Hi everyone, this is Mr. Chandrapala and I'm really looking forward to working with you today on Analysing "To Autumn." In a previous lesson, we talked about understanding "To autumn," or Keats's reflection on mortality, and I'm so looking forward to actually analysing the text in a little bit more detail with you because there's so much beautiful imagery that he's playing with.

We've already discussed the extended metaphor and a little bit about the way that he uses sound, but there is so much greater depth for us to get into when we're talking about the personification of the woman who represents autumn within the text.

Let's dive in.

So today we're going to analyse how Keats presenters feelings towards autumn.

Our key words for today's lesson include the word, abundance, which is to have a lot of something, the noun, prosperity, which is the condition or state of being successful and thriving.

The noun, tone, which is a really important noun to keep in our heads when we're talking about poetry because it's the way in which the poet expresses their feelings towards the subject matter.

We're gonna be talking about the noun, mono syllab, oh, sorry, the adjective, monosyllabic, which is a word which only contains one syllable.

And finally, we're going to be considering mood, which is the atmosphere that is created by the tone.

Our lesson is split into two parts a day, and our first part is going to be focusing on the abundance of autumn.

So let's start by first of all making a note of all the different products of the harvest that Keats lists in the poem.

A few of these examples include the fruit such as apples, the gourd, the hazels, the flowers.

The question here is why do we think Keats focuses on presenting all of these products in the very first stanza? What might Keats be trying to show us about the nature of autumn? What kind of picture of autumn is he trying to create and why do we think he's trying to do it? Pause the video now and talk to the person next to you about why he would use this really diverse range of harvest products in the very start of his poem.

Once you've done that, come back to the video, pause the video now, have that discussion and when you're ready, hit Play.

(no audio) Some really interesting ideas there, everyone, and I'm so pleased that people are foregrounding this idea that even though autumn is a time of transition and actually there is that sense of actually things are being lost, he's also trying to foreground that.

It's a point where actually a lot is produced.

There's still a huge amount of joy to be taken out of it.

There's an abundance of products to be taken out of it, and there is still this kind of prosperous nature to it.

A couple of our Oak pupils, when we asked them about it, mentioned that in the case of Alex, that he's trying to create a positive and optimistic impression of the season of autumn in the first answer, which I guess is maybe trying to subvert or break away from our conventional expectations of the season.

Jacob was having a think about this as well and said, "Actually, I think Keats describes the fruitfulness and generosity of autumn as a season.

We get that impression that the autumn is also fat or ripe with prosperity," and I love his use of the word, prosperity.

That's such a good word for us to be including when we're talking about this poem and the presentation of autumn.

So to check this, you may wanna have a look at your own ideas or Alex and Jacob's, which words do you think are most reminiscent of full fullness? Pause the video now and just go back to the text.

You may wanna do this in partners or just by yourself looking at your copy of the poem, but what would you say are the words most reminiscent of fullness? When you're ready, hit Play.

(no audio) Ah, some fantastic work there.

Loved seeing how many of you we're getting really into those minor details about the poem and we're really starting to pick it apart.

So some words that we can definitely discuss are words like ripeness, swell, plump, fill, more and o'erbrimm'd, over brimmed, over brimmed.

That idea of it's almost excessively full may be something for us to consider.

So which of the following is a synonym for prosperity? Is it A, generosity, B, failure, C, success, or D harvest? I'm gonna ask you to select your answers in 5, 4, 3, 2, and one.

Well done to everyone who said success.

Really good work there.

If you didn't get that right, that's absolutely fine, but make sure just to jot that down into your notes now, because it's such an important term for us to use to access the rest of this ode, the rest of this beautiful poem.

So what we're gonna do is we're just gonna choose one of those following words which illustrates the abundance of autumn and conduct just a single word analysis on that using the question, how does Keats present the abundance of autumn? So for an example, I've created this one, the word, plump.

So I'm just gonna have a look at the word, plump, and I'm gonna consider just what I could consider in terms of the connotations of that single word.

So if I'm thinking about the word, plump, I may wanna think about how it shows how perfectly abundant autumn is, there's a softness to the word, plump, which is suggestive of a nurturing nature, a caring nature.

Alternatively though, and it's really important that I think about an alternative inference, I may wanna think about plump as relating to richness.

It suggests that the autumn is a rich season of prosperity, and so the autumn of a person's life can still be fruitful.

It's not just all about the spring, it's not just all about the summer.

