Hi there, Mr. Barnsley here.

Fantastic to see you.

Thank you for joining me as we continue to study the, "Edexcel, Belonging Poetry Anthology." Today, we're looking at a new poem, Robert Bridges's, "Clear and Gentle Stream." You're gonna need a copy of the anthology or a copy of the poem in front of you, 'cause we're gonna be reading this together.

All right, once you're ready, I think it's time for us to get started.

Let's go.

Right, so let's have a look at today's Outcome then.

By the end of today's lesson, you're gonna explain how Bridges presents nature and humanity's connection to nature.

So some words we are gonna be keeping an eye out for and trying to use in our own discussions today, are belonging, translucent, content, spiritual and idleness.

Belonging means a feeling of being happy or comfortable as part of a particular group.

Translucent implies the passage of light but not a clear view with what lies beyond.

So something is translucent, you can imagine you can see through a little bit, but it's not 100% clear.

Content means a state of peaceful happiness.

Spiritual means relating to or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.

And idleness means the enjoyment of leisure time, the enjoyment of rest, the enjoyment of tranquillity.

Keep an eye out for them as they crop up in today's lesson.

So we're gonna be reading and understanding the poem, "Clear and Gentle Stream." First, we're gonna start by understanding the poem and then we are gonna look at some of the context behind the poem and see how that helps develop our understanding further.

So let's start by understanding the poem.

And today we're gonna be exploring Bridges's "Clear and Gentle Stream." And we might imagine the stream in the title to look like this image you can see on the screen.

How do you think you would feel if you were standing in that image? Imagine standing by the banks of that stream, listening, looking, breathing in the fresh air.

How would you be feeling do you think? Over to you for this one.

If you've got a partner, you can share some ideas with them.

If you're working by yourself, you can just think through, maybe note down a few adjectives or just think through independently.

How are you feeling if you are in this image? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back, some really nice discussions there.

I don't know about you, but I was feeling very, very peaceful thinking about this, and these are some of the ideas that you might have said.

Calm, I heard lots of you talking about calmness.

I heard lots of you saying the word relaxed and then that word peaceful.

I don't know, it just, for me that's, I could really feel this sense of serenity, feeling really peaceful, almost quite spiritual, just enjoying at that moment there.

I'm having to snap my way, myself away from that image.

A really relaxing one there.

So I want you to consider some of the following words.

All of these come from the poem.

Brightening, content, meaning a real sense of happiness, unease, gloomy, translucent, meaning light's passing through, but maybe not quite that clear, drab.

Which of those words would you use to describe the stream and why? Which words might you link to the stream and why? Again, I'm handing over to you for this one.

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

If you're working by yourself, you can just think through this independently.

Which words would you use to describe the stream and why? Over to you.

Welcome back, I heard lots of you zooming in on the same three words, very similar to Izzy.

I heard brightening.

I heard lots of you talking about content, and I heard lots of you talking about the word translucent.

So content that happiness, you know, lots of us were thinking kind of linking to this idea of being peaceful, being relaxed.

Brightening, I heard some of you talking about how the river and being there might brighten your spirits up, might make you feel happier.

But I also heard you talking about maybe the water, the light dancing across the surface of the river and brightening.

So a very kind of a bright picture.

And lots of you talk about translucent.

We might think of water as being translucent.

You can see through it, light can pass through it, but sometimes you can't always see through it completely clearly.

They seem to be the words that felt much more appropriate for describing a river.

Uneasy, gloomy, drab, like drab means kind of miserable.

Didn't feel like the most appropriate words, I heard lots of you saying.

So which image do you think best represents the image of a "Clear and Gentle Stream?" Is it A, B or C? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you think you've selected the image that most best represents the, "Clear and Gentle Stream." Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you think you've got an idea.

Yes, I heard lots of you saying C there.

There doesn't seem to be much clear or gentle about the stream, the river in that first image.

Again, B looks like it's an image from the ocean.

No, so not potentially that gentle either.

Okay, you will find a copy of Bridges, "Clear and Gentle Stream," in the, "Edexcel Belonging Anthology Poem." We're gonna read this together.

