5V Victorian Age: 19th Century Novels (Literary History)
5V Victorian Age: 19th Century Novels (Literary History)
1. Introduction
This quest contains all the information you need for studying the rise of English novels in the 19th century, roughly coinciding with what is known as the Victorian Age in English literary history. It is a compulsory part of your English curriculum. It will also return in your Literary History SE which you will sit in 6V.
2. Literary History SE
Overview
In the Literary History SE, you will be tested on your knowledge of the main events and works of English literary history, starting with the Middle Ages and up to the modern day. You will study the following eras and disciplines:
Literary eras
Middle Ages (4V)
Renaissance (5V 4V)
Romantic Poetry (5V)
Victorian Age (5V)
Early 20th Century (6V)
Disciplines
poetry
theatre
novels
Organisation & SE
Organisation
We will study literary history at various points in your school career, so it is important that you organise your materials properly. I urge you to start a Literary History File, either in paper in a new notebook or digitally in a Pages document. I also advise you to create a separate Literary History File tile in Egodact where you can keep track of what you are doing over the years.
SE
In 6-vwo, you will sit an SE on Literary History. In it, you will answer questions about literary terms and eras, and you will analyse fragments of literature using the knowledge you have gained over the years.
This SE is a written test lasting 100 minutes and counts for 10% towards your final PTA mark.
3. Historical background
➜ Start this part of your Literary History File with a title page: Victorian Age: rise of the novel. Find an appropriate illustration here.
➜ Study the links and videos below to get an idea of the historical background of the 19th century in England.
➜ Write a summary in your Literary History File of what you've learned. Be sure to include the following key words / people in your summary: key words: Industrial Revolution, Queen Victoria, Victorian values, Urbanisation, Workhouses, The Great Exhibition, Crimean War, Boer War, Darwinism,
➜ Upload your summary to Seesaw/Egodact.
Useful websites
Alquin Magazine - Victorian Literature Part 1 and Part 2
For the Victorian Age, we are focusing on British novels. This is because the Victorian Age marked the rise of the novel as the most important literary form, surpassing poetry and theatre.
Poetry was written and still popular in the Victorian Age. Famous poets are Robert Browning, Alfred Lord Tennyson and female poets such as Elizabeth Barrett Browning or Emily Dickinson. The Romantic Movement and Victorian Age are not strictly separated, which means that some of the characteristics of Romantic Poetry still apply to Victorian works.
Theatre became more popular towards the end of the Victorian Age. A very successful playwright was Oscar Wilde, who wrote splendid light-hearted comedies such as The Importance of Being Earnest.
It is worth mentioning that English literature at this period in time was not only produced in England anymore. Some notable American 19th century writers are Edgar Allan Poe (inventor of the horror genre), Herman Melville (Moby Dick) and Walt Whitman. And let's not forget Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose Uncle Tom's Cabin sparked the Civil War which led to the abolition of slavery.
4a. 19th Century Novels
4a. Introduction
19th Century Novels
As you can see from the dictionary definition screenshot above, the word novel has been used since the early 16th century. However, as a literary art form, it wasn't as popular as theatre or poetry until the end of the 18th century and it really took off in the 19th century. In this part of the quest, you will learn about different terms that we use to discuss novels and gain an overview of the most notable works of the Victorian Age. This term, you will also read one 19th century novel of choice in a book club setting.
Terminology
Genres - the type of story being told. Genres can encompass not only novels but also plays and poetry. Below are a few types of modern novels that we will encounter in 19th Century English literature:
Gothic
Novel of Manners
Bildungsroman (or coming-of-age)
Pastoral
Fantasy
Proletarian
Detective
Horror / science-fiction
Perspective - from whose perspective the story is being told. This is also called narrative point of view. We mostly distinguish the following perspectives:
first person - when the main character is the one telling the story while referring to themselves as "I".
second person - a novel is very rarely made up entirely of second person narration, but sometimes an author writes a short section using it. It is when the story is addressed to you as a reader.
third person - when an unknown entity narrates the story, referring to the characters by their names or pronouns. A third person narrator can be omniscient (knowing and telling all of the actions and inner thoughts of all the characters) or limited (knowing and telling all of the actions and inner thoughts of the main characters, and narrating other characters' thoughts and actions as perceived by the main character, e.g. Harry Potter).
Plot - the story of a novel. What happens, when does it happen, who does it happen to or who does the happening?
Themes - the universal statement or message that a work of fiction is about. If you think about the plot as the body of a work of fiction, then the theme is the soul. A novel can have multiple themes.
Specific for the Victorian Age: serialised fiction - some novels were written and published in their entirety, but in the 19th century, serialised fiction was popular too. This is a novel written in short chapters which were published in magazines or newspapers in weekly or monthly installments. Once the stories were finished, they were often published as a book in their entirety.
Overview of 19th Century Classic Novels (UK edition curated by Mrs W)
1813 - Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
1818 - Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
1820 - Ivanhoe - Sir Walter Scott
1847 - Vanity Fair - William M. Thackeray
1847 - Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë
1847 - Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë
1859 - The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
1860 - Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
1865 - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
1886 - The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
1891 - Tess of the d'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
1891 - The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
1892 - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
1894 - The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling
1897 - The War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells
1897 - Dracula - Bram Stoker
In class, we'll do an activity in which you learn about these works. Highlighted in bold are the books that the school library has multiple copies of, so these would be the easiest for you to choose for your book club. The other works on the list are also permitted, of course, although you will have to purchase your own copies.
4a. Literary Fragment(s) - book club activity
➜ Team up in groups of two or three. Congratulations, you have now formed a mini book club!
➜ Pick a 19th century novel to read together.
➜ Fill in the planning schedule handed out in class (or download your copy below if you missed class or lost your copy).
➜ Read the book and discuss your progress in your book club during class.
➜ Last class session (Tuesday June 25th): present your book to class
Het arrangement 5V Victorian Age: 19th Century Novels (Literary History) is gemaakt met
Wikiwijs van
Kennisnet. Wikiwijs is hét onderwijsplatform waar je leermiddelen zoekt,
maakt en deelt.
Dit lesmateriaal is gepubliceerd onder de Creative Commons Naamsvermelding 4.0 Internationale licentie. Dit houdt in dat je onder de voorwaarde van naamsvermelding vrij bent om:
het werk te delen - te kopiëren, te verspreiden en door te geven via elk medium of bestandsformaat
het werk te bewerken - te remixen, te veranderen en afgeleide werken te maken
voor alle doeleinden, inclusief commerciële doeleinden.
Leeromgevingen die gebruik maken van LTI kunnen Wikiwijs arrangementen en toetsen afspelen en resultaten
terugkoppelen. Hiervoor moet de leeromgeving wel bij Wikiwijs aangemeld zijn. Wil je gebruik maken van de LTI
koppeling? Meld je aan via info@wikiwijs.nl met het verzoek om een LTI
koppeling aan te gaan.
Maak je al gebruik van LTI? Gebruik dan de onderstaande Launch URL’s.
Arrangement
IMSCC package
Wil je de Launch URL’s niet los kopiëren, maar in één keer downloaden? Download dan de IMSCC package.
Wikiwijs lesmateriaal kan worden gebruikt in een externe leeromgeving. Er kunnen koppelingen worden gemaakt en
het lesmateriaal kan op verschillende manieren worden geëxporteerd. Meer informatie hierover kun je vinden op
onze Developers Wiki.
Egodact where you can keep track of what you are doing over the years.
Victorian Age Book Club Activity 5 VWO 2024.docx
