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Poetryclass Fresh ideas for learning from The Poetry Society

Does this smell

like a good poem?

By Joanne Bowles

Teacher Trailblazer

Tor Bridge High School

This lesson plan involves exploring some of the ideas in

Cyrus Larcombe-Moore’s poem ‘my ghost’ (see page 8

of this resource) which was one of the winning poems

in the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2016.

The activities in this plan could be used in one or two

lessons or spread across a series of lessons/home

learning to inspire poetry writing.

The activities use the sense of smell as a powerful

stimulus.

Students will draft their own poem before reading

Cyrus’s poem. Their writing should inform their

understanding of the winning poem and also allow

them to reflect on how our senses, particularly smell

invokes a strong human reaction.

KS3

KS4

Topics at a glance

• Imagery

• Metaphor

• Structure

Getting started

Give students 5 minutes to complete the activity

smelling pots (worksheet 1 – ‘What’s that smell?’).

• Smell the pots around the classroom.

• Do not open them to look inside or the contents

will fall out.

• What do they contain? Try to figure out what is in

the pot.

• Complete worksheet 1.

• Smells could include fresh-cut grass, spices, sweets,

herbs, onions, orange, and cheese.

Whole class discussion

• Run through the contents of the jars and ask

students to share their answers, particularly what

words they would use to describe the smell.

• Why is it that some of us like a smell and others

dislike it?

• Why is it that the smells cause a different reaction

to some people?

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Smell is the only one of our senses directly hard wired to

our brains. The sense of smell is by far the most powerful

of all our senses but also one of our most underrated.

Our sense of smell is the direct extension of the brain.

Its direct contact means we get a very quick, very

intensive reaction to odours.

[See teacher notes for facts on smell, page 4.]

Solo activity

• Complete worksheet 2 – ‘This stinks!’

• Prompts:

• What are your best and worst smells?

• What are your favourite smells?

Perhaps it’s the smell of fresh bread or the

scent of roses? And which smells are a positive

turn-off? Maybe it’s the smell of raw meat, body

odour or a particular food or environment?

• Use worksheet 3 – ‘Smell words’ if prompts are

required.

Pair discussion

In pairs, share your list.

What do these smells make you think about?

Then choose either your favourite or worst smell and

consider how this smell might relate to an experience?

Writing Exercise

Write about this smell as if it is something else – an

experience, a person or a room.

For example; you hate the smell of sweaty

feet... If this was a room it might be a teenage

boy’s bedroom, it would be dusty and cluttered,

there would be dirty plates under the bed and

abandoned socks on the floor. Scruffy trainers

would trip you up as you enter the room. The

smell would be sharp and pungent, it would be

eye-watering and stale.

Use the smell as a metaphor for a bad or good

experience.

Create an atmosphere – you might want to take the

class outside, particularly if the grass has been freshly

cut or have the class take place in the dining hall just

before lunch so the smells of the kitchen are strong

around them.

Whole class discussion

Without telling people if it was your favourite or

worst smell – read aloud your list.

See if the class can guess what the smell is and if the

person likes or dislikes the smell.

Explain that we will use the lists later to write our

own poem.

The title of the poem we are going to be reading is

‘my ghost’ (on page 8). Ask the class to predict what

is going to happen in the poem.

Read ‘my ghost’ aloud to the class.

Explain that titles give you an expectation but they

can have multiple meanings/be ironic/be a metaphor.

Now give each student a copy of Cyrus’ poem.

Ask them to highlight or underline all the parts of the

poem which mention smell.

Are there other parts of the poem which invokes your

sense of smell?

Get students to read through the poem again and in a

different colour underline/highlight those parts of the

poem which activates your sense of smell (can you

smell the scrambled eggs and burnt toast as you read

this part? Do the clothes in the cupboard smell?)

Our sense of smell is the most evocative sense but it is

often overlooked because we rely so much on what we

see and what we hear.

We very rarely think about what we smell. But

actually

when you smell something it brings back a

memory more

quickly than any of your other senses.

It is immediate.

Ask students why they think Cyrus used the sense of

smell in the poem. (Consider that you can close your

eyes but it is much harder to block a smell out of your

memory).

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Reading

the poem

• How do the smells make the poet feel?

• Do you think this poem is a happy or sad poem –

what supports your view? What words does the

poet use to inform your decision?

• What words would the poet use if this poem was

the opposite (sad to happy/frustrated to satisfied)?

• ‘Banishing’ could be changed to accept/welcome.

