In this video Professors Simon Bainbridge and Sally Bushell discuss Wordsworth’s longer poem, ‘Michael’, first published in the second edition of Lyrical Ballads, 1800.
Professor Bainbridge and Professor Bushell go to a particular site in the Lake District, Greenhead Gill (a gill or ghyll is a mountain stream). This site provides both the setting and inspiration for the poem as well as the place in which it is written. They consider the ways in which Wordsworth builds a sense of place into the poem ‘Michael’.
In this second video, Professors Simon Bainbridge and Sally Bushell walk further up the valley of Greenhead Gill to find a sheepfold. They discuss the significance of the sheepfold as a symbol for the poem ‘Michael’.
Think about the following ideas as you watch the video and Sally discusses the use of symbols in the poem.
These materials are part of an online course you can join freely at Future Learn
In the previous video you have learnt a little about the use of symbols in poetry, particularly in relation to the central object/image of the sheepfold.
Now listen to Professor Keith Hanley’s reading of some core passages in which the sheepfold is used in this way. Listen carefully and think about what the sheepfold stands for, or how its symbolic meaning changes.
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