Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

Thank you very much for joining me.

I'm Mr. Blackburn, and today, we're going to be looking at language in William Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud." But before we begin, you will need to make sure that you have a pen and paper.

You'll need to make sure that you've turned off any notifications or anything which might distract you, and if you can, you'll need to try and find somewhere quiet to work.

Once you've done all that, let's get started.

So let's start by looking at what we're going to be doing today.

First of all, I'm going to see how much you already know about "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud." Next, we're going to look at the differences between metaphors and similes, and then finally, we're going to try and understand what personification is in a piece of literature.

But to begin with, let's see what you already know about the poem.

And what better way to start than with a quiz? Your first question, which form is "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" written in? Is it option one, a sonnet, option two, an epic, option three, a ballad, or option four, a lyric? Three, two, one.

If you said that it was a lyric poem, you were correct, well done.

Your next question, who wrote "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud?" Was it John Keats, Mary Shelley, William Wordsworth, or Samuel Taylor Coleridge? Three, two, one.

If you've put William Wordsworth, you were correct.

Well done.

Your next question, what type of flower does Wordsworth write about in the poem? Does he write about roses, daffodils, magnolias, or tulips? Three, two, one.

If you've written that Wordsworth wrote about roses, you were wrong because he wrote about daffodils.

And what does Wordsworth say the daffodils were doing? Were they singing, sleeping, walking or dancing? Three, two, one.

If you said that the daffodils were dancing, you were correct.

Which term best describes what type of poet Wordsworth was? Was he a Romantic poet? Was he an allegorical poet? Was he a Gothic poet? Or was he a romantic with a small R poet? Difficult one, this.

I'll give you slightly longer.

Three, two, one.

If you have said that Wordsworth was a Romantic poet with a capital R, then you were correct.

Remember, the Romantic era was a time that people were writing in literature about nature and self, and that kind of Romantic always has a capital R.

Small R romantics would be the things about love and relationships.

I love a quiz, don't you? I hope you scored really well.

Now it's time for us to look at metaphors and similes.

And before we do look at metaphors or similes, we need to reacquaint ourselves with what figurative language is, and you'll see the definitions in that green box at the bottom of the screen.

Figurative language is language that a poet uses to express their feelings or emotions, but which is different to the language that you and I would use in everyday conversation.

A metaphor is one example of figurative language.

In a metaphor, an author or a poet says that one thing really is another, and you'll see that the example I've given you is a blanket of snow and there's a picture also called "Blanket of Snow." Now, why is this a metaphor? Well, it's because the snow isn't really a blanket.

What it's doing is it's wrapping the world up like a blanket might wrap you up, but it's not literally a blanket.

The poet, however, has said that it is something.

If the poet had said it was like a blanket of snow then that wouldn't be a metaphor.

It would be a simile.

A simile is just another piece of figurative language but this time it says that one thing is like or as something else.

The example here is the moon was like a ball hanging in the sky.

Because of the use of that word like, it's a simile.

I like to remember that similes are saying things are similar.

If the author or the poet had said the moon was a ball hanging in the sky, that would be a metaphor because they're saying one thing is something else.

Now it's your turn to see if you can tell me the difference between a metaphor and a simile.

On your screen there are three examples of figurative language.

The water was a mirror.

She was a shining star in the classroom.

And fierce as a lion.

Two of these are metaphors.

I want you to write down the two examples of figurative language you think that they are metaphors and then give me a reason why you think that.

Pause the video for just a second while you write down which two of those are metaphors and then your reasons why you think that, and then start the video again.

If you wrote down these two, you are correct.

This is a metaphor because the water isn't literally a mirror but it's acting as though it is.

The water was a mirror.

So that water isn't really a mirror, but the poet is telling us it is.

The second one, she was a shining star in the classroom.

This is a metaphor because the girl isn't an actual star.

It just means she was doing well but the poet or the writer, the author, has said she was a shining star.

That means that our last example, fierce as a lion, must be a simile because it says something is fierce like a lion is.

So these two are metaphors because the poet or the author has said they were something else, a mirror or a star.

This one is a simile because it said that something was like something else.

I hope you got these two right.

