Samuel Wagan Watson Love Poems and Death Threats Student Book offers a rich exploration of the ways texts represent both individual and collective human experiences. Designed to meet the requirements of the NSW Stage 6 English Year 12 Texts and Human Experiences focus area, this resource helps students deepen their understanding of how composers use language, form, and structure to express experiences of identity, culture, acceptance, and growth — and how texts can challenge our assumptions and invite us to see the world anew.

Through close reading, guided analysis, and scaffolded writing tasks, students examine how Samuel Wagan Watson’s poetry represents experiences of marginalisation, alienation, and personal agency within the framework of an Aboriginal identity.

The prescribed poems covered in this student book include:

• ‘The Remedy of Butterflies’

• ‘Finn’

• ‘Let’s Talk!’

• ‘El Diablo Highway’

• ‘Blacktracker… Blackwriter… Blacksubject’

• ‘End of Days’

• ‘Addendum’

This study is complemented by a selection of short texts that broaden students’ perspectives on human experiences, including:

• Melissa Lukashenko’s short story ‘Dreamers’

• Tim Winton’s autobiographical essay ‘Betsy’

• George Saunders’ short story ‘Sticks’

Students will examine how authors represent a range of human experiences — including loss, understanding and reconciliation, belonging, resilience, marginalisation, identity, and memory — and how these are conveyed through language, narrative, and perspective.

Authors: Emily Bosco, Anthony Bosco, and Luke Bartolo

Format: A4 paperback, 139 pages

ISBN: 978 1 923140 24 0