Thomas Hardy – Lesson 14 LQ: Can I analyse a poem for meaning and understand it’s relevance within the canon? Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet

LQ: Can I analyse a poem for meaning and understand it’s relevance within the canon? Excellent progress: well-chosen quotations, literary devices analysed, effect on reader discussed, alternative interpretations considered and social context mentioned Outstanding progress: well-chosen quotations, sophisticated language used, literary devices analysed, effect on reader argued with perceptive points made, alternative interpretations revealed, developed consideration of social and historical context Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet

Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet The Victorian Era The Victorian era was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence for Britain. Within the fields of social history and literature, Victorianism refers to the study of late-Victorian attitudes and culture with a focus on the highly moralistic, straitlaced language and behaviour of Victorian morality.

Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet Victorian Literature By the beginning of the Victorian period, the Industrial Revolution, as this shift was called, had created profound economic and social changes, including a mass migration of workers to industrial towns, where they lived in new urban slums. But the changes arising out of the Industrial Revolution were just one subset of the radical changes taking place in mid- and late-nineteenth-century Britain — among others were the democratization resulting from extension of the franchise; challenges to religious faith, in part based on the advances of scientific knowledge, particularly of evolution; and changes in the role of women. All of these issues, and the controversies attending them, informed Victorian literature. In part because of the expansion of newspapers and the periodical press, debate about political and social issues played an important role in the experience of the reading public. The Victorian novel, with its emphasis on the realistic portrayal of social life, represented many Victorian issues in the stories of its characters. Moreover, debates about political representation involved in expansion both of the franchise and of the rights of women affected literary representation, as writers gave voice to those who had been voiceless.

Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet The Industrial Revolution /1840 The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in the period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and The Industrial Revolution marks a major turning point in history; almost every aspect of daily life was influenced in some way. In particular, average income and population began to exhibit unprecedented sustained growth (the population of Manchester, for example, increased by ten times in the years 1760 to Some economists say that the major impact of the Industrial Revolution was that the standard of living for the general population began to increase consistently for the first time in history. At approximately the same time the Industrial Revolution was occurring, Britain was undergoing an agricultural revolution, which also helped to improve living standards. The British Agricultural Revolution was the unprecedented increase in agricultural production in Britain due to increases in labour and land productivity between the mid-17th and late 19th centuries. Agricultural output grew faster than the population over the century to 1770, and thereafter productivity remained among the highest in the world.

The Industrial Revolution and the effect on literature When a society finds that it must become an industrialized one, to build factories bigger, with higher production value, to replace the connection they had with Mother Nature with machines, it is also expected that society’s authors and scholars will seek to define new philosophical ideals. For example, while novelists like Charles Dickens warned society of the consequences associated with abandoning human emotion and adopting the way of the machine in novels like Hard Times, poets like William Wordsworth wondered where the introspective artist belongs in a time known as the “Mechanical Age.” Surely, just as the Watts steam engine sought to redefine expectations of an industrialized society, the British literati searched for a new perspective inside Romanticism that would explain the switch between appreciation of man and a newfound reliance on the machine. The most intellectual scholars and authors of England expressed an early interest in the rationality and preciseness of science. This quickly changed, however, when Romantics came to view this evolution of machine as a threat to the individual. In “Preface to the Second Edition of ‘Lyrical Ballads’”, Wordsworth proclaimed that as technology moves ever closer to being at the forefront of culture, the mind is reduced “to a state of almost savage torpor.” Similarly, Dickens’s Hard Times presented the reader with a very valid portrayal of industrial towns that appear as wastelands inhabited by the working class Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet

Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, especially William Wordsworth. Charles Dickens was another important influence. Like Dickens, he was highly critical of much in Victorian society, though Hardy focused more on a declining rural society. Although he wrote a great deal of poetry, most of it went unpublished until after 1898, thus Hardy is best remembered for the series of novels and short stories he wrote between 1871 and His novels are set in the imaginary world of Wessex, a large area of south and south-west England, using the name of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom that covered the area.

