Lesson Overview 

Power Point for the Lesson

There is a Power Point (I've included it below along with a PDF version) of this lesson that I used the last few years that I taught.  It was created for remote learning - but could be used to  help with focus as well - though it is absolutely not necessary - and in fact, given how much there is to do - it may be a hinderance. It also differs from the basic lesson by including the biographical material on Wordswoth which we normally would just gloss over (having covered a good deal of it in our Intro to the Romantics Lesson).  

Quiz / Test

Because we are doing so much today - the only quiz that I give a simple one - one question that could be answered regardless of whether they read or not for class.  Why?  Because we are going over every single poem in question in class - we don't have time for a long quiz - and finally, today is such an important day - and the activities and discussions so consquential, I need to know who was in class (from their short quizzes) and I usually give them 200 points - and those that missed the class will need to make it up (usually by listening to the audio (or video) of today's lesson.

 See my handwritten Lesson Notes for even more details on what follows.

Biographical Material

Because therer is so much to do today (hurray!), there really isn't time to go over Wordsworth's biographical material - though some it (Nature, Lucy, etc.) is part of the lesson.  In the Power Point found below, that accompanies the lesson, there is biographical material simply because during Remote Teaching and the horrible Block Scheduling that followed - we had the time.  I work a few things into that biographical material (usually I just have students read (in succesion) a page of the slide) - but I do talk a bit about Wordsworth's turn later in life to conservatism and his attempted revision of his earlier work.  I compare that to what Jack Kerouac did in the 20th Century.

A reminder

Because of the final poem - which talks about how we utilize wonderful memories - I start the class by showing a slide or having it on my electronic sign (a 56 inch tv) a picture from our Carpe Diem lesson (just a few weeks earlier), where we went out to see he first flowers of spring.  This is a "meta" step in the lesson.

A Trip to the Bridge

The first poem we will consider is "Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802".  Before we look at the  poem, I show the students a slide image of London (actually its Manchester) and what it looked like during Wordsworth's time (the slide is found on the Power Point below).  It is SO polluted that you can barely see the buildings.  I then ask the students: "So if you are a Nature Lover - Devotee, like Wordsworth - and you spend most of your time in the Industrial Revolution Polluted City - how in the world do you reconcile this with your adoration of Nature.  At that point, I ask the students to take their handouts, get up, and we took a short walk over to the bridge that connected my school's Academic Building to its Art Building.  The bridge goes over the busy Adams street - and the view on the east side of the bridge is of downtown Chicago.

Once the students are there (and I was famous for hurrying them along - saying anyone more than 10 seconds behind me would get an F for the day) - once they are there - I tell them to go to the east side of the bridge.  "Look at downtown - imagine it is London - imagine the street below us with its cars it the Thames, with its slow moving boats.  We have gotten up early - before the factories start spilling their smoke into the city.  All is clear."

And then - I read the poem loudly and clearly (it is SO important that students are LIstening - tell them before you begin reading the poem to NOT look at their handouts - you may even want them to not take them with them (but I liked for them to be able jot something down after the experience).

When I read the final line: "And all that mighty heart is lying still!" - You can hear the quietude and the impact the poem - in this setting - has on the students.  Over 200 years have passed - and nothing has changed.  Return to your classroom (this brings up the interesting point that most of you won't have such a spectacular view to read the Wordsworth poem - but any view of the outside will do) and read some more of these Wordsworth poems. 

A Slumber did my Spirit Seal

Please see my handwritten notes on the poems handout and the Power Point where I have included notes -  for more directives on teaching the following poems.  Before beginning this poem, briefly talk about the "Lucy" poems that Wordsworth wrote - this text and the following are among that series.

She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways

Please see my handwritten notes on the poems handout and the Power Point where I have included notes -  for more directives on teaching the following poems.   The second of the "Lucy" poems to be discussed.  Again - that idea of missing out on something (Lucy) because - in this case - she "dwelt" about from others.  Also notable because it is a much more subtle and developed idea that Thomas Gray, in his "Elegy in a Country Churchyard" could only come across as being patronizing (the flower blooming in the desert).

To a Skylark

Please see my handwritten notes on the poems handout and the Power Point where I have included notes -  for more directives on teaching the following poems.   This is the second time we've encountered skylarks in this class (the first was...).  But this is the first time that the specifics of that bird are integral to understanding the poem (Rule #2 - "Know the Meaning of Every Word").  So after we talk about what makes skylarks so special we go through the poem together - see my Power Point (found below) there is almost a line by line discussion (with notes).  Such an incredible poem - it compares (subtly) skylarks with poets): They both incredibly are inspired by the earth and its tribulations - while lifting us above that sadness.

A Choice: 4 more poems or "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"

And now you have to make a choice - if you are on (the horrific) Block Scheduling, you can read all of the rest of the Wordsworth poems (skip ahead to those poems, starting with "The World is too Much With Us") and end with "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud".  If you are on a shorter schedule, you can skip right now to that final poem.  It is, in any case, the poem that should end today's lesson.

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

Remember - this is the poem that should end the first day's lesson (if you have time do the following poems then come back here).  On the Power Point, this poem is not broken into very small lines - but instead it is divided into its stanzas.

This is one of the few poems that I read aloud, myself, as the teacher.  I know it almost by heart - and I think given the nature of its message - it's important for the teacher to read it with as much truth and meaning as they can muster.  Because I am reading this towards the end of the year - that is not too difficult.  One year I even posted pictures of my classes and I walking through a nearby park when we did the Intro to the Romantics Lesson.  I read one stanza at a time - then we stop and we talk about it.  Again see my Power Point (with notes) and my handwritten Lesson Notes for the exact questions (and answers) that I ask.

After we read and discuss the final line - I went around the room and handed a daffodil to each student - so they could carry the memory of this lesson - and I'd like to hope, the entire year.

MCNuts - A Followup Video

After I pass out the daffodils - I play a short music video (found below) featuring a Very Large Squirrel - rapping out Wordsworth's poem (for the most part) while frolicking in the Lake District - among the daffodils.

The World is too Much with Us

Please see my handwritten notes on the poems handout and the Power Point where I have included notes -  for more directives on teaching the following poems.  What an incredibly important poem for our day and age!  We go through the poem line(s) by line.  Remind the students to uncover the poem – line by line as we go over it – this really helps students not get overwhelmed by too much.  The poem is (again see my PowerPoint & handwritten notes) about spending so much time on gaining material goods that we lose sight of the things that are truly important in life.

It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free

Please see my handwritten notes on the poems handout and the Power Point where I have included notes -  for more directives on teaching the following poems.  In this poem we focus on the incredible imagery AND the surprise at the end.  After spending the majority of the poem talking about how beautiful and perfect it is, and the awe that he is in from Nature's handiwork - he shockingly says that he understands why his sister, Dorothy, appears not to be moved at all by what she sees.

London, 1802

Please see my handwritten notes on the poems handout and the Power Point where I have included notes -  for more directives on teaching the following poems.  This poem is great, not only for what and how it says what it does - but for an activity that it lends itself to when we are done discussing the poem.  

AFTER you are done discussing the poem – I ask the students to get out a piece of paper and to write down TWO things:
What is it you truly love that you feel isn’t as good as it used to be.  This could be music, baseball, video games, anything.
Who would you call back – who is no longer living – that you feel did it the best – and could make things right.  For example, 1) Writing Novels  2) Toni Morrison
Explain that this is what Wordsworth does here – he sees Poetry as being in “trouble” and he believes Milton is the one to come back from the dead and fix it.

Depending on how much time  you have – either go around the entire room – or get volunteers.