Hello, there.

Thank you for joining me today.

My name's Mr. Barnsley, and I'm really glad that you've decided to join me as we continue to study the Edexcel Belonging Poetry Anthology.

Today we're looking at a new poem.

This is Thomas Hood's, "I Remember, I Remember." You are gonna need a copy of the poem in today's lesson.

So if you have your anthology in front of you, make sure it is open on the right page 'cause we are gonna dive in and do some reading of poetry together.

Let's go.

Okay, so in today's lesson, you are gonna be able to explain how Hood presents his past and his present.

Some keywords we're gonna look out for.

Belonging, really, really important.

We know it's the name of our poetry cluster.

It's the feeling of being happy or comfortable as part of a particular group.

Nostalgic is a feeling of pleasure, but also slight sadness when you think about things that have happened in the past.

Melancholic is expressing feelings of sadness.

Romanticism, capital R, is an artistic movement from the late 18th and early 19th century.

Really focus on emotions and nature.

And realism is a genre of literature that presents ordinary day-to-day experiences as they occur in reality.

Okay, so as we read the poem, "I Remember, I Remember" by Thomas Hood, first we're gonna really just dive in into understanding the poem.

Think of what it could be about, make some predictions, then do some reading together.

And then I'm share a bit of context with you and I'm gonna think about how that changes our understanding.

So you are gonna need a copy of Thomas Hood's "I remember, I Remember." It's in the Edexcel Belonging Anthology.

Of course, you might have just an individual copy.

That's okay as well.

So let's start then by understanding this poem.

So today, we're gonna be exploring "I Remember, I Remember." What can you predict about the poem based on the title? What might that repetition suggest? All right, pause the video, have a quick think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back.

I heard plenty of you saying something along the lines, "Maybe it's about a memory.

I remember, you're thinking about something, positive memory, negative memory." I really liked what I heard you say about the repetition, particularly those of you who zoomed on that caesura, that comma between the two.

Sofia said it seems to act like this heavy sigh, this pause, this reflective moment.

Some of you might be remembered or might have thought about that keyword melancholic, which suggests some form of sadness.

So maybe you heard the title as "I Remember, (heavy sigh) I Remember," perhaps.

I really liked it though when I heard you really thinking of the title in that level of detail, what might the repetition, what might the caesura represent? Well done if that was you.

So you will find a copy of Hood's "I Remember, I Remember" in the Edexcel Belonging Anthology.

We are going to read this together.

I am gonna turn the camera off because I want everyone's eyes to be on the text, not on the screen.

So do make sure you've got a copy of the poem in front of you and follow along as we read the poem together.

Let's go.

"I Remember, I Remember" by Thomas Hood.

"I remember, I remember the house where I was born, the little window where the sun came peeping in at morn.

He never came a wink too soon, nor brought too long a day, but now I often wish the night had borne my breath away.

I remember, I remember the roses, red and white, the violets and the lily cups, those flowers made of light.

The lilacs where the robin built and where my brother set the laburnum on his birthday.

The tree is living yet.

I remember, I remember where I was used to swing and thought the air must rush as fresh to swallows on the wing.

My spirit flew in feathers then that is so heavy now, and summer pools could hardly cool the fever on my brow.

I remember, I remember the fur trees dark and high.

I used to think their slender tops were close against the sky.

It was a childish ignorance, but now 'tis little joy to know I'm father off from heaven than when I was a boy." Okay, welcome back, some really excellent following along there.

Before we talk about this together, I want you to see if you can summarise for yourself what is this poem about? What do you think was happening in the poem? Who was speaking? How did they feel? Pause the video, then have a think about this.

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

Otherwise, you can just think through this independently.

But can you summarise this poem in about one sentence, what is happening? Pause the video, give this a go, press play when you've got some ideas.

Great work there, I heard some brilliant, I could see most of you really, really understood that.

Well done if you said this was just about a speaker reminiscing, remembering about their childhood.

I wonder if you took it a step further and started to think about how they feel now being an adult.

But if you could realise, if you understood this was about someone remembering, looking back, reminiscing about their childhood, well, well done, you got that spot on.

So we know that Hood's "I Remember, I Remember" shifts between the past, the memories, and the present, how he feels now.

I want you to find three quotes about the past and three quotes about the present from the poem.

So you're gonna need your copy in front of you.

Make sure it is open.

Pause the video then and see if you can find three quotations which show we're talking about the past, talking about a memory, reminiscing about his childhood, and then three quotations about how the speaker feels now.

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

Welcome back, I could see you looking in the text really closely there.

That was fantastic to see.

I'm gonna share some examples.

These might not be the exact same ones that you've got, but do not worry.

There are more than three quotes you could have picked.

So things that you might have said, you might have picked out, "The roses, red and white," remembering these flowers from his childhood.

"My spirit flew in feathers then." You picked out that line.

"The sun came peeping in at morn." So remember he was describing his house and how the sun rose through the window.

