Hi there.

Great to see you today.

My name's Mr. Barnsley.

Thank you for joining me as we continue to study the poetry in the EdExcel "Belonging" poetry anthology.

Today we're looking at Robert Bridges's "Clear and Gentle Stream." A wonderful poem about how we can feel really connected in nature.

This is of course one of the poems in the anthology, so you're gonna want to make sure you have it in front of you.

I also don't think this should be the first time you've read the poem.

I think you should have made sure you've looked at it and understood some of the key ideas in it before we do some deeper analysis today.

So if you think you're ready, if you've got the poem in front of you and you are ready to dive in and do some analysis, then I think it's time for us to get started.

Let's go.

So let's have a look at today's outcome then, shall we? By the end of today's lesson, you're gonna be able to explain how Robert Bridges uses language and structure to express his viewpoints.

So some keywords that we're gonna keep an eye out for.

Belonging, we know this is a keyword in our anthology, and it means a feeling of being happy or comfortable as part of a particular group.

We also want to look out for the word immersive, which means seeming to surround the reader so the reader feels completely involved.

Keep an eye out for meditation as well.

This is a way of becoming calm and relaxed.

And then two techniques we are going to also see how Bridges uses.

And this is sibilance, which is the repetition of that hissing sound S in nearby words, and onomatopoeia, which is words that imitate the natural sound associated with their meaning.

So do keep an eye out for all five of these words.

See how they are useful in talking about the poem today.

So we are gonna do some deeper analysis of Robert Bridges's poem "Clear and Gentle Stream." And we're gonna start by looking at some of the language that Bridges uses before moving on to discussing his structural choices.

So let's get started straight away with some language.

So arguably, Bridges suggest that humans belong in nature, and he does this by associating nature with happiness and contentment.

So I want you to start by thinking about how would you feel towards a place or how would you feel in a place that made you feel like you belonged.

Do you think you'd feel peaceful or do you think it may feel uneasy? Let's hand this one over to you.

I've got an image of that clear and gentle stream, and I want you to think about how would you feel towards a place that made you felt like you belonged? Alright, pause the video.

If you've got a partner, you can discuss with them.

Otherwise, you can just think through this independently.

Alright, pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Some lovely discussions there.

I heard lots of you saying things like you might actually feel like you've got a real emotional connection to this place.

You know, belonging means to be part of a group, part of a community.

So if somewhere made you feel like that, you might feel that there is a real emotional connection there.

Lots of you talking about being calm, and peace, and relaxed.

Being part of a community, part of a group, can help you feel really relaxed.

And I heard you talking about, some of you using that keyword immersed, being enveloped, being surrounded almost like this warm comforting embrace, this hug, and that often is linked to this idea of safety and security.

I wonder if you said any of those words that I've kind of shared with you? And of course you might have said slightly different things as well, and that's absolutely fine as well.

So I want you to start thinking about which techniques if you were a writer and you wanted to create this sense of connection, envelopment, immersion, calmness, if you wanted to create this, what kind of writing techniques, language techniques, methods, might you use? Pause the video.

There's no real right answers here, but why don't you think about some of the ideas, and try and think about the reasons why they might create this sense of emotional connection with a place.

Alright, pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back.

I heard loads and loads of great ideas, and I really wanted to shine a spotlight on some of them by showing you some of what the Oak pupils have said that matched some of those great ideas that I heard.

So I heard lots of you talking about personification, where we give something human characteristics.

Particularly if we're thinking about a place, if we can personify a place, or items, or objects within that place, we make them seem human, and it can really form that connection with them like they are a friend or a family member.

I heard some of you talking about sibilance, one of our keywords, kind of that soft hissing sound, those S sounds, can almost feel like the gentle breeze and can feel quite relaxing, quite calming.

And then I heard lots of you talk about onomatopoeia.

You probably thought, "This is a key word.

I know Bridges uses this." Onomatopoeia, that sound imagery, can really help create that immersive experience, like we are there.

Like we're being enveloped by the place that we're asking our readers to imagine.

So you might have used other techniques, and that's perfectly fine, but I really wanted to pick out these three techniques because these are three things that Bridges uses in his poetry.

So let's take a moment then to look again at the poem and see if we can find examples of personification, sibilance, and onomatopoeia in Bridges' "Clear and Gentle Stream." You are of course gonna need your copy of the poem in front of you, whether that's in the anthology, if you've got another copy of the poem, but do make sure you have that.

I did warn you at the beginning of the lesson that you would need it.

Make sure you have it in front of you because we're now gonna take some time to see if we can find examples of personification, sibilance, and onomatopoeia.

So you're going to want to pause the video now.

If you've got a partner, you can look through this.

