Hi everyone, this is Mr. Chandrapala here, and I'm really excited to be analysing this excerpt from "The Prelude" with you.

Wordsworth's "The Prelude" is one of the great epic poems, and this extract is a really key, a part to understanding how his own persona as a poet was influenced by his experiences as a child.

I'm really looking forward to exploring it today and talking about issues behind childhood, but also the sublime and why that's so important within romanticism.

Let's dive in.

So today we're going to analyse how Wordsworth portrays his younger playfulness in contrast with the sheer power of the natural world.

To do this, we need to understand our keywords for today's lesson as ever.

So we've got the sublime, which is the meeting of our internal emotions, with the external, natural world.

We'll be considering the adjective, mischief, which means playful misbehaviour.

We'll be considering the verb, to humble, which means to cause a person to feel less confident because of his feelings of awe or admiration.

We'll consider the adjective, insignificant, which is linked to that concept of the sublime, which is an unimportant by comparison to something else or someone else.

And finally, we've got the adjective, irrational, which means to not think logically or reasonably.

So we'll start off by having a look at playfulness and fun in "The Prelude." Firstly, I just want you to discuss with your partner or maybe check back in your notes, what can you remember about Wordsworth's "The Prelude"? What was it about? What did you think of it? Did you like the poem? Why or why not? I said it was one of my favourite poems or I thought it was a really interesting poem to be able to cover with you.

But what was your personal reaction to it? Pause the video now.

Talk to the person next to you.

Maybe jot down your own impressions of the poem from what you can remember, and then when you're ready, hit play.

Well done everyone.

Really glad to see so many people checking back through their notes and thinking really carefully about what they had seen before, what they had read before.

So, just to recap, Lucas, having read "The Prelude," had to say that it was a poem that he loved, because it created the sense of playfulness and fun within the poem because of what Wordsworth chooses to focus on.

He's really successful in capturing his childhood spirit and his mischievousness.

Now, what is your initial response to this statement? Did you feel that Wordsworth was successful in conveying this childhood fun and playfulness in his work? Pause the video now.

See if you can think about that for yourself or where maybe does he do that? And when you've got an idea, hit play.

I could see people really wrestling with that idea.

I was so pleased to see so many of you recapping what that word mischievous means.

Remember coming from the word mischief, to do something that is playful, that is, you know, not necessarily entirely the right thing to do, but definitely still humorous in some way.

So, what we're going to be doing today is we're going to start off by rereading the poem, and as we're doing so, we're gonna consider where Wordsworth might be conveying this childhood spirit and playfulness within his work.

So, in this section of the poem that we start off with, let's see how he does it.

"And in the frosty season, when the sun was set, and visible for many a mile, the cottage windows through the twilight blaz'd, I heeded not the summons: happy time it was, indeed, for all of us; to me it was a time of rapture: clear and loud." So, initially, where do we get the sense of Wordsworth's mischief in this section? So, pause the video now, and see if you can spot any moment.

Underline it and maybe write down why you think it creates mischief.

When you've done that, hit play.

Well done everyone.

I'm really pleased to see people immediately diving back into the poem and being so diligent in their approach to it.

So we can see that moment where he says, "I heeded did not the summons." He ignores the calls from his mother to come home.

He's having too much fun outside.

I'm sure we can all remember times when we know we've been told, "Stop playing now we need to go back inside." Or, "You know what, you need to go to bed," and we've chosen not to, or we've tried to ignore that call, because we know of how much fun we're having.

Again, exploring playfulness and fun in this next section of the poem.

"The village clock toll'd six; I wheel'd about, proud and exulting, like an untir'd horse, that cares not for his home.

All shod with steel, we hiss'd along the polish'd ice, in games confederate, imitative of the chace and woodland pleasures, the resounding horn, the pack loud bellowing, and the hunted hare." I want you to consider Wordsworth's use of verbs here.

So remember, verbs are doing words, they're actions.

How do these convey a sense of fun and playfulness? Pause the video and have that discussion, and then when you're ready, hit play.

Secondly, I want you to consider Wordsworth's use of figurative language.

What does it show us about the group's youthfulness and mystery? Again, pause the video, have a look at that figurative language, that metaphorical language where he uses language to suggest something that is not literal.

And when you've done that, hit play.

Okay, so if we start off by having a look at the verbs, we've got verbs like wheel'd and hiss'd.

The verb, wheel'd, shows us not only the circular movement of Wordsworth on the ice, but also it gives us a sense of his speed.

We get the sense that he is proud of his skill on the ice.

