Hello, everyone, it's lovely to see you here today.

My name's Dr.

Clayton, and I'm going to guide you through your learning journey today.

So our lesson today is on George Eliot's poem "In a London Drawingroom." Now, Eliot is probably more well known for her novels than her poetry.

"Middlemarch" is a particular favourite of mine.

So if you enjoy the concepts around social realism and social commentary you see in the poem, you might like to think about reading some of her other work as well.

So if you're ready, grab your pen, laptop, whatever you're using for this lesson, and let's get started.

So by the end of the lesson, you'll be able to explain how Eliot presents the industrialization of London.

So we have five words today we're gonna focus on as our key words.

They're identified in bold throughout the learning material, and I'll try to point 'em out to you as well so you can see them being used in context.

Our first key word is industrialization, and this is the process of transforming the economy from a focus on agriculture to a reliance on manufacturing.

This is essential to keep in mind for today's lesson as we're looking at how Eliot presents this process of shifting the economy to focus on industry and manufacturing.

Our second key word is trivial, and that means of little value of importance.

We're going to connect this concept to ideas of how Eliot wanted her work to be perceived.

Our third key word is obscured, which means to be unclear or difficult to understand or see.

And this is a key image in the poem that we're going to explore.

Our fourth key word is perspective, and that refers to the position from which something is viewed.

We're going to connect this to who we think the speaker is, what perspective they're looking at the world through.

Finally, our fifth key word is suppressive, which means a situation which people are governed in an unfair and cruel way.

We're going to see how we can apply the concept to the situation of the people in the poem.

So I'll just give you a few moments to write down those key words and their definitions.

So pause the video and write them down now.

Fantastic, let's get started with the lesson.

So we have three learning cycles in our lesson today.

For our first learning cycle, we're going to consider who Eliot was and how we might connect ideas about her life and values to the poem.

For our second learning cycle, we're going to consider the title and think about what the imagery represents but also what it suggests about the perspective of the speaker and what interpretations we might draw from that.

For our final learning cycle, we're going to read the poem and try to think about what Eliot's intention by some of the imagery and ideas was.

So we're going to start by considering who Eliot was and find out a little bit more about her life.

She was a really interesting figure that transgressed so many social boundaries in her life, and I think it's important to know that before we start looking at her work because it'll help us understand it.

So George Eliot was a pseudonym for Mary Ann Evans.

Now, a pseudonym's essentially a fictitious name.

It's designed to stop the audience from finding out who the real author is.

So Eliot's real name was Mary Ann Evans, but she chose to use the name George Eliot for her writing.

You might have noticed that George is traditionally a man's name.

Later, she told her biographer she chose George because it was her partner's name.

So let's think about the implications of her choice of name.

What inferences can you make about society if a woman chose to write under a man's name? So what can you draw about society and how they viewed women if women chose to write under a man's name? Now, if you're working with a partner, you might choose to discuss your ideas with them.

If you're working through this by yourself, you can just think about your ideas.

So pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

Some fantastic discussions there, and there are still examples of women writing under men's names to obscure their identities today.

Now, you might have thought that by taking a man's name for your writing, it implies that for your writing to be taken seriously in Victorian England, you needed to be a man.

Now, Eliot wrote newspaper articles on women's writing.

She was critical of contemporary women's work.

She considered it trivial.

Now, this is one of our key words.

It means of little value or importance.

So she thought of women's writing as of little value or importance.

So we might conclude that Eliot did not want her own work to be thought of in the same category as the women's writing she was so critical of.

So what does that tell us about what Eliot wanted for her own writing? What does Eliot's desire to not be seen as trivial suggest about what she wanted her own work to be seen as? So pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

So if we think that trivial means of little importance or value, that suggests that Eliot wanted her own writing to be seen as saying something important about society and of human nature.

She wanted people to see her work as having value.

Now, let's think a little more about Eliot's life and what that might tell us about her intentions.

So Eliot grew up in the countryside as the daughter of a mill owner.

Her work often depicted rural society and focused on the small details of country life.

So if her work focused on rural life on the countryside, then what might we infer from this? What might she be saying about the value of rural life? So pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

Now, potentially it could suggest she sees rural life as important and as worthy of social commentary.

It suggests that rural life and the people who live in the countryside are important and their lives have value and meaning, especially in wider discussions about human society.

Now for a quick check for understanding.

So I'd like you to tell me if the following statement is true or false.

So is it true or false that Eliot's work rarely focused on rural matters despite growing up in the countryside? So pause the video and make your selection now.

