Section B - the British School of Bahrain

Transcription

Edexcel A2 English Literature
Mike Royston Jackie Moore
TEACHING AND
ASSESSMENT CD-ROM
Consultants: Jen Greatrex Peter Druée Richard Hoyes
Published by Pearson Education Limited, a company incorporated in England and
Wales, having its registered office at Edinburgh Gate, Harlow, Essex, CM20 2JE.
Registered company number: 872828
Edexcel is a registered trade mark of Edexcel Limited
Text © Pearson Education 2009
First published 2009
12 11 10 09
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN 978 1 84690 252 9
All rights reserved. The material in this publication is copyright. Pupil sheets may be
freely photocopied for classroom use in the purchasing institution. However, this
material is copyright and under no circumstances may copies be offered for sale. If
you wish to use the material in any way other than that specified you must apply in
writing to the publishers.
We are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce copyright material:
Barbara Levy Literary Agency for the poem “Base Details” by Siegfried Sassoon from
Collected Poems of Siegfried Sassoon, copyright © Siegfried Sassoon by kind permission
of the Estate of George Sassoon; Bloomsbury Publishing plc for an extract from Down
the Clinical Disco, Angel, All Innocence and other Stories by Fay Weldon, 1995; Casarotto
Ramsay & Associates, and A&C Black Publishers for an extract from “Top Girls” by Caryl
Churchill copyright © 1982, 1984 by Caryl Churchill. Methuen Drama, an imprint
of A&C Black Publishers. All rights whatsoever in this play are strictly reserved and
application for performance etc., must be made before rehearsal to Casarotto Ramsay
& Associates Ltd., 7-12 Noel Street, London, W1F 8GQ. No performance may be given
unless a licence has been obtained; David Higham Associates Limited and Simon &
Schuster, Inc for an extract from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald copyright ©
1925 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. Copyright renewed 1953 by Frances Scott Fitzgerald
Lanahan, published by Penguin Books, reproduced with permission from David
Higham Associates Limited and Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc; Faber
& Faber Limited for the poems “Harp Strings” by David Harsent published in Legain,
2005; “The Horses” by Ted Hughes published in Collected Poems of Ted Hughes, 2005;
“The Horses” by Edwin Muir published in Collected Poems of Edwin Muir, 1984; “This
Dead Relationship” by Katherine Pierpoint published in Truffle Beds, 1995; “Words” by
Sylvia Plath published in Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath, 2002 copyright © Faber &
Faber Limited; The Estate of Sean O’Casey for an extract from the play “The Shadow
of a Gunman” by Sean O’Casey, reproduced with permission; Penrose Literary Agency
for the poem ‘First Love’ by Mick Gowar copyright © Mick Gowar; The Random House
Group Ltd for extracts from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres, published
by Vintage; and Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks published by Hutchinson. Reprinted
by permission of The Random House Group Ltd; The Random House Group Ltd
and A&C Black Ltd for an extract from Enduring Love by Ian McEwan, published by
Jonathan Cape. Reprinted by permission of The Random House Group Ltd and A&C
Black Ltd; Rogers, Coleridge & White Ltd for an extract from ‘The Snow Child’ from The
Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter copyright © 1980 Angela Carter. Reproduced by
permission of the author c/o Rogers, Coleridge & White Ltd., 20 Powis Mews, London
W11 1JN; The Literary Estate of May Swenson for the poem ‘Under a Ramshackle
Rainbow’, translated by May Swenson originally by Ingemar Gustafson. Reprinted with
permission of The Literary Estate of May Swenson; and Margaret Walker for the poem
“Letter to Barbados” by Ted Walker, reproduced with kind permission.
In some instances we have been unable to trace the owners of copyright material
and we would appreciate any information that would enable us to do so.
Websites
The websites used in this book were correct and up to date at the time of publication.
It is essential for tutors to preview each website before using it in class so as to
ensure that the URL is still accurate, relevant and appropriate. We suggest that tutors
bookmark useful websites and consider enabling students to access them through
the school/college intranet.
Contents
Introduction
5
Unit 3: Interpretations of prose and poetry
Section A: Unprepared poetry or prose
Section B: Paired texts
8
9
25
Unit 4: Reflections in Literary Studies
Section A: Choosing your text, topic and approach
Section B: Planning and researching your writing
Section C: Writing your study or studies
Section D: Writing your creative response and
commentary
Section E: Revising and editing your work
39
41
44
48
52
56
Unit 3 Handouts: Section A
3.1 How do style and language work?
3.2 Vocabulary for diction in poems
3.3 Imagery in poems
3.4 An unprepared poem to analyse: Practice for
Section A
3.5 A high level response to the poem ‘Next, Please’
3.6 Examiner’s comments on the response to the
poem ‘Next, Please’
3.7 Aspects of structure
3.8 Use of form in poems
3.9 The voice of a poem
3.10 An unprepared poem to analyse: Practice for
Section A
3.11 A mid level response to ‘Depopulation of the Hills’
3.12 Examiner’s comments on the response to
‘Depopulation of the Hills’
3.13 Self-evaluation of your work in Part 1 on
unprepared poetry
3.14 Style and language
3.15 ‘Carnation’ by Katherine Mansfield
3.16 Characterisation
3.17 Unprepared prose passage to analyse: Practice for
Section A
3.18 A high level response to the passage from Enduring
Love
3.19 Examiner’s comments on the sample response to
Enduring Love
3.20 Point of view
3.21 Syntax
Section A
3.23 A low level response to The Siege of Krishnapur
3.24 Examiner comments on the response to The Siege
of Krishnaper
Edexcel A2 Literature Teaching and Assessment CD-ROM
3.25 Self-evaluation of your work in Part 2 on
unprepared prose
3.26 Interpretation
3.27 ‘The Snow Child’ by Angela Carter
3.28 ‘An Elegy’ by Ben Jonson
3.29 Poetry unprepared: The text and question
3.30 High/mid level sample essay on ‘Letter to Barbados’
3.31 Examiner’s comments on the high/mid level essay
on ‘Letter to Barbados’
3.32 Sample question for unprepared prose
3.33 High/mid level sample answer to the unprepared
prose on A Change of Climate
3.34 Examiner’s comments on the sample answer on A
Change of Climate
Unit 3 Handouts: Section B
3.35 Prescribed texts: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and Tess
of the d’Urbervilles
3.36 Prescribed texts: ‘The Sun Rising’ and ‘Hour’
3.37a Prescribed texts: The Great Gatsby
3.37b Prescribed texts: ‘This Dead Relationship’
3.38 A high level response to a Section B essay in the
topic group ‘Identifying Self’
3.39 Examiner’s comments on the sample response on
‘Identifying Self’
3.40 ‘The Horses’ by Edwin Muir
3.41 ‘Harp Strings’ by David Harsent
3.42 Sample essay on ‘Relationships’
3.43a Examiner’s comment on the sample essay on
‘Relationships’
3.43b Activity 82: Examiner’s comment on the sample
essay on ‘Relationships’
3.44 Sample question on ‘Relationships’
3.45 Sample essay on ‘Identifying Self’
3.46a Examiner’s comments on the sample essay on
3.46b Activity 83: Examiner’s comments on the sample
essay on ‘Identifying Self’
3.47 Sample question on ‘Journeys’
3.48 Sample essay on ‘Journeys’
3.49a Examiner’s comments on the sample essay on
‘Journeys’
essay on ‘Journeys’
3.50 Sample question on ‘War’
3.51 Sample essay on ‘War’
3.52a Examiner’s comments on the sample essay on ‘War’
essay on ‘War’
Unit 4 Handouts: Section A
4.1 What is literature?
4.2 Addressing the assessment objectives
4.3 Extract from ‘The Kiss of Life’
Unit 4 Handouts: Section B
4.4 A study timetable
4.5 Research in a library and on the internet
4.6 Some useful websites
4.7 Reading critically
4.8 Culture and society
4.9a The importance of contexts
4.9b The importance of contexts
4.10a Recognising critical perspectives
4.10b Recognising critical perspectives
4.11 Women and literature
4.12 Evaluating a proposal for a creative response
4.13 Accessing the higher bands of the marking criteria
4.14 Improving your grade: Moving from band 2 to
band 3
4.15 Further suggestions for essay topics
Unit 4 Handouts: Section D
4.22 Planning your creative response with commentary
4.23a Summarising skills
4.23b Summarising skills
4.24 Possible topics for a creative response with
commentary
4.25 Thinking of writing poetry?
4.26a Example A: Writing a short story
4.26b Example A: Writing a short story
4.27a Example B: Writing a poem
4.27b Example B: Writing a poem
Unit 4 Handouts: Section E
4.28 Bibliography
Unit 4 Handouts: Section C
4.16 Summarising skills
4.17 Write your way to success
4.18 Post-colonial and ‘modern’ attitudes to considering
other cultures
4.19 Thomas and Frost poems/commentary text
4.20a Mid-level response to the Thomas/Frost/
commentary task
4.20b High-level response to the Thomas/Frost/
commentary task
4.21 Exercises based on the Thomas/Frost/commentary
task
Introduction
Welcome to the Edexcel A2 Literature Teaching and Assessment
CD-ROM, which contains a wealth of support and guidance that
you can use alongside the Student Book. It provides help with
planning and delivering your course and dedicated support
for both A2 units, including exemplar answers at different
levels with examiners’/moderators’ comments. There are over
60 handouts to back up the preparation for the Unit 3 exam
and over 40 handouts to support students in producing their
coursework for Unit 4.
The Specification
The Edexcel English Literature Specification retains the
fundamental elements of skills, knowledge and understanding
from previous specifications. These are now assessed via four
units and four assessment objectives.
