Hello there.

Welcome to today's lesson.

Great to see you again.

My name is Mr. Barnsley.

Thank you so much for joining me as we continue to explore the "AQA World and Lives" poetry anthology.

And today we're gonna do some comparing.

We are gonna be thinking about how Wordsworth and Bronte present their views on nature.

Okay, time for some comparison.

You are gonna need your copy of the "AQA World and Lives" anthology so you can see the poems. Should we start? I think so.

So the outcome of today's lesson is you will be able to explain the similarities and differences in how Wordsworth and Bronte present nature.

So there are five key words that we're gonna look out for and we're also gonna try and use in our own writing laid today.

These are omniscience, reverence, melancholia, romantic, and lament.

Let's check.

We understand what each of these word means.

So omniscience is the state of knowing everything.

Reverence means deep respect for someone or something.

Melancholia means a deep feeling of deep sadness.

You may recognise the word melancholy in there.

Now romantic you might realise there's been capitalised.

Well this is a name of a poetry movement from the late 18th and early 19th century and they really focused a lot of their writing on emotions and nature.

And then lament, the verb, to lament is a passionate expression of grief or sorrow.

So keep your eye out for these lessons when these words, even when they appear in our lesson today, and also let's see if we can try and use them in our own writing.

So two learning cycles today.

We're gonna start by comparing ideas about nature and then we're going to use all of the comparisons that we do today to write a really comprehensive comparative plan.

Let's start by comparing ideas about nature then, shall we? So today we're gonna be comparing Wordsworth's "Lines Written in Early Spring" and Bronte's "Shall earth no more inspire thee".

So here are some quotations from the two poems. Let's start with a discussion.

I'm gonna throw this over to you.

What connections and inferences can you draw from them? So can you pair up maybe some of these words and start to make inferences about how both poets feel about nature? All right, those words are lament, soothe, heaven, reclined, grief, and idolatry.

So it's over to you now.

Pause the video.

If you've got a partner, you can do this in pairs, otherwise you can work through this question independently.

What connections and inferences can you draw from the words from both poems? Okay, over to you.

Right, some really interesting connections there.

So you might have paired lament and grief together and these imply a sense of sadness, a sense of melancholia.

So we could see there some underlying sadness in both of these poems. You might have also paired heaven and idolatry together.

This both create this sense of worship, holiness, almost like reverence to nature.

And then you might have also paired soothe and reclined, which both create this real sense of relaxation and comfort.

So already we're starting to see three very distinct connections that we can make about how both poets feel about nature.

So let's consider.

We're gonna consider these three ideas in more detail.

I want to start by thinking of around those ideas linked to sadness and melancholia.

So in "Lines Written in Early Spring", we know the speaker laments, "what man has made of man", while in "Shall earth no more inspire thee", the speaker offers to drive the listener's grief away.

What are the similarities and differences between the way that both poems express ideas of melancholia? Pause the video, have a think.

Discuss with your partner if you've got one, or think through this independently.

What are the similarities and differences between the way the poems explore these ideas linked to this sadness and melancholia.

Alright, over to you.

Press play when you are ready to share your ideas.

Welcome back.

You might have said something similar to this.

In "Lines Written in Early Spring", the speaker's sadness is caused by mankind and their implied discourse compared to the harmony of nature, while in "Shall earth no more inspire thee", nature is offering to take the listener's grief away.

So both poems associate sadness with mankind.

However, Bronte's poem is more explicit in the idea that actually nature can cure this sadness, it can cure the melancholia.

Well done if you said something similar to that.

Of course you might have had other ideas as well.

Now we also infer that in contrast to this idea of melancholia and sadness, that actually both poems created this real sense of comfort.

In "Lines Written in Early Spring", the speaker sits reclined in nature, whilst "Shall earth no more inspire thee", the speaker offers to soothe the listener.

What are the similarities and differences then between the way that both poems express these ideas of comfort? Pause the video, discuss with your partner if you have one, or think through this independently.

Over to you.

Really interesting ideas.

And it was great to see people with their anthologies open, making sure that they are getting really direct references from the poems. So I really liked it when people said that both poems create this association between nature and relaxation.

However, "Shall earth no more inspire thee" suggest that specifically nature is trying to provide the comfort and relaxation to the listener.