The correct answer is false.

Now, I'd like to justify that answer.

So is it A, that Eliot's work often focused on rural society and the small details of country life, or B, that Eliot's work often focused on characters reminiscing about growing up in a rural community and regretting moving away? So pause the video and make your selection now.

The correct answer is A.

Eliot's work often focused on rural society and the small details of country life.

So very well done if you got that right.

Now, let's specifically place Eliot within the context of her time and think about how that enhances our understanding of her work and intentions.

So Eliot was a Victorian writer.

She therefore grew up as the Industrial Revolution was happening.

Now, the Industrial Revolution is a term you may have come across before.

So what I'd like you to think about is, what do you know about the Industrial Revolution? So pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

Now, you might have said there was a massive shift in people moving from the countryside to cities for work.

This meant that work in rural areas and farming was suddenly considered less important and less attractive as a work prospect.

Work in oppressive, dangerous factories was common.

Now, oppressive is one of our key words.

It means the system where people are governed in a cruel and unjust way, and people are often treated in this manner within the factory.

As well as being unjust, there weren't the same health and safety concerns as today.

So accidents were very common.

It was very dangerous work.

Cities also became extremely polluted from the use of fossil fuels.

Poverty and child labour were prevalent.

There wasn't the same social safety nets we have today.

So many people lived in extreme poverty, were forced to send their children, some as young as four, to work in factories.

The wealthy also profited from mass production while the working class were exploited, as many lived in poverty while working in the factories that produce these mass goods.

Now for a quick check for understanding.

Which of the following statements are true for the Industrial Revolution? Is it A, the working conditions improved, B, that people became more concerned with the environment, and cities became greener, or C, cities became more polluted? So pause the video and make your selection now.

The correct answer is C, cities became more polluted.

So very well done if you got that right.

Fantastic work, everyone.

We're now at the first task of the lesson.

So I'd like you to take everything we've just talked about about Eliot's life and experiences and think about how you think Eliot would've felt about the Industrial Revolution.

So how do you think she would've felt about the shift away from rural life to industrial life, and how do you think she would've felt about the working conditions in the factories? And I'd like you to explain your reasoning.

Now, you might consider that Eliot's work often privileged rural life.

So she often chose to write about rural communities and their lives.

You might also consider that Eliot's work often focused on the disparity between workers and landowners.

So her work often showed the inequality between the working class and the upper class.

So pause the video and consider your answer now.

Fantastic work, everyone.

It was great to see people reading back over the information to see how we can connect all of these ideas together.

So I'd like to now consider Izzy's response.

How can we extend Izzy's work to include Eliot's focus on the disparity between workers and landowners? So Izzy wrote, "Given Eliot's rural background and the way her work privileged rural communities, I think she would've responded negatively to the Industrial Revolution given that it caused a societal shift of people moving away from the countryside." So pause the video and think about how we can extend Izzy's work to consider Eliot's focus on the disparity between workers and landowners.

Some great ideas there, everyone, and you might have said Izzy could extend her work by adding, "Furthermore, given Eliot's focus on the disparity between workers and landowners, I think she would also critique the exploitation of the working classes that existed through the move to mass production and factory work." Now, I'd like you to check your own answer and see if you've extended your work to its fullest extent.

So pause the video and check your own answer now.

Fantastic work, everyone.

Let's carry on with the lesson.

Amazing focus so far, everyone.

Now, we're moving on to our second learning cycle where we're going to consider the title of the poem.

So before we look at the title itself, let's just think about why looking at the title might be an effective exercise.

So why do you think looking at the title might be useful in understanding the poem? As ever, if you're working with a partner, you might discuss these ideas together.

Or if you're working by yourself, you might just think about your ideas.

So pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

Some great ideas there.

As some of you pointed out, the title's often the first thing we read in connection to a text, in this case a poem.

So the title's how we're introduced to the poem.

It gives us our first images and impressions and therefore influences how we perceive the poem.

Always keep in mind, the writer would've put a lot of thought into their title.

They want to entice people to read the poem, so it has to be evocative enough to give people an idea about the poem and make them want to read more.

Now, I actually think the title "In a London Drawingroom" is my favourite part of the poem because there are so many small details we can pull out of it and so many ways we might link it to Eliot's intentions.

So let's start with the reference to London.

Now, think about London as a location.

Now Eliot grew up in the Warwickshire countryside.

You have an image here of what that countryside looks like.

She then moved to London as an adult.

And again, you have an image here of what Victorian London looked like.

