This comprehensive resource provides a detailed analysis of Adam Thorpe’s On Her Blindness, a key poem from the Edexcel (9ET0) Poems of the Decade anthology. Perfect for A-Level English Literature students, this resource breaks down the poem’s themes and language to develop critical analysis skills.

This is a vastly upgraded and expanded version of this resource. There are 17 slides of teaching material for you to pick and choose from.

What’s Included?

• Starter: Students are given a series of statements about Blindness, which they justify or refute verbally, tuning them into the poem’s themes and ideas.
• A class reading of the poem with some simple initial discussion questions.
• On His Blindness: Students read Milton’s Sonnet 19, which On Her Blindness is written in conversation with. They translate key lines into ‘modern’ English and discuss how they correspond with On Her Blindness. Suggested translations are provided.
• Collaborative close analysis: Students are assigned one of four different roles. They analyse one key quotation from the poem in their group for: language, structure, themes and ideas, alternative readings. Suggested quotations are provided.
• Structural analysis challenge: Students are given a series of guided prompts to track structural changes across the poem.
• Mini debate: Students are given the statement, ‘The poem criticises society more than discussing the nature of blindness itself’ and simple, guided steps to prepare and hold a mini debate on the poem’s central ideas.
• Thematic discussion carousel: A3 sheets provided with key quotes and a central theme on each one. Students discuss the poet’s attitude towards each theme, as well as exploring language.
• Comparative analysis: an exam-style task, inviting students to compare On Her Blindness with Blind Man by Jorge Luis Borges. A ‘C-grade’ response and an ‘A* grade’ exemplar are provided for discussion and annotation.
• An alternative suggested poem to ‘Blind Man’ is ‘On His Blindness’ by the same poet. For copyright reasons, the comparison poems have not been included, but links to them are provided at the end of the resource.