Hello everyone.

My name's Ms. Keller, and welcome to today's lesson.

In this session, we are going to be reading and understanding Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poem "Sonnet 29: I Think of Thee!".

So by the end of this lesson we will be able to explain how Barrett Browning presents passion within a relationship.

Okay, so let's have a look at today's keywords.

We have overwhelming, sacrifice, obscure, corrupt, and courtship.

So what do these words mean? Well, if something is overwhelming, it means that it causes a strong emotional or physical response.

Sacrifice is giving up something valuable for a higher purpose, often involving personal loss or hardship.

Obscure, now this is a very interesting word because we can use it as an adjective to describe a noun, or we can use it as a verb to describe an action.

So as an adjective, it means that something lacks clarity or it's not easily understood, whereas as a verb it means that we keep it from sight, it's concealed, it has been obscured, we obscure it.

Corrupt means dishonest behaviour, typically for personal gain or to influence others.

And finally, courtship, the process of getting to know a romantic partner before establishing a romantic relationship.

And we can think of courtship very much as like historical dating perhaps, it's the period of time that occurs before two people enter into a romantic relationship.

So how is today's lesson going to look? Well, we're going to start by understanding the poems, we're going to read through and look at some key quotations.

And then in the second half of the lesson, we are going to explore the wider context.

So I'd like to begin with a discussion.

What predictions can you make about the poem using only the words from the title? So pause the video here while you have a discussion with the people around you, or if you are working on your own, that's okay, just make some notes on your paper or in your exercise book.

And when you're ready to feedback your answers, click play and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back.

Some really fantastic discussions there to start us off.

I really liked that some people were picking up on different words from this title.

So let's just explore a few of the responses that I overheard, starting with this word sonnet then, lots of people were talking about that.

And well done if you also picked up on the idea that sonnets are traditionally poems written about love.

So it is likely for us to predict, perhaps, that this poem is also going to be about love.

And there's 29 then, really good response that I overheard with somebody deducing, working out, that by calling it "Sonnet 29", that this implies that is actually part of perhaps a larger collection, and that this poem is the 29th one, which actually suggests that Browning wrote a lot about love, seen as it's likely here that she has written at least 29 different sonnets.

And then thee.

So thee is another way of saying you, and the fact that this poem is called "I Think of Thee!" strongly implies that it's written to a specific person, it's directly addressing somebody else, perhaps a lover.

And last of all then, that exclamation mark.

Now we know when we see an exclamation mark that we are expecting big feelings of some sort.

So we perhaps infer here that this poem is going to be quite an emotional one.

Okay, so it is time for us to read the poem as a whole.

And then when we've done that, we'll go back through the poem again and we'll stop and look at some key ideas of the poem in more detail.

So take a minute here, if you've got your own copy of the poem, grab it and you can follow along with us.

And feel free to annotate or highlight any keywords or phrases that you see as we go on.

"I Think of Thee!, my thoughts do twine and bud about thee, as wild vines about a tree.

Put out broad leaves, and soon there's nought to see except the straggling green which hides the wood.

Yet, O my palm tree, be it understood I will not have my thoughts instead of thee who art dearer, better! Rather, instantly renew thy presence; as a strong tree should, rustle thy boughs and set thy trunk all bare, and let these bands of greenery which insphere thee drop heavily down, burst, shattered, everywhere! Because, in this deep joy to see and hear thee and breathe within thy shadow a new air, I do not think of thee, I am too near thee." Okay.

So now I would like to pause for a quick discussion, and I'd like you to think about which of these statements you most agree with.

So we have number one, the speaker misses her lover.

Number two, the speaker's thoughts of her absent lover obscure her view of what they were really like.

And, remember, we've got that keyword there obscure, meaning they perhaps corrupt that memory or they make it unclear, or they hide what he's really like.

And then finally, number three, the speaker has a dramatic view of love as a powerful overwhelming force.

And again, we've got overwhelming there, that keyword, meaning causes us to have a strong emotional or physical reaction.

So pause here for a moment while you discuss this with the people around you, or you make some notes.

And then when you're ready to feedback your responses, click play and we'll continue.

Okay.