This might be a nice little paired activity you can do, but if you're working by yourself that's absolutely fine.

You can do this independently as well.

So pause the video, poem in front of you, and let's see if we can find some examples of personification, sibilance, onomatopoeia.

Right, over to you.

Remember to press play when you think you've found some examples of each of these.

Welcome back.

Really well done for looking at the poem so carefully there.

So some of the things that you might have said, some of the examples you might have found.

So "where back eddies play." Eddies are like pools of water swirling in the river.

So they are playing, which is personification.

You might have talked about "her brightening moon." You might have talked about how "the deep bell hums," and that being onomatopoeia.

That word "hums" almost creating that sound of the bell.

And you might have picked out kind of a collection of phrases here over a couple of lines, "the proud swan stray sailing one by one out of stream and sun" really picking up on the sibilance in that example there.

Now let's take some time now to deconstruct some of these sentences, some of these lines, that we have identified as using these specific techniques.

So let's start by looking at the personification in "Clear and Gentle Stream" by looking at this phrase "where back eddies play." What does that verb "play" suggest about the stream? A reminder that eddies are like the swirling pools of water.

What does it suggest? What does that verb "play" suggest about the stream? Pause the video and have a think.

If you've got a partner, you can discuss with them.

Otherwise, you can think through independently.

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

Great discussions there.

I heard lots of you saying things like it makes the stream seem really happy and joyous.

I heard some of you talking about actually it makes the kind of playing feels really leisurely.

It's not like the stream is kind of storming through or running through, it's playing.

It's seems like it's taking its time.

But also I heard lots of you linking to the speaker's childhood.

We know that this is a river that the speaker has visited many, many times.

It reminds him of these nostalgic memories of childhood, and so it almost mimics the play that young children do.

Okay, let's now look at an another quotation, "her brightening moon." What does the word "her" suggest about the moon? Okay, the "her" is describing the stream, but what does it tell us about the moon, the relationship between the stream and the moon? Pause the video, have a think in pairs or by yourself, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back.

I heard lots of you talking about kind of a relationship between the stream and the moon.

And it makes the moon seem like this caring, almost maternal figure being incredibly protective about the stream beneath it.

And you might even make that link between maternal, and mothers, and mother nature itself.

And for me, it really creates this immersive kind of enveloping moment where I feel like the speaker being surrounded by nature.

Feels really kind of protective, and safe, and secure.

How might the use of personification then link to this idea of belonging? How might the use of personification link to this idea of belonging? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you think you've got an idea.

I heard some really great ideas there.

I heard lots of you saying that, "I think showing nature as having these human attributes makes the reader feel more comfortable there." Like there is a relationship between them and nature, and that relationships builds this sense of community and belonging.

Really well done if you said something similar.

So as well as creating soothing sounds, we know that sibilance can create soothing sounds, why else might Bridges want to use this repeated S sound in the poem? So yes, we can have kind of that soothing kind of calming sound, but what else? Like what else could that S sound, that sibilance, that repetition of that sound represent? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Yeah, well done if you said it could really mimic the sound of the river and that running water.

So why might Bridges then want to mimic the sound of the running water from the stream? Why might he want that to be a sound that we as the reader hear? Pause the video, have a think either with a partner or by yourself, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Great work if you said that actually this may make us, going back to that word, enveloped, immersive, is really calming, that sound of water.

It makes us feel like we're being transported there.

It makes us feel like we have the same connection the speaker does.

All of these things really immersing us as the reader into this really peaceful, idyllic kind of image of nature by the stream.

Alright, let's think about then, kind of let's develop these ideas further by thinking about how onomatopoeia might be used to create this immersive atmosphere.

Again, pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Great work.

I wonder if you said something similar to what our Oak pupil, Laura, who said, "I think being able to hear the sound would transport you to the stream.

It makes you feel as if you were there." And as well as transporting the reader, we've got that onomatopoeic "hum".

What does that evoke? What does that reminder us of? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Again, loads of great ideas there shining a spotlight, and someone who said, "It could create this sense of calmness and meditation." Meditation is that time when we take time to really sit, and think, and kind of reflect, and that can really help us calm down.

It can make us feel really tranquil and real peaceful.

So that humming sound can remind us of meditation.

And again, all of this links back to this idea of belonging because we're creating this sense of tranquillity.

So let's take a moment then to check our understanding so far.

Which interpretation of the sibilance in "Clear and Gentle Stream" is the most effective? Is it Sam's a, who says, "I think Bridges use sibilance in order to make the poem have some repetitive sounds throughout and therefore be more memorable," or is it Sofia's b, "I think Bridges use sibilance in order to mimic the sound of water and transport the reader to the stream"? Which feels like the most effective interpretation? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Really well done if you said a.

