Giuseppe: Roderick Ford

This 27-slide lesson explores Roderick Ford’s poem, ‘Giuseppe’.

The lesson begins by encouraging students to think about how acts of atrocity have been justified throughout history, looking at one case study example. We then look at Ford’s writing career before delving into the poem itself and establishing its narrative.

Language and imagery are deconstructed before analysing the poem’s form, structure, rhythm and rhyme. The backdrop of the Second World War, specifically concerning Sicily, is discussed, and the poem’s use of frame narrative and narrative distancing is considered.

The numerous characters featured in the poem are explored, as well as the problematic gender dynamics of the poem. We zoom in on various symbols and key moments from the poem for close analysis.

Students then consider the idea of ‘truth’ in the poem, before considering how the poem could be read via various critical lenses. Key vocabulary and key themes are also given to students to facilitate high-level analysis.

At the end of the lesson, there are critical-thinking questions for pupils to consider about the poem, before an idea for a suitable poem to compare to ‘Giuseppe’ to strengthen comparative analytical skills.

The lesson is ideal for those studying ‘Giuseppe’ as part of Pearson’s ‘Poems of the Decade’, but could easily be used for any purpose.

Two files are included: one saved as a PDF (to retain font and layout); the other is saved as the original PPT so that teachers can edit the file accordingly.