 Hello, and welcome to our summary where we will be analyzing and looking at William Wordsworth's poem, To My Sister in Detail. Before we go into the details and the analysis of the poem, I think it's really important to be aware of contextual factors that influence the poem, okay? So remember when you are analyzing this poem, which is part of Edexcel's Belonging Anthology, you have to also show an awareness of context, okay? So what we're going to start by doing is looking at context and contextual factors you need to be aware of, and then we're going to read through the poem together in detail and then analyze all the different techniques and the meaning of the poem, okay? So as you can see behind me, I've created a very brief mind map on key contextual factors that you need to be aware of when it comes to this poem. So let's begin with the first point. So always remember that William Wordsworth himself belonged to what we call the Romantic Era, okay? So the Romantic Movement, and he was what we call a Romantic Poet. Remember Romantic Poet and the Romantic Era does not relate to love. It's a particular period in literature, usually roughly between 17 to 1800s, whereby a lot of writers and a lot of poets celebrated nature and they saw anything that was related to nature as being tied to higher ideals, innocence, and nature also had a power that they saw as sublime. So it was very beautiful on the one hand, very innocent, very pleasing, very pure. However, the other side of the sublime aspect of nature is that nature was all-powerful and it also had a very dark side to it, okay? So William Wordsworth being a Romantic Poet, he also saw nature as on the one hand, representing innocence, nature also having a healing force, okay? And actually, this is one of the things that influences this poem to my sister. But of course, one of the other things that he saw to nature is that it had a really dark and scary side. And this is shown through one of his other poems called Prelude, okay? So I would suggest maybe Googling and searching up extract from the Prelude to show, which illustrates the dark side of nature from Wordsworth's perspective, okay? So that's the first contextual fact to remember, remember that he was a Romantic Poet. And this poem in particular, of course, is set in the woods, but it was written in 1798 when he was in Somerset, okay? And he was in Grand Mansion, of course, he was there with his sister and his family home. And bear in mind that he was recovering from depression, okay? So he was going through a depressive period and he wrote this poem as he was emerging from this depressive period. Of course, the title of the poem to my sister obviously illustrates that this poem is written directly to his own sister and his sister was called Dorothy, okay? So Dorothy Wordsworth and he had a very good and close relationship with her. And remember that as I've mentioned before, he was emerging from a depressive period, okay? So he was suffering from depression and he was emerging from it. And this poem really symbolizes him looking to nature as a way to heal him, but also looking at nature as a place of promise which really tugged him out of his depressive period. The final contextual factor to bear in mind is that this poem, of course, describes a wish to walk to the woods and this walk in the woods is related to how he saw nature as teaching him something really important, as showing him through its sublime elements something about life and about human nature, okay? So now that you have this contextual factor and all of this contextual information related to William Wordsworth, let's read through the poem and analyse it together in depth. Let's read the poem to my sister. It is the first mild day of March, each minute sweeter than before. The red breast sings from the tall lodge that stands beside our door. There is a blessing in the air which seems a sense of joy to yield to the bare trees and the mountain's bare and grass and the green field. My sister does a wish of mine. Now that our morning meal is done, make haste to your morning task resign, come forth and fill the sun. Edward will come with you and pray, put on with speed your woodland dress and bring no book. For this one day will give to idleness. No joyless forms shall regulate our living calendar. We, from today my friend, will date the opening of the year. Love now, a universal birth from heart to heart as stealing, from earth to man, from man to earth. It is the hour of feeling. One moment now may give us more than years of toiling reason. Our minds shall drink at every pour the spirit of the season. Some silent laws our hearts will make, which they shall long obey. We, for the year to come, may take our temper from today. And from the blessed power that rolls about below above will frame the measure of our souls. They shall be turned to love. Then come, my sister, come up pray with speed, put on your woodland dress and bring no book. For this one day will give to idleness. Now, in terms of the poem itself and the message, essentially what this poem is, it's essentially the narrator who we can assume is willing words with himself, telling his sister, hey, you know, it's the first day of March, spring has started, let's go out, wear your woodland dress, basically an outfit that is suitable for a walk, and let's go out and join nature because it's going to have something to teach us, okay? And remember that he had written this poem when he was