaphor says it is or was
[Sister] Simile says it’s like or as
[Brother] Metaphor says it is or was
Metaphor
1. The Tree
2. The Apple
Symbolism
1. A growing tree is a symbol of
2. The poison apple symbolises
3. Night symbolises
HOTS
5. The persona in the poem ‘A poison tree’ is very angry with his enemy. What advice
would you give to the persona to help him cool down.
Advice 1:
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
Advice 2:
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
6. What is your impression of
a) The persona:
_______________________________________________________
b) The foe:
_______________________________________________________
7. What have you learnt from this poem?
a) _______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
b) _______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
TRAINING MODULE
NOVEL:
SING TO THE DAWN
BY
MINFONG HO
Developed by Helena Cheah/ MGS/ 2016
Meet Min Fong Ho
There is so much, so much beauty and so much pain around me which I want to write about
– because I want to share it.

Minfong Ho writes about the people and the places she knows well and cares about.
‘There is so much, so much beauty and so much pain around me which I want to
write about – because I want to share it.’

She is born in 1951

Spends her childhood in Singapore and Thailand and became fluent in 3 languages:
Chinese, Thai and English.

Ho wrote short story ‘Sing to Dawn’ while studying in Cornell University (history and
economics)

She wrote it because she missed Thailand.

She entered it into a short story contest and won an award and was asked to turn
the story into a novel which was published in 1975.

Ho used the money earned from the publication of ‘Sing to the Dawn’ to set up
scholarship funds for girls in Thailand.

In 1980 Ho saw images of Cambodian war refugees on television.

She took leave of absence from her teaching job and work as a nutritionist and relief
worker for Catholic Relief Service on the Thai-Cambodian border.

This experience helped her to write ‘The Clay Marble (1991)

Minfong Ho has a purpose in writing about life in Southeast Asia.

She wants to increase understanding between cultures and provide realistic
descriptions of what life is like for people in different countries.

Her work features young people as protagonist or main characters.
Sing To The Dawn - Minfong Ho (Synopsis)
Chapter One:
Dawan and Kwai sat on the rickety old bridge above the river
Dawan asked Kwai what would he do if he got the scholarship
Dawan felt that she would not get the scholarship because she is a girl, instead Kwai might
get the scholarship
Talked about how unfair it is that the sacks of rice stacked up beneath the house is for the
tax collector
Their parents thought that it was foolish and wasteful to send girls to school
Chapter Two:
Teacher asked students what they saw beneath their house in the morning
Had a long discussion with the students about the landlord taking away sacks of rice
beneath their houses
A student spotted the headmaster heading to their class and the student shouted "he's
coming"
Teacher and student immediately pretended that they are having Geography lessons until
the headmaster went away
Teacher and student discussed what they should do if they won the scholarship
Teacher announced that Dawan won the scholarship
Chapter Three:
Classmates surrounded Dawan as soon as they heard that she won the scholarship
Kwai was unhappy and sad that Dawan won the scholarship instead of him
Dawan told her family that she got the scholarship and that made her parents angry. Her
father was especially angry and said that she took her own brother's chance away from him.
Dawan's grandmother however supported her
Dawan and her grandmother headed to Noi's house and halfway, Dawan's mother decided
to go with Dawan instead of her grandmother
Chapter Four:
Noi said that going to the city was useless
Army officer made deal with Noi's family in order not to bring Ghan to the army
Chapter Five:
Kwai realised that Noi and Ghan do not support Dawan in going to the city
Kwai came in second in the examination
If Dawan does not go to the city, Kwai gets to go instead of her
Chapter Six:
Dawan's father didn't want her to go to the city
Kwai asked his father if he had won the scholarship, would he allow him to go to the city
Kwai's dad thought that boys going to the city to further his studies would be better than
girls
Part 1
"I'm a girl" Gender bias against herself, did not think that she would win the scholarship.
Part 2
Scholarship results announced Kwai runs off.
Part 3
Family reaction
-Father- Angry Kwai didn't win
-Grandmother-Happy for Dawan
-Mother-Not my place to say anything
Part 4
Grandmother convinces mother to visit Noi with Dawan.
Part 5
Dwan: I want to go
Noi: "The city is ugly and cruel"
-village better for girls.
-Theme: social injustice
Part 6
Kwai reveals he got 2nd will go if Dwan doesn't go.
Plot – Events
Chapter 1
1. Where does Dawan live?
___________________________________________________________________________
2. a) How old is Dawan?
___________________________________________________________________________
b) How old is Kwai?
___________________________________________________________________________
3. How are their parents gender biased?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
4. Did Dawan get to go to school? Why?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
5. When does Dawan wake up?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
6. What do Dawan and Kwai do at Dawn?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
7. Why do we remember Dawn in the first chapter?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
8. Why are both Dawan and Kwai so excited that morning?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
9. What is the expectation of both of them?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
10. What are Kwai’s plans if he wins the scholarship?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
11. Why is their father and other villages suffering?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
12. Why does Dawan feel she will not get the scholarship?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
13. What are your views about education for girls in Thailand in Chapter 1?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Literary Devices from Chapter 1
Minfong Ho has a very simple but descriptive style.
She uses a lot of adjectives:
 ____cool_____ night rain
 ____________ silence of the after rain
 ____________ sobbing
 ____________ rattan mat
 ____________ moonlight
 ____________ banana leaves
 ____________ gossip of the leaves
 ____________ thatched hut
 ____________ croaks of bullfrogs
 ____________ shutters of the windows
 ____________ stilness
Imagery
Detailed description of
Dawn – see, hear, touch, smell, feel.
Hear
- drizzling of the rain
- deep croaking of the bullfrogs
- baby’s quiet sobbing
Symbolism
Dawan = almost same sound as Dawn – Homophone
Dawn = beginning of a new day, end of darkness.
What does Sing to Dawn symbolises?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Character
Chapter 1 – Dawan
Character Traits
Textual Evidence
Creative
‘ She started singing softly. It was her own
song, one which she had made up herself (pg
4)
Early riser
Dawn like this part of the day – best of all ….
It was beginning to dawn.
Setting
Dawan’s home - a little
thatched hut
Setting
Social Setting – Backdrop
-
People’s way of life
Struggles
Values
Dreams
1. An unjust system
2. Gender Bias
Themes
Importance of Education
Themes