Starter quiz
- What does the word futile mean?
- when something is damaging
- when something is pointless ✓
- when we get a bad feeling
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- What is a telegram?
- a piece of paper with a message on sent by a telegraph ✓
- a piece of paper with a message on sent by a telegraph during the war
- a piece of paper with a code on sent by a telegraph
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- What method is being described here: 'when the weather reflects the mood.'?
- 'pathetic fallacy' ✓
- What do we mean if we say something is ironic?
- something which is beyond your wildest expectation
- something which is the same as what you were expecting
- something which is different to what you were expecting ✓
-
- If something is tragic it means...
- it is incredibly sad ✓
- it is incredibly joyous
- it is incredibly dull
-
- If you do not agree with war you could be said to be...
- anti-war ✓
- pro-war
- dis-war
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Exit quiz
- Match the keywords to their definitions.
- foreboding⇔when we get the feeling something awful is about to happen ✓
- futile⇔when something feels pointless ✓
- devastating⇔highly-destructive or damaging ✓
- What were Hardy's opinions on war?
- he was strongly in favour of war
- he was strongly opposed to war ✓
- he was indifferent to war
-
- In 'A Wife in London' Hardy best shows the devastating impact of war on...
- families of soldiers ✓
- the soldier in the war
- soldiers on both sides of the war
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- Starting with the first, order the events in 'A Wife in London' in to chronolgical order.
- 1⇔A wife is waiting news of her husband, who is away at war.
- 2⇔The wife receives a telegram, notifying her of her husband’s death at war.
- 3⇔The wife receives a letter from her husband at war.
- 4⇔We learn the husband looks forward to trips away with his wife when he returns.
- How many sections is the poem 'A Wife in London' split into?
- 2 ✓
- 3
- 4
-
- 'A Wife in London' contrasts the __________ of a returning soldier with the devastating __________ of the wife who has been left behind.
- fear/hope
- hope/loss ✓
- fear/hope
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Worksheet
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Hardy wrote 'A Wife in London' two months after the start of the Second Boer War.
- Hardy was strongly opposed to war - he viewed it as a monumental waste of life.
- The poem sees a wife receive a telegram informing her of the death of her husband.
- The wife then receives a letter from her husband before he died, detailing his hopes for their future together.
- The poem contrasts the hope of a returning soldier with the devastating loss of the wife who has been left behind.
Common misconception
Pupils often think that the wife receives two letters.
The wife receives a telegram and a letter. Both the irony and the tragedy are in the fact that, due to the quick nature of telegrams, the wife receives news of her husband's death before she receives his letter.
Keywords
Foreboding - when we get the feeling something awful is about to happen
Telegram - a piece of paper with a message on sent by a telegraph
Futile - pointless
Devastating - highly-destructive or damaging
Tragedy - an event that causes great distress or suffering
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