The Somme Live Lesson: Additional video clips

Female newspaper seller:
Read all about it! It's war, it's war! Read all about!

Male newspaper seller:
Read all about it! Britain's at war! Did you hear that? It's war!

Female newspaper seller:
It's August, 1914 and the world has been plunged into a great war.

Male newspaper seller:
But how did it start?

Female newspaper seller:
Well, it's complicated. Are you ready?

Male newspaper seller:
Ready.

Female newspaper seller:
Right. June the 28th, 1914 and a Serbian Gavrilo Princip shot and killed Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne.

Male newspaper seller:
Tensions had been rising in Europe for many years, because competing countries had been claiming new territories and building bigger ships and armies.

Female newspaper seller:
By the start of the 20th century, countries all over Europe had made deals to look after each other.

Male newspaper seller:
The British, the French and the Russians all joined together to make one big alliance called the Triple Entente.

Female newspaper seller:
The Triple Entente. Also known as the Allied Powers.

Male newspaper seller:
Meanwhile, Germany teamed up with Austria-Hungary.

Female newspaper seller:
They later became known as the Central Powers, alongside Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire, run by Turkey.

Male newspaper seller:
And it was the assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand which really pushed these alliances to take action.

Female newspaper seller:
1st of August 1914…

Male newspaper seller:
… Germany declares war on Russia to protect her ally, Austria-Hungary.

Female newspaper seller:
France, who had a treaty with Russia, now had to get involved.

Male newspaper seller:
Because whether they liked it or not, the French simply had to help their pals, the Russians.

Female newspaper seller:
3rd of August 1914, Germany declares war on France.

Male newspaper seller:
They wanted to beat them quickly so they decided to take a shortcut through neutral Belgium.

Female newspaper seller:
Big mistake.

Male newspaper seller:
Huge.

Female newspaper seller:
4th of August 1914, Britain protested against the invasion of Belgium and declared war on Germany.

Male newspaper seller:
Read all about it!

Female newspaper seller:
There's no time to waste!

Male newspaper seller:
Your country needs you!

Female newspaper seller:
Join up, now!

Male newspaper seller:
Now!

Female newspaper seller:
1914 is gonna be the greatest year of our great nation's great history!

Male newspaper seller:
We're about to embark upon a great adventure. We shall march to France and onto glory!

Female soldier:
With war declared, Great Britain was whipped up into a frenzy of excitement.

Male soldier:
In only a few weeks 300,000 British men volunteered to join the forces.

Female soldier:
Businessmen, builders, bankers, barristers, bakers, bus drivers, it seemed everyone was desperate to join in and do their bit for King and country. Come on, you lot, join up!

Male soldier:
Yes, come on, join up, be a soldier!

Female soldier:
It'll all be over by Christmas… In the weeks that followed, men you and not so young, from all over the world were to find themselves marching off up and down their high streets in uniform.

Male soldier:
Yes, it truly is the first world war ever.

Female soldier:
As we speak, nations across the world are being brought in to boost the armed forces of the Allied and Central Powers.

Male soldier:
Right, we're all soldiers now. So come on, let's go to the front!

Mary:
Oh, hello, I'm Mary. It's been weeks since my boy Alfie, went off to the front. Oh I know I shouldn't worry myself, but I'm a mother I can't help it [LAUGHS]. I've been writing letters and sending gifts. Little things, you know, like chocolate and soap and lice powder. Apparently all the soldiers are getting lice in their hair. Oh it doesn't bear thinking about. The soldiers, they're allowed to send us letters too. I think that they're told not to write anything too gloomy. The Army, they don't want to upset us which is nice. Hey, I got a letter from Alfie yesterday, well Alfie, he's not normally one for writing letters I have to say, but he's just jolly well while he's been away. Now where is it? Oh. "My dear mother, thank you for the letter and chocolate, both put a smile on my face. I'm fine but a bit tired and muddy."

Alfie:
I'm fine, but a bit tired and muddy. The trench is knee deep in water and some of the younger boys are feeling worried and unwell. I am trying to keep spirits up, it's strange to think that this time a few months ago I was at home with you talking about this war and now here I am, sitting in a puddle right in the thick of it. Funny old world. I can't chat for long now I'm afraid, the CO says that we're probably going over the top any minute. Let's hope it goes well for us. Sorry this one's so brief, but I think it's nearly time for me to blow my whistle. I will write again as soon as I can. Much love, from your son, Alfie.

Mary:
"Alfie." [SINGING] keep the home fires burningWhile your hearts are yearningThough your lads are far away they dream of home.

