British Library
British Library: 20th Century Teaching Resources: Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway
In these activities, students will use manuscript drafts, notebooks, and essays to study Woolf's experimentation with form and use of language during the lengthy process of composition. They will also consider the work in the context of...
British Library
British Library: 20th Century Teaching Resources: Ted Hughes's Birthday Letters
In these activities, young scholars will consider Ted Hughes as a poet and a person, as well as some of the literary and personal influences on his writing. They will explore some of his poems in the draft and published form, exploring...
British Library
British Library: 20th Century Teaching Resources: T S Eliot's the Waste Land
Through close reading of "The Waste Land" in its original manuscript form, students will explore how the poem evolved in the process of editing. By reading contemporary letters and reviews, students will be guided towards a more informed...
British Library
British Library: 20th Century: Literature 1950 2000
Explore key literary works of the late 20th century with these articles.
British Library
British Library: 20th Century: Literature 1900 1950
Explore key literary works of the early 20th- century with these articles.
British Library
British Library: 20th Century: Gender and Sexuality
Discover how 20th-century literature explored, questioned, and exploded traditional ideas of gender roles and sexuality.
British Library
British Library: 20th Century: Power and Conflict
Find out how war and conflict shaped literature throughout the 20th century.
British Library
British Library: 20th Century Teaching Resources: Angela Carter's Wise Children
In these activities, students will focus on a wealth of drafting material and writer's notebooks to reveal how Angela Carter created her final comic novel, "Wise Children". They will closely examine fascinating source documents and...
British Library
British Library: 20th Century: Angela Carter's the Bloody Chamber
These activities offer learners a unique opportunity to examine how a writer crafts a narrative. By exploring many of Angela Carter's early drafts, students will uncover how she created her ground-breaking short story collection, "The...
British Library
British Library: 20th Century Teaching Resources: An Inspector Calls
Find contextual treasures from production posters and programs to J.B. Priestley's scrapbook.
British Library
British Library: 20th Century Literature: Collection Items
Discover a wealth of original sources from 20th-century literature, including manuscripts, first editions, newspapers, diaries, letters, photographs, and maps.
British Library
British Library: 20th Century: Visions of the Future
Explore the ways in which 20th-century writers imagined the future, investigated the present, and prepared for the unknown.
British Library
British Library: 20th Century: Theatre Practitioners and Genres
From Stanislavski to Brecht and from Theatre of the Absurd to Theatre Workshop, explore some of the key influences and developments within 20th-century theatre practice.
British Library
British Library: 20th Century: Mrs Dalloway: Exploring Consciousness
Elaine Showalter describes how, in Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf uses stream of consciousness to enter the minds of her characters and portray cultural and individual change in the period following the First World War.
British Library
British Library: 20th Century: An Introduction to the Bell Jar
Sarah Churchwell examines how "The Bell Jar" critiques the expectations and limitations placed on young women in the 1950s - and how these expectations and limitations have shaped the novel's reception.
British Library
British Library: 20th Century: Angela Carter, Gothic Literature
"The Bloody Chamber" is a collection of modern fairy tales, many of which incorporate elements of Gothic literature. Greg Buzwell traces the Gothic influence on Carter's stories, from the Marquis de Sade to Edgar Allan Poe.
British Library
British Library: 20th Century: An Introduction to an Inspector Calls
Chris Power introduces "An Inspector Calls" as a morality play that denounces the hypocrisy and callousness of capitalism and argues that a just society can only be achieved if all individuals feel a sense of social responsibility.
British Library
British Library: 20th Century: 'The Man From Over the Top of the Hill'
In this article, Simon Armitage explores some of Ted Hughes's themes and interests and his impact on his own life and work.
British Library
British Library: 20th Century: An Introduction to Animal Farm
George Orwell's "Animal Farm" combines animal fable with political satire targeting Stalinist Russia. John Sutherland describes the novel's genesis, its struggle to find a publisher, and its eventual success.
British Library
British Library: 20th Century: An Introduction to Andrea Levy's Small Island
Andrea Levy's "Small Island" is a story of post-war Caribbean migration, narrated from four different perspectives. Hannah Lowe explores how the novel is intrinsically linked with Levy's own Caribbean ancestry, as well as how it has...
British Library
British Library: Teaching Resources: Milton: Crime & Punishment in Paradise Lost
Through exploring characterization and setting in Paradise Lost, students will reflect on how transgressive actions and their consequences are presented, with particular reference to Books I, II, IX, and X. Included in this lesson are...
British Library
British Library: Teaching Resources: The Merchant of Venice: Exploring Shylock
These activities encourage students to explore the character of Shylock, setting him against the backdrop of myths and fears about Jews that existed in Shakespeare's England. Included are discussion questions, primary sources, links for...
British Library
British Library: Teaching Resources: Romeo and Juliet: Words, Poetry & Plagiarism
In these activities, students will conduct a close linguistic exploration of the Romeo and Juliet text, which considers the central and deadly role that words play in the lovers' fate. They will also engage in broader tasks that...
British Library
British Library: Teaching Resources: Twelfth Night: Festive Comedy, Gender & Confusion
The ideas contained in these teacher notes are intended to present a range of creative activities to assist the development of independent research. It is hoped they will reinforce work undertaken collaboratively in class and develop...