{"id":197,"date":"2014-06-17T21:38:53","date_gmt":"2014-06-17T21:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/englishliterature\/?post_type=chapter&p=197"},"modified":"2019-07-04T20:59:18","modified_gmt":"2019-07-04T20:59:18","slug":"study-questions-and-activities","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/englishliterature\/chapter\/study-questions-and-activities\/","title":{"raw":"Study Questions, Activities, and Resources","rendered":"Study Questions, Activities, and Resources"},"content":{"raw":"
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Study Questions and Activities<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n

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Sonnets from the Portuguese<\/h1>\r\n1.\u00a0 Determine the rhyme scheme for each of these sonnets. To what type do the Sonnets from the Portuguese<\/em> belong\u2014the English or the Petrarchan form?\r\n\r\n2.\u00a0 Log on to the Wikisource page for all 43 sonnets. Do any of the sonnets break from the standard rhyme scheme used in sonnets 21, 22, 32, and 43 above?\r\n\r\n3.\u00a0 In terms of form, especially rhyme scheme, which English sonneteer does Barrett Browning most resemble: Sidney, Spenser, or Shakespeare? For Sidney, see Astrophil and Stella<\/em><\/a>, Sonnets 31, 52, 74. For Spenser, see any of the sonnets in Amoretti<\/em><\/a>. For Shakespeare, see Sonnet 1<\/a>.\r\n\r\n4.\u00a0 Barrett\u00a0Browning knew the poetry of John Donne very well. Do any of the above sonnets resemble Donne\u2019s \u201csonnets\u201d in terms of style or imagery?\r\n5.\u00a0 In a short essay, compare and contrast one sonnet by Browning and one by either Shakespeare, Sidney, or Spenser.\r\n

Cry of the Children<\/h1>\r\nProfessor Florence Boos maintains an extensive site on Victorian literature, with helpful questions on many Victorian authors. The index to her study guides is well worth downloading. It can be found at the bottom of her page<\/a> devoted to E.B. Browning's \"Cry of the Children\" and \"The Runaway Slave\"\u00a0 below:\r\n\r\n1.\u00a0 In particular, are there ways in which the rhythms reinforce the theme of noisy, dirty, and unpleasant factory conditions?\r\n2.\u00a0 What metaphors or recurrent themes does the author use to make her points (nature; death; youth and age; whirring of machinery)?\r\n3.\u00a0 In what ways is the children\u2019s viewpoint different from that of adults? What is their view of death, and how does this reinforce the poem's themes? How do they respond to the death of little Alice?\r\n4.\u00a0 What view of religion does the author seem to espouse? Who is responsible for the fact that the children are unable to conceive of a beneficent divine being?\r\n

Activities\/Further Essay Topics<\/h1>\r\n1.\u00a0 Compare the document from the Victorian Web about child labour with \"Cry of the Children\"; then discuss which is the more likely to make the reader take action against the abuses:\r\n