So I will be removing the camera from the screen, because I want us all to be paying attention to the anthology following along with the words in the text.

So time to get your anthologies open and let's read following along, let's read this poem together.

"Clear and Gentle Stream," by Robert Bridges.

Clear and gentle stream, known and loved so long, that hast heard the song, and the idle dream of my boyish day.

While I once again down thy margin stray, in the selfsame strain.

Still my voice is spent, with my old lament and my idle dream, clear and gentle stream.

Where my old seat was, here again I sit, where the long boughs knit over stream and grass, a translucent eaves.

Where back eddies play, shipwreck with leaves, and the proud swans stray, sailing one by one out of stream and sun, and the fish lie cool in their chosen pool.

Many an afternoon of the summer day, dreaming here I lay, and I know how soon, idly as its hour.

First the deep bell hums from the minster tower, and then evening comes, creeping up the glade, with her lengthening shade, and the tardy boon of her brightening moon.

Clear and gentle stream, ere I go again where thou dost not flow.

Well does it beseem thee to hear again once my youthful song, that familiar strain, silent now so long.

Be as I content with my old lament and my idle dream, clear and gentle stream.

Okay, welcome back, some fantastic listening, following along there as we read that together.

Now over to you to see how you understood what we've just read.

How would you summarise the poem? What do you think it's about? Can you summarise it in one sentence? Over to you.

See if you can summarise it, and press play when you think you can do that.

Right, welcome back.

I wonder if you said something similar to one of our Oak pupil's? Sofia said, "The speaker is enjoying his time by the stream and he's talking about the nature's beauty." You might have felt some of those words in there.

You might have said, "I don't recognise every single word." But I really hope you picked out that this was all about someone enjoying their time in nature, enjoying their time being by this stream.

So really well done if you managed to work that out.

So I think we can argue that the speaker feels really content, really happy, to be by the stream.

And I want you to see if you can find words that give you that impression that the speaker feels content.

And why, why do those words give that impression to you? So again, you're gonna want a copy of your anthology.

You wanna be looking at the poem.

You want to be exploring it line by line.

You can do this with a partner if you wish, or you can do this independently.

But pause the video and try and find some of those words that really give you the impression that the speaker feels content.

Over to you.

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

Welcome back, I wonder if you said any of the following.

I wonder if you picked out words linking to idle dreams. This the dream of being able to enjoy tranquillity, enjoy kind of a lazy day by the river.

This sense of dreaming kind of we, it comes up more than once.

It really suggests the speaker is content, shows they're relaxed.

It shows they're free to just simply live in their own imagination, live inside their mind and go through their thoughts.

It, for me, it feels really, really relaxing.

So which interpretation of idle dreams do you think is most appropriate for this poem? Is it the one on the left which says, "I think the reference to idle means that the dreams that the speaker has in nature are frivolous and they're not worthwhile." Or is it, "I think the reference to idle dreams means that the speaker can fully relax and daydream in nature." Which of these feels like the best response? Pause video, have a think and press play when you think you've got the right answer.

Well done, if you said the one at the right, Izzy's response there.

Idle can sometimes we might sometimes hear the word idle being talked about as a negative word.

People being lazy that you might have heard some say, they're bone idle, they're really lazy.

And so you could, someone might misinterpret this and say that this is about someone, a negative response.

Whereas, I think here we're talking about this dreaming of being able to just relax and daydream.

And I think that's a positive thing here in this interpretation of the poem.

So Bridges uses natural imagery throughout "Clear and Gentle Stream." I want you to think about which natural images seem the most powerful for you, which really stood out on the page to you.

So give a bit of a personal response here.

There's no right answer.

You pick out the image that felt really powerful to you.

So back over to you.

Pause the video, looking at the poem, going through it line by line, which words and phrases, which images stood out to you.

Pause the video, give this a go in pairs or independently and press play when you've, when you think you've selected those images, which felt the most powerful to you.

Welcome back, I heard lots of different ideas going around there.

Laura really liked the translucent eaves, okay? That really stood out to her.

