Hi all,
I've had requests for some materials on "Vultures". The most useful thing I've got is this video I think:
These could also be useful:
Also, if you're after other revision stuff on the poems, click here to download some bits and pieces.
Monday 31 May 2010
Monday 24 May 2010
Chemistry
Please click here to donwload some revision notes on "Chemistry" but remember: everybody can have one story which they know they won't write about; if this is yours then that's fine.
Anne Hathaway
"Anne Hathaway" is a poem which essentially demonstrates a true, romanticised and idealised form of love which is in stark contrast to the relationships in many of the other poems. Duffy uses language as a metaphor for love ("assonance", "verb" etc.) and there is a sense that the love is both sexual yet ethereal.
Duffy writes the poem as a mock sonnett which obviously draws attention to the final rhyming couplet.
Click here to download some questions to help you focus your revision and let me know as a comment if anything is still not making sense.
Duffy writes the poem as a mock sonnett which obviously draws attention to the final rhyming couplet.
Click here to download some questions to help you focus your revision and let me know as a comment if anything is still not making sense.
Sunday 23 May 2010
"Elvis's Twin Sister" and "Homecoming"
These two poems have been flagged as being probematic and ones which you are unsure about. I therefore thought I'd post a commentary on each which I've also recorded as a PODCast. It is however worth pointing out that, because you get a choice of three questions in the exam, it is perfectly possible to avoid writing about either of these two. They are difficult because the do not sit particularly comfortably with the other poems and so comparing them can be hard unless you get the right question.
"Elvis's Twin Sister" Duffy:
Download as PODCast
Here, Duffy writes in the voice of Elvis’s twin sister who died during child birth, imagining that she grew up to be a nun, far removed from the excesses and indulgences of her twin brother’s lifestyle. There are frequent references to the simplicity of her life: “tend the gardens,/ watch things grow” “Gregorian chant/ drifts out across the herbs” however these are in stark contrast to hints about her similarities to her brother: the way she moves her “hips” and her “blue suede shoes”.
This is essentially a poem about the paradox of fame and the ways in which it can destroy a person (see the references to Elvis’s songs “Lonely Street” and “Heartbreak Hotel”) and how, in reality, a simple life can be more fulfilling.
This is a hard poem as it does not compare easily to any of the others but, depending on the question, you could write about the ways people do or don’t gain fulfilment from life (i.e. is life a positive or negative experience). “Elvis’s Twin Sister” leaves this quite open and you could then compare with “Havisham” (negative), “My father thought it…” (negative in the way it regrets the youthful and exuberant things which have happened in the past), “Song of the old Mother” (negative- life has passed her by and she’s never stopped to enjoy it) and “On My First Sonne” (life itself is seen as a painful experience full of pain and loneliness however can seen to be more positive through religious faith).
"Homecoming" Armitage
Download as PODCast
Homecoming is a poem primarily about relationships: both interpersonal and those with our memories and our pasts. In the opening metaphor of the trust exercise, Armitage is outlining what all human relationships aspire to be: trusting and mutually supportive however his use of the word “blind” also implies that this trust will always be a little misplace as no one can ever be completely reliable.
In the second stanza, Armitage goes on to describe a childhood incident surrounding a “canary-yellow cotton jacket” which was clearly a prized possession but was damaged in an incident at school (we can presume this from the words “cloakroom floor”). At first we cannot tell whose memory (or jacket) this is but then Armitage goes on to write: “Back home/ the very model of a model mother, yours,” and, by this, we are introduced to the character to whom these events actually occurred (although there is little indication as yet of who this person is). The mother seems aggressive and intimidating and it is worth noticing Armitage’s use of colours (“red” and “blue”) at the end of the second stanza. Similarly, we see a strained relationship between parents and their children at this point which could be compared to “Mother any distance…” or “Before You Were Mine”
In the third stanza, Armitage’s persona seems to be reaching back into memories that he never really had in exactly the same way as Duffy does in BYWM. He “remembers” himself “waiting by the phone” for the call from the girl who we can presume will later become his lover so that he can support her through these traumatic events and betrayals of her love and trust. We see his love and desire to protect her manifested in his imagining himself in a supporting role despite the fact that it is “sixteen years or so before we’ll meet.” There is a very clear comparison here with “I’m ten years away from the corner you laugh on” in BYWM. The stanza finishes with a quasi-threatening description of the girl’s father, again demonstrating how difficult relationships between parents and children can be.
In the final stanza, Armitage’s persona (or indeed Armitage himself) offers to support the female character and to protect her in a way in which she was not protected at the time these events took place. He uses the yellow jacket of the incident as a metaphor for his own body with which he can support her and make amends for the pain in her past.
"Elvis's Twin Sister" Duffy:
Download as PODCast
Here, Duffy writes in the voice of Elvis’s twin sister who died during child birth, imagining that she grew up to be a nun, far removed from the excesses and indulgences of her twin brother’s lifestyle. There are frequent references to the simplicity of her life: “tend the gardens,/ watch things grow” “Gregorian chant/ drifts out across the herbs” however these are in stark contrast to hints about her similarities to her brother: the way she moves her “hips” and her “blue suede shoes”.