Now, what better way to check your knowledge of metaphors and similes than with a short quiz? I'm going to give you an example of a piece of figurative language and you need to decide whether it's a metaphor or a simile.

You can write them down or you can shout them out.

Probably write them down though because I won't be able to hear if you're shouting at me.

First, the river was as dry as a bone.

Is that an example of a simile or a metaphor? Three, two, one.

Hopefully you've written that it was a simile.

As dry as a bone.

Her cheeks were rosy red apples.

Is that a simile or a metaphor? Three, two, one.

Hopefully you've said metaphor.

Her cheeks aren't literally rosy red apples.

They are metaphorically rosy red apples.

She was as cunning as a fox.

Simile or metaphor? Three, two, one.

If you've written simile, you got it right.

As cunning as a fox.

So if you remember similes compare one thing to something else using the words like or as.

His eyes were icy when he stared at her.

Simile or metaphor? Three, two, one.

Should have written metaphor.

His eyes weren't literally icy.

Imagine how uncomfortable that would be.

But it means that he was giving her a cold stare as if he was angry at her.

Metaphorically icy.

Okay, now I've taken the options away, but actually there are only really two so this shouldn't be too difficult.

Gary is such an early bird, he's never late.

Metaphor or simile? Three, two, one.

That is an example of a metaphor.

Gary is not literally a bird who is early to things.

It just means that he's very, very punctual.

Writing the essay was a breeze.

Metaphor or simile? Three, two, one.

That is another metaphor.

It just means that writing the essay was really easy.

I'm not really sure, not really sure where that metaphor comes from, actually.

It was a breeze.

Maybe I'll look that up.

But it wasn't literally a breeze.

It wasn't like a breeze.

It was a breeze.

So therefore it's a metaphor.

The brothers were fighting like cats and dogs.

Metaphor or simile? Three, two, one.

That was a simile, like cats and dogs.

Laughter is the best medicine is your next example.

Is this a metaphor or a simile? Three, two, one.

This one is a metaphor.

How can we tell? Well, it hasn't got the words like or as in it.

Is laughter literally the best medicine? Probably not, but it does make you feel better.

She was as slow as a snail and lost the race.

Is this an example of a metaphor or a simile? Three, two, one.

That is a simile.

We can tell because she was as slow as a snail and lost the race.

So like or as, simile.

Good, now here is a copy of the first two stanzas of William Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" and I want you to pick out how many similes you can find in these first two stanzas.

So a stanza is just the proper name for a group of lines in poetry.

You might call it a verse, but its proper name is a stanza.

I'll read it out and I want you to see how many similes you can find in these two stanzas.

I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o'er 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 sprightly dance.

Hopefully you found some similes whilst I was reading those two stanza.

If you haven't, here they are.

There are two similes and they're at the beginning of each stanza.

"I wandered lonely as a cloud," and "Continuous as the stars that shine." Now, Wordsworth would have included these on purpose.

It wasn't accidental that Wordsworth included these similes in his poem.

So we need to think as students of literature, what do these similes do? Why would Wordsworth have included them? What's the point? What do they make the reader think of? That's what we need to know.

Now, the first simile is "I wandered lonely as a cloud," and in case you're having trouble picturing what a cloud is, here's an example.

Why though would Wordsworth have compared himself to a cloud? Well, I think perhaps that maybe it's because clouds float above the world and Wordsworth's imagining himself floating above nature.

Maybe it's because clouds don't stay in one place for very long, they're transient.

They move very quickly.

They cover a lot of distance.

They get to see a lot of the world in a short space of time.

And perhaps it's because clouds don't really have any control.

They get blown about by the wind and can't decide where they go, and maybe Wordsworth really likes that idea of freedom.

Perhaps it tells us that Wordsworth feel so constrained by his life that he longs to have the freedom that clouds have.

What about the next simile, continuous as the stars that shine.

Here, Wordsworth's talking about the daffodils, and again, I've included a picture of the most daffodils that I've ever seen in one place at the same time.

They go on for miles, and that's what Wordsworth is imagining or telling us that he saw when he was out on this walk in the Lake District that inspired his poem.