While the speaker in "Lines Written in Early Spring", they simply just find relaxation in the harmony and pleasure of nature.

So there's a very subtle difference here between the enjoyment of being in nature and nature itself, being the soothing and comforting kind of force.

We also discern that both poems connect to this idea of holiness, worship, reverence.

So Wordsworth's "Lines Written in Early Spring" talks of nature's holy plan and compares it to heaven.

While Bronte's "Shall earth no more inspire thee" talks of the listener's former idolatry for nature and suggests that the speaker has watched the listener every hour.

Again, you know what to expect now.

What are the similarities and differences between the way that both poets express these ideas of holiness? Pause the video.

Have a think and press play when you are ready to continue.

Great work if you said something similar to this.

The words heaven and idolatry both suggest that nature is worthy of worship.

Furthermore, the concept of nature, having a holy plan and being able to watch the listener every hour convey an omniscience, this ability to be kind of ever present onto nature.

However, Bronte's "Shall earth no more inspire thee" implies that nature is using this omniscience to try to aid humanity whilst "Lines Written in Early Spring" doesn't give an indication of the specifics of the plan.

Okay, so it's almost like Bronte is being more specific of what nature is trying to do.

Alright, let's check to see how we're getting on then.

I want you to connect the quotation with the interpretation.

So the quotations on the left say, "what man has made of man." We know that the speaker sits reclined in nature and we know nature's holy plan.

The interpretations are that nature is omniscient and worthy of reverence.

That nature is a place of relaxation and comfort and that nature's harmony contrast with mankind's discord.

Pause the video.

Have a go at matching these up and press play when you think you've got them all correct.

Okay, great work if you said what man has made a man and connected that to nature's harmony, contrast with mankind's discord.

Well done if you connected reclined to nature being a place of relaxation and comfort and of course that leaves nature's holy plan to suggesting that nature is omniscient, is worthy of reverence.

So also a similarity between the poems is that both poems personify nature.

So in "Lines Written in Early Spring", we see that "every flower enjoys the air it breathes." In "Shall earth no more inspire thee" Bronte writes, "I know my mountain breezes." Let's have a think then.

Do you think the poems are doing the same thing through their personification? Do you think they're using personification in the same way? Or if you want to re-look over the poems and see what other personification you see in there, you can do so.

But really think about do you think the poets are using personification in the same way? Pause the video, have a think.

Discuss with a partner.

You can do this in pairs if you have a partner or you can just think through this independently.

What do you think? How's the personification being used? Alright, pause the video, give this a go.

Press play when you're ready to move on.

Alright, some really interesting ideas I heard there.

Lots of you were saying that by speaking in the voice of nature, Bronte is arguably taking the personification further than simply kind of creating an emotional connection between the reader and nature.

She does this bit by creating the impression that nature is reaching out.

It's really trying to communicate and connect with humanity, although we know that humanity doesn't answer.

So I think there is definitely this sense that the personification goes further in Bronte's poem.

Okay, true or false then? Both poems personify nature.

Is that true or false? Pause video.

Have a think a press play when you think you've got the right answer.

Well done if you said that was true.

Let's now justify our answer.

Is it A that nature and humanity connect and communicate in both of the poems to show the harmony between the two? Or is it whilst nature tries to communicate in "Shall earth no more inspire thee", there is an implied disconnection in both poems? What do you think? Which of these feels most valid for our understanding and interpretations of the poems? Over to you.

Pause the video, have a think and press play when you're ready to continue.

Great if you said B, yes there is an attempt to communicate, but there does feel like a disconnection between nature and mankind and humanity.

Right, let's also consider the structure of both poems. So starting with "Lines Written in Early Spring".

While that uses a rhyme scheme of ABAB apart from a pair of half rhymes, whereas "Shall earth no more inspire thee" uses a rhyme scheme of ABAB apart from AAAA in that final stanza.

When we think of rhythm, iambic tetrameter is used in "Lines Written in Early Spring" apart from that final line that is iambic trimeter.

Whereas the rhythm in throughout "Shall earth no more inspire thee" is iambic trimeter with extra unstressed syllable on every first and third line of each stanza.

So can you draw conclusions from these structural choices the poets have made? Can you see similarities? Can you see differences and why might those differences exist and what might be the intention behind them? Challenging question here.

So give yourself plenty of time to think this through.

