Culture Britain

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Culture Literary Britain and Ireland

Warm-up

1 a Match the novels, poems and plays (1–8) to the writers in the pictures (A–D).

1 Pride and Prejudice 5 Ulysses

2 Macbeth 6 Dubliners

3 Sense and Sensibility 7 Hamlet

4 The Lyrical Ballads 8 The Prelude

b Do you know any of these works? What are they about?

c Do you know any other works by these writers?

Reading 2 Read and check your answers to exercise 1.

Then write the name of each writer in the correct place on the map.

Vocabulary 3 Write the Italian translations for these words

in the article.

1 birthplace (L.02) 2 grew up (L.05) 3 buried (L.09) 4 gravestone (L.10) 5 bones (L.11) 6 will (L.27) 7 childhood (L.35) 8 graduation (L.36)

Check 4 Which writer or writers…

1 started and finished their life in the same town?

2 didn’t like their home town?

3 took inspiration from their surroundings?

4 remembered a personal anniversary in their writing?

5 spent time in a different country?

6 didn’t want to be known by their readers?

7 didn’t want people to disturb their body?

8 didn’t always work alone?

A

Jane Austen

B

James Joyce

C

William Shakespeare

D

William Wordsworth

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Stratford-upon-AvonStratford-upon-Avon in the West Midlands is Britain’s most popular ‘literary’ town because it’s the birthplace of William Shakespeare (1564 –1616). He didn’t write any of his famous plays, like Macbeth or Hamlet, here. However, you can see the house where young Will grew up, and the room where they say he was born. His wife’s house, known as Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, and Mary Arden’s House, his mother’s house, are also still nearby. Shakespeare was baptised and buried in Holy Trinity Church, where his gravestone warns people never to touch the bones inside! Now you can find theatres, hotels, shops and restaurants all using the name of Stratford’s most famous former resident.

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DT Think English Pre-Int CB1 FOR14 14 30/10/08 14:24:18

Culture

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Listening P

5 T5 06 Listen to a radio interview with Suzanne Miles, a person who loves the work of Jane Austen. True or False? Write T or F.

1 ‘Janites’ are characters in Jane Austen’s novels.

2 The original title of Pride and Prejudice was First Impressions.

3 It was published in 1797.

4 The publisher never read the novel.

5 One of Mrs Bennet’s daughters marries Mr Darcy.

6 The first line says that women look for husbands with a lot of money.

7 Jane Austen’s novels are popular today because human behaviour is still the same.

8 Keira Knightley starred in an Oscar-winning film of Pride and Prejudice.

Speaking T

6 In pairs. Think of a writer or famous person who lived in Italy or in your region. Ask and answer questions about them. Make notes about your person.

1 When were they born? Where did they live?

2 Did they produce any writing, music, painting, etc., while they lived there?

3 Why are they famous?

4 Were they inspired by a town, city, landscape or people?

5 Is there a museum or statue to commemorate this person?

6 Are there any personal possessions of this person that can be seen today?

Writing Portfolio

7 Use your notes from exercise 6 to write a short text (100 words) about your famous person.

Culture 6

The Lake DistrictThe Romantic poet William Wordsworth (1770 –1850) was born at Cockermouth, in the Lake District. The natural beauty of the area inspired much of his poetry. His autobiographical poem, The Prelude, describes his childhood in the Lake District. After his graduation, Wordsworth spent several years travelling around Europe. He returned to the Lakes in 1799 with his sister, Dorothy. They moved first to Dove Cottage in Grasmere, and then to nearby Rydal Mount. Both of these houses are now museums. Wordsworth and his friend and collaborator, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, are known as the ‘Lake Poets’ because of their links to the Lake District. They shared similar ideas on politics and poetry, and together wrote a collection of poems called The Lyrical Ballads. In 1802 Wordsworth married a childhood friend, Mary Hutchinson, and they had five children.

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ChawtonJane Austen (1775–1817) lived in the small village of Chawton, in Hampshire in the south of England, from 1809 to 1817. Her house is now a museum and contains many possessions including her letters, jewellery, writing desk and will. It is here that she revised her first three novels, Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, and wrote three more, Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion. Like most female writers of the time, Jane Austen published her novels anonymously and signed them ‘by a Lady’. Chawton was a quiet country village and Jane Austen found inspiration for her writing by observing the values and social manners of the people around her.

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DublinJames Joyce (1882–1941) lived abroad most of his life and didn’t like Dublin, but he put his city on the literary map with classics like Dubliners and Ulysses. Ulysses, published in 1922, follows Leopold Bloom as he walks through the Irish capital on June 16th, 1904. This date commemorates the day when Joyce first went out with Nora Barnacle, his future wife. Now, every year on June 16th, people celebrate ‘Bloomsday’ by dressing up as characters from the novel and retracing Bloom’s journey across the city. Lots of the buildings in the novel are still there, like the Martello Tower (now The James Joyce Museum, which is at Sandycove, just south of Dublin), and the Davy Byrne’s pub in Duke Street (in the centre of Dublin), where Bloom had his lunch.

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