Hello, my name is Ms. Grant.

I'm so glad you decided to learn with me.

Today we're in the unit, myth legends, and stories that inspire.

Today we are going to read ""The Lady of Shalott"." It's a ballad by Alfred Lord Tennyson, it is a fantastic poem.

I love reading it, I love analysing it, and most of all, I love hearing people's ideas about it.

So let's get started.

So by the end of today's lesson, you're going to show understanding of "The Lady of Shalott" through comprehension and annotation.

So we're gonna read through the poem, we're gonna show a really clear understanding of what it is about, and then we're gonna do some fantastic annotation.

And in today's lesson, we're really going to get to grips with what it means to annotate really, really well.

So you might think, "I know that annotation is a key skill in English, but I'm not quite sure what it should look like on the page." Today, we're gonna go through exactly what it should look like.

So you have a fantastic set of notes for the "The Lady of Shalott." There are some key words which are going to come up throughout today's lesson.

They're gonna help us achieve our objective.

If you'd like to pause the video, and spend some more time with our keywords, then please do so now.

I'm just gonna draw attention to one of the keywords, which is Camelot.

Camelot is a legendary place, which means it's not real.

It's a legend then it's not real, where King Arthur, a legendary king, was said to hold court.

Now Camelot is one of the settings of our poem, "The Lady of Shalott." Today, so it's an important place to know about, but importantly it is legendary.

So it is not actually real, it is part of the fantasy of the poem.

The other key words, they are gonna come up throughout and they're gonna help us achieve our objective.

As I say, if you'd like to pause the video and spend a bit more time with them now, then please do.

Otherwise, we'll go through them during the lesson.

Our lesson outline for today, first of all, we start off by introducing "The Lady of Shalott." We're just gonna get a bit of an overview of that, who wrote the poem, and what the poem is about.

And then in the second learning cycle, we are gonna read the whole poem, and we're gonna annotate it, and we're gonna really think, "What does good annotation look like?" Let's start off with introducing "The Lady of Shalott." So today we will read "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

"The Lady of Shalott" is a ballad, which means it's a poem that tells a story.

So a ballad is a technical term for a particular type of poem, and usually they tell a story.

I'd like you to consider the poem's title, which is "The Lady of Shalott," and all of our key words, which are in the poem.

We've already met Camelot.

We know it's a legendary place where King Arthur, legendary king, was said to hold court.

But we've also got isle meaning a small island, curse, a spell, which means something bad is gonna happen to you, and then we've got these words, weave and web.

So weave is to interlace different threads to form a fabric, and web is a network of threads.

Now, we most commonly find with this, with a spiders web.

I'm not gonna give you any further clues about these keywords, all of which we find in our poem because I want you to discuss what predictions can you make about the story? So of course, no wrong answers here.

We have not met this poem yet, but we do have these keywords, we do have the title of our poem.

I'd like you to discuss what predictions can you make about the story.

Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back.

Some lovely imaginative predictions about this poem.

Lots of people starting off with the idea of Camelot, and thinking, well, this must be quite an important setting.

"The Lady of Shalott", she's not of Camelot, so maybe she's a bit of an outsider in some way.

And that definitely links to this idea of island and curse.

So maybe this island is where she lives.

Maybe she lives far away from Camelot and maybe she is cursed in some way.

And then we've got this idea of weave and web being quite important to the poem.

Some people saying, "Is the spider part of the curse or is the weaving and the web are they somehow connected? Is this something about one of the characters or about the curse?" So we've got some answers and also some questions in terms of our predictions about this poem.

Now "The Lady of Shalott" tells a story of a cursed woman who's confined to a tower on an island just outside Camelot.

So lots of those predictions absolutely were right.

So "The Lady of Shalott", she's cursed, a spells been put on her, something bad will happen to her.

And she's living on this island that she's slightly remote from Camelot.

So she's not part of Camelot, she's not part of King Arthur's court.

She is remote.

She is further away from that.

Now the curse.

She must constantly weave cloth called a web throughout the poems. This has not to do with a spider's web this time, but her cloth itself is called a web.

That is how it's described.

She must face away from the tower's window as she weaves.

So she's not allowed to look out the window as she weaves in her tower.

And if she stops weaving or looks out the window, something terrible will happen to her.

So it's very difficult curse because she's very isolated and she knows there's thing's going on in the world outside.

