Hello there, Mr Barnsley here, great to see you today.

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

Today we're gonna continue exploring the Edexcel belonging poetry cluster and today we're gonna be looking at a new poem, Mild the Mist Upon the Hill by Emily Bronte.

So do make sure you have a copy of the anthology in front you and it is time for us to begin.

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 Bronte creates tone in her poem.

So there are five keywords I need you to look out for.

They are nostalgia, melancholic, reclusive, Romanticism, and bleak.

Let's have a look at what each of these words mean then.

So nostalgia is this weird kind of slightly strange feeling, it's a mixture of both pleasure but a slight sense of sadness as well, and we associate this at times when we think about things that have happened in the past, so when we are reminiscing, thinking about things that have happened in the past.

We like the happy memories, but there's maybe a tinge of sadness as you remember them.

Melancholic is an adjective that comes from the word melancholy and it means feelings of sadness.

If you are melancholic, you're expressing feelings of sadness.

Reclusive is a word to describe someone who might avoid the company of other people.

They might choose to live in a solitary lifestyle.

Romanticism, you might recognise this word, this is an artistic movement from the late 18th and early 19th century.

A lot of the Romantics focused their work on emotions and nature.

And the final adjective, bleak, means devoid, free from, cheer or comfort, so it can be quite a negative adjective.

All right, so we're gonna be reading the poem Mild the Mist Upon the Hill and we're going to do this across two learning cycles.

First we're gonna think about how we approach the poem before we read it, prepare ourselves for reading and then in the second learning cycle we'll do some reading and check that we understand what is happening.

Okay let's start by doing some preparation to read.

So we're gonna be considering Bronte's Mild the Mist Upon the Hill in today's lesson.

Over to you for our first discussion question then.

I'd like you to consider the words mist and hill, both of these are from the title.

What do you think will feature prominently in the poem? Okay, what do you think this poem is gonna be about? Over to you for this discussion.

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

Welcome back.

I heard lots of you saying very similar things here, similar things to Izzy, you're saying nature.

You were like, this is gonna be a poem about nature.

Both mist, it's like weather, the hill, the countryside suggest that nature is gonna be the forefront of this.

Well done if you said something similar.

So Bronte is widely considered to be a Romantic poet.

Okay, the Romantic era meaning the late 18th, early 19th century.

Let's see and remind ourselves, you might have looked at some Romantic poetry before, how did the Romantics feel about nature? And knowing that, what prediction can you make about the poem based on your knowledge of the Romantic era? All right, over to you for this one again.

We can do this as a discussion.

So if you've got a partner, you can discuss with them, otherwise you can think through this independently.

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

Some really interesting predictions there.

I heard, again, lots of you saying very similar things to Laura, saying, well we know the Romantics really appreciated and respected nature, so actually this is probably gonna be quite a positive poem or nature is gonna be presented in a positive way.

Now, we know that Romantic poets often used natural imagery to present human emotions.

Now on the screen you can see a picture that represents the title of the poem, the title being Mild the Mist Upon the Hill.

So you can see a picture there of a hill and there's mist in it.

So knowing that the Romantics used nature to present human emotion, what human emotions does this image suggest to you? So look at the image and think, what emotions could this represent to me? So pause the video, have a think with a partner or independently, have a little bit of a think about this question and then press play when you think you've got some ideas and you're ready to move on.

Over to you.

Welcome back.

I heard some really interesting ideas there, particularly when we think about the discussion that we've just had about what we expect to see in poetry from the Romantic era.

I heard lots of you say things like actually this image feels quite sad, it could be representative of sadness.

I heard some of you talk about pessimism where you don't have any hope.

I heard some of you talking about anxiety and actually this image can make you feel quite nervous in some way.

And I heard some of you talk about fear, this actually looks quite spooky and eerie in some way.

Now here are some words from the poem that we are about to read.

Wept, sorrow, cloudy, and blue.

Let's have a think for a moment about the connotations of some of these words.

I'm gonna hand this one over to you again so you can do this in a pair and small group, or you can just do this independently.

But let's try and dive deep into each of those words and what connotations, what ideas come to mind when we look at those words.

Pause the video, give this a go, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Well done.

I heard lots of you making connections between those four words, which was great.

So here are some of the connotations that you might have said.

So, sadness appears quite a lot.

Grief, so the idea of losing someone.

Some of you, the wept, you actually think about crying and tears.

And that cloudy weather, I heard people saying, well a lack of light, and light can represent hope and happiness, so potentially this represents sadness.

And the colour blue, well we might even say, oh I'm feeling a little bit blue when I'm feeling sad.

So I heard lots of words about sadness, misery, grief.

So, what tone, if we put all of these words and ideas together, what tone do you think these words might create? Okay, I'll give you a little bit of a hint, see if you can use any of our keywords here.

You might wish to try to use one of our keywords here.

