The document provides learning objectives and success criteria for analyzing the poem "Hitcher" focusing on how it presents conflict through language. Students are asked to identify quotes showing conflict, characterize the narrator and hitchhiker, and explain how the language impacts the reader. For homework, students must write a multi-paragraph response analyzing how Armitage presents violence in the poem using the skills developed.

1. What annoys or irritates you in your
everyday life?
Does the level of your annoyance
depend on mood, circumstance
etc.?

3. Learning Objectives:
To EXPLORE and INVESTIGATE the poem ‘Hitcher’, focusing on how
meaning is shown through language

4. Band 4:
• I can identify effective language used by the poet that shows
CONFLICT
• I can use quotations to support my points about the language used
• I can show an understanding of the effects of the language on the
reader
Band 5:
• I can identify and show a clear understanding of effective
language used by the poet that shows CONFLICT
• I can use relevant quotations to support my points about the
language used
• I can include clear and detailed explanations regarding the
effects of the language on the reader

5. Summarize the
events of this
poem in less
than 100
words.

6. What conflict is shown in each stanza?
Read each stanza carefully and make some notes at the side of each
stanza.
When you have done this, UNDERLINE quotations which support
your ideas regarding how conflict is shown.
Success
Criteria:
IDENTIFY
Success
Criteria:
Use RELEVANT
quotations

7. Word or phrase in the poem What it tells us
under the weather
I thumbed a lift to where the car
was parked
he was following the sun from west
to east
the good earth for a bed
The truth, he said, was blowin’ in
the wind
This allusion to Bob Dylan lyrics could suggest
that the hitchhiker is a ‘hippie’ and a free
thinker, and it could also show the persona’s
contempt for such beliefs, depending on the tone
I let him have it on the top road out
of Harrogate
saw him bouncing off the kerb
The outlook for the day was
moderate to fair.
Close reading:
Discuss and fill in
what each word or
phrase tells us about
the persona and the
hitchhiker within the
poem so that they
can build up a
character profile of
both characters from
the poem.

8. Look at the following words. These have all been used to describe the narrator
of the poem.
What quotes would you link with these words?
Annotate your text.
Success
Criteria:
IDENTIFY
Success Criteria:
Use RELEVANT
quotations
TOP TIP:
Use a dictionary if
necessary!

9. I’d been tired, under
the weather, but the ansaphone kept screaming:
one more sick-note, mister, and you’re finished. Fired.
I thumbed a lift to where the car was parked.
A Vauxhall Astra. It was hired.
I picked him up in Leeds.
He was following the sun to west from east
with just a toothbrush and the good earth for a bed. The
truth,
he said, was blowin’ in the wind,
or round the next bend.
I let him have it
on the top road out of Harrogate – once
with the head, then six times with the krooklok
in the face – and didn’t even swerve.
I dropped into third
and lent across
to let him out, and saw him in the mirror
bouncing off the kerb, then disappearing down the verge.
We were the same age, give or take a week.
He said he liked the breeze
to run its fingers
through his hair. It was twelve noon.
The outlook for the day was moderate to fair.
Stitch that, I remember thinking,
you can walk from there.
BRUTAL

10. Success
Criteria:
IDENTIFY
Success
Criteria:
Use
RELEVANT
quotations
Success Criteria:
Show
UNDERSTANDING
of the EFFECTS of
the language

11. I’d been tired, under
the weather, but the ansaphone kept screaming:
one more sick-note, mister, and you’re finished. Fired.
I thumbed a lift to where the car was parked.
A Vauxhall Astra. It was hired.
I picked him up in Leeds.
He was following the sun to west from east
with just a toothbrush and the good earth for a bed. The
truth,
he said, was blowin’ in the wind,
or round the next bend.
I let him have it
on the top road out of Harrogate – once
with the head, then six times with the krooklok
in the face – and didn’t even swerve.
I dropped into third
and lent across
to let him out, and saw him in the mirror
bouncing off the kerb, then disappearing down the verge.
We were the same age, give or take a week.
He said he liked the breeze
to run its fingers
through his hair. It was twelve noon.
The outlook for the day was moderate to fair.
Stitch that, I remember thinking,
you can walk from there.
This quotation is brutal and
shows CONFLICT BECAUSE
the hitcher hits his victim in
the face, suggesting that he
wants the victim to see the
attack. The fact that he
hits him six times is brutal.
The narrator wants to cause
suffering and pain to the
hitcher.

12. What progress have you made today?
Refer to your success criteria.
Have you been SUCCESSFUL?
What do you need to do to improve?
What have you learnt during the lesson?
Band 4:
I can identify effective language used by the poet that shows CONFLICT
I can use quotations to support my points about the language used
I can show an understanding of the effects of the language on the reader
Band 5:
I can identify and show a clear understanding of effective language used by the
poet that shows CONFLICT
I can use relevant quotations to support my points about the language used
I can include clear and detailed explanations regarding the effects of the
language on the reader

13. Year 10 transition homework:
Write a response to this question:
How does Armitage present violence in the poem
‘Hitcher’?
• You must write at least 3 paragraphs of analysis in
response.
• Use the skills you have developed in Year 9 and
today.
• Check your writing for technical accuracy and
expression e.g. capital letters in the right places,
accurate spelling, sentences that are complete.