Switch to our new English teaching resources

Slide decks, worksheets, quizzes and lesson planning guidance designed for your classroom.

Play new resources video

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. 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
Correct answer: 1749
Q2.
Charlotte Smith was a part of the second generation of Romantic writers.
Correct answer: False
True
Q3.
How many children did Charlotte Smith have?
Correct answer: 12
2
4
6
Q4.
Smith's poems are often about feeling...
Carefree
Happy
Correct answer: Imprisoned
Nonplussed
Q5.
Women were equal to men during the time period that Smith was writing.
Correct answer: False
True
Q6.
How many lines are in a sonnet?
13
Correct answer: 14
6
8
Q7.
What is an 8 line section of poetry called?
Couplet
Correct answer: Octave
Quatrain
Septet
Q8.
How many lines are in a quatrain?
2
Correct answer: 4
6
8
Q9.
What type of sonnet is 'To A Nightingale' written in?
Modern
Correct answer: Petrarchan
Shakespearean
Spenserian

8 Questions

Q1.
What form is the poem written in?
Ballad
Epic
Narrative
Correct answer: Sonnet
Q2.
Which word means 'feeling sad without really knowing why'?
Angst
Hubris
Correct answer: Melancholy
Schadenfreude
Q3.
Who or what does Smith say that the nightingale is telling its story to?
A forest
A portrait hanging on the wall
Correct answer: The moon
William Wordsworth
Q4.
'Sweet sorrow' and 'Mournful melody' are examples of what?
Correct answer: Alliteration
Anadiplosis
Anaphora
Personification
Q5.
Which word means 'the events of someone's life being beyond their control'?
Correct answer: Fate
Isolation
Peripeteia
Semantics
Q6.
Smith wonders if the nightingale had been hurt by:
A fox
Family
Fate
Correct answer: Friends
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
Correct answer: Martyr
Q8.
Ultimately, we learn that Smith is _________ because the nightingale can fly away and leave its problems behind and she can't.
Angry
Correct answer: Jealous
Melancholy
Sad

Lesson appears in

UnitEnglish / Romantic poetry and paired texts: Romanticism and Nature

English