Effective study of literature requires a questioning approach,
an awareness of key concepts and a willingness to respond
personally to texts. The A2 units provide students with the
opportunity to compare and contrast poetry and prose, and
develop an appreciation of context, themes and interpretations.
Students will become more independent and will be provided
with opportunities to make personal choices and follow their
own interests and ideas on their own choice of texts.
The exam and coursework units complement each other in the
following ways:
Unit 3: Interpretations of
Prose and Poetry
Unit 4: Reflections in
Literary Studies
• How to carry out an analysis
of an unfamiliar text
• The importance of the
relationship between
texts, making comparisons
between texts in the light of
different interpretations by
other readers
• The significance of the
cultural and contextual
influences under which
literary texts are written and
received
• How to respond creatively,
relevantly and in an
informed way to texts using
appropriate terminology and
concepts as well as coherent
and accurate written
expression
• How to analyse texts from a
critical perspective
• How to study,
with increasing
independence, a wider
range of texts of cultural
and literary significance
• How to carry out literary
research
• How texts can be
re-interpreted
• How critical responses
are formed and received
• About the influences of
culture and contexts on
readers and writers
• How to present their
findings appropriately,
using referencing and
sources
• How to develop creative
responses to texts
Progression from AS to A2
Unit 3: Interpretations of Prose and
Poetry
Students will develop the skills in reading and responding
to texts that they acquired at AS, engaging with recently
published texts as well as texts from different periods. In
particular, they must respond to at least one text published
after 1990. They are expected to comment on unseen prose or
poetry using the reading skills they have developed throughout
the course. They will also compare and contrast texts from
different genres, showing an appreciation of the contexts in
which they are written and read and the interpretations of other
readers over time.
Unit 1:��
��
Explorations in
Prose and Poetry
Unit 3:��
��
Interpretations of
Prose and Poetry
• Prose and poetry,
including texts from
1800–1945
• One prescribed selection
of poetry
• One prescribed core
literary heritage novel
and one further novel or
novella
• Prose and poetry,
including texts published
after 1990
• Three prescribed texts
from a choice of six,
including at least one text
published after 1990 and
both prose and poetry
Unit 4: Reflections in Literary Studies
Teachers and students have a free and unrestrained choice of
texts in order to undertake independent reading and research.
The three texts chosen can include works of literary criticism or
cultural commentary, and may relate to each other in a variety
of ways, such as by movement, period or author. Students
should synthesise��
��
and reflect upon their knowledge and
understanding gained throughout the course, demonstrating
that they can read and respond independently and with
increasing depth.
Unit 2: Explorations in
Drama
Unit 4: Reflections in
Literary Studies
• Shakespeare and drama,
including plays from
1300–1800
• Free choice of
Shakespeare and other
texts
• Poetry, prose or drama for
independent study
• Free choice of texts
How to use the Student
Book and the Teaching and
Assessment CD-ROM
The Student Book is divided into Unit 3and Unit 4. Unit 3
supports your work for the A2 exam on poetry and prose. Unit 4
supports your work for the A2 coursework.
Feature boxes highlight and develop the central learning
objectives:
• Assessment objectives: relates the content and learning to
the AOs and specifically to what examiners/moderators are
looking for when they assess students’ work
• Writing in the exam: tips on how to write effectively about
the topic in the exam
• Key terms: a list of key terms covered in a given section,
which also indicates that a definition is included in the
glossary
• Independent research: sends students to further and
wider reading and suggests activities that can be carried out
in student time
• Take it further: additional material and activities provided
to stretch and challenge. Note that A* is awarded to those
students who have achieved a grade A overall at A level and
a high A grade at A2 (180 out of 200 UMS for the combined
scores of the two A2 units).
The Teaching and Assessment CD-ROM provides additional
support for the exam, as well as commentaries on texts and
activities, key learning objectives, extension activities and
exemplar responses. Its ‘Watch out for…’ features highlight
common pitfalls that should be avoided.
Support offered by Edexcel
Edexcel offers a wide range of support services to help you
implement this qualification successfully.
• Specification, which includes a free e-Spec, an electronic
version of the Specification; see
www.edexcel.com/gce2008/english/lit/8ET01/Pages/as.aspx.
Publications code UA018878. For copies, telephone 01623
467467 or email publications@linneydirect.com
• Sample Assessment Materials (SAMs). Publications code
UA018877. For copies, telephone 01623 467467 or email
publications@linneydirect.com
• Examzone, a website aimed at students sitting external
exams, which gives information on revision, advice from
examiners and guidance on results. Find links to the site at
www.edexcel.com
• Ask Edexcel, an online question and answer service,
accessible at www.edexcel.com/ask
• ResultsPlus, an application that provides detailed analysis
of exam performance, accessible at www.edexcel.com/
resultsplus
• Ask the Expert, a service that allows you to email questions
directly to senior subject specialists; see www.edexcel.com/
asktheexpert
• Training – a programme of professional development
and training courses covering aspects of the Specification
and examination. For details phone 0870 240 9800, email
trainingenquiries@edexcel.com or visit www.edexcel.com
Assessment overview
Summary of Unit 3 requirements
(Spec pp29–34)
The texts prescribed for study are:
• A choice of three texts from a list of six, including at least one
text published after 1990 and including prose and poetry
• List of texts chosen from one of four themed lists:
‘Relationships’, ‘Identifying Self’, ‘Journeys’, ‘War’
Assessment is by one external examination of 2 hours 45
minutes. It comprises:
Section A: Unprepared poetry or prose
Students answer one essay question exploring, through close
reference, the writer’s choice of structure, form and language
when shaping meaning. (40 marks)
Section B: Paired texts
Students are presented with a reader’s comment. They answer
one essay question responding to at least two of the texts they
have studied in light of this comment. (60 marks)
Students must take clean copies of their texts into the exam.
For examples of essay questions, see SAMs, pp48–61.
Summary of Unit 4 requirements
(Spec pp35–42)
Students write either:
• a single extended study
• two shorter studies
• a creative response with commentary
The combined coursework should total 2500 words (including
quotations), and must be no longer than 3000 words. The
coursework is worth 80 marks.
Students are required to study one text in detail, drawing on
their knowledge of a further text(s) and/or exploring relevant
critical reception.
For the Assessment objectives and assessment criteria see
pp40–41 of the Specification.
See the JCQ document ‘Instructions for conducting
coursework/portfolios’ for further details and guidance on
the setting, supervision, authentication, marking, internal
standardisation and external moderation of coursework
(http://www.jcq.org.uk)
Supporting assessment
How the Student Book supports assessment
• The opening spread of each unit details what students will
do in the exam or coursework, how they will be assessed and
what examiners/moderators are looking for.
• Assessment objectives feature boxes relate the content
and learning to the AOs and specifically to what examiners/
moderators are looking for when they assess students’ work.
• Writing in the exam feature boxes provide tips on how to
write effectively about the topic in the exam.
• Extracts from exemplar responses at different levels
are provided throughout the Student Book, many with
evaluative comments.
• The tackling section a/b of the exam sections in Unit
3 are dedicated to preparing students for the exam. They
analyse the questions and their requirements; show how the
relevant assessment objectives are applied; provide exemplar
responses at different levels with assessment comments;
and give advice about how to maximise students’ exam
performance.
How the Teaching and Assessment CD-ROM supports
assessment
• The tacking section a/b of the exam sections give specific
guidance about how to maximise exam performance
• A lengthy introduction to Unit 4 addresses general
issues relevant to approaching coursework choosing an
appropriate investigation, the role of the teacher and
coursework presentation
• Commentaries on the activities include evaluative
comments on any exemplar responses in the Student Book
• Handouts provide further activities and exemplar responses
with comments
Unit 3 Interpretations of prose and poetry
Introduction
The Student Book reflects the structure of Unit 3. It is divided as
follows:
More information on this unit can be found in the specification
(pp 4–10, 29–33, 80–85), in the Sample Assessment Materials
(pp 47–77 and 111–33), and in the support booklet Getting
Started (pp 14–16).
Section A Unprepared poetry or prose (pp 6–64) covers
the skills and knowledge required for Section A of the exam. It
prepares students to write an analysis of one unprepared poem
OR one unprepared prose fiction passage. It consists of the
following parts:
• Part 1 Analysing unprepared poetry (pp 6–21)
• Part 2 Analysing unprepared prose (pp 21–40)
• Part 3 Unprepared poetry and prose: Independent
approaches (pp 41–54)
• Part 4 Tackling Section A of the exam (pp 54–64)
Section B Paired texts (pp 65–125) covers the skills and
knowledge required for Section B of the exam. It prepares
students to write an essay comparing two or three prescribed
texts from the genres of poetry and prose fiction, at least one
of which has been published after 1990. It consists of the
following parts:
• Part 1 Introduction to Section B (pp 65–66)
• Part 2 Comparing texts by theme, genre and
period (pp 67–86)
• Part 3 Comparing texts in their contexts (pp 87–100)
• Part 4 Comparing interpretations of texts (pp 101–12)
• Part 5 Tackling Section B of the exam (pp 113–25)
For Section A, the Student Book supports the unprepared
analysis of poems and prose fiction passages drawn from
any period. In the exam, students will be asked to show how
structure, form and language create meaning in the text. They
will also make a personal evaluation of it.
For Section B, the Student Book supports comparison of three
prescribed texts drawn from novels and poetry collections
within a topic group. In the exam, students will compare the
way poets and prose fiction writers use structure, form and
language, exploring links between two or more texts and
between texts and their contexts. They will also consider how
different readers at different times interpret the texts, and give a
personal evaluation of them.
