English Literature Victorian Era - WIDER READING

Ooooh BTW the examiners report says the wider reading has to cover these themes:

Ideas of progress: industry and empire
The position of women in Victorian society
Social problems: urban poverty and the working class
Evolving attitudes: culture, religion and science

And ideally has to be a collection of prose, drama and poetry


I am not sure how to go about it too :/ If anyone has done this spec before, can u reccomend me how to study and revise for this? I am thinking of reading the texts and keeping a MASSIVE log books of Key quotes and thoughts stratified into different themes for each text though I am not sure. I obviously don't have time to study all the texts in depth so I am not too sure what I am looking for.

How did you guys go about studying for this exam ??????????

Hi.

I sat this exam in summer and got full marks.

For question one (context question) I found the following method helpful. I read A.N Wilson The Victorians for contextual information and tried to cover texts from all three genres with varying themes(as you have mentioned) taking note of form structure and language use in each one.

To save time, choose texts which embrace several themes and know them well, it is not a competition to name as many texts as possible but to show you understand the extract you are reading by refering to wider reading. The following texts will help:
Prose: Hard Times Dickens - marriage (Louisa and Mr Bounderby, Rachel and whatever he man is called!), industralisation (workhouse) and poverty.
Drama: A Dolls House Henrik Ibsen - marriage/ women, vague empire link with work abroad.
Poetry: Elizabeth Barrett Brownig is a MUST! Cry of the children - workhouses. The runaway and pilgrims point - slavery, empire, women.

Make sure you address the AOs. AO1 - use of appropriate terminology. A02 - Discuss form, structure and language choices. AO3 - links to other texts. AO4 - Contextual links.

So, for example, read the given extract and relate it to wider reading and context... eg. 'the extract uses rhetorical questions to engage the reader, this technique is also used in ... and was a popular method of language use in drama during the Victorian period.

For question 1 you need to reference text from wider reading for each genre. I did this by finding a link between one text and one literary technique. Eg - form and poetry, Structure and prose, language and drama. This way I am addressing AO2 and AO3 without missing anything out.

Hope that all makes sense! Please let me know if you need any more help.

Deffinitley agree with A Doll's House & Hard Times

Also reccommend Tess of the D'Urbervilles for the position of women and Jekyll and Hyde for science and religion. I used Tennyson in the exam too for poetry, the man probably saved my life

Hi
Congrats on your mark for the exam, that really is a terrific result!
Many thanks for the wider reading suggestions, really pointed me in the right direction cause my teacher seemed quite evasive and vague when I asked her for a wider reading list. D I will definitely invest in A.N Wilson for context as that will really help. Luckily I bought Hard Times the other day D I'll start reading it next week. My school is doing A Doll's House for the Unit 2 coursework comparison question. So that's quite useful

I just have a few questions about the exam and how to revise for it.

With regards to the wider reading, would you just say, read the texts whilst making notes on key contextual elements? I.e making notes on certain themes and ideas and how they are conveyed through language form and structure? I kinda have a tendency to go overboard with notes, and then end up writing too many ideas down. So would you say the focus of the wider reading, is just KEY Victorian themes as expressed in the examiners report and finding really good quotes that you can apply relevantly, write a lot about, and remember in the exam rather than say, a wholesale, analytical examination of every detail in the text? I know you said that its not about how much wider reading you can refer to but rather about knowing the texts really well. So does that mean a wholesale, analytical examination of every detail in the text you read or is it just finding really good quotes across the whole text that you can apply relevantly and write a lot about. I am not too sure how much I should go in depth with each wider reading text in terms of notes

And with the essay structure, I am sort of confused. The question asks you to both comment on how the writer presents his thoughts and feelings about Victorian life yet also asks us to evaluate how similar/different it is to our wider reading on the Victorian genre. So would a general essay structure go along the lines of:

Intro
2nd paragraph - examine use of lang,form,struc A01,A02,A04
3rd paragraph - Compare and contextualise lang,form,struc of extract with that of our wider reading, linking text and literary techniques A01,A02,A03,A04
4thd paragraph - Conclusion

oooh and What is needed to fulfil "AO4", is it just a few passing comments after each point about how the particular literary technique relates to the era???
Or could you reccommend how you structured yours, cause I sometimes struggle with this part of English Literature. A well structured essay is nicer to read

and one last thing, if its not too much to ask! uve been very generous
My wider reading list (inspired by your suggestions):
Hard Times
Tess of the D'urbervilles
Jekyll and Hyde
Father and Son

