Aims of the lessonTo explore how language and

structure is used to create meaning in The Drum

Listen to this!

• Video 1

Don’t forget to look at this!

http://wrightmrs.wordpress.com/

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 charmsOf tawdry lace and glitt'ring 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 ravaged plains,And burning towns and ruin'd swains,And mangled limbs, and dying groans,And widow's tears, and orphans moans,And all that Misery's hand bestows,To fill a catalogue of human woes.

The Drum

Positive vocabulary Negative vocabulary

Questions Answers

a. How has Scott created an image of the repetitive nature of marching?b. In what way is youth ‘thoughtless’?

c. How does Scott emphasise the value of liberty?d. What is the effect of the repetition of ‘and’ in the second stanza?

e. Find two examples of alliteration. To what effect do they contribute?f. What happens to the rhythm in the last line of each stanza? Explain why.