The material on pp 9–38 gives guidance on teaching all these
skills. It includes detailed commentaries on the poems and
prose extracts in the Student Book. A range of handouts is
provided on pp 59–123 to further assist your work in the
classroom.
Edexcel A2 Literature Unit 3 Interpretations of prose and poetry
Section A – Unprepared poetry or prose
(SB pp 6–65/Handouts 3.1‑3.34)
Section A of the Student Book covers the skills students need
to analyse unprepared poetry and prose. It prepares them for
Section A of the exam, in which they spend about 75 minutes
writing an analysis of one poem OR one prose fiction passage.
The texts can be drawn from any period.
Part 1 (SB pp 6–21) focuses on unprepared poetry. It provides
specific guidance on how to read and respond to a new poem,
how to identify its themes, and how to comment on the ways
in which structure, form and language shape meaning. These
skills were developed during the work for Section A of Unit 1.
They need to be consolidated and refined for the more difficult
challenge of A2.
You can decide whether to follow the order of activities as
printed. They are constructed to provide continuity and
progression but they can also be regarded as free-standing. This
allows you to reinforce particular aspects of learning covered
earlier in the course.
Part 2 (SB pp 21–40) focuses on unprepared prose fiction. It
mirrors the structure of Part 1.
You can make a choice about whether to concentrate the
work exclusively on poetry, exclusively on prose, or (as the
specification recommends) to combine the two.
Part 3 (SB pp 41–54) provides additional activities for both poetry
and prose analysis. It encourages students to take independent,
evaluative approaches to the work and so gain confidence
in meeting the higher band requirements of AO2. These
emphasise personal response and the need to make critical
judgements (see the Sample Assessment Materials for Unit 3,
pp 113–14).
As in Parts 1 and 2, the activities can be regarded as freestanding.
Part 4 (SB pp 54–65) gives specific guidance on how to meet the
requirements of the Section A exam.
1 �Analysing unprepared
��
poetry (SB pp 6–21)
Key teaching points. Encourage students to:
• build on the work they did on unprepared texts for Section
A of Unit 1: the A2 exam task is comparable, and the same
essential skills are assessed
• make their own decisions about what to comment on in an
unprepared poem: in the A2 exam, they will not have the
support of prompt questions
• develop and justify a personal interpretation of a poem
Giving a first response: What meaning can I find here? ��
(SB pp 6–7)
This first sub-section puts the emphasis on personal
interpretation, where it should remain throughout the course.
Activity 1 (SB pp 6–7) asks students to explore two poems related
in theme. For question 2 they use a role-play device to increase
their imaginative involvement with the poems. Questions 3
and 4 encourage a range of responses to illustrate the fact
that meaning depends upon interpretation and that different
readers will interpret (and evaluate) poems in different ways.
Watch out for… students needing time to find their bearings
on a new poem. Stage 2 of many activities asks them to ‘Give a
first response…’ in a small group, the intention being to allow
them to consider and share their ideas before presenting them
to the whole group at a later stage. The small-group work helps
them to be questioning and critical in their approach and
move towards an evaluation of the text without always being
prompted to do so.
Giving a considered response: How do
the style and language work? (SB p 8/Handout 3.1)
Activity 2 (SB p 8) asks students to identify the main stylistic
features of Siegfried Sassoon’s poem ‘Base Details’ and relate
these to his themes. The poem is reproduced on Handout
3.1 for students to annotate when answering questions 2 and
3, and to use for writing a response to question 4. Emphasise
that Sassoon’s diction conveys his attitudes in a very direct way:
this is a satirical poem that targets a specific First World War
readership.
Extension: Support Ask students to read other First World War
poems by Sassoon, such as ‘They’ and ‘The General’, and write
an analysis of two of them. Sassoon’s poetry is accessible and
his techniques are sufficiently clear for students to comment on
them with confidence at this stage of the course.
Identifying themes in a poem: What
ideas is the poet exploring? ��
(SB pp 8–9)
This sub-section reminds students how to distinguish between
subject matter and themes in a poem. It is a crucial distinction
that all students, of whatever ability, need to be clear about.
Give as much time to this issue as necessary before moving on
to analyse the specifics of diction, imagery, form and structure.
• evaluate a poem’s effectiveness.
Activity 3 (SB p 9) relates back to ‘Base Details’ because students
are in a position to make informed distinctions between what
Sassoon describes and the ideas he is conveying to the reader.
The table in the Student Book helps them clarify their thinking.
Continue discussion until students can give a definition of
‘theme’ in their own words.
Activity 4 (SB p 9) reinforces the learning in Activity 3 by asking
students to identify and comment on Carol Ann Duffy’s themes
in ‘Mrs Aesop’.
Commentary on question 2
• Aesop is pompous, pedantic, unable to appreciate nature
or his wife for their own sake, and sexually inadequate
– in Duffy’s feminist poem, these are presented as male
characteristics.
• Mrs Aesop differs from her husband in being feisty, quickwitted, articulate, and sexual – Duffy’s poem protests
against the traditional view of male/female roles in
marriage.
• Aesop has substituted literature for first-hand experience;
he is so concerned to find ‘the moral’ in everything that he
intellectualises life rather than lives it.
Writing in the exam (SB p 9) The ‘Writing in the exam’ box
emphasises that being tentative and exploratory at the start
of a response is a necessary part of the process of engaging
with the text. Remind students that they will not be penalised
for this. What they must avoid is a lengthy paraphrase of the
poem’s subject matter at the expense of expressing their
understanding of its themes.
Vocabulary or diction in poems: Why this word rather than that? ��
(SB pp 10–11/Handout 3.2)
The focus here is on diction. Encourage students to think in
terms of the words the poet chooses, not just uses, as a basis
for their comments. At A2 level it is still important to consider
the process of a poem’s composition and remember that it did
not arrive in the poet’s mind fully formed. Poets make choices,
make changes, redraft and revise. If students’ analysis of diction
is rooted in this understanding, they are more likely to make
constructive comments about it.
Activity 5 (SB p 10) asks students to consider Ted Hughes’
choices of diction in ‘The Horses’. Handout 3.2 provides a copy
of the poem for them to annotate.
Commentary on questions 6a and 6b
The poem conveys the following themes:
• the sheer immensity of the world of nature compared
with the world of man; the poem’s speaker presents
himself as an awed intruder into this world (‘Stumbling
in the fever of a dream’), yet capable of appreciating its
timelessness and elemental beauty
• the contrast between the age-old harmony of the natural
world to which the horses are perfectly attuned (‘Not one
snorted or stamped’) and the transience and disharmony
of the human world (‘In din of the crowded streets, going
among the years, the faces’)
• the beauty and dignity of the natural world, which
combines huge power (‘Then the sun/ Orange, red, red
erupted’) with stillness and the capacity to ‘endure’.
Relating themes to choices of diction:
• ‘Shook the gulf open, showed blue,/And the big planets
hanging’: ‘Shook the gulf open’ suggests a cosmic force, an
impression enhanced by the simple, stark diction and the
onomatopoeic verbs ‘tore’ and ‘flung’ in line 20
• ‘Their hung heads patient as the horizons,/ High over
valleys’: the simile connects the horses with the ‘silent
world’ of nature and the elements; this world is unified,
all of a piece, an impression enhanced by the strong
alliteration of ‘h’ sounds
• ‘May I still meet my memory in so lonely a place/ Between
the streams and the red clouds, hearing curlews,/ Hearing
the horizons endure’: the value the speaker attaches
to his experience is suggested by the imperative verb
‘May’ and its placement at the start of line 36, and by the
paradoxical-seeming ‘Hearing the horizons endure’, which
makes the landscape animate as well as eternal.
Watch out for… students sometimes making quite
sophisticated comments on diction without relating these to
their understanding of the poet’s themes. Remind them that
AO2 requires an analysis of ‘the ways in which structure, form
and language shape meaning’ – in other words, they need to
relate their detailed comments on language to what they think
the poet is doing in the poem.
Extension: Stretch and challenge Ted Hughes’ poems
provide excellent material for responding to choices of diction.
Ask students to work in a similar way to that in Activity 5 by
making an analysis of poems such as ‘Wind’, ‘The Jaguar’ and
‘Tractor’, either in notes or in essay form.
Imagery in poems: How does it work? (SB pp 12–13/Handouts 3.3–3.6)
This sub-section supports students in commenting on poets’
use of imagery and relating it to their way of seeing things. The
preamble on p 12 of the Student Book establishes that imagery
is not just an embellishment to meaning: poets use imagery to
create meaning, and to explore the world as they perceive it.
Activity 6 (SB p 12) uses Raleigh’s poem ‘On the Life of Man’
to demonstrate the use of extended metaphor. In question
2, the small-group work should be exploratory but detailed:
the more students look, the more they will find in this highly
compressed poem. In question 3, prompt students to judge
the effectiveness of Raleigh’s use of a developing pattern of
imagery. Use the creative writing task in question 4 to develop
students’ understanding that metaphor constructs meaning,
rather than simply adds to it.
10
Extension: Support Many Elizabethan and seventeenthcentury poems work in a similar way to Raleigh’s and will help
to reinforce the learning in this activity. Use Shakespeare’s
sonnets and lyrics by Philip Sidney, Ben Jonson or Thomas
Nashe (see especially ‘In Time of Pestilence’). Poems by George
Herbert such as ‘Virtue’, ‘The Pulley’ and ‘Time’ are equally
suitable.
Activity 7 (SB p 13) asks students to explore a poem by Sylvia
Plath which depends almost entirely on imagery for its meaning
and effect. It presents a difficult challenge and should be
undertaken as a class. Handout 3.3 provides a copy of the
poem for students to annotate.