There is joy to be found still in that autumn of our lives.

So that's me doing it and producing two inferences with just one word, plump.

And what I'm gonna ask you to do now is to do that same task, but with a single word, a different single word, looking at creating how Keats presents abundance within the poem for autumn.

So once you've got that word, you've selected the word that you want to use, take a moment, try and work out what are going to be your connotations, your analysis of it.

Pause the video now, have a go at doing that.

You may want to use the word overbrimmed, you may want to use the word, ripe, filled, anything that you want, but for now, have a go at that task and when you're ready, hit Play.

(no audio) It's fabulous seeing how imaginative so many of you are.

I'm really impressed with the level of detail you're going to and just a range of inferences you are thinking about there.

Well done, guys.

So we're just gonna move forward a little bit and we're just gonna think a little bit about Keats's life.

We'll remember from last time that Keats was medically trained and he cared for his brother as he died of tuberculosis.

And not only that, tragically Keats died of the same illness and knew he was dying of tuberculosis, eventually dying at the age of 25.

He's often seen as one of the great what ifs of English literature of English romanticism and a romantic movement because he died so tragically young.

But we need to maybe consider that and therefore think about what might be unusual about the autumn of Keats's life.

Pause the video now and talk to the person next to you or maybe jot down some ideas.

What do we think is strange about the fact that Keats is reflecting on the autumn of his life at just the age of 23, 24, 25? Pause the video now.

Have that discussion with the person next to you.

Get some ideas down and when you're ready, hit Play.

(no audio) Some lovely ideas there, everyone.

I was just reflecting on it myself and I was thinking about the fact that I remember being 25.

It wasn't that long ago for me and if you told me that that was going to be the autumn of my life, I'd have felt a little bit scared.

It almost feels like, you know, for a modern audience, 25 is that point where maybe you've just gone to university, you're in one of your first jobs, you are experiencing the world anew.

A lot of people talk about that period as being, you know, still early, mid 20s as you are experiencing what it's like to be an adult.

For Keats to be at that age and then be thinking actually, you know, this is the autumn of my life.

May have felt quite harrowing, quite jarring for him.

So maybe just something for us to consider.

So we could look at the autumn of Keats's life as coming much earlier than he would've likely planned for.

Even in the 19th century, dying at 25 was still incredibly young.

So Keats's autumn does come very early for him.

As we know, the autumn of Keats's life would've come much earlier than he had likely planned for.

Keats would've also witnessed autumn of his brother's life.

Do we think that that might have affected him? Might he have made him more accepting of death or less accepting? Why do you think that's the case? After you've discussed that with your partner, I want you to think, how do you think Keats might have felt about his own death before writing this poem? Pause the video, have that discussion.

Maybe jot down some ideas and when you're ready, hit Play.

(no audio) Some really thoughtful, considerate responses now, and I'm really proud of the way that the maturity you are dealing with this.

I think about it again as we maybe have, some of you may have experienced close losses, some of you may have not.

But often when we lose someone, it makes us reflect on our own mortality.

And I guess maybe potentially for Keats, who has lost his brother at, you know, at a relatively young age and would've even helped to look after his brother, would've identified his brother dying of tuberculosis and at that point it would've maybe suggest that actually Keats wasn't necessarily prepared, but he may have had a different outlook on life comparatively to a model audience with just a regular 25-year-old at the time.

And then in terms of how he might have felt about his own death, he may have been reflective and almost, you know, there were different viewpoints at that time.

Maybe there was that sense of, you know, I get to join my brother.

Or even that idea that, you know, he understands there's a natural end point to life.

And as early as that might have been, there's an acceptance.

It's not a joy over it, but there's an acceptance of, you know what, this is the end and therefore not fighting so much against it.

Finally, I want you to consider the question, how do you think Keats might have felt about his own death after writing this poem? Why do you think that's the case? Pause the video.

What purpose do we think that poem, "To Autumn," is trying to play for Keats? How is he maybe using it to process that feeling? Pause the video, have that discussion and when you're ready hit Play.

(no audio) Some lovely ideas again.

So that idea that he's using the poem to comfort himself and reassure himself is a really interesting way of looking at that.

So we're just coming back to that question.

Why do we think Keats presents autumn as a time of abundance? And I'm using that as our practise question for the moment.

So there are a couple of ideas I want you to work with.

You can work with option A that Keats presents autumn as a time of abundance to try and find peace within the prospect of death.

