Hello, and welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Ms. Watson, and I am really looking forward to teaching you today.

We're going to be reading a poem called A Poison Tree by the romantic poet, William Blake.

And it is a fascinating poem.

There are so many different interpretations you can have.

So before we get started, you need to make sure that you have a copy of Edexcel's Poetry Anthology.

You're gonna find the poem in there.

So make sure you've got this, and then we'll get started.

So by the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain how Blake presents internal conflict in his poem.

As ever, we will begin with the key words.

They are wrath, foe, extended metaphor, Romantic, and critique.

Let's look at what they mean.

So wrath means intense anger or rage directed towards someone or something.

A foe is an enemy or an opponent, someone or something opposed or hostile to another thing.

An extended metaphor is a comparison between two things, emphasising their shared qualities, that is developed throughout a text.

Now, Romantic, when spelt with a capital R, is a movement, a historical cultural movement, that emphasised emotion, individualism, and nature.

And a critique of something is a detailed analysis or evaluation, often highlighting strengths, weaknesses, and implications.

Now, if you would like a little bit of time to familiarise yourself with the key words, please pause the video, do that, and join us when you're ready.

So this is the outline for today's lesson.

There are going to be two learning cycles.

We are going to start by exploring the poem, and then we are going to move on and look at the wider context of the poem.

So we're going to start with the title, A Poison Tree.

So look at the title, and I want you to make some predictions about what you think the poem will be about.

Have a think.

Okay, so poison might suggest betrayal, death, and murder.

I think it's really good that you said something like betrayal, because there is this, it's a very sneaky kind of murder, poison, because the person doesn't know, doesn't see their enemy coming.

And a tree, we associate trees often with nature and life and growth.

And, very well done if you picked up on the oxymoron of poison and tree.

Now they are quite contrasting images, because poison takes life, and tree sustains life.

So really good thinking there.

Well done.

Let's move on.

Now it's time to read the poem.

I would like you to open your anthology, and to read the poem A Poison Tree.

Now I'm going to give you some words that I want to remind you of two of the key words, and then give you some information about the others.

So wrath means anger, but really intense anger.

A foe is your enemy.

If you, to beheld, means to observe or to see.

Now it uses the word "bore", but in the sense of grow or produce, like you might say that a woman bore a child.

So it uses that.

That's how the word is being used there.

And when it says "stolen", it means snuck in, trespassed on premises.

So you need to pause the video while you read the poem, and I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to, what you think about it.

Off you go.

So welcome back.

I hope you enjoyed that poem.

Now I want you to have a little bit of a discussion around this, around the extended metaphor, the comparison that is made across the poem.

So what is Blake describing, and what does he compare it to? Have a think.

That's right.

You might have said that he uses the extended metaphor to convey the speaker's anger towards a foe, and he compares it to a tree, emphasising how the anger only grows when it is suppressed.

Really good.

Now let's move on.

Now I know you've read the poem, but I'm going to read it to you now, because I want us to start exploring the poem together.

So here goes.

"I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end.

I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I water'd it in fears, Night and morning with my tears; And I sunned it with smiles, And with soft deceitful wiles." Some great ideas there, some great language.

Let me draw your attention to this, for example.

Now it's written in the first person.

And so it's all about the speaker's feelings, and his inner conflicts.

"I" and "my" are repeated throughout.

And there is anaphora.

I was, I told, I was, I told.

Now this is interesting, because he's angry with his friend, and he speaks about it, and it goes away.

But he's angry with his enemy, and he can't speak about it, or doesn't speak about it.

And this time it grows.

And by using the similarities of anaphora, you actually emphasise the contrast.

And here we have the tree.

"I water'd it in fears." So here the tree, the "it" is the tree.

But other than the title, the word "tree" isn't used.

Instead, what Blake does is he builds the image using natural imagery, and words from the semantic field of plants, and nurturing of plants.

Watering it and sunning it.

Isn't that a great poem? Let's move on.

And we're gonna look at the next two stanzas.

"And it grew both day and night, Till it bore an apple bright; And my foe beheld it shine, And he knew that it was mine.

And into my garden stole When the night had veil'd the pole: In the morning glad I see My foe outstretch'd beneath the tree." Now the speaker's anger is growing, because it hasn't been suppressed, it hasn't been expressed, but also he is nurturing his anger, keeping it inside and watering it and sunning it.

And it's worth noting that apples very often in literature, and definitely here, have biblical imagery, links to corruption and temptation.

And it seems the foe may have been poison, sorry, may have been poisoned.

And the speaker seems really glad of this.