This is essentially a poem about the paradox of fame and the ways in which it can destroy a person (see the references to Elvis’s songs “Lonely Street” and “Heartbreak Hotel”) and how, in reality, a simple life can be more fulfilling.
This is a hard poem as it does not compare easily to any of the others but, depending on the question, you could write about the ways people do or don’t gain fulfilment from life (i.e. is life a positive or negative experience). “Elvis’s Twin Sister” leaves this quite open and you could then compare with “Havisham” (negative), “My father thought it…” (negative in the way it regrets the youthful and exuberant things which have happened in the past), “Song of the old Mother” (negative- life has passed her by and she’s never stopped to enjoy it) and “On My First Sonne” (life itself is seen as a painful experience full of pain and loneliness however can seen to be more positive through religious faith).
"Homecoming" Armitage
Download as PODCast
Homecoming is a poem primarily about relationships: both interpersonal and those with our memories and our pasts. In the opening metaphor of the trust exercise, Armitage is outlining what all human relationships aspire to be: trusting and mutually supportive however his use of the word “blind” also implies that this trust will always be a little misplace as no one can ever be completely reliable.
In the second stanza, Armitage goes on to describe a childhood incident surrounding a “canary-yellow cotton jacket” which was clearly a prized possession but was damaged in an incident at school (we can presume this from the words “cloakroom floor”). At first we cannot tell whose memory (or jacket) this is but then Armitage goes on to write: “Back home/ the very model of a model mother, yours,” and, by this, we are introduced to the character to whom these events actually occurred (although there is little indication as yet of who this person is). The mother seems aggressive and intimidating and it is worth noticing Armitage’s use of colours (“red” and “blue”) at the end of the second stanza. Similarly, we see a strained relationship between parents and their children at this point which could be compared to “Mother any distance…” or “Before You Were Mine”
In the third stanza, Armitage’s persona seems to be reaching back into memories that he never really had in exactly the same way as Duffy does in BYWM. He “remembers” himself “waiting by the phone” for the call from the girl who we can presume will later become his lover so that he can support her through these traumatic events and betrayals of her love and trust. We see his love and desire to protect her manifested in his imagining himself in a supporting role despite the fact that it is “sixteen years or so before we’ll meet.” There is a very clear comparison here with “I’m ten years away from the corner you laugh on” in BYWM. The stanza finishes with a quasi-threatening description of the girl’s father, again demonstrating how difficult relationships between parents and children can be.
In the final stanza, Armitage’s persona (or indeed Armitage himself) offers to support the female character and to protect her in a way in which she was not protected at the time these events took place. He uses the yellow jacket of the incident as a metaphor for his own body with which he can support her and make amends for the pain in her past.
Wednesday 19 May 2010
Writing to Persuade
This morning we revised persuasive writing, analysing a sample response to the 2006 exam question to identify the following features:
•Rhetorical questions
•Alliteration
•Imperative verbs
•Emotive language
•Emotive anecdote
•Short sentences
•Repetition
•Use of “You”
We then discuess how these features were far more effective when used in "threes" rather than individually and analysed the way this was done in the example.
The focus of the lesson then switched to "emotive anecdotes" beginning with the words "Imagine, if you will,..." and then explaining how life could be better or worse depending on the reader's decision. You wrote a couple of these based on past exam questions.
•Rhetorical questions
•Alliteration
•Imperative verbs
•Emotive language
•Emotive anecdote
•Short sentences
•Repetition
•Use of “You”
We then discuess how these features were far more effective when used in "threes" rather than individually and analysed the way this was done in the example.
The focus of the lesson then switched to "emotive anecdotes" beginning with the words "Imagine, if you will,..." and then explaining how life could be better or worse depending on the reader's decision. You wrote a couple of these based on past exam questions.
Friday 14 May 2010
Your Exams
Hi all,
Please check out the following presentation which explains when your exams are, how much they're worth and what you have to do for each one:
Please check out the following presentation which explains when your exams are, how much they're worth and what you have to do for each one:
English gcse exams 2010
View more presentations from Ben McCarey.
Tuesday 11 May 2010
Lit Revision Homework
Alongisde continuing with the 15 minute writing challenges, this week and next you should be aiming to mind map all of the anthology short stories and Duffy, Armitage and pre-1914 poems. For each you should focus on themes, strucutre, language, feelings and comparisons. The following formats may be helpful for you:
Short Stories
Lit Poetry
Short Stories
Lit Poetry
Writing to Describe
In Paper 2, you have a choice of writing to inform, explain or describe. I strongly reccomend that you choose describe as this offers you the greatest creative freedom. Please click here to download some past "Writing to Describe" tasks.
Some important things to remember:
Some important things to remember:
- Vary sentence structure
- Vary punctuation
- Use a range of connectives as appropriate
- Choose a sophisticated vocabulary
- Develop an original and entertaining voice
- Appeal to the senses of the reader
- Try to write imaginatively and metaphorically but avoid telling a story unless the question asks for this
- Use paragraphing for effect and link with connectives where appropriate
- Spell as accurately as you can (but don't allow this to limit your vocabulary choice)
- STICK TO THE TASK
Below is a quick video on varying sentence structure; apologies for the poor quality on this one.
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