Pause your video and press play when you think you have some ideas and then we can share them together.

Alright, over to you.

Welcome back.

Really well done for giving that one a go.

This is a tricky thing I was asking you to talk through here.

Let's have a look through this together.

Let's unpick this together.

Well arguably there are inconsistencies in the structure of "Lines Written in Early Spring" and we could say that these can stem from the imperfections of mankind in comparison to the harmony of nature.

Whilst on the other hand, we've got this unstressed, this extra unstressed syllable in "Shall earth no more inspire thee".

And I think that creates almost a really soothing tone to the poem.

And so that creates, I would argue that's Bronte trying to show the soothing voice of nature, the soothing side of nature.

So we can say the difference there is Bronte almost kind of leans into using structure to really highlight nature's soothing and calming abilities, whereas Wordsworth leans into those inconsistencies because he really wants to show that discord between nature and humanity.

Well done if you've got anything close to that.

That's it.

That would be really, really good ideas that you might have come through there.

So great job.

Alright, let's check how we're doing then.

Which is the most likely interpretation of the half rhymes in "Lines Written in Early Spring"? Is it that Wordsworth made a mistake when he was writing his poem? Is it that the half rhymes depict the imperfections and inconsistencies in nature? Or is it the half rhymes depict the imperfections and inconsistencies in mankind? What do you think? Pause the video.

Have a little bit of a think and press play when you think you have the answer.

Yeah, well done if you said, C, it's about the imperfections and inconsistencies in mankind.

Remember the criticism in these poems is not about nature.

Both poems really have a great reverence for nature, but that kind of melancholy, that sadness comes with when there's a discord between humanity and nature.

Alright, one other thing I want to compare is the contextual information.

Wordsworth was a Romantic poet, so he wrote his poetry during the Romantic era.

Bronte, many critics consider Bronte to have Romantic characteristics despite being historically she's located in the Victorian era.

She wasn't writing poetry in the Romantic era, but critics say there is a lot of Romantic characteristics about her poetry.

We know characteristics are Romantic poetry linked to emotions, but also this reverence of nature.

So how do you think the poet's romanticism connects to the ideas of nature found in their poems? What do you think? Pause the video.

Have a little bit of a think and press play when you have got some ideas together.

Yeah, well done if you say both poems display this reverence for nature that is really consistent with romantic ideas.

Furthermore, both poems arguably draw on ideas of the sublime by celebrating the harmony of nature while simultaneously depicting nature as powerful, omniscient entity that has sentience, that has being.

Really, I think there's some great ideas and we should really be leaning into the fact that both of these poets are either Romantics or heavily influenced by romanticism in their poetry.

Another piece of contextual information that we really might wish to consider is the industrial revolution.

So the industrial revolution that kind of approximately starting 1760 to 1840 saw the societal shift away from one of rural agricultural farming, for example, concerns to one that was much more focused on manufacturing, industries, factories.

Now Wordsworth's "Lines Written in Early Spring" was published in 1798 while Bronte's "Shall earth no more inspire thee" was published in 1846.

So if you compare these two, the dates of the industrial revolution, you can see that Wordsworth was writing in kind of as the industrial revolution was happening, whereas Bronte's writing count just after the event.

So I want you to think about how the difference in dates might account for subtle differences in the poems. What do you think? Really think about the tones of each poem and how we could link that to the dates they were written and how that relates to the industrial revolution.

Right, pause, if you've got a partner, this might be a question you want to work through together or you can just work through this independently.

Do a little bit of thinking by yourself.

Alright, over to you now.

Pause the video and press play when you think you've got some ideas.

Alright, I'm gonna collect some of the fantastic things that I heard.

I hear people saying things along these lines.

Arguably "Lines Written in Early Spring" displays concerns at what humanity is about to inflict on nature through the industrial revolution.

So they're in the process, words in the process of seeing the impact that the industrial revolution.

And so you can feel the concern, this disparity between the beauty of nature and what might be trying to do.

Whereas "Shall earth no more inspire thee", written after the industrial revolution has this more of this kind of idea of nature pleading with humanity.

Like let's return to the former reverence.

Okay the industrial revolution has happened, but let's not forget about the beauty of nature.

So you can see that the timing of this writing just changes the message and the intention behind the poem slightly.