So what impression does that give you of the speaker? You might be saying that the speaker seems mean and hateful, but the foe broke in, into his garden.

So does he think that the punishment is deserved? What do you think? There's so much to discuss in this poem.

So feel free to pause the video now and have a discussion.

And if you're working on your own, just jot down some ideas.

So we're back to the title.

Now we've read the poem, you've read it once, we've looked at it together.

I now want you to have another discussion.

What do you think the message of the poem is, and how does the message link to the title? Have a think, have a discussion.

Jot down some ideas if you're working by yourself.

Let's share ideas that I've heard about A Poison Tree.

Like, it might be saying that people should express their feelings towards each other, in order to process those emotions.

And it might be saying that unprocessed feelings may end up hurting others.

You know, it becomes like a poison inside you, that comes out and hurts other people.

And suppressed negative feelings take root and grow like a tree.

The apple could symbolise how people then lash out at their enemies.

Really good ideas about how the tree, the poison tree, relates to the message of the poem, or the probable or possible messages of the poem.

Really good thinking there.

Well done.

Now let's have a check for understanding.

Which of these quotations uses natural imagery to symbolise the speaker's anger? Is it A, "I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end." Is it B? "And it grew both day and night Till it bore an apple bright." Is it C? "In the morning glad I see My foe outstretched." Is it D? "And I watered it in fears, Night and morning with my tears." Have a think.

Which one? Did you say B? 'Cause that's 100% right.

The "it" is the tree, and it's growing, and then it's got this bright, beautiful apple.

Very well done.

Let's move on.

Now, here is a lovely practise task.

So you can see A, B and C, three different images.

And what I'm asking you to do is to match each of the images below to a quotation from the poem, and then explain why you chose that particular quotation.

What do you think that image is telling you? Now you're going to need to pause the video while you do that.

I think you're gonna enjoy this task.

It will really, really get your imagination working.

So pause the video, and off you go.

So welcome back.

Wasn't that a good task? Now, there's the picture of the apple, and you might have written something like this.

That, "I think image A links to the quotation, 'My foe outstretched beneath the tree,' because the 'apple' that the speaker's anger grew seems to have hurt or killed the speaker's foe.

This suggests that repressed feelings of anger or resentment can grow, while they are suppressed, and eventually end up hurting others." And for this one, this beautiful, beautiful tree, you might have written something like this.

"In my opinion, image B links to the quotation, 'And I water'd it in fears, Night and morning with my tears.

' Because this image shows a young apple tree filled with red shiny apples.

The speaker's negative feelings, as indicated by fears and tears, are feeding the tree, symbolising his wrath, which is growing, because he hasn't expressed the anger and resentment he feels towards his foe." And the man with a blindfold over his eyes.

You might have said something like this.

"In my opinion, image C links to the quotation, 'I was angry with my foe.

I told it not, my wrath did grow,' because this image implies that the person doesn't fully understand their angry feelings, because they're blindfolded.

I believe this message is similar to A Poison Tree, which warns of the consequences of not expressing, and thus processing negative emotions towards others." Now remember, in English, it is absolutely fine to have chosen different quotations.

What matters is whether the interpretations are valid.

So this would be some of the things to think about.

Did you use tentative language to indicate that it is a personal interpretation, that it may indicate, or arguably it indicates? And did you zoom in on keywords and phrases from your chosen quotations? That's what good interpretations looks like.

Okay? So when you're ready, we'll move on.

So well done for a really really good first learning cycle, getting to understand A Poison Tree.

And now we're going to look at the wider context of the poem.

So let's look at the wider context of William Blake.

Now, he lived and wrote during the 1700s to the 1800s.

A Poison Tree was published in 1794.

He was a poet, painter, and printmaker, considered a seminal figure of the Romantic age.

"Seminal" means highly influential, or important to later developments.

It's a word we often use in English.

And I would like you to discuss what do you know already about Romanticism? Now you can pause the video and discuss that with the person next to you.

Or if you're working by yourself, just jot down some ideas.

Okay so well done, what is clear to me, that you already know a lot about Romanticism.

So let's look at some ideas.

Now, it doesn't mean romantic.

That was one of the first things that you said.

Romantic with a small R relates to love, Romantic with a large R, although it can be about love, but they don't have to be.

And the Romantic period is roughly between 1780 to 1850.

And it was influenced by big global changes.

For example, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, and the French Revolution.

Key writers of the Romantic period are Wordsworth, Dickinson, Keats, Blake, and Coleridge.

And key ideas are emotion and passion being important, critical of progress, of scientific progress, interest in a return to the past, beauty of nature, purity of childhood, break from convention.