Use and effect of imagery:
• words wound and destroy; their impact is magnified by
time (‘And the echoes!’)
• words take their own direction, beyond the control of
their originator (‘Off from the centre like horses’)
• words spread like water, losing the meaning that was
originally intended (‘striving/ To re-establish its mirror’);
their meanings change with use and cause ‘tears’
• words kill and seem to be killed (‘A white skull,/ Eaten by
weedy greens’)
• however, words re-surface ‘Years later’, having become
‘dry’ of the meaning they first had but still persistent
(‘indefatigable hoof-taps’); they finally become like ‘fixed
stars’ which continue to exercise a controlling influence on
us (‘Govern a life’).
In question 4 students work in pairs to analyse Dylan Thomas’
use of imagery in stanza 1 of ‘Fern Hill’. The additional purpose
here is to examine the way imagery works in conjunction with
structural features (form, sound, rhythm) to convey themes.
Students will demonstrate this in their writing for question 5.
Extension: Stretch and challenge Ask students to explore
the use and effect of Plath’s imagery in such poems as ‘Morning
Song’, ‘Mirror’, and ‘Tulips’. As in ‘Words’, her images merge into
one another and expand the meaning in the course of the
poem. They work in a similar way to the conceits in Metaphysical
Poetry, which students could also read, whether or not this is
a chosen text for Section B. Donne’s ‘The Flea’, ‘A Valediction
Forbidding Mourning’ and ‘Batter my Heart’ would be suitable
choices, as would selected poems by Marvell, Lovelace and
Suckling.
Handout 3.5 provides a high-level response to Philip Larkin’s
poem ‘Next, Please’ (Handout 3.4). Make clear to students that
it focuses on the poet’s use of diction and imagery. Additional
comments on form and structure would need to be made to
meet the requirements of AO2 in full.
Students should make their own exploration of Larkin’s themes
and uses of diction and imagery before considering the sample
response.
Handout 3.6 provides the examiner’s comments on the
sample response. The examiner’s comments place it in the top
mark bands of AO1 and AO2. Students should discuss why
by referring to the relevant band descriptors in the Sample
Assessment Materials (pp 113–14).
Watch out for… the idea that sample responses prescribe ‘the
right way’ of constructing an exam answer. A less polished and
confident analysis than this one would be highly rewarded if it
showed a similar ability to engage with the poet’s language. It
is the specificity and fine detail here that students should try to
emulate. They can also learn from the way in which quotations
are embedded in the writing, as opposed to being offered in
blocks.
The structure of poems: Why is the poem
built in this way? ��
(SB pp 14–16)
Here, students are given guidance about how to comment on
the structural features of poems. You may like to refer to the
preamble on p 14 of the Student Book and list with students
the aspects of structure they need to consider in an analysis.
Make clear that these include local and particular features, such
as word order and line arrangement, as well as larger structures
such as stanza forms and the organisation of the whole poem.
Watch out for… students who get no further with structure
than identifying rhyme schemes. Activities 8 and 9 show them
how to avoid this by considering specifics rather than making
generalisations.
Activity 8 (SB p 14) begins by asking students about the
structure of William Carlos Williams’ free verse poem ‘The
Horse’; they cannot fall back on describing the rhyme scheme.
Encourage students to justify Williams’ use of short lines in short
stanzas. They might comment on the rhythmic effects these
create, and the way the poem pivots around the one full stop in
line 12. As always, reading the poem aloud is key.
In question 4, students consider a more formally structured
poem by Louis MacNeice. They need time to make their first
response to themes, diction and imagery before relating their
understanding to structure in question 4c. Statements A to D
identify structural features that the poet has crafted in a very
deliberate way; the students’ task is to illustrate these from a
close reading (and hearing) of the text.
Question 5 shows that the effects of structure in poems are
inseparable from sound, pace and rhythm. Encourage some
dramatic reading aloud to illustrate this.
Activity 9 (SB pp 15–16) develops students’ learning about
structural features by asking them to explore William Blake’s
‘A Poison Tree’. It is built in a way that clearly reflects the
development of its theme. The writing activity in question 5
provides practice in commenting on the specifics of structure
in relation to theme. Students should include the kind of detail
illustrated in question 2.
Extension: Support Students need regular practice in
commenting on structure in poetry. Blake provides good material
for this: use ‘The Clod and the Pebble’, ‘London’, ‘The Chimney
Sweeper’, etc. D.H. Lawrence’s poetry is less conventionally
formal but equally carefully structured, as are many poems by
Simon Armitage. Students respond well to these.
11
Aspects of structure: How do poets use rhyme, rhythm and sound? (SB pp 16–17/Handout 3.7)
This sub-section helps students to see the use of rhyme,
rhythm and sound as integral to the way poets make meaning.
Emphasise that these are not ‘add-on’ features employed simply
because they are conventional to the genre. They are strategies
for engaging the reader with what the poet wants to say, and
should be commented on as such.
Activity 10 (SB p 16) asks students to consider Gerard Manley
Hopkins’ use of rhyme, rhythm and sound in his sonnet ‘God’s
Grandeur’. Handout 3.7 provides a copy of the poem for
students to annotate.
Commentary on questions 7 and 8
Rhyme:
• Miltonic sonnet form: octet and sestet – in the octet, the
speaker describes how outward signs of God’s grandeur
have been all but eradicated by ‘man’s smudge and…
man’s smell’; in the sestet, the speaker affirms that God’s
grandeur is still evident in nature to those who retain their
Christian faith
• the cdcdcd rhyme pattern in the sestet contrasts with the
abba abba rhyme pattern in the octet to support the dual
perspective of the poem: ‘man’s smudge’ in the octet,
God’s love in the sestet
• internal rhymes reinforce the poem’s theme (see ‘Sound’ ).
Rhythm in the octet:
• confident, animated rhythm in lines 1–3 to reflect the way
the world is ‘charged’ with God’s grandeur
• abrupt change of pace in line 4: rhythm becomes
laboured and pedestrian to reflect the way ‘Generations’ of
men have ‘seared’, ‘bleared’ and ‘smeared’ God’s creation.
Rhythm in the sestet:
• rhythm becomes freer and more expansive to support the
active verbs ‘lives’, ‘springs’ and ‘broods’ in creating a feeling
of spiritual life and energy ‘deep down’ in nature
• enjambement in lines 11 and 13 lifts the rhythm and helps
to convey the speaker’s faith in God’s loving purpose.
Sound:
• strong use of alliteration and onomatopoeia throughout:
look at specific examples of their effect in lines 1–4
• strong use of assonance in lines 10–14: look at specific
examples of their effect
• use of internal rhymes in lines 5–8 to reinforce the
impression, established in line 5, of how man has blighted
nature.
In question 9, students review their work in this activity, then
make a list of what to comment on when analysing the effects
of rhyme, rhythm and sound in future work. Such a list will
be helpful – provided they use it selectively rather than in a
mechanistic way.
Extension: Stretch and challenge Ask students to use the
list of ‘features to comment on’ they made in Activity 10 to
analyse the use and effect of rhyme, rhythm and sound in
poems they find themselves. Direct them to seventeenth- and
eighteenth-century poets such as Dryden, Pope and Swift,
and to nineteenth-century poets such as Keats, Tennyson and
Browning. Students of the highest ability will find a particular
challenge in commenting on the technical elements of poems
by W.B. Yeats such as ‘Leda and the Swan’, ‘The Wild Swans at
Coole’ and ‘Sailing to Byzantium’.
Use of form in poems: Why choose this genre? ��
This sub-section asks students to consider why poets choose
particular genres to convey their themes. Make clear that
the term ‘form’ describes the genre characteristics of a poem,
whether these are traditional (as in a sonnet, a ballad or a lyric)
or modern (as in varieties of free verse). Choice of form or genre
will reflect the poet’s purposes, as Activities 11 and 12 show.
This should be the focus of comment.
Activity 11 (SB p 17) asks students to consider Thomas Hardy’s
use of the lyric form in ‘In Time of “The Breaking of Nations”’.
Choice of the lyric form:
• a lyric is the traditional genre for a love poem: this is
pre-eminently a poem about the love of a ‘maid and her
wight’
• the lyric is one of the oldest-established forms in English
poetry: this is a poem about the survival of a longestablished way of life (‘Yet this will go onward the same’)
• the lyric is traditionally associated with the countryside:
this is a poem that affirms the constancy of rural life (‘a
man harrowing clods/ In a slow silent walk’) in contrast to
‘Dynasties’ which ‘pass’.
Use of the lyric form:
This poem sets the permanence of love and country life
against the transitory nature of ‘Dynasties’ and war. The lyric
form helps to convey a sense of permanence by:
• its regular metre and steady rhythm, suggesting a way
of life that remains undisturbed even by ‘The Breaking of
Nations’
• its archaic language (‘harrowing clods’, ‘a maid and her
wight’), suggesting a way of life that stretches further back
even than ‘War’s annals’
• the use and numbering of stanzas (I, II, III); each stanza is
presented as a separate vignette linked to the others by
a common theme, suggesting the timelessness of ‘their
story’.
It can be helpful for students to think of a poem’s form as its
‘architecture’ or the overall plan on which it is built. The poem’s
structural elements can then be thought of as the bricks that
make the building.
12
Activity 12 (SB pp 18–19) asks students to draw on their learning
in Activity 11 to consider how a modern poet uses form and
structure to convey his themes. Mick Gowar’s two-part poem
‘First Love’ is a reminder that twentieth and twenty-first century
poems often make use of traditional forms; they are not all
written in free verse.
Handout 3.8 provides a copy of ‘First Love (He)’ for students to
annotate.