He's suggesting that even though he knows he will die, he can still lead a meaningful life and his life will just be that bit shorter.

Alternatively, you could have a look at Keats presents Autumn's Abundance as a celebration of life.

He's refusing to submit to death, the abundant fruit as a metaphor for Keats's achievements.

The poem is his celebration of his achievements and his fortunes in life, which potentially could outlive him.

What I want you to do is either choose A or B, and I want you to select an idea that you feel most confident with and find evidence from the text to support that idea you have chosen.

Pause the video now you are gonna work through this independently and when you are ready, hit Play and we'll take some feedback.

Remember to use your copies of the poem when you're doing this.

Use either A or B as almost your topic sentences to then choose your supporting details from the rest of the poem.

(no audio) Such sophisticated, thoughtful readers that I'm so impressed by your work ethic and the way that you are all getting into the really minor details, really fine granular ideas of this poem.

Let's take some feedback and improve our work even further.

So a couple of Oak pupils were thinking about what makes great evidence and Alex initially said that great evidence is taken from the poem as a whole.

So we're not just looking at a single part or a single stanza, we're thinking about the whole thing.

And you should have a whole range of evidence from across the entire poem.

Aisha on the other hand, says, "Well great evidence isn't just from across the poem, it's carefully selected.

You don't just pick the first quotation you come across, you think about what the best quotations are." And I think that that is so good.

It's about being judicious, isn't it? It's being really careful in our selections, both Aisha and Alex talking about evidence from across the text, carefully chosen evidence are such important ideas for us to think about and I want you to use their advice, their guidance to check that you have selected the best possible evidence to support your statement.

So again, I'm gonna ask you to pause the video now and just check your work, maybe change colour pen so that you can add anything or edit your details and when you're ready, hit Play.

(no audio) Absolutely fantastic work there everyone.

And I'm so pleased to see the level of detail that we're going into when we're looking at this work.

I'm really impressed by the way that you're all really carefully checking your work back.

Superb.

Let's move on to task B.

So we're now looking at understanding how tone and mood are changed and changing tone and mood over the course of the poem.

So let's first of all discuss what creates the other, tone or mood.

Does tone lead to mood or does mood lead to tone? Pause the video now and try and work out which one you think is correct.

Think maybe back to our keywords right at the start of the lesson because that may help you unlock this concept a little bit quicker.

When you are ready, hit Play.

(no audio) Excellent work there everyone.

So like a little quick explanation, please write this down.

So tone is the way in which the poet expresses their feelings towards the subject matter.

While mood is the atmosphere that is created by the poem.

So if we're thinking about mood, we may want to use, think about it as linked to that idea of atmosphere whilst tone is how the poet expresses their feelings towards the subject matter.

So we're just gonna have a quick check for understanding here.

I want you to complete the gap fill using the words listed below.

So the atmosphere way, are, mood, tone, feelings and is, and you need to use all of the words but you can only use them and some words can be used more than once.

So we're gonna have to be really careful here.

So as you can see there are two sentences that are incomplete.

I'm gonna ask you to pause the video and just complete that gap fill using those words listed, those seven words I believe.

And when you are ready, hit Play.

(no audio) Think some of you may have realised my trick here, there are seven words available, but there are only six gaps.

You won't need to use all the words.

Let's go through and let's see if we've got this right.

So we can say that tone is the way in which the poet expresses their feelings towards the subject matter.

And mood is the atmosphere that is created by the tones of the word that we didn't need there was, are, but the main thing for us to take away there is the fact that the tone is the way in which poet expresses their feelings and therefore mood is the atmosphere created by that tone.

Make sure to correct anything that you didn't get right there and when you're ready we'll move on.

So we're gonna practise understanding change in tone and mood by reading this line out loud.

I'm not going to read it out loud for you because I don't wanna influence the way that you read it, but when you are reading it, I want you to consider two things, I want you to consider how would you describe the tone you are going to use or you use? And I want you to think about how do you know that tone of voice should be used.

To do this, you may wanna think about first of all the language you use.

You may wanna think about the idea of mists and mellow, but then also that's quite a sharp contrast maybe to the exclamation mark right at the end of the line.

So how does that exclamation mark change the text? Pause the video, practise saying it to your partner or if you even just by yourself practise saying it out loud in a couple of different ways and then just say it out loud a couple of times just in the way that you think it should be done.

Just nail the tone that you're trying to use and I want you to be able to explain why you've done it that way.

