Reading a whole nineteenth-century story
Nineteenth-century fiction was written for readers with time and patience. A few reading habits make its long sentences feel comfortable rather than heavy.
Part of your national curriculum
- Reading: Read a wide range of fiction and non-fiction, including whole books and plays, and texts from the English literary heritage
- Reading: Read and appreciate the depth and power of the English literary heritage through the study of Shakespeare, seminal world literature and poetry since 1789
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Read a wide range of fiction and non-fiction, including whole books and plays, and texts from the English literary heritage
Key learning points
- • An original opening
- • Read the long sentence in units
- • Track the narrator
- • Reading whole books
This lesson at a glance
- 30 minutes
- 20 parts to scroll through
- 4 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 20
Watch first
Reading a whole nineteenth-century story
Settle into a nineteenth-century opening and read its long sentences in units.
In a nutshell
Read a wide range of fiction and non-fiction, including whole books and plays, and texts from the English literary heritage
Learning cycle
Part 2 of 20
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 · An original opening
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 3 of 20
Learn
An original opening
‘The mill had stood beside the Kelder for ninety years, and in all that time the town had never once agreed about it. To Mr Havershill it was a livelihood; to the women of Bridge Row it was the reason their windows were grey by noon; to young Alice Rowe, watching the wheel turn from the towpath, it was simply the loudest thing she had ever loved.’
Reset break
Part 4 of 20
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 20
Learn
Read the long sentence in units
That opening is one sentence in three parts, each introduced by a colon or semicolon. Read to each punctuation mark, hold the idea, then continue. Nineteenth-century syntax rewards this because the meaning usually accumulates rather than arriving at the end.
Quick check
Part 6 of 20
Quick check
Part 7 of 20
Reset break
Part 8 of 20
Pause
That's sitting 2 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Learning cycle
Part 9 of 20
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 · Track the narrator
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 10 of 20
Learn
Track the narrator
The narrator here is outside the story but moves between three people's views — an omniscient narrator. Notice how the judgement ‘had never once agreed’ belongs to the narrator, not to any character. Deciding who is speaking is the first step in every analysis.
Explore the idea
Part 11 of 20
Learn
Reading whole books
Set a chapter target rather than a page target, note one question per chapter, and keep a two-line character record. Finishing a whole novel builds stamina that no extract ever will, and it is the reading habit GCSE study assumes.
Reset break
Part 12 of 20
Pause
That's sitting 3 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 13 of 20
Quick check
Part 14 of 20
Explore the idea
Part 15 of 20
Worked example
Model comment
The narrator's phrase ‘the loudest thing she had ever loved’ ends the sentence on Alice, giving the child the final word in an argument between adults, and quietly signalling whose view the novel will follow.
Reset break
Part 16 of 20
Pause
That's sitting 4 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Challenge round
Part 17 of 20
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Challenge round
Part 18 of 20
Game · Recall cards
What is iambic pentameter?
Card 1 of 4
Mastery quiz
Part 19 of 20
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Reading a whole nineteenth-century story
4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. What is iambic pentameter?
2. A character switches from verse into prose in a tense scene. What might this signal?
3. Which is the best reading of ‘a lantern set upon a cliff’ used of a ruler?
4. Why does a soliloquy matter to an audience?
Lesson round-up
Part 20 of 20
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
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Ask LunaPart 1 of 20 · Watch & discover
How this is going
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Read a wide range of fiction and non-fiction, including whole books and plays, and texts from the English literary heritage
- Not looked at yet
Read and appreciate the depth and power of the English literary heritage through the study of Shakespeare, seminal world literature and poetry since 1789