Hello everyone.

It's lovely to see you here today for a lesson on understanding the poem, "Shall Earth Know More Inspire Thee." My name's Dr.

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

Now sometimes Victorian poetry can be difficult to connect to because some of the phrasing and language might feel different, but hopefully by the end of the lesson you'll be able to see how Bronte's ideas around nature and mankind are still relevant today.

So 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 Bronte presents nature.

So we've four words today, we're going to focus on as our keywords.

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

So our first key word is "idolatry," and that means to show extreme admiration, love or reverence for something or someone.

Our second key word is "reverence," and that means to show a deep respect for someone or something.

Our third key word is "romanticism," and that's an artistic and intellectual movement from the late 18th and early 19th century, focused on emotions and nature.

Our fourth and final keyword, "sublime," and that's a key concept in romantic poetry and it means the mixed feelings of awe and terror in response to a phenomenon.

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

So pause the video and write them down now.

Fantastic.

Let's get started with the lesson.

So two Learning Cycles for our lesson today.

For first Learning Cycle, we're going to start by reading the poem and considering who is speaking in the poem and what the poem is saying about nature.

For second Learning Cycle, we're going to be looking at the contextual information around the poem and think about how you can use context to effectively enhance your understanding of the poem.

Now before we read the poem, we're going to do a little bit of prediction work around who is speaking in the poem and the relationship between the subjects.

That will help prime us to the ideas within the poem.

So there are two presences in the poem, the speaker and who they're speaking to.

Now here are some of the words attached to each presence.

So for the speaker we have "soothe," "inspire," and "comrade." And for the listener we have "lonely," "griefs" and "pine." So what I'd like to think about, is use those words to tell me what you think the poem is about.

So consider the words attached to each presence and think about what the connection between them might be.

What do you think is happening? Now if you're working with someone else, you might talk about 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.

Amazing.

Now like Sofia, you might have thought, the words such as "lonely" make it sound as if the speaker is feeling low and despondent.

And that words such as "soothe" suggest the speaker is trying to comfort them as a friend.

Now, for a quick check for understanding.

So is it true or false that the quotations imply the listener is trying to comfort the speaker? So pause the video and make a selection now.

Correct answer is false.

Now I'd like to justify your answer.

So is it A, that the word "soothe" creates the impression that the speaker wants to comfort the listener, or B, the word "pacify" creates the impression the speaker wants to comfort the listener.

So pause the video and make your selection now.

Correct answer is A, the word "soothe" creates the impression that the speaker wants to comfort the listener.

So very well done if you've got that right.

So now we're going to read the first stanza of the poem and think about how we can tease out some more implications about the relationship between the listener and the speaker.

So the stanza is: Shall earth no more inspire thee, thou lonely dreamer now? Since passion may not fire thee, shall nature cease to bow?" Now we're gonna zoom in on some of the language here and think about the implications.

So our first phrase we're gonna zoom in on is "lonely dreamer." And I'd like you to think about what does a description of a lonely dreamer suggest about the listener? So pause a video, take a few moments to consider.

Some great ideas there.

You might have thought that "lonely dreamer" suggests they've retreated into their mind and they aren't engaging with the world or people around them.

To be lonely suggest you feel alone and disconnect from people and to say you're a dreamer implies you aren't engaging with reality and it again creates this impression of being disengaged and disconnected.

Now we're gonna consider two phrases, "earth no more," and "nature cease." What do you think these phrases suggest about who or what the listener used to engage with before they became disconnected? So pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Some great ideas there.

By creating ideas around "nature ceasing" and "being no more," you might have thought that that implies that nature used to inspire the listener, but now they've retreated away from it and they've become disconnected from nature.

Now for a quick check for understanding.

The title, "Shall Earth No More Inspire Thee," suggests that A, nature has never inspired the listener; B, nature used to inspire the listener but doesn't anymore; or C, nature is inspired by the listener.

So pause the video and make your selection now.

