Hello, and welcome to Lesson 3 in the Gothic poetry unit.

My name is Ms. Watson, and I'm really looking forward to introducing you to this new poem, "The Haunted Palace" by Edgar Allan Poe.

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain the meaning of "The Haunted Palace." Essentially, you will be able to explain exactly what it is about.

Let's start with the key words.

Radiant, dominion, glorious, assail, and discordant.

Let's look at what they mean.

Radiant means full of light.

If you have dominion over something, you have control over it.

You dominate it.

Something that is glorious is wonderful and splendid.

You're gonna see the word glorious and the word glory in the poem that we're gonna be reading today.

To assail something is to attack it.

Another word for an attacker is an assailant.

A discordant sound is one that is harsh and out of tune, not what you want music to be.

Let's look at today's lesson.

We're gonna start by looking at the description of the palace.

How Poe describes the palace.

Then we're gonna look at the palace as a metaphor for emotions, for human feelings.

And finally, we're gonna look at how the poem links to the Gothic genre.

Let's start with some prediction work.

What do you associate with the title, "The Haunted Palace"? Have a think.

Let's hear your ideas.

Yes, you picked out that he uses the definite article, which suggests that the palace is special and unique.

Haunted, ghosts, the past, a hint of mystery.

This is a spooky, eerie place.

And the fact that it's a palace suggests that it is grand and important.

Royalty lives there, kings and queens.

It's a superior building.

Excellent ideas.

Well done.

Let's read the poem.

Stanza one.

Let's see how the palace is described.

"In the greenest of our valleys by good angels tenanted, once a fair and stately palace, radiant palace, reared its head, in the monarch Thought's dominion, it stood there.

Never seraph spread a pinion over fabric half so fair." Now, I want to draw your attention to the word seraph.

A seraph is an angel.

So you see, you've got angels in the second line, and seraph in the line second from the bottom.

Now, what do you think is the effect of placing angels in the palace? Have a think.

Yes, you might say that by putting angels in the palace, it might suggest that the palace is almost heavenly.

Great answer.

Well done.

Let's look at stanza two.

"Banners, yellow, glorious, golden, on its roof did float and flow.

This, all this, was in the olden time long ago.

And every gentle air that dallied in that sweet day, along the ramparts plumed and pallid, a winged odour went away." I want us to look at banners in this stanza.

Banners are flags.

And it says that in the past, they were flown from the roof of the palace.

What impression does that create? Have a think.

Really, really good answers.

Yes, you might say that it suggests a kind of celebration.

We often take banners on parades or when we're waiting to see somebody famous.

Brilliant.

Stanza three.

"Wanderers in that happy valley, through two luminous windows, saw spirits moving musically to a lute's well-tuned law.

And round about a throne where, sitting, Porphyrogene, in state his glory well befitting.

The ruler of the realm was seen." That long word, Porphyrogene, just means born royally, or born of high status.

And he displays glory.

It says that he's displaying glory.

How else would you say that the writer shows that the king's palace is magnificent? He's sitting on a throne.

And also there are musicians there, just to play beautiful music for him.

Well done.

Thank you.

Excellent answers.

Stanza four.

"And all with pearl and ruby glowing was the fair palace door, through which came flowing, flowing, flowing and sparkling evermore, a troop of Echoes, whose sweet duty was but to sing in voices of surpassing beauty, the wit and wisdom of their king." Now, how can we infer from this stanza that the king is considered a good ruler? Could you refer to specific words in your answer? Have a think.

Yes, he's praised for his wit and wisdom.

So, an intelligent ruler.

But we're gonna move on and see what happens to the king and his palace in the last stanzas.

But before that we're gonna have a quick check for understanding.

Which two adjectives best describe the palace at the start of the poem? Is it A, stately, B, grand, C, bleak, D, discordant? That's right, it's stately and grand.

And this is what happens to the palace towards the end.

Stanza five.

"But evil things in robes of sorrow assailed the monarch's highest estate.

Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow shall dawn upon him desolate.

And round about his home the glory that blushed and bloomed is but a dim-remembered story of the old time entombed." Who has assailed and destroyed the king's palace? Can you refer to specific words in the poem? That's right, evil things in robes of sorrow.

So, wickedness and unhappiness has come to the palace.

Stanza six.

"And travellers now within that valley, through the red-litten windows see vast forms that move fantastically to a discordant melody.

While, like a ghastly rapid river through the pale door, a hideous throng rush out forever, and laugh, but smile no more." So the music is now discordant.

They're not singing about the wit wisdom of the king anymore.

The music is discordant.

So, what does that suggest about the state of the palace? Have a think.

Brilliant.

Yes, it suggests that what was once beautiful is now harsh and unpleasant.

Great ideas.

Well done.

Let's have a quick check for understanding about the end of the poem.

Which two adjectives best describe the palace at the end of the poem? Is it A, ruined, B, glorious, C, melancholy, or D, discordant? It's ruined and melancholy.

Well done.

Discordant has describes the music, so that's why that wouldn't be the answer here.

