In the late 19th century, education was sharply divided along gender lines, a tradition that Virginia would note and condemn in her writing. Boys were sent to school, and in upper-middle-class families such as the Stephens, this involved private boys schools, often boarding schools, and university. Patrizia A. Muscogiuri explains that ‘seascapes, sailing, diving and the sea itself are aspects of nature and of human beings’ relationship with it which frequently inspired Virginia Woolf's writing.’ This trope is deeply embedded in her texts’ structure and grammar: James Antoniou notes in Sydney Morning Herald how ‘Woolf made a virtue of the semicolon, the shape and function of which resembles the wave, her most famous motif.’