Hello, and welcome to today's lesson.

This is the second in our gothic poetry unit, and in today's lesson, we are going to be looking at "The Raven" in a lot more detail.

Let's get started.

So by the end of today's lesson, you will be able to identify and explain the symbolism that Poe uses in "The Raven." We're gonna start with the keywords.

They are symbolism, turbulent, entreat, myth, and melancholy.

Definitions of the keywords are going to appear one by one on the board.

Now, as we go through the lesson, I'd like you to use these words as often as possible as you talk and write about "The Raven." So let's look at the outline of today's lesson.

We are going to start by learning about symbolism, and then we're gonna look at how Poe uses symbolism in his creation of "The Raven" and in his creation of the setting of the poem.

So what is symbolism? Essentially, it's a sign.

It can be a picture.

Here's an example.

Here's a picture of a heart.

Now, what might a heart symbolise if I showed you, when I show you that picture of a heart, what do you think of? Have a think.

Jot down some ideas.

You can pause the video while you do that.

So what do you think of when you see a picture of a heart? Love, excellent idea.

The heart is a almost like a universal symbol for love.

You see it all over Valentine's Day cards, for example.

Anything else? Health, good idea.

And I really want to draw your attention to that.

You have more than one idea.

When you're looking at symbolism in poetry, you want to try and mind map as many ideas as possible about what it might mean, before you hone in on what it really means.

So, what we are saying here is that the heart symbol, the picture there, symbolises, stands in place of the feeling of love.

Let's have a quick check for understanding.

Which of the following symbols represents thought? Is it A, B, or C? That's right, it's B.

The kind of clouds with the little bubbles is very often used to depict someone, a cartoon character, for example, having a thought.

Now words can be signs or symbols too.

Think about what a high wall might symbolise.

You can pause the video while you jot down your ideas.

Okay, really looking forward to hearing what you had to say.

What might a high wall symbolise? It might symbolise a challenge or an obstacle.

Yes, a high wall gets in the way.

It's something we have to climb over and and tackle.

It might be a symbol of imprisonment or exclusion.

That's right, we often put up high walls to keep things or people out or to keep them in.

Or a high wall might be symbolic of a barrier that keeps us safe.

Nothing can get to us so long as that wall is there.

I'd like to draw your attention to the different ways of writing about symbolism.

You can say that the wall, the object, the noun symbolises, or you can say that it's a symbol of, or you can say that it might be symbolic.

So try and use all three forms when you're writing or talking about symbolism.

Now we're not told in poetry what the symbolism means.

We just have to work out what it means.

That's part of the fun of reading poetry.

Let's have a quick check for understanding.

I want you to use either symbol, the noun, symbolic the adjective, or symbolise the verb to complete the following sentences.

A blazing fire might blank a violent rage.

A storm might be a blank of turbulent emotions.

And a cave might be blank of hidden secrets.

You can pause the video while you do that.

Welcome back.

Check your answers.

A blazing fire might symbolise a violent rage.

A storm might be a symbol of turbulent emotions.

A cave might be symbolic of hidden secrets.

So well done if that's what you wrote down.

In a minute, I'm gonna put up some words and phrases and I want you to write down what they might symbolise.

Here they are.

A bird flying in the sky, spring flowers, curtains.

Pause the video while you write down the words and then write down what you think they might symbolise.

Okay, really interested to hear your ideas.

Some possible answers.

That a bird flying in the sky could be freedom, escape, migration.

Yes, we often talk about things like flying away, meaning getting away from everything.

And birds fly south in the winter months so they could represent migration on their journey south.

Spring flowers, fresh starts, hope, beauty.

We see them after that long winter and they always remind us they're all so pretty and they remind us that summer is coming.

And that curtains could be secrets or barriers or mystery.

What is behind the curtain? Well done, they're really, really good ideas.

So let's look again at our lesson outline.

We've looked at symbolism and now we're gonna look at how Poe actually uses symbolism when he writes his poem.

Specifically, we're gonna be looking at the symbolism of "The Raven." So I just wanna give you a quick recap of what happens in "The Raven." A man is reading alone on a winter night, mourning his lost love, Lenore.

There is a tapping at the door and in flies a raven, a large black bird.

The man talks to the raven, entreating him, that means begging him, for news of Lenore.