Alfie:
[SINGING] they dream of home.

Mary:
[SINGING] there's a silver liningThrough the dark clouds shiningTurn the dark cloud inside out'Til the boys come home.

Alfie:
[SINGING] 'til the boys come home.

Mary:
Come home safe, Alfie. EP

Presenter - brown trousers:
Read all about it, War is over. War is over.

Presenter - brown jodhpurs:
On the 11th of November 1918 Germany agreed to an armistice ending the conflict.

Presenter - brown trousers:
Hurray! By the end of the way the German, Russian, Austria-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires ceased to exist.

Presenter - brown jodhpurs:
The map of Europe was redrawn with several independent nations restored or created.

Presenter - brown trousers:
The League of Nations was formed in order to prevent any repetition of such an appalling conflict.

Presenter - brown jodhpurs:
And the whole nature of war had changed forever.

Presenter - brown trousers:
But while the world breathed a sigh of relief celebrating the end of the Great War, all over Northern France were the gravestones of the brave and fallen.

Presenter - brown jodhpurs:
And red poppies blew in the wind on those muddy battered foreign fields.

Ben Shires:
Why were there so many poems written during World War I?

Paul Farley:
Well war poetry is as old as poetry itself; goes back to Homer and the Greeks but there was this concentration of poets on the Western Front and composers and artists as well, and as Dan said, reports back home were very kinda rare or they were censored. So poetry becomes a kind of secret history. It tells us the story of the soldiers on the ground.

Lucy Siegle:
So we're going to be looking at three very different poems today. Can you tell us about the first one that you've picked, Paul?

Paul Farley:
The first one is called The Soldier and it's by a poet called Rupert Brooke and he was very well-educated. He was very privileged. He joined up very early but he didn't see the war, he didn't see any real fighting. He died of a mosquito bite in the Mediterranean in 1915 and this poem you're about to hear, it's sort of reflects the world before the First World War, if you like. And it was originally called The Recruit, this poem and it was used as a way of encouraging young people, not much older than you guys actually, to join up and put their lives on the line.

Ben Shires:
Okay, well let's hear that performed now. Here's Lee Armstrong: with The Soldier.

Lee Armstrong:
If I should die, think only this of me:That there's some corner of a foreign fieldThat is for ever England. There shall beIn that rich earth a richer dust concealed;A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,A body of England, breathing English air,Washed by the rivers, blest by the suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,A pulse in the eternal mind, no lessGives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

Lucy Siegle:
Thank you, Lee, that was fantastic. Thank you. Now Paul, tell us about the language that's used in that poem.

Paul Farley:
First thing to say is it's got 14 lines and if you ever see a poem with 14 lines, a bell should ring and you should think, sonnet alert and this is a sonnet. Yeah, it's a kind of, it is a love poem in a way to England or being English. Those words occur six times in a 14 line poem. When I first read it, it reminded me of the speaker as a seed; he's being fed and watered and kept warm in England. Then he finds himself overseas somewhere and takes root. So that's an interesting way to think about it, I think and I wanted to make it solid because I think it's quite an abstract poem. There's a big idea in it which is that we carry our identity around with us but if you read the poem, there's nothing to really get hold of in it. There's no concrete things, no objects; none of the things that a soldier would've actually had about his person - tobacco tins, boots or gas masks, any of the things that you'd find in fields like where Dan is today.

Lucy Siegle:
Well, talking about objects, that bring us very nicely actually into our first task. We want you to imagine what people far up in the future will know about you from the things that you carry around. What do these things say about you, where you come from and what you care about? So pick out two or three items; things that you may have with you today or in your school bag that say something about you. What would yours be, Paul if I ask you to do the same thing?

Paul Farley:
Ooh, okay the first one is pretty boring. It's a mobile phone but it's honest, I always have one apart my person.

Lucy Siegle:
Lots of information about you, yes.

Paul Farley:
Exactly. Second one is spectacles because I haven't got 20:20 vision. Two pairs of spectacles in fact and the third one, I just found this before, it's a Saint Christopher.

Lucy Siegle:
Ooh, that's interesting.

Paul Farley:
Yeah, it's a little sort of charm that was given to me when I left home by somebody to keep me safe on my travels and whenever I pull it out of my pocket or find it at the bottom of a bag now, it reminds me of that person who gave it to me.

Lucy Siegle:
Wow, that's very intriguing. Thank you. Okay guys, so get those worksheets out. We want you to write down your three items and teachers, you can email us at [email protected] or use the hashtag BBC Live Lessons. Right, you've got 30 seconds, off you go.

