GCSE-ready- Home
- Lessons
- GCSE & IGCSE English Literature
- Belonging: nature and childhood
Belonging: nature and childhood
🎬 The doodle video for this lesson is coming soon. Subscribe on YouTube to see it first.
Four poems from before 1929 link belonging with the natural world and childhood freedom.
To My Sister (Wordsworth, 1798)
"It is the first mild day of March: / Each minute sweeter than before".
The speaker invites his sister to "Come forth and feel the sun" and to leave work and books: "And bring no book: for this one day / We'll give to idleness."
Belonging comes from sharing nature with someone you love.
The speaker invites his sister to "Come forth and feel the sun" and to leave work and books: "And bring no book: for this one day / We'll give to idleness."
Belonging comes from sharing nature with someone you love.
Sunday Dip (John Clare)
"The morning road is thronged with merry boys" who go swimming on a Sunday.
The boys build confidence, play and make rush boats. Written in rhyming couplets, the poem celebrates the shared joy of village childhood in nature.
The boys build confidence, play and make rush boats. Written in rhyming couplets, the poem celebrates the shared joy of village childhood in nature.
Mild the Mist Upon the Hill (Emily Bronte) and Clear and Gentle Stream (Robert Bridges)
Bronte: a misty evening brings back childhood memories of home under her father's roof. Nature triggers nostalgia, with a hint of sadness.
Bridges: the speaker returns to a stream he has loved since youth and reflects on the time he spent there. Nature offers a lasting place of belonging, though he has changed.
Bridges: the speaker returns to a stream he has loved since youth and reflects on the time he spent there. Nature offers a lasting place of belonging, though he has changed.
How does Wordsworth link belonging and nature in To My Sister?
- He invites his sister outside on the first mild day of spring.
- He wants them to abandon books and work and simply feel nature.
- Belonging comes from shared experience of the natural world.
Answer: Belonging comes from sharing nature with his sister, free from work and books.
To My Sister: shared joy in spring nature. Sunday Dip: village boys' shared freedom. Mild the Mist: memory of home and childhood, nostalgia. Clear and Gentle Stream: lasting bond with a place from youth.
Check you have got it
Answer 6 quick questions with instant marking. If you get one wrong, GCSE-ready shows you why and gives you another go. It is free, and you do not need an account.