`Moon on the Tides` Anthology `The Falling Leaves` by Margaret

‘Moon on the Tides’ Anthology ‘The Falling Leaves’ by Margaret Postgate Cole Lesson Objec7ves: •  To iden7fy the key aspects of structure and form used to convey meaning Margaret Postgate Cole •  As Margaret Postgate Cole and other women poets of World War One have shown in their work, it was not only the men who suffered as a result of the war. •  Women’s lives were affected too, not least because of the millions of young men who died, all borne by women, and many loved by women. •  So, while male poets of this generaCon can tell us about the agony of trench warfare, women poets voice the despair, anguish and endurance of women, waiCng, wondering and Symbolism •  How can the seasons of the year be symbolic, in terms of: –  EmoCons? –  A person’s age, or Cme of life? Autumn
Imagery in the poem •  In ‘The Falling Leaves’ the speaker sees a tree dropping its leaves so thickly she’s reminded of snow. •  As she considers the image, she extends the metaphor as a way of describing ‘a gallant mul)tude’ of dead soldiers metaphorically ‘strewed’ over the mud like dead leaves or snow. ‘The Falling Leaves’ by Margaret Postgate Cole Today, as I rode by, I saw the brown leaves dropping from their tree In a sCll aNernoon, When no wind whirled them whistling to the sky, But thickly, silently, They fell, like snowflakes wiping out the noon; And wandered slowly thence For thinking of a gallant mulCtude Which now all withering lay, Slain by no wind of age or pesClence, But in their beauty strewed Like snowflakes falling on the Flemish clay. Test yourself 1.  What does the speaker see as she rides, and what does it make her think of? 2.  The last line of the poem tells you that the soldiers are being compared to snowflakes. a)  What else are the soldiers compared to in the poem? b)  Why do you think Cole compares them to these things? Think about what happens to leaves and snowflakes once they have fallen. 3.  The leaves – and the soldiers, later – are described as ‘brown’ in the second line. Why, do you think? Test yourself cont./ 4.  The leaves fall ‘thickly, silently’. a)  What does ‘thickly’ tell you about the leaves (the soldiers)? b)  What does the word ‘silently’ add to the feeling of what is going on? 5.  The deaths of the soldiers are ‘wiping out the noon’. What reasons can you find for writer’s choice of words here. Think about the day, and the soldiers. 6.  Who are the ‘gallant mulCtude’ in line 8? Why does the writer use the word ‘mulCtude’? 7.  Why do you think Cole describes the soldiers’ ‘beauty’? Compared to what? Think about the previous line.