The Lord of the Isles is a long, narrative poem by Walter Scott that is about Robert the Bruce. The poem acts as the inspiration for this four-part activity. The first three parts are standalone and the fourth needs to be done in conjunction with one of the previous sections.
- Unit 1
- In this unit, pupils think about describing place. They read a section from Scott's poem, do some analysis, and do their own research on place.
- Unit 2
- In this unit, pupils look at a description of a feast in The Lord of the Isles. It includes research skills as well as literary analysis. It ends with a short creative activity that can lead to either a skit or creative writing task.
- Unit 3
- In this unit, pupils look at different descriptions of the Battle of Bannockburn, including two of Scott's own. It encourages pupils to use literary analysis to discover how different pieces of writing are designed to affect people differently. The unit finishes with a writing task.
- Unit 4
- In this unit, pupils look at reviews of Walter Scott's poem, The Lord of the Isles. It covers summarising and paraphrasing skills, and ends in a writing task, which asks for the pupils' opinion of the poem.
Click here for the lesson plan in Word.
Click here for the lesson plan in PDF.
Click here for the teaching documents for unit 1 in Word.
Click here for the teaching documents for unit 1 in PDF.
Click here for the teaching documents for unit 2 in Word.
Click here for the teaching documents for unit 2 in PDF.
Click here for the teaching documents for unit 3 in Word.
Click here for the teaching documents for unit 3 in PDF.
Click here for the teaching documents for unit 4 in Word.
Click here for the teaching documents for unit 4 in PDF.
Click here for the PowerPoint for unit 1.
Click here for a PowerPoint template for pupils as part of unit 1.
Click here for the PowerPoint for unit 2.
Click here for the PowerPoint for unit 3.
Click here for the PowerPoint for unit 4.
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This work was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council Grant Number AH/V011111/1.
It is part of The Edinburgh Edition of Walter Scott's Poetry: Engaging New Audiences. It was developed by Dr Anna Fancett as part of the Walter Scott Research Centre at the University of Aberdeen with the support of Abbotsford, Scott's home in the Scottish Borders and The Association for Scottish Literature.