Lesson video

Hello, and thank you for joining me today.

My name is Mrs. Butterworth and I will be your English teacher for this lesson.

Now, this lesson we will be looking at William Blake's poem, "The Schoolboy", and we'll be considering the themes of youth and nature.

So let's begin.

So in this lesson, you will explore ideas of youth and nature in relation to William Blake's poem, "The Schoolboy".

Before we delve into the lesson, let's look at some key words that we will need for this lesson.

Those words are romanticism, innocence, institution restrictions and oppression.

Now, romanticism is an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century.

And Blake can be considered part of romanticism or a romantic poet.

Now, innocence is the state of being inexperienced, naive or free from guilt or wrongdoing.

So innocence in this sense actually refers to a young person as well.

Institution is a large and important organisation.

So when we refer to societal institutions, we might think of things like schools, prisons, courts, that kind of thing.

Restrictions are the limitation or control of someone or something.

And oppression is the prolonged, cruel or unjust treatment or exercise of authority.

So the outline of our lesson looks like this.

We're going to begin by reading and responding to Blake's "The Schoolboy".

And then we're going to move on to explore the romantic context.

So let's begin by reading that poem.

So who was William Blake? Now, William Blake lived from 1757 to 1827 and was a poet, painter and print maker.

He was considered part of the romantic movement and valued ima emotion, imagination and nature over reason.

He was a critic of industrialization and disliked how factories and cities damaged people and nature.

So he was a real advocate for nature and the benefits of that.

He really challenged institutions in his poetry.

So he opposed rigid schools, churches and governments that limited freedom.

So the poem, "The Schoolboy", is taken from Blake's famous work Songs of Innocence and Experience.

Now, knowing about this work gives us a few clues about the themes in "The Schoolboy" and how Blake presents them.

So this is a collection of poems, Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake.

And it explores things like childhood, society and human nature.

It explores how the world changes as people grow up criticising institutions such as schools, religion, and industry for limiting freedom and happiness.

So he had some very clear views on these and it is divided into two parts.

There is the innocence, which shows joy and purity while experience reveals corruption and hardship.

So there's a real difference between these two sections of the work and they really juxtapose each other.

Now, "The Schoolboy" specifically explores the themes of nature, education and the institution of school.

Now these words come from that poem.

So we've got birds, springing, summer, blossoms, crawl, fears, dismay, dreary.

And what I would like you to do, so we've just had a lot of information about Blake and his points of view and I would like you to think back to that.

And then I would like you to discuss, considering Blake's perspective on nature and institutions, which words do you think might link to which themes? So which words from the poem on the screen might link to which themes? So in a moment, you'll need to pause a video to discuss that question.

If you're working on your own, you may wish to think quietly to yourself or even jot down some ideas.

We'll feed back in a moment, off you go.

Okay, great.

Lots of you really drawing on the information that we already have about Blake.

So lots of you picked up that nature probably links to those words, birds, springing, summer, blossoms. They have, you know, very natural imagery in terms of the birds, but also they're quite positive and all of that kind of stuff.

And then if we think about education and the institution of schools, so with education we might think of things like dreary and dismay and that institution of school, you know, Blake might consider it cruel or there might be some fears around it.

So we can see how the reoccurring themes of Blake's work and his perspectives are present in the poem "The Schoolboy".

So true or false time.

Blake considered societal institutions such as schools and industry as important for a healthy society.

Is that true or is that false? Pause the video to come up with your answer now.

Okay, well done to everyone that said false, but we now need to explain why that statement is false.

So again, pause the video so you can come up with your explanation.

Okay, I am going to share a response now and hopefully you have something similar.

So actually Blake saw schools and industry as oppressive and restricting the freedom, creativity and joy of individuals.

And I want you to remember that as we go on to read the poem and explore it in a bit more depth.

So I would like you please to read the first two stanzas of the poem.

So you'll need to pause the video and read the first two stanzas of the poem.

So pause the video and read them.

Okay, great, excellent reading.

So just focusing on those first two stanzas, I would like you to consider the following phrases.

Who do you think the speaker is? So we've got these quotations here.

