These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- In this lesson, we will explore the meaning of Charlotte Smith's 'To A Nightingale' by breaking the sonnet down into sections and carefully analysing the language Smith uses.
Licence
This content is made available by Oak National Academy Limited and its partners and licensed under Oak’s terms & conditions (Collection 1), except where otherwise stated.
Loading...
9 Questions
Q1.
In which year was Charlotte Smith born?
1746
1747
1748
Q2.
Charlotte Smith was a part of the second generation of Romantic writers.
True
Q3.
How many children did Charlotte Smith have?
2
4
6
Q4.
Smith's poems are often about feeling...
Carefree
Happy
Nonplussed
Q5.
Women were equal to men during the time period that Smith was writing.
True
Q6.
How many lines are in a sonnet?
13
6
8
Q7.
What is an 8 line section of poetry called?
Couplet
Quatrain
Septet
Q8.
How many lines are in a quatrain?
2
6
8
Q9.
What type of sonnet is 'To A Nightingale' written in?
Modern
Shakespearean
Spenserian
8 Questions
Q1.
What form is the poem written in?
Ballad
Epic
Narrative
Q2.
Which word means 'feeling sad without really knowing why'?
Angst
Hubris
Schadenfreude
Q3.
Who or what does Smith say that the nightingale is telling its story to?
A forest
A portrait hanging on the wall
William Wordsworth
Q4.
'Sweet sorrow' and 'Mournful melody' are examples of what?
Anadiplosis
Anaphora
Personification
Q5.
Which word means 'the events of someone's life being beyond their control'?
Isolation
Peripeteia
Semantics
Q6.
Smith wonders if the nightingale had been hurt by:
A fox
Family
Fate
Q7.
Smith suggests that the nightingale might also have been hurt by a love which went bad. Which word does she use to describe the nightingale?
Bystander
Champion
Hero
Q8.
Ultimately, we learn that Smith is _________ because the nightingale can fly away and leave its problems behind and she can't.
Angry
Melancholy
Sad