just emerging from a period of depression. He was in a really depressive state. However, of course, this reflects words with own feeling of hope as he is emerging from this expressive state. But equally, his idea that nature can be really healing and also it's a teacher. So given that we have read this poem, let's analyze it in depth. As I mentioned before, in terms of context, this poem reflects words with own romantic leanings in terms of how lots of nature is used. And as I keep on stating, he had written this poem contextually speaking when he was emerging from a depressive state. So let's analyze it in depth. Now, starting with in terms of how it's written, remember that this poem is written in quatrains, which means four line stanzas, and it has a consistent A, B, A, B rhyme scheme. In other words, if you even look at the first verse, okay? So the words at the end march before large door, march and larch, which is A, A, rhyme, and then before and door rhyme again. And this obviously continues throughout the poem. Remember also in terms of the overarching message, bear in mind that the speaker enters into natural spaces, which is of course the walk in nature, to shake off the mundanity of everyday life, okay? Mundane is just, it means regular. And this is typical of romantic era poetry, where nature was seen as bringing peace, happiness and escape from the chaos of life. In the first verse, the first line, it is the first day of march. Here, pathetic fallacy, of course, the idea of the day, time, and of it being in the springtime march, represents a simple scene that's filled with peace and serenity. Remember that march is the start of spring, so there's lots of promise of the future. Moreover, the alliteration of M in mild, march in minute conveys a feeling of harmony, of hope. Moreover, the sibilance of sweetest things in stand in verse one, creates a really positive upbeat tone. The speaker is really, really optimistic that this walk, and remember of course, the walk actually never happens. He's just basically telling the sister, hey, let's go out, you know, make haste, dress quickly, let's go, we're gonna have this amazing walk in nature. They don't actually walk, okay? So this is just before, presumably, they walk through nature. However, the sibilance in the first verse creates this positive upbeat tone and we sense a lot of hope. Moreover, the semantic field of nature is extended through the mention of red breast and larch, both of which are birds. Again here, this is very typical of romantic era poetry. Moreover, the reference to our door, this is the fourth line of the first stanza. This is a plural possessive pronoun hour, which signifies that there's more than one person here, so it's likely Wordsworth, who's speaking to Sister Dorothy. In the second verse, he mentions, or rather the speaker mentions, there's a blessing in the air. Now, blessing in the air shows that the speaker's head is really clear, he's at peace. And contextually, this was written when Wordsworth was emerging from a depressive period, okay? So now, this depression, this feeling of sadness, which fogged his brain before, it's now cleared, okay? And this is reflected through him feeling this blessing in the air. Moreover, he says that this blessing has a sense of joy to yield. So we can see here that the speaker is in a good mood, and he sees the world as a joyful one. Furthermore, the repetition of the word bear shows that nature is still bear as a result of just emerging from winter, okay? So winter has just ended, however, there's this promise of regrowth. And bear also could reflect the speaker's mind, and even by extension, Wordsworth, his mind being now bear and empty of clouded thoughts of sadness. Furthermore, the alliteration of G in grass and grill, green, emphasises the fissunder tea, which means fertility of nature, now that spring has begun. And the following verse, so in the third verse, he mentions, my sister, mine, morning meal, make haste and mourning, okay? So here you have alliteration of M, and this creates a really nice pleasing rhythm. Furthermore, when he mentions my sister, which is an exclamatory sentence, it shows how happy the speaker is to see sister, who's just entered, okay? So he's just seeing her, my sister, and then he speaks in parenthesis, okay? So brackets, here. It is a wish of mine. And this parenthesis shows that the speaker is expressing what he wants his desire to sister. And this desire is, come forth, fill the sun. So this imperative sentence, and remember imperative sentences, the sentence that issues a command, here he's now expressing his wish, he's asking his sister to leave what she's currently doing, and join him for a walk. In the fourth verse, he mentions Edward. Now, Edward is likely a child, again going back to context here a little bit, that both Wordsworth and his sister were looking after, okay? So he, and what the speaker's saying is, oh yeah, don't worry too much about Edward, he can come with us, okay? So he states, Edward will come with you. Then he mentions to his sister to put on your woodland dress. Now here, he's asking her to wear something that's suitable for walking in the woods. Then the speaker states, bring notebook. Now, alliteration of B here, and remember B is a plosive sound, as well as the caesura, which we can see in the colon. What this illustrates is that the speaker wants this walk to have no distractions. He really wants them to both be immersed in the