"I love to rise and the skylarks sings with me, but to go to school." So pause the video to consider those phrases and answer the question, who do you think the speaker is? Pause the video now.

Okay, great.

So Sofia came up with this answer and again, hopefully you have something quite similar.

So the speaker is a young boy, the schoolboy, who loves nature but feels unhappy about going to school.

So simply put that is the speaker of this poem, the young schoolboy who loves nature but doesn't feel that way about school.

So now I would like you to think about those first two stanzas and I would like you to think about what the boy wants the reader to understand about nature and education and why.

So what do you think the boy wants the reader to understand about nature and education and why? So go back to the poem and find two quotations that answer those questions.

Pause the video and find those quotes, off you go.

Okay, great.

So let's see how Lucas and Sofia answered.

So Lucas said that nature brings joy and freedom.

The birds sing on every tree and shows how nature makes the boy happy.

So that's what the speaker wants us to understand about nature.

And then Sofia is talking about education.

So the speaker wants us to understand that education feels like a trap and she's picked this quotation, "But to go to school in a summer morn drives all joy away", and he's hinting that school limits his freedom and feels oppressive.

Okay, so which statement best describes the speaker in "The Schoolboy"? You need to pick A, B, C, or D, please.

So pause the video to read those answers and come up with your answer, off you go.

Okay, feeling confident? So the answer is B, so the speaker in "The Schoolboy" feels trapped by school, longing for the freedom of nature.

So I'd now like you to spend a moment reading the rest of the poem.

So you will need to pause the video in a moment to give yourself time to do this.

Now you may want to try even reading the poem aloud.

I find that if I read the poem aloud, it really helps me to understand the rhythm and the rhyme and also really understand the themes and ideas that are in that poem.

So do try if you can and appropriate, to have a go at reading that poem aloud.

So you're going to read the rest of the poem and then I'd like you to discuss please, how does Blake contrast childhood freedom with school life? And what message does this convey about education? Okay, so get ready to do that reading and pause the video and off you go.

Great, lovely.

And I really hope some of you chose to read that poem aloud and really start to hear what Blake is doing with the rhyme, the rhythm, the tone.

It's a really great thing to do.

So let's just feed back some ideas around that discussion.

So how does Blake contrast childhood freedom with school life? And what message does this convey about education? So you may have discussed some of the following ideas that Blake contrasts freedom in nature with the confinement of school.

So there's that real juxtaposition there, isn't there? That freedom alongside the confinement, nature represents joy and growth while school feels oppressive, again, there's that real contrast is it, the joy and growth and the oppression.

Education is shown as stifling creativity and happiness.

And Blake's message is that education should nurture and not restrict.

And I think this poem is really clear in presenting Blake's perspective on nature, education and school.

So Blake's songs of innocence and experiences divided into two parts.

So remember, innocence shows joy and purity, while experience reveals corruption and hardship.

Now I'd like you to think about the following question.

Although "The Schoolboy" appears in the innocence section, how does it also begin to reflect ideas from experience? So I'm gonna repeat the question again and then you're gonna go on to discuss it.

Although "The Schoolboy" appears in the innocent section, how does it also begin to reflect ideas from experience? So pause the video to discuss your ideas, think quietly to yourself or even write some down.

Off you go.

Okay, great.

So it's really interesting isn't it, that although that poem is in the innocent section and we definitely see that joy, purity and innocence, that actually it starts to straddle some of those ideas around hardship and institutions and corruption that Blake wants to critique.

So I'm just going to show you how Jun and Jacob also answered.

So Jacob says that the poem celebrates childhood freedom, the hints that the restrictions imposed by school foreshadowing the loss of innocence.

So that's a really excellent point for Jacob.

Like it almost foreshadows what's about to come with experience.

And Jun says, Blake contrasts joyful nature with the oppressive school environment, reflecting the tension between innocence and the harshness of experience.

And that's a really lovely description there from Jun.

So I'd like you just to spend a moment please to discussing to what extent do you agree with Jacob and Jun and why.

So pause the video to discuss your ideas.

Okay, true or false time.

In "The Schoolboy", Blake suggests that the institution of school is fundamental in an understanding of nature.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video to come up with your answer now.

