Listen&Learn: Jane Austen

Learn about a famous female author from the 18th century

Pre-listening vocabulary

• middle class: the group of people who have enough money to live comfortably, but are not rich
• edition: a version of a book
• satire: a type of storytelling that uses humour to criticize parts of society
• reveal: to give new information to the public
• credit: to say that someone is responsible for something
• modern: new, recent

Listening activity

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:34 — 1.4MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS | More

Gapfill exercise

Jane Austen was an English . She was born in 1775 in Steventon, Hampshire, to a middle-class family. She began writing when she was only eleven years old. In 1797, she started her first , Sense and Sensibility. When she published it in 1811, she didn’t use her own name. The first edition of the book simply claimed to be written “by a “. Austen wrote six novels, all of which used satire to criticize social expectations. She earned very little money for her work. Although many of her stories are about love and , Austen never married, which was very unusual for a woman in her time. Her brother, Henry, revealed that Austen was the author of her novels after her death in 1817. Many people credit her with helping to shape the way modern novels are written.

Comprehension questions

See answers below

1. Jane Austen was born in
   a. 1775
   b. 1797
   c. 1811
   
2. Her first novel was
   a. Sense and Sensibility
   b. Pride and Prejudice
   c. Persuasion
   
3. The name Austen originally published under was simply
   a. “a writer”
   b. “a gentleman”
   c. “a lady”

Discussion/essay questions

1. Why do you think Jane Austen published her novels anonymously? Why might a writer not want to be known?

Transcript

Jane Austen was an English writer. She was born in 1775 in Steventon, Hampshire, to a middle-class family. She began writing when she was only eleven years old. In 1797, she started her first novel, Sense and Sensibility. When she published it in 1811, she didn’t use her own name. The first edition of the book simply claimed to be written “by a lady“. Austen wrote six novels, all of which used satire to criticize social expectations. She earned very little money for her work. Although many of her stories are about love and marriage, Austen never married, which was very unusual for a woman in her time. Her brother, Henry, revealed that Austen was the author of her novels after her death in 1817. Many people credit her with helping to shape the way modern novels are written.

Answers to comprehension questions

1a 2a 3c