beauty of the nature that they see around them. Then the speaker states, we'll give into idleness. Now, the abstract noun idleness emphasizes how he wants them to just get lost in enjoying nature. In the following verse, the speaker states, no joyless forms shall regularly are living calendar. And this relates back to the way that nature seems to offer an escape from the daily grind, the daily mundanity that everybody is almost tied into. Furthermore, the reference to our living calendar is a metaphor for life. And then the speaker states, we from today. Now, the plural pronoun we shows the bond that the speaker has between themselves and their sister. And of course, by extension, he can actually consider that this is Wordsworth, who has a close relationship with the sister Dorothy. Furthermore, at the end of this verse, he mentions the opening of the year, and this shows that the speaker sees that particular day where he's talking to sister as symbolizing a fresh start and a new beginning for them. Now, in the following verse, there's a really strong theme of love that's explored as the speaker reflects on how love travels between people, but equally between nature and man. Then the speaker states, love now universal birth. Here, the hyperbole, which is used here in universal, shows the speaker's reflection that love is a cycle that everyone should participate in. Furthermore, the reference to heart is heart is stealing. Here, love is personified as stealing, or a sneaking, and having the ability to travel from one person to another. Furthermore, when the speaker states from earth to man, from man to earth, here, there's some what we would call syntactic parallelism. Syntax is sentence structure. As you can see, the first half of the sentence from earth to man, there's then it's inverted, okay, it goes comma and then from man to earth, okay, so this is syntax, sentence structure, and these two sentences, or rather these two phrases, are parallel to each other. And what this shows is that love can be shared between man and nature, and it's not constricted just to human relationships. Now, in the following verse, the speaker states, one moment now may give us more. The years of toiling reads, and now here the hyperbole shows how they feel like this experience in the woods will give them far more than any years of toiling and working can never get them. So nature has something really important and profound to teach them. Furthermore, the speaker is really excited, they state, our minds shall drink and their minds here are personified as soaking in new lessons from nature on their walk. So this is why the speaker is so excited about this walk, they're going to learn so much. Then the assonance of E in every pore alludes to the full body experience as experience when walking in nature. The mention of the spirit of the season, so here the sibilance of spirit and season emphasize how spring has a lot to offer the speaker as well as the sister. In the following verse, the speaker refers to some silent laws our heart will make and the sibilance here, especially of some in silent alludes to how this walking nature will teach them new truths and laws that they will remember. Maybe these laws are hidden to them, but nature is going to reveal this to them. They state, which they shall long obey now here, the speaker stating that their hearts will long obey the rules of love and happiness that nature teaches. For the year to come, in this line, the speaker stating that the walking nature will fortify and strengthen them for the coming year. In the following verse, they talk about the blessed power. Now here, religious language is being used to describe the natural world as this higher being. Again, this is very typical of romantic poetry. A case of nature is seen as really close to God and it's really sublime. Furthermore, the reference to about below above, so here there's a syndeton and this shows the higher supernatural presence that's all around them in nature. Moreover, the speaker is happy that this will frame the measure of our souls. Now here, the speaker stating that their lives are going to be transformed if they can learn to live in a way that's in accordance with nature and they then state, they shall be turned to love. So what they're saying here is the souls will be filled with love if they can learn to live according to the laws of nature, but they must also respect nature. So they have to respect the lessons that they're going to learn from nature on this walk. In the following verse, the speaker then continues, then come my sister. And again here, this extended sentence shows his excitement at this epiphany. Remember epiphany is a sudden realization or a sudden truth that's learned. And of course, the speaker is really, really excited because they're saying basically, when we walk in this in nature, we're going to learn something amazing. The verse then continues by stating with speed, peton your woodland dress and bring no book for this. One day we'll give to idolness. Now here they are repeating the similar instructions that they've told the sister in stanza four to show that the speaker is convinced that the walk, which has not yet happened, is going to teach them something new and amazing. So that's it when it comes to understanding this poem and analyzing it in depth. And of course also understanding contextual factors related to this poem. I hope you found it useful and thank you so much for listening.