So whilst the human speaker is still depicted as within nature in "Lines Written in Early Spring", nature is pleading with the silent listener in "Shall earth no more inspire thee", which could represent the complete disconnect between human humanity and nature.

Some really, really nice ideas in there.

You might even wish to pause the video and add some of this contextual knowledge to your anthology if you are making notes there.

Alright, let's pause the video.

Press play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, true or false then? Both poets supported the societal shift that came with the industrial revolution.

Is that true or false? Have a think and press play when you think you've got the answer.

And yeah, over to you, You should have said false there.

Let's justify that.

Both poems were written after the industrial revolution and were lamenting the disconnection it caused between man and nature.

Or is it B, arguably Wordsworth is commenting on the beginning of the shift away from nature at the start of the industrial revolution.

What do you think? Which of those feels like the most correct justification? Pause the video.

Have a think, press play when you think you've got the right answer.

Yes, that is B.

We know that arguably Wordsworth is commenting quite near the beginning of the shift away from nature.

Right over to you.

Now for our first task, we're gonna be looking at this question.

Compare how poets present ideas about nature in "Lines Written in Early Spring" and "Shall earth no more inspire thee".

I want you to write a comparative introduction to this.

So remember I'm gonna remind, I'm gonna follow this structure for an introduction.

We want a first sentence about both poems, both poets, and we want to explore kind of an overarching similarity like why are these two poems being compared to each other.

Then I want you to narrow down the similarities, be a little bit more specific, but I want you to have a really specific thesis which is gonna explore nuanced differences within that similarity.

Okay, whenever we're comparing poems, we need to be picking poems that have some kind of link or connection.

So we have to start at the similarity.

But the most interesting comparisons are always gonna be where there are nuanced differences, subtle differences within that similarity.

Alright, over to you now.

Pause the video, have a go at writing a comparative introduction.

Alright, best of luck.

Remember to press play when you're ready to move on.

Okay, really great job on that.

Let's have a look at Izzy's introduction and we can see where it meets the criteria and we can compare it to our own.

So, "Both Wordsworth and Bronte display a reverence for nature in their poetry that stems from Romantic sensibilities." So the fact that they're both either romantic poets or inspired by romantic poetry.

"Arguably, both poets lament the disconnect between nature and humanity that the industrial revolution has caused.

However, whilst both poems convey a sentience onto nature through personification, Wordsworth arguably highlights the discord of humanity in comparison to nature, while Bronte creates the impression of nature reaching out to humanity and trying to persuade them to reconnect." All right, let's have a look.

It begins with an overarching similarity that both poets display this reverence to nature.

It goes a little bit more specific and says, well a lot of this is, and a lot of their lamenting and the things they get frustrated about are linked to the industrial revolution.

But then we talk about what we're really gonna focus on is the slight differences.

How Wordsworth is really focusing on that discord between humanity and nature, whereas Bronte is all about trying to get those two things to reconnect.

So really nice introduction here from Izzy using those three steps well to have a really excellent comparative introduction.

So now let's take a moment to reread your own answer and check it meets the criteria that we put on the screen.

Alright, pause video, have a look and if you want to use any of this idea to improve yours, now's the time to do so.

Okay, we have done a lot of thinking, a lot of comparing, and now it is time to turn those ideas into a really good plan.

So here is a quick summary of the comparative points that we've made.

So a similar, when we talk, think about the topic of sadness, similarities, both of them talk about how mankind causes the differences.

Bronte saying that nature can cure this sadness.

When we think about comfort, both poets are saying that nature provides comfort.

Bronte saying that nature is specifically offering comfort to humanity.

We think about holiness.

Both poets are saying that nature is omniscient.

Bronte saying nature is specifically watching out for humanity, trying to look after us.

The use of personification.

Both poets say that nature is a living entity.

Bronte, however gives voice to the nature, she takes that personification further.

Structure.

Both have this general regularity with a few inconsistencies.

We know that Wordsworth really uses these imperfections to highlight mankind's imperfections.

Whereas Bronte really uses her structure to show how nature is trying to be soothing.

And when we think about context, we know the industrial revolution really is a driving force behind the messaging in some of these poetry.

Whereas Bronte is looking at the after effects and the disconnections, we know that Wordsworth is really in the moment and he's voicing his displeasure as what he sees happening.

So we know that our thesis statement might be something along the lines of this.