Izzy really liked this image of the proud swans.

You might have picked out some other images.

Of course, like I said, there's no right or wrong answer, but we're gonna take a moment to look at these two images that the Oak pupils have pulled out and we're gonna try and dissect these and pull these apart and really think about how we can interpret them.

So let's deconstruct translucent eaves first.

And in this context, eaves likely links to the, to its more archaic, it's older meaning when it meant the edge.

So it's saying, talking about the translucent edges of the river.

What do you think it might suggest about the stream then, if the speaker can't see the edge very clearly? Okay, translucent, we're saying like light going through, but not particularly clear.

What do you think it might suggest about the stream, if the speaker can't see the edge clearly, what do you think? Pause the video, have a quick think in pairs or independently and press play when you've got some ideas.

Hmm, I heard some really fantastic discussions there.

It could, I had lots of you talking about this stream just going on forever.

Like we know it doesn't, but in the moment it feels that this stream is just so, it just kind of lasts and lasts and lasts, flowing into the distance.

Maybe it's really wide as well, and the edges here can't be clearly seen.

And I think it just kind of creates this idea of continuity and a never ending, a never ending stream flowing through the countryside.

Let's think about this word, proud swans, this phrase, proud swans.

And the the speaker specifically mentions plural swans.

It's more than one swan.

Why that might be, why might that be significant? What does swans symbolise? I'll give you a little bit of a hint here.

Do you know anything about what happens or what people think happens when swans find a mate, when they find a partner? Do you know anything about that? All right, pause the video, have a little bit of a think and press play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back, I wonder if you knew that swans mate for life typically.

So when they find a partner, they stay with that partner for life.

And that could, we could take that one step further and say, "Okay, well maybe that suggests that the speaker has this really deep lifelong connection to nature, to this river." They talk about them being a boy there.

So potentially this is not, this is not the first time they've visited the river.

This is somewhere that they've come many times across their lifetime.

And it suggests this real deep and lifelong connection relationship with nature.

So let's build on that with the references to their boyish day and their old lament.

What are we learning about, how often the speaker have visited the stream? Why do you think that's so significant? Let's really build on those discussions we've just started.

Pause the video with a partner, talk this through with them and then, or think through this independently and press play when you've got some ideas.

So well, yeah, well done, if you're continuing to build on this.

It really suggest this speaker's been visiting this stream since they were young.

I don't think they've just been here once or twice.

They've been coming back time and time and time again.

And this further supports this idea of contentment.

You wouldn't keep coming back to a place, unless it made you feel really happy and comfortable there.

Well done, if you said something similar.

Okay, let's check to see how we're getting on.

True or False, the speaker implies their connection to the stream.

It's just a passing one.

It's just a fleeting connection.

Is that true or false? Pauses the video, have a think and press play when you've got an idea.

Yes, well done, if you said that was false.

Let's justify that, that reference to swans could imply a deep lifelong connection.

The reference to dreams could imply a deep lifelong connection, which feels like the right justification here, A or B? Pause the video, have a think and press play when you've got the answer.

Well done, if you said swans.

Remember swans typically mate for life, suggesting this deep lifelong connection.

Okay, over to you then for our first task.

Bridges's "Clear and Gentle Stream," is part of the, "Edexcel Belonging Anthology." What do you think Bridges is saying about where humans belong? Write one paragraph in response.

Some things you may wish to consider.

How the speaker feels in nature.

That the speaker's feelings in nature remain unchanged despite time passing.

And that the speaker sits in their old seat when they return to the stream.

Pause the video, write a response.

No more than one paragraph.

Use the bullet points on the screen to help you.

All right, press play when you think you're done.

Good luck.

All right, welcome back.

Some fantastic writing there.

Well done, if you check your spelling, punctuation.

Well done, if you checked your spelling, punctuation, and grammar before you put your pen down.

Okay, we're gonna do a moment, take a moment of reflection.

We're gonna compare our work to Izzy's, but first, we're gonna see if we can help Izzy improve hers even further.

So Izzy wrote, "Arguably, through, "Clear and Gentle Stream," Bridges is arguing that humans belong in nature.