Now is your opportunity to show your understanding of the description of the palace in a little bit more detail.

I'm gonna put up some sentence starters to support you in your response.

Here they are.

"At first the palace seems beautiful because.

." "As the poem progresses, the palace becomes.

." "At the end of the poem, the reader might feel.

." You can pause the video while you complete those sentences.

Welcome back.

Let's see what you wrote.

You could have written, "At first the palace seems beautiful because it is full of splendid flags and sweet music." "As the poem progresses, the palace becomes spoiled and ugly with the music becoming out of tune." And "At the end of the poem, the reader might feel saddened by the ruin of such beauty." Really, really good sentences.

Thank you.

Well done.

So we've looked at how the palace has been described.

Now we're gonna look at the palace as a metaphor for emotions.

Consider, "What might a house represent?" What might it symbolise? Have a think.

Okay, let's hear your ideas.

You might have written, home, stability, family, belonging, and safety.

All of these ideas and feelings could be represented by houses.

Now, houses in literature.

Sometimes houses in literature or people who are interested in dreams analysis, often interpret houses as symbolising the self or as reflecting the personality of the speaker or the narrator in literature.

And so thinking about this palace here, it was once beautiful and grand and it is now in ruins.

So, if the palace is symbolic, what could we infer about the personality of the speaker? What might have happened to him? Yeah, you can see there's a decline from glorious and powerful to sad and ruined.

Maybe this represents a loss of happiness.

That he's moved from happiness to depression, from power to weakness.

Excellent.

Really good answers.

Let's have a quick check for understanding.

Which two verbs could we use to describe the relationship between the palace and the speaker? Is it A, symbolises, B, copies, or C, represents? That's right, it's symbolises and represents.

It's not copies because the palace is standing in for the speaker's feelings.

It's not a mirror image of the speaker's feelings.

It's representational.

Now we're gonna look at the imagery in the poem and how it represents the emotions of the speaker in a little bit more detail.

In the left-hand column, you can see there are words taken directly from the poem, "monarch and king," "banners, yellow, golden, glorious," "evil things in robes of sorrow," and "discordant melody." And at the bottom, there are thoughts that could be thought to be represented by the imagery, confusion and irritation, unhappy, damaging thoughts, triumph and celebration, and government and dignity.

What I want you to do is to match the imagery in the poem with the emotions.

You can pause the video while you do that.

Welcome back.

Let's see how you match the imagery.

With "monarch and king," government and dignity, yes.

The beginning of the poem is all about the power and grandeur of the monarch and the palace.

And "banners, yellow, golden, glorious," triumph and celebration, yes.

We looked, when we were reading the poem, at how banners and flags are often used for celebratory parades.

"Evil things in robes of sorrow," that could easily symbolise unhappy, damaging thoughts.

And "discordant melody," confusion and irritation.

'Cause it would be maddening to listen to out of tune music for too long.

So we've looked at the description of the palace.

We've looked at the palace as a metaphor for emotions.

And now we're gonna look at how the poem links to the Gothic.

Quick reminder of what the Gothic is.

A literary genre that began in the mid 18th century and has always been popular.

A form of writing characterised by gloomy settings, abandoned buildings, and equally gloomy heroes.

Often features ghosts and other supernatural creatures.

And the mood of the Gothic is one of melancholy loneliness and memories of past tragedies and disappointments.

So, how exactly is "The Haunted Palace" a Gothic poem? Let's check your understanding.

Which of the following aspects of "The Haunted Palace" are typical of the Gothic genre? You can choose more than one.

Is it A, the palace seems full of sad memories, B, the palace was once grand but not anymore, C, there are many references to music, D, there are many references to ghosts? That's right.

The sad memories, the decline from grandeur into ruin, and the ghostly references, they're all typical of the Gothic genre.

Now this is your opportunity to write about how the poem links to the Gothic in a little bit more detail.

There's a statement here saying that the Gothic genre has been described as a mixture of external description and internal misery.

How is this true of "The Haunted Palace"? How does the outward descriptions of the palace match what is going on inside the speaker? Now, I'm gonna give you some prompts for what you could write about.

They are.

You need to talk about how the palace is described.

You need to talk about the mood of the speaker.

And then you need to make connections between the palace and the speaker's personality.

This is where words like symbolising and represents would be really, really helpful in your answer.

Welcome back.

I'm gonna ask you to do some self-assessment of your response.

Re-read it.

Identify the following.

Where have you explored the description of the palace? You might have referred to its radiance.

You might have talked about the banners that are flying from the roof of the palace.

Where have you explored the mood of the speaker? You might have referred to the word mourn or the evil things in robes of sorrow.

And where have you made connections between the description and the speaker's personality? Have you used words like symbolises and represents? You could highlight your work or circle the good parts, or just give yourself a tick for when you have identified the following aspects in your answer.

And that brings us to the end of Lesson 3 in the Gothic poetry unit.

Thank you for your hard work today.

I look forward to seeing you in our next lesson.

Goodbye.