Wordsworth arguably highlights the discord of humanity in comparison to nature, whilst Bronte creates the impression of nature reaching out to humanity and trying to persuade them to reconnect with nature.

Out of the six points that we've just looked at that we've talked about, which three do you think would be the best evidence to support this thesis statement? Okay, so out of the six that we've just looked at, which three do you think might be the best? Alright, pause the video, have a think.

If you want to share ideas with a partner, you can.

Otherwise you can think through this independently.

Alright, over to you.

Which three would you use to help support and prove that thesis statement? Welcome back.

Of course there are no right or wrong answers.

But as you know, there might sometimes be some that are slightly stronger than others.

So Izzy said she would choose to look at personification of nature, the structure of the poems and the context of the industrial revolution because she thinks they both show the subtle differences in how the poets present nature.

Also, that does a really great job of making sure we're talking about kind of different methods of language, different structural methods and thinking about how context influence.

I think that's a smart choice from Izzy.

But don't worry if you chose to look at other things, that's absolutely okay too.

There are no wrong answers here.

All right.

Let's match the most likely interpretations.

Let's double, triple check we understand what the poets are saying.

So let's match the poet to their interpretation.

Pause the video, read through each of these carefully and match them up correctly.

Press play when you think you've got it right.

Welcome back.

Well done if you said Bronte, arguably the inconsistencies in the rhyme and the rhythm could be attributes to nature trying to create a soothing voice for the listener.

And well done if you said Wordsworth is linked to the interpretation, it says arguably the inconsistencies in the rhyme and rhythm could be attributed to the imperfections of mankind.

Right, our final task of today's lesson, you are gonna be creating a full essay plan.

We've got the thesis on there, three paragraphs.

So each of those are gonna need a topic sentence and specific supporting detail.

If you have chosen three different areas from that original list of six, you can turn each of these into a topic sentence.

So you might wish to focus one paragraph around the impact of the industrial revolution.

One paragraph about the structural choices, one paragraph about the melancholia that we see across the poems. Whatever it is that you think best supports this argument.

Remember for supporting details, you need to find quotations from both poems 'cause we want to be comparing within each paragraph.

So I would always aim to find maybe two from each paragraph that I want to you, sorry, from each poem that I want to use in each paragraph.

Remember, our concluding sentences should always link back to purpose and intention.

So always thinking about what the rights intentions were.

Alright, over to you.

I want to give yourself plenty of time to do this plan.

We want this to be a really nice detailed plan.

Best of luck with this.

Pause the video, give it a go and press play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, let's have a look at one of a paragraph that someone at one of our Oak pupils might have created.

This says this is just one of the paragraphs that might appear in that whole essay.

So, "Both poets are arguably critiquing the industrial revolution due to society shift away from nature.

However, we may see Bronte as having a more pessimistic tone due to the poem being written during the after effects." Supporting detail that we might use.

"What man has made a man," question at the end of "Lines Written in Early Spring", implies mankind can still question and reconsider their actions.

"Sinks away from the summer sky," we've got this dimming light shows failing of hope and the listener remains silent in "Shall earth no more inspire thee".

It shows humanity no longer hears or responds to nature.

What do you think their concluding sentence might be? Okay, this is what they've written as their topic sentence in the supporting detail.

What (indistinct) that concluding sentence might be? Remember that concluding sentence needs to link back to the topic sentence, but also focus on the right's intention.

Pause the video.

Have a think.

You can discuss or you can just think through this independently.

Alright, pause the video, have a think and press play when you're ready to continue.

Alright, here's an example of something that you might have said.

"While both poems can be read as a critique of mankind's disconnection from nature through the industrial revolution, Wordsworth depicts a human still residing in nature whilst arguably Bronte adopts a more pessimistic view of showing the complete disconnection between nature and mankind." Lovely.

All right everybody, you've done a fantastic job today.

It has been real challenge as we've compared these poems, and I've been great to see you rise to it and have some fantastic discussions and create ultimately a really solid essay plan Before we say our goodbyes, let's quickly summarise the learning that we have covered in today's lesson.

You can see it all on the screen, so do pause the video reading through each of these bullet points really carefully and making sure you feel confident about them before you move on to the next lesson.

Alright, it's been a pleasure learning alongside you today.

Really well done and I hope to see you in one of our lessons soon.

Have a great day.

Bye bye.