Hello there.

Mr. Barnsley here.

Fantastic to see you.

Thank you so much for choosing to study this lesson with me today.

We are continuing our study of the Edexcel Belonging Poetry, and in today's lesson we are gonna be analysing William Wordsworth's "To My Sister." Now, we're gonna be digging a bit deeper into some of the language and the structure today, so I really think this shouldn't be the first time you've seen the poem.

So I would make sure before you start today's lesson you've spent some time reading and understanding the poem before you dive in today.

You are, of course, gonna need a copy of the poem, ideally your anthology or any copy of the poem because you are going to need it so you can analyse it.

Right, I think it is time for us to get started.

Let's go.

Right, so let's have a look at today's outcome then, shall we? By the end of today's lesson, you are gonna be able to explain how Wordsworth uses language and structure to express his viewpoint.

So some words to keep an eye out for, idyllic, asyndetic listing, sibilance, euphony, and assonance.

Now, idyllic is an adjective, and it means extremely pleasant, beautiful, or peaceful.

We're gonna be able to use this to think about how Wordsworth is presenting nature.

And the other four keywords are all methods that we could argue are used.

So asyndetic listing is listing that's connected with a comma instead of a conjunction or a connective.

Sibilance is that repetition of that hissing sound S when it's in nearby words.

Euphony is the combining of words to create a really pleasing sound.

And assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in words that are close to each other in a sentence or a phrase.

So let's see how we can use the adjective idyllic, and let's keep an eye out for when these four methods are used.

So today we're analysing the poem "To My Sister," and at first, we're gonna be thinking about how Wordsworth creates this idyllic view of nature.

And then we're gonna start focusing on our analysis about how he implies that mankind belongs in nature.

So let's start by thinking about how he creates this idyllic view.

So arguably, Wordsworth does create this idyllic view.

He makes it seem so natural and perfect, and it starts at that very opening line, "It is the first mild day of March." So the first day of March signals the beginning of spring.

How might spring create this idyllic image? Over to you for this one.

We're gonna do loads of discussion in today's lesson, so if you have a partner, you can work with them.

But you can always, if you're working by yourself, you can think through these questions independently.

So pause the video and tell me how does the first day of March signalling the beginning of spring? How does spring create this idyllic image? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Loads of great ideas there.

I heard lots of you saying something similar to Sofia where you were saying spring represents beauty, a new life, growth, and also most importantly, it follows the coldness, the bleakness, the darkness, of winter.

So spring represents kind of a change, a positive change, and so we might be able to link that to this idea that nature or this idyllic image of nature.

So let's now say that opening line out loud, "It's the first mild day of March." What do you notice about the way it sounds? Do the words sound really abrupt and short, or do they sound quite long? Pause the video, say it out loud, and tell me or tell your partner or tell yourself, what do you notice? All right, pause the video, give this a go, and press play when you are ready to continue.

It was great to hear you all saying that out loud.

Remember, that's what poetry should be.

Poetry should be read out loud.

And so it was really great to hear you, and I heard lots of you saying that all of this felt quite long but also quite gentle.

"First, day, March," all of these felt like quite long words but also quite soft, quite gentle.

So the opening line may sound gentle and elongated, lengthened, because it contains examples of euphony when we put certain sounds together to create something that's really pleasant to the ear.

So first of all, it includes consonants with muted or soft sounds, Ms and Ls.

Just say an M or an L.

They don't make particularly loud noises, M, L.

They're muted and soft.

We've also got consonants which create this hissing sound like f and s, okay, f, s, in "first." And we've got quite a few long vowel sounds, "first, mild, March," these longer vowel sounds.

All of these go together to create this euphony, this collection of sounds that sound really pleasing to the ear.

So why then do you think Wordsworth might want to open with a euphonic sound? Why might he want to open his poem in this way? All right, over to you for this one.

Pause the video.

Discuss with a partner if you have one or just think through independently.

Why might Wordsworth want to open his poem with euphony? Over to you.

Welcome back.

I heard some really nice ideas there.

Well done to those of you who are saying it really creates this calming tone right away.

I feel instantly calm and relaxed, and actually it's mimicking what Wordsworth is saying about nature.

He is arguing that nature is this calming and relaxing place, and this is mimicked by the opening of his poem where it sounds calming.

It sounds relaxing to the ear.

All right, let's pause for a moment then and check our understanding of what we've covered so far.

So I would like you to choose one word from each of the following pairs of words to complete each gap in the sentence.

So you're gonna be picking from the words discordant, which means kind of not working together or pleasing, soft and harsh, long and short.