Hardy’s Style of writing Hardy was part of two worlds. He had a deep emotional bond with the rural way of life which he had known as a child, but he was also aware of the changes which were under way and the current social problems, from the innovations in agriculture — he captured the epoch just before the Industrial Revolution changed the English countryside — to the unfairness and hypocrisy of Victorian sexual behaviour. Hardy critiques certain social constraints that hindered the lives of those living in the 19th century. Considered a Victorian Realist writer, Hardy examines the social constraints that are part of the Victorian status quo, suggesting these rules hinder the lives of all involved and ultimately lead to unhappiness. In Two on a Tower, Hardy seeks to take a stand against these rules and sets up a story against the backdrop of social structure by creating a story of love that crosses the boundaries of class. The reader is forced to consider disposing of the conventions set up for love. Nineteenth-century society enforces these conventions, and societal pressure ensures conformity. Swithin St Cleeve's idealism pits him against contemporary social constraints. He is a self-willed individual set up against the coercive strictures of social rules and mores. Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet

Look at Hardy’s ‘The Ruined Maid’ What is the poem about? Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet 1. As a class, can you deduce the poem’s main themes? Ext: How do these themes tie in with what has happening in society at the time of Hardy’s writing? As a class, can you deduce the poem’s main themes?

In groups, look at: Form Rhyming pattern Use of imagery 1. What is the effect of each? 2. How do they contribute to the poem’s themes? Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet Ext: Can you make thematic or stylistic links to other poems that we have studied?

What comment is Hardy making about society in ‘The Ruined Maid’? Excellent progress: well- chosen quotations, literary devices analysed, effect on reader discussed, alternative interpretations considered and social context mentioned Outstanding progress: well-chosen quotations, sophisticated language used, literary devices analysed, effect on reader argued with perceptive points made, alternative interpretations revealed, developed consideration of social and historical context Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet Ext: Can you make links to any novels that you have read?

Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet Ext: How can this paragraph be imoproved? Hardy constructs the poem round the country girl’s questions, admiring comments, and envy of the feathers, gowns and polish, all expressed in Dorset dialect which he indicates through the colloquial language and informal language. The clumsy pronunciation or words such as ‘melancho-ly’ and ‘prosperi-ty’ gives emphasis to this and alludes the pastoral idyll that Hardy was so fond of. In the final line of each quatrain comes the ruined girl’s much more articulate answer, each time repeating and emphasising the fact that she is now ‘ruined’. The bouncy amphibrachs (light strong light) give the poem a cheerful rhythm, perhaps juxtaposing the poem’s somewhat darker theme. Thematically, it can be argued that Hardy is subverting the idea of the ruined maid and showing us a young woman who has improved her circumstances, risen out of appalling poverty and has no regret, no shame and no self-loathing in having done so. As a result, it can be argued further that he is mocking the self-righteous values of a society that turns in disgust from such a girl. Certainly, the repetition of the word ‘ruined’ serves to highlight that Hardy does not want us to forget the woman’s plight. But it seems there is no condemnation here. Instead, Hardy is celebrating the fact that the maid has been able to escape a life of destitution and poverty. Taking into account the time during which he was writing and the desire he had to undermine the social constraints that were part of the Victorian status quo, it can be said that Hardy is instead criticising a society that condemns and treats women in such a way.

LESSON 4: LQ: Can I understand the Spenserian Sonnet structure and use my understanding to analyse the presentation of love in two Sonnets by Spenser? Excellent progress: well-chosen quotations, literary devices analysed, effect on reader discussed, alternative interpretations considered and social context mentioned Outstanding progress: well-chosen quotations, sophisticated language used, literary devices analysed, effect on reader argued with perceptive points made, alternative interpretations revealed, developed consideration of social and historical context Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet Christina Rossetti – Lesson 12 LQ: Can I understand the relevance of a female voice?