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

Yeah, I heard lots of you talking about a sad, unhappy tone, but well done if you managed to reach back to our keywords and think of this melancholy, this continued sadness.

So yeah, we can use that keyword melancholy, or a melancholic tone really effectively here.

All right, let's pause for a moment and check to see how we're getting on so far in today's lesson.

Which of the following statements is true? Is it A, both the context and words from the poem imply a positive presentation of nature? B, the title and the words from the poem imply a melancholic tone? Or C, the context of the poem implies a pessimistic attitude towards nature? Which of those do think is the correct response? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you have got an idea.

Yes, well done if you said B.

Ultimately, we know it's not A because actually we're not sure now we've done a bit of digging that we think there's gonna be a positive presentation of nature.

C, contextually we'd expect poets from the Romantic era to be having a really positive attitude towards nature, so it's actually the title and the words that we've looked at so far that are starting to imply this melancholic tone.

Well done if you got that correct.

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

So, we might imagine the words such as wept, sorrow, cloudy, and blue would create a melancholic tone.

However, I'm gonna share a little bit of context with you.

For the majority of her life, Bronte lived reclusively, so lived in solitude, quite isolated, in Yorkshire, and she spent much of her time walking the Yorkshire Moors.

The Yorkshire Moors is kind a vast expanse of countryside, you can see an image of it on the screen.

So she spent much of her time walking the Yorkshire Moors which are known to be really bleak.

So they don't have much cheer and comfort and excitement, they're quite bleak and dark.

She spent her life walking on these moors which are known for their bleakness, they're known for their solitude, they're known for being very isolated.

However, one of Bronte's sisters said that actually she found this, she found the bleak solitude of the Yorkshire Moors actually very comforting and very liberating, very freeing.

You might look at that image and say, oof, that image doesn't look particularly comforting and liberating to me, but for Bronte, apparently it was.

So, our first task then is a discussion-based task.

With this contextual information, does it change your opinion on what tone we might expect to see in this poem, on the tone that the words might create? All right, over to you for this one.

If you've got a partner, it would be a fantastic opportunity for you to practise your discussion skills with them.

But don't worry if you're working by yourself, you can just jot some ideas down or just think about how you would answer this question independently.

All right, over to you.

How does this information change your opinion, or does this information change your opinion on what tone the words might create? Pause the video, have a think, have a discuss, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Welcome back.

Really well done to those you who are discussing in pairs who were adding and building onto each other's ideas, but particularly well done for those of you who weren't necessarily agreeing and you were challenging each other in really respectful ways, that was fantastic to see.

Okay, two of our Oak pupils, Laura and Izzy, they had very contrasting views and I want you to think about whose ideas align most with yours.

Was it Laura who said, the image of the Moors looks like it could be a misty hill, so that coupled with the knowledge that she found the bleakness comforting makes me think the tone will actually be one of peace.

Whereas Izzy said, no I still think the tone will be melancholic because I think you can't ignore the negative connotations of words such as wept and sorrow.

So before we move on, why don't we pause a moment and reflect on the discussion that we've just had and think, was I more aligned with Laura or Izzy in my thoughts? All right, pause the video and have a bit of reflection and press play when you're ready to move on.

Right, welcome back.

We've done some fantastic thinking so far, preparing ourselves for reading the poem, but now it's time for us to dive in and do some reading.

So you're gonna need to make sure you've got your copy of the anthology in front of you and you've got your copy of the poem Mild the Mist Upon the Hill open.

All right, we're gonna do some reading now and it's up to you how you wish to do this reading.

I'm gonna read the poem to you, so if you would wish to follow along and listen to my reading, then you can.

However, if you'd like to read the poem independently, that's okay, you can pause the video and read it yourself, and then press play, you might need to fast forward a little bit just to skip out my reading.

All right, but what's really important now is that we all have our copy of the poem open and ready to read.

I am gonna turn the camera off because I want you focusing on the anthology.

I don't want you watching the screen, I want you focusing on the words on the page, listening to me if you want, but focusing on the words on the page.

All right, time for us to get started.

Mild the Mist Upon the Hill, Emily Bronte.

Mild the mist upon the hill telling not of storms tomorrow.

No, the day has wept its fill, spent its store of silent sorrow.

Oh, I am gone back to the days of youth, I am a child once more.

I'm neath my father's sheltering roof and near the old hall door.

I watch this cloudy evening fall after a day of rain.

Blue mists, sweet mists of summer pall the horizons mounted chain.

The damp stands on the long green grass as thick as morning tears and dreamy scents of fragrance pass that breathe of other years.

All right, welcome back.

I want you to see then, to show how you've understood that first reading of the poem.

Can you answer the following questions? What is the speaker looking at in the poem? What is the speaker remembering in the poem? All right, pause the video, have a think, have a think about these questions.

You can answer these verbally or you can even jot them down if you wish and see if you can understand what was happening in the poem then.

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

Welcome back.

