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There was a time when the question itself sounded almost absurd. Poetry was considered the deepest expression of human emotion and imagination. Machines, on the other hand, were seen as cold, logical calculators. To even ask whether a machine could write a poem felt like comparing a typewriter to a poet.
Early skepticism: A poem was thought to require a soul, lived experience, and intentional artistry. How could an algorithm, built on rules and code, ever touch the human heart?
First experiments: When computers began generating rhymes, haikus, and randomized verses, the debate heated up. Were these “real” poems, or just clever arrangements of words? Some dismissed them as parlor tricks; others argued that poetry lies as much in the reader’s interpretation as in the writer’s intent.
The shift: As tools improved, the debate no longer centered on if machines could write poems — clearly they could. The question became whether machine poetry could equal or surpass human poetry. Contests like the NPR “poetry Turing test” (2016) highlighted this turning point: could judges or readers reliably tell who (or what) wrote a poem?
Today’s Context
Now, with advanced AI models, the debate has shifted again. Poems written by machines can be moving, coherent, and stylistically rich. The challenge is less about possibility and more about meaning:
Does authorship matter more than the text itself?
If a machine creates a line that moves us, is it any less poetry?
What becomes of “human” poetry in an age where machines can mimic it so well?
CLic Activity Book - Study material site
The video portrays the life of a governess in 19th-century Britain as both challenging and isolating. Typically, a governess came from a respectable middle-class background but was compelled by financial hardship to seek employment in wealthy households. Her responsibilities went far beyond basic literacy and numeracy, extending to subjects such as languages, music, geography, and even algebra. In addition, she was expected to cultivate moral discipline, lead prayers, and provide young women with “accomplishments” like music, dance, and etiquette—skills essential for entry into the marriage market.
Despite her refinement and education, the governess occupied an ambiguous and uncomfortable social position. She was neither fully part of the family nor a member of the servant class, which often left her excluded by both. Employers maintained a professional distance, while servants frequently resented her authority. Moreover, the limited salary made it difficult for her to maintain the genteel appearance demanded by her station, adding financial strain to an already isolated existence.
In literature after the 1840s, the governess emerged as a powerful figure: a young woman of integrity and education, yet without family or fortune, whose independence made her ideal for narratives of struggle, endurance, and self-realization. Unlike working-class heroines such as shopgirls or prostitutes, the governess remained socially respectable while still vulnerable—qualities that appealed to contemporary readers.
Notable novels featuring governesses include:
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Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte Brontë – Jane’s role as governess at Thornfield Hall shapes the novel’s central conflicts.
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Vanity Fair (1848) by William Makepeace Thackeray – Becky Sharp begins her career in this position.
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Agnes Grey (1847) by Anne Brontë – A largely autobiographical account of the hardships faced by a governess.
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The Turn of the Screw (1898) by Henry James – A gothic tale narrated by an unnamed governess.
“so, that he should speak so uncivilly to me, their governess, and a perfect stranger to himself” (AgnesG 6) → Shows her outsider status; even children treat her rudely as she is neither kin nor servant but “a stranger.”
“The servants, seeing in what little estimation the governess was held by both parents and children, regulated their behaviour” (AgnesG 20) → She is caught between family and servants, respected by neither.
“Her reference has answered all the questions, and she's ready” (arma 47) → Suggests how employers scrutinized governesses formally, treating them more like hired staff than family.
This confirms the British Library video’s point about governesses being “betwixt and between”—lonely, mistrusted, and judged.
“a determination to keep, not only his sisters, but his governess in order, by violent manual and pedal applications” (AgnesG 8) → Boys younger than school age could be under a governess’s care. Their unruliness reflects the difficulty of disciplining privileged children.
“lessons and practised her music was calculated to drive any governess to despair” (AgnesG 17) → Governesses were expected to oversee girls’ accomplishments (music, etc.), showing that childhood was a stage of preparation for adult social roles, especially marriage.
“January I was to enter upon my new office as governess in the family of Mr. Murray, of Horton Lodge” (AgnesG 13) → Highlights the practice of placing governesses in affluent households; children of such families were the ones who benefited.
This tells us that 19th-century childhood, particularly in middle-class and gentry families, was shaped by education for social polish and discipline, not only by affection or play.
“though I was a poor clergyman's daughter, a governess, and a schoolmistress” (AgnesG 31) → Many governesses were daughters of clergymen or middle-class families who had fallen on hard times.
“The modest ambition of my life to become Miss Milroy's governess” (arma 35) → Shows that some saw the position as a respectable form of employment for educated but financially insecure women.
“The advertisement may go to London now; and, if a governess does come of it...” (arma 43) → Indicates how the profession was organized through advertisements, reflecting its formal, transactional nature.
This matches the video’s point: women became governesses to support themselves respectably when their family circumstances left them without income.
Explore the CLiC Concordance for “governess” .
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