Hello there, great to see you today.

My name's Mr. Barnsley and I'm so glad that you've decided to join me as we continue to study the Edexcel Belonging poetry cluster.

In today's lesson, we are going be looking at a new poem, William Wordsworth, "To My Sister".

Now of course you are gonna need a copy of this poem in front of you.

So whether that's in the Edexcel Belonging poetry anthology or whether you just have a copy of the poem, you really, really do want to have this in front of you 'cause we're gonna be reading it together and we're gonna be thinking of some of the key ideas and themes in there.

Alright, I'm really excited to get started.

Let's go.

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

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain how Wordsworth presents nature in his poem "To My Sister".

So, some key words and ideas we're gonna be keeping an eye out for, 'cause we are gonna be using them as part of our discussions and to help us, support us, understand the poem.

The first is romanticism.

Now this is an artistic movement from the late 18th and early 19th century and a lot of romantic writers will have really focused their work on emotions and nature.

The sublime is the mixed feelings of both awe and terror in response to a phenomenon.

Idleness is the enjoyment of leisure time, rest, and tranquillity.

To be spiritual means relating to, or affecting, the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.

And finally, temper is a frame of mind, a mood or humour.

We're used to hearing temper, meaning like to lose your temper.

But here when we think of temper it's a frame of mind, mood or humour.

Alright, these are five words that we're gonna be using in today's lesson.

Do keep an eye out for them.

If you need to pause the video and quickly reread any of these definitions or even make a note of them, now is the time to do so.

Okay, so we are gonna be understanding the poem "To My Sister" by William Wordsworth.

And we're gonna be breaking today's lesson down into three learning cycles.

First we're gonna start by exploring the poem and then we're gonna think about some of the political context behind the poem.

And then we're gonna focus on this idea of romanticism and this kind of artistic movement and see how that might impact our understanding.

But we're gonna start by exploring the poem.

So we're gonna be looking at Wordsworth "To My Sister" and there is a copy of this in the Edexcel Belonging anthology.

I did say at the beginning, you're gonna need a copy of the poem in front of you.

So if you haven't got it quickly pause the video and make sure you have a copy of "To My Sister" with you now.

Right, we are gonna read the poem together.

I'm gonna do the reading, but I am going to turn the video off as I read the poem because I do not want you looking at the screen.

I want you following along, looking at the text and following word for word.

Okay, so I'm turning the video off now.

Let's make sure anthologies are open and everyone following along.

"To My Sister" by William Wordsworth.

It is the first mild day of March, each minute sweeter than before.

The redbreast sings from the tall larch that stands beside our door.

There is a blessing in the air, which seems a sense of joy to yield to the bare trees, and mountains bare, and the grass in the green field.

My sister, 'tis a wish of mine now that our morning meal is done, make haste, your morning task resign, come forth and feel the sun.

Edward will come with you, and pray, put on with speed your woodland dress and bring no book, for this one day we'll give to idleness.

No joyless forms shall regulate our living calendar.

We from today, my friend, will date the opening of the year.

Love, now a universal birth, from heart to heart is stealing, from earth to man, from man to earth, it is the hour of feeling.

One moment now may give us more than years of toiling reason.

Our minds shall drink at every pore the spirit of the season.

Some silent laws our hearts will make, which they shall long obey.

We for the year to come may take our temper from today.

And from the blessed power that rolls about, below, above, we'll frame the measure of our souls, they shall be tuned to love.

Then come, my sister, come, I pray, with speed put on your woodland dress, and bring no book: for this one day we'll give to idleness.

Right, some excellent following along there.

That was great to hear you listening so carefully as we read the poem.

I want to hand over to you now to think, how would you summarise this poem? What is going on? What do you think is happening? Who is the speaker? Who are they talking to? What are they talking about? Over to you for this one.

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

Otherwise you can just think through this independently.

Pause the video, have a think.

How would you summarise the poem and press play when you think you've got some ideas.

Welcome back, I heard some really great discussions going on there.

I heard lots of you talking about actually, it's clearly the speaker trying to, they're speaking to their sister.

They're trying to, they're almost like begging their sister in some way, and well done if you realise that they're trying to get their sister to spend some time in nature.

They wanted them to take a walk outside with them.

So let's think about then, which quotations in the poem suggest the setting looks a little bit like this.

So you can see an image on the screen.

Which words or phrases from the poem suggest that actually if we were to close our eyes and picture this poem, we might picture a scene like you can see on the screen.

Alright, pause the video, have a think, have a look back at the poem and press play when you think you have found some quotations.

Over to you.

Welcome back.

It was great to see you looking so carefully at the text there.

I heard lots of you picking out this quote, the first mild day of March.

So mild suggests it's no longer cold, but it's certainly not warm.

Like, the weather has stopped being that bitter, freezing cold of the winter, starts to get a bit more mild.

