Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to today's English lesson, where we are going to be focusing on the life and times of the Romantic poet, Percy Shelley, before exploring his response to the Peterloo Massacre.

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

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

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

If you're all sorted, let's begin.

Before we begin and look at today's agenda, I want you to consider a world where you have no voice.

Your mouth is metaphorically taped up.

You can speak, but no one listens to you.

You're not given the right to your opinions.

Imagine this world.

And how would you feel? How would you respond to this situation? Would you try and speak up or would you just let your life go by without ever having the chance to have a voice in your society? Think about that.

So we're going to start by considering our agenda for today's lesson.

We're going to start with a brief review of the Romantic period, before moving on to consider the life of the poet, Percy Shelley.

Then we're going to look at the key historical event of the Peterloo Massacre, before finishing our lesson by considering Shelley's own response to the Peterloo Massacre.

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

On your screen, you will see three sentences.

However, each of these expresses an incorrect idea about the Romantic period.

Your task is to copy out each of the three sentences.

And as you do so, you need to change and correct the incorrect information, so that it reads correctly.

I would like you to complete that task now.

Great.

Let's see what you got in response to my own answers.

Number one.

The Romantics often wrote about their love of nature, not about love in a romantic sense.

The Romantics supported ideas of revolution.

They were for change in our society, because the Romantics believed in equality.

Did you get those correct? If so, well done.

If you didn't, don't worry.

You can always pause the video here and make any necessary edits to your own work.

Now we're going to focus on the life of Percy Shelley.

Just like William Blake, Shelley was a Romantic poet.

He was born in 1792 and he died only 30 years later, in 1822.

So he had a very short life, but he packed a lot into it.

And he really made his stamp on the world of literature.

Percy was considered a radical and dangerous poet.

He was considered radical because he supported ideas of change and revolution in society.

He was behind changing many aspects of society that people wanted to remain untouched.

He was against all forms of violence and that dramatically contrasted the political landscape that he found himself in at the time.

He was passionate about social justice, and so he hated any forms of injustice and inequality.

And that is often what he campaigned about.

He was for freedom, freedom of expression and freedom from oppression, especially for the working classes.

You're welcome to pause the video here and review these notes on Percy Shelley, before we go on to test our knowledge.

Right.

So, let's test what we've learned already today about Percy Shelley.

On the screen, I will present with you a series of statements and all you need to do is respond with whether you think they are true, or where do you think they are false.

So, let's get started.

Shelley agreed with violence.

True or false? One, two, three.

Let's check.

It is of course, false.

He was against all forms of violence and that contrasted the political landscape of the time.

Let's try the next one.

Shelley wrote during the early 18th century.

True or false? One, two, three.

It is of course, false.

Shelley lived a short life.

True or false? One, two, three.

It is of course, true.

He died at the young age of 30.

Shelley believed in inequality.

True or false? One, two, three.

It is of course, false.

He was against inequality and injustice and he campaigned for equality.

Shelley believed in freedom.

True or false? One, two, three.

It is of course, true.

He believed in freedom and for people to break free of inequalities and injustices that they might have suffered due to their class, their position in society.

Now, with the knowledge that we have about the poet, Percy Shelley, we are going to write one beautiful sentence to describe him.

Let's see how we can do that.

So if I were to ask you to write me a sentence about the poet, Percy Shelley, you might write a very simple sentence like this.

He was a Romantic poet.

And while that is correct, I'm sure that we can make that even better, because this person has started with 'He'.

Well, if I didn't know that we were learning about the Romantic poet, Percy Shelley, then I wouldn't know who the 'He' refers to.

We've put that he's a Romantic poet and that's excellent, but I think we can consider some extra information in our sentence.

So we are going to break that down by considering the following.

Who was writing? What were they? When were they writing? And why were they writing? And that put together is going to make us one beautiful sentence.

So let's go through the what, the who, the when, and the why together.

So, who are we writing about in this sentence? After three.

One, two, three.

Nice and easy.

