New
New
Year 10
AQA

Understanding the poem 'In a London Drawingroom'

I can explain how Eliot presents the industrialisation of London.

New
New
Year 10
AQA

Understanding the poem 'In a London Drawingroom'

I can explain how Eliot presents the industrialisation of London.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Arguably, Eliot wrote under a pseudonym because she wanted to be seen as saying something important about society.
  2. Eliot often wrote about rural life and the disparity between the poor and the rich.
  3. Eliot would likely have critiqued the Industrial Revolution for the shift away from nature and the working conditions.
  4. The perspective of the poem could be a critique of the upper classes during the Industrial Revolution.
  5. The poem suggests that the Industrial Revolution harmed nature and lead to oppression.

Common misconception

That we should consider imagery at literal, face value.

While considering the literal meaning is good for our understanding, we want to move beyond that to consider what a quotation or image symbolises and what it is saying about the wider ideas in the poem.

Keywords

  • Industrialisation - the process of transforming the economy from a focus on agriculture to a reliance on manufacturing.

  • Trivial - of little value or importance.

  • Obscured - unclear and difficult to understand or see.

  • Perspective - refers to the position from which something is viewed.

  • Oppressive - a situation in which people are governed in an unfair and cruel way.

You might like to look at the social transgressions of Eliot's life and connect them to ideas of how she would likely critique societal norms and oppressive treatment.
Teacher tip

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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6 Questions

Q1.
Another way of saying viewpoint is...
objective
Correct answer: perspective
subjective
Q2.
If something is oppressive it is...
Correct answer: harsh, cruel and unfair
kind, gentle and caring
neutral, calm and peaceful
Q3.
What connotations do we tend to have of cities?
Correct answer: they are busy places
Correct answer: they are polluted
there is a lot of open space
they are very clean
Q4.
What does 'rural' relate to?
towns
cities
Correct answer: the countryside
Q5.
What does the Industrial Revolution refer to?
Correct answer: the transition from creating goods by hand to using machines
the transition from farming to making clothes
the transition from creating goods using machines to by hand
Q6.
Language which is suggestive but not certain in nature is known as language.
Correct Answer: tentative

6 Questions

Q1.
What is being described here: 'the process of transforming the economy from a focus on agriculture to a reliance on manufacturing.'?
oppression
Correct answer: industrialisation
trivialising
Q2.
refers to the position from which something is viewed.
Correct Answer: perspective
Q3.
The perspective of 'In a London Drawingroom ' could be a critique of the classes during the Industrial Revolution.
lower
middle
Correct answer: upper
Q4.
George Eliot's work often depicted life.
Correct Answer: rural
Q5.
What was true of the Industrial Revolution in Britain?
Correct answer: cities became more polluted
the poor benefitted from mass production
Correct answer: people moved away from the countryside
Q6.
What does Eliot suggest about the Industrial Revolution in 'In a London Drawingroom'?
Correct answer: it harmed nature
Correct answer: it led to oppression
it benefited the factory workers