Lesson video

Hello.

I'm Mr. Blackburn.

Thank you very much for joining me.

Today we're going to be looking at how William Wordsworth presents nature in his poem, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud." Before we begin, you'll need to make sure you have a pen and paper.

You'll need to turn off any notifications or anything that might distract you and if you can, you'll need to try and find somewhere quiet to work.

And once you've done that let's get started.

So what are we going to be doing today? First, I'm going to give you an exercise to prove how much you already know about the poem.

Then we're going to look at a little bit more context and think about what the romantics thought about nature.

After we've done that, we'll move on and look at the way that Wordsworth presents his views of nature in "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", and then we'll do some recap at the end, just so you can tie all of your new knowledge together.

What do you know about the poem already then? Hopefully by this point, you know, quite a lot.

Here's a paragraph about Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", but I've accidentally missed some of the words.

Luckily, the words are at the bottom of the screen, you need to copy this paragraph out and write the correct words in the gaps.

So why don't you pause this video? Copy out the paragraph, put the right words in, and then when you're done resume the video and we'll see if you were right.

Okay, let's check your work.

Now your paragraph should look like this.

Wordsworth's "I Wondered Lonely as a Cloud" is an example of a lyric poem, a form of poetry, which often communicates the poet's feelings and emotions.

In this poem Wordsworth explores the joy of nature through his use of personification, as he imagines flowers dancing, or his use of simile as he imagines himself as a cloud floating high above the world.

Now, if you got all of these answers correct, then excellent work.

Give yourself a pat on the back.

If you got some of these answers wrong, then take a second just to make sure you've written down the answer, which is correct on your notes.

And before we explore the poem any further, it's probably quite important that we have a really good understanding of what the romantics thought about the natural world.

Nature was one of the things that romantics wrote about really often, lots of their poetry, lots of their nonfiction writing, and actually even lots of their fiction was about the power of nature.

And there were generally two schools of thought, two general ideas, that romantics wrote about regarding nature.

The first was that it was beautiful and good for us and something we should cherish and experience a lot.

The second was that it's something destructive and something to be revered or scared of.

Both of these schools of thought acknowledge that nature is something powerful, but it has two different types of power.

The first is a restorative power.

It makes us feel better.

It makes us healthier.

It makes us enjoy life even more than we already do.

The second is that it literally destroys things.

And an example I've given you here is a waterfall.

Obviously it's something quite beautiful to look at, and if you've been lucky enough to ever see a waterfall, there's something quite spectacular about them.

They're beautiful.

And you stand there for a bit thinking what this is, this is wonderful.

I could stand here and watch this forever.

But when we think about how waterfalls get there, they're actually incredibly destructive.

Water erodes the rocks and the hills and the mountains that it flows through in order to create these waterfalls.

And if you think of somewhere like the Grand Canyon, that was created by a river, it was ultimately destroyed by a river.

So the romantics thought that nature was either beautiful or destructive.

Now, William Wordsworth, especially in the poem we're reading about, was definitely of the first school of thought.

He thought that nature was something beautiful and something we should enjoy probably more than we already do.

And he loved the Lake District.

He even wrote a guide book called, I think it was Wordsworth Guides to the Lakes, which would, it would walk you through different parts of the Lake District and tell you which bits to look up.

And what's really interesting is that the Lake District was one of his main inspirations for, "I Wondered Lonely as a Cloud." He was taking a walk with his sister through the Lake District when inspiration struck him.

Many of the romantics felt that spending time in nature was restorative and good for their health.

So the more time they spent in nature, the better it was for them.

And they also thought that the natural world should be something we respect.

It was pristine.

It was beautiful.

It was unharmed by mankind and it should stay that way, thought the romantics.

But at the same time the romantics were writing, the world was undergoing the Industrial Revolution and lots of towns and cities have new factories being built, building all kinds of things, really.

And the height of the Industrial Revolution coincided with when the romantics were writing.

As more and more towns and cities had factories built, they expanded further into the countryside, destroying the natural world and replacing it with something ugly and manmade.

And you can see from the photo that's on your screen, these factories poured out pollution, further damaging the natural world, much to the horror, I guess, of the romantics.

Now I hope you were taking notes because there follows a short quiz to see how much you can remember about what the romantics thought about nature.

So they're all true or false questions.

True or false, the romantics only thought that nature was beautiful? Three, two, one, that is false because they also thought that nature could be terrifying or destructive.

True or false, the romantics thought that the Industrial Revolution was a good thing for nature? Three, two, one, that was also false.

They thought the Industrial Revolution was destroying the natural world and therefore was something terrible.

William Wordsworth wrote a guide to the peak district, true or false? Three, two, one that was false.

He wrote a guide to the Lake District.