The correct answer is that the title, "Shall Earth No More Inspire Thee," implies that nature used to inspire the listener but doesn't anymore.

So very well done if you got that right.

Now we're gonna read the rest of the poem and while we're doing that, try to keep those ideas of the connection between the speaker and the listener in your mind.

So grab your copy of the anthology, whatever copy of the poem you're using, I'm gonna read the poem to you.

To do that, I'm gonna turn my camera off so you can focus on the poem.

So this is Bronte's, "Shall Earth No More Inspire Thee." Shall earth no more inspire thee, Thou lonely dreamer now? Since passion may not fire thee, Shall Nature cease to bow? Thy mind is ever moving In regions dark to thee, Recall its useless roving, Come back and dwell with me.

I know my mountain breezes Enchant and soothe thee still.

I know my sunshine pleases Despite thy wayward will.

When day with evening blending, Sinks from summer sky, I've seen thy spirit bending In fond idolatry.

I've watched thee every hour, I know my mighty sway, I know my magic power To drive thy griefs away.

Few hearts to mortals given, On earth so wildly pine, Yet none would ask a heaven More like this earth than thine.

Then let my winds caress thee, Thy comrade let me be, Since nought beside can bless thee, Return and dwell with me.

So now that we've read the poem, we're going to consider who we think the speaker of the poem is.

So to do that I'd like to discuss the following phrases and those are: "my mountain breezes," "my winds" and "my sunshine." So who do you think the speaker is? Pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

Now, like Sofia, you might have thought that by saying, the mountain, the sunshine and the wind are yours, that implies the speaker is nature itself.

So now we have this idea that we think that nature is the speaker.

We're now going to think about what nature wants from the listener, and why nature might want that.

So I'd like you to read back through the poem and find two quotations that show us what you think nature wants from the listener and why nature might want that.

So pause the video and find your quotations now.

Amazing, some great ideas there, like Lucas, you might have chosen, "Come back and dwell with me," and thought that that suggests that nature wants the listener to return and live with them because to dwell means to live.

Like Sofia, you might have chosen, "I know my magic power to drive my griefs away" and thought that that suggests that nature wants the listener to come back because nature knows that that will make the listener feel better.

Now for a quick check for understanding.

So which of the following statements is true? Is it A, nature wants the listener to return because it will help nature? B, nature wants the listener to return because it believes it'll help the listener.

Or C, the listener currently lives and dwells within nature.

So pause the video and make a selection now.

The correct answer is B, nature wants the listener to return because it'll believes it'll help the listener and take their sorrow and their grief away.

So very well done if you got that right.

Now we're going to extend our understanding of how nature is presented in the poem.

So here are some other quotations about nature from the poem and those are, "enchant," "magic power," "I've watched thee every hour," and, "I've seen thy spirit bending in fond idolatry." Now, "idolatry" is one of our key words and it means to show deep admiration love.

So nature is saying they used to see the listener showing idolatry.

Now what I'd like to think about is, what connotations do those quotations have? So what ideas or feelings they give you.

As before, if you're working with someone else, you might talk it through with them.

Or if you're working by yourself, you might just think about what ideas or feelings you get from the quotations.

So pause the video and take a few minutes to consider.

Amazing, some great ideas there.

Now for the first quotation, "enchant" and "magic," suggests the idea of spells being cast or having the ability to draw someone to you.

And by connecting those words to nature, we might think that nature is supernatural, it's charming, it's bewitching and it's magical.

For the second quotation, the idea of nature, watching the listener every hour creates the idea of nature make a constant presence and that emphasises their concern for the listener.

But it also perhaps creates a sense they're a God-like figure if they're able to find and watch the speaker constantly.

For the third quotation, that's just the listener used to have extreme love, affection, and reverence for nature.

Now "reverence," one of our keywords, means to have deep respect.

So it implies the listener used to have deep respect for nature.

Now, for a quick check for understanding.

What I'd like you to do is match the quotation with the point.

