WISH CLAUSES

TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH - LESSON 8

You can start to improve your listening skills and your pronunciation as well as enlarge your vocabulary by clicking here to watch some nice videos. Enjoy!

INSIGHT TO THE VICTORIAN AGE

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.

Here you can find my previous post on the Victorian age.

LEARNING THE PAST PERFECT

Click here to find lots of exercises on this tense.

ODE ON A GRECIAN URN

John Keats died young, but he left behind some fine collections of poetry admired most of all for their sensuous language (= language of sense impressions, rich in images appealing to the senses of sight, touch, taste, smell and hearing)  and exaltation of beauty. He now stands among the great Romantic poets.

One of John Keats's most famous poems, Ode on a Grecian Urn, was written in 1819 and published before his death. In this poem the transience of human life merges with the power of the artist and a work of art to make things permanent. The urn has sometimes been regarded as a metaphor for poetry and the role it can serve. 

POLDARK

Poldark is a BBC television series based on the novels written by Winston Graham which was first transmitted in the UK between 1975 and 1977. It is one of the most successful British television adaptations of all time.

The romantic saga follows Ross Poldark  (Robin Ellis) as he loses his fiancée, the beautiful and well-mannered Elizabeth, to his cousin Francis. Ross ends up marrying his servant Demelza, but he is always torn between the two women from very different social backgrounds.  Set in late 18th century Cornwall, the plot follows Ross  Poldark's attempts to make his ruined tin mines a success. Life is tough, smuggling is rife and Ross Poldark finds himself taking the side of the underprivileged against the merciless behaviour of his enemies, the greedy Warleggan clan. Although the emphasis is primarily  on Ross and Demelza, there are many other characters with their own stories. 

In February 2014, the BBC announced a new adaptation of the series, Poldark, due for broadcast this year and  starring  Aidan Turner as Ross Poldark.

Ready to enjoy the remake of this exciting series? Read here.

SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellowed to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impaired the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

Or softly lightens o’er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express,

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!

Here you can find a thorough analysis of this poem written by Lord Byron in 1814. It  focuses on the extraordinary beauty of a young lady, internal as well as external. The first stanza praises her physical beauty. The second and third stanzas praise both her physical and spiritual, or intellectual, beauty.

https://owlcation.com/humanities/Comparison-of-Shakespeares-Sonnet-130-and-Lord-Byrons-She-walks-in-Beauty-sonnet

https://youtu.be/QOw-qU2fN6M

FEBRUARY

"Out of the bosom of the Air,
Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bare,
Over the harvest-fields forsaken,
Silent, and soft, and slow
Descends the snow."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Snowflakes