Okay, well done to everyone that said that is false but you need to explain why that statement is false.

So pause the video to come up with your explanation now.

Okay, we feeling ready? Should we share and see where we're at? Great, so Blake actually contrasts nature with the oppressive institution of school, suggesting that school stifles the boys' natural understanding and freedom rather than being fundamental to it.

Okay, so it's actually the opposite way round.

So our first practise task, what I would like you to do please is I would like you to write a summary of Blake's "The Schoolboy".

So you should include the following points, who the speaker of the poem is, what the speaker describes, how nature is presented and how school is presented.

So we're just taking all of those initial ideas and writing them into a summary.

I would also like you to include this vocabulary, oppression, institution, freedom and nurturing.

So you may wish to go back and read the poem again before you begin, but you'll need to pause the video to get that task completed.

Off you go.

Great, well done.

It can be really useful just to spend a few moments writing a summary of a poem just to make sure you really understand what it's about.

So Izzy here has written her summary.

So let's read it through together first and then we can use the checklist.

So in "The Schoolboy", Blake describes a young boy who feels oppressed by the institution of school, longing for the freedom found in nature.

Nature is shown as nurturing, full of joy and essential for growth while school is presented as an oppressive force that stifles the boy's natural spirit and happiness.

Blake contrasts these two environments, suggesting that true education should be liberating and foster freedom, rather than imprisoning the child within a restrictive controlling institution.

So we've got our summary checklist here.

We can see that Izzy has identified who the speaker is, a young boy who feels oppressed by the institution of school.

She has summarised what the speaker describes, longing for the freedom found in nature.

She has described how nature is presented and also how school is presented.

So she has done all of those things on the summary checklist.

So now it's over to you to do exactly the same as we have just done with Izzy.

So read through your work and use the checklist to check your own work.

So give yourself a tick when you find in your work that you have done the following, pause the video and get that task done.

Okay, well done everyone.

That is the first part of the lesson done and now we're going to move on to be thinking about exploring the romantic context of the poem.

So romanticism was a really important artistic and intellectual movement in the late 18th and early 19th century.

Now, the ideas that came from romanticism still influence our thinking today.

So it's a really important movement.

Now, the work of romantic writers adheres to the following conventions and can use some of the following.

So the awe of nature, rejection of powerful institutions, critique of progress, fascination with the past, and an emphasis on emotion.

So what I would like you to do now is to discuss which conventions does "The Schoolboy" align with.

Can you refer to specific quotations? So pause the video to discuss your answer to those questions.

Or as ever, if you're working on your own, just think quietly to yourself or even write down some ideas.

Pause the video and we'll feed back in a moment, off you go.

Okay, great.

It's really interesting, isn't it, that you can really start to see these romantic influences in Blake's work.

So let's just look at some of those conventions now.

So we can argue that "The Schoolboy" aligns with the following romantic conventions.

So awe of nature, rejection of powerful institutions and emphasis on emotion.

So some specific quotations in the awe of nature is "Birds sing on every tree and the sky Lark sings with me", and they really highlight Blake's reverence for nature and celebrate nature's sublime power.

Like this poem really celebrates the beauty of nature, doesn't it? You can feel that awe, that sublime power and the rejection of powerful institutions and the quotation is, "And I shall never, never be a boy again." And this quotation reveals a critique of institutions that restrict freedom.

And I think this poem does nothing to hide the fact that Blake is really critical of education and school as an institution.

Okay, and I think that's really interesting.

He isn't saying that all education is bad, he's just saying the formalised education found in schools, it restricts freedom and creativity and that emphasis on emotion.

So if we look back to "The Schoolboy", we get this quotation here, "Oh father dear, I am weary and oh how I am tired." And this is a real emotional plea, isn't it? It feels like that.

And it focuses on individual feelings and emotional expression.

And you can see that just from those exclamation points.

So which of the following romantic conventions does "The Schoolboy" present? So look at answers A, B, C, and D and pick your answer, pause the video to do that.

Okay, so well done to everyone that picked three answers.

Bit of a sneaky one, so that is A, B, and D.

So we have the emphasis on emotion, the awe of nature, and the rejection of powerful institutions.

