Count That Day Lost

Count That Day Lost / George Eliot

Pre-reading

Watch the clip above and discuss with your partner:

• What is the message of the clip?
• Do you think that our acts can really affect other people?
• According to what you saw in the clip, what influence do good acts (deeds) have on people? 

Vocabulary

1. Translate the following words:

2. Look at the words and try to think what the poem is about

Count That Day Lost

If you sit down at set of sun

And count the acts that you have done,

And, counting, find

One self-denying deed, one word

That eased the heart of him who heard,

One glance most kind

That fell like sunshine where it went —

Then you may count that day well spent.

But if, through all the livelong day,

You’ve cheered no heart, by yea or nay —

If, through it all

You've nothing done that you can trace

That brought the sunshine to one face–

No act most small

That helped some soul and nothing cost —

Then count that day as worse than lost.

Please go to the link below and answer the questions.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aBaKr9Fc-g9pCWtWjOku7NHKfaLr6XuhNPbuqbIRWpE/copy

Count That Day Lost 

Bridging Text and Context

• George Eliot (1819 – 1880) was actually a woman named Mary Anne Evans, but she chose to write under a man’s name.  She was born in Warwickshire, England and was one of the leading writers of the Victorian times. 

• The Victorian Era in the United Kingdom refers to the years of Queen Victoria’s rule (1837 – 1901).  It was an era where there was peace and prosperity – but also a great gap between the rich and the poor.

• The lower classes lived in extreme poverty in filthy slums.  Child labor was common.  The children of the poor, some as young as three years old, were put to work in factories and mines to help support their families.  Many of them worked 16-hours a day.  In 1840, only about 20% of the children in London had ever been to school.

• The lives of middle and upper class women in those times were similar to those of children.  They could not vote, have a bank account or own property.  Their role was to be mothers and look after the home.  One of the few jobs they could have was to be a teacher.

Count That Day Lost 

Bridging + Analysis 

Please go to the link below and answer the questions.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17_BGDhzapAVwDyuGSCScqQi0WIf_ELlLVJ-VBhOhZuo/copy