Lesson video

Hello everyone, and welcome to session five on the poetry of Elizabeth Barrett-Browning.

It's so good to have you with us today, and I hope that the session is going to be a really good one for you, its a chance for you to show off what you've learned and to write some really good paragraphs.

So, get ready to go, it's good to have you with us.

For this lesson, you will need your exercise book, or some paper, you will need your pen, some pencils, and you also want to make sure that you really are focused.

So you're going to get rid of all distractions that might get in the way of the time we spend together.

So press pause, take a couple of minutes to get what you need, but also to clear away any distractions so that you can be ready to go.

See you in two.

In every session we started by reminding ourselves what we already know.

And session five is no exception.

We're going to start by reminding ourselves what we know about her life and about Sonnet 14.

So in session one, we learned that Barret Browning was one of eleven children.

We learned that she believed in freedom, which is why she disagreed with her father about owning slaves.

We learned that she believed in women's' rights.

That she struggled with self-confidence because she suffered from chronic illness and she often battled with pain.

In session two, we learned how her inner conflict and her uncertainty that grew after this battle with chronic illness and pain led to her being conflicted about having a relationship with Robert Browning.

And how this is reflected in sonnet 14.

In session three, we looked at the power of her language in sonnet 14.

And how she used personification and metaphor to explore her uncertainties about being in love.

In session four, we looked at the structure of the sonnet.

We looked at all the building blocks of structure and how the way in which she structured the poem, reflected her belief that she needed to control her emotions because of her uncertainty.

But that she also wanted her love for Browning to last forever.

So what's next? Well, It's time to write.

But before we do that, lets read the poem together one last time.

If thou must love me, let it be for nought Except for love's sake only.

Do not say, "I love her for her smile- her look her way of speaking gently, for a trick of thought That falls in well with mine, and certes brought A sense of pleasant ease on such a day"- For these things in themselves, Belovèd, may Be changed, or change for thee-and love, so wrought, May be unwrought so.

Neither love me for Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry A creature might forget to weep, who bore Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby! But love me for love's sake, that evermore Thou mayst love on, through love's eternity.

So the first thing we're going to write about is about how Browning uses language in sonnet.

So in section three we focused on two quotations.

The first quotation was about pity and how she personified pity as a person who is drying her tears because she was focusing on whether or not Browning was controlled by pity or by love.

We also looked at this quotation, in which Barret Browning compared herself first to a creature, presenting herself as weak, maybe more as a pet something to be looked after and petted than as a real, strong individual.

And she reflected on her concern that if she wasn't weak, he wouldn't love her because it was a weak woman he wanted rather than the strong woman that she was.

So we know about language, we've looked at it in session three.

The big question for today of course, is how to we write a good paragraph about language? Well, a good paragraph has three key ingredients.

It needs to have a topic sentence, it needs to have supporting details, and it needs a concluding sentence.

So let's have a look at those three ingredients in a little bit more detail.

A good topic sentence is a sentence that clearly outlines what you're going to be arguing in your paragraph.

But of course, you can't just give your topic sentence, you need to support it with evidence from the poem itself.

And that's where your supporting details come in.

Because your supporting details come from your evidence from the poem that you can use to back up your argument.

And then finally, to end your paragraph, you need a concluding sentence.

And in your concluding sentence, it's often a good place to state why you think Barret Browning might have done what you've argued she's done.

For example, using what we know about Barret Browning.

Why she might have wanted to present a particular view of love or to challenge what she thought Browning's views were.

So remember, three key ingredients in the paragraph.

A topic sentence, supporting details, and a concluding sentence.

And we're going to take it step by step in building these paragraphs.

The first thing we're going to have a look at is what a framework for a paragraph about language might look like.

So you have a topic sentence and I've given you a topic sentence that you might be able to use.

In Sonnet 14 Barret Browning using imagery to suggest that some versions of love present women as weak.

So we know, that in our supporting details we want to focus on evidence from the poem that would present women as weak.

So our first supporting detail might link to the idea of pity.

Pity is wiping my cheeks dry.

We mentioned that its personifications and we've mentioned that she's focusing on how powerful pity is.

And that it seems to suggest that she's weak.

And it seems to focus on what she needs.

A second supporting detail might be the idea of a creature that weeps.

Which would suggest that she is a weak pet rather than a strong woman.

And then the third bit of supporting detail might be the idea of loosing his love if she's strong.

Which would suggest that this feeling for her are based on her weakness.

And then we'd need a good concluding sentence.

Perhaps Barret Browning portrayed love in this way because she was worried about something.

So let's have a look, shall we, at how this might look if we turn it into four sentence.

