Understanding ideas of belonging in Wordsworth's 'I wandered lonely as a cloud'
I can understand how Wordsworth presents ideas of nature and belonging in ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’.
Understanding ideas of belonging in Wordsworth's 'I wandered lonely as a cloud'
I can understand how Wordsworth presents ideas of nature and belonging in ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’.
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Lesson details
Key learning points
- Wordsworth was a leading Romantic poet who revered ideas of nature and emotion.
- Throughout the poem, Wordsworth implies that nature brings joy and happiness to the speaker’s previous “lonely” life.
- Potentially, we might see Wordsworth as suggesting that humanity can find a sense of belonging in nature.
- However, we might also interpret Wordsworth as connecting nature to the Romantic sublime in the poem.
- This connection of nature to the Romantic sublime might undermine our understanding of belonging.
Keywords
Romanticism - 18th and 19th century artistic and literary movement that celebrated nature, emotion and individuality
Belonging - a feeling of being happy or comfortable as part of a particular group or in a particular place
Revere - to very much respect and admire someone or something
Sublime - Romantic idea that we should feel awe towards nature - a mixture of both fear and respect
Awe - a feeling of great respect sometimes mixed with fear or surprise
Common misconception
You cannot be both respected and feared.
The Romantic sublime was the concept that we should feel awe towards nature - a mixture of both fear and respect.
To help you plan your year 11 english lesson on: Understanding ideas of belonging in Wordsworth's 'I wandered lonely as a cloud', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 11 english lesson on: Understanding ideas of belonging in Wordsworth's 'I wandered lonely as a cloud', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
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Explore more key stage 4 english lessons from the Poetry anthology (Assessment from summer 2027) unit, dive into the full secondary english curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
There is a copy of Wordsworth's 'I wandered lonely as a cloud' in the additional materials.
Licence
Lesson video
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