Sofia's response there feels like the most effective.

Okay, over to you for our first task, and you're gonna do some planning.

You're gonna be planning a response to the question how does Bridges use language to suggest humans belong in nature? A quick reminder how we use a single paragraph outline.

The first sentence, the first section, the topic sentence, that's where we're gonna explain the focus of the paragraph.

Okay, we're gonna write that as a full sentence.

In the supporting detail, this is where we use note form to list some of the things that we want to talk about.

So here, we're gonna want to think about the personification, the onomatopoeia, the sibilance that we might want to use.

Again, this is in note form, we don't need to write in full sentences, but we want to put a little bit of reminder of the things that we want to say, including the effect it might have on a reader.

And finally, in the concluding sentence, we really want to summarise everything that we've argued in that paragraph, and we want to link to the overall theme of belonging.

So we really want to make sure that we're talking about belonging in that sentence.

Again, as this is only one sentence, we're gonna write this out in full.

So full sentence for the topic sentence, note form for the supporting details, full sentence for the concluding sentence.

Time to pause the video and give this a go.

I know you've got loads of ideas that you can add here.

Alright, good luck.

Remember to press play when you're done and you're ready to continue.

Welcome back.

Before we move on, we are gonna look at an example paragraph.

This is Sofia's single paragraph outline, and I want you to think about how she could say a little bit more about her use of onomatopoeia, okay? So when we're reading through it together, I want you to think about what else could she have added when it gets to the onomatopoeia section.

Alright, let's have a look at what Sofia did.

For her topic sentence, she says, "Bridges uses personification, sibilance, and onomatopoeia to evoke the idea that humans belong in nature." Her supporting detail is personification.

She wants to talk about "her" and "play" that really creates this joyous atmosphere, sense of care and love.

She wants to talk about sibilance, how it creates a calming sound, how it evokes the sound of water, which makes a really immersive experience.

For onomatopoeia, she used the word "hum," and she said this is immersive.

What else could she have said here? What else might she remind herself that she wants to say? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back.

You might have talked about it being meditative and calm, okay? Really you want to put as many reminders of all the things you could say there.

And the concluding sentence was, "Through his use of language, Bridges implies that to feel a sense of belonging attached to a place, we need to feel immersed in the space and have an emotional connection to it that both calms us as well as invokes feelings of joy." This is a really nice planned paragraph.

I wonder how yours turned out? Why don't you take a moment to compare your work to that of Sofia's? Think about where the similarities are.

What have you both done well? Are there any differences, and are there any of Sofia's ideas that you really liked and you now want to add to your plan? Alright, pause the video, take some time to reflect, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, we've done some fantastic work on language so far.

Now it's time for us to focus on structure.

So let's consider the structure of "Clear and Gentle Stream." We could represent the structure looking like this.

That's because Bridges use as a cyclical structure.

We start and end with the "Clear and gentle stream!" But why do you think Bridges does this? Why start and end by focusing on the stream? What's the effect of this? Pause the video, have a think with your partner or by yourself, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back.

You might have said some of the following things.

You might have said that this is, again, it creates this really immersive experience.

You might talk about that actually it shows that the stream is the most important element here.

This is the thing that brings the speaker back.

You might have also talked about the speaker continuing to return to the stream.

We know he's returned time, and time, and time again from childhood to being an adult.

Great ideas there, and well done if you said something different as well, as long it was logical and links back to this idea of cyclical structure.

Let's also think about the rhyme scheme of the poem.

There's a relatively regular rhyme scheme in this poem, and what might that suggest? The regularity of the rhyme scheme, what might it suggest? Pause the video, have a think, press play when you've got some ideas.

I wonder if you said something similar to Sofia, which says, "Perhaps it suggests this peace and calmness because it's got order and predictability." We might also represent the rhyme scheme like this for each stanza.

What might this represent? So you can see through the arrows, which lines represent.

You can see some of them are next to each other, some of them slightly overlap.

So it's not an absolutely perfectly symmetrical rhyme scheme.

There is slight variation in there, but it's similar within each stanza.

Why, why might Bridges have done this? What might it represent? This is a tricky question, so you might want to try a few different ideas, but really think about what's logical.

What's the poem about? What's the messages in the poem? What could this rhyme scheme represent? Pause the video, have a think, play around with a few ideas, and press play when you've got some that you think work.

Welcome back.

It was great to hear you being so creative with your thinking.

Sometimes it's really important that we don't just go with our first idea, and we really think, "It's this logical.

Does it work with the poem in front of us?" I heard some really nice idea about this rhyme scheme almost reflecting the movement of the water.