But I wouldn't describe it necessarily as being a warm day.

The grass in the green field.

So we're talking about the greenness that he could see.

Come forth and feel the sun.

There was definitely a suggestion that we've got some kind of spring sunshine there, but there were bare trees.

So this is early in March.

We know this is kind of early part of spring that the leaves have yet to grow back onto the trees.

But it seems to be that we're shifting from those kind of cold, dark winter days to the, kind of, the mildness of spring.

So within the poem, the speaker is trying to convince their sister to come outside with them.

Which words does the speaker use to describe nature to really try and convince their sister? So have a look through now and start just picking out some of those words that you think, yeah, this makes nature sound really nice.

This might make me or persuade me to come outside and spend some time in nature.

Alright, back over to you.

You can do this in pairs or you can do this independently.

Look back through the poem.

Which words do you think the speaker uses to describe nature to try and convince their sister? Alright, pause the video, give this a go, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back.

I heard lots of different ideas there.

I heard some of you picking out words like sweeter, mild and joy.

These all felt really positive.

I heard some of you really focus on that word love.

It's such an emotive word and I heard lots of you talking about that.

Some of you were, words like blessing and sings and I heard you saying it felt almost kind of quite religious.

Some of the imagery in here might have reminded you of going to church or other religious experiences.

Now I want us to think about the impression that we get of nature through some of these words, like sweeter, joy, love, blessing, sings, mild.

What does that really, what kind of picture does that create of nature in our mind? How does it make us feel about nature? Pause the video again, over to you for this one.

Discuss in pairs or think through independently and press play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back.

I really want to shine a spotlight on some of the things that I heard some of you saying.

So I heard some of you saying that you think sweeter and mild present nature as a really calming, peaceful place.

I also heard you saying those kind of, what we just started touching upon there, blessings and love really presented as almost spiritual in some way.

Well done if you said something similar and of course you might have had other ideas as well.

So when he is trying to convince his sister, the speaker repeats this phrase, "We'll give to idleness".

It's in the middle of the poem and it's the last line of the poem.

What does that suggest about the appeal of nature? Remember idleness means kind of, just to spend time in tranquillity, just rest.

What does it suggest about the appeal of nature then, if being in nature gives you a chance to give to idleness? Alright, pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Great stuff, some lovely ideas there.

Things you might have said, you might have said, well it really offers people a chance to switch off and relax.

And I heard other people saying it could be really a sense of relief from the stresses of day-to-day life.

It just offers us kind of that moment to switch off and say, look, other things are going on but now I'm just gonna enjoy being in nature.

But arguably, we could say the poem shifts in focus a little bit after the fifth stanza.

It really focuses on nature, from kind of talk about the sister to really focusing on nature and it says, "One moment now may give us more than years of toiling reason." What do you think this suggests about the appeal of nature, this quote in particular? "One moment now may give us more than years of toiling reason." Years of working.

Toiling means kind of to work hard and again in circles and circles.

So one moment now may give us more.

What might that say about the appeal of nature? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got an idea.

Welcome back.

I heard lots of you saying, well it might show us that even that very brief moment in nature can be more worthwhile than spending years in a human society and just going round and round in circles.

Let's pause for a moment then and check our understanding of the poem so far.

True or false, nature is presented as a peaceful, calming environment.

Is that true or is that false? Over to you for this one.

Pause video and press play when you think you've got the right answer.

Yeah, really great work if you said that was true.

Let's justify that then.

Is it, the semantic field of happiness through words such as joy and sings, create a calming atmosphere? Is it, the semantic field of gentleness through words such as mild and sweeter, create a calming atmosphere.

Tricky one here, but which do you think feels the most appropriate? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you think you've got an answer.

Welcome back.

Well done if you said B.

I think it's really this gentleness that suggests calm.

Happiness, yes, we can be calm when we're happy.

But think of how excited we can also be when we're happy.

So I think focusing on this semantic field of gentleness can really support this inference that this is a really calming atmosphere.

Alright, over to you now for our first task in today's lesson.

So Wordsworth "To My Sister" we know is part of the Edexcel Belonging anthology.

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

How do you think Wordsworth "To My Sister" then represents this concept of belonging? Some things you may wish to consider, who the poem is addressed to and what the poem suggests about humanity and nature.

I think this is best to do with a discussion question.

So if you've got a partner, you can discuss this with them, but don't, if you're working by yourself, you can just think through this independently.

Make a few notes if you wish.

Okay, so pause the video, over to you.

How do you think Wordsworth "To My Sister" represents the concept of belonging? Do plus press play when you're ready to continue.

Alright, welcome back.

Some really lovely discussions there and really well done for you using those bullet points to help develop your responses.

Okay, we're gonna, before we move on, we're gonna take a moment to reflect on the discussions that we've just had.

