Pamela M. Price-Anisman
Overview
This unit is designed to be included in that part of the English 4 curriculum covering the English novel. Although the material will be more easily absorbed by college level and advanced students, the activities can be adjusted for classes with low to average reading capabilities. Much of the emphasis is on accumulation of detail about a specific era. All students feel they have accomplished
something
if they know more facts than when they started. The long range expectations vary for each level:
1. remedial classes—
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short stories
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excerpts from novels
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one complete short novel
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2. grade level and
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college level classes—short fiction
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poetry
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non-fiction
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one full-length novel
3. Honors classes—
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short fiction
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poetry
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non-fiction
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2 full-length novels (and a
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short paper on a third)
The unit should be used in one block of time, perhaps one half of a semester, depending upon the group and the amount of material read.
Outline of Activities
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1. Pretests—students discover how much they don’t know
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2. Time Line—students visualize the closeness of the nineteenth century
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3. Slides/Lecture—In search of common sights and background material
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4. Victorian language—excerpts that would appeal to a variety of readers
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5. Victorian themes—poetry that captures the undercurrents of conflict
Victoriana—A Survey
Objective
To measure students’ knowledge of nineteenth century England
Preparation
Distribute copies of questions to students
Procedure
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1. Students are to complete each survey in 10 to 15 minutes.
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2. This is a self-graded test; students will need time to make corrections.
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3. Suggestion: Use the same test at the end of the unit to measure improvement.
Results
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1. Teachers will be able to more accurately assess the depth of review needed.
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2. Students will realize how little they actually know.
Note
Imagination is a major tool during any review. Facts are helpful. Flavor is immeasurably more important. The greater the anticipation, the easier the hurdles will seem as the unit progresses. With upper level classes, a challenge might be issued before the pretest. Each student must find as much as possible before the survey.
Victorian England—Sample Survey Questions
Short Answer Type
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1. What monarch had the longest reign in English history?
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2. Who was the Prince Consort?
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3. What was the architectural triumph of the Great Exhibition?
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4. What was the purpose of the Great Exhibition?
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5. Where did the Royal family live?
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6. What was the governing body of England?
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7. What major form of transportation expanded?
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8. Workers frequently engaged in what form of protest?
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9. The capital of England was _____?
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10. The official Church of England was also called ___ _____.
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11. Name the only universities in England.
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12. What controversy did Charles Darwin spearhead in 1859?
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13. Name two political parties.
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14. Who was the “Grand Old Man” of the liberal party?
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15. Name the influential Jewish novelist who became Prime Minister.
True—False Type
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1. George Eliot was a woman.
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2. Emily Bront‘ wrote
Jane Eyre
.
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3. Most of the English were wealthy.
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4. The US was still a group of colonies.
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5. The main form of transportation was by chariot.
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6. England is surrounded by water.
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7. Shakespeare was alive during most of the century.
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8. Edmund Burke was a famous London retailer.
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9. The middle class became the most powerful political class.
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10. A wealthy businessman could vote prior to 1832.
Elimination
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(Remove all names of people not living and writing in Victorian England)
Graham Greene
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John Buchan
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Ben Jonson
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Dante Gabriel Rosetti
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Cardinal Newman
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Thomas Carlyle
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Samuel Jonson
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Charles Darwin
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John Stuart Mill
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John Donne
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Benjamin Disraeli
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Gerard Manley Hopkins
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William Shakespeare
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Diana Spenser
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John Fowles
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T.S. Eliot
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Thomas Hardy
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Charles Dickens
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Henry Fielding
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John Ruskin
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Emily Bront‘
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Jane Austen
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Robert Browning
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Matthew Arnold
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Geoffrey Chaucer
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Samuel Richardson
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William Makepeace Thackeray
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Alfred Lord Tennyson
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James Joyce
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Sir Francis Bacon
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Time Line Search
Objectives
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1. To demonstrate the shared history of the last century and the present.
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2. To construct a chronological list of events for the purpose of review.
Preparation
Reproduce the sample time line (or make a similar one with your own events)
Provide students with a jumbled list of the corresponding events only (no dates)
Procedure
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1. Explain the purpose of a time line.
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2. Point out where we are now.
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3. Allow time for students to rearrange events.
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4. Correct and annotate the final list together.
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5. Have students fill in events on their time lines and place them in a permanent “file” or notebook.
Results
Students will be startled by the jam up of recent history on the line. England will become—quite literally—part of their world.