But she has to stay within her tower, on this island far away from Camelot, and continually weave.

Now I'd like you to read stanza five of the poem when we learn about the curse or the spell.

And it says, "No time hath she," that's the lady off Shalott, "to sport and play.

A charmed web, she weaves always." So this is the tapestry, it's referred to as a web.

"A curse is on her, if she stay," which in this case means stop.

"A curse is on her, if she stay her weaving either night or day to look down to Camelot.

She knows not what the curse may be, therefore, she weaveth steadily.

Therefore, no other care has she, 'The Lady of Shalott.

'" So this is our first introduction to this poem.

We've read stanza five.

This isn't the first stanza of the poem.

It's a bit further down, but this is when we learn about the curse.

Now Lucas reads stanza five and he says, "Tennyson makes us feel really sorry for the Lady of Shalott." And I'd like you to discuss what might have led Lucas to this argument? Pause a video and discuss the question with close reference to stanza five.

Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back.

A really lovely discussion, engaging with an argument about the poem and at the poem itself.

So lots of you said, "Yeah, I agree with Lucas.

We do feel really sorry for the Lady of the of Shalott.

The first line, no time has she to sport and play.

So she doesn't have time for any enjoyable activities.

All she can do is weave.

She must weave all way and this word curse comes up in this stanza.

So we know something bad will happen to her.

That also makes us feel quite sorry for the Lady of Shalott.

And then we can see that it says in the middle of the stanza, curses on her if she stops weaving either night or day to look down on Camelot.

So there's a sense there that maybe she does want to look on down on Camelot.

Maybe she wants to engage with this legendary court of King Arthur, but she can't.

Others said, "Well, she also doesn't know what the curse is, particularly." She knows not what the curse may be.

And maybe that makes us feel lady, sorry, for the lady of Shalott as well, 'cause she's not quite sure what is gonna happen to her, but she knows that it will be something bad.

So lots of different reasons why you might feel sorry for the lady of Shalott, particularly in this stanza, stanza five.

Now "The Lady of Shalott" is not allowed to look out the window.

We know this, but she can see reflections of the outside world via a mirror.

One day, she sees a knight called Sir Lancelot in this mirror.

So the mirror is facing the window so she can see reflections of what is happening in the outside world.

She just sees reflections, and she can't actually look out the window herself.

And one day she sees a knight called Sir Lancelot in this mirror.

She gets up to look at Sir Lancelot through the window.

Now I'd like you to read stanza 13 of the poem when she goes to look at Sir Lancelot, and it says, "She left the web," so she left her tapestry, "She left the loom, she made three paces through the room.

She saw the water-flower bloom, she saw the helmet and the plume," the feather.

So she saw Sir Lancelot's helmet and the feather in his helmet.

"She looked down to Camelot.

Out flew the web." So her tapestry came out of the loom.

"And floated wide, the mirror cracked from side to side.

The curse is come upon me, cried.

"The Lady of Shalott".

Now I'd like you to discuss what happens when the lady of Shallot looks out of the window.

Pause the video, discuss this question making close reference to stanza 13 of the poem.

Complete this discussion question now.

Welcome back.

Well done for showing really good understanding of stanza 13.

So when she looks out of the window, she looks down to Camelot, she sees Sir Lancelot's helmet and the feather.

But her tapestry is destroyed.

It floats out of the loom.

It will no longer be something that she can work on.

And the mirror, the mirror that allowed her to see these reflections of what was going on in the outside world, it cracked so she can no longer use that mirror either.

And crucially, the lady of Shalott realises that, "The curse is come upon me." She says, "The curse is come upon me," at the end of stanza 13.

Now knowing she will soon die, the Lady of Shalott leaves the tower.

She climbs into a boat and sails to Camelot.

I'd like you to read the penultimate stanza of the poem, which means the second to last stanza, when people from Camelot see the boat arrive and it says, "Under tower and balcony, By garden wall and gallery, A pale, pale corpse she floated by, Deadcold, between the houses high, Dead into the towered Camelot.

Knight and burgher," which means they're an important person, "Lord and dame," a woman, "To the planked wharfage," which is a dock, "Came, below the stern they read her name, "The Lady of Shalott".

So this is the penultimate standard of the poem.

People from Camelot see the boat arrive at the wharfage at the dock, and Lucas says, "Tennyson's description is really vivid.

So very powerful here.

I can picture this scene really clearly.

I'd like you to discuss what might have led Lucas to this argument.

Make close reference to the penultimate stands of the poem.

So the second to last stands out of the poem and discuss this question.

Pause the video, and complete the discussion task now.

Welcome back.

A really lovely discussion of this penultimate stanza and showing off some of your knowledge of the poetic techniques that Tennyson has relied on in order to create a really vivid picture.

So one of the phrases many people were drawn to was this description of the pale, pale corpse.

So that repetition, really showing the death of the Lady of Shalott, and the paleness as she floats towards Camelot.

And that idea kind of drifting, we get a sense of the pace, the energy of the boat as it moves towards Camelot.

It's this slow, slow pace.

And then we've got this list of all the different type of people who are coming out from Camelot to see "The Lady of Shalott" at the dock.

So that list really helps us understand all the different people who are coming out to look at "The Lady of Shalott".

And then this final sentence, "Below the stern they read her name, 'The Lady of Shalott.

'" You can imagine that painted on the boat.

So very, very vivid image here.

Some people noting also at the start of the stanza that we've got this under the tower and balcony by garden, wall and gallery.

So we've got all these different locations so we can actually really start to build a picture of what is happening in this final scene.

Now a check for understanding before we show off our full knowledge of what happens in the poem, "The Lady of Shalott".

We have not read the full poem yet, but we have a good overview of the story itself.

So True or False, "The Lady of Shalott" is cursed by Sir Lancelot.

Pause the video and select your response now.

Well done if you selected false.

Now I'd like you to justify your answer.

Is it A, the lady of Shalott is cursed by the people of Camelot, not just Sir Lancelot, or B, we don't find out why the lady of Shalott is cursed, and she herself doesn't know either.

Pause the video and select your justification now.

Well done if you selected B.

So, Sir Lancelot is not the person who cursed the lady of Shalott.

It's just that when she gets up to look at him out of the window, that's when the curse comes upon her.

We actually don't find out why the lady of Shallot is cursed, and we read that stanza where we realised that she actually doesn't know why she's cursed either.

That was stanza five.

We find out about the curse, but we don't actually find out how it happened.

And the lady of Shalott, she also doesn't know why it happened.

So I would like you to use the table below to note the important information about the lady of Shallot's death.

So just getting one central idea of what happens to the lady of Shallot in this ballad.

One has been completed for you.

So I want to know who, and you know that the focus is "The Lady of Shalott." Did or will do what, when, at the end of the ballad, so that's a little pointer, a little help for you for this table.

Where does it happen and how does it happen? So this is gonna test your comprehension of the whole of the poem, which as I say, we haven't read all of it, but we've got a very good overview.

So pause the video and use the table below to note the important information about the lady of Shalott's death.

Pause the video and complete the summary task now.

Welcome back.

Really nice to see that table filled in really clearly and really accurately showing your fantastic comprehension of the main plot point of "The Lady of Shalott." Let's do some feedback, make sure we're really secure on this summary table, and then we're gonna read the whole of the poem in learning cycle two.

So you might have written who, the lady of Shalott.

So we know that she is the central focus of this poem.

Did or will do what? Die.

She's gonna die at the end of this ballad.

When? At the end of the ballad.

That was one of the pointers you'd already been given.

Where? It's Camelot.

So just outside Camelot, that is where she passes away.

And how? By looking out the window at Sir Lancelot.

Now some of you might have a slightly longer response for this bit, talking more about the curse.

That is absolutely fantastic showing off your detailed knowledge.

But the reason that she does die at the end of this ballad is because she gets up to look out of the window at Sir Lancelot.

So now with that secure understanding of an overview of the poem, of the summary of the poem, we're gonna dig into reading this poem in full.

So in our second learning cycle, we're gonna read and annotate "The Lady of Shalott." Not only will we really enjoy the reading this poem, but we're going to get grits with what great annotation looks like.

So we're about to read and annotate the whole poem and to annotate, here are some guidelines for you.

Firstly, circle any key vocabulary.

And we've got our key vocabulary, isle, curse, weave, web and Camelot.

And I think we'll be surprised to see how often those come up in the poem.

B, underline important words and phrases.

For example, when we learn something about a character, now be your decision to think.

"What do I think is a really important word here? What's a really important phrase?" But an example might be when you learn something about a character.

C, I'd like you to use square brackets to draw attention to and important stanzas.

So, for example, when we learn about the curse, that's in stanza five.

D, put a star next to a key idea, for example, the importance of weaving.

And finally, I'd like you to write notes about key inferences and ideas.

For example, about the characters or events.

So some pointers here, five pointers to make your annotations really clear, and we're gonna look an example so that you have a really great idea of what your annotation should look like by the end of reading the poem.

So we'd like you to watch Lucas annotate stanza five.

So this is a stanza that we've already read together in learning cycle one.

"No time hath she to sport and play.

A charmed web she weaves away.

A curse is on her if she stays, stop her weaving either night or day, to look down to Camelot.

She knows not what the curse may be.

Therefore she weaveth steadily.

Therefore no other care hath she, "The Lady of Shalott." So let's watch Lucas annotate this stanza.

First of all, he circles key vocabulary.

Web, weaves, curse, weaving, Camelot, curse, weaveth.

Then he's underlined important words and phrases, and for Lucas it is "No time hath she to sport and play." That's what he's decides are really important word or phrase in this stanza.

C, he's used square brackets to draw attention to important stanzas.

This is where we find out about the curse.

So arguably this is a very important stanza, but a star next to a key idea.

And he said the key idea here is that "Curse is on her if she stay, if she stops her weaving." And finally, he's got a short note about key ideas and inferences.

So he underlined "No time hath she to sport and play," and he's written just a short note, "She has an unfulfilling life." So she doesn't have lots of variety in her life.

Instead, she just has to weave all away.

So really beautiful set of annotations there.

And using that key means that Lucas knows exactly why he's underlined things, why he's circled things, why he's put square brackets or why he has that star.

Alright, to check for understanding before we move into reading the whole poem and annotating the whole poem using all the guidelines that we've just been through.

So here stanza one of "The Lady of Shalott." I'm gonna read through it.

This is the first stanza of the opening of the poem.

It really sets the scene.

"On either side, the river lie, long fields of barley and of rye, that clothe the world and meet the sky.

And through the field the road runs by, to many towered Camelot.

The yellow-leaved water lily, the green-sheathed daffodilly, tremble in the water chilly.

Round about Shalott." So this is the opening stanza.

Now you are lucky 'cause you know exactly what happens in the poem.

So we are able to make some really good notes even in this opening stanza.

What would be the strongest note for the underlined phrase? Water chilly, round about Shalott.

Would it be A, this is an example of personification, rhyme, and adjective, B, the final word "chilly" rhymes with "daffodilly," or C, the lady of Shalott is isolated because she's surrounded by cold water.

Pause a video and select what you think would be the strongest note for the underlined phrase.

Pause a video and complete this check now.

Well done if you selected C, the lady of Shalott is isolated because she's surrounded by cold water, so this is a nice developed idea about a character.

If we look at A, this is an example of personification, rhyme, and adjective.

Feature spotting in poems is not always that helpful.

It's good to start with the ideas and then consider if there are methods that are interesting and emphasise at those particular ideas.

And then the final word chilly rhymes with daffodilly, it is really enjoyable to hear the rhyme.

That's part of the reason why it's so enjoyable to read "The Lady of Shalott." But it is not helping us understand the character or the ideas in the poem any further.

It's just identifying a feature, a feature that is rhyme.

So C is the best note in terms of exploring an idea in relation to "The Lady of Shalott." Okay, we're gonna read the whole of "The Lady of Shalott." This can be found on the worksheet.

And as you read, I'd like you to annotate the poem using the guide below.

We've got A, circle key vocabulary, B, underline important words and phrases, C, square brackets of your attention to important stanzas, D, put a star next to a key idea, E, write notes about key inferences and idea.

I really want you to enjoy reading "The Lady of Shalott." I have so enjoyed reading the four stanzas that we've looked at so far.

There's a brilliant rhyme, a brilliant rhythm, which makes it really, really enjoyable.

But there's also a fantastic story in there, which I know that you will enjoy reading the poem.

Obviously you are going to be annotating it as you go along, but you might want to read the poem once all the way through and then go back to the beginning and begin your annotations just so you've got a handle on the story.

And as I say so that you can really enjoy that first reading.

So give this activity the time that it deserves.

The poem is brilliant.

You're really going to enjoy reading it, and then move into your annotations and the prompts on the board are really gonna support you with that.

Pause the video and I will see you back here after you completed these two tasks.

Pause the video now.

Welcome back.

It was such a pleasure to see people reading through the poem, some people choosing to read it in their head or hear people reading the poem, and really getting that rhythm and rhyme, and getting the drama of the story of "The Lady of Shalott." Also really, really nice to see a beautiful set of annotations on your poem.

Using that guide to make sure that your annotations are helpful to you when you return to them.

When you want to do some writing about this poem, let's do some feedback about these annotations.

So here are Lucas's annotations for stanza eight.

Let's just read through stanza eight first.

So it says, "But in her web, she still delights to weave the mirror's magic sights.

But often through the silent nights, a funeral with plumes and lights and music came from Camelot.

Or when the moon was overhead, came two young lovers lately wed, "I'm half sick of shadows," said "The Lady of Shalott".

Now Lucas read through the stanza.

You can see that he has circled the key vocabulary, but he's also put stars next to two ideas that he thinks are really important.

So to weave the mirror's magic sights, and I'm half sick of shadows of "The Lady of Shalott," I'd like you to discuss what notes might he have written next to explain why these ideas are really, really important.

So pause the video and discuss this question now.

Welcome back, really lovely idea.

Some people were relying on the notes they themselves made about these two important ideas and others thinking, "Oh, I didn't actually put a star next to those ideas, but now that I'm thinking about it, I think I will put a star next to them.

And here are some of the reasons why.

So to weave the mirror's magic sights really emphasises the supernatural nature of this poem.

This word magic there, it could be interpreted that the mirror is showing some magical sights of Camelot and that the lady of Shalott really, really wishes that she could see them in real life.

But it could also suggest that the very act of weaving "The Lady of Shalott's" art herself.

She makes the outside world into something really magical.

So not just one interpretation there, but multiple interpretations.

And then the second idea, "I'm half sick of shadows," said the lady of Shalott.

We get some ideas of her inside life, of her interior life that maybe she is not the most happy being confined to her tower under this curse.

Some people said, "Well, it's interesting that she just says, I am half sick of shadows." So not completely sick, half sick.

So this idea that maybe she enjoys her weaving in some ways, but she also feels this pool, this lure of the outside world.

So no right answers about what particular note you might have, but these are important ideas in the poem.

They help us to begin to interpret it in our own particular way.

Now the second bit of feedback I would like to ask you is look at your own annotations for stanza eight, and do you have anything additional that you think Lucas could add? So he has circled some key vocabulary, but is there anything additional that you think, "Oh, I've got this for stanza eight and I think Lucas would do well to add it as well." Pause video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back.

Lovely to hear some ideas that you would like to gift to Lucas so that he can write these on stanza eight as well.

So some people notice that the structure of the stanza, so the beginning, "In her web she still delights to weave the magic, the mirror's magic sights," is a contrast to the end of the poem when she says, "I'm half sick of shadows." Other people are saying, "Well, I really wanted to focus on this idea of Camelot in the middle because we've got the music coming from Camelot." So the idea that there's a draw there, because in Camelot there is life, there is interest, and the lady of Shalott does not have that.

Interestingly though, there is a reference to a funeral.

So that's one of the things that "The Lady of Shalott" sees through the mirror.

"For often through the silent nights, a funeral with plumes and lights and music came from Camelot or when the moon was overhead came two young lovers lately wed." So this is idea of death and life within the stanza of the poem.

So kind of interesting contrast between the idea of the things that the lady of Shalott is actually seeing.

So lots of different ideas that you could pull out from this stanza.

In summary, the lady of Shalott is a cursed woman who's confined into a tower on an island just outside Camelot.

The lady of Shalott isn't allowed to look out of the tower's window, but sees the outside through a mirror's reflection.

The lady of Shalott must weave these reflections into a cloth.

If she stops weaving, something terrible will happen.

One day she looks outta the window in order to see Sir Lancelot.

The curse comes upon her and she dies, found in a boat drifting towards Camelot.

It has been such a pleasure to read this fantastic poem with you today, and see your beautiful annotations and interpretations.

I look forward to seeing you next time.