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1. Read the following story by Charles Dickens:
 

A Child’s Dream of a Star

    THERE was once a child, and he strolled about a good deal, and thought of a number of things. He had a sister, who was a child, too, and his constant companion. These two used to wonder all day long. They wondered at the beauty of the flowers; they wondered at the height and blueness of the sky; they wondered at the depth of the bright water; they wondered at the goodness and the power of God, who made the lovely world.
    They used to say to each other, sometimes, “Supposing all the children upon the earth were to die, would the flowers, and the water, and the sky be sorry?”
    They believed they would be sorry. “For,” said they, “the buds are the children of the flowers; and the little playful streams that gambol down the hillsides are the children of the water; and the smallest bright specks, playing at hide and seek in the sky all night, must surely be the children of the stars; and they would all be grieved to see their playmates, the children of men, no more.”
    There was one clear, shining star, that used to come out in the sky before the rest, near the church spire above the graves. It was larger and more beautiful, they thought, than all the others; and every night they watched for it, standing hand in hand at a window.
    Whoever saw it first, cried out, “I see the star!” And often they cried out both together, knowing so well when it would rise, and where. So they grew to be such friends with it, that, before lying down in their beds, they always looked out once again, to bid it good night; and when they were turning round to sleep, they used to say, “God bless the star!”
    But while she was still very young - oh! very, very young - the sister drooped, and came to be so weak that she could no longer stand in the window at night; and  then the child looked sadly out by himself, and, when he saw the star, turned round and said to the patient, pale face on the bed, “I see the star!” And then a smile would come upon the face, and a little weak voice would say tremulously, “God bless my brother and the star!”
    And so the time came - all too soon - when the child - looked out alone, and when there was no face on the bed; and when there was a little grave among the graves, not there before; and when the star made long rays down toward him, as he saw it through his tears. Now these rays were so bright, and they seemed to make such a shining way from earth to heaven, that when the child went to his solitary bed he dreamed about the star; and he dreamed that, lying where he was, he saw a train of people taken up that sparkling road by angels. And the star, opening, showed him a great world of light, where many more such angels waited to receive them.
    All these angels who were waiting turned their beaming eyes upon the people who were carried up into the star and some came out from the long rows in which they stood and fell upon the people’s necks, and kissed them tender and went away with them down avenues of light, and were so happy in their company that lying in his bed he wept for joy.
    But there were many angels who did not go with them, and among them one he knew. The patient face that once had lain upon the bed was glorified and radiant, but his heart found out his sister among all the host. His sister’s angel lingered near the entrance of the star, and said to the leader among those who had brought the people thither, “Is my brother come?” And he said, “No.”
    She was turning hopefully away, when the child stretched out his arms and cried, “O sister, I am here! Take me!”  And then she turned her beaming eyes upon him, and it was night; 
and the star was shining into the room, making long rays down toward him as he saw it through his tears. From that hour forth, the child looked out upon the star as on the home he was to go to when his time should come; and he thought he did not belong to the earth alone, but to the star, too, because of his sister’s angel gone before.
    There was a baby born to be a brother to the child; and while he was so little that he never yet had spoken a word, he stretched his tiny form out on his bed and died. Again the child dreamed of the opened star, and of the company of angels and the train of people, and the rows of angels with their beaming eyes all turned upon those people’s faces.
    Said his sister’s angel to the leader, “Is my brother come?” And he said, “Not that one, but another.”
    As the child beheld his brother’s angel in her arms, he cried, “O sister, I am here! Take me!” And she turned and smiled upon him, and the star was shining.
    He grew to be a young man, and was busy at his books, when an old servant came to him and said: “Thy mother is no more. I bring her blessing on her darling son.”
    Again at night he saw the star, and all that former company. Said his sister’s angel to the leader, “Is my brother come?” And he said, “Thy mother!”
    A mighty cry of joy went forth through all the star, because the mother was reunited to her two children. And he stretched out his arms and cried, “O mother, sister, and brother, I am here! Take me!” And they answered him, “Not yet” And the star was shining. 
    Thus the child came to be an old man, and his once smooth face was wrinkled, and his steps were slow and feeble, and his back was bent. And one night, as he lay upon his bed, his children standing round, he cried, he had cried so long ago, “I see the star!”     They whispered one another, “He is dying.”
    And he said, “I am. My age is falling from me like a garment, and I move toward the star as a child. And O my Father! now I thank Thee that it has so often opened to receive those dear ones who await me.”
    And the star was shining; and it shines upon his grave.

Post-reading activities:
-  About what did the children wonder?
- What did they think would happen if all the children should die?
- What effect did the star have on the sister? What effect did the star have on the brother?
- Did the Dream help the man? Why did he dream about it?
- How does this story fit into Victorian social context? What details about real children’s life in the period could a reader borrow from the story? 
- Sum up the key message of the story.
- Is your vision of contemporary children’s life more optimistic? What are they dreaming about now? What does it depend on? 

2. Read a poem by Christina Rossetti:
 

Song
When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
Nor shady cypress tree:
Be the green grass above me
With showers and dewdrops wet:
And if thou wilt, remember,
And if thou wilt, forget.
I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on as if in pain:
And dreaming through the twilight
That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember
And haply may forget.

Post-reading activities:
- What is the message of the poem? 
- Whom is the poet speaking to? Is her love reciprocated? Prove your opinion from the text.
- What feelings does the poet experience in regard to the whole world? Why? 
- What is the function of frequent repetitions in the poem? 
- Does the poet make an extensive use of alliteration in the poem? What is its function? 
- Try to reconstruct an image of the person singing such a song or its author?