So the quotations are "enchant," "magic power;" "I've watched the every hour," and, "I've seen my spirit bending in fond idolatry." And the points you have to choose from, are, nature is depicted as showing genuine concern and care for the listener, nature implies the listener formerly treated it with great respect and admiration, and nature has shown as almost supernatural in its ability to charm and captivate humanity.

So pause the video and make your selections now.

Now the correct answers are the "enchant" and "magic power," show that nature is almost supernatural in its ability to charm and captivate humanity.

"I've watched thee every hour," shows that nature has depicted, has shown genuine concern and care for the listener.

And, "I've seen thy spirit bending in fond idolatry," shows that nature implies the listener formally treated it with great respect and admiration.

So very well done if you got that right.

Fantastic work everyone.

One of the first tasks of the lesson, Now I'd like you to take everything we've talked about so far and use that to write a summary of Bronte's "Shall Earth No More Inspire Thee." Now this is a really useful exercise 'cause it allows you to ensure you fully understood what's happening in the poem.

So for our summary, I'd like you to make sure you've used the following points: So you've told me who the poem's about, what they want, why they want it, and how has nature shown.

I'd also like you to try and use the following vocabulary.

So try and use the word "reverence," which means to show great respect.

The word "sublime," which means the feelings are both awe and terror.

The word "idolatry," which means to show extreme admiration, and the word "comfort." So pause the video and write your summary now.

Fantastic work everyone.

Now we're gonna read through Sofia's summary and think about what she's missing.

So Sofia's summary is, "Bronte's 'Shall Earth No More Inspire thee,' shows nature trying to offer comfort to the listener and to encourage them to return their previous reverence and idolatry of nature, because nature believes that will cure the listener's sorrow.

And through this, nature is portrayed as a caring entity.

So when Sofia says that Bronte shows nature, she's giving us the "who" of the summary.

When Sofia says the nature is speaking to the listener to encourage them to return their previous reverence and idolatry, she's showing us "what nature wants." Then when she says that nature wants this because nature believes the returning will cure the listener's sorrow, she's giving us the "because," and a final line of nature's portrayed as the caring entity explains how nature has shown.

So technically Sofia has met all the criteria, however, nature isn't show shown as purely caring.

So you might rewrite it like this, Bronte's, "Shall Earth No More Inspire Thee," shows nature trying to comfort the listener and to encourage them to return their previous reverence, idolatry of nature because nature believes that will cure the listener's sorrow.

Through this, nature is portrayed as a caring entity.

However, nature's connect to romantic ideas of the sublime since it's shown as a supernatural, almost godlike figure that could make the reader feel insignificant in comparison.

Now I'd like you to read back through your response and check that your own response includes all the ways that nature is presented.

So pause the video and check your response now.

Amazing, fantastic work everyone.

So we're now into the second Learning Cycle and what we're going to do, is we're going to consider some of the context surrounding Bronte herself and the social and political landscape of when she wrote the poem and consider how we can effectively apply that to the poem.

So first, let's consider what context is.

Context is information that can help us better understand a writer and their text.

It illuminates the meaning and relevance of the text and it could be something cultural, personal, historical, social, or political.

Now obviously if we're considering what might have affected a writer, we're going to have a lot of information.

And while we can make an argument for every contextual factor and how it somehow influenced the text, we need to be able to filter through the information and think about which contextual factor is the most relevant and have the most influence on the writer and the text.

Now quick check for understanding.

So is it true or that every contextual factor may have somehow influenced the text? Pause the video and make a selection now.

Correct answer is true.

Now I'd like to justify that answer.

So does it mean that A, therefore we should write about every contextual factor and how it may have influenced the text, or B, therefore, we need to filter the contextual information and consider which is most relevant to the text.

So pause the video and make a selection now.

Correct answer is B, therefore we need to filter the contextual information, and consider which is most relevant to the text and which one enhances meaning the best for us.

So very well done if you've got that right.