The form of a villanelle is suited to the theme because:
• the female speaker is puzzling over why ‘something’s
going wrong’, despite the fact that ‘we’re still happy,
we still get along’; the repetition of key rhyming
lines highlights the poem’s exploration of apparently
contradictory feelings
• there is no neat and tidy resolution to the speaker’s
enquiry; this is reflected by the re-statement and
juxtaposition of the two key lines in the last stanza – the
speaker remains unsure about why ‘love… is coming to
an end’
• the speaker’s use of modern colloquial diction (‘the spark,
the naturalness, has gone’) within the highly formal
arrangement of a villanelle conveys, perhaps, the tension
between what she actually feels and what she thinks she
ought to feel.
Possible reasons for the choice of the Shakespearean sonnet
form are:
• traditionally, Elizabethan sonnets about love compliment
the woman on her beauty and present the male lover as
being enslaved by her; in this modern sonnet, the man
seems to be in love with the idea of love and wants the
woman more as a trophy (‘Don’t say goodbye’) than as a
person (‘Not see quite so much/ of each other’)
• form, feeling and language are consequently at odds: the
modern male speaker uses contemporary idioms (‘no
need to split up’, ‘won’t make a scene’), by contrast with
his Elizabethan counterparts who used an eloquent, often
passionate style of address
• Mick Gowar’s point may be that modern love is expressed
in a more prosaic, down-to-earth fashion – less ‘poetic’
than the elaborate Petrarchan conceits that idealised the
woman as a goddess, but arguably more honest.
In question 8, students should be free to make their own points
about two different uses of the sonnet form. The contrasts
between Gowar and Hopkins are extreme: encourage a range
of comments, provided they clearly relate form and style to the
development of theme.
Extension: Stretch and challenge Poets who make original
use of traditional forms include W.H. Auden, Dylan Thomas,
Robert Frost, Charles Causley and Elizabeth Jennings. Students
could read a selection of their work and relate their choices of
form to their themes, considering why they sometimes prefer
(for example) ballads, lyrics and sonnets to the freer forms
characteristic of twentieth and twenty-first century verse.
The voice of a poem: How do I comment
on register and tone? (SB pp 19–20/Handouts 3.9–3.12)
The focus here is on poets’ use of voice to create and convey
meaning – either their own voice or the voice of a persona.
Establish at the outset the close link between voice and
viewpoint: poets construct voice to express an attitude towards
the chosen subject. Key indicators of this will be their use of
register and tone. Students need to read poems aloud, and
listen to them, in order to respond fully.
Activity 13 (SB pp 19–20) provides a performance poem in
which the female voice expresses an attitude critical towards
men. It works best if the lines are spoken around the class in an
appropriate tone, students taking one line each.
Handout 3.9 provides a copy of ‘Men Are…’ for students to
annotate in preparation for performing and discussing the
poem.
In question 3, students relate the use of voice to the poem’s
form and structure. They should see that its four stanzas are
carefully crafted so that meaning and effect are cumulative.
Writing a companion poem, ‘Women Are…’, is an enjoyable way
of demonstrating the close relationship between voice, form
and structural elements in poetry. Encourage students to try it,
either in small groups or as a class, and perform the result with
gusto.
Question 6 asks students to respond to the voice of a persona
in John Betjeman’s poem ‘Executive’. Point out that the poem
was written in the 1960s and that Betjeman was a fierce critic
of urban developers who caused the random destruction of
heritage buildings for profit.
• The tone is smug, self-satisfied and cynical – the speaker
is motivated solely by making money and shows no
concern for the communities he exploits to do so.
• The speaker exults in his own cleverness and criminality
– he is well versed in the euphemisms of business (‘vital
off-the-record work’, ‘I do some mild developing’) and
its sinister jargon: ‘Essentially I integrate…’, ‘basically I’m
viable’.
• The speaker’s values are exclusively materialistic and selfserving, as his frequent use of the language of things
shows: ‘Slimline brief-case’, ‘built of fibre-glass… I call her
“Mandy Jane”’.
13
• The speaker’s moral repulsiveness is reflected by his
contemptuous attitude towards other people: ‘I fix the
Planning Officer’, ‘After a bird I used to know’ – he is
dangerous precisely because, as an embodiment of ‘The
modern style’, he is without moral scruple or fellow feeling
of any kind.
Writing in the exam Students should be encouraged to
find what is important to them in the given poem, and shape
their analysis of its structure, form and language accordingly.
Responses constructed according to pre-determined ‘style
headings’ tend to be superficial because they attempt to
say something about everything. It is the hallmark of a
mature response to choose a focus and explore it in depth,
commenting on the way the poet makes meaning as the
relevant points become clear to the writer.
Handout 3.10 provides the poem ‘Depopulation of the Hills’
by R.S. Thomas for students to analyse in preparation for the
Section A exam. If this task is undertaken in timed conditions,
allow up to 75 minutes.
Handout 3.11 illustrates a mid-level response to the task, with
an examiner’s comments on Handout 3.12.
Giving a first response: How do I find my way in? (SB pp 22–23)
This sub-section places the emphasis on personal
interpretation, where it should remain throughout the course.
Activity 14 (SB pp 22–23) asks students to explore two openings
to novels and apply to them the key questions ‘what?’ and
‘how?’. Question 2 helps them find their bearings by considering
setting, character and narrative style. This approach will serve
them well with any unprepared prose fiction text. They could
memorise the three bulleted questions for future work. Julian
Barnes’ novel was published in 1989, Jane Austen’s in 1818.
Watch out for… students needing time to find their bearings
on a prose passage. Stage 2 of many activities asks them to
‘Give a first response…’ in a small group, the intention being to
allow them to consider and share their ideas before presenting
them to the whole group at a later stage. The small-group work
helps them to be questioning and critical in their approach and
move towards an evaluation of the text without always being
prompted to do so.
Summary of your learning in Part 1 Giving a considered response: How do
the style and language work? (SB p 21/Handout 3.13)
(SB pp 23‑24/Handout 3.14)
The work in Part 1 is rounded off by asking students to
complete a self-evaluation exercise. Eight skills are identified
which the assessment objectives for Section A require students
to demonstrate. They are reproduced on Handout 3.13.
Activity 15 (SB p 24) asks students to explore the way Malcolm
Bradbury presents Howard and Barbara Kirk in a passage from
The History Man. Remind them that ‘fiction’ means ‘made up’, and
that novelists invent their characters rather than photograph
them from life. Hence the Kirks only exist through the language
Bradbury employs to create them.
Ask students to use the tick system described in the Student
Book, or a refinement of it, to assess their present level of
skill and confidence. They can undertake this by themselves
or with peers. Use the outcomes to construct a programme
of skill revision with individuals, before moving them on to
further work on poetry analysis in Part 3, where the emphasis
is on personal response and making critical judgements. The
opening section of the AS Student Book, ‘Exploring Poetry’
(pp 7–48) , is tailor-made for revising the skills of unprepared
analysis, and should be revisited by students who need to
consolidate their learning.
2 �Analysing unprepared
��
prose (SB pp 21–40)
• build on the ‘unseen’ work they did for Section A of Unit 1;
the A2 exam task is comparable and the same essential skills
are assessed
• make their own decisions about what to comment on in
an unprepared prose passage; in the A2 exam, they will not
have the support of prompt questions
• develop and justify a personal interpretation of a passage
Handout 3.14 provides a copy of the passage from The History
Man for students to annotate.
The main impressions given of the Kirks are:
• a fashionable young 1970s couple – pot smokers, Habitat
alarm clock, junk-shop chest of drawers, late night parties,
shabby chic surroundings
• an equal and open marriage (‘they do not touch each
other, having no need’), professional partners (‘The Kirks’),
busy lives, do not observe the traditional husband-andwife roles
• material values (‘unmitigated thinginess’), liberal in
outlook, see themselves as trend-setters.
Watch out for… some students persisting in seeing the events,
characters and settings of prose fiction as ‘real’. This fallacy
needs to be firmly and finally quashed because it will, if carried
through into A2 study and the A2 exam, distort what they say
about a prose writer’s style. A useful mantra for students is: ‘The
text is constructed. What constructs it is language. So why does
the writer choose this language and use it in this way?’
• evaluate the effectiveness of a passage.
14
Extension: Support Ask students to write a similar analysis
to that in Activity 15 based on either the passage from A
History of the World in 10½ Chapters or the passage from
Persuasion (Activity 14). Explain that they should start with their
understanding of the writer’s purposes and relate language
choice to these.
Identifying the writer’s focus: What am I
being asked to respond to? (SB pp 25–26)
This sub-section helps students to determine the principal
focus of a passage as a basis for commenting on its structure,
form and language. They need to be alert to what the writer is
doing in the text (which, they should remember, is an extract)
at this particular point. It is a key skill for the exam and one that
requires regular practice.
Activity 16 (SB pp 25–26) uses a passage from The Van by
Roddy Doyle, in which the focus is clear and limited: the
relationship between Bimbo and Jimmy Sr and the placing
of these characters in a specific regional setting. The bullet
points in question 2 prompt students to relate Doyle’s narrative
technique to his themes.
In the passage from The Shipping News in question 4, Annie
Proulx is doing something different and more complex. Allow
students plenty of time in class discussion to identify her
purposes and comment on the way she achieves them, before
comparing this passage with Roddy Doyle’s in question 6.