Okay, let's show our understanding of euphony.

So euphony creates a sound through the use of sounding consonants and vowel sounds.

All right, time to fill in those gaps.

Pause the video, give it a go, and press play when you think you've got the right answers.

All right, welcome back.

You should have picked pleasing, soft, and long.

So our sentence should say, "Euphony creates a pleasing sound through the use of soft sounding consonants and long vowel sounds." Well done if you've got that correct.

All right, I always think about which other words or lines in this poem sound pleasing when you say them out loud.

So make sure you've got your poem open in front of you, your anthology or a copy of the poem.

Look through, say the poem out loud.

And which words or phrases sound really pleasing? Say out loud.

All right, pause the video, give this a go, and press play when you think you found some.

I heard lots of you picking different sentences.

Some of you were saying words like Sofia, so that phrase "seems a sense of joy." Or some of you said, "Some silent laws our hearts will make." Some of you talked about "one moment now may give us more." So lots of different quotations.

You might have picked different quotations from those that you can see on the screen as well.

So let's consider why some of these lines are so pleasing to say.

So let's start by thinking about "seems a sense of joy" and "some silent laws our hearts will make." What sounds do you think these two lines have in common that make them pleasing to say? "Seems a sense of joy." "Some silent laws our hearts will make." What sounds are you thinking, can you hear is a similarity between those that makes them pleasing to say? Pause the video, have a think with a partner or individually, and press play when you think you've got an idea.

Really well done if you went back to our keywords, and you said, "Both of these lines have sibilance through the repeated S sound." Okay, so let's think about why then does sibilance create a pleasing sound.

Okay, why can sibilance be so pleasing on the ear? Pause the video, have a think in pairs or individually, and press play when you think you've got an idea.

Really well done.

I heard lots of you saying that actually it can feel quite calming and soothing.

It almost kind of feels or sounds like maybe some.

You might sound a little bit like nature, just kind of like birds or bees kind of flying around.

It could feel like maybe some slightly heavy breathing 'cause someone's feeling really relaxed, this s, s, s, s sound.

Okay, one thing we might have in the past said, "Oh, sibilance reminds me of a snake, and it must mean that things are sinister." And I've got to stop you and remind you that we need to make logical inferences.

There is nothing about this poem which suggests that it is sinister, okay? So what we're not gonna do is the sibilance sounds like a snake, which suggests that there is a sinister undertone to this poem.

Let's think creatively, think what other S, what other sounds does that sibilance remind us of? Okay, so it could be other creatures in nature.

It could be the relaxed breathing.

Okay, let's think logically and make sensible links between what we're finding and the poem that is in front of us.

So Izzy chose the following line, "One moment now may give us more." Which sounds do you think create a pleasing sound within this line? Okay, "One moment more now may give us more," what are the sounds in there that kind of really sit nicely in the ear? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you think you've got some ideas.

Again, really well done if you've thought back to our keywords and thought about the different O sounds throughout this line create this sense of assonance, so the repeated vowel sounds.

And again, it makes it pleasing to say.

It makes it easy on the ear.

Okay, so why do you think assonance creates a pleasing sound, so the O sound, "One moment more"? "One moment now may give us more." Okay, why do you think assonance creates a pleasing sound? Pause the video.

Have a think in pairs or by yourself and press play when you think you've got an idea.

This was a trickier one, but I heard some really nice ideas.

I do want to shine a light on something fantastic I heard some of you say that actually it creates this sense rhythm and unity, and all of this works together to create this sense of harmony.

Everything is working together, and that's how we might argue that nature, nature is an example of all these things working together.

All right, true or false then.

Wordsworth arguably uses sibilance to add to the atmosphere of the poem.

Is that true or is that false? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you think you've got the right answer.

Yes, well done.

That is true.

Let's justify that now.

Is it A, "The repeated 's' sounds creates a slightly sinister tone that could hint to a jarring atmosphere"? Or is it B, "The repeated 's' sound creates a calming tone that may add to the peaceful atmosphere"? Which of these feels like the logical justification for this poem? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you think you've got an answer.

Yeah, really well done if you said B.

All right, over to you then for our first task of today's lesson.

You are gonna write a short paragraph in answer to this question: How does Wordsworth create an idyllic view of nature? He makes nature seem almost perfect.

Some things you may wish to consider as you write your response, how the use of soft consonants and long vowel sounds through euphony create an idyllic view, how the use of repeated s soft sounds through sibilance create an idyllic view, and how the repeated long vowel sounds through assonance create an idyllic view.