Ben Shires:
Okay, that's time up. Get those ideas in, teachers and we've already got some great thoughts from the audience so I'm gonna go to Sayeed first. Sayeed, what have you got?

Sayeed:
This is a talisman. It represents Islam and it represents peace and unity within the religion.

Ben Shires:
Incredible and how about you, Mercy?

Mercy:
These are my three medals that I got in my first athletics competition and I'm very passionate about it.

Ben Shires:
That's brilliant, some lovely personal items there. Lucy, any word on social media?

Lucy Siegle:
Yes, those were very good. On social media we've had lots of that as well. Okay, this is Melissa from Dawlish Community College, thanks for this. My Spongebob sweater that made me feel warm and better. My ribbon from gymnastics when I used my tactics. My phone and WiFi, so I could see memories and pictures that made me cry. Thank you, Melissa. Okay, from the year eight pupils at Calday Grange Grammar School. Grandad's old pocket watch that was left to me when he died. My guitar plectrum. My glasses that I've worn since I was three or four. These are great, thank you. Moving over to Paul, scribbling away on your blackboard here. Any inspiration within that for our collective poem?

Paul Farley:
Oh yes. I'm starting to build up a kind of library of objects and objects are a fantastic place to start a poem 'cause they give you a solid thing that the reader and the writer can agree on. It's some common–

Lucy Siegle:
You like that.

Paul Farley:
Yeah, I love that common ground between you and the reader.

Lucy Siegle:
Yeah.

Paul Farley:
Soldiers turned to poetry because they wanted to share their experiences or to give a shape to their emotion, because remember there was nothing like counselling like we have now, there was not much for them when they came back home.

Lucy:
And do you think that was the case for our next poet?

Paul Farley:
Wilfred Owen. Yes it was really. I mean he became an officer in 1915, he didn't fight on the Somme itself, but he saw action in that Sector early in 1917 where he led a platoon of soldiers and saw absolutely horrible things. He wrote a letter home to his mum saying "I haven't been the Front, I've been in front of the Front", so right in the thick of it. And this poem we're gonna hear in the moment, 'Dulce et Decorum Est', it sort of captures this new mood that's abroad in the country, a new attitude that comes in after the Somme.

Ben:
Okay, lots to listen out to there. So here's Lee Armstrong: again with Dulce et Decorum Est.

Lee Armstrong:
Bent double like old beggars sacks,Knock-kneed coughing like hags we cursed through sludge,Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs and towards our distant rest began to trudge.Men marched asleep.Many lost their boots, but limped on blood-shod.All lame. All blind. Drunk with fatigue.Deaf even to the hoots of tired out stripped five-nines that fell behind.Gas. Gas, quick boys.An ecstasy of fumbling at fitting the clumsy helmets just in time.But someone still was yelling out and stumbling and floundering like a man in fire or lime.Dim through the misty panes and thick green light as under a green sea, I saw him drowning.In all my dreams before my helpless sight he plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.If in some smothering dreams you too could pace behind the wagon that we flung him in, and watch the white eyes writhing in his face.His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin.If you could hear at every jolt the blood come gargling from his froth corrupted lungs, obscene as cancer, bitter of the cud.Of vile incurable sores on innocent tongues.My friend, you would not tell with such high zest to children ardent for some desperate glory the old lie.Dulce et decorum est.Pro patria mori.

Ben:
Thanks again Lee, that was amazing. And Paul this poem it's very different to the first one we heard isn't it? It's so much more tangible.

Paul Farley:
Incredibly different, things really changed since we listened to the Rupert Brooke poem. I always get the sense you're listening to a poet bearing witness, who knows what he's talking about and is telling it like it is, he's bringing us the news and it still sounds like news a 100 years later. You think back to the Rupert Brooke poem, all that rich earth he talked about, and now its turned to sludge. English heaven has turned into a kind of hell.

Ben:
Absolutely, very vivid imagery. And what's the significance of the way that Wilfred Owen paints the characteristics of the soldiers?

Paul Farley:
You get all of these solid details and the soldiers are described, there's all of these horrible descriptions. He doesn't pull his punches at all with this poem and he's telling us what war, what modern industrial warfare does to this, does to the human body, and he's not afraid to be graphically detailed actually.

Ben:
Sure, and he doesn't just use English to convey this, he's also employing Latin as well. Why's he doing that?