And if you remember, it was really cleverly titled "Wordsworth's Guide to the Lakes." One of the common themes of romantic writing is the power of nature, true or false? Three, two, one that is true.

The power of nature was one of the common themes.

Some romantic writers thought that nature was good for their health, true or false? Three, two, one, that was true.

They encouraged us to spend more time in the beauty of nature.

William Wordsworth wrote "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" to celebrate the Industrial Revolution true or false? Three, two, one, that is false.

He was celebrating the beauty of nature and the serenity of the Lake District.

Certainly not celebrating the Industrial Revolution.

Right now that we know all of that, we can start to look at the poem again, and we can think about how Wordsworth presents nature in " I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud." Let's begin by thinking about these two similes, which Wordsworth uses.

I wandered lonely as a cloud and continuous is the stars that shine.

Now I think that these similes make nature sound beautiful and peaceful.

Wordsworth imagines that he can see everything in nature and that it stretches on forever.

So you see what I've done is I've picked two quotations and I've explained what I think Wordsworth was saying about nature.

Here's an example with personification.

This example of personification, the daffodils tossing their heads in sprightly dance makes natures seem joyful and happy and it's beautiful for Wordsworth to behold the flowers dancing in the breeze.

So I'm thinking about what's Wordsworth written and why has he written it like that.

Before we go any further, I want to remind you of a key definition.

Stanza, which is the correct term for a verse in poetry or a group of lines together.

So we don't call it a verse.

We call it a stanza.

Now this is the first stanza of the poem.

How much natural imagery can you find? If you have a copy of the poem you can highlight or underline it, if not, you can just write down some examples in your notes.

"I wandered lonely as a cloud "That floats on high over veils and hills.

"When all at once I saw a crowd, "a host of golden daffodils.

"Beside the lake, beneath the trees, "Fluttering and dancing in the breeze." Now you might want to pause for just a second to see how many examples of natural imagery you can find.

Here are some examples.

I've highlighted mine in green.

So I've highlighted cloud.

I've highlighted veils and hills.

I've highlighted daffodils, lake, trees and breeze.

They're all images or pictures of nature.

Now I want you to think about the verbs.

Now a verb is a word which is associated with an action.

So it might be running or walking or climbing, something that you would do, an action you would perform.

So again, if you have your own copy of the poem, you can highlight or underline it.

If not, you can write the verbs down.

And again, you might want to pause for just a second while you do that.

And here's what I have highlighted, wandered, floats, saw, fluttering and dancing.

all actions that we would perform.

The next thing I want us to find is the adjectives in the stanza.

Adjectives are descriptions of something.

So again, if you have your own copy of the poem, highlight or underline them, if not, you can write down what the adjectives in this stanza are.

And if you want to pause the video while you do it, you can.

And highlighted in pink are my adjectives, which I found lonely and high.

There weren't many of them, but they are important nonetheless.

And I want us to think now about how Wordsworth is making nature sound in this stanza? Does it sound something beautiful? Does it sound like something powerful? Is it terrifying? Is it awe inspiring? Is it something else perhaps? I think that this is Wordsworth making nature sound beautiful.

And you might want to just jot that down next to the first stanza on your copy of the poem.

Here's the second stanza.

And again, I want you to think about how many verbs and how much natural imagery you can find in this.

So highlight underline to your heart's content or write things down on your piece of paper.

We're looking for natural imagery and we're looking for verbs in the second stanza.

What;s a stanza? It's a verse of poetry, good work.

Good, here we go.

So verbs in purple, natural imagery in green.

And I'd like you to do the same thing, but with the adjectives now.

So pause the video for a couple of seconds.

While you look for the adjectives.

And here they are highlighted in pink, continuous, never ending and sprightly.

The question here is why is Wordsworth mentioning things as vast, as big as things like galaxies and stars, when he's talking about nature? How does it make nature sound? Well, I think he's saying that the beauty of nature is continuous.

It lasts forever and ever, and it goes on and on.

And to Wordsworth it stretches as far as the eye can see.

And you might want to note that down next to this stanza.

Here's the third and fourth stanza's of the poem.

And just like before, I want you to highlight all of the natural imagery you can find, all of the verbs and all of the adjectives and I'm not going to give you any help with this one just yet.

I want you to pause the video and do it yourself, and then we'll come back and check your answers.

So verbs, adjectives, and natural imagery.

Good work, this is what I found.

Hopefully yours looks similar.

So remember the adjectives are in pink.

The natural imagery is in green and the verbs are in this purple colour.

And the question on the screen says, what do you notice about how many adjectives are in the last two stanzas? And hopefully as you were going through, you thought to yourself, gosh, there's many more adjectives in these last few stanzas than there were in the first.