We're gonna do this by comparing our answers to a couple of ideas that our Oak pupils had.

Whenever we're comparing our work to example answers, model answers, questions you should be asking yourself is, how is this similar to what I said or wrote? How is this different to what I said or wrote? And are there any ideas in here that I didn't say but I really like and might use that to support my understanding and my analysis later? So let's have a look at at Laura and Izzy's and think about how well their ideas align with your own.

So Laura said, "I think the idea of addressing the poem to his sister and wanting her to come and experience nature with him suggests the concept of belonging within family." And Izzy said, "I think the way that nature is described suggests that we as humans can find a sense of happiness and belonging within nature away from the busyness of daily life." Why don't you pause the video and take a moment now to reflect on the discussion you had.

Think, how are these ideas similar to mine? How are they different? And are there any ideas that I am gonna take with me that are gonna help further my understanding of the poem? All right, pause the video, take some time to reflect, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Alright, now it's time for us to consider the political context of the poem.

So Wordsworth "To My Sister" was written in 1798 and this was actually a period of violent political upheaval in Europe.

In particular, the following events had happened in the late 1790s.

So the French Revolution, King Louis XVI's execution, and there were very real fears of a French invasion of Britain.

Which of the following statements are true? Let's check that you were listening carefully just then.

Is it that, A, Wordsworth "To My Sister" was written in a period of political stability? Is it, B, Wordsworth "To My Sister" was written in a period of political upheaval? Or is it, C, Wordsworth "To My Sister" was written in a period of violent revolution? Which of those statement or statements, plural, are true? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you think you've got the answers.

Welcome back.

Well done if you said B and C.

Stability mean things feel really safe and secure and the same.

So I don't think we can say there was political stability because of the revolution, because of the violent revolution in C, that created political upheaval.

Things felt very unsure what would be happening.

Oh that there might be danger or conflict around the corner.

So given this political upheaval and violence we know was happening at the time when the poem was written, does this extend or change your understanding of how nature is presented? So over to you for another practise task.

Now you're gonna think about those discussions we've already had.

You're now gonna bring in this knowledge and understanding of the violent revolution, the political upheaval that was happening at the time.

So things you might wish to consider when you write your short answer, no more than a paragraph.

So you might want to consider that Wordsworth writes, "Earth to man", rather than man to man.

So thinking about what man is gaining from earth there.

The speaker also suggests their souls will be tuned to love within nature.

So what does it mean that their souls are being tuned in to love whilst they spend time in nature? You might also want to consider that the speaker says they should take their temper, their mood, their temperament from today, from that moment in nature and apply it to the following year.

So lots of things for you to consider as you write this short paragraph.

Over to you then.

Pause the video, write your response, and press play when you are ready to continue.

Okay, welcome back.

Some fantastic writing going on there.

Really well done.

It was really pleasing to see so many of you checking your spelling, punctuation and grammar as well.

Fantastic to see.

What we're gonna do now is take a moment of reflection, think about the work we've done and we're gonna compare this to a model answer.

But before we compare our answer to Sophia's, we're gonna look at Sophia's and think if we can improve it in any way.

So Sophia wrote, "Wordsworth's presentation of nature as a calming, peaceful environment feels more apt, more appropriate, when considering the violent revolutionary political context of the 1790s.

By suggesting that the speaker will find themselves tuned to love within nature, Wordsworth could be implying that they do not find love in their ordinary lives.

Furthermore, the notion of taking that temper from today and applying it to the rest of the year could suggest they are trying to take the peaceful sensation of nature and bring it to their ordinary lives.

Why don't you pause the video for a moment and think about how Sophia could extend her work by considering the quotation, "Earth to man".

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

I wonder if you said something similar to this.

Moreover, the idea of love coming from earth to man suggests that this feeling can be found in nature and not currently from humanity and other men, which could reference the current political violence.

Alright, time for you to reflect on your writing.

Pause the video, think, did you have any similar ideas to Sophia? Where were your ideas different to Sophia? And are there any of Sophia's ideas you would like to take and add to your own piece of writing? Pause the video, reflect, and make improvements, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Alright, so we've looked at the poem, we've thought about some of the political context.

Now I want to see if our understanding of romanticism as this kind of movement, artistic movement, if that can help us develop our understanding of "To My Sister".

So Wordsworth was a romantic poet.

This means he was part of that movement.

And the romantics had a deep respect for nature.

They believed that nature was really harmonious and they longed for a return to time when man lived from the land.

They found kind of the industrialization, the modernization, and the moving away of nature, like, they didn't enjoy that.

They thought that times were better, times were simpler, when people lived from the land.

So I want you to think, do you see this romantic view of nature presented in the poem? Why or why not? So when now you understand what the romantics kind of felt about nature.

Can you see this? Can you see this echoed in Wordsworth poem? Pause the video, if you've got a partner, you can discuss with them.