Now, the stars are constant and unchanging.

So when we look up at the night sky, the same stars are there that people were seeing hundreds of years ago.

Maybe Wordsworth likes the fact that they're predictable or they're trustworthy because they're not going to disappear on him.

The stars are familiar.

There's a reason that sailors used to navigate by the stars and it's because they knew them well and they found comfort in knowing those stars well.

Perhaps Wordsworth finds that same comfort from the daffodils being there for him.

And it might just mean that the daffodils are shining bright like the stars.

The daffodils are of such a vibrant colour that they literally remind Wordsworth of the stars shining in the night.

Perhaps they're beacons of light in an otherwise dark world which Wordsworth was experiencing.

I think now is a good time to pause so that you can write down what you just learned.

So on your screen, you'll find two sentence starters and I want you to finish the sentences off to make sure they're grammatically correct sentences which explain Wordsworth's use of similes.

The first one, Wordsworth says "he wandered lonely as a cloud," suggesting.

And the second says the daffodils are described as being "continuous as the stars that shine," creating an image of.

Now, you can use your own interpretations.

You can use your notes from the lesson or you can look back at my explanations of these to help you finish these answers.

Pause the video and come back when you've done.

And now we'll check your work.

Here's how I finished these sentences.

Yours might look slightly different, but if there's something which is in my answer that you haven't included, you might want to just add it into your answer, maybe in a different coloured pen.

Wordsworth says he "wandered lonely as a cloud," suggesting that he feels as though he's floating above the world, looking down like an observer of the world around him.

So it's quite peaceful in Wordsworth's mind.

The daffodils are described as being "continuous as the stars that shine," evoking an image of a never ending line of bright yellow flowers illuminating the world which Wordsworth is looking down upon.

What a wonderful word illuminating is.

Isn't that a better way of saying lights up the world around him? Again, if your answers don't look like mine, that's fine but you might want to add in some of my information to your answers.

Good work so far.

Now it's time to look at personification and you might have already heard of personification but we're going to have a little look at it anyway.

Now, what is personification, you might be asking.

Well, actually it's quite easy.

So like metaphors and similes, personification is an example of figurative language.

Figurative language, again, is the kind of language that poets use which isn't the same type of language that perhaps you and I would use in a conversation.

Personification is a very specific thing and it happens when an author makes something which isn't human do something which a human would.

Might sound very confusing.

You might want to jot that definition down but it's not really as confusing as it seems. Here's an example.

The chair squealed when I sat on it.

Now, chairs can't squeal.

They're not human.

Humans can squeal.

Why was the chair squealing when I sat on it? Well, perhaps it wasn't ready for just how much cake I had eaten for lunch.

But it makes us as a reader know that the chair is feeling pain as I sit on it.

Huh, that's actually quite offensive to myself, isn't it? Hmm, okay, here are some examples, or are they, of personification.

So I'm going to put some quick quotations on your screen and I want you to decide whether you think they're personification or not.

So again, you can write them down or you can shout them out, but writing them down is probably better because I cannot hear you.

Here's your first example.

The last piece of cake was calling my name.

Is that personification or not? Three, two, one.

Well, the answer is yes, that is personification.

As much as I love cake, I've never encountered one that can actually call my name but maybe we imagine that it is.

It's sitting in the kitchen calling for us to go and eat it.

It's definitely personification.

How about this one? The alarm clock screened at George until he woke up.

Is this personification or not? Three, two, one.

If you wrote that this was an example of personification, then excellent work, because it is.

Alarm clocks don't literally scream at us.

It might seem like they do, but they don't.

There wasn't literally an alarm clock screaming at George until he woke up.

That's just how George might have felt about it.

How about this one? The curtains fluttered in the breeze.

Is that personification or not? Three, two, one.

That's not an example of personification.

Curtains can flutter.

How about this one? The birds were singing in the garden.

Personification or not? Three, two, one.

If you wrote that this was an example of personification, then bad luck, because it's not.

Humans can sing, but so can birds.

So the birds were just doing bird things when they were singing in the garden.

They weren't doing something that humans would normally do.

So it's not an example of personification.

The sun was peeking through the clouds.