Let's look at some of the quotes from the present, from the speaker in the present said, "But now I often wish the night had born my breath away.

That is so heavy now, but now 'tis little joy." I wonder if you're already starting to spot a difference between those quotations from the past and the quotations from the present.

So let's consider what the quotations tell us about the speaker's childhood and past.

"The roses, red and white." "My spirit flew in feathers then." "The sun came peeping in at morn." What do you think references to colour, to flying, to flight, to the sun, what might they suggest about the speaker's past? How is he remembering his childhood? Pause the video, have a think, have a discuss if you've got a partner, or just think through independently and press play when you've got some ideas.

Some really nice discussions there.

I really liked those of you who were really zooming in, honing in on the positivity there.

It was a life full of freedom, full of life, full of freedom.

A really, really positive experience as a child.

Colourful, kind of flight suggests freedom, and the sun just really, really positive.

So well done if you said any of those things or something similar.

Let's have a look at the quotations then from his present.

"But now I often wish the night had borne my breath away." "That is so heavy now." "But now 'tis little joy." What might these quotations be telling us about the speaker's present do you think? Pause the video, have a little bit of a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Yeah, really well done if you picked up on the contrast there and you were using some of that keyword, there was a real sense of melancholy here, a real sense of sadness.

I think it suggests there's something that the speaker feels deeply unhappy about, that there certainly isn't this positivity, this freedom that we saw in their childhood.

Well done if you'd said something similar.

So which of these images do you think best represent the speaker's memory of their childhood in "I Remember, I Remember"? You might be drawn to the second stanza.

Is it picture A, picture B, or picture C? Pause video, have a think, and press play when you think you've got the right answer.

Well done if you said B, if you noticed that this was a young boy, these memories were a young boy who really enjoyed spending his time in nature and particularly in that second stanza, he talks about all of these beautiful flowers.

Definitely the best image to summarise the speaker's memory.

All right, I want us to consider some of Hood's personal context.

So he was plagued by chronic illness as he aged.

So as he got older, he suffered from a lot of illness and these illnesses were ones that kind of constantly, chronic illness means they don't pass, they get worse.

He's constantly in kind of pain or feeling difficulties.

And by the age of 41, his illness had significantly worsened.

And by the age of 45, he had sadly died.

Do you think this information helps us understand the poem any better? How might this information help us understand the poem? Why don't you pause, if you've got a partner, you can go through some ideas together.

Otherwise, you can just think through this independently.

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

I wonder if you were saying that actually it can really help us understand why Hood attaches this melancholic tone to the past, to his present, sorry.

You know, this is a man who is suffering greatly as an adult and therefore there is a sense of sadness attached to his present life, but perhaps it also really helps us understand his nostalgic tone, thinking back to a time when he wasn't plagued with illness, when he wasn't in pain.

His childhood, therefore, you can really see why he has this sense of happiness, but also maybe tinged with sadness as well because he's missing that freedom from pain that he had as a young child.

Well done you've made those connections there.

All right, let's do another check for understanding then.

Which of the following is likely the reason for Hood presenting adulthood in a melancholic manner? Is it A, that Hood's childhood home was sold to someone else and he couldn't visit anymore? Is it B that hood suffered from increasingly severe health problems later in life? Or is it C, Hood fell out with his siblings later in life and therefore looks back on their childhood sadly? A, B, or C? Which one is correct? Press play when you think you've got the answer.

Well done if you said B.

Okay, over to you for our first task.

Hood's "I Remember, I Remember" is part of the Edexcel Belonging Anthology.

What do you think Hood's "I Remember, I Remember" might be telling us about the concept of belonging? Things you might wish to consider.

Where did the speaker consider they belonged when they were younger? And arguably, they no longer think they belong there What might that tell us? All right, I think this would be a fantastic task to do as a discussion.

So if you've got a partner or there's someone at home who you can discuss with, then why don't you do this as a discussion, but don't worry if you're working by yourself.

You can just think through these questions independently.

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

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

It was so fantastic to hear you discussing this poem in so much detail.

And really well done those of you who were linking the context, what we learned about context, to develop your answers further.

All right, before we move on, we're gonna take a moment of reflection, think about the quality of the discussions that we've had, and we're gonna do this by comparing our discussions to a model example.

When we're comparing a model example, we're always gonna start by thinking, how well do these align? What are the similarities between the example and my discussions? But you could also think where are the differences and are there any ideas that I really like here that are gonna help me understand the poem further? So let's have a look at Izzy's response to this question.

She says, "I think the speaker's shift in tone between the past and the present could reflect how our feelings of belonging somewhere are influenced by internal as well as external factors.

The 'tree is living yet' implies their childhood home is the same; however, the speaker shows that if we don't feel happy within ourselves, then we won't feel as if we belong somewhere anymore, even if the place hasn't changed." All right, pause the video, think about how did your discussions align with Izzy's ideas, but also what differences are there and are there any ideas that you can take going forward to continue to develop your understanding of this poem? Pause the video, take some time to reflect, and press play when you're ready to continue.