Even though he wrote this as a child, there's a.

sorry, as an adult, there's a childlike, boastful tone in the poem, which is reminiscent of Wordsworth's childhood character.

If we compare that with that moment where we've got that figurative language, like an untir'd horse that cares not for his home, Wordsworth is comparing himself to an untired horse, again reveals that bountiful energy and playfulness.

He cared not for his home, confirms to us that he's rebellious in the same way that the fact that he ignored the calls of his mother.

It shows that there's a childhood naivety and innocence, because he enjoys the moment of independence as he ignores the calls to come in.

If there's anything you need to take down, pause the video.

Just get those notes, and when you're ready, hit play.

Excellent work there everyone.

Some really good annotation so far already in this lesson.

We've also got the moment where he's imitative of the chace with the resounding horn, and the Pack loud and bellowing.

We're obviously gonna mention the fact that the metaphor of the Pack reveals the fact that the children are really free-spirited.

They're acting like wild animals, they're acting on instinct.

It illustrates that they're really clearly tied with nature like the animals, but also there's a really close relationship between them.

There's this sense that they're working in tandem.

So, this idea, the fact, it shows that there is a real excitement, and there's a group identity here; they're linked to the natural world.

We're just gonna have a quick check for understanding here.

Which of the following might explain why Wordsworth compares the children to a pack of hunting dogs.

Is it A, because dogs are domestic animals, so it shows how tame and obedient the children are? Is it B? It could show their close relationship with nature, like hunting dogs, they feel at home outside.

Is it C? It could show their excitement at playing such a thrilling game of chase on the ice.

Or is it D? It conveys their wild and potentially-dangerous natures.

They are being reckless by playing this late.

Select which option you think is most correct, and when you're ready hit play.

So, we can see that B and C are correct.

They feel at home outside, which demonstrates their close relationship with the natural world, but there is an excitement and a joy because there is such a thrill in their work, in their game of chase on the ice.

We then have this line: "So through the darkness and the cold we flew, and not a voice was idle; with the din." Where do we get a sense of fun and playfulness here? How does that verb, flew, help us understand the fun and playfulness.

Pause the video, see if you can get any ideas, and when you're ready, hit play.

Well done everyone, some really thoughtful discussion there.

So the word, flew, is very significant here.

It shows the exhilaration and enjoyment of the children.

It suggests that they feel so excited it's almost like they're flying.

It represents their speed over the ice.

Arguably, it could demonstrate that the freedom of childhood and innocence of it is really important.

It gives this idea that actually the group feel on top of the world at this point; they feel like they are almost uncontrolled, untamed.

What might have happened to Wordsworth's childhood sense of fun and enjoyment? Consider, is that something that stays with us over time, or does that actually change, mutate, disappear, as we grow older? Pause the video, have that discussion with the person next to you.

Jot down some ideas, and when you're ready, hit play.

Some really thoughtful, sensitive comments there, everyone.

It could suggest, we could view it that Wordsworth faced adversity.

We know that he suffered the loss of his mother as a very young child, and he felt a feeling of isolation from the rest of society and therefore this childhood naivety and blissful ignorance disappears.

He seems to yearn for this time again.

He seems to wish that he could somehow return to it.

So, what we're going to have a go now at doing is practising our understanding of Wordsworth's presentation of playfulness and fun within the poem.

I want you to answer these next three questions.

The first of which, is how do you think different people might respond to this excerpt from "The Prelude"? Do you think children and adults might have different or similar responses? And would you describe this as a happy or a sad poem? Why? I want you to answer these questions in your notes after you have discussed it with the person next to you.

If you're working alone, just get straight to answering those questions.

When you've done that, hit play, and we'll take some feedback.

A range of really thoughtful responses there from all of you.

I'm so pleased.

Let's take some ideas.

So, you might have considered how different people may have different responses to this poem, depending on the kind of childhood they had, or the fact that some people may find this poem nostalgic if they shared similar memories from their childhood, or even the fact that adults and children often have different responses.

Adults may feel nostalgic or sad when they read this poem, whereas children feel more excited and energised by the idea of what this sense of naivety and blissful ignorance and just sheer joy represents to them.

All of these suggestions are equally valid.

If you didn't get it down or any of these ideas, that's absolutely fine as well.

It's really important that you know that every person brings a perspective to the reading of a poem.

What's crucial though, is that we can evidence this.

These are three ways of reading the poem that we know that we can evidence from our current understanding.

You may have gone for something different, but so long as you can explain that and where you got the idea from, that's the key thing.

