Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to today's English lesson, where we're going to be focusing on both the romantic poets, Mary Robinson, and an introduction to her poem The Birth-day.

But before we begin, please make sure that you have something to write with and something to write on.

If you don't have that, please pause the video here and go and grab it.

As always, I'd like to make sure that all distractions were out of the way, so you can fully focus on today's lesson content.

So if you're ready, let's get started.

Let's begin by considering our agenda for today's lesson.

You're going to begin by being introduced to the romantic poet, Mary Robinson, then we're going to consider the differences between the countess and a commoner.

And then finally you will be introduced to Robinson's poem, The Birth-day.

Before we explore it, info next lesson.

So if you're ready, let's get started.

So we're going to begin by considering who was Mary Robinson.

Now, we already know that she was a romantic poet, but let's learn a little bit about her life.

She was called by another poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "A woman of undoubted genius." And I'm sure that you all agree, that's not a bad way to be described by somebody.

So I want you to pause for a second and consider, why may, Samuel Taylor Coleridge another poet, consider Mary Robinson a genius? What do we usually associate with the word genius? Why may Robinson herself be considered a genius? So you're welcome to pause the video here to consider that.

And then I'm going to want to hear your responses.

Great, now you've had some time to consider that.

I want to hear your thoughts.

So after three, I want you to tell me, why Mary Robinson may have been considered a genius? After three, one, two, three, So I'm sure many of us were thinking along the lines of Mary Robinson being extremely clever or extremely intelligent because that's what we often associate with being a genius.

So let's learn a little bit more about her life and try and come to a decision about why Coleridge, so her as a genius.

Here she is, Mary Robinson.

She was born in 1758 and she died in 1800.

She wasn't just a poet, she was also an actress.

And this picture here is actually of her, in the role of Perdita from Shakespeare's, The Winter's Tale.

She was an author, so not only did she write poetry, she also wrote long form novels.

And quite importantly, she was considered to be a celebrity.

Many writers at the time did not actually find fame when they were writing.

For instance, Percy Shelley, wasn't famous for his writing when he was alive, it came post death.

But Mary Robinson was the opposite.

She was very much a celebrity figure.

This was due to her job roles, author, poets, actress, but also due to the many relationships that she had during her lifetime.

She created 14 volumes of poetry during her lifetime.

And two volumes of poetry were produced and published post death.

She supported women's rights, so she was very much a feminist.

She believed that men and women should be treated equally.

And that was definitely something that was not happening during the 18th century when she was writing, we're going to have a little look later at some more details about her life.

And that may be able to tell us, why she was such a strong supporter of women's rights.

Her poetry explores among many other things, the suffering of the lower classes.

And we will see this in her poem, The Birth-day.

Now, during her life, she had many highs and also a number of lows.

She suffered debts.

She suffered illness and despair in her final months.

So I'm sure you can appreciate that Mary Robinson was a very interesting figure, a very interesting, this very figure, and I'm really pleased to be introducing her to you today.

So I said, we're going to dive a little bit deeper into her life and there's loads and loads of different biographical details that I could have picked.

But this one here I think is important in understanding, why she fought for the role of women and also why she was interested, in equality and injustices.

So, Mary Robinson married a gentleman, who said to her that he had a large inheritance.

He had a lot of money behind him.

And so, Mary Robinson believed that she was going to be well cared for by this gentleman whom she had a child with.

Unfortunately, this was not the case she'd been lied to.

He didn't have a lot of money at all.

But even though he didn't have a lot of money, he still spent an awful lot of money.

So, if we don't have money, but we're spending money, we're going to get into debt and that's exactly what happened.

Her husband got into thousands of pounds of debt and so what happened was, he was put somewhere called a debtor's prison.

Yeah, now, Mary Robinson and her child, actually went to go and live with her husband in debtor's prison.

It's important to note that she herself was not sent to prison.

He was the one that owed the money, but she had to go and live with him there, and that is where she wrote many volumes of her poetry that were published during her time, spent living in the prison.

So I wonder whether Mary Robinson became very aware of women's rights at this stage in her life.

She thought that she had found a man to care for her and she trusted him, and she later found out that he had nowhere near the amount of money that he had claimed to have.

