Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to today's lesson, where we're going to be focusing on William Blake and the Industrial Revolution.

Now, before you begin, please make sure that you've got something to write with and something to write on.

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

Make sure that you've got no distractions in your way.

So mobile phones to the side and messaging apps off.

And if you're ready, let's begin.

Let's look at the agenda for today's lesson.

I'm going to begin by introducing you to the poet, William Blake.

Then we're going to move forward with some key vocabulary, the word revolution, before considering what was the Industrial Revolution.

Finally, we're going to consider, how did Blake himself respond to the Industrial Revolution? Now don't worry if there are some terms here that you don't recognise.

It's my job to introduce them to you during today's lesson.

Let's get on with it.

So here is Mr. William Blake.

William Blake was a London-based poet.

He was born in 1757 and he died in 1827.

Blake was a Romantic poet.

His poems often explored the idea or the theme of revolution.

More specifically, the effects, the consequences of the Industrial Revolution.

Now what's most important here to note is that Blake was a Romantic poet.

And that should be a term that you're familiar with.

So let's test your knowledge on the next slide.

I want you to answer the following question.

What key idea is explored in Romantic poetry? Is it option number one, a love of animals? Option number two, a love a food? Option number three, a love of nature? Or option number four, a love of people? You're welcome to pause your screen as you consider your answer to this question.

Hopefully you you've had some time to consider your answer, and I want to to hear it.

So after three, tell me your answer to the question, what key idea is explored in Romantic poetry? After three: one, two, three.

Thank you.

Let's see if you got that correct.

So the correct answer is indeed option number three, a love of nature.

A love of nature and a respect for the natural world is a key idea that is explored in Romantic poetry.

Notably, that of William Blake.

There are another number of key ideas explored in Romantic Poetry.

Those include the idea of escapism, the importance of emotion, and a quest for something greater; a quest for freedom.

So let's look at our key vocabulary for today's lesson.

That is the word revolution.

And the definition for the word revolution is as follows.

A forcible overthrow of a ruler or government to create change.

Let's read that again.

It would be great if you would read along with me.

Revolution, a forcible overthrow of a ruler or government to create change.

Now we know what the word revolution means.

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

Number one, they wanted change, so they planned a revolution.

Number two, will the revolution solve all our problems? Number three, the revolution changed the world for the better.

Hopefully, you can see here that the idea of a revolution is linked to change.

The consequences of a revolution is change in some way shape or form, depending on what the person or persons are revolting against.

So let's check our knowledge of that key term revolution.

I would like you to pause the screen here and fill in the missing gaps in this definition of revelation.

You can pause the video now.

Now you've had some time to write out the key term, revolution, and fill in those missing gaps.

Let's check your answer.

I want to hear your answer after three.

One, two, three.

Great.

Let's check whether you got that correct.

A revolution is a forcible overthrow of a ruler or government to create change.

Did you get that correct? Well done.

Don't worry if you didn't.

You can pause the video now and edit your work accordingly.

Let's move on.

Let's check your knowledge of that key term revolution.

I want you to answer which of the following sentences uses the word revolution correctly.

Is it number one? She wanted to change the world, so she started a revolution.

Number two, I want to revolution my chosen subject.

Number three, the revolution created a fairer society.

I want you to pause the video here and consider which of the following sentences or sentence uses the word revolution correctly.

Now you've had some time to consider your answer, I want to hear it.

So after three, read to me the sentence or sentences that use the word revolution correctly.

One, two, three.

That's great.

Let's check whether you got it correct or not.

So as you can see, sentence number one and sentence number three, both use the word revolution correctly.

Let's talk through these.

Sentence number one suggests that she wanted to change the world as a consequence of starting a revolution.

Number two, we can see in the sentence, I want to revolution my chosen subject, that this person has clearly connected the idea of a revolution creating change.

But instead they substituted the word change for revolution.

Remember, a change comes as a consequence of a revolution.

It doesn't mean change in itself.

And finally, number three, the revolution created a fairer society.

So in this sentence, we can see the consequences of a revolution.