So let's use some of these keywords, some of these methods that we've looked at to really help us explain how Wordsworth is creating this idyllic view.

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

Okay, welcome back.

Some excellent writing there.

Really, really well done to all of those of you who checked your work for spelling, punctuation, and grammar before you put your pen down.

That is what I like to see.

Okay, before we move on, we're gonna take a moment of reflection, and we're gonna be comparing some of our work to a model answer.

Before we do that, I want us to look at Sofia's model answer, this example work, and see if we can actually help her improve it.

So Sofia has given it a go, but she hasn't managed to speak about assonance.

So I want us to read Sofia's work and then think about what we could add to it, how we could use ideas about assonance to develop her work further.

So Sofia wrote, "I think Wordsworth creates an idyllic view of nature through the use of sound throughout the poem.

The euphonic sounds of mild consonants and long vowel sounds create a calming, peaceful atmosphere.

Moreover, the soft sibilance within the poem creates an almost shushing sound that lulls the reader into relaxation." Pause the video.

Have a think.

What could Sofia add about assonance to improve this work even further? Welcome back.

I wonder if you said something similar to this, "Furthermore, the repeated assonance within the poem creates a rhythmic sound that evokes a sense of unity and harmony that adds to the idyllic atmosphere." This is a really nice response from Sofia.

And now we're gonna take a moment to reflect on the work that we did, comparing our writing to Sofia's.

Now, whenever I compare my work to a model answer, to an example piece of work, I ask myself three questions.

What are the similarities between my work and theirs? What are the differences? And are there any ideas in here that I hadn't thought of that I really like and might want to use in my work in future? So, pause the video, reread your work, and ask yourself those three questions.

All right, over to you.

All right, welcome back.

We've been doing some really fantastic analytical thinking so far, and we're gonna continue now by thinking about how Wordsworth implies that mankind really belongs in nature.

So arguably, there is a shift in the poem after the fifth stanza, and this is where the speaker is now trying to convince their sister that they belong in nature.

So I always think about which lines do you think represent this concept the most powerfully.

Where is the speaker really trying to convince their sister that they belong in nature? All right, you're gonna need to look back at the poem to do this.

If you've got a partner, you can work together.

Otherwise you can just do this independently.

Pause the video.

Look for evidence which suggests the speaker is trying to convince their sister they belong in nature.

All right, pause video, give it a go, and press play when you think you're done.

Welcome back.

I wonder if you said something similar to Laura, who picked out the quote, "Our minds shall drink at every pore," and think that represents this most powerfully.

I wonder if you picked something similar to Izzy, who said, who picked out the line, "Blessed power that rolls about, below, above." I wonder if you picked either of those.

Of course you might've picked slightly different quotations.

Well, and that's absolutely fine.

All right, I want us to consider how these lines, the two lines that I just drew our attention to on the previous slide, I want us to consider how these offer the impression that mankind belongs in nature.

So let's start by thinking about this line, "Our minds shall drink at every pore." What do you think this line tells us about how nature affects humanity? "Our minds shall drink at every pore," what could you say about this sentence? Pause the video.

Have a think in pairs or by yourself and press play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back.

Some really nice ideas.

They're tricky questions, so it was really great to see you throwing yourself into it.

I wonder if you said something similar to Sofia, who said, "I think it suggests that mankind wants to take in everything.

They want to think about everything that nature has to offer because they realise nature offers them fulfilment." So this idea of our minds drinking, well, actually, that's using personification because our minds do not drink.

Okay, why might it be significant to say that our minds are drinking, personifying our minds here? Why might that be significant? Again, over to you for this one.

Pause the video.

Have a think in pairs or by yourself and press play when you've got some ideas.

Some really, really interesting inferences there.

I wonder if you said something similar to Sofia, which says, "It makes us feel like every part of us, nature makes us feel like every part of us is alive." Okay, so yeah, by personifying different elements of, you know, our brain, our body, really makes it feel like we are completely alive when we are in nature.

So typically we associate our minds as being the really rational, intelligent parts of ourselves.

It's the place that does all the thinking.

Why might it be significant that our minds come alive in nature? Why might that be significant? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Yeah, great work if you said, "It suggests that actually nature doesn't just offer us emotional fulfilment.

It doesn't just kind of help us with our emotions and the feelings, the bits that are in here that we might associate with being in our heart.

But actually it also helps us become more rational, clear thinkers.

It really helps us with our brains as well as our hearts." Really nice if you said something similar to that.

Now let's look at this second quotation that I drew our attention to, "Blessed power that rolls about, below, and above." What does this line suggest about the power of nature? What do you think? Over to you for this one.

