Lesson video

Hello there, and welcome to this lesson on poetry with me Ms. Krzebietka.

In this lesson, our focus is going to be on rhythm in poetry.

Before we get started looking at rhythm, please can you make sure that you've gotten rid of any distractions.

So if you have a mobile phone, please can you make sure it's turned off or in another room.

And please can you make sure that you've got a pen and something to write on so that we can record all of the amazing things that you're going to do in this lesson.

Also, it would be a really good idea to make sure that you are somewhere that you can concentrate.

So somewhere quiet and focused.

Okay, let's get started on this lesson on rhythm in poetry.

Off we go.

Before we get started, I'm just going to run through exactly what we're going to be doing in the lesson.

So we'll start off with two recap tasks looking at structure and rhyme scheme.

Then we'll look at an introduction to rhythm where I'll talk you through exactly what rhythm is so that you know what it is that we're going to be focusing on in the lesson.

Next we're going to consider how poets use rhythm, and then finally we'll review your knowledge with a quiz.

Okay.

Our first recap task is going to be based on structure.

So you have five sentences on the screen.

They each have a word or two words or even three words missing.

What you need to do is to think carefully about what we've learned about structure.

I want you to list all of the aspects of the poem we consider when looking at structure.

So write out the sentences and fill in the gap with the word or words you think have to go in those gaps when we're thinking about important aspects of structure.

Pause now, read the sentences, and fill in the gaps.

Off you go.

Brilliant job if you said that number one, the opening that the poet, it's really important when we're thinking about structure, if you've got that word opening.

Number two, the ending of the poem.

We know that as well as the opening, the ending is really important.

Number three, if you got those two words, stanza length, which we know is extremely important when we're looking at structure in poetry, then well done.

And stanza actually might be quite a new word to you.

And so brilliant work if you got that done.

And number four, again, a new word to you.

So amazing job if you got this done.

The volta, which is also known as the turning point.

Remember that's when the mood or the feeling or the tone or even the time or place in a poem changes.

That's called our turning point.

When we move from one thing to another.

And that's something really important to look for when we're considering the structure in poetry.

And then finally, rhyme scheme, okay? We know now that rhyme scheme is also a really important aspect of structure in poetry.

Well done.

Amazing job if you got all five of those sentences correct.

If you didn't, you might want to add in the correct words now so that you've got those sentences written correctly on your worksheet or wherever you're working.

So, I said that we were going to do a recap of both structure and rhyme scheme.

So let's see what you remember about rhyme scheme.

What's I'd like you to do is to look at the four options on the screen and to think about this question.

What do we use to show the pattern of rhyme in a poem? So when we're looking at a poem, if we were going to identify the pattern of rhyme, what do we put at the end of lines that rhyme in order to share that they rhyme together? So read through the four options, pause for me, and choose the option that you think is correct.

Brilliant job if you said that option one, letters such as AABB are what we use to show the pattern of rhyme in a poem.

Remember, we put letters at the end of the lines that rhyme and then we can match those lines with later lines in the poem that rhyme with them too, okay? And that's how we show a pattern of rhyme in a poem.

Not with numbers or slashes and crosses or smiley faces and sad faces.

We use letters.

Amazing job if you got that word.

So let's find out a little bit more about rhythm.

Well, rhythm is a strong pattern of sound or words or musical notes that's used in poetry, music, and dancing.

We might also call rhythm the beat, okay? And how might we use the word rhythm in a sentence? Well, let's have a look at some examples of sentences that use the word rhythm correctly.

So number one, this song has the kind of rhythm which makes you shake your hips.

Number two, in a poem, the rhythm can make you read really fast or make you go slower.

In some poems, rhythm makes you put all your focus on certain words.

So they are three sentences that use the word rhythm correctly, but they also tell us some important things about what rhythm can do in poetry.

So rhythm can make you read really fast or make you go slower.

And it can also make you put all of your focus on certain words that the poet's using.

So bear that in mind as we go through the rest of the lesson.

So when we're thinking about rhythm, there are some really important things that we've got to consider.

And I've just touched on them a little bit, but we're going to focus on them in a bit more detail now.

So, when we're thinking about rhythm, we need to think about how fast and slow the sounds are in a poem.

And this is called pace.

Some poems we might feel like we're reading them really quickly.

And some we might feel like we're reading them really slowly.

And that's all to do with how the poet has used rhythm, okay? So that's the pace of the poem.

We also need to think about whether there is an even focus on all of the words or whether we put more stress on some words or parts of words than others.

We'll talk about stress a little bit more in a moment.

But naturally when we speak, we place emphasis on some words more than others.

And poets will use that in order to help create rhythm in their poetry.

We also need to think about whether the poet has made the words flow in a way which adds more meaning to the poem.

'Cause often this is linked to emotion.

So we need to think about how they've used certain words or certain points in order to make the poem flow or in order to stop it from flowing and why this might be, what meaning this might be giving to us.