We're now gonna have a look at the sublime.

I'll start off by asking you what emotions might you feel if you were standing looking at this view, with the mountains being hit by that sun and the orange peaks being lit up? The blue sky being reflected in that glorious, blue lake, which almost acts as a mirror to everything around it.

The green trees sweeping on the right-hand side.

What do we feel looking at that? Or alternatively, you may look at this view, which may be something quite similar to you.

I've just come back from a couple of days in Wales with some friends, and these were the sort of views that I saw in North Wales.

What do we feel when we see this? What emotions does it conjure in us? If something is sublime, it's magnificent and awe-inspiring, beyond human expectation or belief.

You may have looked at those previous images and found yourself in awe.

That's absolutely fine.

It's almost quite normal.

I know that when I was in North Wales, I felt that sense of awe, because it goes beyond our every day.

It challenges us.

The sublime is a really important literary concept, because it's where the meeting of our internal emotions clashes with the external and the natural world.

When faced with the sublime, we allow our emotions to become overwhelming and irrational as we experience the wonder of the natural world around us.

It is the powerful feeling of astonishment that we get when we gaze upon a breathtaking view, where all of a sudden, we feel insignificant.

We look out across that and we feel smaller.

We realise how small and tiny we are in comparison to the rest of the natural world, and that scares us a little bit, and it horrifies us, because we feel this sense of inferiority compared to the sheer power, majesty, of the natural world.

Pause the video now, and just get down some of these key bullet points for that definition of the sublime.

It's a really important concept when we're thinking about Wordsworth's work.

So you'll want to get down the fact that it means the meeting of our internal emotions with the external, natural world, and the fact that it can often create an overwhelming and irrational response within us while we feel insignificant and horrified because of our inferiority to the natural world.

Pause the video, get those notes, and when you're ready, hit play.

Well done everyone.

It's a really hard concept, but you've managed that really well.

So, let's have a quick check for understanding here.

Which of the following emotions or feelings might the sublime evoke? A, anger, B, horror, C, admiration, D, Relief.

So, pause the video and select your response.

Then when you're ready, hit play.

Really good work there everyone, well done.

It is horror and admiration.

Though we feel horror because we realise our own inferiority, we also feel admiration for the power, the majesty, the beauty of the natural world.

The Romantic poets were fascinated by the idea of the sublime, that feeling of the slight horror we get when confronted with the sheer enormity, presence, and beauty of the natural world.

But does that horror mean that the person doesn't like being in the natural world? Pause the video.

Think about when you've experienced that feeling of the sublime, when you've seen something that really makes you realise how small you are in comparison to the rest of the natural world.

Does it mean that you don't like the natural world? When you're ready, hit play.

Some really interesting responses there, and I'm so glad that so many of you were thoughtful in bringing your own experiences to the table.

Poetry is so much about bringing our own experiences, our own perspectives.

And actually a lot of you were discussing that idea of actually, it doesn't mean that you dislike the natural world, it actually just means that we have a different relationship to it.

We maybe feel more overwhelmed or overawed by it, or we feel a sense of our own inferiority.

We feel a respect for it.

Aisha said, I don't think that a person doesn't like nature if they feel the sublime.

"It's a humbling kind of horror whereby we realise our own insignificance versus the power of nature.

I imagine it's like seeing a wild animal, like a lion up close, we're mesmerised by its beauty, but we also feel faintly horrified at how vulnerable it makes us feel." I think that's a really good comparison by Aisha.

It's crucial to say that the sublime is really something that we link more with landscapes than with animals, but I think that metaphor is actually really.

Sorry, simile, is really helpful, because it allows us to understand, yes, we'll look at a lion, and we'll realise actually the terror that it poses to us, but also it makes us realise how incredible the natural world is.

It makes us realise that though we feel like we may be are superior when we're so far away from these natural influences.

When we're closer to them, we realise actually there is a huge presence that they have in themselves, and we need to be more respectful of.

We're gonna have a look at the last few lines of the poem now and consider where the sublime plays out within it.

"Meanwhile, the precipices rang aloud, the leafless trees, and every icy crag tinkled like iron, while the distant hills into the tumult sent an alien sound of melancholy, not unnoticed, while the stars, eastward, were sparkling clear, and in the west, the orange sky of evening died away." Where do we see the astonishing beauty of nature here? I want you to highlight words and phrases that show you this.

If you don't have a highlighter, just underline those words where you think the astonishing beauty of nature is presented.

Pause the video now, do that, and when you're ready, hit play.