And still, he lived a lifestyle that he would not afford it.

And this sent him to prison.

This meant, that she was then, in a vulnerable position herself.

She was not careful and she had a young child to care for also.

And so perhaps she realised that actually, she needed to fight for the rights of women within her poetry.

I also wonder whether her time spent, living with her husband in prison might have realised how life may be for perhaps the poor members of society, are working classes, who have not a lot of money to their name.

So, I think this is probably a very pivotal and important moment in Mary Robinson's life.

Let's move on.

So I'm going to read to you a series of statements and you're going to tell me whether you think they were true or whether you think they were false, okay? So, let's start with this one.

Mary Robinson was writing in the late 18th century.

Is that true, or is that false? After three, one, two, three.

It is, of course, true.

She died in 18OO, so she was writing in the late 18th century.

Robinson wasn't well known during her lifetime.

Is that true, or is that false? After three, one, two, three.

It is, of course false.

Remember at the start I discussed the fact that she was a well known celebrity during her lifetime, not just for her job roles, like being an actress and an author, but for her many romantic relationships.

Robinson fought for the rights of women.

Is that true, or false? After three, one, two, three.

It is, of course true, and perhaps her experience living with her husband in prison made her want to fight for the rights of women.

Robinson herself went to prison, true or false? One, two, three.

It is of course false.

She did not go to prison, but her husband ended up there because he owed a lot of money.

So, Robinson's husband went to prison because he owed a debt, true or false? It is of course true.

And that's why Robinson herself ended up in prison because she was living there with her husband and their child.

Well done, if you've got a number of those, correct.

So we're going to spend the next section of our lesson, composing a beautiful sentence about the poet, Mary Robinson.

And we're going to do this, using the who, the what, the when and the why.

So I want you to tell me, who are we writing about? After three, one, two, three.

Perfect, Mary Robinson.

What was she? After three, one, two, three.

She was a romantic poet, excellent.

When was she writing? Can you remember? After three, one, two, three.

During the late 18th century.

Well done, if you remembered that.

And why was she writing? What messages were she perhaps telling her audiences and her reader in her writing? After three, one, two, three, to promote women's rights and explore the plight of the working classes.

Great, so we've got four key ideas we want to embed into our beautiful sentence.

I want you to pause the video here and have a go at writing your own beautiful sentence, about the poet, Mary Robinson, using this information.

When you're done resume the video.

Great, hopefully you've had time to write your beautiful sentence about the poet, Mary Robinson.

So I would like to hear it.

So after three, please read me your sentence.

One, two, three.

That sounds great.

I'm now going to show you my example of a beautiful sentence about Mary Robinson.

You can use it to check against your writing, or if you are struggling, you can make any edits to your own work.

Let's have a look.

Mary Robinson, a romantic poet, promoted women's rights and explored the plight of the working classes during the late 18th century.

So we've got the name of who were writing about, Mary Robinson.

We've got what she was, a romantic poet.

Well done, if you yourself using a positive there, then we've got why she was writing, to promote women's rights and exploring the plight of the working classes.

And finally, when was she writing? During the late 18th century, excellent.

Let's move on.

So, as I suggested in today's agenda, we're going to be exploring, the differences between a countess and a commoner.

Really, we're going to be looking at the differences between the upper classes and the lower working classes.

So, here we have a symbol for a countess.

Let's just talk through the role of a countess in society and where they would sit in the social standing.

So a countess could be married to a count or an earl, or they could be a countess in their own right.

They might have inherited that title themselves, or they might have married into that title and become a countess.

A countess is the third ranking in the peerage system.

So what that means, is if we think about the top, we've got a Monarch, so our King or our Queen, then under that, we have our Dukes and Duchesses.

So if we think about the UK, we have, for instance, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, which would be Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton, then below, that would be the Counts and Countesses so hopefully you can see that, we've got the Monarch, the King or Queen, we've got the Dukes and Duchesses, and then the Counts and the Countesses.

So, they are symbols of nobility, and they have often inherited wealth due to marrying into a family or due to their family line.

So we need to consider what sort of lifestyle a countess may lead.

She's going to be a member of the upper classes.

And it says here, that she will have inherited wealth and nobility.

So pause the video here and make some notes about a countess and their role in society.