The speaker shows their comfort in nature through the reference to their idle dreams, which implies they feel content and relaxed in nature.

Furthermore, the speaker's feelings about nature have remained unchanged throughout their life, which implies a deep and lifelong connection to nature." How might Izzy use the phrase old seat? Explore that and extend her answer further.

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

Well done, if you said specifically, the idea of sitting in that old seat implies that they truly feel comfortable and a sense of belonging.

Why don't you pause the video now, and compare your work to Izzy's.

See if you've got any similar ideas, where your ideas differ to Izzy's and if there are any ideas you'd like to steal from Izzy's and add to your own to improve it.

All right, pause the video, take a moment to reflect and improve your work if needed.

Okay, welcome back, some great work in our first learning cycle.

Now we're going to see if we can develop our understanding further using a bit of context.

So let's consider Bridge's personal context.

Bridges was a deeply religious man, who as well as writing poetry, he also published a collection of hymns.

Can you see any religious imagery in this poem? Why might it be significant that if there is any in there? All right, pause the video, have a look, go back to your copy of the poem and see if you can identify any religious imagery.

Pause the video, have a think with a partner or independently, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Welcome back, I wonder if you spotted the deep bell.

One of our Oak pupil said it really reminded them of a church bell.

And the significance of this is, hearing a church bell in nature is significant.

It suggests that you're connected to religion, whilst in nature.

So Bridges is making a connection between his spiritual, his religious beliefs and the content, the the comfortableness he feels being in nature.

So which of the following statements are true then? Is it A, that Bridges maintained a separation of his religious views and his poetry? Is it B, religion and nature appear completely separate in, "Clear and Gentle Stream?" Or is it C, hearing a deep bell may imply a connection between nature and religion.

Pause the video, select A, B, or C, and press play when you think you have the right answer.

Welcome back, well done if you said C.

Bridges definitely did not separate his religious views and his poetry.

His poetry often reflected his religious views.

And ultimately, he sees religion and nature as being connected, not separate.

Often religious people will see nature as an argument for their belief in their gods, whoever their God is, their God's ability to create wonderful and amazing things.

So over to you then for our final task of today's lesson.

Arguably, Bridges suggests in, "Clear and Gentle Stream," that humans belong in nature.

I want you to discuss how might the religious imagery and connections in, "Clear and Gentle Stream," add to this sense of belonging.

Some things that you might wish to consider, hearing a deep bell while in nature, and what a connection to religion might say about your spiritual belonging.

All right, over to you for this.

I think this would be a great activity to do as a discussion activity.

So if you've got a partner, please do feel free to work with them.

But if you are working by yourself, you could just think through this question or even make a few notes individually.

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

All right, welcome back, some really great discussions there.

Before we finish for today's lesson, I do want to take a moment to pause, reflect on the discussions that we've had.

And we're gonna do this by comparing it to a model example from one of our Oak pupils.

And you can think as ever, how does this align to my ideas? What's the similarities? But also where are the differences? And do I like any of these differences? And I might use them to help develop my understanding of the poem.

So Laura says, "I think the religious connections add to a sense of belonging, because it implies that not only does the speaker feel happy and content in nature, but they're also feeding their spiritual belonging and that their soul also belongs there." Why don't you pause the video.

Take a moment to reflect on the discussions that you've had and see if there are any of Laura's ideas that help you understand this poem further.

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

Right, that's it, we've reached the end of today's lesson.

You've done some fantastic work today.

On the screen you can see a summary of all the key learning that we've covered.

Let's go through this together, so you can feel really confident before you move on.

So we learned that Robert Bridges's poetry reflects his deep Christian faith.

"Clear and Gentle Stream," illustrates how Bridges was influenced by nature, as well as his spirituality.

Bridges's use of natural imagery implies that humans belong in nature and that this sense of belonging will be lasting.

The religious connections in, "Clear and Gentle Stream," could suggest that our souls belong in nature.

Fantastic work today.

Some brilliant discussions.

Really, really well done.

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

Have a great day and I hope to see you all soon.

Bye-bye.