Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. In this lesson, we will explore the meaning of Charlotte Smith's 'To A Nightingale' by breaking the sonnet down into sections and carefully analysing the language Smith uses.

Licence

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9 Questions

Q1.
In which year was Charlotte Smith born?
1746
1747
1748
Correct answer: 1749
Q2.
Charlotte Smith was a part of the second generation of Romantic writers.
Correct answer: False
True
Q3.
How many children did Charlotte Smith have?
Correct answer: 12
2
4
6
Q4.
Smith's poems are often about feeling...
Carefree
Happy
Correct answer: Imprisoned
Nonplussed
Q5.
Women were equal to men during the time period that Smith was writing.
Correct answer: False
True
Q6.
How many lines are in a sonnet?
13
Correct answer: 14
6
8
Q7.
What is an 8 line section of poetry called?
Couplet
Correct answer: Octave
Quatrain
Septet
Q8.
How many lines are in a quatrain?
2
Correct answer: 4
6
8
Q9.
What type of sonnet is 'To A Nightingale' written in?
Modern
Correct answer: Petrarchan
Shakespearean
Spenserian

8 Questions

Q1.
What form is the poem written in?
Ballad
Epic
Narrative
Correct answer: Sonnet
Q2.
Which word means 'feeling sad without really knowing why'?
Angst
Hubris
Correct answer: Melancholy
Schadenfreude
Q3.
Who or what does Smith say that the nightingale is telling its story to?
A forest
A portrait hanging on the wall
Correct answer: The moon
William Wordsworth
Q4.
'Sweet sorrow' and 'Mournful melody' are examples of what?
Correct answer: Alliteration
Anadiplosis
Anaphora
Personification
Q5.
Which word means 'the events of someone's life being beyond their control'?
Correct answer: Fate
Isolation
Peripeteia
Semantics
Q6.
Smith wonders if the nightingale had been hurt by:
A fox
Family
Fate
Correct answer: Friends
Q7.
Smith suggests that the nightingale might also have been hurt by a love which went bad. Which word does she use to describe the nightingale?
Bystander
Champion
Hero
Correct answer: Martyr
Q8.
Ultimately, we learn that Smith is _________ because the nightingale can fly away and leave its problems behind and she can't.
Angry
Correct answer: Jealous
Melancholy
Sad

Lesson appears in

UnitEnglish / Romantic poetry and paired texts: Romanticism and Nature

English