The main differences in narrative technique are:
• Doyle describes a single episode in the characters’ lives
in a naturalistic style – filmic technique, foregrounding
of dialogue; Proulx describes Quoyle’s early life
retrospectively – highly compressed, highly selective,
based on the theme of ‘failure’
• Doyle gives a minimal amount of description or authorial
comment – he positions the reader as spectator of an
event; Proulx includes a strong element of authorial
comment to guide the reader’s response, and positions
the reader as a partner in understanding (e.g. the link
between father’s treatment of Quoyle and ‘His own
failure’)
• Doyle’s language is colloquial and idiomatic to reflect the
characters’ Irish background and the spontaneity of their
dialogue; Proulx’s language is densely metaphorical (‘Hivespangled, gut roaring with gas and cramp, he survived
childhood’) to create a reflective, philosophical account of
Quoyle’s character
• Doyle’s syntax is grammatically simple and repetitive to
capture the rhythms of the characters’ direct speech;
Proulx’s syntax is varied and grammatically complex to
capture the way Quoyle has ‘Stumbled’ through life and
‘camouflaged torment’, holding himself together in the
face of continual ‘failure’.
Writing in the exam The ‘Writing in the exam’ box on p 26
of the Student Book emphasises that being tentative and
exploratory at the start of a response is a necessary part of
the process of engaging with the text. Students will not be
penalised for this. What they must avoid is a lengthy summary
of the subject matter, at the expense of responding to the
writer’s purposes and how these are achieved.
Extension: Stretch and challenge Ask students to collect
passages from their own reading of prose fiction which
develop plot, introduce a new character, present character and
relationship through dialogue, describe setting, create suspense
or mystery, and so on. Make a class file of these. Students
should use them to comment on ‘what the writer is doing’ and
‘what the writer is asking me to respond to’. They can do this
individually, but it is better if the exercise becomes a regular
part of class work; it is directly relevant to what they will do
in the exam and helps build confidence more than any other
strategy.
Creating setting: How do writers evoke place and time, and why? (SB pp 26–29/Handouts 3.15)
Here students explore how writers use setting to do more than
set the scene. Encourage students to think of the settings in
a narrative not as a ‘background’ but as a foreground which
writers use to present character and theme. Activities 17 and 18
show how two writers’ descriptions of place are central to their
techniques of characterisation; in each case, the external scene
illuminates and reflects a character’s inner feelings.
Activity 17 (SB pp 27–28) asks students to respond to the
opening of Katherine Mansfield’s short story ‘Carnation’.
In question 3, students use the table on p 27 of the Student
Book to consider how Mansfield’s descriptions of setting create
a strong mood and atmosphere. Comments should be detailed
and specific. For example, what impressions are given by ‘there
was not a breath’, ‘the dazzle outside’, ‘a warm, weak light’: is
Mansfield telling us more here than that it was hot and stuffy?
The story is reproduced in its entirety on Handout 3.15 for
students to read before they work on question 5.
Contrasts:
• the scene inside the French Room is dim (‘dusky room’),
colourless (‘pale blouses’), stifling (‘no air came in’); there is
a feeling of sapped vitality (‘warm, weak light’) and of life
caged in (‘dark blinds drawn half-way down’)
• the scene outside is bright (‘dazzling light outside the
window’), colourful (‘flashing scarlet and black’), animated
(‘loud and free’); there is a feeling of fierce vitality (‘he
moved, swooping and bending’) and of energy unleashed
(‘he worked at the pump and a great gush of water
followed’).
15
Katie’s experiences:
• Katie responds intensely to her imagined picture of the
man outside. It could be an experience of liberation, of
sexual longing, or of sexual release (‘to keep time with
the man outside… until they became one rushing, rising,
triumphant thing, bursting into light, and then – The
whole room broke into pieces’).
Symbolic use of setting:
• the school and the French Room could be seen to
represent a level of childhood experience that Katie is
ready to pass beyond (as Eve, the temptress, has already
done): the formal and waistcoated Hugh-Wugo, love
experienced only through poetry, artificial flowers on hats
rather than the real flowers Eve eats petal by petal
• the scene in the courtyard could be seen to represent
a level of adult experience that Katie wants to embrace
(as Eve, she strongly hints, has already done): the barechested man ‘all splashed with water’, his proficiency in
working the pump, his naturalness, physicality and lack of
self-consciousness.
Activity 18 (SB p 29) develops the work in Activity 17 by asking
students to explore the use William Golding makes of setting
in a passage from The Spire. Make clear that the novel is set in
medieval times. Since it describes the building of a cathedral
and its central character is a priest, Jocelyn, it has a strongly
Christian context: the language of the passage reflects this.
You could begin the class discussion in question 3 by asking ‘Is
Golding doing more here than “setting a scene”?’ All students
should be aware that the severe weather affects Jocelyn’s way
of seeing his cathedral; some will understand that it also affects
his Christian faith. Develop these perceptions by making a
detailed analysis of the effects of figurative language, sound
and sentence construction (you can use the bullet points in
question 3).
The theme of the priest’s faith being tried and tested is
conveyed by:
• the way the deluge reduces the cathedral ‘from
glorification to homilectics’ – to Jocelyn it is ‘the bible in
stone’, but the severe weather means ‘he lost the sense of
the size of it’, the battlements on the roof become ‘blurred’,
the stonework seems ‘full of imperfections’ – there is an
extended metaphor of failing sight running through the
passage, which suggests Jocelyn’s diminishing faith in the
project
• the way the deluge isolates Jocelyn from his community
and turns everyone’s thoughts from salvation to death
and damnation – people retreat indoors to crouch ‘by
what fire they had’, the ‘thousand gargoyles… gave
vent… as if this were yet another penalty of damnation’,
the cathedral builders think not of their work but of
corpses which ‘mouldered in the graveyards’; there is
a sense of Jocelyn, like Christ in the wilderness, being
abandoned by his God and taunted by the Devil.
Watch out for… students being too ready to find ‘symbolic’
meaning in a writer’s descriptions of place at the expense of
other impressions the writer gives. Remind them that prose
writers represent reality first and foremost in physical terms.
Readers who give due weight to this have a firm basis for
exploring further levels of meaning – but textual evidence will
always need to be cited and explained, as in the commentary
above.
Extension: Support Ask students to select passages from
their prescribed prose text(s) for Section B that describe setting
in a striking way. They should write short responses to these,
relating their comments to what they understand of the
writer’s themes but without referring to the rest of the novel.
Using Section B texts in this way to practise the skills required
for Section A gives coherence to students’ work, and has
obvious further benefits.
Characterisation: How do writers create and convey character? (SB pp 30–32/Handouts 3.16–3.19)
This sub-section begins by making a distinction between
‘character study’ and the study of how writers construct
characters in their fictions. Remind students that their task is to
analyse the latter; writing about the former will only lead them
to confuse literature and life, and prevent them from accessing
the higher band requirements of AO2 in the exam.
Activity 19 (SB pp 30–31) asks students to explore the way
Dickens characterises Mrs Jellyby in a passage from Bleak
House. Point out that the first-person narrator, Esther, is a young
middle-class woman who has not met Mrs Jellyby before.
In question 2, students complete the table to show how
Dickens guides their response to Mrs Jellyby. They should
explore the text thoroughly; every detail counts.
• the way the deluge seems to mount a physical attack on
Jocelyn, as if threatening to destroy him – the wind is like
a ‘cuff’ that makes him ‘stagger’, each ‘gust’ is like a ‘blow’,
his cloak is ‘whipped’ away from him; there is an extended
metaphor of violent assault, which suggests his faith is
under threat
16
Dickens’ techniques of characterisation include the following.
The episode is presented from Esther’s point of view and in
her language:
• as a woman, Esther observes, and is shocked by, Mrs
Jellyby’s neglect of her children: ‘one of the poor little
things fell downstairs… into the back kitchen, where
somebody seemed to stifle him’
• Esther’s disapproval of Mrs Jellyby as a mother (‘the dear
child’s head recorded its passage with a bump on every
stair’) positions the reader to take up a critical attitude.
Details of Mrs Jellyby’s appearance and the appearance of
her room are highlighted:
• the physical descriptions have connotations that the
reader applies to Mrs Jellyby’s personality and her alleged
philanthropy: ‘a great writing-table covered with similar
litter’, ‘handsome eyes… they could see nothing nearer
than Africa’
• the reader is being directed to make critical judgements,
which are sharpened by the irony of Mrs Jellyby’s charity
beginning far from home.
Mrs Jellyby is presented through direct speech:
• her diction is regal (‘have the pleasure of receiving you’),
her tone is condescending (‘you find me, my dears, as
usual, very busy; but that you will excuse’), her emphasis
is on the way her ‘African project’ promotes her own
importance rather than helps those in need (‘It involves
me in correspondence with public bodies and private
individuals’)
• the ironic contrast between her pompous, affected
manner of speaking and the squalor of her surroundings
serves a serious satirical purpose.
A developing portrait of Mrs Jellyby is presented:
• the gradual accumulation of impressions in this passage,
focalised through an alert narrator, allows the reader to
respond to Dickens’ writing actively
• Mrs Jellyby’s humanity is shown to be warped through
the way Esther responds to her with growing scepticism
in the course of the passage; Esther’s judgements
become ours, without the need for the novelist’s direct
intervention.
Watch out for… students putting all their eggs in one basket
when discussing the way character is presented. They should
bear in mind that techniques of characterisation in prose fiction
are immensely varied. Even in the course of a single passage,
like that from Bleak House, they will normally find more than
one method at work. Comment on the idiolect a writer gives
to a character, for instance, may well need to be supported
by comment on the point of view from which the character
is being seen. Comment on the details given of a character’s
appearance may well need to be accompanied by comment on
the narrative voice.
Extension: Support Dickens, sometimes regarded merely as
a ‘caricaturist’, provides excellent material for studying varied
methods of characterisation. Ask students to comment on
passages from Hard Times that present (to take a range of
examples) Gradgrind and Bounderby, Tom and Mrs Sparsit,
Louisa and Cissy Jupe. The portraits of Lord and Lady Dedlock
in Chapter 2 of Bleak House are a good starting point for further
work.