They were quite unorthodox, often in the way they lived and what they thought.

Focus on individual experience, and a deep interest in philosophy and spirituality.

So, "Songs of Innocence" and "Songs of Experience".

Blake was famous for these two poetry collections.

And Songs of Innocence accepts, celebrates childhood and the pastoral, which is idealised descriptions of the natural world, and Songs of Experience was a critique of the society that Blake was living in.

So which one do you think A Poison Tree featured in? Songs of Innocence or Songs of Experience? Have a think.

It's part of Songs of Experience.

I think you can see that it is a really quite bleak poem about how human beings can behave to each other.

Very good.

Let's move on.

Now, I'd like us to look a little bit at Romantic art and literature.

And Blake, remember Blake was an artist as well as a poet, and he illustrated each of the poems in Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience.

And here is the illustration for A Poison Tree.

Look at it.

Isn't it amazing? So I'd like you to discuss, can you spot any Romantic ideas when you look at that artwork? Remember, these are the Romantic ideas.

Emotion, passion, critical of progress, return to the past, beauty of nature, purity of childhood, break from convention, focus on individual experience, and philosophy and spirituality.

So please pause the video, look at the picture, have a discussion.

Really looking forward to hearing what you have to say.

Some great ideas there.

There's just one I would like to share with you.

It's that the natural imagery is there, and the dramatic pose of the figure, laying with their arms outstretched, that could link to the crucifixion.

And this lone figure is foregrounded.

There's an isolation there, and the person is deep in nature.

Now we're going to have a check for understanding.

So here is a list of Romantic ideas.

You've seen the list several times, but you now have to put in the missing words.

There are four blanks there.

Have a think.

And then when you're ready, I'll let you know what they should be.

Okay, so did you say this? Passion, emotion and passion, critical of progress, beauty of nature, and a focus on individual experience.

And remember that romantic and Romantic, lowercase and uppercase, aren't the same thing.

Literature that is Romantic with a capital R can be about love, but it doesn't have to be.

Now you are going to show your understanding of the wider context of A Poison Tree in a little bit more detail.

And you're going to do it by responding to what one of our Oak pupils said.

So Alex said, "William Blake uses Romantic ideas in A Poison Tree to convey his criticisms of society's behaviour." And I want you to think about whether you agree with that interpretation.

And when you've decided, I want you to write a paragraph in which you respond to Alex's interpretation of the poem.

And in that response, you need to include tentative language, "may, perhaps, arguably, could suggest", to indicate that this is your personal interpretation of the poem.

You need evidence from the poem, quotations from the poem.

And you need to analyse Blake's use of Romantic ideas.

And you need to make links to the wider context and the writer's intentions.

Now you are going to need to pause the video while you do that.

So gather all your notes and your thoughts, and off you go.

Now, before you check your own work, I would like to share a possible interpretation with you, a possible response to Alex's interpretation.

You could have written something like this.

"Arguably, A Poison Tree criticised the Christian belief surrounding forbearance." Forbearance is when you tolerate things.

"Despite being deeply religious, here Blake warns of the consequences of suppressing negative emotions towards others.

He uses natural imagery to compare the speaker's anger to a tree, which takes root and grows when the speaker doesn't express their anger to a foe.

The fruit that comes from this tree ultimately ends up hurting the foe, who is last seen collapsed at the foot of the tree.

Romantic literature was known for its focus on natural beauty, and often used natural imagery as a way to explore emotional, spiritual, and philosophical ideas.

Here, Blake uses an extended metaphor of a tree to consider how negative emotions can intensify if they are not processed." So I'd like you to review your response.

You can have the model response there, and also just check whether you included the following.

Tentative language, to indicate personal interpretations of the text.

Evidence from the poem.

Analysis of Blake's use of Romantic ideas.

And links to wider context, and the writer's intentions.

And set yourself a "what went well" and an "even better if" for next time.

Now you're going to need to pause the video while you review your response.

So please do that, and then join us for the end of the lesson.

Now, before we say goodbye, I would just like to summarise what you have been learning today.

Taken from Blake's Song of Experience, this poem critiques the Christian teaching of forbearance.

A Poison Tree explores the internal conflict of the speaker.

The poem arguably explores the dangers of repressing emotions such as anger.

Blake uses natural imagery, a staple of the Romantic era.

And Blake was a poet and painter, who illustrated all of the poems in this collection.

I would just like to say thank you for coming to the lesson today.

Thank you for your hard work and focus.

I wish you a fantastic rest of the day, and look forward to seeing you again soon.

Bye for now!.