The further Wordsworth gets through his walk through the Lake District, the further he gets through the poem, the more beautiful he imagines nature to be and the more adjectives he includes.

Now, I've put all of these words into a list.

So there's a list of natural imagery.

There's a list of verbs describing nature, and there's a list of adjectives describing nature.

And I want you to think about what Wordsworth is suggesting about nature.

Read through those words.

Is he saying that nature is something powerful and something to be scared of or is he saying it's something which is beautiful and which should be admired? Here's three options for you.

Does Wordsworth think that nature is beautiful? Does he think that it's destructive or does he think that it's revolting? Read those words.

Which word best describes that list? Three, two, one.

Now I think that Wordsworth is probably suggesting that nature is something beautiful.

How else could we describe it then? Doesn't does Wordsworth think that nature is something aggressive? Does he think that nature is something threatening or does he say that nature is something gentle? Three, two, one.

I think that Wordsworth is suggesting that nature's gentle`.

There's nothing aggressive or threatening in any of those words on any of these three lists.

What about this one then? What does Wordsworth think about nature? Does he think that the beauty of nature is that it's short lived and doesn't last very long? Does Wordsworth think that the beauty of nature is infinite and lasts forever or does Wordsworth think that nature is beautiful because it's busy? Three, two, one.

I think that Wordsworth is suggesting that the beauty of nature is that it's infinite and lasts forever.

So if you remember his descriptions of continuous as the stars that shine.

He's saying that nature and its beauty will last forever therefore it's infinite.

Excellent analysis of Wordsworth writing, well done.

Now it's time to show me what you know, and it wouldn't be an English lesson without some extended writing.

I'm going to show you my example, first of all, and then I want you to work in the same process, but with a different set of examples.

So here are some sentence starters.

Wordsworth presents the beauty of nature through, in the first line of the poem Wordsworth uses, which quotation will I use? What does the quotation make us think of? How can you link this to the beauty of nature? So these are some beginnings of a plan for some extended writing.

And here's what I've turned it into.

Wordsworth presents the beauty of nature through his use of figurative language.

In the first line of the poem, Wordsworth user's a simile as he writes, I wandered lonely as a cloud, creating the feeling of floating high above the world and looking down.

Clouds move slowly through the sky and Wordsworth's description makes nature seem peaceful.

Its beauty is powerful and is shown through the quiet and calming influence that it has on people.

So here are my sentence starters again, Wordsworth presents the beauty of nature through his use of figurative language.

In the first line of the poem, Wordsworth uses a simile.

Which quotation will I use? Well, I chose to use, "I wandered lonely as a cloud." What does this quotation make us think of? Well, I explained that after I used the quotation, creating the feeling of floating high above the world and looking down.

And then, how can I link this to the beauty of nature? Well, I've explained a little bit further why Wordsworth might've compared himself to a cloud.

Then I've explained what nature does to people.

So clouds move slowly through the sky and Wordsworth's description makes nature seem peaceful.

Its beauty is powerful and is shown through the quiet and calming influence that it has on people.

So I've explained how this links to the theme of nature that the romantics love so much.

What I want you to do is use this as your plan for a paragraph.

Wordsworth presents the beauty of nature through personification.

What's he personifying? For example, Wordsworth can see the daffodils, then you need to pick a quote.

What are the daffodils doing? What does that quotation make you think of? When we think about the daffodils dancing, for instance, what kind of picture does that create in your mind? Where else might people or things be dancing and then how can you link it to nature? Remember the romantics thought that nature was either powerful or that it was beautiful.

Which do you think Wordsworth is presenting in this.

So write a little plan, pause the video, write your paragraph up and then join me afterwards to see if your paragraph looks similar to mine.

I hope you enjoyed writing that.

Now this is my answer to that plan that was shared before you paused.

Wordsworth presents the beauty of nature through his use of personification.

For example, Wordsworth can see the daffodils tossing their heads in sprightly dance, making the reader imagine a group of brightly coloured flowers having a party while Wordsworth watches them swaying in the breeze.

Wordsworth uses this image to convey that nature's beauty is joyful and that nature can help to make people cheerful.

And the word convey is wonderful, it means put across.

It's a nicer way of saying shows.

Now you might've used the same quotation.

That's great.

If you did, did you explain it like I did? Is there something you can borrow from my answer to add to your own and there might be, and that's all right.

If there is something you want to add now is the time to do it.

And I think you've done an amazing job.

So you should be super happy with yourselves.

You've managed to analyse different types of language in Wordsworth's poem.

And we've thought about how he uses that language to show the beauty of nature.

Excellent work.

The last thing I want you to do is take the quiz, which is the last part of this lesson, so that you can really show off how much you've learned.

Well done for all of your hard work today, goodbye.