Article
British Library

British Library: Discovering Literature: Women's Voices in the Medieval Period

For Students 9th - 10th
Drawing on examples from Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, and Christine de Pizan, this article looks at the experiences of women as writers and producers of texts in the medieval period and reflects on the survival of their works.
Article
British Library

British Library: Discovering Literature: Dream Visions

For Students 9th - 10th
The dream vision as a form was as popular in the late medieval period as the novel is today. From courtly comedy to social critique, via feminist polemic, this article explores some of the most captivating works of the medieval period.
Article
British Library

British Library: Discovering Literature: The Life of the Anchoress

For Students 9th - 10th
During the medieval period, hundreds of women chose a life of prayer and contemplation, shut up alone in a cell. This article explains the path to becoming an anchoress, how anchoresses spent their days, and what medieval texts such as...
Article
British Library

British Library: Discovering Literature: Saracens and Racial Otherness in Middle English Romance

For Students 9th - 10th
This article considers how 'Saracen' characters are portrayed in Middle English romances, and what these texts can reveal about ideas of Otherness in this period.
Article
British Library

British Library: Language & Literature: Dictionaries and Meanings

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Article discusses the history of English dictionaries over a five-hundred-year period. Includes selections from Samuel Johnson's dictionary of 1755 and the Oxford English Dictionary. With useful comments about the origins of words,...
Article
Rutgers University

Rutgers University: Samuel Johnson and the Revival of Learning

For Students 9th - 10th
A critical analysis of Johnson's commentary on the period later called the Renaissance by Jack Lynch. In-depth article with extensive notes and bibliography.
Article
Other

Uwo: Early Writing in Canada Susannah Moodie

For Students 9th - 10th
These are excerpts from Susannah Moodie's book 'Roughing it in the Bush'.