Based on the learning that we've just done on rhythm, I would like you to choose which option box, option box one or option box two, tells us three things that we must consider when thinking about rhythm in poetry.

So pause, read through both option boxes and decide which option box tells us three things that we must consider when thinking about rhythm in poetry.

Off you go.

Amazing job if you said option box one is the option box that tells us three things we must consider when thinking about rhythm in poetry.

It says that we need to think about the pace of the sounds in a poem, the stress we put on different sounds in a poem, and the way that the poet has made words flow and how this might lead to the meaning in the poem.

So well done if you chose that option box.

They are all three things that we need to consider when thinking about rhythm.

So, we need to put our poetry detective hats on now because we're going to think a little bit more about how rhythm works in poetry.

So, in poems, rhythm cleverly tells us how fast we should read and which words or parts of words we should emphasise or speak more strongly.

You'll probably notice that when I said emphasise, then I said certain parts of that word in a more sort of stressed way than I said other parts of the word emphasise, okay? And we do that naturally, which we'll talk about a little bit more in a minute.

Poetry is really meant to be read out loud, which is why rhythm is so important, okay? Because it can really help give meaning to a poem because they are meant to be read out loud.

So the poet thinks very carefully about how it might sound.

So in music where we have instruments that can be used to make rhythm, in poetry, we use the natural stresses that are placed on different syllables, which are the units of sounds in the words that we speak.

And this is what poets use to create rhythm in their poetry.

So when we talk, we naturally stress some syllables more than others.

And this can be used by poets to create rhythm.

So here are some examples of words with different syllables in them.

So read has one syllable, okay? Read.

Just the one syllable.

Chair has one syllable.

Table has two syllables.

Table.

Apple has two syllables.

Apple.

Banana has three syllables.

Banana.

And elephant has three syllables.

Elephant.

So each of those syllables in those words is a unit of sound.

And each of those units of sound will be spoken and sound a different way when we read them out.

So if I'll just repeat elephant, each of these units of sounds is read in a different way and sounds differently and is stressed differently.

And that's what a poet uses to create rhythm in their poetry.

Those different units of sounds in words.

So let's see what we can remember about rhythm then.

On the screen, there are six statements.

What I'd like you to do is to read through them very carefully and to pause and to decide which of the six statements you think are true and which are false.

Okay.

Pause now.

Read through them carefully.

Off you go.

Great job if you said that one and three are both false.

One says that rhythm does not link to the pace in a poem.

And we've just talked about how rhythm is actually really important to the pace in a poem.

And number three says that instruments are used to create rhythm in poetry.

We know that instruments are used to create rhythm in music but not so much in poetry.

So number two, number four, number five, and number six are all true.

Poetry is meant to be read aloud.

Natural stresses in our language are used to create rhythm in poetry.

And a syllable is a part in a word.

And daffodil has three syllables.

Daffodil, and they're all stressed differently remember because of those different syllables in that word.

So what I'd like you to do now is to pause to complete the main task for this lesson where you're going to identify the number of syllables in some key terms from this unit so far.

And you're going to have a go at finding some different words with different numbers of syllables in them.

Okay.

Off you go.

So what we're going to do now is go through the table that you should have completed and see if you have got the number of syllables in each of these words correct.

So the first word was figurative.

And that has four syllables, okay? Figurative.

It has four syllables, four units of sounds when we say the word.

Then we have poetry which has three units of sound.

Poetry.

Emotion has three syllables or units of sound.

Sound has just one syllable.

Stanza has two syllables.

And imagery has three syllables, okay? So they are our different words and the different number of syllables that they have.

So well done if you got those correct.

Don't worry if you didn't get them correct this time.

Maybe jot down the correct answers so that you've got them right the next time and for you to refer to in future.

Okay.

So we're going to consider now the second part of this lesson, why poets might use rhythm.

So just like with rhyme, rhythm is often linked to the meaning or action in the poem, okay? And the patterns of stresses and the pace that we know are part of rhythm in the poem can help to create mood and atmosphere.

So I'm going to read you one stanza from the poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade" written by a very famous poet called Alfred Lord Tennyson.

Now, the Charge of the Light Brigade was a famous battle in the Crimean War where hundreds of British soldiers ended up riding into certain death.

And this is a poem all about that situation.

Just so that you know before we start reading, a league is a unit of 11.

So when in the first and second line it says half a league, he's talking about a distance that they're moving forward, this sort of brigade, as they charge forward into battle.

Okay? And there would have been on horseback as well, which is quite an important thing to member.

Let's listen very carefully and think about the stresses and the pace in the poem.

Half a league, half a league, half a league onward, all in the valley of death rode the 600.

"Forward the Light Brigade.

Charge for the guns," he said.

Into the valley of death rode the 600.

So I'm sure that as I was reading the poem, you could hear where I was placing stress on certain words and where the pace was perhaps quicker and where it might have been slower.

So in this poem in particular, the rhythm helps to create a sense of movement in the poem.

The stress on certain words such as half and league speeds up the pace, meaning that we are pulled quickly through the lines just as the soldiers were charging quickly towards the battle.