All right, welcome back.

So we've really looked at the poem.

We started to look at some of the context around the life of Thomas Hood.

Now we're gonna look at this in a lot more detail.

So arguably, we might see Hood's "I Remember, I Remember" as reflecting both Romantic and Victorian ideals.

So here, we're looking at the literary context.

Romanticism is a movement.

And within the Romantic ideals, we might expect to see poets talking around the innocence of childhood, the beauty of nature.

But many Victorian poets, whilst some like Hood were inspired by the Romantics, often focus their poetry on other ideals such as realism and reflecting the ordinariness of life.

If you could find two quotations from the poem, which would you pick to show each ideal? So can you see if you can find one quotation that really shows those Romantic ideals? And can you find a quotation that really shows those Victorian ideals? So pause the video, anthologies open.

Looking back at the poem, find a quote that really represents each of these two different ideals.

Over to you, pause the video, give it a go, and press play when you're done.

Welcome back, great work there.

I'm gonna share with you a couple of examples.

Of course, you might not have found the exact same quotations as me, and that is okay as long as you can really clearly link them to Romantic ideals or Victorian ideals.

So you might have said, "My spirit flew in feathers," and this really links to this Romantic ideal of belonging in nature.

You know, their spirit, their inner, their soul.

really kind of flew in the feathers surrounded by nature.

Whereas "it was a childish ignorance" is Victorian realism.

It's the reality that he looks back on his life as a child and he thought all of these wonderful positive things, but he realised that was just ignorance.

He didn't know what life was really like.

He certainly didn't know, the young boy didn't know the suffering.

If the speaker is Thomas Hood or is representative of Thomas Hood, that young boy didn't know, was ignorant to the suffering that he would feel, the pain he would feel as he grew older.

All right, let's check our understanding.

True or false.

We might see Hood's "I Remember, I Remember" as representing Victorian realism.

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

Well done if you said true, let's justify your answer.

Is it A, "it was a childish ignorance" which really reflects Victorian realism? Or is it B, "those flowers made of light" reflects Victorian realism? A or B? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got an idea.

Well done if you said it was A, "It was a childish ignorance." It really represents this realism that as you get older, you realise some of the things that you believed and hoped as a child were just that, they were wishes, they were dreams, and might not necessarily come true is the realism.

Whereas "those flowers made of light," we've got that Romantic ideal of the beauty of nature there, kind of that metaphor saying the flowers were made of light.

Beautiful.

Okay, then over to you.

Do you think Hood's "I Remember, I Remember" adheres more to Romantic conventions or Victorian realism? You're gonna do some evaluating here trying to work out whether you think this poem is more heavily associated with the Romantic era or whether you see more of the Victorian realism in Hood's poem? Gonna write a couple of sentences with me, this doesn't have to be a particularly long response, explaining your reasoning.

Some things you may wish to consider, the beauty of nature and the innocence of childhood in "I Remember, I Remember." Can you find examples of that? But also the melancholic response to the speaker's later life.

All right, pause the video, give this a go.

Write a short response for me and press play when you're ready to continue.

All right, that's it.

We've almost reached the end of today's lesson, but before we do, we're gonna take a moment to reflect on the writing that we have just done.

So two of my pupils, Laura and Sofia, have got some model, some examples for us to look at and I want us to think about whose ideas align more with your ideas, where are the similarities? But we can also look for the differences in any ideas that we might like to take on board to help us understand this poem further.

So Laura wrote, "I think the poem of adheres more to Romantic conventions because it reflects the joy and innocence of childhood.

The idea that 'their spirit flew in feathers' is to me a purely Romantic sentiment, which combines the freedom of nature with the joy of childhood." Or is it Sofia who said, "I think the poem adheres more to Victorian realism because it ends with the idea that their life now holds little joy as an adult despite their idyllic childhood.

I think that represents the reality of life and growing up." All right, pause the video, time do some reflections.

Where are the similarities? Where are the differences? And where are the ideas that you are gonna take going forward to help develop your understanding of the poem? Pause the video.

Over to you.

Okay, that's it, we have reached the end of today's lesson, some really fantastic discussion and reading of the poem that has happened today.

Well done.

Let's go through the summary that you can see on the screen of all the learning that we've covered so you can feel really confident before you move on to our next lesson.

So Hood's poetry reflects some Romantic ideals, nature and the innocent of childhood.

Hood's poetry also reflects the more realistic, the more realist ideas of Victorian poetry.

Hood's adult life was plagued with illness, perhaps why he's so wistful for his childhood.

Hood's poem is nostalgic, remembering his happy times as a child.

There is also a mournful tone to Hood's poetry.

He's melancholic that he will not feel that joy again.

Thank you so much for joining me in today's lesson.

It's been great learning alongside you.

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

Have a great day.

Bye-Bye.