Follower by Seamus Heaney - teaching resource

Follower by Seamus Heaney – AQA GCSE Love and Relationships Poetry Teaching Resource

This comprehensive two-lesson mini-unit explores Seamus Heaney’s poem Follower, featured in the AQA GCSE English Literature Love and Relationships poetry anthology. Designed to develop students’ analytical skills and exam technique, this resource provides a detailed study of the poem’s context, language, themes, structure, and comparisons.

The resource includes a 66-slide fully editable PowerPoint presentation and ten accompanying worksheets with a wide range of engaging and exam-focused activities.

Lesson One:

• Making Predictions: Using the title to anticipate themes and ideas

• Context: Understanding Heaney’s background and the influence of traditional Irish rural life

• First Reading: Annotated poem with glossary, comprehension questions, and answers

• Exploring Meaning: In-depth analysis of key quotations, discussion points, and model responses

• Essay Writing: An initial exam-style essay task with a sample answer and peer-assessment opportunities

Lesson Two:

• Themes: Exploring parent/child relationships, identity, rural traditions, youth, ageing, and memory

• Language: Analysing Heaney’s imagery, vocabulary, and poetic techniques with line-by-line annotation

• Structure & Form: Examining Heaney’s use of lyric form, perspective, rhyme, rhythm, enjambment, and cyclical structure

• Exam Focus: Comparing Follower with other anthology poems, including Climbing My Grandfather, Mother, Any Distance, and Eden Rock, supported by model comparative responses

Fully editable and easy to adapt, this resource is ideal for classroom teaching, homework, intervention, and revision, helping students gain the skills and confidence needed for the AQA GCSE English Literature exam.

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