Kew Gardens

Virginia Woolf

Outline

Author

Title

Plot

Characters

Analysis

Comments

Virginia Woolf British novelist, essayist,

critic. Stream of consciousness Literature representative born in London on January 25, 1882. In 1941, drowned herself in the Ouse River.

Novels

The Voyage Out 1915 Night and Day 1919 Jacob's Room 1920 Mrs. Dalloway 1925 To the Lighthouse 1927 Orlando: a Biography 1928 The Waves 1931 The Years 1937 Between the Acts 1941

Informal Essay

A Room of One's Own 1929The Common Reader 1925The Second Common Reader

1933Three Guineas 1938Roger Fry: A Biography

1940The Death of the Moth and

Other Essays 1942The Moment and Other

Essays 1948Modern Fiction 1919

Kew Gardens The history of the botanical garden goes back to

1759, when Princess Augusta, mother of king George III, started developing a 3.6 ha large garden at the domain of White Lodge, Richmond in west London with the help of gardener William Aiton and botanist Lord Bute. William Chambers designed several structures for the garden, including the orangery and the pagoda. The botanical garden actually occupied just a small part of the garden, the rest was designed by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown.

Kew Gardens In 1772 King George III inherited Princess Augusta’s

garden after he had already inherited George II’s country house in Kew, a three hectare large estate near the botanical garden. George III decided to join the two royal domains and he put Joseph Banks in charge of enlarging and planting the combined gardens.

Joseph Banks had just returned from his journey around the world with Captain Cook and had collected a large amount of exotic plants on his trip. During his tenure at Kew, Banks established Kew Garden‘s reputation as one of the leading horticultural research centers in the world. The garden would continue to expand over the years.

Kew Gardens In 1841 the Kew Gardens were donated to the state.

Soon after, several large greenhouses were added such as the famous Palm House and the Temperate House. The large vistas were also created during this time.In July 2003 Kew Gardens was put on the UNESCO World Heritage list thanks to the historical importance of the garden and its many unique edifices.

Plot “Kew Gardens” was first published in 1919 by

Hogarth Press. Highly representative of Woolf’s stream-of-consciousness style, it has been anthologized many times since its publication.

In the story, four groups of people are walking in Kew Gardens in July. Each character seems lost in his or her own reminiscences. Despite walking with someone in Kew Gardens, the narrator emphasizes ways in which their thoughts are their own. The story reflects Woolf’s keen insight into what it means to be human.

Characters Four different groups of people:

Simon and Eleanor William and an elder man Two ponderous elderly women of lower middle

class A young man and a young woman named Trissie

Analysis The flowerbed The snail The human couples The whole scenery of Kew Gardens breeze & petals pebble & stone , leaf murmur & mutter , parasol Dragonfly & butterfiy , flowers ,

birds

Images:

Words:

Comments Virginia Woolf use the writing style of

impressionism, painter-like strokes, presents the reader with a Impressionist Kew. The novel breakthrough in traditional novel’s detention. There is no main character, no story, just some superimposed impressions fragments.

Thank you!