Activity 20 (SB p 32) uses a passage by Fay Weldon in which the
techniques of characterisation differ markedly from the Dickens
extract in Activity 19. Students are asked to explore the main
differences and relate these to the writer’s purposes in each
case. The passage is reproduced on Handout 3.16 for students
to annotate as they work on questions 2 and 3.
Weldon’s techniques of characterisation include:
• use of a first-person narrative voice addressing a silent
listener in conversation – the effect is to progressively
reveal the narrator’s personality as she speaks
• positioning of the reader alongside the listener – the
effect is to make the reader an active participant in the
conversation
• use of a distinctive idiolect – the narrator’s voice is
idiomatic, emotionally intense, volatile, possibly unreliable
• providing the reader with a single perspective, the
narrator’s, and withholding authorial comment – the
effect is to let readers find their own bearings and draw
their own conclusions.
Contrasts between Weldon’s techniques and Dickens’:
• the first-person voice is used in each case, but Weldon’s
characterises the narrator, whereas Dickens uses the
narrator to characterise Mrs Jellyby
• Weldon employs one main method of characterisation
– dramatic monologue – whereas Dickens employs a
range of methods
• in Weldon’s passage, the reader is positioned very close
to the narrator, whereas in Dickens’, the use of Esther as
narrator has a distancing effect
• as a consequence, the reader is not directed to make
judgements of Weldon’s character, whereas the opposite
is the case with Mrs Jellyby.
Extension: Stretch and challenge Ask students to use what
they have learned from Activities 19 and 20 to comment on
characterisation in other passages in Part 2. The following
provide suitable material: the passage from The Shipping
News (Activity 16), the passage from Birdsong (Activity 22), the
passage from The First Casualty (Activity 23) and the passage
from The Way of All Flesh (Activity 25).
Handout 3.18 illustrates a high-level response to a passage
from Enduring Love by Ian McEwan (provided on Handout
3.17). Handout 3.19 reproduces the examiner’s comments
on the sample response. Make clear to students that additional
comments would need to be made on narrative point of view
and the use of voice to meet the requirements of AO2 in full.
17
Students should make their own exploration of McEwan’s
purposes and techniques before considering the sample
response. The examiner’s comments place it in the top
mark bands of AO1 and AO2. Students should discuss why
by referring to the relevant band descriptors in the Sample
Assessment Materials (pp 113–114).
Watch out for… the idea that sample responses prescribe ‘the
right way’ of constructing an exam answer. A less polished and
confident analysis than this one would be highly rewarded if it
showed a similar ability to engage with the poet’s language. It
is the specificity and fine detail here that students should try to
emulate. They can also learn from the way in which quotations
are embedded in the writing, as opposed to being offered in
blocks.
Point of view: How is the narrative presented, and the reader
positioned? (SB pp 33–34/Handout 3.20)
Students need to recognise and comment on the narrative
point of view in a passage. On p 33 of the Student Book there
is a summary of the different perspectives from which prose
fiction writers can present their narratives. Make sure that
students’ understanding of these is secure before proceeding
with Activities 21 and 22. In commenting on any passage, they
need to decide how the writer positions the reader, and go on
to show how this positioning helps guide the reader’s response.
Activity 21 (SB p 33) asks students to identify the point of view
in three passages from earlier in Part 1. In A History of the World
in 10½ Chapters the point of view is first person. In Persuasion
the point of view is third person. In The Spire the point of view is
third person with elements of free indirect style, where Golding
adopts the viewpoint, though not the voice, of Jocelyn.
You could end this activity by emphasising that point of view in
prose fiction refers to the stance the writer takes up to present
the story. The key question for students to ask themselves about
any passage is: ‘Through whose eyes are we seeing things?’
Activity 22 (SB pp 33–34) asks students to explore Sebastian
Faulks’ use of point of view in a passage from Birdsong. The
passage is provided on Handout 3.20 for students to annotate.
They should see that the point of view shifts in the course of the
passage: their task is to identify these shifts and relate them to
the writer’s purposes.
Point of view in paragraph 1:
• third-person point of view – the omniscient writer places
his character, Jack, in the perspective of the battle taking
place around him
• a broad focus (‘other men nodded and dozed’) with Jack
at the centre (‘Jack was so tired that…’).
Point of view in paragraphs 2 and 3:
• third-person point of view with elements of free indirect
style – the perspective becomes narrower, presenting us
with Jack’s memories of home and thoughts about John
• in the third paragraph, the narrative shifts into free indirect
style to capture the images in Jack’s dream: ‘a park, a dog;
the lit pub again, thronged with people; John’s face, the
dear boy’ – we are now positioned inside Jack’s mind.
Point of view in remaining paragraphs:
• third-person point of view – the omniscient writer
presents a new episode in which Jack is reprimanded
• we see the two officers in the perspective of the external
action and Jack in relation to them: ‘a boot cracked into
his ankle’.
Effect of the shifting point of view:
• gives a sympathetic impression of the relentless pressure
Jack is under – lack of sleep, anxiety about John, need to
discharge his duties in the battle
• shows that in war there is no room for personal feelings
(John’s illness) – everything must be subordinated to duty
and any lapse from this is brutally punished: ‘It’s a court
martial offence. See me tomorrow at six.’
Narrative voice and the voices of
characters (SB pp 35–36)
Here students identify and comment on the use of voice in
a passage. Before proceeding to Activity 23, you may like to
ensure that students can make a clear distinction between
narrative voice, the voice that tells the story, and the voices
of characters who are part of the story, and revise the terms
‘indirect speech’ and ‘direct speech’.
Activity 23 (SB pp 35–36) asks students to explore the use of
narrative voice, and the voices of characters, in a passage from
The First Casualty by Ben Elton.
In question 3, the five statements are designed to generate
discussion rather than ‘right answers’. Encourage students to
consider alternative responses, backed up by close reference to
the text.
In question 4, they examine how the third-person narrative
voice creates a perspective for the reader to respond to the
dispute between Hopkins and Abercrombie. They should give
their own view about which character the narrative voice is
directing us to identify with, or whether Elton deliberately
creates a more subtle situation here.
Watch out for… a tendency to over-complicate aspects such
as narrative voice and point of view. For the purposes of the
Section A exam, there are two key points for students to bear
in mind: (1) Narrative voice is the voice telling the story – this
will be the writer’s voice or the voice of a narrator the writer
chooses. (2) Narrative point of view is the perspective on events
established by the writer or the writer’s chosen narrator. The
students’ task is to comment on the effect on the reader of
voice and point of view.
18
Extension: Stretch and challenge Ask students to read a
number of short stories by writers as described on p 36 of
the Student Book under ‘Independent research’. They should
comment on the use of narrative voice and point of view in
relation to the writers’ purposes and presentation of themes.
The following provide particularly good material for this: Alan
Sillitoe, Fay Weldon, Martin Amis, and Joyce Carol Oates.
Syntax: How does sentence structure contribute to meaning? (SB pp 36–37/Handout 3.21)
This sub-section helps students comment on the way
syntactical structures are used in a passage to contribute to
meaning and effect. Students should understand clearly that
prose writers craft their work as carefully as poets do. In a full
analysis, the same detailed attention to form and structure is
required.
Activity 24 (SB p 37). In question 2, students examine the use of
form and structure in a short passage from The Road by Cormac
McCarthy. The passage is provided on Handout 3.21 for
students to annotate as they work.
Form and structure support the writer’s purposes in these
ways:
• minor sentences/short phrases are used instead of full
sentences to convey the weariness of the travellers
(‘Solitary and dogged’), the barrenness and monotony
of the landscape (‘A raw hill country. Aluminium houses’)
and the numbing intensity of the cold (‘Cold to crack the
stones. To take your life’)
• the length of the sentence beginning ‘Just beyond the
high gap’ conveys the extent of the vista opening up
before the travellers
• the representation of thought in ‘What to do about
it? Nothing’ conveys the father’s powerlessness to
improve things for his son – an example of free indirect
style, positioning the reader inside the father’s mind to
experience his feeling of utter helplessness
• the pace of the sentences is slow, and the rhythm halting
and disjointed – this conveys the difficulty of moving in a
hostile environment and the painfully slow progress the
travellers make.
In question 4, students relate the form and structure of a short
passage from Edgar Allan Poe’s story ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ to the
writer’s themes. The syntax is extremely varied to reflect the
virtual stream-of-consciousness style Poe’s narrator is using
here. Make clear to students that his state of mind is meant to
be highly disturbed: their task is to relate voice, form and syntax
to this fact.
Extension: Support Poe’s short stories provide excellent
material for analysing varied uses of form and structure,
particularly syntax. Ask students to read ‘The Cask of
Amontillado’, ‘Hop-Frog’ or ‘The Masque of the Red Death’
and comment on extracts from them in which the structural
elements are particularly original.
How writers guide readers’
judgements (SB pp 38–40/Handouts 3.22 and 3.24)
This sub-section shows how prose fiction writers use irony to
guide the reader’s response. Some students fail to recognise
the use of irony in a passage and consequently miss the writer’s
point. Make clear at the outset that irony is almost always used
in the service of satire – that is, the holding up of folly or vice to
ridicule in order to censure it.
Activity 25 (SB pp 38–40) asks students to identify and comment
on Samuel Butler’s use of irony for a satirical purpose in a
passage from The Way of All Flesh.