Welcome back.

Again, some absolutely fantastic discussions taking place there.

And I really liked how the nature of this task meant that you needed to debate your responses with other people.

So I heard lots of groups discussing which statements they agreed with, but then perhaps are giving back and justifying, 'Actually, no, I think this statement's more compelling because.

." Which is a really, really good way to think about interpreting a poem.

So let's have a look at some key responses I overheard then.

So you might have said that each of these statements is valid to an extent, but some are more convincing interpretations than others.

And that's why those debating skills are so useful with a task like this, because actually all three of these statements are valid to some extent, but it's really about digging deep into that language and our interpretations of it in order to justify why this statement that you agree with is more convincing than the other two.

And the reason why this is important is because we cannot be sure of Barrett Browning's intended meaning.

We don't know exactly why she chose to use language form, structure and meaning in the way that she did.

So therefore we can only make inferences and support our ideas with evidence from the text.

And a great way to think of it is that we are literary detectives, we're presented with the evidence and it's up to us to make a case for what we think the deeper meanings in that text are.

So we return to these statements again once we've looked at the poem in a bit more detail, so do keep thinking about these ideas and considering, as we go along, whether your opinion about which statement is more convincing is starting to change.

So let's have another look then at the poem.

So we've got this bit at the top, the very, very first line, "I Think of Thee!" Which tells us that the entire poem is going to be framed by this idea of the speaker's thoughts of her lover.

We know from here on out that this is what we're going to discuss because not only do we see this at the very beginning of the poem, but it's also in the title, which tells us that Barrett Browning wants to emphasise this message.

And then as the poem continues we have this description of how the speaker's thoughts do twine and bud about thee.

So we've got this figure of the lover, thee.

However, when the lover is away from the speaker, her thoughts of him begin to grow and spread and spiral like wild vines around this idea of what he's actually like.

And eventually, there's nought to see.

They obscure what her lover is really like and corrupt her view of him.

So these fantasy thoughts that she has while he is away from her actually begin to cloud her memories of what he's like in real life.

And then as we go on we've got this description of "my palm tree." So we could, if we think about words we might use to describe a tree, we've got this idea that her lover is strong, stable, grounded, perhaps like a tree.

But also, it's interesting that Barrett Browning here has chosen a palm tree, because a palm tree is actually a biblical symbol.

Palm trees appear quite a lot in the Bible, and they often symbolise triumph and success.

So here we could infer that the speaker of the poem has a really positive view of their lover because they are likening him to a symbol that we usually associate with triumph and success.

And in this line here, "I will not have my thoughts instead of thee, who art dearer, better." So although the speaker has explained to us and described how these fantasy thoughts perhaps do spiral out of control, we do learn that the speaker isn't content with these thoughts only, and that she'd rather be with her lover than just have to think of him, because you've got this idea instead of thee who are dearer and better.

So although she knows that her thoughts do obscure the real thing, she also knows that the real thing is infinitely better than these fantasy thoughts that she tides herself over with while he is away.

And then here in the middle of the poem, we have got a volta, which is a method used by writers to show an emotional shift.

And it usually appears at roughly halfway through the poem, telling us that we're going to shift from one mood or emotion to another one.

And here the speaker says, "Renew thy presence." So we've got this idea that we're shifting from thoughts of her lover, who is away from her, to this direct and quite forceful request for him to return, "Renew thy presence," come back to me.

And then we've got this next description, "Rustle thy boughs and set thy trunk all bare, and let these bands of greenery which insphere thee drop heavily down, burst, shattered everywhere!" So we've got this idea that she is describing him again like a tree.

Yeah, "With thy boughs and thy trunk." Perhaps her lover's body parts here, maybe his arms and his torso are being described like the parts of the tree.

And she's saying, "Shake your arms and set your trunk all bare, so remove these wild vines of these fantasy thoughts that have been circling around you while you have been away." So we get this idea that seeing her lover in real life completely erases this fantasy version of him, and we've got those dramatic verbs there, burst, shattered.

They don't just fade away, they completely erase and eradicate this fantasy version.

And then down at the end, we've got this description of deep joy.

