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Year 10
AQA

Identifying how poets reflect desire in natural settings

I can identify similarities and differences between ‘Sonnet 29’, ‘Love's Philosophy’ and ‘Letters from Yorkshire’.

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New
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Year 10
AQA

Identifying how poets reflect desire in natural settings

I can identify similarities and differences between ‘Sonnet 29’, ‘Love's Philosophy’ and ‘Letters from Yorkshire’.

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Share activities with pupils
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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Shelley, Barrett-Browning and Dooley use natural imagery in their poems to depict an idealistic view of love and desire.
  2. Shelley, Barrett-Browning and Dooley convey an element of distance in the speaker’s relationship in their poems.
  3. Both Shelley and Barrett-Browning convey sexual desire within romantic relationships through natural imagery.
  4. Dooley is the only poet to depict an ambiguous and seemingly platonic relationship.
  5. Both Shelley and Dooley indicate that their speaker’s desire remains unfulfilled by the end of their poems.

Keywords

  • Desire - intense longing or craving for something or someone

  • Ambiguous - unclear or open to interpretation; having more than one possible meaning

  • Yearning - deep longing, often associated with emotional desire

  • Intellectual - characterised by rational thinking and knowledge

  • Unfulfilled - desires, goals, or expectations not met; lacking satisfaction

Common misconception

Shelley's poem presents a purely positive view of love.

Interspersed among his speaker's overblown philosophical descriptions focused around the beauty of natural symmetry, it's possible to read an element of frustration that the speaker's feelings of desire are unrequited.

Encourage students to match up key quotations from across all three poems as part of their revision to find similarities and differences between the poems.
Teacher tip

Equipment

You will need access to 'Sonnet 29' (Barrett Browning), 'Love's Philosophy' (Shelley) and 'Letters from Yorkshire' (Dooley). They can be found in the AQA Love and Relationships Poetry Anthology.

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of sexual content

Supervision

Adult supervision required

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
In 'Sonnet 29', Barrett-Browning describes her intense thoughts of her absent lover using an extended metaphor to compare her thoughts to...
a tree
leaves
Correct answer: vines
the ocean
a mountain
Q2.
In 'Love's Philosophy', Shelley uses natural imagery and __________ imagery to imply that there is a moral good associated with togetherness and natural symmetry.
sentimental
ambiguous
natural
Correct answer: religious
graphic
Q3.
In 'Letters from Yorkshire', the speaker's relationship with her friend could be interpreted in multiple ways so the definite meaning is uncertain. We would describe this as...
Correct Answer: ambiguous
Q4.
Match up each of these quotations to the correct image
Correct Answer:'Sonnet 29',"boughs"

"boughs"

Correct Answer:'Love's Philosophy',"mountains"

"mountains"

Correct Answer:'Letters from Yorkshire',"miles"

"miles"

Q5.
If two people have a close, affectionate relationship but there is no sexual attraction between them, we could describe this relationship as ... or ...
romantic
catatonic
Correct answer: platonic
pedantic
Correct answer: familial
Q6.
When selecting supporting evidence, you should make sure quotations are precise, accurate and judiciously chosen. What does 'judiciously' mean here?
copied exactly as it appears in the original text
quickly; the first relevant quote that could be located
as short as necessary to effectively support the inference/analysis
Correct answer: wisely; judged to be the best evidence for the point being made
full of language and structural techniques that you can analyse

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What does 'desire' mean?
embrace or acknowledge something new
refuse or dismiss instinctively
draw in interest or admiration
feel sadness over a loss of someone or something
Correct answer: intense longing or craving for something or someone
Q2.
What does the word 'intellectual' mean?
relating to the body or its needs
Correct answer: characterised by rational thinking and knowledge
pertaining to feelings or emotions
relating to beliefs or principles of existence
linked to the mind or mental health
Q3.
Which poem is said to be autobiographical, rumoured to be based on the poet's own courtship with their spouse?
Correct answer: 'Sonnet 29'
'Love's Philosophy'
'Letters from Yorkshire'
Q4.
In the final line of 'Letters from Yorkshire', Dooley describes how their "souls" communicate across the distance between the speaker and the man from Yorkshire. Which type of desire does this link to
physical
sexual
intellectual
Correct answer: spiritual
Q5.
Which of the following statements below is true about the relationship between 'Letters from Yorkshire' and 'Love's Philosophy'?
Correct answer: Both poems end with the speakers' desires left unfulfilled.
Both poems begin with an fragmented relationship.
Both poems include refrences to sexual desire.
Both poems are autobiographical.
Correct answer: Both poems directly address someone else.
Q6.
Which of the following statements below is true about the relationship between 'Sonnet 29' and 'Love's Philosophy'?
Both poems depict a long-distance relationship.
Both poems end with the speaker's desire left unfulfilled.
Both poems have a wholly positive view of love.
Correct answer: Both poems directly address someone else.
Correct answer: Both poems use natural imagery to depict sexual and physical desire.