Noam Chomsky: Extract from Propaganda Review
What is propaganda according to Chomsky?
The term ”Ministry of Truth” is borrowed from George Orwell’s 1984, which depicts a totalitarian society in which history is continuously being rewritten.
- What is the difference between a totalitarian society and a democratic society?
- Which one, according to Chomsky, is most reliant upon the use of propaganda?
- Is this a valid claim? Was it the conclusion you expected?
Jessie Pope: Who’s For The Game
- What is the overall message in this poem?
- Is the message clear put?
- What effect does it have that the poem is written as a list of rhetorical questions?
- Describe the rhyme structure and rhythm of the poem. Is it regular? In what way does it help convey the message?
- Why does the poet use the metaphor of the game?
- There is a very British concept of fair play. Is this game an example of fair play?
- In what sense is the poem an example of propaganda?
- Relate the poem to the following recruitment poster for ”Pals Battalions”.
Wilfred Owen: Dulce et Decorum Est
Stanza 11. Define the rhythm and rhyme structure in the poem
2. Why are the soldiers ”knock-kneed and coughing like hags” in stanza 1?
3. In line 2, we are told that the soldiers ”cursed through the sludge”. What are the connotations of the verb cursed? Relate to the word ”hag”
4. Line six contains a neologism ”blood-shod”. What does this word mean? Relate to the image of marching soldiers in stanza 1. Stanza 2 1. Describe the shift in pace in comparison to stanza 1.
2. Why is the word ”GAS” capitalised and repeated?
3. What happens to the soldier in stanza 2?
4. What effect does this have on the lyrical I?
5. Why does the world become filled with "thick green light" "as under a green sea”?
6. Why does the poet say the man next to him is "drowning"? How can you be drowning when there is no water nearby? How can he be drowning in fire or lime?
7. What does the poet see each night in his dreams?
8. In the description, the dying man "plunges" at the lyrical I. Why use the metaphor “plunges” and why is this image particularly disturbing?
Stanza 31.This stanza contains a number of similes. Find these similes and place them place them in the following categories:
- Gustatory imagery
- Tactile imagery
- Audial imagery
2. Why would children be "ardent for some desperate glory"?3. What is the meaning of the Latin phrase "dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori"? Where is this quote taken from?4. How would the Latin phrase change in its meaning if we read it without the context of the rest of the poem?5. Does the meaning of the poem change taking into consideration that Owen died a few months after writing it?
Propaganda posters and Dulce et Decorum est Browse the following link with British propaganda posters (pair work). Give concrete examples in answer to all four questions: a. What methods of persuasion are applied? b. What themes are depicted? c. How is the enemy described? d. Why may we define these posters as propaganda ? Relate to Dulce et Decorum est.
Rupert Brooke: The Soldier
Definition of A Sonnet:
The word sonnet comes from the Italian word “sonetto” which means “little song”.
A sonnet has come to be known generally as a poem containing fourteen lines of iambic pentameter. The word "iambic" describes the type of foot that is used (an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable). The word "pentameter" indicates that a line has five of these feet.
Traditionally, sonnets have been classified into groups based on the ryhme scheme. William Shakespeare wrote his sonnets to rhyme: abab cdcd efef gg. Sonnets which follow this rhyme scheme are called Shakespearean Sonnets.
Sonnets also generally contain a volta, or turn. This is a subtle device used to distract the reader from the monotonous beat of the iambic pentameter. The volta may be a subtle shift or a complete reversal of direction. Writers have used various devices to indicate the turn as well as placing the turn in different places. The Shakespearean Sonnet generally places the volta after the eighth line.
Look at the definition of a Shakespearean sonnet
- In what sense does it fit the definition (rhyme, rhythm, theme)?
- Is there anything in the poem that does not fit the definition?
- In Shakespeare’s sonnets, there is often a movement from the specific to the eternal. Describe the corresponding movement in “The Soldier”
- Google the term “Remembrance Day”.
- What does this day commemorate?
- What is the symbol of Remembrance Day?
- How may it be related to this poem?
Siegfried Sassoon: The Hero
1. Define the rhyme and rhythm 2. Describe the language. Why do you suppose the poem contains direct speech? 3. Find an appropriate title for each stanza and describe how the poem develops and what we learn about the “hero”.4. There is an irony in the opposition between the mother’s perception of things, and the truth revealed to us in the final stanza. Why is this an important message about war? Can this be related to the theme of propaganda?5. In what sense does the poem ridicule the ideas of glory and patriotism? 6. The poem also comments on the nature of truth. What is the message about truth? What would you say if you were the “Brother Officer”?7. Does this poem strike you as being true to life?
A comparison of The Soldier and The Hero
Compare Siegfried Sassoon’s ”The Hero” with Rupert Brooke’s ”The Soldier”, describing briefly how each poem relates to the following terms and themes.
