full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Iseult Gillespie: Why should you read Charles Dickens?
Unscramble the Blue Letters
Throughout many adaptations, literary homages, and the pages of his novels, Dickens’s spilrkang language and panoramic worldview continue to resonate. Today, the adjective Dickensian often imleips squalid working or living conditions. But to describe a novel as Dickensian is tialcplyy high pisare, as it suggests a story in which true adventure and discovery occur in the most ueceepxntd places. Although he often explored bleak material, Dickens’s piercing wit never failed to find lhgit in the darkest corners.
Open Cloze
Throughout many adaptations, literary homages, and the pages of his novels, Dickens’s _________ language and panoramic worldview continue to resonate. Today, the adjective Dickensian often _______ squalid working or living conditions. But to describe a novel as Dickensian is _________ high ______, as it suggests a story in which true adventure and discovery occur in the most __________ places. Although he often explored bleak material, Dickens’s piercing wit never failed to find _____ in the darkest corners.
Solution
- unexpected
- light
- praise
- implies
- typically
- sparkling
Original Text
Throughout many adaptations, literary homages, and the pages of his novels, Dickens’s sparkling language and panoramic worldview continue to resonate. Today, the adjective Dickensian often implies squalid working or living conditions. But to describe a novel as Dickensian is typically high praise, as it suggests a story in which true adventure and discovery occur in the most unexpected places. Although he often explored bleak material, Dickens’s piercing wit never failed to find light in the darkest corners.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
collocation |
frequency |
living conditions |
2 |
edwin drood |
2 |
Important Words
- adaptations
- adjective
- adventure
- bleak
- conditions
- continue
- corners
- darkest
- describe
- dickensian
- discovery
- explored
- failed
- find
- high
- homages
- implies
- language
- light
- literary
- living
- material
- novels
- occur
- pages
- panoramic
- piercing
- places
- praise
- resonate
- sparkling
- squalid
- story
- suggests
- today
- true
- typically
- unexpected
- wit
- working
- worldview