ENGLISH LITERATURE LESSONS

 

Why is English literature so important in schools? Read here.

Here you can find several useful videos dedicated to English literature.

ON THE BASIS OF SEX

 

On the Basis of Sex opened in the way any movie about female empowerment might: a hopeful and determined young woman marching towards her future as her heels click against the pavement.

That young woman was Supreme Court Justice and women’s rights advocate Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Felicity Jones). She was on her way to her welcoming ceremony at Harvard Law School in 1955. Ginsburg looked around, realizing she was one of nine women in her class, solidifying her isolation as a woman at Harvard Law.

This, among other incidences of thinly veiled and blatantly put gender discrimination, defined Ginsburg’s struggle throughout the movie. She is questioned, criticized and patronized during nearly every move she tries to make in the film, just as the real Ginsburg is in her own life and career.

The climax of the film appeared after her time at Harvard with the case of Moritz v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue. In the case, a man was denied tax provisions to support the costs of hiring an in-home nurse for his sick mother simply because he was unmarried. Ginsburg saw this opportunity to show how gender discrimination could impact men and took on the case alongside her husband, Marty (Armie Hammer), now a tax attorney, and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Here, the movie did the best job of making an entertaining story out of the life of an attorney. Despite the weight and symbolism behind this case, most would have been bored by the legal formalities of court proceedings themselves. To counter this, the movie picked up on the drama, and included a few typical tropes to keep viewers going. These ranged from “evil lawyers plot someone else’s demise in a dark room filled with cigar smoke” to “protagonist endearingly practices speech in front of a mirror before big events,” and showed us the magnitude of the variety of challenges she faced.

What Ginsburg did for women across America was give the persona of justice in a two hour film. Ginsburg’s work is ongoing, and it was a much better move to show the American people where the story of one of their role models began, which this movie did beautifully.

AS YOU LIKE IT - 4^C LINGUISTICO

https://myblog-inplainenglish.blogspot.com/2014/02/as-you-like-it.html

https://myblog-inplainenglish.blogspot.com/2020/03/as-you-like-it.html

GLOSSARY OF POETRY TERMS

Glossary of Poetry Terms

Poetic Devices 

Literary Terms 

Figures of speech

INSIGHT INTO THE VICTORIAN AGE - 5^C LINGUISTICO

The Victorian period in Great Britain (1837-1901)  was one of political stability, huge industrial and technological change, major economic development, prosperity, optimism and faith in progress as well as poverty and social unrest, shocking divisions between the rich and the poor, and grand attempts to combat squalor and disease.  

Click here to download a PDF presentation.

JANE AUSTEN'S PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Pride and Prejudice is one of the most popular novels in the English language. Over 200 years after its publication, it continues to win the hearts and minds of readers around the world, thanks to its delightful heroine, unforgettable cast of comic characters, witty dialogue, and satisfying romantic plot.

Read here.

SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS - 4^C LINGUISTICO

https://nosweatshakespeare.com/sonnets/ 

https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/sonnets/section1/

STUDYING A CHRISTMAS CAROL - 3^C LINGUISTICO

Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, published on 19 December 1843, met with instant success and critical acclaim. It tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation into a gentler, kindlier man after visitations by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come.

After celebrating the joy and charity of Christmas, A Christmas Carol is above all a condemnation of 19th-century Victorian England's division between the rich and the poor. London was a great world power, rich from industry and colonial influence, yet poverty devastated its streets and factories.  Continue reading here.

BRIGHT STAR - 5^C LINGUISTICO

 

"Bright Star" is a sonnet written by the Romantic poet John Keats as a homage to his beloved Fanny Brawne. 

It is primarily made up of two analogies. The first analogy is a negative one, where the poet describes the aspect of the star that he doesn’t wish to resemble. The second analogy is a positive one, where the poet explains the aspect of the star that he aspires to be like — namely, steadfast loyalty to his beloved.

https://www.eminentediting.com/post/bright-star-by-john-keats-analysis

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

LORD BYRON - 5^C LINGUISTICO

George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron (1728-1844) with his aristocratic behaviour, personal charm and unquestionable beauty stands out as a rock star poet and the prince of passionate people’s perceptions during the so-called Regency era in England (1792 – 1830).  

He is an immense poet, combining the best of Augustan wit and intellect with the best of sensuously and politically charged Romanticism. 
Lord Byron was described in his own time as ‘a child of passion and the fool of fame‘.

George Gordon Byron  -  life and works

 The outstanding Romantic

"She Walks in Beauty"

"She Walks in Beauty"  Presentation

JANE AUSTEN'S 250TH BIRTHDAY

 

Jane Austen, novelist, observer of human nature, and enduring voice of wit, romance, and social insight, was born in Steventon, Hampshire, England on 16 December 1775 and birthday celebrations have been taking place across the United Kingdom and the United States for months.  Here are some ways to celebrate the birth of one of England's most beloved authors.

Why we love Jane Austen more than ever after 250 years

Why I Love Jane Austen (And Why You Should Too)

JANE AUSTEN AND THE NOVEL OF MANNERS - 5^C LINGUISTICO

Jane Austen’s novels are unrivalled for their success in combining two sorts of excellence that all too seldom coexist. Meticulously conscious of her artistry, she is also constantly attentive to the realities of ordinary human existence. From the first, her works unite subtlety and common sense, good humour and acute moral judgment, charm and conciseness, deftly marshalled incidents and carefully rounded characters.

Jane Austen’s critics have spoken of her as a “limited” novelist, one who, writing in an age of great men and important events, portrays small towns and petty concerns, who knows (or reveals) nothing of masculine occupations and ideas, and who reduces the range of feminine thought and deed to matrimonial scheming and social pleasantry. Read here. 

OTHELLO - 4^C LINGUISTICO

https://www.rsc.org.uk/othello/

https://www.slideserve.com/ismet/othello