Otherwise just think through this independently and remember to press play when you think you're done.

Really well done.

I heard lots of you saying something exactly like Izzy said.

You can see on the screen where she says, actually, "I think the depiction of nature as being something calming or spiritual actually really conforms to these romantic ideas." I think it's what we would expect.

So as well as nature being beautiful and peaceful, romantic writers often write about nature being as part of the sublime.

So the sublime is when we feel both, or, like something is incredible, but terror.

There's something a little bit frightening about it.

It is incredible, but it's a little bit frightening.

So romantics often wrote as nature as being part of this sublime, this kind of state in between two kind of strong feelings.

So the sublime refers, as I said, to something that inspires both awe and terror.

And it evokes this really emotional rather than rational reaction.

It implies a sense of feeling almost overwhelmed at something, 'cause something is so much more vast, so much bigger, so much more powerful than humanity.

So romantic writers often refer to nature as being part of the sublime.

Can you think of any natural phenomenon, kind of anything to do with nature that you think might inspire these feelings of both awe, that's incredible, but also kind of terror.

Why don't you pause the video and think, can you think of any natural phenomenon, things in nature that might inspire these feelings? Pause the video, have a think, you can press play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back, I heard lots of people throwing some ideas around there.

I want to shine a spotlight on some of the things I did hear that I thought, yeah, that sounds right to me.

So I heard some of you saying things about like storms, thunderstorms. They really fit into this idea of the sublime 'cause they show just how powerful nature is and they show how insignificant we are in comparison.

You know, it can be really, you can watch storms and think, gosh, wow, this is awesome.

But at the same time you're like, I'm really glad I'm not caught in the middle of that.

And I heard lots of you talk about things like mountains.

They are just, you know, when you think about the sheer size of mountains, they really can represent the romantic sublime.

They are just huge.

Sometimes the size of them is just incomprehensible, thinking about how much bigger they are than us as humans.

And it really does make us, and the size of us, and how small we are, pale in significance.

Alright, over to you.

Which images do you think best represent the idea of nature as being part of the romantic sublime? Pause the video and think A, B, or C or more than one.

Which images best represent the idea of nature as part of the romantic sublime> Over to you.

Really well done if you said A and C there.

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

So one critical view of Wordsworth "To My Sister" is that actually it doesn't present nature as being part of the sublime.

Okay, so we know it follows some romantic ideals of kind of think about the importance of nature.

But some people say, yeah, but it doesn't follow that romantic idea of using the romantic sublime.

I want you to answer the following question.

Firstly, do you agree or disagree with this point of view? Do you think nature inspires feelings of awe and terror in this poem? And why do you think Wordsworth might want to use, or not want to use, the sublime in this way? Alright, again, I only want you to write a very short answer here.

You don't need to write very much, but I want you to think about, do you agree or disagree with this idea that Wordsworth isn't leaning into use of the romantic sublime in his poem? Pause the video, give this a go, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Welcome back, it was really nice to see you really thinking about that.

This is a new idea that we brought.

You might not have thought about the sublime or heard about the sublime before.

So it's really nice to see you kind of start thinking about applying it to a poem that you read.

Now, Laura and Izzy had very different ideas and we're gonna take a moment to reflect on what they wrote and see if it was similar or different to what we wrote.

So Laura said, "I don't agree with the view because I think the idea of nature affecting your soul suggests it's sublime." Okay.

If nature can affect you and have that control over you, then that does suggest it's powerful and much more powerful than we are.

And Laura says, "I think Wordsworth would want to present nature as sublime because it adds to humanity's respect for nature.

It makes us more respectful when we think about how incredible nature is." Izzy argued, actually, "I don't think the view, because words such as mild and sweet actually suggest nature is gentle rather than powerful".

And she thinks, "Wordsworth wouldn't want to present nature as sublime because he might want to offer nature as a peaceful alternative to reality." So two very different viewpoints there.

As we take one final moment to reflect on the work that we've done, I want you to think whose work is similar, whose ideas are similar to yours, what ideas are different to yours? And are there any ideas that you want to take forward to really help your understanding of this poem? Alright, pause the video, reread your work.

Take a moment to reflect and press play when you're done.

Okay, that's it.

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

It's been fantastic reading "To My Sister" with you all.

You've done some great work in your discussion and your writing today.

On the screen, you can see summary of all the key learning.

Let's quickly go through it so you can feel really confident before you move on to our next lesson.

So we've learned that the poem is set in spring and depicts nature as calm and peaceful.

We learned that Wordsworth implies that nature can offer an escape from life and a chance to simply relax.

We know that the poem was written during a time of violent political upheaval.

And arguably Wordsworth may have depicted nature as calm as a contrast to the divisions in humanity.

Fantastic work today.

Thank you so much for joining me.

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

But for now, it's goodbye from me.

Have a great day.