Jane Austen

Jane Austen was an English novelist whose books, set among the English middle and upper classes, are notable for their wit, social observation and insights into the lives of early 19th century women.

Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775 in the village of Steventon in Hampshire. She was one of eight children of a clergyman and grew up in a close-knit family. She began to write as a teenager. In 1801 the family moved to Bath. After the death of Jane's father in 1805 Jane, her sister Cassandra and their mother moved several times eventually settling in Chawton, near Steventon.

Jane's brother Henry helped her negotiate with a publisher and her first novel, 'Sense and Sensibility', appeared in 1811. Her next novel 'Pride and Prejudice', which she described as her "own darling child" received highly favourable reviews. 'Mansfield Park' was published in 1814, then 'Emma' in 1816. 'Emma' was dedicated to the prince regent, an admirer of her work. All of Jane Austen's novels were published anonymously.

In 1816, Jane began to suffer from ill-health, probably due to Addison's disease. She travelled to Winchester to receive treatment, and died there on 18 July 1817. Two more novels, 'Persuasion' and 'Northanger Abbey' were published posthumously and a final novel was left incomplete.

The Convent Threshold

In today's lesson we read the poem, 'The Convent Threshold' and I was most interested in the idea of earth being as heavenly as heaven. I found this interesting because the earth is usually described as a dirty and an unworthy place compared to heaven. However, in this poem it is described as a place that people would want to stay in instead of going to heaven.

The idea of fallen women in Cousin Kate

In today’s lesson we looked at the idea of a fallen woman and after reading the poem ‘Cousin Kate’ by Christina Rossetti, we tried to find ways that it linked to this idea.  We brainstormed some ideas about what a fallen women could be and after a couple of suggestions, we came to the conclusion that a fallen woman is a woman who has lost her dignity and place in society. They become a social outcast because of behind tricked into losing their virginity by sneaky men. This then led to a discussion about why women had so many negative words for sleeping around like ‘whore’, and men had none and are sometimes congratulated for sleeping around.

After discussing the context of the poem a little more, we read the poem which is about how two women who were both seduced by a Lord into having sex out of wedlock and how differently they are treated due to their circumstances. One of them, the persona, thought she was in love with the lord but was still shamed in society for losing her virginity before she got married. The other, Cousin Kate, slept with the same man but is talked about the neighbours as 'good and pure' because she is now engaged to the Lord. this unfairness causes bitter from the persona as she says things like 'you love is writ in sand' and 'I have a gift you have not got, and seem like to get' which shows that even though she knows what she did is socially unacceptable, she believes she has done nothing wrong. We later find out that the 'gift' is her son and although he was bought into the world due to her 'shame', he is her 'prise' and is very happy to have had him.