There's this continued flow, but sometimes there's overlap as kind of trickles, and eddies, and waves all kind of overlap from each other.

I really like this as a logical inference, a logical connection, we can make between the rhyme scheme and the poem itself.

Great work if you said something similar.

However, we know at the end of each stanza, Bridges chooses to end with these two couplets, these two rhyming couplets.

Why do you think he does that? What's the impact of that? Again, play around with a few ideas.

Try and think about what might be logical, what makes sense, with the poem that we've been reading.

So pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got an idea that you think might work.

Again, some really nice ideas here.

I wonder if you said something similar about it representing this unity and harmony and that harmony between the speaker and the stream.

They are connected like these couplets are.

That's a really nice creative idea.

I wonder how many of you said something similar? Really well done if you did, and don't worry if you didn't, don't worry if you struggled with that.

You've now got this idea, and you can use this idea going forward in your own analysis.

Alright, let's take a pause for a moment, check our understanding, see how we're getting on.

True or false? Bridges uses a regular rhyme scheme throughout "Clear and Gentle Stream." Is that true or false? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got an idea.

Well done if you said that was true.

Let us justify that.

The use of a regular rhyme scheme shows how confident and controlled the speaker feels whilst they're in nature, or is it b, the use of a regular rhyme scheme could represent the sense of unity and harmony between the speaker and nature? Which of those feels like the best justification for Bridge's use of regular rhyme scheme? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you are feeling like you've got the right answer.

Tricky one here.

Welcome back.

Well done if you said b.

I think we really want to talk about unity and harmony here.

Sometimes we can talk about control, sometimes regularity can talk the use about control, but actually that doesn't really link to this idea of the poem, I would say, because we don't want to talk about nature controlling someone.

That doesn't feel like harmonious.

It doesn't feel like this real connection.

So I really liked if you'd focus on the idea of unity and harmony.

It feels more appropriate for the poem that we've been looking at.

Okay, over to you then to write an analytical paragraph.

This time you're gonna be focusing on structure.

So how does Bridges use structure in order to evoke the idea that humans belong in nature? So things you might want to consider.

The use of the cyclical structure, the repetition of that phrase "Clear and gentle stream!" which is also the title, and the regular rhyme pattern throughout.

You only want to write one paragraph for this.

Make sure you have a clear topic sentence, use some of the ideas that we've discussed, and keep bringing it back to that idea of belonging.

Alright, pause the video, give this a go, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Alright, welcome back.

It was fantastic to see you writing with such confidence about structure.

It just shows me how much attention you've been paying in today's lesson.

Great job.

Okay, before we move on, we're gonna do some reflection.

So let's first start looking at a snippet from Izzy's answer.

We're gonna give it a what went well, WWW, and an EBI, an even better idea.

So something that's done well and something that it could do even better next time.

So Izzy wrote, "I think the repetition of "Clear and gentle stream!" emphasises it to the reader and shows that it's important." Let's have a think.

What does she do well? What could she do better? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

So you might have said that Izzy has attempted to analyse the repetition.

She's identified a structural technique that Bridges uses, the repetition, and she's attempting to analyse it, but she could develop that further by suggesting how the repetition links back to the ideas of belonging.

She really needs to think about the effect.

And remember, this question was all about belonging.

So how could Izzy develop her answer? How could she think about ideas of belonging? Why don't you pause the video and think about this.

If you've got a partner, you can share some ideas together, or if you're working by yourself, you can just think through this independently.

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

Okay, some great ideas there.

You might have said something similar to this.

"I think by opening and closing with "Clear and gentle stream!" Bridges emphasises the immersive nature of the stream and how it occupies your mind.

Furthermore, the repetition of the line may represent how the speaker continually refers to the stream and therefore positions it as a place the speaker belongs." Alright, I want you to reread your own answer now and check that you really connected your ideas to the concept of belonging.

Pause the video, reread your response, and press play when you think you're done.

Okay, that's it.

We've reached the end of today's lesson.

You have done some fantastic work today.

Really, really well done.

On the screen there is a summary of the learning that we've covered.

We're gonna quickly go through that together so you can feel really confident before you move on to your next lesson.

We've learned that personification also helps to create a connection between the poet and the river.

It really creates a sense of belonging.

We've learned that the use of onomatopoeia arguably creates an immersive, meditative atmosphere.

We've learned that Bridges' use of sibilance could mimic the flow of water to create a calming atmosphere.

The cyclical structure may mimic the speaker's continual return to the stream.

And the regular rhyme might represent the unity and harmony between the speaker and nature.

Alright, fantastic work today.

Been a pleasure learning alongside you.

I really do hope to see you in one of our lessons again in the future.

So for now, bye-bye.