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

Well done if you said again, "This really shows how the power of nature affects every part of us, about us, all around us, below us, above us.

It's everywhere.

It's so powerful." So why do you think it might be significant that the line uses as asyndetic listing? So this is listing using commas.

So Wordsworth could have said, "About us and above us, about us and below us and above us." He could have said that, but instead he just uses these commas.

What might the effect of that be? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back.

That was a tricky question, so really well done for throwing yourself into that.

That was really pleasing to see, even like wrestling when something doesn't feel quite so simple.

It's a really important skill, that perseverance and resilience, so, great job.

I wonder if you said something similar to Izzy, who said, "I think the lack of connectives and therefore kind of pauses," connectors can often feel like natural pauses to us in the list, "kind of adds to this sense of like nature enveloping us.

It's overwhelming.

It's about, below, above.

We don't even get a chance to kind of think.

It's just everywhere." I really like that point, and well done if you said something similar.

All right, let's consider the structure of the poem then.

Does the poem have a regular or irregular rhyme scheme? Have a look.

Have a look back at the page.

Read it out loud.

Can you spot any rhyme scheme that's regular or irregular? Pause the video, give it a go, and press play when you think you've worked out what the rhyme scheme is.

Well done if you noticed that it had a regular ABAB rhyme scheme.

So how might that regularity of the rhyme contribute to this idea that mankind belongs in nature? Can we make a connection between the regularity of rhyme and this inference that we're making that mankind must belong in nature? How can you make a connection there? Over to you for this one.

Pause the video.

Talk with a partner or think through this independently.

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

We've done.

Some really interesting connections people were making there.

Maybe we're saying, actually, there's a real sense of harmony here, and it shows how harmonious that relationship between mankind and nature can be and how much they complement each other.

All right, let's pause for a moment and check our understanding of everything we've discussed so far.

Which of the following statements are true? Is it A, "The regularity of 'To My Sister' arguably mimics the peace and harmony of nature"? Is it B, "Wordsworth uses syndetic listing in 'To My Sister' to represent a feeling of being enveloped by nature"? Or is it C, "Wordsworth implies that nature appeals to our emotional sides only"? Which of these feels like a correct, logical statement? Pause the video, pick A, B, or C, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Yeah, really well done if you said A.

Remember, B looked like it could be right, but B, it's actually asyndetic listing that Wordsworth used, the use of commas.

And that last one, yes, of course Wordsworth implies that nature appeals to our emotional side, but remember when we talked about the mind, he also suggests.

We could imply that he's suggesting that nature appeals to our rational sides as well.

Right, over to our final task in today's lesson.

You are gonna answer the following questions to show your understanding of the poem.

I want you to tell me, how does personification in "our minds shall drink at every pore" suggest that mankind belongs in nature? And how does the asyndetic listing in "blessed power that rolls about, below, above" suggest that mankind belongs in nature? So, two questions for you to answer there.

I want you to pause the video.

Give this your best shot and press play when you think you are done.

Over to you.

Great work there.

It was lovely to see you putting so much effort into your written responses to really show your understanding of the poem.

Now before we finish, we are gonna take a moment of reflection.

We are gonna compare our answers to some example answers from Izzy.

And you can think about where are they similar, where are they different, and are there any ideas that you would like to steal.

So Izzy said for the first question, she said, "I think the idea of coming alive somewhere links to the idea of belonging because it suggests that you can feel happy and safe in that place," so mankind feels happy and safe in nature.

Her answer, the second one, suggests.

She said, "I think the idea of being enveloped in this blessed and almost spiritual power of nature again suggests that you can have everything you need from nature, and therefore you belong there." So pause the video.

Compare your responses to Izzy, and if you want to take any of her ideas to make your responses even better, now is the time to do so.

Pause the video, take a moment to reflect, and press play when you're ready to continue.

All right, that's it.

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

You've done a fantastic job today.

On the screen you can see a summary of some of the learning we have covered in today's lesson.

Let's quickly go through that together so you can feel really confident before you move on to your next lesson and your next poem.

So arguably, Wordsworth uses sibilance, assonance, and euphony to contribute to the idea that nature is idyllic.

Wordsworth may use asyndetic listing to show nature as enveloping.

Wordsworth arguably implies that nature appeals to our rational minds as well as our emotions.

And finally, we learnt that the regularity of the rhyme scheme could also contribute to the image of nature as being idyllic.

Great work today.

Thank you so much for joining me.

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

All right, have a great day and see you all soon.

Bye-bye.