So I'd like you to consider the two images and think about how Eliot might have felt about London.

So think about the differences in the images, the wide-open space of the countryside and the people and buildings of the city.

So pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

Now, if we think of the wide-open spaces and the green natural images of the countryside, we might imagine she would find London very busy, dirty, unnatural, and claustrophobic compared to the countryside.

Now, let's focus in on the image of a drawing room.

So a drawing room is the main public room of a Victorian house where guests were received.

And you have an image here to give you an example of what one might look like.

So I'd like you to start off by thinking about what sort of people might have a drawing room in their home.

So pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

Some great ideas there.

It was great to see people using the image to notice the grandeur of the room with the furniture, the ornaments, and the paintings to draw the conclusion that it seems likely that wealthy, upper-class people would have a drawing room in their home.

Now, I'd like to think about the fact that Eliot often wrote about the disparity between the poor and the rich.

How might she feel about a drawing room? Specifically, how might she feel about those who have a drawing room in their house? So pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

Some great discussions there.

You might have said she would likely see a drawing room as representative of the disparity between the rich and the poor and their living situations because it emphasised the difference in their houses, their wealth, and their standard of living.

Now for a quick check for understanding.

So which two of the following statements are true? Is it A, that Eliot grew up in London, B, that Eliot grew up in the countryside, C, a drawing room suggests a lower-working-class house, or D, a drawing room suggests a wealthy, upper-class house? So pause the video and make your selections now.

The correct answers are B, that Eliot grew up in the countryside, and D, a drawing room suggests a wealthy, upper-class house.

So very well done if you got those right.

Amazing work so far, everyone.

We're now at the second task of the lesson.

We're going to think about what Eliot's intention behind the title might have been.

So while the poem is called "In a London Drawingroom," there's no further mention of the room in the poem.

The perspective of the poem is as if the speaker's looking out of their window onto the streets of London and watching people go to work.

So the speaker is in the room, and they're looking outside, reflecting on the people they see outside of the window.

So what I'd like to think about is, why do you think Eliot might have chosen this perspective? How could we perhaps link this to the Industrial Revolution? So think about the fact that the speaker's inside in what would arguably consider a room that represents wealth and luxury, and they're looking out through a window, so through a physical barrier at the people working below.

What might that suggest? So pause the video.

Take a few minutes to consider.

Fantastic work, everyone.

It was great to see people considering how there's a lot more to the title than they might have initially thought.

So what I'd like to do is consider the ideas of the Oak characters.

Who do you agree with more and why? Now, Laura thought that perhaps she's trying to suggest the wealthy were shielded from the poverty and pollution of industrial London.

On the other hand, Izzy thought that maybe she's trying to say that the upper classes saw what was happening to working classes but chose to ignore them and not to intervene.

So now that we've read both ideas, pause the video and think about who you agree with more.

Amazing.

It was great to see people adding Laura and Izzy's thoughts to their own ideas because that's why we have discussions in literature.

We want to develop and broaden our own understanding by considering it through someone else's eyes.

Fantastic work, everyone.

We're now at the third learning cycle.

We're going to read through the poem and think about what the imagery suggests about industrialization.

So let's start by reading through the poem.

So grab your copy of the anthology or whatever copy of the poem you're using and turn to the poem.

Now, I'm going to read the poem to you, and I'm gonna turn the camera off to do that so you can focus on the poem.

So this is Eliot's "In a London Drawingroom." "The sky is cloudy, yellowed by the smoke.

For view there are the houses opposite cutting the sky with one long line of wall like solid fog: far as the eye can stretch, monotony of surface & of form without a break to hang a guess upon.

No bird can make a shadow as it flies, for all is shadow, as in ways o'erhung by thickest canvass where the golden rays are clothed in hemp.

No figure lingering pauses to feed the hunger of the eye or rest a little on the lap of life.

All hurry on and look upon the ground or glance unmarking at the passers by.

The wheels are hurrying too, cabs, carriages all closed, in multiplied identity.

The world seems one huge prison-house & court where men are punished at the slightest cost with lowest rate of colour, warmth & joy." So now that we've read the poem, I'd like you to consider these quotations.

How might they represent the poem as a whole? So the quotations are closed, monotony, and no.

How might they represent Eliot's idea of London? Pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

It was great to see people looking up the word monotony to make sure they understood its meaning.

It means a situation where everything stays the same, and coupled with the idea of things being closed and inaccessible, you might have concluded that these words all might represent the pessimism running through the poem.