Paul Farley:
Yeah, if you think about the way we use words in a poem as special effects, then this poem's got a big trick up its sleeve, it uses language on different levels if you like. So the title in the last line, 'Dulce et Decorum Est. Pro patria mori', it means something like it is sweet and proper to die for you country, but Owen mixes that up with the language of men who are in blind panic because they're being gassed. He put it right next to Latin so he kinds of sets language against itself in a funny kind of way.

Ben:
And language is interesting as well because in poetry we can use language not just the sort of elaborate language, you can use sort of informality and things like that to convey a message as well.

Paul Farley:
Yeah, I mean people think that a poem has got to be poetic or beautiful and its got to use this kind of lofty elevated language, it doesn't have to, you can mix different levels of language up. It's like you don't go around dressed in your best bib and tucker and nice clothes all of the time, sometimes you're in smart casual, just casuals, and language is the same and it's fun to mix it up.

Ben:
Absolutely. Well that leads us on very nicely to our next task because we want you and everyone watching to think about the way we use language in different scenarios. I mean sometimes we're very formal like when you speak to your headteacher or perhaps an older relative who's telling you off, and sometimes our language is very informal and very chatty. Isn't it mate? Like the words that you use may if you were texting a friend. So we're gonna show you three of the War propaganda posters, all you need to do is pick one and write your response in the kind of slang you'd use if you were texting your friend. So think hashtags and text speak, and phrases that are local to your area, jot them down on worksheet two and that includes everyone watching from your classrooms. We need loads of ideas so keep them coming in please. I'm just going to do a quick example with Paul now, so Paul if you give me the phrases and I'll give you my normal text speak response which is obviously part of my everyday vocab.

Paul Farley:
Are you ready for this, Ben?

Ben:
I am.

Paul Farley:
Okay, statement number one. "Answer now in your country's hour of need".

Ben:
Tuts boy I'm on dat ting.

Paul Farley:
Thank you. I've no idea what that means, but it sounded good. The second one. "England expects every man to do his duty".

Ben:
OMG I'm so like busy innit.

Paul Farley:
Okay, I get the idea. The third one is, "Your country needs you".

Ben:
YOLO #swag goals C U there. Thank you, I'm sure you can agree that was a masterclass [LAUGHS]. Right Paul?

Paul Farley:
Absolutely.

Ben:
Thank you, and thanks for helping me through that. Guys, I know they were pretty good, but please no copying yeah. Here's another 30 seconds on the clock so get writing now.

Schoolchild:
I put for the first one. Ah nice #totals down for it.

Lucy:
Love it, love it. Have you got anything?

SchoolchildYeah, I'm not goin #can't be bothered.

Lucy:
Good, brilliant. Okay what have you got down there, Ben?

Ben:
Yeah we got some social media comments Lucy: . So from Megan Mould at Red House Academy say, ~Nah! I don't wanna fight so you've got nee chance! [LAUGHS] A good one Megan. And Neve Garrett at Red House Academy says, "I'm sorry, I'll pass cos I don't wanna fight. Soz". Maybe a pacifist there. Paul, what do make to all these ideas?

Paul Farley:
I'm getting some good feedback and I will definitely be able to use some of these in the finished poem. Yeah, they sound really good.

Ben:
The kind of poems written after the war were very different in tone and poet, Paul Farley: is back to tell us more. So who is our final poet, Paul?

Paul Farley:
It's Siegfried Sassoon who's one of the most famous of the poets of the First World War, he was very well connected, a socialite I think you'd call him. He was already published as a poet before war broke out and he moved in fashionable circles, and initially he was a little bit like Rupert Brooke I suppose you could say. But the War really changed his mind especially the Somme in 1916, he completely his opinion of the War. He was given the Military Cross, but he chucked in the River Mersey in protest. He refused to fight it caused a big stink and the top brass really didn't really like this and they tried to shut him, and he was said to be suffering from shell shock and he was sent to a hospital in Edinburgh called Craiglockheart which is where he met Wilfred Owen who became his friend.

Lucy:
And how did his poetry change? How did the tone of it change?

Paul Farley:
He became very critical of the war, the generals who were running it, the politicians back home. It's a kind of gritty realism, it's very satirical. It's very on the nose and very biting, you could see why they were upset with him.

Ben:
So tell us about the final poem today then, what's it about?

Paul Farley:
This poem is called 'Aftermath', and it was written in the year following the Armistice, so 1919 we're in here, and like I said he hated the War, Sassoon, but he had a great affection for the men he served with, the soldiers. And so I think this is a very personal poem as you're about to hear, and also one that the nation took to its heart.