It created, it changed the world to create a fairer society.

And finally, I want to test your knowledge of the term revolution one more time.

I would like you to pause the video and write a sentence that use the word revolution accurately.

Accurately simply means correctly.

So pause the video here and write me one sentence that uses the word revolution accurately.

Thanks for that.

As always, I want to hear your answer.

So after three, read me your sentence nice and loud and confident.

One, two, three.

Great.

Thanks for that.

Let's move on.

I now want you to consider the two pictures on the screen below.

On the left hand side, we have a picture of a city in the 1750s.

And on the right hand side, we have a picture of a city post 1830.

Post very simply means after.

You're welcome to pause the screen now, and really look at these pictures closely to consider what are the main differences between them.

Now you've had some time to consider both of the pictures, I want to hear what the main differences are.

So as always, after three, tell me what are the differences you've spotted between the two pictures below.

One, two, three.

Thank you for that.

I'm really, really hoping that you spotted one of the main differences is that in the picture on the right hand side, post 1830, there is a lot of built-up land.

Whereas in the picture on the 1750s, there is a lot of untouched land and nature.

You can see in the picture from post 1830 that there is also a lot of smoke, a lot of pollution in the air.

And that is because a number of large scale factories have been built.

So I want you to consider why and when was this change? The Industrial Revolution.

The picture to the right shows how cities changed as a result of the Industrial Revolution.

And this was happening all across Europe.

It was a time where large and rapid changes were made to production.

And production simply means how goods, things were being created.

Products were being made in large quantities by factories and machines.

So really the Industrial Revolution was a time of great change, both culturally and physically.

Now as with anything, there were both positives and negatives associated with the Industrial Revolution.

Let's start by covering those positives.

As previously stated, products and goods were being made in large quantities by these built-up factories.

And that made sure that they were also being created at a much faster speed.

Because more products were being created at a much faster speed, that meant that those products became more affordable, more affordable, sorry, for people.

I'm sure you will understand that that's a great positive.

However, there were also a number of negatives.

One of those was definitely the widespread pollution as you can see in this picture.

There were also effects to the living and working conditions as people became more cramped.

The population grew and grew and grew as people flocked to the cities for the job opportunities that existed there.

Unfortunately, those people had low wages.

The Industrial Revolution also saw a rise in child labour.

Children were working from a very young age for very long hours.

They were being used.

They were being exploited.

Many people saw the Industrial Revolution as a form of entrapment, they felt trapped in these big cities.

The cities were where the opportunities and job opportunities lived.

They had to go there and try to survive.

So let's consider how Blake may have responded to the Industrial Revolution.

I want you to take a moment to consider how Blake felt about the Industrial Revolution.

Now remember Blake was a Romantic poet, with a love and respect for nature and the natural world.

How might he have felt about the consequences of the Industrial Revolution? How that changed the landscape of the world, and how it affected people in their day-to-day lives? I don't want you to consider why he might have felt this way.

I suggest you begin by considering whether Blake would have felt positively about the Industrial Revolution or negatively about the Industrial Revolution.

Once you've decided that, consider exactly why he may have felt that way.

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

Hopefully, you've had some time to consider your response to this question.

Let's look exactly how Blake did feel about the Industrial Revolution.

Blake saw it as evil, strong and cold.

Blake even compared the Industrial Revolution to the devil.

He hated that it forced children to work.

He thought that people were trapped in the Industrial Revolution with no escape.

He believed that society was unaware of nature's power and purity.

By engaging in the Industrial Revolution, they neglected their more spiritual side.

So hopefully you've understood that Blake had an overwhelmingly negative outlook on the Industrial Revolution.

Let's put these views into practise.

If you would like to pause the video here and note down some of these key bullet points, then you're welcome to.

Now we're going to consider exactly how Blake felt about the Industrial Revolution, and get some ideas down on our page.

We're going to do this through a sentence expansion activity.

I'm going to talk you through the activity.

You're going to have a go at doing the activity.

And then we're going to look at some good examples.