So when she sees and hears him, and she stands there breathing in this new air that comes in his shadow, she is overjoyed.

And then that last line, "I do not think of thee, I am too near thee." Which indicates to us that this joy that she feels when he does return to her is so intense and so overwhelming that she does not need these fantasy thoughts anymore, because she's content that she has the real thing back with her.

So let's pause here and check our understanding of the poem so far.

So, true or false? The speaker prefers the imagined version of her lover to the real thing.

So pause the video while you have a think, and then when you're ready for me to reveal the answer, click play and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back and well done to those of you who said that it was false.

So now let's have a look at two potential explanations that you could use to justify this answer.

And what I would like you to do is to read through these justifications and decide which one you think better supports that statement above.

So, again, pause the video while you take some time to read through these justifications, and when you've chosen the best one, then click play and I'll reveal the answer.

Welcome back, and well done to those of you who said B.

In line nine she demands that he "renew thy presence," implying that she wants him to return.

And we also had that the quote, "thou art dearer, better," she acknowledges that the real thing is better than these fantasy thoughts.

So now it is time to practise our knowledge of the poem.

So what I would like you to do is complete this table, evidencing each of those three statements that we were discussing earlier on.

So on the left we have got those three statements, the speaker misses her absent lover, the speaker's thoughts of her absent lover obscure her view of what they were really like, and the speaker has a dramatic view of love as a powerful and overwhelming force.

And then on the right-hand side there, you have got a bit of a writing frame to help you start to form these analytical sentences.

So you need to find some supporting evidence from the text, and then begin to unpick the use of language in these key quotations.

So pause the video while you give this a really good go, and take as much time as you need.

And then when you are ready to feedback your responses, click play, and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back.

So let's have a look at this first statement then, the speaker misses her absent lover.

And we could have said, "'I will not have my thoughts instead of thee' suggests the speaker longs to be reunited because the imperative verbs create a forceful, determined tone." So we've got imperative verbs there, which are like bossy words, command words, "I will not have my thoughts instead of thee." Sounds very determined here, will not.

So then we've got the second one, and the speaker's thoughts of her absent lover obscure her view of what they were really like.

And we could have said, "'Soon there's nought to see' implies that the speaker's thoughts of her lover do not help her remember him, but instead prevent her from remembering him properly." But this idea that the speaker's thoughts of her lover, in fact, do the opposite of helping her to remember him, they actually corrupt or obscure the memories of him that she has, or they actually corrupt or obscure what he's really like.

And then this last one then, the speaker has a dramatic view of love as a powerful, overwhelming force.

And we could have said, "'Burst, shattered, everywhere!" indicates that the speaker has a dramatic view of love since the return of her lover figuratively blasts away her thoughts." So now we have evidence for these statements then, I would like you just to go back to what your initial decision was.

Has it changed? Has your opinion now changed? And if so, which of these statements do you most agree with now? So take a few moments to discuss this, click pause, and then when you're ready to continue, click play.

Okay, fantastic job.

We have made it to the halfway point of the lesson, so I hope you'll feel a little bit more confident about what this poem is about.

And in this half of the lesson, we are going to explore the wider context.

Okay, so I would like to start by exploring the poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and discuss some important things that we happen to know about her life and her experiences.

So first of all, then, she was writing during the Georgian and Victorian times.

So she lived and wrote during the 1800s.

And as you may already know, life was very different back then.

(mouse clicks) Society was what was known as patriarchal, which meant that men were considered to be the dominant gender.

And this also meant that there were quite strict gender roles for men and women, and different expectations, perhaps, for what they were allowed to do, how they should behave, et cetera.

So in that regard, love was linked to modesty, obedience and commitment during the Georgian and Victorian times.

And it's really important to think of these two words, modesty and obedience, because they give us an insight into the role that women were expected to play then.

So this idea of being modest links to the idea that women should be seen as innocent, perhaps, or pure, and any discussion of sexual relationships, romantic relationships, would have been considered quite controversial during these eras.

And then this word obedience, as well, links to this idea of a patriarchal society.

The man was considered to be the head of the household, and therefore it was expected that his wife would be obedient and supportive of the decisions that he made.