So let's think about Bronte's life and her upbringing.

The way we grow up forms our earliest memories.

We form connections and ideas that affect the way we perceive people and life when we grow up.

So she was born in a parsonage in Yorkshire, and despite a few brief absences, she spent the rest of her life there.

She spent a lot of her time walking the Yorkshire moors, which are known for her bleakness and their wilderness.

And Bronte's sister wrote that she found that bleak solitude comforting and liberating.

Now what I'd like you to think about is, how might we connect this context to the poem? So how might we connect the ideas of growing up in nature and finding nature to be comforting to the ideas within the poem? So pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

They might have thought back to the quotations from the poem, and then nature is said to want to "soothe the listener," and "drive their griefs away," and arguably that shows that Bronte sees nature as a comforting environment.

Now let's consider the social context.

So that means what was happening to people and how they lived their lives around the time that Bronte was writing.

So while the exact date of the poem's creation is not known, Bronte lived between 1818 and 1848.

So she would have seen the effect of the Industrial Revolution.

The Industrial Revolution was a change from rural farming society to one dominated by industry and manufacturing.

So what I'd like to think about is, how might this relate to the poem? So how might the shift from rural life to urban life connect to the poem? Pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

They might have said that perhaps nature is talking to mankind in a universal way in the poem and asking them to return to caring about nature rather than their sudden focus on factories and machines.

Now, very quick check for understanding.

What I'd like you to tell me, is, which of the following statements is true? So is it A, that Bronte grew up in London, but moved to Yorkshire later in life, B, Bronte's sister said she disapproved of the Industrial Revolution, or C, Bronte's sister wrote that she found the Yorkshire moors comforting.

So pause the video and make a selection now.

The correct answer is C, Bronte's sister wrote that she found the Yorkshire moors both comforting and liberating.

So very well done if you got that right.

Fantastic work everyone.

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

So for this task, I'd like you to combine the understanding of the poem that we reached in Learning Cycle 1 with the contextual information we just considered and think about which contextual information is more relevant to the poem.

So, do you think that Bronte's personal context of growing up in nature and finding nature as comforting is more or less relevant than the social context of the industrial revolution and the move from rural to urban living? And I'd like you to write a short answer explaining your reasoning.

So pause the video and write your answer now.

Fantastic work everyone.

Now what I'd like to do, is read Alex and Sam's ideas and think about who you agree with more and why that might be so.

Sam said that they think the idea of Bronte growing up in nature and always returning to home is more relevant because it suggests that to her nature might have felt like a constant soothing presence in her life, and that would make sense that she would attribute those feelings of comfort to nature.

Alex on the other hand, thinks that the industrial revolution is more relevant because he says it was a seismic shift, not only in the way our industry worked, but also in the movement of people away from the countryside to towns and cities.

So the concept of nature, asking humanity to come back and appreciate it as they once did, seems an overt critique of the industrial revolution by Bronte.

So now we've heard both ideas.

I'd like you to pause the video and consider who you agree with more.

So pause the video, take a few minutes to consider.

Amazing work, everyone, it was great to see people having some great discussions about this, because there is no right answer.

You can make an argument for either context being the most relevant, but whichever one you choose might affect your interpretation of the poem.

So if you think that Bronte's personal context is more relevant, then perhaps you see Bronte's poems a celebration of nature.

And if you see the industrial revolution is more relevant than perhaps you see Bronte's poem as more of a critique of humanity's actions.

Fantastic work today, everyone.

Here's a summary of what we covered.

The speaker of, "Shall Earth No More Inspire Thee," is arguably nature itself.

The speaker's talking directly to someone who has stopped appreciating nature.

The speaker's trying to convince the listener to return to nature and nature is portrayed as both comforting and powerful, which feeds into romantic ideas of the sublime.

I hope that through this lesson you've been able to see the potential connections between how Bronte saw nature and humanity and other same connections and considerations are still relevant today.

I hope to see you next time for another lesson.

Goodbye everyone.