Excellent work there everyone, some really careful reading.

So we can have a look at that line, "The precipices rang aloud," for example.

You could say that Wordsworth feels reflected in the precipices, which rang aloud joyously, and echoing the sounds of the children.

But there's also then the stars, eastwood, were sparkling clear, whilst the orange sky of evening dies away.

Here we've got the beauty of the stars, which are sparkling clear as the orange sky fades.

We've got there the sense that actually Wordsworth feels mesmerised by the beauty of the natural world.

But where do we see also that faint sense of horror that we expect within the sublime? Where do we see that Wordsworth feels the sheer power of nature? Pause the video, and see if you can spot that in these final few lines.

Really good work there everyone.

The fact that there's that alien sound of melancholy, not unnoticed, is significant.

The word, alien, shows the sublime perfectly.

The sheer power of nature almost makes it a supernatural force.

Wordsworth states that the sound of the hills was not unnoticed, which shows us that he feels threatened, he recognises the threat of those distant hills.

Even the fact that the orange sky of the evening died away, that fading away, suggests there's a threat.

If we think about light as a sense of hope, of purity, and actually if it's dying away, even linking it to that sense of mortality, that sense that actually things pass, creates that sense of threat.

The poem takes therefore a more threatening and slightly sinister tone, as the nature comes alive.

We're left with the slightly threatening prospect of the darkness coming and we get the feeling that the playing outdoors may not be safe for much longer.

And therefore potentially, this could be an end to this really happy childhood.

If we think about all of those verbs of joy that were associated with the earlier part of the poem and then suddenly this inclusion of the sublime, it shows us that potentially we're seeing that transition into a much darker period of Wordsworth's life.

So we're just gonna practise our understanding of the sublime now.

Do you think this excerpt from "The Prelude" celebrates nature as much as it seems to celebrate childhood? I want you to justify your answer by referring to the text.

Once you've done that, I'd like you to discuss with your partner the fact that Wordsworth began writing "The Prelude" when he was 28.

Why might he have used nature and the sublime to create a more threatening and foreboding tone at the end of the poem? What aspects of his life might he have been foreshadowing? Pause the video now.

Firstly, discuss the first question, and then when you've done that, discuss the second.

After each, I want you to take notes, so even if you're working by yourself, just make sure that you are answering both questions in your notes.

When you've done so, hit play.

Some really careful thinking there and some really thoughtful discussions.

I love the fact that so many of you were really debating whether he celebrates nature as much as he celebrates his childhood and were looking back to the text to support that.

I think there was some really interesting nuanced discussion around the fact whether he's actually celebrating nature or showing its threat, but actually I think that that's still really sensitive for reading.

Lucas was tasked with this and noted, "Perhaps Wordsworth, looking back, realises that as a child, he never could have predicted the misfortune of losing his mother at such a young age.

Perhaps he writes a more threatening depiction of the sky into the poem as a way of trying to warn his childhood self that darkness was indeed coming, that he needed to go inside and spend time with his family.

Perhaps this is why he ends with such a foreboding tone and the word, died." I think that that's a really interesting idea from Lucas.

He's thinking about how actually the poem, or the adult poet, foreshadows the child's incoming tragedy through the use of the natural world.

I think that's a lovely idea to be hitting on.

Was Lucas' idea something you had considered? Do you agree with him or not? Maybe you disagreed with myself and Lucas.

That's absolutely fine.

Can you explain why you do? I'd suggest changing colour pen and maybe responding to Lucas' idea as part of your work.

If there's anything that you actually really like and you agree with, you may want to add it to your own.

Once you've done that, hit play.

Excellent work there everyone.

I'm so impressed by the way that you've taken that feedback and acted upon it, adding to your notes.

So, let's just summarise our understanding of analysing excerpt from "The Prelude." So we know that Wordsworth conveys a sense of childlike innocence and naivety in his poem by portraying his younger self as mischievous and playful.

Wordsworth uses figurative language to convey the euphoria and excitement of the group as they skate.

The sublime is the meeting of our internal emotions with the external, natural world, and Wordsworth is really clear in trying to refer to the siblime and successfully portrays the beauty, the magnitude, and the superiority of the nature in the poem.

And he ends the poem with a foreboding tone, focusing on that natural imagery to represent the darkness that imminently enters into his younger life.

You have been fantastic and wrestled with a really tough poet today, and I've been so impressed by you.

Well done for all your work, and thank you all so much for your contributions, and I'm looking forward to working with you again soon.

Bye for now.