We had great fun this morning exploring the way Thomas Gradgrind (Sir!) introduces himself in his own mind to the classroom full of little pitchers. Here he accosts Sissy Jupe for her lack of factual knowledge about horses and praises wonderful Bitzer for his “bitzy” factual knowledge of a horse. Thank you Angelina and Steph…
Tag: Hard Times
Charles Dickens and the Victorian Age
My favourite lecture is exploring the similarities between the Victorian era and our own. There are in fact so many similarities given the amount of new technology that the Victorians had to deal with. But the questions that arise from this topic are huge: Is the world becoming a better place (as the Victorians predicted)?…
Moving into the Victorian Age with Dickens and others.
Blog Topics galore!!!! *Today we tapped into Dickens’ challenge to the educational systems of his day. *How effective do you think he was in pointing to the heart of the problem with contemporary education? *Have we learned anything since his day? *Write a short piece that expresses your sense of the value of Dickens’ educational…
Charles Dickens Hard Times- Week 6
Hello All, well I am hoping that Dickens’ core message about the ailments plaguing 19thC England and about his vision of a cure, are becoming clearer to you now that we have listened hard to voice of Mt Thleary and have heard what poor Louisa had to endure under her father’s care. Now we begin…
Shakespeare/ Victorianism & Charles Dickens – Week 6
Thomas Carlyle the great Victorian historian, close friend of Charles Dickens wrote these wonderful words which have been carved in stone in the foyer to the Mitchell ( State Library) in Sydney. This is where many of us visited the Shakespeare Room this week. But for those of studying Charles Dickens and Victorianism, these words…
Queen Victoria’s Railway Carriage and Charles Dickens’ Challenge!
This is where Queen Victoria sat in her carriage- a gold plated dunny, with decor matching the carriage as a whole: It is no wonder that Dickens and artists concerned with the “Condition of England” were disturbed at the discrepancy between such opulence and the conditions that 9/10ths of the English population had to endure…