Pause the video now, try that out and when you're ready, hit Play.

(no audio) "Season of mists, a mellow fruitfulness." It's quite an over exaggerated tone there, but that's one way that we could have a way of reading it because of the exclamation mark at the end.

See, many of you may have used an optimistic tone just like I have because of the exclamation mark.

The rhythm also guides our voice up at the end of the line creating that optimistic tone.

So my reading of that may have matched a lot of yours, but let's try reading this line out loud in comparison.

Again, I'm not going to read it, just read it to yourself for a second.

Now how is that line going to maybe sound quite different? Try reading out for yourself and see if you can spot a change in your tone.

"Where are the songs of spring? Ay, where are they? Think not of them." So here the question marks are really changing the way that we understand things, aren't they? The fact that there are two rhetorical questions listed and then that, "Think not of them." There's a sense of almost trying to reassure ourselves that idea that we shouldn't be dragged away into getting lost into this nostalgia of what our youth, our spring had been.

So why did your tone of voice change there? Is it similar to what I said? How did you find your tone of voice changing? Pause the video, see if you can have that discussion really working out are there any other language features that really change the way that we read that line in comparison to the first? Pause the video, have that discussion, maybe jot down some notes and when you are ready, hit Play.

(no audio) Some lovely stuff there everyone.

And I'm really impressed with the way that we're thinking about this and just adding to our knowledge and understanding of the poem.

Really impressed with actually how creative and thoughtful you've been in terms of your reading of the poem even with that focus on tone, which is often so difficult, but I've been really impressed by the way that you've been able to begin mastering it.

So here the monosyllabic language, "Where are the songs of spring?" All of this is really, it's monosyllabic, it's one syllable words.

They force us to read the line more slowly, which therefore creates a more solemn and a more serious accepting tone.

So we've just practised identifying and enacting tone here.

Now I want you to reread the full poem out loud.

As you read, I need you to make sure that you read slowly enough to take in every single word and you pay attention to Keats's use of punctuation and you consider the tone of voice you are using for each stanza.

Pause the video now and make sure that as you are reading, you are doing those three things.

Just reading out loud to yourself.

If you're doing this alone, that'll be absolutely fine.

If you're doing this with a couple of other people in the room, maybe a a class in the room, that's absolutely fine.

Just practise reading it ever so quietly out loud to yourself.

Or you may wanna do a choral reading as a group, but you're now practising just focusing on making sure that you're really closely paying attention to that language, Keats's punctuation and the tone of the text.

Pause the video, read the poem and when you're ready hit Play.

(no audio) Some beautiful readings.

I am sure that Keats himself would've read it that way.

Some of you were really nailing and really careful and precise in the way that you were paying attention to his punctuation there, really beautifully read.

How did you find the tone changed throughout that poem? How did you notice that it changed? Identify at least one of those examples of how quick Keats crafted tone in that poem.

Pause the video now, just maybe talk to the person next to you or again, jot down some ideas.

Maybe underline the moment where that tone changes for yourself and when you are ready, hit Play.

(no audio) Wonderful work there everyone.

And I'm really impressed, this is such a difficult part of understanding poetry, but you are all dealing with it so well.

Here's a couple of ideas that we could have a look at when we're thinking about where the poem changes tone.

So Alex noticed that there's a shift in tone on line 15 because of the use of the assonance with soft lifted and the alliteration of, "winnowing wind," creating a softer tone and a tranquil mood.

Aisha spotted a shift in tone on the very last line.

The volume of her voice lowered to a hushed tone at this point to a peaceful but sombre mood.

I think that's ever so thoughtful there from Aisha because actually what we're really starting to see is the fact that that last line, getting to that sombreness, that peacefulness again really gets to the idea that it's a really serious poem that is maybe not joy but there's a contentedness to be found within the poem.

But there's an understanding of something passing.

You may have found that similar ideas, but notice here how both of them have picked out a particular line and then being able to link it to specific language choices.

Pause the video now, have that, have a go for yourself at doing the same thing.

And when you're ready, hit Play.

(no audio) So now that we've done that, we may just want to pause again and consider why might Keats want to create these tones and moods at these specific moments.

I want you to have a look at both Alex and Aisha's and maybe even your own mood, that, sorry, moment that you identified.

Why do you think Keats wants to create that tone and therefore that mood within the poem? Why would that be so crucial at that particular moment? Pause the video and then when you're ready, hit Play.