Percy Shelley.

Now what was Percy Shelley? One, two, three.

Hopefully you got that.

He was a Romantic poet.

Now let's look at the additional information we can add to our beautiful sentence.

When was he writing? One, two, three.

He was writing during the early 19th century.

He was born in the late 18th.

So that would have seen him penning many of his works in the early 19th.

And finally, why was he writing? I want to hear your ideas after three.

One, two, three.

Great.

Did you get something like this? To promote equality and freedom through revolution.

Now, we've got one of these ideas, but how do we put them together? Well, here is an example.

Percy Shelley, a Romantic poet, promoted equality and freedom through revolution during the early 19th century.

You can see we've substituted our 'He' for the poet's name, Percy Shelley.

We've then used an appositive, and well done if you spotted that yourself, to suggest that he was a Romantic poet.

Then rather than finish our sentence there, we've continued by saying, why he was writing, to promote equality and freedom through revolution.

And finally, we've added on the extra piece of information about when he was writing.

So, I would now like you to pause the video here and have a go at writing your own beautiful sentence to describe the poet, Percy Shelley.

I understand that some of you might've had some other ideas.

You might have used the words, injustices and inequality in your 'who, what, when and why.

' And so you can add those into your own beautiful sentence.

So pause the video here and complete that task and resume when you're finished.

So, we're now going to continue today's lesson by considering the Peterloo Massacre, an important event in history that many people are completely unaware of.

Percy Shelley wrote a poem in response to a historical event called 'The Peterloo Massacre'.

The massacre itself was a consequence of two themes explored in many Romantic works.

And here are our symbols for our themes.

Can you remember what each of these symbols represents? I want to hear after three, what theme is represented by the symbol on the left.

One, two, three.

Okay.

Let's check.

It is of course oppression.

Well done if you got that.

Now, can you remember what theme is represented by the symbol on the right? After three.

One, two, three.

Great.

Let's see if you were correct.

It is of course revolution.

So the massacre, the Peterloo Massacre, was a consequence of two key themes explored in many Romantic works and they were the oppression of the working classes and revolution for change.

Before we look specifically at the events of the Peterloo Massacre, we need to be comfortable with what the word massacre means.

A massacre is the violent and cruel killing of a large number of people.

Let's look at how we can use that in a sentence.

They ordered the massacre of a thousand innocent people.

Many people were lost in the massacre.

The cruel massacre solved nothing.

So let's read that definition of massacre again.

And this time I want you to read with me.

A massacre is the violent and cruel killing of a large number of people.

I want you to pause the video here and fill in the gaps to define the word massacre.

Resume the video when you are done.

Let's check your answer.

A massacre is the violent and cruel killing of a large number of people.

Well done if you got that correct.

Don't worry if you didn't, you can pause the video here and make any necessary edits.

On the screen, you will see an interpretation of the events that occurred at the Peterloo Massacre.

I want you to observe this picture in front of you, and I want you to write down three words or phrases that you might use to describe the scene that you can see.

Look at what is happening.

Look at the people on the ground below, the people above, what are they riding? What are they holding? There's blood.

Why might that be? What might be the consequences of this scene on your screen? So pause the video and write me three words or phrases to describe the scene on your screen.

When you're done resume the video.

And we will look exactly what the Peterloo Massacre was and why it happened.

So what was the Peterloo Massacre? Approximately 15 people were killed and many hundreds of people were injured.

When? Well it occurred on the 16th of August, 1819, when Shelley was writing.

Where did it happen? It took place at St.

Peter's Field in Manchester.

But the big question is why.

Well, let's go back to our picture and talk through the events of the Peterloo Massacre.

On this fateful day in 1819, over 50,000 members of the working and middle classes gathered together to peacefully protest.

They believed that the parliamentary system at the time was unfair and unrepresentative.

They felt that they did not have a voice in their society.

Their current government believed that if you did not own a large amount of property or a large amount of land, you did not deserve the right to vote.

