The Deserted House

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The Deserted House

• Mary Coleridge
• 1861-1907

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The Deserted House There's no smoke in the
chimney, And the rain beats on the floor There's
no glass in the window, There's no wood in the
door The heather grows behind the house, and the
sand lies before. No hand hath trained the
ivy, The walls are grey and bare The boats upon
the sea sail by, Nor ever tarry there No beast
of the field comes nigh, Nor any bird of the
air.
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Vocabulary
tarry wait
nigh near
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Exploding a poem
What is the poem about?
Who is speaking in the poem? To whom?
How does the poem convey its message?
Why do you think the poet has written the poem?
What is your personal response to the poem?
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Try to picture this house in your mind using all
the descriptions in the poem.
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Imagine that a letter is discovered hidden
under rotten floorboards! It was written years
ago by the previous owners who left the house. In
the letter, the secret mystery is revealed.
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• Write down some explanations for what could have
  happened in the house,
• invent some names of the people who lived there
  
• think of a suitable date for when the letter was
  written.

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Write the letter as if you are the owner, just
about to leave the house. In the letter q
Describe why you have to leave the house. q
Describe what life has been like in the house
and how you feel about leaving. q Reveal the
secret behind the lack of wildlife in the
area. q Leave a comment/warning to the next
owner or to whoever finds the letter!
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Address the letter To whomever it may concern
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(No Transcript)
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Imagine that you have stumbled across this
deserted house. Perhaps youve been hiking and
wanted to shelter from the rain, or maybe you
were just curious!
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Imagine that you have gone through the open
doorway and that you are standing there,
listening to the noises of the ocean. You look
around you and notice all sorts of things, on the
floor, up the walls, on the ceiling. You can
also hear a variety of noises. Some might be far
off in the distance and some are close by. How
do you feel? Perhaps the wind is blowing through
the doorway or broken windows. What can you
smell?
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Draw a senses chart like the one below and fill
it in.
               
Hear
Waves crashing
SEE
Mould
Senses chart
Feel
Smell
Salty air
cold
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• Underline or highlight all the nouns in your
• senses chart.
• Remember nouns are names of things. (Wall, sea,
  door, bird)
• Now select
• 5-10 nouns and list them underneath your table,
  leaving a space before the noun.

1. _________ door
2. _________ sea

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Now write in a suitable adjective which describes
the noun. (You can use a thesaurus to help you!)
 For example,
rough sea,
slimy wall,
chipped door.
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Now you are ready to begin your
description! Avoid writing I could see or I could
hear Instead put the noun or subject of the
sentence at the start. Look at this example
I could see mould on the walls.
This is not descriptive or interesting, so
instead, put the noun at the beginning and add
some adjectives, like this
Green mould grew up the slimy walls.
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OR
try this.
instead of writing,
I could feel air coming through the door,
you could write
Chilly air blasted through the rotten doorway.
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Write 5-10 lines of description. Check your
spellings in a dictionary Write up your
description. Design a page with spooky
illustrations and an eye-catching
border! (Seashells, dangling spiders)