Great, I wonder what kind of ideas you've got, perhaps that they had quite a luxurious lifestyle, perhaps, that they could afford to have lots of material belongings, perhaps that they might have servants and people to look after them in their day to day life.

Let's move on to consider the role of a commoner, in 18th century society.

So, a member of the working classes, a commoner would probably suffer, living in overcrowded living conditions.

This would mean that there would be a lack of hygiene in their living conditions.

And this may lead to early death and disease.

Often, people in the working classes, would have to begin working at a very young age, in order to help their families to survive.

This might mean they lack things that you would deem, the basic necessity and lifestyle today.

Like education, for instance, this is also going to impact the material goods that they have.

They're going to have less food and water and their shelter, their home life is going to be very different, to of an upper class countess.

So pause the video here and make a few notes about the role of a commoner in the 18th century.

I would like you to use your bullet pointed notes, to create a grid, to compare the lives of a countess, a member of the upper classes in 18th century, and a commoner, a member of the working classes in the 18th century.

On the one side, you might want to put countess, upper classes.

And on the other side, you might want to put, commoner, working crosses.

You might then state in the countless side, that she would have a lot of wealth.

Then in the commoner side, a lack of wealth, a lack of money.

In the countess aside, lots of luxuries and material possessions, on a commoner side, a lack of material possessions, basic food, water, and hygiene is lacking.

So when you write an idea for the contest, I want you to oppose that with your idea for a commoner.

So pause the video here and complete your grid and resume when you're finished.

So for the final part of today's lesson, you are going to be introduced to Mary Robinson's poem, Birth-day.

However, we're going to look at the poem in its entirety in more detail in our next lesson.

So let's get started.

On the screen, there are two symbols.

On the left hand side, we have a symbol for the countess and the upper classes.

And on the right hand side, we have a symbol for the commoner and the working classes.

With your knowledge of Mary Robinson, I want you to consider who she might be criticising in her poem, The Birth-day.

Think about the fact that she would fight for the rights of women, but also she wanted to explore the inequalities and injustices that were apparent during the 18th century.

So do you think she was fighting for the rights of the countess and the upper classes, or do you think she was fighting for the rights of the commoner and the working classes? I'd like you to point to the relevant symbol after three.

One, two, three.

Great, hopefully you were pointing over here at the symbol for the countess.

In her poem, Mary Robinson will criticise the role of the upper classes in society.

Now, as we've done before, I think it's really important to explore the title before we read the poem itself.

So, the poem's title is very simply, The Birth-day.

I want you to pause the video here for a moment and note down everything you relate to the phrase birthday.

What does birthday make you think of? And once you've done your bullet pointed list, please resume the video.

Great, let's hear some of your ideas after three, one, two, three.

You sound like you've got lots of similar ideas to me.

Let me talk you through my mind map, of things that I associate with the term birthday.

Excitement, lots of people get excited on their birthday, especially when you're younger, that excitement lessens, as you get older and older, trust me.

Celebrations, a birthday is a day that we celebrate, our birth or a friend's birth or a family's birth.

It's the day they're brought into the world.

So it's definitely a day, that we would want to celebrate because we have a close relationship with them.

On our birthday, we might be surrounded, by our friends and our family, and people that we like and we love.

And finally, I'm sure lots of us associate birthdays with presents, and gifts, and extravagance.

We might have a party on our birthday and we might invite all of our friends and families in order to celebrate the excitement of the day.

So these are all really positive things that we might do on our birthday.

So lets now cast our mind back and consider that we're in the 18th century.

I want you to pause the video here and make some notes.

How may a countess celebrate her birthday in the 18th century? And how may a commoner, a member of the working classes, celebrate their birthday? Pause the video and make some notes, and resume when you're finished.

Great, I want to hear your ideas.

So, firstly, how may a countess, a member of the upper classes celebrate her birthday in the 18th century? After three, one, two, three.

Interesting, I agree with some of those ideas.

I think it would probably be quite extravagant.

There would probably be quite a lot of gifts and luxury, and she'd probably be surrounded by many people.

I wonder whether she'd be surrounded, not just by family and friends, but also by members of society from all different social standings.

Let's think about how a member of the working classes might celebrate their birthday.