So we have our topic sentence, Barret Browning uses imagery to suggest that some versions of love present women as weak.

And use an example of how we could take those supporting details that we have in our framework and turn it into a full sentence.

And what I've done is I've tried to to show you the difference, the way we've added detail it's in black font, and the bits in purple are the bits that come straight from out framework.

So in the frame work pity;s wiping my cheeks dry personification pity is powerful she's weak she has needs.

So when we turn that into a sentence, it might look like she speaks about pity is wiping my cheeks dry.

She uses personification to suggest that his pity is powerful, but also that she's weak and needs his pity.

So what I'd like you to do now, is I'd like you to have a go at writing your own paragraph.

So I've given you the whole framework for the paragraph And what I'd like you to do is to pause the video and write your paragraph and then press play when you're ready to check your work.

Welcome back.

So here is an idea of what you could've written.

Now remember, your paragraph doesn't have to look exactly like mine.

But it does need to have all the ideas that come from the framework.

So take some time, pause the video, read what this paragraph looks like, and compare it to yours.

And see if you've included all the important information.

And when you're ready, press play to continue.

Now in session four of course, we looked at this structure wall.

And we looked at the fact that there were four things about structure that we could use, if we wanted to write about the poem.

We could talk about the fact that it was a sonnet, it's written in iambic pentameter, with a very controlled rhyme scheme.

Or we could talk about the Volta.

The turning point in the sonnet which is in an unusual place because it is on line 13.

Or we could talk about Barret Browning's use of enjambment.

The way lines run on into each other, particularly on lines 13 and 14.

So, if these are our building blocks, how do we write about structure? Well, the good news is that a paragraph about structure works on exactly the same principal as a paragraph about language.

It has three key ingredients.

A topic sentence, supporting details, and a concluding sentence.

So what I'd like you to do is to press pause and then to copy this framework into your exercise book notice I've left some space around each one, because you're going to be adding some details as we go along.

So press pause to copy this in your book and when you're ready, press play to continue.

So lets look at what a topic sentence might look like in a paragraph about structure.

And here's an example that you could use.

A topic sentence in sonnet 14 Barret Browning uses structure to show that she is trying to control her emotions, but wants love to last forever.

So what I'd like you to do is to add this topic sentence to your framework so press pause, add the topic sentence and when you're ready, press play to resume.

Our next step is going to be finding some supporting details and the good news is we have all the supporting details we need in our structure wall.

So we can find enough information from our structure wall to get all the supporting details we need.

So for example, we might want to write about iambic pentameter and rhyme scheme.

So our notes would go into our framework and this is what they might look like so what I'd like you to do is to copy these into your book.

But I'd also like you to add the rest of the supporting details.

So you need one more for middle, maybe you could write some notes on Volta and one more for the end maybe on enjambment.

So pause the video, copy this opening into your book and then add a middle supporting detail and an end supporting detail and when you're ready, press play to continue.

So, what is good to do at this point, because you're going to be writing your own paragraph in a few minutes is to just check that you've got everything you need.

So you may want to pause the video here read through what you've written, make sure that you've got a really good framework for when its time to write your paragraph.

And when you're ready, press play.

Welcome back.

And now its time for your final writing task for this unit.

You're going to write a paragraph on the structure of Sonnet 14.

Now don't worry, you've got everything you need in your framework.

And all you need to do is turn that framework into a really good paragraph, remembering the key ingredients are topic sentence, supporting details, and concluding sentence.

So pause the video to complete your task and press play to resume once you're finished.

And here's an example of what you could have written.

In Sonnet 14 Barrett-Browning uses structure to show that she is trying to control her emotions but wants love to last forever.

And there's our topic sentence.

So, our supporting details.

In this Petrarchan sonnet, she uses the tight structure of the sonnet including the iambic pentameter metre and the rhyme scheme to control her different emotions because she wants to be sure that he loves her for the right reasons.

The Volta is in an unusual place for the Petrarchan sonnet because she uses the Shakespearean model of summing up your ideas in the final two lines.

The use of enjambment in the poem, especially in the last two lines, suggests that she is thinking of a love which will flow freely forever.

So, our supporting details.

And now our concluding sentence.

Perhaps Barrett-Browning portrayed love in this way because she wanted to be sure about why he loved her but she did want their love to last forever.

So now, for the last time could you press pause, check what you've written, and when you ready, press play to resume.

Thank you for joining me for these five session on the life of Elizabeth Barrett-Browning and on her poems, in particular, Sonnet 14.

I've thoroughly enjoyed the time that we've spent together and I hope that you have too.