Lucy:
Okay, well without further ado here's Lee Armstrong: performing Aftermath.

Lee Armstrong:
Have you forgotten yet?For the world's events have rumbled on since those gagged days.Like traffic checked while at the crossing at city ways.And the haunted gap in your mind is filled with thoughts that flow like clouds in the lit heaven of life, and you are a man reprieved to go taking your peaceful share of time with joy to spare.But the past is just the same and war's a bloody game.Have you forgotten yet?Look down and swear by the slain of the War that you'll never forget.Do you remember the dark months you held the sector at Mametz?The nights you watched and wired and dug, and piled sandbags on parapets?Do you remember the rats and the stench of the corpses rotting in front of the frontline trench?And dawn coming, dirty white and chill with the hopeless rain?Do you ever stop and ask, is it all going to happen again?Do you remember the hour of din before the attack?And the anger, the blind compassion that seized and shook you then as you peered at the doomed and haggard faces of your men?Do you remember the stretcher cases lurching back with dying eyes and lolling heads?Those ashen grey masks of lads who once were keen and kind and gay.Have you forgotten yet?Look up and swear by the green of spring that you'll never forget.

Ben:
Thanks to Lee Armstrong: for three amazing performances this morning, and Paul the descriptions in this poem they're just as vivid, just as haunting as the last.

Paul Farley:
Yes, like the Wilfred Owen poem it sounds like this is somebody who knows what he's on about, it's very vivid, very specific, very detailed and it's full of place names as well which is another thing we might pick up on. Mametz, it's the name of tiny little village on the Somme with a wood next to it. And like Owen's physical details, like those objects, place names are really good they ground your poem, they anchor it, they give it a physical space that the reader can inhabit as well.

Lucy:
And there are several phrases repeated, what does that achieve?

Paul Farley:
Yeah, this repetition he keeps repeating 'do you remember?' and 'have you forgotten yet?' I dunno, it makes the poem sound haunted, it gives it this kind of tormented feel, like a poet who's tormented by his memories. And I think that's actually what happens, I think people coming home from war can often be very torment by their memories, the things they bring home with them. But it also sounds like Sassoon wants to keep those memories alive, he wants to remember those men that he served with.

Ben:
And the title of the poem, how significant is that?

Paul Farley:
Every word in a poem really counts and if a poem sends you to the dictionary that's usually a good thing. So if we look at aftermath, the word aftermath, if you were to go to the dictionary this is what you'd find, three definitions. The first one, 'a second crop or new growth of grass', it's the first new green shoots that come up after the mower has been over a field. The second one's 'a period or state of affairs following a significant event', and the third definition is 'a usually undesired thing remaining or left after the end or exit of something'. And this poem works under all three of those definitions, it's perfectly serviceable under any of them. But just have a think about that first definition and think about this, that in 1919 any babies that were born that year would have been around about 20 when the Second World War broke out and so would have faced this all over again, which makes the poem bigger and sadder and richer.

Ben:
So some incredible poignancy. And Sassoon's poem is asking us to remember, to never forget. We do this on Armistice Day every year, a minute's silence is held on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, when the First World War ended.

Lucy:
So we're going to hold a minute's silence to pay our respects to those who lost their lives. We want you to spend the time thinking about what you've learned today and how its made you feel, and write that down in short sentence starting with the words, I remember.

Ben:
It could be the words of one of our poets, an image that you've seen during the lesson or an emotion you've felt during one of our performances.

Lucy:
For this you'll need worksheet three, and teachers please keep those ideas and comments coming in from your classrooms. So beginning with the words, I remember, it's time to put pen to paper while we pay our respects to those who lost their lives at the Somme.

Lucy:
Okay, I hope that's given you a chance to reflect. Ben, what ideas have the audience come up with?

Ben:
Lots of ideas up here, Lucy. So if we come to you first, what have you remembered?

Schoolchild:
I remember that I'm now [INAUDIBLE] and it was so emotional, and I also remember the poem and it was really sad and effective.

Ben:
Great, and how about you?

Schoolchild:
I remember that the youngest soldier was around my age and it must have been scary for him and his parents because the parents must have missed him, and he must have thought like oh my God I'm going into the war and I might never come back.

Ben:
Absolutely, lots of intelligent contemplation going on up here. So what's going on with you Paul, what do you make of those reminisces?

Paul Farley:
They're fantastic, I wanna thank everybody here and at home for joining in these exercises. I think these, I remembers, what's actually happening is we're getting a gigantic crowd sourced sort of poem.

Lucy:
Yes, yeah.