So many romantics, including Blake, opposed rigid schooling because they believed it stifled creativity and natural joy.

So for Blake, education was in nature and experiencing life in nature.

So I'd like you please to reread stanza four.

So shall we do that together? Okay, great.

Let's reread Stanza four together.

How can the bird that is born for joy sit in a cage and sing? How can a child when fears annoy but droop his tender wing and forget his youthful spring? And I'd like you to discuss, please, how does this metaphor reinforce romantic ideas around childhood and nature? So pause the video so you can come up with your answers to that question.

Off you go.

Excellent, thank you everyone for your contributions.

So we're just going to look at how some of our Oak pupils answered that question.

So Aisha said the child forgets his youthful spring, symbolising how institutions suppress authenticity and there is a denial of self.

That's a really perceptive point from Aisha.

This is another critique of institutions is that you couldn't be your authentic self.

So there is this idea that he's forgetting who he really is.

He's losing his innocence in this institution.

And Laura says, the stanza shows the child like the bird cannot thrive when confined or controlled for Blake and romanticism children should be free.

Lovely comment there from Laura.

And Alex says, the child's fears and drooping wings highlight school stifles natural joy and serve as a critique of powerful institutions.

And I think that drooping wing is quite an emotive image, isn't it, in terms of how school is affecting the boy.

So I'd like you please to reread those answers and just to spend a moment discussing who do you agree with most and why? Pause the video to get discussing, off you go.

So now I'd just like you to think about your own personal responses to the poem.

So this is about your opinion.

Do you agree with Blake's portrayal of childhood? What might he be saying about society's treatment of children? So I'd like you to pause the video to discuss your ideas to that question.

Think quietly to yourself or write some ideas down.

Off you go.

Okay, really lovely, thoughtful ideas coming out there.

I'd just like you now to choose a statement, please, that best explains how "The Schoolboy" aligns with romance romanticism.

So pause the video to read those answers and select which one you think is correct.

Off you go.

Okay, so well done to everyone who noticed that it highlights nature's beauty and criticises how strict institutions like school limit a child's freedom and joy.

So that's how schoolboy aligns best of romanticism.

And I think if we look at one of the wrong answers here, so Bea says it argues that all education is harmful and should be completely rejected.

And I think this is a really important point to keep emphasising, the romantics didn't believe that all education was bad, it's just the strict institutional education or the rigid institutional education.

Okay, so second and final practise task.

So a little bit more work from all of you, keep it up.

So there is a statement here, Blake's depiction of childhood reflects romantic values and conventions.

I'd like you please to find three quotations that support this statement.

And for each quotation, I would then like you to identify which romantic convention or idea is being presented and explain how Blake explores this convention in the quotation.

So pause the video so you have time to complete this task, off you go.

Good work everyone and thank you.

So now we're going to look at one of Andeep's answers.

So remember you needed to find three quotations.

We're just gonna look at one of Andeep's.

So Andeep found this quotation "And the tender plants are stripped of their joy in the springing day." And he's identified the romantic convention as connection between childhood and nature, critique of oppressive institutions.

So he's identified that convention and he explains it as this, Blake compares children to tender plants, suggesting they need freedom and nurturing to thrive.

School, like an oppressive force, strips them of their natural joy, reinforcing the romantic idea that rigid institutions harm both nature and childhood innocence.

And that's a really lovely explanation from Andeep there.

So I would like you to check your work please.

Do you have three quotations? Have you identified the romantic convention being presented in each quotation and have you explained how Blake explores the convention in the quotation? So pause a video to give yourself time to read through and check your work.

Off you go.

Well done everyone, we have reached the end of the lesson and I really hope you have enjoyed exploring this poem.

I find it really interesting and I love Blake's work.

So we know that Blake contrast childhood freedom with the restrictions imposed by formal education.

The speaker is a young boy who feels conflicted between the freedom of nature and the impressive structure of school.

Blake presents school as an oppressive institution that stifles creativity and natural joy.

And then finally the poem emphasised romantic themes such as reverence for nature, emotion, and opposition to oppressive institutions.

So again, a very well done everyone, and I look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Goodbye.