And the man is finally driven mad by his grief and longing.

Now, in order to understand how Poe uses ravens symbolically, it's useful for you to understand that there are many myths about ravens.

And these include that they are wise and can see into the future, that they are fierce and dangerous and bring bad luck, that they are fierce and protective and bring good luck.

So you see, quite contradictory imagery there.

And that they connect the spiritual world with our world.

Why do you think Poe might have selected a raven for his poem? You can pause the video while you make some notes.

What did you think? I heard some really good ideas.

You are right to say that the raven in this poem does seem to bring bad luck, because the speaker is in a far worse emotional state by the end of the poem than he was at the beginning.

Let's have a quick check for understanding.

What might the raven symbolise in the poem? Is it A, the man's longing to connect with his dead wife, B, the presence of danger and bad luck in our lives, C, the man's melancholy and grief? What do you think? Yes, it's A, the man's longing to connect with his dead wife.

It's not that the raven doesn't seem particularly dangerous, though you could argue that he does bring bad luck and he doesn't bring melancholy and grief to the man, that is already there.

Now is your opportunity to explain the symbolism of the raven in a little bit more detail? I'm gonna give you some sentence starters to support you in your writing.

Here they are.

The raven is a symbol of the man's longing to see his dead wife because.

The speaker's melancholy makes us feel sympathy for him, but.

And the raven only says "nevermore," so.

You can pause the video while you write those sentences.

Welcome back.

What did you write? You could have written something like this: that the raven is a symbol of the man's longing to see his dead wife, because ravens are associated with the afterlife and a link between the living and the dead, and the man's unhappiness makes us feel sympathy for him, but the raven seems indifferent to his sufferings, and the raven only says "nevermore," so the man feels even more desperate and eventually seems to go mad.

Well done, fantastic response to the poem.

Fantastic writing about symbolism, well done.

So, let's look at our lesson outline again.

In our final learning cycle, we're going to look at how Poe uses symbolism when he writes about the setting.

So what does setting mean in poetry? That's right, it means time and place.

And setting can be a symbol too.

In "The Raven," there are two key quotations about setting, and they are "midnight dreary" and "bleak December." So we're gonna analyse the setting.

You need to write midnight dreary down, and then we're gonna look at the two words there and pick them apart and see how they are being used symbolically.

So what might midnight symbolise? So it's dark at midnight, so that might symbolise the speaker's depression.

It might symbolise mystery.

Often, strange things happen are set at midnight, and indeed, there is the tapping at the door.

And they might symbolise the supernatural.

Midnight is often called something like the witching hour.

And indeed, we have the supernatural in the form of the talking raven.

So let's have a quick check for understanding.

Which three things might midnight symbolise? Is it A, coldness and darkness, B, mystery, C, the supernatural, or D, unhappiness? Have a think.

Yes, B, C, and D.

The reason why it's not A is, although midnight might be cold and dark, sometimes in the year it's cold and dark, it doesn't symbolise coldness and darkness.

It doesn't stand in for coldness and darkness.

Well done.

Now it's over to you, bleak December.

I'd like you to write that down and then create a mind map with all of your ideas of what a bleak December could symbolise.

Remember, we always try and think of as many ideas as possible.

Can you pause the video while you do that? Welcome back.

What did you have to say about bleak December? Yes, endings, 'cause December's the last month of the year, so it might symbolise endings.

And in the case of "The Raven," it's the end of hope, happiness, and love.

What a brilliant idea.

And it's the winter month, a cold season, so that could symbolise the lack of love in the speaker's life.

And here's an interesting thing, that as you picked out, that it's the festive season for some people.

So could it symbolise festivity? Actually, it works the other way round here.

It's ironic, because the speaker is actually alone and melancholy.

What brilliant ideas you've come up with today.

So that brings us to the end of lesson two in the Gothic poetry unit.

Here, we have a brief summary of what you have been learning today.

That symbolism is a literary device where a noun represents an abstract quality.

And that the poem, "The Raven," uses the bird and the setting as symbols of the speaker's melancholy and grief.

And that analysing symbols means we identify them and explain what they represent and why they are effective.

I look forward to seeing you in our next lesson when we'll be looking at a different Gothic poem by Edgar Allan Poe.

Goodbye for now.