The poet uses ‘my ghost’ as a metaphor – like you did

using smells to describe an experience you

loved/hated.

Does the poet’s use of smell within the poem help us to

understand the poems meaning and who ‘my ghost’ is?

What smells does he associate with his ghost?

Do you think the poet loves or hates his ghost? –

What parts of the poem help you to determine this?

What other emotions do you understand from the

poem?

If the poet did not include the last stanza (where smell

is mentioned) would you have a different opinion

about how the poet feels about their ghost?

E.g. The smells that he/she associates with his ghost

are pleasant smells yet ‘I spent years banishing….’ and

‘I just wish I could eat alone sometimes’ suggests

he/she would prefer the ghost to leave him/her alone.

Who do you think his/her ghost is?

Prompts:

• Is the ghost a family member who has left/died?

• Do you perceive that the author misses his/her

ghost?

• Is this a break-up of a relationship, his/her ghost is

a lost love?

• Why does the ghost stand at the end of his/her bed

‘whenever I’m not alone’?

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Extension

• Write your own poem about your ‘ghost’.

• Use your list of words from the ‘This Stinks!’

exercise within your poem

• Could you include any other senses in your poem?

Enter the Foyle Young Poets

of the Year Award

Cyrus’s poem was a winner of the Foyle

Young Poets of the Year Award 2016. Now your

students are writing their own poetry they can

enter the competition themselves.

The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award is the

most prestigious award for writers aged 11-17.

It is an annual competition that welcomes poems

on any theme and entry is completely free.

Since it began in 1998, the Award has kick-started

the career of some of today’s most exciting new

voices. Past winners include Sarah Howe, Helen

Mort, Jay Bernard and Caroline Bird.

Winners receive a fantastic range of prizes,

including mentoring, a residential Arvon writing

course, Poetry Society membership and books.

The Poetry Society also continues to support

winners’ development with performance,

publication and internship opportunities.

Find out more and enter your students’ work at

foyleyoungpoets.org

Teacher

notes

• Olfaction is the sense of smell.

• People can detect at least one trillion distinct scents.

• Scent cells are renewed every 30 to 60 days so every

couple of months you get a new ‘nose’

• You can smell fear and disgust. You can smell

feelings of fear and disgust through sweat.

• Women have a better sense of smell than men

• Like fingerprints, every person has their own

distinct odour.

• Dogs have nearly 44 times more scent cells than

humans. “Humans have five to six million odour-

detecting cells as compared to dogs that have 220

million cells

• People who cannot smell have a condition called

anosmia.

• Your sense of smell accounts for 75-95% of the

impact a flavour has.

• When you are asleep your sense of smell shuts down.

• The way we smell plays a large part in who we are

attracted to.

• People who suffer from cacosmia find all smells

revolting.

Source: http://www.everydayhealth.com/ news/

incredible-facts-about-your-sense-smell/

Facts

about our

sense of

smell

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Guess what is

inside the jar

Do you

like the

smell?

What words would

you use

to describe the smell?

What does the smell

remind you of?

How does the smell

make you feel?

(Happy, sad, annoyed

etc)

Worksheet 1 What’s that smell?

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Worksheet 1 This stinks!

favourite

smell

The

smell

I hate

Complete the boxes. Use the prompt

sheet (Worksheet 3) if necessary

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Worksheet 3 Smell words

Acidy

Aromatic

Balmy

Briny

Burnt

Cheesy

Clean

Damp

Dank

Decayed

Earthy

Eye-watering

Fishy

Flowery

Fragrant

Fresh

Fruity

Gamey

Gaseous

Grassy

Mildewed

Minty

Mouldy

Musty

New

Old

Perfumed

Piney

Pungent

Putrid

Rancid

Reek

Rotten

Salty

Savoury

Scented

Sharp

Sickly

Smokey

Sour

Spicy

Spoiled

Stagnant

Stale

Stench

Strong

Sweet

Tempting

Wet

Woody

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my ghost

By Cyrus Larcombe-Moore

A winner of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2016

I spent two years banishing a ghost from my head.

So now it sits in my back garden.

And sometimes it stands by the kitchen window,

watching us scramble breakfast eggs

and burn toast.

And every now and then,

whenever I’m not alone,

it stands at the end of my bed.

And it will sleep in my cupboards

among the baggy t-shirts and jumpers.

And where ever it goes I smell chesnuts,

honey, cinnamon, raisins.

It still gives me butterflies,

and the smell clings to everything.

I just wish I could eat alone sometimes.