(no audio) Some really thoughtful ideas there from everyone.

To go to Aisha's as a specific example.

I think that moment where a more sombre mood is created is really done to actually accentuate the fact that this is a reflective poem.

There's a sense of acceptance there by this point.

And Keats is always trying to reassure himself, reassure his reader that actually this is a natural part of our lives and we have to be able to accept it.

You may have come up with similar ideas or even different ones, that's absolutely fine.

Remember, poetry is an incredibly subjective way of reading and your opinion is as valued as my opinion, all it's a really democratic way of reading.

Just so long as we can evidence those ideas, that's absolutely fine.

We're gonna practise our understanding of changing tone and mood within the poem by having a look at what Aisha, one of our Oak people, said.

So Aisha said, "Because of the change in tone, I really can't work out whether I think that this is a happy or sad poem and I want you to discuss this.

You may do this with your parents, you may wanna just down some notes, but I want you to think about using everything that we've learned about the poem and all the discussions that we've had, I want you to give your opinion on Aisha's statement.

I want you to make sure you use context to justify that opinion, though.

That means you have to consider the circumstances in which the text was produced.

So what we already know about Keats about having died at the age of 25, having suffered with tuberculosis and having nursed his brother through tuberculosis as he was passing as well.

Why would that be so important in understanding our way of reading the poem and understanding its tone? Take that second now to complete this task.

Pause the video, give yourself some really good thinking time and when you are ready, hit Play.

(no audio) A really thoughtful range of ideas from everyone.

Again, I'm so, so pleased with the way you've been doing this.

We're gonna take some feedback and see if we can extend your already marvellous thinking further.

So Andeep's response to Aisha's statement was that he said, "I can see why Aisha's uncertain.

On balance, though, I feel that this is a deeply sad and sombre poem because Keats wrote it with a certain knowledge that he would die imminently.

In the poem, Keats seems to yearn for his earlier life, perhaps a life without the worry of tuberculosis or and the death of his brother.

The mournful tone of the last stanza particularly makes me feel as if Keats is mourning the life he might have had.

Perhaps the sad and sombre road is for the life Keats had lived but no longer can live," almost that path not taken, not because it's, you know, the road less travelled, but because it's blocked off, there is a barricade.

Death stands in the way.

What is Andeep arguing here ultimately? And do you think you could add anything to Andeep's argument that might strengthen it any further? Pause the video now and see if you can back it up.

Consider maybe what evidence you may want to include to back up Andeep's way of thinking here, 'cause we've done a lot of work around analysis.

Can we bring that into support that contextual argument? Pause the video and when you're ready, hit Play.

(no audio) Some really diligent and thoughtful thinkers there.

I was so pleased with the way that you were going back to our annotations and really developing your responses to Andeep's response with those to support you.

So I thought that Andeep's argument is that this is a sad and sombre poem because Keats wrote it at the end of his life and he could add a quotation from the poem to support this argument.

There's any number of quotations we could go for, we could go for even that final line with "The swallows twittering," to sort of demonstrate that sombre nature of the poem.

So can you find a quotation with text that Andeep could use to support this argument? Pause the video again, see if you can find anything.

And when you're ready, hit Play.

(no audio) So one other that you could have used is, "In a wailful choir, the small gnats mourn," so much to be said about this, but the idea of the choir that as sort of almost harmonic singing is maybe something to think about.

But then "wailful," and "mourning," these terms that are so drenched in sadness.

There's a real sort of sombre nature to them, which would definitely work to support Andeep's argument and his response to Aisha.

If there's anything you would like to take down from the slide, please do.

And then when you're ready, we're gonna move on.

(no audio) So let's summarise our analysis of "To Autumn." So in the first stanza, Keats describes autumn as being almost fat or ripe with prosperity.

Arguably Keats presents autumn as an abundant season to show that the autumn of a person's life can remain fruitful.

The autumn of Keats's life was much earlier than he had likely planned for.

And Keats therefore shifts tone a few times in the poem as he progresses from feelings of optimism to a sense of nostalgia and then finally feeling acceptance.

I now have to accept that this lesson is over.

Thank you so much for joining me everyone.

I've been so, so impressed with your reading today.

Really diligent and thoughtful thinkers.

I have so enjoyed this lesson with you.

I'm really hoping to work with you again.

And until then, I hope you have a wonderful day.

Bye for now, everyone.

(no audio) (no audio).