Horses

Horses• What connotations do these animals have for

you?• What words spring to mind as you look at

these images?• Be as specific as possible and try not to talk in

general terms• Once you have done this repeat it but imagine

you are 5 years old. Does that change your perspective?

Working with a partner, discuss the following:

• What situation is being described in the poem?• Note down words / phrases that show the power of the horses• How do the following descriptions make the horses seem terrible and frightening:

– ‘Their conquering hooves’– ‘mute ecstatic monsters’– ‘eyes … gleamed with a cruel apocalyptic light’?

• To what are the horses compared and to what effect?• What attitude does the narrator seem to have towards the horses? Is it the same throughout

the poem? Explain your response.• What contribution does the description of the environment make to the poem?• Comment on the effect of the rhyme scheme.• What is iambic pentameter? Which words are stressed in the poem as a result of this? Why

do you think that is?• Comment on the use of time in the poem. How is time important?• Read Muir’s diary extract/quotation (labelled 5 in the file). How is this relevant to the

portrayal of time in the poem?• What is your personal response to the poem