Number one, Blake saw the Industrial Revolution as evil because.

When you finish this sentence, you need to consider why he thought the Industrial Revolution was evil.

What were some of the more negative consequences of the Industrial Revolution? Number two, Blake saw the Industrial Revolution as evil, but.

In order to finish this sentence, you need to consider some of the more positive outcomes of the Industrial Revolution.

And number three, Blake saw the Industrial Revolution is evil, so.

In order to finish this sentence, you need to consider how he responded to his feelings towards the Industrial Revolution.

I'd now like you to pause this screen and have a go at finishing each of the three sentences.

Make sure that you're writing those out in full, and that they're starting with a capital letter and end with a full stop.

Off you go.

Now you've had some time to finish off those sentences, I want to hear them.

So after three, I want to hear your response to sentence number one.

One, two, three.

Great, now I want to hear your response to question number two.

One, two, three.

Thanks for that.

And finally, your response to number three.

One, two, three.

Thank you.

Let's look at some good examples of sentence expansion for each of the following.

Number one, an acceptable answer would be, Blake saw the Industrial Revolution as evil because it forced children to work.

That was one of the bad, the negative consequences of the Industrial Revolution.

However, we could definitely make this better.

Our good answer reads, Blake saw the Industrial Revolution as evil because it resulted in many children being exploited as they were trapped and had no escape.

This person uses exactly the same idea, but they use the high-level vocabulary and word exploited.

This suggests that the children were used by people in a more powerful, authority, and position than they were.

They also make their answer more detailed by adding that they were trapped and that they had no escape.

If you'd like to, you can pause the video here and make some edits to your own sentence expansion.

Now let's move forward with sentence expansion, number two.

Blake saw the Industrial Revolution as evil, but it made many products at a quicker rate.

So that was one of the positive outcomes of the Industrial Revolution.

The speed at which produce was being created.

Let's have a look at our good answer.

Blake saw the Industrial Revolution as evil, but it was important for our economic growth as it made increased numbers of products at a more rapid pace.

So this person has picked up on exactly the same idea, but they've just added a bit more detail.

They have said that it made increased numbers as well as at a faster pace.

They also use high-level vocabulary; economic growth means monetary growth, increased, and also the use of rapid rather than quicker.

Once again, you're more than welcome to pause the video here and make edits to your own sentence expansion.

Let's move on to sentence expansion three.

Blake saw the Industrial Revolution as evil.

so he wrote about it.

That's true.

As a consequence of his feelings towards the Industrial Revolution, Blake decided to write about it in the form of poetry.

Let's look at our good answer.

Blake saw the Industrial Revolution as evil, so as a Romantic poet, he turned to literature in order to express his feelings in a bit to educate society.

Now this person once again has used exactly the same idea, but they've added in the information that Blake was a Romantic poet.

In addition, they have added his intention, his purpose for writing, which may have been to educate society on some of the more negative outcomes of the Industrial Revolution.

You're now welcome to pause the video and make edits to your own sentence expansion for number three.

Great.

Let's move on.

Here is your final task for today's lesson.

I would like you to answer, how did Blake feel about the Industrial Revolution? Your answer needs to be in the form of one beautiful sentence.

By beautiful, I mean it needs to be detailed and use as far as possible high-level vocabulary.

You're more than welcome to use your sentence expansion and any other notes you've made during today's lesson to write your beautiful sentence.

I now want you to pause the video here and write for me your beautiful sentence to answer how did Blake feel about the Industrial Revolution? Of you go.

Great.

And as always, I want to hear your answer.

So after three, read your sentence to me.

One, two, three.

Excellent.

Thank you very much.

One final check, did you start with a capital letter, and end with the full stop? If you didn't, you need to make that change now.

That brings us to the end of today's English lesson.

Thank you and a big well done for all of your hard work and engagement.

I suggest you have a look over your notes for today, and you identify three of the most important things that you've learned to take forward.

Thank you very much, and enjoy the rest of your learning today.

You can share your work with Oak National.

If you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

I now ask that you move forward and complete the end of lesson quiz.