A Doll's house

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

its a bit sparse on the drama and poetry side, is there any other key drama or poetry texts which your school really recommended you or that you used? Or do you think that this list is enough to succeed in the exam? I am really want to achieve an A in AS-lit so I am not too sure.

and just out of interest, when did you finish the coursework for AS-literature? We're only on Chapter 6/20 of Dorian Gray, haven't even started A Dolls House and I am feeling we're kinda behind schedule. But yeah I just want to get immersed into the Victorian genre and enjoy studying the texts for the exam. MANY MANY thanks for helping me out!!! I was worried about this exam because I heard that many people who took the Unit 1 exam last summer attained poor marks even after getting A's in the coursework. I can only presume that it was the wider reading that let them down, so I'll want to get on top of it from the start Hope to hear from u soon

Firstly, thank you.

I would suggest just finding key themes from wider reading and a few notes on FSL for each text. Your references to wider reading do not have to be extensive but just display your knowledge and understanding...

Literally I just put... ''the view expressed in the extract on women in the Victorian era was common (A04), a fact that Elizabeth Barrett Browning sought to change by enlightening her readers of the plight of women in her poem 'The runaway slave at pilgrim's point' (A03). Through the use of emotive language and rhetorical questions (AO1) Browning is able to influence the reader's opinions (AO2).

My essay plan was:
Intro.
Para 1: Discuss structure from extract and wider reading
Para 2: Form '...............'
Para 3: Language '..........'
Conclusion

Ensure that you make a small contextual reference as shown in the example, and that you refer to wider reading from each genre - prose, poetry and drama.

I would quickly scribble:

AO1 - Appropriate terminology
A02 - FSL
AO3 - Links
AO4 - Context

and tick each once i'd addressed them. I'd also write

F
S
L

and the text which i would use from each genre to discuss them. eg.

F - Hard Times - Prose
S - EBBrowning - Poetry
L - A Dolls House - Drama

I am distance learning but did my coursework over the christmas period.
Don't overload yourself with reading make sure you have read a variety that cover the themes.

I would mention the type of narrative - third person I think. Also that it is a serialized novel. The text given in the exam may be a speech, letter, poem or any other form of writing. I therefore would compare this directly with the form of the novel explaining why the writer of the exam text did not choose a novel as their form of expression as eg. A speech would suit their purpose better. I'd then explain why.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Hi.

I sat this exam in summer and got full marks.

For question one (context question) I found the following method helpful. I read A.N Wilson The Victorians for contextual information and tried to cover texts from all three genres with varying themes(as you have mentioned) taking note of form structure and language use in each one.

To save time, choose texts which embrace several themes and know them well, it is not a competition to name as many texts as possible but to show you understand the extract you are reading by refering to wider reading. The following texts will help:
Prose: Hard Times Dickens - marriage (Louisa and Mr Bounderby, Rachel and whatever he man is called!), industralisation (workhouse) and poverty.
Drama: A Dolls House Henrik Ibsen - marriage/ women, vague empire link with work abroad.
Poetry: Elizabeth Barrett Brownig is a MUST! Cry of the children - workhouses. The runaway and pilgrims point - slavery, empire, women.

Make sure you address the AOs. AO1 - use of appropriate terminology. A02 - Discuss form, structure and language choices. AO3 - links to other texts. AO4 - Contextual links.

So, for example, read the given extract and relate it to wider reading and context... eg. 'the extract uses rhetorical questions to engage the reader, this technique is also used in ... and was a popular method of language use in drama during the Victorian period.

For question 1 you need to reference text from wider reading for each genre. I did this by finding a link between one text and one literary technique. Eg - form and poetry, Structure and prose, language and drama. This way I am addressing AO2 and AO3 without missing anything out.

Hope that all makes sense! Please let me know if you need any more help.

The following texts will help:
Hard Times Dickens
A Dolls House Henrik Ibsen
Elizabeth Barrett Brownig is a MUST!

Ideas of progress: industry and empire
The position of women in Victorian society
Social problems: urban poverty and the working class
Evolving attitudes: culture, religion and science