Sample Time Line Events
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1800 BC—Stonehenge building begun
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55 BC—Julius Caesar briefly invades England
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43 AD—Roman conquest underway
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406—Departure of Roman troops
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1066—Norman conquest: William I, king
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1215—Magna Carta
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1284—Conquest of Wales
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1337—Beginning of 100 years war with France
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1529—English Reformation begins
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1577—Drake sails around the world
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1588—Defeat of the Armada
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1603—Death of Elizabeth I
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1616—Death of Shakespeare
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1642—Civil War between forces of Charles I and Parliament
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1649—Execution of Charles I
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1776—American Declaration of Independence
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1789—French Revolution
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1829—Foundation of London Police Force
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1837—Queen Victoria begins her reign
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1851—Great Exhibition in London
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1868—First Trades Union Congress
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1901—Death of Victoria
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1914—Great War
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1939—Second World War
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1947—Independence of India and other colonies follow
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1969—British troops sent to Northern Ireland
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1981—Now
Looking at Life: Then and Now
Objective
To demonstrate to students their limited recognition of historical and modern landmarks.
Preparation
Pick up slide sets (available at Institute office) and list identifying each slide.
Procedure
Select randomly scenes of England and America.
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1. Explain the two periods the slides will cover.
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2. Show the slides quickly.
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3. Go through them again, more slowly, giving students time to identify the country of each slide.
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4. Discuss the methods students used to determine their answers.
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5. Go through the slides a third time, explaining what each location is.
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6. Give the students the opportunity to total their wrong answers and to find percentages of what they
do not
know. (Forget about explaining guesswork; students will insist they truly knew what they answered correctly.)
Results
Visual activities appeal to students. Products of a televised age, they both believe in and are captivated by what they see. Similarities that are strong enough to deceive will also be interesting enough to study.
Accepting Victorian Prose
Objective
To illustrate the readability of Victorian language.
Preparation
Select a passage from a novel or short story that will eventually br read in full by the class. Be certain it includes at least one unfamiliar term or phrase and that it is
very
interesting.
Procedure
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1. Distribute the passage, allowing time for oral reading.
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2. Discuss the mood; what feelings do the students sense?
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3. Analyze the words. What words or phrases create problems? (Can they be solved using context?)
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4. Create a story line based loosely on the passage (individually as writing projects or together as a group effort). Encourage imaginative brainstorming!
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5. Briefly outline the skeleton plot of the actual work, stressing any trump card the work offers: romance, mystery, wealth, power, and so on.
Results
Writing that involves the student will be worth the struggle even if the language is very difficult. An interesting passage, coupled with a well-planned introductory cliffhanger, will prepare students for the entire work.
Suggested Passage
. . . I remembered I was lying in the oak closet, and I heard distinctly the gusty wind, and the driving of the snow; I heard also, the fir-bough repeat its teasing sound . . . . I resolved to silence it, if possible . . . . “I must stop it nevertheless!” I muttered, knocking my knuckles through the glass, and stretching my arm out to seize the importunate branch: instead of which, my fingers closed on the fingers of a little ice-cold hand!
The intense horror of nightmare came over me; I tried to draw back my arm, but, the hand clung to it, and a most melancholy voice, sobbed,
“Let me in— let me in!”
As it spoke, I discerned, obscurely, a child’s face looking through the window—Terror made me cruel; and, finding it useless to attempt shaking the creature off, I pulled its wrist on the broken pane, and rubbed it to and fro till the blood ran down and soaked the bedclothes: still it wailed, “Let me in!” and maintained its tenacious gripe, almost maddening me with fear.
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The Age of Conflict
Objective
To illustrate the extremes that existed in Victorian England and, by extension, in our world.
Preparation
Present two poems or passages from the period that have clearly conflicting themes.
Procedure:
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1. Students are to read the two passages on their own.
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2. Theme analysis should be the focus of the discussion.
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3. Arguments supporting one of the two positions should be developed in terms of today’s society.
Results
Here, again, the nearness of nineteenth century art and ideas should become obvious.
Suggested Excerpts
Note
These two selections were written in the later part of the century. Both poets were moving their art into the twentieth century with the use of new themes and rhythms. Gerard Manley Hopkins reaffirmed the majesty of God through his sprung rhythm. Hopkins believed each individual possessed original qualities (his term was “inscape”); in order to capture this individuality, he invented a “stress” system that required a unique diction in his poetry. Thomas Hardy, perhaps the first modern poet, turned away from God to face a meaningless, orderless universe.
from Pied Beauty
Glory to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced-fold fallow, and plough;
And all trades their gear and tackle and trim.
-Gerard Manley Hopkins
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from Hap
If but some vengeful god would call to me
From up the sky, and laugh: “Thou suffering thing,
Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy,
That thy love’s loss is my hate’s profiting!
Then would I bear it, clench myself, and die,
Steeled by the sense of ire unmerited;
Half-eased in that Powerfuller than I
Had willed and meted me the tears I shed.
But not so.
-Thomas Hardy
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Time Line Search
(figure available in print form)