I'd like to hear your ideas about how a member of the classes might celebrate their birthday.

So after three, one, two, three, Yeah, I think it would be very different to the countesses birthday, as member of the upper classes, they wouldn't have all the luxuries and the extravagance.

It might just be thankful to be able to spend the day with their family and their friends.

Their birthday is going to be probably a lot less exciting than a member of the upper classes.

So, we've considered the birthday of a countess versus the birthday of commoner.

I want you to imagine how a commoner might react or respond to watching the birthday celebrations of a countess.

How might they feel? Pause the video here and make some notes on how a commoner might feel watching the excitement and the extravagance of the birthday celebrations for a countess and resume the video when you're done.

Okay, I'd like to hear some of your ideas.

So after three, I want you to tell me how a commoner, a member of the working classes might react to the birthday celebrations of an upper class countess.

One, two, three.

I myself think that it would probably be quite a sad occasion for them while they see all of the extravagance, and the excitement, and the luxuries that the upper classes could afford.

It would probably remind them of everything that they don't have.

And I think it's probably quite unlikely, that the countess is a member of the upper classes would share her wealth and her extravagance on that day, don't you? Let's move on.

So, as I said, we're going to explore, The Birth-day Party, the poem in its entirety next lesson but before we do so, I want to introduce you to some key images from the poem.

We've got two images here, on the top, we've got a pair of eyes.

How would you describe those eyes? They're quite stern, aren't they? They look like they're glaring at somebody, perhaps somebody, they don't like, someone they don't trust, someone they don't respect.

However, on the bottom, we've got another pair of eyes, but this time they're closed and there's a tear coming out of them.

Why do you think this person may feel this way? Yeah, they're probably sad.

They're upset, but we don't know why.

These two images, really contrast one another, don't they? The glaring eyes at the top and the sad eyes at the bottom.

Let's look at another set of images.

On the top here, We've got a diamond with a crown on it, perhaps suggesting, wealth,, perhaps an example of jewellery and the material possession, somebody might own.

It's probably a symbol of lots and lots of luxury, isn't it? I know I don't have lots of diamonds at my disposal.

However, on the bottom? We've got a pair of feet, but as you can see, they're bare feet, they have nothing on them.

Wonder what that could represent for the working classes.

They don't have their most basic necessities, do they? So perhaps they don't even have basic necessities like shoes in order to walk about the streets that would really contrast the image above, wouldn't it? The image of the diamond with the crown on, suggests maximum luxury.

However, the bare feet suggests poverty and the lack of material possessions.

Let's have a look at another final image.

On the top here, we have a mouth and it appears to be shouting.

Now, why do we shout? We shout when we're angry, we shout when we're instructing somebody to do something, when we're in control, don't we? We might shout if we think we're really important and we're in authority and we think everyone should be listening to what we're saying.

Now let's have a look at the image on the bottom.

This person looks kind of sad, like they're trying to talk, but there's not a lot coming out of their mouth.

In fact, it looks like, sort of, a sigh, just the breadth of air.

Once again, those two images really contrast one another don't they? We've got the shouting head on the top row, contrasting the sigh on the bottom row.

So hopefully you're starting to see that the poem, Robinson's The Birth-day, is going to be full of contrasting images between rich, upper classes and poor, working classes.

So with all of that in mind, I would like you to complete your final task for today's lesson.

I want you to note down your initial, so your first ideas is about the poem, The Birth-day.

And I know we haven't read it yet.

I just want you to get thinking about what the poem might be about.

You've explored the differences between the upper-class countess and the lower class commoner.

You've explored the poem's title, and you've explored a series of contrasting images that will exist in the poem.

So, what I would like you to do is pause the video here and using your knowledge of the poem and Mary Robinson, make some bullet pointed notes to detail your initial ideas and thoughts about the poem, The Birth-day.

Then next lesson, when we read the poem, you can see whether or not you were correct.

Don't worry, there's no real right or wrong here.

I just want you to get thinking in the mind of Mary Robinson.

Okay, pause the video here to complete your task.

As always thank you for your hard work during today's lesson.

I suggest you review your notes and take away two to three key ideas that you need to move forward with next lesson.

And as always, don't forget to complete the quiz.

See you next time, bye.