And these members of the middle and working classes thought this was extremely unfair.

They were, very simply, a group of peaceful protestors who were there to use their voice, a voice that was not listened to, a voice that held no rights, and they wanted to claim the vote.

They wanted to have a voice in their society.

However, the authorities did not agree.

They did not believe that a group of middle and working class people would be able to gather in the numbers that they did without any violence occurring.

And so, just as Henry Hunt stood to speak to the crowds, everything changed.

The authorities instructed that the peaceful protesters should be arrested.

They sent in the untrained yeomanry on horseback, many of whom had been drinking alcohol in order to break up the crowd, The yeomanry got stuck in the crowds and they became violent through their use of sabres.

As a consequence, approximately 15 people were killed and many hundreds were injured.

Remember, this happened as a consequence of the working and middle classes wishing for a voice in their society.

They were not felt to be important enough to have a vote and have a say in their life and how their society ran.

They gathered simply to peacefully protest.

It resulted in death and injury.

This was unfair.

Shelley believed this was unfair.

The Peterloo Massacre explores the oppression of the working classes.

It explores revolution as the peaceful protest wanted a change in society.

It wanted to give the working middle classes a right to vote, a right for their voices to be heard.

So let's test our knowledge of the Peterloo Massacre.

As with last time, I want you to give me a thumbs up, if you think it's true, or a thumbs down, if you think it's false.

The massacre happened in 1829.

True or false? One, two, three.

It was of course false.

It happened 10 years previous.

The massacre took place in Manchester.

True or false? One, two, three.

Was of course true.

Well done if you got that correct.

The massacre reflected the mistreatment of the working classes.

True or false? One, two, three.

Was of course true.

Mistreatment of the working classes, firstly, for not giving them a right to vote, and secondly, through violently reacting to their peaceful protest.

No one died, but some people were hurt.

True or false? One, two, three.

It was of course false.

Approximately 15 people were killed.

15 innocent peaceful protesters.

The purpose of the protest was to give the working classes the right to vote.

Is that true or false? One, two, three.

Let's check.

It was of course, true.

The working classes were not given the right to vote.

So now we're going to consider Shelley's response to the Peterloo Massacre.

We are going to imagine that Percy Shelley receives news that the Peterloo Massacre has happened.

How would he feel? What emotions would be evoked in him? So your task is to pause the video and complete the following.

I want you to answer for me, how would Shelley feel about the Peterloo Massacre? I want you to consider the following ideas.

Shelley was a Romantic poet who hated violence and inequality.

How might he have felt about the violent offence that occurred at the Peterloo Massacre? And why might he have felt this way? Please pause the video here and have a go at answering this question.

When you're done, please resume.

Great.

Let's see what you've got.

After three, I want you to tell me your answer to the question, how would Shelley feel about the Peterloo Massacre? After three.

One, two, three.

Great, well done.

If you struggled at all, let's check our answers on the next slide.

So an acceptable answer might look something like this.

He would have hated it because it was violent.

Well, that's correct.

He was against violence of any shape or form.

And that contrasted the political landscape at the time.

However, this person has used 'He' and they have not introduced who they are speaking about.

Similarly, they could make their sentence even more detailed.

Let's look at an example of a really good answer to the question.

Shelley, a Romantic poet, hated violence and inequality.

Great.

They've introduced who they're talking about.

They've used an appositive to suggest they were a Romantic poet, and they have noted that he hated violence and inequality.

But they've gone that step further by linking specifically to the Peterloo Massacre.

The Peterloo Massacre, reflected the oppression of the working classes, which Shelley would have wholly disagreed with.

Hopefully you can see how the good answer is more detailed and it talks specifically about Shelley, rather than using 'He'.

You are welcome to pause the video here and make any edits to your own work that you see necessary.

Well done for all of your hard work during this lesson.

I would suggest you review your notes and take two to three key ideas to move forward with ahead of next lesson.

Please don't forget to complete the end of lesson quiz and I'll see you next time.

Bye.