Now you may have said things along the lines that actually it looks like the speaker is looking out over nature.

They're looking out over the hill at the mist over the hill.

And well done if you picked up actually that during this poem we also hear the speaker remembering being a child, they remember their childhood.

Okay, let's zoom in and consider some of the following quotations.

The day had wept its fill, spent its store of silent sorrow, after a day of rain.

So, thinking about these words, these phrases, is it still currently raining as the speaker is speaking? Is it still raining as the speaker is speaking? Over to you for this one, if you want to think about this as a pair, a partnership, or if you just want to think of this independently, is it still currently raining in the poem? Over to you, pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas? Welcome back.

Well done if you said, no, it was raining, it clearly has been raining during the day, but now it's stopped.

Okay, it's wept its fill, it's wept all it can, all the rain has come down, okay, but now the raining has stopped.

So how does it affect the tone then that it is no longer raining? Does that change the tone in any way? Pause the video, have a think, discuss if you wish, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back.

Interestingly, I heard quite a few of you saying, actually it takes away some of the sense of melancholy, it makes it less melancholic, the fact that it's no longer raining.

Like, how the sun shines every new day, like when the rain is raining, eventually it will stop and that feels quite hopeful knowing that that rain will end.

Here are some other quotations.

'Neath my father's sheltering roof, dreamy scents, breathe of other years.

What are the connotations of the highlighted words? Sheltering, dreamy, breathe, what are the connotations of those words? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Some great discussions there.

I wonder if you said anything similar to what you can see on the screen.

Safety and home when we think of the word sheltering.

Dreamy, it seems magical, it seems really pleasant, quite gentle.

And breathing reminds us of relaxation, really peaceful.

So do you think the speaker is looking back on fond memories? When they're thinking about their childhood, are these positive memories do you think? Pause the video and have a quick think, have a quick discuss, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Yeah, I heard lots of you saying actually all of these words associated with their childhood are really safe words, they feel really pleasant.

So let's pause for a minute then and check our understanding so far now we've read the poem.

Which interpretation of dreamy do you think is most appropriate for the poem? Is it Laura's who said, I think dreamy suggests that the events of the poem aren't actually happening, it creates this sense of magic.

Or is it Izzy who says, I think dreamy creates a very pleasant feeling that has connotations of being soft and gentle.

Which of those feels like the most relevant interpretation of dreamy for the poem that we've just read? Pause the video and have a think and press play when you think you've got an idea.

Yeah, really well done if you said Izzy's interpretation.

In a different poem, Laura's might make sense, but there's nothing really about this poem that suggests that this is magical, that actually this is not an event that's happening.

This is all about softness, gentleness, creating this pleasant tone to the poem.

Okay, over to our final task of today's lesson.

Some may argue then that Bronte's Mild the Mist Upon the Hill creates a nostalgic tone.

Because she's looking back at her childhood with this happiness, but maybe a slight sadness that it's gone, that it's no longer there.

A nostalgic tone.

However others may argue that it creates a melancholic tone, actually there's a real sadness at the heart of this poem.

What do you think then? So over to you, do you think this poem has a nostalgic tone or a melancholic tone? I want you to write a short response, about a paragraph, explaining your thoughts, your ideas.

Things you might wish to consider, the weather in the poem, the connotations of words in the poem such as sorrow and dreamy, and how the speaker's memories are presented.

Okay, over to you for this one, give it your best shot, and try and see if you can tick all three of those bullet points in your response.

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

All right, welcome back, some really great work then.

It was really pleasing to see some of you using more than just the words sorrow and dreamy to help justify your opinions.

All right, we're now going to, before we finish, we're gonna take a moment of reflection, we're gonna think about the work we've done and we're gonna compare it to an answer that we can see on screen, a model answer that was written by one of the Oak pupils, Laura.

Laura said, I think the tone is nostalgic.

Firstly, the speaker's childhood memories are associated with words such as sheltered and breathe which evoke feelings of safety and peace.

However, around those feelings of peace are words such as damp, cloudy, and tears which create feelings of grief and sadness.

Considering these two factors together, I think the speaker has pleasant memories of the past but they are tinged with sadness and this suggests a nostalgic tone.

All right, time for us to pause the video and think about your own response and think about which ideas were similar to Laura's or which were different, and you can even think if there were any of Laura's ideas that you like and you want to use these and add them to your writing.

All right, pause the video, take some time to reflect, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, that's it, we have reached the end of today's lesson.

Fantastic work today, everybody.

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

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

We've learnt that like other Romantic poets, Bronte uses natural imagery to present human emotions.

We've also learnt that Bronte lived a quiet and reclusive life in the Yorkshire countryside.

Some may argue that Bronte's poem is about the sense of security and belonging her nostalgic memories bring.

Others may claim there is a melancholic tone to the poem.

Thank you so much for joining me today, I hope to see you in one of our lessons again in the future.

Have a great day and see you all soon, bye bye.