And that links us onto that last word there, commitment.

Commitment was really important to married couples during these eras, and marriage was something that wasn't entered into lightly.

It was a commitment that people during the Georgian and Victorian times, which were both quite religious, it was a commitment they took seriously.

So another interesting thing about Elizabeth Barrett Browning, then, she was known for her controversial views.

She came from a wealthy family, but she actually wrote critically about issues such as child labour and the slave trade.

Now, these two issues, child labour and the slave trade, were quite big topics for discussion, particularly during the Victorian times, where the British Empire expanded and so did the slave trade, and also because there were no laws preventing child labour.

So the vast majority of people in Victorian society did not consider these two issues to be morally bad necessarily.

So the idea that she was speaking out against these particular things would have made her quite a controversial figure.

And she married the poet, Robert Browning, after a courtship through letters.

So we've got that keyword there, courtship, to be thought of a little bit like historical dating.

So all the dating that they did took place through letters and, in fact, he sent her a letter because he came across some of her work and he really liked it, so he sent her a letter to compliment her and their relationship blossomed from there.

And actually, they eventually eloped to Italy.

So they ran away and got married and lived in Italy and, following this, her father actually disowned her.

So just having a look then at all these things that we know so far, I'd like to throw it out to you for a discussion.

How could these factors influence our reading of the poem? So think really carefully about what these things that we know about Elizabeth Browning perhaps suggest to us about what sort of person she was.

So pause the video while you discuss this or make some notes, and then click play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, welcome back.

Again, lots of fantastic discussions, and I really liked that people using their inference skills here to try to perhaps deduce or work out what Elizabeth Browning might have been like as a person.

And remember, although we can't know this for sure, it's really useful to have these inferences in our mind when we're reading the text, because they would shape perhaps how we interpret the language that's being used.

So let's just pick up on a few responses that I overheard.

So I heard people discussing this idea that she was known for her controversial views, and combining that with this idea that she wrote during the Georgian and Victoria Times, and coming up with this response that she wasn't afraid to stand out.

So she grew up in a very patriarchal society; however, she did not let that stop her from airing these, perhaps, controversial and forward-thinking views.

And we'll take this idea again that she was known for controversial views, and also perhaps that she'd married another poet, she lived in a very creative household, and we could infer that words were her superpower, so perhaps that she felt confident expressing herself using the written word.

And then last of all, then, we could combine this idea of how the Georgian and Victorian people viewed love, and also the idea that Barrett Browning eloped to Italy with her husband Robert, and we could infer that maybe she's willing to do anything for love.

She loved Robert so much that they moved across Europe and her father disowned her, so she made some sacrifices in order to make this relationship work, some sacrifices for love.

So now let's look at another really important piece of information that we know about this poem.

It was featured in a collection called "Sonnets From The Portuguese." And this collection consisted of 44 poems, and they were originally a private collection, so poems that she didn't necessarily write to be published but her husband Robert actually convinced her to publish them.

And let's have a think about this word "Portuguese" and what that might mean.

And there are two potential ways that we could look at this word.

First of all, she originally claimed that these poems were not her original poems but they were translated from Portuguese, hence the title of the collection.

But also, another interesting link that we have to the word "Portuguese" is that Robert's nickname for Elizabeth was "Little Portuguese".

So again, I would like to throw it over to you guys for a couple of minutes, and I'd like to ask you the same question again.

So how could these factors influence our reading of the poem? So take a few moments again to discuss this or make a few notes, and then when you're ready to continue and feedback your responses, click play, and we'll carry on.

Okay, welcome back.

I really like that people are starting to combine the different pieces of information in order to build quite detailed inferences about the wider context.

So first of all, then, we've got this idea that it was originally a private collection.

And even when Elizabeth Barrett Browning did publish it, she originally claimed that they were not her own poems but they were translated by her from Portuguese.

So we've got this idea that although we knew before perhaps that she was quite forward-thinking and she wasn't afraid to stand out, here we're actually getting the opposite impression, that maybe she's worried what others may think.

Now this may be simply because it was a private collection; these were private romantic poems that maybe she wrote about her own relationship, and she didn't necessarily want to share this information with the world.

