'In a London Drawingroom' by George Eliot activities
This helpful resource is designed to support students in their exploration of AQA GCSE Worlds and Lives anthology poetry, specifically the poem 'In a London Drawingroom' by George Eliot.
Our poet in residence, Trevor Millum, has created a collection of engaging and imaginative activities based around the poem, its themes and language use. Students are encourage to investigate the poem, while building confidence and a useful skill set in poetry analysis.
Including conceptual ideas, examples and prompts, students explore the key messages of the poem to strengthen their understanding of language and imagery use. Students are also encourage to consider how different forms and structures might work as a way to express their ideas about this poem.
A sample extract from the resource:
Alternative titles
Having read the poem a few times without analysis, ask students to write their suggestions for alternative titles on post-it notes. Gather them in and then redistribute them randomly to small groups or pairs. Have some of your own ready in case there’s a shortage. Students then arrange them in order of priority, best at the top.
A variation would be to use titles from suggestions previously written (perhaps from another class?) and then ask students to prioritise them as part of a diamond ranking activity.
Another option is to use the suggested titles below. These can be printed onto card, cut into nine pieces and one set given to each group or pair. There is a spare for the student’s own suggestion. At the end of ten minutes, each group should have their titles organised into a diamond shape, thus:
Top choice
Two second bests
Three runners up
Two pretty unlikely
One no chance