London's portrayed as a negative place where people have become alienated from one another while simultaneously losing their individuality.

So now let's think about the way that nature is presented in the poem.

Now, here are some of the ways we might express the images of nature in the poem.

We have the image of the sky being yellowed by smoke, we have the image of the sky being cut, and we have the image of the golden rays of the sun being clothed in hemp.

Now, hemp is a plant which is sometimes turned into fabric.

So what I'd like you to do is think about what all these images have in common.

What do they suggest about nature? So pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

Some great ideas there.

It was great to see people thinking about how they would represent those quotations as images.

Now, you might have said that all of the images suggest that nature is in some way being obscured or harmed by manmade objects.

The idea of the yellow smoke suggests that it's not only hiding the sky, but there's something unnatural about it.

The idea of the sky being cut suggests the sky's being physically harmed in some way, and the idea of the cloth covering the sun suggests we can't see the sunlight because it's being hidden.

Now, let's consider how we might represent the people in the poem and what's happening to them.

So here are some of the ways we might express the images of people in the poem.

We have the image of everyone hurrying on, we have the image of multiplied identity, and we have the image of a prison house.

So I'd like you to look at the images and the quotations and think about what they suggest about the people of London.

So pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

Some fantastic ideas there.

You might have said the idea of hurrying implies the people are exhausted because they're constantly on the move.

These images also imply there's a single, collective identity for everyone.

We're simply multiples of everyone else, rather than being our own unique individual person.

And the image of a prison house suggests that London's a place of confinement where people are oppressed, where people are treated in a harsh and unjust way.

Now for a quick check for understanding.

Is it true or false that London is portrayed in a negative light? Pause the video and make your selection now.

The correct answer is true.

It is portrayed in a negative light.

Now, I'd like to justify that answer.

So is it negative because, A, London is shown to be a dangerous place, or B, London is shown as obscuring nature? Pause the video and make your selection now.

The correct answer is B.

London is shown as obscuring nature.

So very well done if you got that right.

Amazing work, everyone.

We're now at the final task of the lesson where we're going to bring everything together to answer the question, how does Eliot present the industrialization of Victorian London "In a London Drawingroom"? Now, when you're writing your answer, ensure you use your knowledge of Eliot's life to enhance your ideas.

So what did Eliot usually write about? Where did she grow up? What do we think her thoughts on the Industrial Revolution might have been? Ensure you use brief quotations from the poem to illustrate your ideas and make sure you use tentative language to suggest what Eliot's overall message was.

We can't know for certain what Eliot's intentions were, so we need to be tentative in our conclusions.

You might also like to use these sentence starters to help you get started.

Sentence starters are really useful because the more you use them, the more they'll become like second nature to you.

So you might start by saying, "Eliot arguably presents London as," "This is illustrated in the poem by," and, "Perhaps Eliot was trying to." So pause the video and write your answer now.

Some great work there.

It was lovely to see people trying out different quotations to see which ones illustrated your ideas in the most effective way.

So we're now going to read a snippet from Izzy's answer.

Izzy wrote, "The idea of clouds being yellowed from the smoke and there being solid fog suggests that London is a negative place because you can't see anything." Here, Izzy has taken a literal interpretation of the quotations to mean that you can't see.

Now, how could we rewrite her answer to consider the symbolism and the wider implications? Pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

Here, Izzy has now considered the symbolism and the wider implications because she now says, "The imagery of the smoke and the fog implies an obscurity.

Furthermore, the yellow of the smoke implies there's something unnatural and unhealthy, while the solid nature of the fog implies a barrier between the houses and the sky.

Both of these images suggest that not only is human activity harming nature but also that humans are being isolated from nature." Now, I'd like you to reread your answer and check you've gone beyond literal interpretations, so pause the video and reread your answer now.

Fantastic work, everyone.

It was great to see people adding to their answers because we can always add more ideas to our work, and we will always refine it every time we return to it.

You all did an amazing job today, everyone.

Here's a summary of what we covered.

Arguably, Eliot wrote under a pseudonym because she wanted her work to be seen as saying something important about society.

Eliot often wrote about rural life and the disparity between the poor and the rich.

Eliot would likely critique the Industrial Revolution for the shift away from nature and the poor working conditions.

The perspective of the poem could be a critique of the upper classes during the Industrial Revolution, and the poem suggests the Industrial Revolution harmed nature and led to oppression.

I really hope you enjoyed the lesson, everyone, and I hope to see you for another lesson soon.

Goodbye.