And then if we have a look then on the other side, we've got this idea that Robert's nickname for her was "Little Portuguese".

So another reason why she may not have wanted to share these poems publicly was because this collection is special to her, because she's named it with that link to her husband's special pet name for her.

Okay, so let's pause and check our understanding.

So how can we infer that "Sonnets From The Portuguese" was a collection close to Barrett Browning's heart? Have a look at the three responses (mumbles), and then when you are ready for me to reveal the answer, click play and we'll carry on.

Okay.

Welcome back.

And congratulations to those of you who said A.

The title links to her husband's pet name for her, which suggests to us that it was something she treasured.

And actually, we know that Robert Browning greatly admired her poetry.

Okay, second question then.

After Elizabeth and Robert eloped to Italy, her father did what? So have a look at the answers, pause the video, and then click play when you are ready for me to reveal the correct answer.

Okay, well done to those of you who said A.

After she eloped with Robert, her father disowned her.

And arguably, this strengthened her commitment to Robert.

She had to leave her family to be with him, she'd made this big commitment, this big sacrifice, and they'd run away, gone on this adventure, and now he was all she had in the world.

So last question then.

We can argue that Elizabeth Barrett Browning was someone who believed in the power of love.

True or false? So pause the video while you have a think, and then click play when you're ready for me to reveal the answer.

Okay.

Congratulations to those of you who said true.

So now it's time to justify this answer.

So have a look at these two potential explanations below, decide which one you think is most convincing, and then click play when you are ready for me to reveal the correct response.

Welcome back, and well done to those of you who said A.

She eloped to Italy with her husband and was disowned by her father, which suggests that she would sacrifice everything for love.

Okay, so it is time to move on to the final task of today's lesson.

And what I would like you to do is to write a paragraph expressing your opinions about the following question, what do you think Elizabeth Barrett Browning thought about love? And I'd like you to use evidence from her life and from "Sonnet 29" to answer the question.

(mouse clicks) And you can also use this table to help you plan.

So what you've got here on the left is a checklist of everything that you need to include in your paragraph, and you've also got a really useful vocabulary bank with some sentence starters and really important key terminology that will help you to add detail to your response.

So click pause and give this a really good go.

Take as long as you need, and then when you're ready to go through your response, click play and we'll continue.

Okay.

Welcome back.

I hope you had a chance to give that a really good go.

So let's have a look at an example response.

And as we are reading it, I would like you to compare it to that checklist and think about whether or not it's including everything on it.

So here's what you could have written, "I believe that Barrett Browning had an overwhelmingly positive view of love.

In "Sonnet 29", she paints a picture of the speaker's love as powerful and joyous, through the use of an extended metaphor, to compare her lover and her thoughts of him to trees and vines.

In particular, the descriptions of him as a strong tree who causes the speaker to feel deep joy, since the adjectives here imply that the lover is a dominant force capable of having a dramatic effect on the speaker.

Arguably, we can infer that these feelings about love mirror those of Barrett Browning, whose elopement with her husband meant she had to abandon her family." So pause the video if you need to but review this answer, does it do everything on the checklist? And then once you've done that, what I would like you to do is to use this answer and the checklist to assess your own response.

So have a read through what you've written, what things from the checklist have you done really well, and perhaps what things you need to make sure you include in a bit more detail next time.

So pause the video here while you review your answer, and then when you're ready to continue, click play.

Okay, so we've made it to the end of the lesson.

I hope you're proud of the effort that you've put in today and of everything that you have achieved.

So let's just summarise what we've covered in this session.

Barrett Browning conveys her overwhelming wish to be reunited with her love.

Barrett Browning describes a relationship which although emotionally close, is physically distant.

She describes how the speaker's thoughts of her lover sometimes obscure and corrupt her reality.

The poem is partially autobiographical, originally written during her courtship with Robert Browning, who later became her husband.

And Barrett Browning's life experiences suggest she had positive views about the power of love.

So I hope that you've enjoyed today's lesson and you feel a bit more confident when it comes to reading "Sonnet 29".

I hope to see you again soon, and have a fantastic day.