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Explore the poem "The Drum" by John Scott and its message about conflict and war. Analyze the poet's use of language and structure to convey thoughts, feelings, and ideas. Draw connections to other poems in the Clashes and Collisions anthology.
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Starter: What words would you use to describe soldiers? Why do people join the army?
Clashes and Collisions Poetry Learning Objective: To understand what the poem ‘The Drum’ by John Scott is about. To analyse how the poet has used language and structure to convey thoughts, feelings and ideas.
John Scott John Scott was a Quaker and therefore opposed to all violence. He wrote The Drum in 1782 but it remained very popular and was reprinted many times during the Napoleonic era. For centuries what Shakespeare called the ‘spirit-stirring drum’ had been used by recruiting officers to attract men into the Army. John Scott wrote this poem beginning each verse with 'I hate the drum's discordant sound', in response to a war poem "The Call" by his contemporary Thomas Osbert Mordaunt which begins with the line: “Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife!”
Clashes and Collisions Poetry Now let’s read the poem. What ideas does the poem give you about conflict?
THE DRUM • I hate that drum's discordant sound, • Parading round, and round, and round: • To thoughtless youth it pleasure yields, • And lures from cities and from fields, • To sell their liberty for charms • Of tawdry* lace, and glittering arms; • And when Ambition's voice commands, • To march, and fight, and fall, in foreign lands. • I hate that drum's discordant sound, • Parading round, and round, and round; • To me it talks of ravag'd plains, • And burning towns, and ruin'd swains*, • And mangled limbs, and dying groans, • And widows' tears, and orphans' moans; • And all that Misery's hand bestows, • To fill the catalogue of human woes. • tawdry: cheap and showy (lace was used in officers’ uniforms • swains: young men
Close study • Answer the questions on the worksheet in full sentences in your books. • Then, study the cartoon and say how the cartoon is like the poem. • (John Bull is an imaginary figure who is a personification of England, similar to the American 'Uncle Sam'. He is shown in cartoons and caricatures as a prosperous farmer of the 18th century. During the Napoleonic Wars, John Bull became the national symbol of freedom, of loyalty to king and country, and of resistance to French aggression. He was the ordinary man in the street, who would fight Napoleon with his bare hands if necessary.)
Extra thinking • What is the poet’s message in this poem and how does he get his message across to the reader? • What other poem in the Clashes and Collisions anthology would you compare it with?
Plenary • Our lesson objectives were: • To understand what the poem ‘The Drum’ by Simon Scott is about. • To analyse how the poet has used language and structure to convey thoughts, feelings and ideas. • In your own words, answer the following questions: • What is ‘The Drum’ about? • How do language and structure contribute to meaning?
