Victorian Age & Poetry

Victorian Times 
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This lesson contains 44 slides, with interactive quizzes, text slides and 4 videos.

time-iconLesson duration is: 50 min

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Victorian Times 

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Today's lesson
Introduction to the Victorian Age

A Victorian poem:
- My Last Duchess by Robert Browning

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Victorian Era

Slide 3 - Mind map

The Victorian Age (1)
  • Started around 1830 ended in early 20th century
  • Named after Queen Victoria (1837 - 1901)
  • Britain: great economic and political power
  • "The empire on which the sun never set"

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Young Victoria
Elderly Victoria

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The Victorian Age (2)
  • Empire building: Britain's national destiny
  • Sense of moral superiority (white man's burden)
  • From  1830s: Laws aimed at reform (Reform Bills, Poor Laws, educational laws)
  • It was a period of great social inequality
  • rich vs poor ("the two nations")
  • men vs women 

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Types of jobs for poor women
servants
governesses
prostitutes

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The Victorian Age (3)
  • Scientific discovery and progress
  • Religious beliefs vs scientific evidence
  • Discovery of fossils
  • Theory of evolution 

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Victorian literature - Poetry
  • A continuation of the Romantic period yet much more rational
  • Themes: nature  / the past / the human spirit
  • Important poets:
  1. Alfred Tennyson (1809 - 1892)
  2. Robert Browning (1812 - 1889)

Slide 11 - Slide

What was Great Britain called in the 19th century?
A
The Empire on which the sun never sets
B
Old America
C
The Indian Empire
D
The Commonwealth Empire

Slide 12 - Quiz

If you were a woman in Victorian England,........... (maak de zin af)

Slide 13 - Open question

What do you know about Charles Darwin?
A
He has invented a new type of religion
B
He has written the evolutionary theory
C
He was the Prime Minister from 1850-1854
D
He was Queen Victoria's brother-in-law

Slide 14 - Quiz

Who is this person?

Slide 15 - Open question

Slide 16 - Video

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My Last Duchess
  • Read the poem 
  • Try to answer as many questions from 1-12 
       as you can
timer
15:00

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Robert Browning
1812-1889

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The goals
  • Understanding Browning's poem "My Last Duchess"
  • Knowing the background of this poem 
  • Improving your note making + listening skills

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Characteristics of Browning's poetry: 

  • pleasure in observing people
  • individualism
  • rarely shows the poet's emotions
  • inspired by Italian Renaissance 

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5

Slide 23 - Video

03:00
What does the phrase “some officious fool” reveal about the Duke’s attitude towards his wife’s admirers? (Line 27)
A
He is amused by them.
B
He is unaware of them.
C
He is intimidated by them.
D
He is contemptuous of them.

Slide 24 - Quiz

03:14
What does the description of the last Duchess’ behavior in lines 25-31 reveal about her?
A
She was friendly and kind to everyone she met.
B
She kept a proper distance from people of lower rank.
C
She preferred other people’s company to her husband’s.
D
She purposely acted in a way that irritated her husband.

Slide 25 - Quiz

03:27
“She thanked men, — good! but thanked / Somehow — I know not how — as if she ranked / My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old-name / With anybody’s gift.”
What do these lines reveal about the way the Duchess’ behavior affected the Duke? (Lines 31-34)
A
His heart was broken because he realized that she loved another man.
B
His reputation was ruined because his court knew she was unfaithful.
C
His pride was wounded because she did not regard him as superior.
D
His love grew because he admired her kindness and generosity.

Slide 26 - Quiz

04:30
How does the enjambment between lines 47-48 affect the meaning of these lines?
A
It emphasizes the phrase “There she stands,” showing how the Duke is haunted by her memory.
B
It demonstrates the strained, jerky way the Duke speaks, showing readers how nervous he is.
C
It emphasizes the phrase “As if alive,” alerting readers to the Duchess’s death.
D
It allows the poet to maintain the rhythm and rhyme scheme of the poem.

Slide 27 - Quiz

05:00
What effect do lines 49-54 have on the mood of this poem?
A
They create a melancholy mood by reminding readers of the Duke’s lost love.
B
They create a hopeful mood by foreshadowing a new love for the lonely Duke.
C
They create an ominous mood by indicating that the murderous Duke seeks to marry again.
D
They create a celebratory mood by indicating that there may be a wedding in the near future.

Slide 28 - Quiz

Which statement best summarizes the plot of the poem?
A
The Duke is still grieving and not ready to marry again.
B
The Duke’s last wife offended him, eventually resulting in her death.
C
The Duke’s last wife was disloyal, so he stresses how important it is that his next wife won't be.
D
The Count takes extra precautions before approving the Duke’s marriage to his daughter.

Slide 29 - Quiz

Let's dig deeper! 
Make notes while you watch. 
Make sure you include: dramatic monologue, enjambment, iambic pentameter, metaphor and context. 

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0

Slide 31 - Video

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Victorian literature - the novel
  • The age of the novel
  • Growing audience for "true stories"
  • Better education (rise in literacy)
  • Instalment system (novels published in serial form)

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Important authors
  • Charles Dickens
  • The Brontë Sisters (Charlotte, Emily and Anne)
  • George Eliot
  • Thomas Hardy

Women did not write under their own names

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Important playwrights
Oscar Wilde - The Importance of being Earnest
George Bernard Shaw - Pygmalion

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Charles Dickens (1812-1870)


  • closely concerned with every day life (poverty etc.)
  • father had debts, was send to prison
  • rest of the family to the workhouse
  • Charles had to work in factory as a 12 -year-old

Slide 40 - Slide

Slide 41 - Video

Special for Dickens's novels (II)
flat and vivid characters
most of the novels took place in the busy city
workhouse, child labour
mostly male characters


Slide 42 - Slide

subtle irony
Subtle irony: not immediately obvious irony. Use of words to convey a meaning that is
      the opposite of the real meaning.

example:
...where on a rough, hard bed, he sobbed himself to sleep. Novel illustration of the tender laws of England. They let the paupers go to sleep.

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ENKELE GOUDEN TIPS:
*  Leer alles wat in de reader staat, ook uitleg en achtergrond info over b.v. schrijver of tijdperk

* Zorg dat je tekstdelen kunt herkennen en in een periode kunt plaatsen

*Gebruik alle vragen + antwoorden uit de reader om te checken of je de tekst beheerst

* Ken soorten sonnetten: Italian/Petrarchan, English/ Shakespearean & uitleg 
*gebruik SMILE bij alle gedichten die je leest



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