Intertextuality and the context of reception: Introduction, Songs of Experience

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1 Lesson plan Resources Resource A quotation cards Resource B copy of the poem Resource C - film clip of Resource D close analysis task sheets Learning objectives To consider Blake and his mission To discover the poem s biblical messages To analyse closely the poem Starter activity Blake as narrator Recap prior knowledge about Blake (e.g. artist and poet, religious nonconformist, critical of society and the established church, saw himself as prophet, etc.). In his poem, Blake presents himself as bard (poet) and sets out his mission or purpose for his Songs of Experience Allocate quotation cards [Resource A] to students, who identify key words in the quotation and infer something about the bard and his mission Feedback to create mind map on the board Who is Blake the bard? Use this information to make predictions about the content of the poem. reading the poem Read the poem [Resource B] and hear the initial responses from students as to what they think the poem is about. Label the stanzas as follows: 1) Introducing the Bard 2) The Bard s mission 3) The Bard s instructions to earth 4) The Bard s appeal to earth Main activity 1 understanding the poem s religious significance Blake is known for his use of religious imagery and biblical allusion What aspects of the poem do the students recognize as being religious? Give students thinking time in pairs, then they feedback ideas and annotate the poem. (They are likely to pick up at least things like Holy Word and soul and some might get the more abstract ideas of trees and fallen and some echoes of biblical language) Watch the film clip [Resource C] and discuss the significance of the Genesis story (i.e. man s disobedience in eating from the tree leads to the fall and a breakdown in man s relationship with God, who is described as walking in the garden) What links can the students make between the Genesis story and the poem? For example: a. Who is the Holy Word who walks in the garden in line 4? i. Who is Blake claiming he hears from? b. What might be the significance of the trees in line 5? c. Why might souls be described as lapsed in line 6? d. Why is fallen repeated in line 10? e. Why might the Earth be called to return in line 11? i. Where/what do people need to return to? (God / the garden) f. What might the images of renewal ( morn, break of day ) suggest? Page 1 of 5

2 Main activity 2 group close analysis of the poem and jigsaw peer-teaching Divide students into three even groups and allocate task sheets [Resource D]. More able students could be given responsibility for leading a group. Once completed, jig-saw the groups into new groups of three so students can peer-teach the topic they have been discussing. Plenary reflections What have we learnt this lesson about: Blake and his mission? Blake s view of the earth s condition? Blake s use of biblical imagery? The meaning of the poem? Homework Write an essay closely analysing the poem. Page 2 of 5

3 Resources Resource A quotation cards Hear the voice of the Bard the Bard present, past, and future, sees [the Bard s] ears have heard / The Holy Word [the Bard is] Calling the lapsed soul [the Bard is] weeping in the evening dew [the Bard calls] O Earth, O Earth, return! [the Bard calls] O Earth / Arise from out the dewy grass! [the Bard calls] Turn away no more; / Why wilt thou turn away? Page 3 of 5

4 Resource B Hear the voice of the Bard, Who present, past, and future, sees; Whose ears have heard The Holy Word That walked among the ancient trees; Calling the lapsed soul, And weeping in the evening dew; That might control The starry pole, And fallen, fallen light renew! O Earth, O Earth, return! Arise from out the dewy grass! Night is worn, And the morn Rises from the slumbrous mass. Turn away no more; Why wilt thou turn away? The starry floor, The watery shore, Is given thee till the break of day. Resource C Page 4 of 5

5 Resource D close analysis task sheets Closely consider the structure of the poem. Rhyme Different line-lengths Enjambement (a run-on line) Repetition Contrast List Closely consider the language and imagery of the poem. Pastoral (natural / countryside) imagery Water imagery Light and dark imagery Time words Rising and falling imagery Closely consider the voice and characters of the poem. Proper nouns (names) Imperatives (instructions) Exclamations Questions Promises/reassurances Page 5 of 5