1. To access today’s activity booklet:
- JHNCC Moodle
- Digital Studies
- Year 8
- Poetry of the Great War
- Topic 5: The Soldier’s Depression
Select and save the ‘Activity PPT’.

2. Today’s learning objective is...
LO: To understand the effect of Sassoon’s
‘Suicide in the Trenches’ on the reader.
Last lesson: To understand the key events in Sassoon’s ‘Suicide in the
Trenches’

3. Learning Objective: To understand the effect of Sassoon’s
‘Suicide in the Trenches’ on the reader.
Know the soldier’s
change in emotion.
Evaluate the effect
of the poem on the
reader.
Analyse the
metaphor used to
show this change in
emotion.
Steps to Success

4. LO: Know the soldier’s change in emotion.
I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.
In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.
The soldier is described as ‘cowed and glum’. This might mean...
The soldier ‘grinned at life’, ‘slept soundly’ and ‘whistled early’. This might mean...
Emotion =
Emotion =

5. Learning Objective: To understand the effect of Sassoon’s
‘Suicide in the Trenches’ on the reader.
Know the soldier’s
change in emotion.
Steps to Success

6. LO: Analyse the metaphor used to show this change in emotion.
Tenor Vehicle Ground
What does this
tell you about
the person?
The thing you are
talking about.
The thing you are
comparing it to.
What they have
in common.
Heart
Eyes

7. Metaphor – The Seasons
Stanza 1? (the ‘larks’) Stanza 2? (‘winter
trenches’)
SPRING WINTER

8. LO: Analyse the metaphor used to show this change in emotion.
Tenor Vehicle Ground
What does
this tell you
about the
soldier?
Is there any
other
evidence to
back this up?
The thing you
are talking
about.
The thing you
are comparing
it to.
What they
have in
common.
Soldier in
stanza 1
Soldier in
stanza 2

9. Learning Objective: To understand the effect of Sassoon’s
‘Suicide in the Trenches’ on the reader.
Know the soldier’s
change in emotion.
Analyse the
metaphor used to
show this change in
emotion.
Steps to Success

10. Success Criteria: What effect does
the poem have on the reader?
Success Criteria:
L7: You have begun to develop an appreciation of how particular
techniques and devices achieve certain effects on the reader.
L6: You have clearly identified the effect on the reader, with some
explicit explanation of how that effect has been created.
L5: You have shown a general awareness of the effect on the
reader, with some – often limited – explanation.
L4: You have made a simple comment on the overall effect on the
reader.

11. LO: Evaluate the effect of the poem on the reader.
What effect does Sassoon’s poem, ‘Suicide in the Trenches’, have on the reader?
Point: Sassoon’s poem, ‘Suicide in the Trenches’,
makes the reader feel _________ because...
Evidence: Sassoon does this by...
Explanation: This effects the reader because...
Link: The poet might have done this because...
Peer Assessment
Assessed by:
WWW:
EBI:

12. LO: Evaluate the effect of the poem on the reader.
Point:
Evidence:
Explanation:
Link:
Self Assessment
I think I have got a level __
because...
To improve my work, I
could...
What effect does Sassoon’s poem, ‘Suicide in the Trenches’, have on the reader?

13. Learning Objective: To understand the effect of Sassoon’s
‘Suicide in the Trenches’ on the reader.
Know the soldier’s
change in emotion.
LO: Evaluate the
effect of the poem
on the reader.
Analyse the
metaphor used to
show this change in
emotion.
Steps to Success