Personification or not? Three, two, one.

That is an example of personification because it makes us think that the sun is pulling the clouds apart and having a little look through, deciding whether he wants to shine on the world below.

The sun doesn't really do that.

It's just when the clouds move.

But by saying he's peeking, we're giving the sun human characteristics.

So it is an example of personification.

Now, this is in the second stanza.

So verse.

It's a group of lines in poem.

This is the stanza, the correct name for a verse.

This is the second stanza, and Wordsworth tells us that the daffodils were tossing their heads in sprightly dance and I'm telling you that that's an example of personification.

"But why is that an example of personification, Mr. Blackburn?" I hear you cry.

Well, let me tell you.

This is personification because the flowers aren't really dancing.

Humans dance.

Flowers don't.

It makes the daffodils and all of the natural world which Wordsworth can see seem happy, joyful, and carefree.

So what we've done is we've identified that that quotation includes an example of personification.

We've justified why it's personification because flowers don't really dance.

And then what we've done really well is explain what that personification makes the reader think of, the happy, joyful part of nature that Wordsworth wants us to see.

Now, this is from the third stanza of the poem.

The waves beside them dance, but they outdid the sparkling waves in glee.

A poet could not but to be gay in such a jocund company.

I gazed and gazed but little thought what wealth the show to me had brought.

There's an example of personification in that stanza.

Can you find it? Hopefully this is what you said was personification.

The waves beside them danced.

This is an example of personification.

What I want you to do is just like I did on my previous example is write an explanation of why this is personification and then what it makes the reader imagine.

So pause the video here, take as long as you need to write your explanation of why it's an example and what it makes the reader imagine, and then come back and check your work.

Here's my example.

This is an example of personification because the waves were not literally dancing.

Waves can't dance.

Flowers can't dance.

Humans can, therefore it's personification.

It makes the reader imagine in the same way that the daffodils did that Wordsworth is looking at the joy of the natural world.

It makes us imagine how joyful everything is.

It sounds like the daffodils and the waves are having a party, and daffodils and waves don't literally have parties, but Wordsworth is enjoying nature so much that he wants to be a part of the party that he thinks might be happening.

And I think here is another good place to pause and reflect on what you've just learned.

So there are three questions on your screen which I want you to answer in full sentences.

The first is what is a metaphor? And that just asks you to define what a metaphor is.

Question number two is what is a simile? Define what a simile is, but as an added challenge, I'd like you to include a quotation from the poem as an example.

And question three says what is personification? And can you include the quotation from the poem as an example for a challenge there as well? Now, if you can't find an example of a simile or personification to use as an example, then don't worry.

But what I want you to make sure as a very minimum is that you've defined what a metaphor, a simile, and personification is.

So here I think you should pause the video, take as long as you need, and then resume the video once you've finished so that we can check your work.

Question one asks you what is a metaphor? And here's my answer.

A metaphor is an example of figurative language which says one thing is really something else.

Your answer might not look quite the same, but if you haven't written essentially that piece of information, you might want to just correct your answer now.

The second question is what is a simile? A simile is an example of figurative language which says one thing is like something else.

For example, "I wondered lonely as a cloud." So I've defined what a simile is and I've used an example quotation from the poem.

The third and final question was what is personification? And here's my answer.

Personification is an example of figurative language which makes objects do things which humans would do.

For example, the daffodils were "dancing in the breeze." So I've defined personification.

I've given an example from the poem and you'll notice that both of my short quotations are just three, four, five, six words.

I've not used lines of poetry.

I've just used the few words that I needed to prove my point.

Again, your answers might look slightly different and that's okay, but I want you to do is make sure that you have the basic definitions written in your answers.

If you haven't, you can copy mine and you should do that now.

Well done, everyone.

That was a really difficult lesson.

But what have we learned? Well, you've learned about the differences between metaphors, similes, and personification, and you found examples of these types of figurative language in Wordsworth's poem, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud." And then you've gone on to explain what effect they might have on a reader, and that's wonderful.

Don't forget as the last part of the lesson to take the quiz to prove how much you've learned this lesson.

Well done for all of your hard work.

Goodbye.