If you look again, we also have a lot of one syllable words.

So just words that have one unit of sound in them.

And that's also a way of creating pace in a poem, okay? So half a league, half a league, they are all just one syllable words.

And that means that the pace moves quite quickly.

And that's what Tennyson wanted to do in this poem to reflect the pace at which the soldiers were charging towards the battle, okay? Isn't that clever? Isn't that brilliant? Okay.

Let's just do a quick review of your knowledge on what you've learned so far.

So I'm going to ask you a question.

Which of these is not affected by the rhythm of a poem? Please read through the four options very carefully and decide which of them you think is not something that's affected by the rhythm of a poem.

And then I would like you to resume and see if you got the right answer.

Okay, off we go.

Brilliant work if you said that option four, the way the similes and metaphors in the poem make us feel, is not affected by the rhythm of a poem.

The other three things that we see on the screen are.

So the speed at which we read a poem, the mood and atmosphere we sense when reading a poem, and the sounds we hear when reading a poem are all things that are affected by the rhythm of the poem.

Okay, before we end this lesson, we're going to do a little bit of independent work, but I'm going to talk you through the poem that we're going to be focusing on.

And I'm going to talk you through some ideas based on this poem, and then you're going to have a go and see what you can do on your own.

So, we've looked at this poem before.

We've just got the two opening stanzas from the poem "Daffodils" by William Wordsworth So let's think about how Wordsworth uses rhythm in this poem in order to create meaning.

Remember you've got a glossary on the screen.

So if he needs a pause and read over that to make sure that you remember what the words mean, then please do go ahead and do that.

I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high over vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, a host of golden daffodils beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine and twinkle on the Milky Way, they stretched in never-ending line along the margin of a bay.

10,000 saw I at a glance, tossing their heads in a sprightly dance.

I'm hoping that you remember this poem, or at least the first stanza that we've looked at previously.

So let's think about how William Wordsworth uses rhythm.

So if you notice that in this part of the poem, Wordsworth places stress on alternate syllables.

I wandered lonely as a cloud.

You can hear where the stress changes from one to the other.

On some syllables, the stress is less.

And then on the next syllable, we stress that more.

And that's been done on purpose.

And William Wordsworth also in this poem stresses the final syllable of a line.

Okay, so cloud, hills, crowd, dils, trees, and breeze are all stressed.

Now, what this does in this poem specifically is it gives the poem a light and bouncy sound when it's read aloud.

And this helps to make us think kind of of the movement at the daffodils, perhaps of the way that they're moving in the breeze, okay? Perhaps when he says that they are sprightly, doing a sprightly dance which means joyful and lively, it helps to create that feeling of that liveliness in this poem.

And that how Wordsworth cleverly creates a bouncy, light rhythm in this poem, okay? By making sure that when we read it, we stress certain syllables more than others and it helps to create that bouncy, light rhythm.

Isn't that clever? So what I'd like you to do now is to read the poem again.

And I've got a question that I'd like you to think about and have a go at answering independently.

So, do you think that this poem is meant to be read at a slow pace, at a fast pace, or do you think some lines are meant to be read quickly and some are meant to be read more slowly? What I'd like to do as a challenge in your answer is to try considering how many syllables the poet has used in different words and lines.

So listen very carefully, and then you're going to have a go at answering that question.

The first question, do you think it's meant to be read slow, fast, or a mixture of both? And then seeing if you can introduce the challenge into your answer.

Okay, listen carefully and then pause and have a go.

I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high over vales and hills, when all at once I saw a crowd, a host of golden daffodils beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine and twinkle on the Milky Way.

They stretched in never-ending line along the margin of a bay, 10,000 saw I at a glance, tossing their heads in a sprightly dance.

Pause now and have a go at answering that question independently.

If you said, in response to this question, something like this, I think that at some points the poem is meant to be fast paced when the speaker is excited and the daffodils are dancing, and at some points it's meant to be read at a slower pace when the speaker is wandering around, then you've come up with a really good response there.

So brilliant work and well done.

If you said something like this and added about the syllables and completed that challenge task, then you've come up with a really great response.

So again, great work.

I think at some points the poem's meant to be fast paced when the speaker is excited and the daffodils are dancing, and at some point it's meant to be read at a slower pace when the speaker is wandering around.

The poet uses a mixture of one, two, and three syllable words in order to create both a slower and quicker pace in the poem.

Amazing job if you managed to bring in those ideas about the syllables and what they do to the pace of the poem.

You have worked super, super hard in this lesson.

I've introduced you to some really difficult ideas and concepts.

So well done.

If you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and using the hashtag #LearnWithOak.

If you don't want them to share it online but you'd like them to share it with your teacher, then please ask them to do so 'cause I'm sure your teachers would love to see what you've been doing.

And finally, there is a quiz attached to this lesson that will do a final test of your knowledge and show you what you've learned.

So please make sure that you complete that.

Thank you, and bye.