Sunday, 14 February 2021
Browning: Victorian Poet
Robert Browning: Victorian Poet
Robert Browning, (born May 7, 1812, London—died Dec. 12, 1889, Venice), major English poet of the Victorian age, noted for his mastery of dramatic monologue and psychological portraiture. His most noted work was The Ring and the Book (1868–69), the story of a Roman murder trial in 12 books.
Click here to read more about Browning's Life
Browning's Biography
Browning's Legacy
Legacy
Few poets have suffered more than Browning from hostile incomprehension or misplaced admiration, both arising very often from a failure to recognize the predominantly dramatic nature of his work. The bulk of his writing before 1846 was for the theatre; thereafter his major poems showed his increasing mastery of the dramatic monologue. This consists essentially of a narrative spoken by a single character and amplified by his comments on his story and the circumstances in which he is speaking. (Read more . . . )
Themes in Browning's Poems
All you need to know about Robert Browning - Victorian Web
Check your understanding - Online Test
Tennyson: Victorian Poet
Lord Alfred Tennyson - the Victorian Poet
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, in full Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson of Aldworth and Freshwater, (born August 6, 1809, Somersby, Lincolnshire, England—died October 6, 1892, Aldworth, Surrey), English poet often regarded as the chief representative of the Victorian age in poetry. He was raised to the peerage in 1884. (Source: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alfred-Lord-Tennyson)
Why is Alfred, Lord Tennyson, important?
What was the childhood of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, like?
Where was Alfred, Lord Tennyson, educated?
In 1827 Alfred, Lord Tennyson, entered Trinity College, Cambridge. There he made lasting friendships and his reputation as a poet increased. In 1831 Tennyson’s father died, and his grandfather discovered his father’s debts. As a result, he left Cambridge without taking a degree.
What did Alfred, Lord Tennyson, write?
Want to know more about the biography of Tennyson? Click here
Tennyson as poet
Tennyson - the Poet of Our Time
Tennyson's Poetry
Cambridge Author: Tennyson
Check your understanding of Victorian Poets: Tennyson and Browning: Online Test
Monday, 1 February 2021
Hard Times: Charles Dickens
Introduction
Check your understanding of the novel: Online Test
Additional Resources:
Understanding Hard Times: An Analytic Note by F.R Leavis /The Great Tradition
Video recording of Online Classes on Hard Times
Wednesday, 27 January 2021
Jude the Obscure
Watch this video for the summary of the novel Jude, the Obscure
Video Recording of Online Classes
Visit this site for study material on 'Jude, the Obscure'
Check your progress: Appear in Online Test
Sunday, 24 January 2021
Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde
The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde
Introduction
Characters
Plot Summary
Thematic Study
Check your understanding: Online Test
Thinking Activity: Points to Ponder
- Wilde originally subtitled The Importance of Being Earnest “A Serious Comedy for Trivial People” but changed that to “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People.” What is the difference between the two subtitles?
- Which of the female character is the most attractive to you among Lady Augusta Bracknell, Gwendolen Fairfax, Cecily Cardew and Miss Prism? Give your reasons for she being the most attractive among all.
- The play repeatedly mocks Victorian traditions and social customs, marriage and the pursuit of love in particular. Through which situations and characters is this happening in the play.
- Queer scholars have argued that the play's themes of duplicity and ambivalence are inextricably bound up with Wilde's homosexuality, and that the play exhibits a "flickering presence-absence of… homosexual desire" Do you agree with this observation? Give your arguments to justify your stance.
Additional Resourses:
Radio Play Performance of the Importance of Being Earnest
Saturday, 16 January 2021
The Rover - Aphra Behn
The Rover or The Banish'd Cavaliers: A Play by Aphra Behn
Introduction
Aphra Behn's "The Rover" was published in 1677 and first performed in March of that year at Duke's Theatre in Dorset Garden. The play is based upon Thomas Killigrew's drama "Thomas, or, The Wanderer," which was published in 1664. Some dialogue in Behn's "The Rover" closely resembles that found in Thomaso's script; however, the majority of the text was re-written completely, or else is entirely original. As a result of such similarities between texts, Behn was accused of plagiarism on more than one occasion.
Behn's "The Rover" was very well received in the theatre, particularly by Charles II, and also by his successors. Seventy performances of the play are recorded between 1700 and 1725, and another eighty-eight over the course of the following thirty-five years. (Sally Butler)
Download Original Play - The Rover
Characters
Plot Summary
Act wise Analysis
Thematic Study
Online Test: Check your understanding
Inscription on Aphra Behn's Tombstone:
Video Resources on 'The Rover'
Articles:
- Carnival Politics, Generous Satire, and Nationalist Spectacle in Behn's The Rover. Adam R Beach. Duke University Press. 2004.
- Aphra Behn's The Rover engages with the social, political and sexual conditions of the 17th century, as well as with theatrical traditions of carnival and misrule. Elaine Hobby introduces Behn's play and explores how it was first performed and received
- Rape and the Female Subject in Aphra Behn's "The Rover" Published By: The Johns Hopkins University Press
- Aphra Behn's The Rover: Evaluating Women's Social and Sexual Options
The Sexual Politics of Behn's "Rover": After Patriarchy - Stephen Szilagyi
JOURNAL ARTICLE - "Imposing Nought But Constancy in Love": Aphra Behn Snares "The Rover" - Joseph F. Musser, Jr. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43291367
Monday, 4 January 2021
Absalom and Achitophel: Worksheet
Absalom and Achitophel: John Dryden
1. The Original Poem
A second part of the poem—largely composed by Nahum Tate, playwright and poet laureate of Britain, but containing 200 lines by Dryden that were directed at his literary rivals Thomas Shadwell and Elkanah Settle—was published in 1682. (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica)