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resource guide
The dating game
KS5> Skills> Introductory Activities > The Dating Game
How it works The dating game introduces AS students to the world of Literature by
challenging them to identify and date the order of various literary
extracts. This is a great introduction to AS as it encourages students to
think about how the English language has evolved and gets them reading
outside their own range. Let’s face it, many haven’t read much that
wasn’t on the GCSE syllabus!
It’s also a gentle introduction to the language of Chaucer. There is a
series of helpful ideas about how you might use the game at the start of
the resource itself; however, here are a few other ways of using it.
Try this! Issue the dates as well as the extracts. See if students can match these
up as well. Ask them if they can tell whether the writers are male or
female. Ask them which they find most accessible and which they would
not want to read. Remind them that they need to be able to justify their
responses.
Or this! Having completed the dating game, set students the task of researching
five more extracts of their own with dates. They should bring these to
the next lesson to explore.
Or this! Get them to create an alphabet of authors by surname, starting with the
authors of these extracts – yes… even at A Level this can be revealing!
Or this! Create your own version of this resource using extracts from the set
texts your students will be reading on the AS and A2 course. This is
great way to whet their appetite. Some may even be prompted to read
ahead.
Natalie Chyba
© 2008 www.teachit.co.uk

3. THE DATING GAME
1. 1960 Adrian Henry
2. 1340 Geoffrey Chaucer
3. 1805 William Wordsworth
4. 1916 Wilfred Owen
5. 1847 Emily Bronte
6. 1590 William Shakespeare
7. 1678 John Bunyan
8. 1880 Charles Dickens
9. c750 The Seafarer
Things to do with The Dating Game
1. Put the passages into order, using any evidence at all.
2. Discuss the kind of evidence available – content, style, form, orthography, tone,
background, spelling, syntax.
3. Discuss individual passages, (e.g.) alliteration (4 and 9); nature poetry (3).
4. Discuss the development of language – Old, Middle and Modern English. e.g. The
French influence in 2.
5. Try pronouncing the older passages.
6. Try translating the older passages.
7. Note that the older passages tend to be poetry; note that fiction as we know it
appears late on the list.
8. Discuss the sonnet form.
9. Is 7 a novel? How is this different from a modern novel, or from 5 and 8? Discuss
concept of allegory. Is 7 similar to any other passages? (e.g. the Chaucer –
allegorical/moral didactic purpose).
10. Which passage is the most:
personal narrative
moral satirical
descriptive trivial
vivid emotional
enjoyable religious
difficult
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4. THE DATING GAME
9
Maeg ic be me sylfum sodgied wrecan, sipas secgan,
hu ic geswincdagum earfodwhile oft prowade, bitre
breostceare gebiden haebbe, gecunnad in ceole
cearselda fela, atol ypa gewealc. Paer mec oft bigeat
nearo nihtwaco aet nacan stefan, ponne he be clifum
cnossad calde geprungen, waeron fet mine, forste
gebunden, caldum clommum, paer pa ceare seofedun
hate ymb heortan; hungor innan slat merewerges mod.
8
Occasionally, when there was some more than usually interesting
inquest upon a parish child who had been overlooked in turning
up a bedstead, or inadvertently scalded to death when there
happened to be a washing – though the latter accident was very
scarce, anything approaching to a washing being of rare
occurrence in the farm – the jury would take it into their heads to
ask troublesome questions, or the parishioners would rebelliously
affix their signatures to a remonstrance. But these impertinences
were speedily checked by the evidence of the surgeon, and the
testimony of the beadle; the former of whom had always opened
the body and found nothing inside (which was very probable
indeed), and the latter of whom invariably swore whatever the
parish wanted; which was very self-devotional. Besides, the
board made periodical pilgrimages to the farm, and always sent
the beadle the day before, to say they were going. The children
were neat and clean to behold, when they went; and what more
would the people have!
* * * * * * * *
*
“Now, just a leetle drop,” said Mrs Mann persuasively.
“What is it?” inquired the beadle.
“Why, it’s wha’ I’m obliged to keep a little of in the house to put
into the blessed infants’ Daffy, when they ain’t well,” replied Mrs
Mann as she opened a corner cupboard, and took down a bottle
and glass. “It’s gin. I’ll not deceive you, Mr B. It’s gin.”
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5. THE DATING GAME
1
Without you every morning would be like going back to work after a holiday,
Without you I couldn’t stand the smell of the East Lancs Road,
Without you the ghost ferries would cross the Mersey manned by skeleton crews,
Without you I’d probably feel happy and have more money and time and nothing to do with it....
2
A povre widwe, somdeel stape in age,
Was whilom dwelling in a narwe cotage,
Biside a grove, stondinge in a dale.
This widwe, of which I tell yow my tale,
In pacience ladde a ful simple lyf,
For litel was her catel and hir rente.
By housbondrie of swich as God hir sente
She foond herself....
6
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May.
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometimes declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor loose possession of that fair thou owest,
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest;
So long as men can breath, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
3
In November days,
When vapours, rolling down the valleys, made
A lonely scene more lonesome; among woods
At noon, and mid the calm of summer nights,
When, by the margin of the trembling lake,
Beneath the gloomy hills I homeward went
In solitude...
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6. THE DATING GAME
7
Now when he was got up to the top of the hill, there came two men running to meet him;
the name of the one was Timorous, and the name of the other Mistrust: to whom
Christian said, “Sirs, what is the matter you run the wrong way?” Timorous answered
that they were going to the city of Zion, and had got up that difficult place: but, said he,
the further we go, the more danger we meet with; therefore we turned, and are going back
again.
Yes, said Mistrust; for just before us lies a couple of lions in the way,
(whether sleeping or walking, we know not;) and we could not think, if we came within
reach, but they would presently pull us in pieces.
Then, said Christian, you make me afraid: but whither shall I flee to be
safe? If I go back to my own country, that is prepared for fire and brimstone, and I shall
certainly perish there: if I can get to the celestial city, I am sure to be in safety there: I
must venture: to go back is nothing but death; to go forward, is fear of death, and life
everlasting beyond it: I will yet go forward.
5
The apartment and furniture would have been nothing extraordinary as belonging to a
homely, northern farmer, with a stubborn countenance, and stalwart limbs set out to
advantage in knee-breeches and gaiters. Such an individual seated in his armchair, his
mug of ale frothing on the round table before him, is to be seen in any circuit of five or
six miles among these hills, if you go at the right time after dinner. But Mr Heathcliff
forms a singular contrast to his abode and style of living. He is a dark-skinned gypsy in
aspect, in dress and manners a gentleman...
4
What passing-bells for those who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells,
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, –
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells...
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