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Year 10
AQA

Analysing mankind and nature in Wordsworth's 'Lines Written in Early Spring'

I can explain how Wordsworth uses language and structure to present the beauty of nature and the imperfection of mankind in 'Lines Written in Early Spring'.

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New
New
Year 10
AQA

Analysing mankind and nature in Wordsworth's 'Lines Written in Early Spring'

I can explain how Wordsworth uses language and structure to present the beauty of nature and the imperfection of mankind in 'Lines Written in Early Spring'.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Wordsworth presents nature as beautiful and harmonious through vocabulary and euphonic sounds.
  2. Arguably, Wordsworth presents nature as beautiful and harmonious to suggest we should have reverence for nature.
  3. On the other hand, Wordsworth may present nature as beautiful to emphasise the chaos of mankind.
  4. Wordsworth breaking the regular rhyme and rhythm could represent the imperfections of mankind.

Keywords

  • Sublime - the mixed feelings of awe and terror in response to a phenomenon

  • Half-rhyme - a type of rhyme formed by words with similar but not identical sounds

  • Euphony - the combining of words that sound pleasant together or are easy to pronounce

  • Reverence - deep respect for someone or something

  • Personification - attribution of human characteristics to non-human things

Common misconception

The 'sublime' refers to something solely positive.

While the 'sublime' suggests a reverence and awe for something, it also implies ideas of feeling insignificant and overwhelmed by it which therefore adds the idea of terror or fear.


To help you plan your year 10 english lesson on: Analysing mankind and nature in Wordsworth's 'Lines Written in Early Spring', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

You might like to spend more time practising identifying meter if this is unfamiliar to your students.
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Equipment

You will need access to a copy of the AQA World and Lives anthology for this lesson.

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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), 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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6 Questions

Q1.
Personification means...
a detailed analysis and assessment of a text.
words that imitate the natural sound associated with their meaning.
Correct answer: attribution of human characteristics to non-human things.
Q2.
Which pair of words rhyme?
"stone" and "frown"
Correct answer: "reclined" and "mind"
Correct answer: "air" and "there"
Q3.
Which of the following is an accurate summary of Wordsworth's 'Lines Written in Early Spring'?
The speaker is upset at how unruly and chaotic nature is.
Correct answer: The speaker considers nature as beautiful and harmonious.
The speaker is praising how unified mankind is while sitting in nature.
Q4.
'Blended' means...
something separate
Correct answer: something combined
something positive
something negative
Q5.
Arguably, by repeating "what man has made of man", Wordsworth's intentions in 'Lines Written in Early Spring' are...
to celebrate mankind's achievements.
to celebrate mankind's reverence for nature.
Correct answer: to lament mankind's actions.
Q6.
Which two emotions might the word "heaven" create as used in 'Lines Written in Early Spring'?
Correct answer: joy
Correct answer: terror
sadness
anger

6 Questions

Q1.
Reverence means having...
Correct answer: deep respect for something
some respect for something
little respect for something
no respect for something
Q2.
Half-rhyme means...
Correct answer: a type of rhyme formed by words with similar but not identical sounds
a correspondence of sound between words or the endings of words
there are no rhyming words in the poem
Q3.
Arguably, the imperfections in Wordsworth's 'Lines Written in Early Spring' suggests...
Correct answer: mankind is imperfect
Wordsworth is imperfect
nature is imperfect
Q4.
Euphonic sounds are...
noiseless sounds
harsh sounds
Correct answer: pleasing sounds
Q5.
Which meter is the line "What man has made of man", taken from 'Lines Written in Early Spring', written in?
iambic pentameter
iambic tetrameter
Correct answer: iambic trimeter
Q6.
The mixed feelings of awe and terror in response to a phenomenon is known as the...
Correct Answer: sublime