The main aspects of Butler’s satirical technique are:
• presenting a surface impression of Dr Skinner as a highly
distinguished intellectual figure: ‘I once had the honour…’,
‘this great man,’ ‘It was very gracious of him’
• using a narrative voice and point of view to maintain a
level of seriousness that the reader comes to feel is at
odds with its subject: ‘“Stay – I may presently take a glass
of cold water – and a small piece of bread and butter”’
• using hyperbole in order to make the subject seem
ridiculous: ‘at last, in a tone of almost superhuman
solemnity, he said first, “Nothing”, and then, “Nothing
whatever”’
• using bathos to puncture the pomposity of the subject:
‘and the universe this time was safe’
• making statements that imply their own opposites: ‘upon
them Dr Skinner’s hand was very properly a heavy one’,
‘the beauty and loftiness of Dr Skinner’s nature’.
The purpose of question 3 is for students to recognise the
presence of irony and understand some of the ways in which it
works. Emphasise that it can work in many other ways.
In question 5, students develop their learning from the Samuel
Butler passage by considering how Stella Gibbons uses irony for
a satirical purpose in a passage from Cold Comfort Farm. The five
prompts help them to see that Gibbons’ method here is parody.
Make clear that the target of her good-humoured satire is
literature based on Freudian psychology and (glancing at novels
by Hardy, D.H. Lawrence and others) the organic relationship
between man and nature.
Writing in the exam Students should be encouraged to
find what is important to them in the given poem and shape
their analysis of its structure, form and language accordingly.
Responses constructed according to pre-determined ‘style
headings’ tend to be superficial because they attempt to
say something about everything. It is the hallmark of a
mature response to choose a focus and explore it in depth,
commenting on the way the poet makes meaning as the
relevant points become clear to the writer.
19
Handout 3.22 provides a passage from The Siege of Krishnapur
by J.G. Farrell for students to analyse in preparation for the
Section A exam. If this task is undertaken in timed conditions,
allow up to 75 minutes.
Handout 3.23 illustrates a low-level response to the task, with
examiner’s comments on Handout 3.24.
Summary of your learning in Part 2 (SB p 40/Handout 3.25)
This sub-section rounds off the work in Part 2 by asking
students to complete a self-evaluation exercise. Eight key skills
are identified which the assessment objectives for Section
A require students to demonstrate. They are reproduced on
Handout 3.25.
Ask students to use the tick system described in the Student
Book, or a refinement of it, to assess their present level of
skill and confidence. They can undertake this by themselves
or with peers. Use the outcomes to construct a programme
of skill revision with individuals, before moving them on to
further work on prose analysis in Part 3, where the emphasis
is on personal response and making critical judgements. The
‘Exploring Prose’ section of the AS Student Book (pp 49–78) is
tailor-made for revising the skills of unprepared analysis and
should be revisited by students who need to consolidate their
learning.
3 ��
Unprepared poetry and prose:
��
Independent approaches (SB pp 41–54)
• ask and answer their own questions about unprepared texts
• work regularly in pairs and small groups to develop their
responses
• consider how other readers might interpret and evaluate
unprepared texts
• use their own writing as a way of exploring the use of
structure, form and language in poetry and prose.
Part 3 helps students to target the higher bands of AO1 and,
in particular, AO2 for Section A. The activities encourage
independence and autonomy in reading, and a personal
approach to evaluating unprepared texts.
Each activity is free-standing. You can use the activities to
extend the learning in Parts 1 and 2 at particular points or
to add variety to established ways of working as the course
proceeds. Encourage students to read through Part 3 by
themselves and choose activities that interest and challenge
them.
Making your own interpretation: What does it mean to me? (SB pp 41–43/Handouts 3.26 and 3.27)
Activity 26 (SB pp 41–42) asks students in a pair or small group to
interpret a poem about which a range of readings is likely. The
purpose is to remove any preconceptions about ‘right answers’
from the work and encourage them to develop a personal
understanding. The poem, ‘Under a Ramshackle Rainbow’, is
reproduced on Handout 3.26 for students to annotate. Note
that poems in translation will not be set in the exam; this poem
is used here because it suits the activity particularly well.
In question 2, an annotation method is suggested based on
the example on p 42 of the Student Book. This gives students
a starting point, but they should also feel free to use their own
method and pursue their own line of thought.
The emphasis in question 4 should be on comparing responses
and justifying interpretations. Students should be encouraged
to challenge each other’s readings and to see that ‘meaning’
is not a single, fixed entity: it is made by readers as well as by
writers.
Writing in the exam During the 75 minutes recommended
for Section A, students need to annotate the unprepared text
in a productive way. Gaining practice in doing this should be
an essential part of their exam preparation. Encourage them to
see annotation as a means of thinking creatively on paper and
forming a dialogue with the text. Most activities in Part 3 begin
with annotation; students should try out various methods to
determine which ones work best for them.
Activity 27 (SB p 43) asks students to interpret a complete
short story, ‘The Snow Child’ by Angela Carter, taking the same
approach as to the poem in Activity 26. The text is reproduced
on Handout 3.27.
Extension: Stretch and challenge Ask students to develop
their work in Activity 27 by writing analyses of complete
short stories. Stories of a suitable length can be found in the
collection A Vocation and a Voice by Kate Chopin, the Collected
Stories of Katherine Mansfield, the Complete Stories of Alice
Walker, and the work of Ernest Hemingway, Arthur C. Clarke and
Michèle Roberts.
Questioning the text: What meaning is there beneath the surface? (SB pp 43–45)
This sub-section supports students in exploring prose and
poetry through active reading, collaborating with the writer
to make meaning. In both the prose passage and the poem
for Activity 28, they need to find their own way in: the writer’s
stance is not immediately apparent.
Activity 28 (SB p 44). In the passage from The Dice Man, the
narrator gives an account of himself which the reader wonders
whether to take entirely on trust. Students should try to
identify the kind of voice he is using and speculate about the
impression he wants to make on the reader.
20
It will be instructive for them to add a paragraph of their own,
beginning ‘Actually, most of this is lies. I am really…’, and use
this to inform their discussion in question 3.
Using comparison: How does this text
illuminate that one? In question 5, students share their responses to a poem in
which the voice is difficult to pin down. It will be instructive for
students to write their own version of ‘Sadie’s Story’ or ‘Maud’s
Story’ and use this to inform their discussion.
Watch out for… students feeling troubled by uncertainty and
ambivalence in their response to texts. Reassure them that the
fact that they may not have a completely clear idea of what
the poet or writer is ‘really saying’ does not prevent them from
making perceptive comments. Complexity and confusion are
two different things.
For Section B, students will compare texts within and across the
genres of poetry and prose fiction. Here they are encouraged to
do so in preparation for Section A; making comparisons helps
to deepen their analysis of a single text in ways familiar from
GCSE.
Activity 30 (SB pp 47–49) begins by asking students to compare
Tony Harrison’s poem ‘Long Distance’ with Ben Jonson’s ‘An
Elegy’. Handout 3.28 reproduces the Jonson poem.
Using prior reading: What can I bring as a reader to this text? (SB pp 45–46)
Here students are supported in drawing on their own reading
experience to interpret unprepared texts. Their prior reading
has made them proficient in identifying what is important in
an unprepared poem or prose passage, in responding to the
writer’s voice, in being sensitive to uses of language, and so on.
The exam task will, therefore, be less of a ‘new’ demand than
many of them fear. Their best resource will be their knowledge
and skill as readers, accumulated over many years. Make clear
to students that they need to mobilise this when faced with an
unprepared text, and remind them that an unfamiliar text can
be analysed in a familiar way.
Subject matter:
Activity 29 (SB pp 45–46) provides students with a passage from
Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre which uses
the genre conventions of the crime thriller. In question 2, they
identify these and illustrate the effects they can achieve in a
short piece of their own writing. In question 4 they evaluate
other students’ work from a critical standpoint.
Creative writing can be used as a powerful tool of analysis at
this level. You will have your own views, but classroom evidence
suggests that most students gain important insights into the
writing process by experimenting with original language use
and trying out poetic/prose forms. They also deepen their
understanding by making analytical comments on other
students’ creative work, particularly if the analysis is supported
by conversation with the writer.
In question 6 and 7, students work out and then share
their responses to the use E.E. Cummings makes of the
Shakespearean sonnet form. They should see that Cummings’s
distinctive orthography, and use of grammar, is an essential
part of the meaning he wants to express, as a modern poet
consciously working within a literary tradition.
Extension: Stretch and challenge Ask students to read and
analyse the work of poets and prose fiction writers who adapt
traditional genres to their own purposes. Charles Causley’s
ballads and Angela Carter’s fables provide good starting points
for this.
Aspects of ‘An Elegy’ to compare with ‘Long Distance’ include
the following.
• the poem’s speaker is desolate at the prospect of death
ending his relationship
• the imminence of death brings out the depth of his love.
Themes:
• love outlasts death
• firm belief in an afterlife when he and his lover will be
reunited.
Language:
• the voice of the poem’s speaker has a frank simplicity – he
addresses his lover in an intimate conversational register
• figurative language – the poem is highly metaphorical;
the speaker’s depth of feeling is expressed through a
sequence of images or conceits: ‘as if night should shade
noon-day’, ‘Oh, keep it [my heart] still; for it had rather be/
Your sacrifice’, ‘Or like a ghost walk silent among men’.
Form and structure:
• rhyming couplets and iambic pentameter throughout
• a formal structure, conventional in an elegy, to affirm his
enduring love.
In question 5, students compare two prose passages from
different times on a similar subject. They should choose their
own focus for comparison and develop detailed comments on
one passage by reference to the other. If they focus on Humphry
Clinker, for example, they could explore the way Smollett
presents a satirical view of Bath, the way he uses ironic humour
to do so, the way he positions the reader, and the way the
syntax of paragraph 2 helps to convey ‘an… impression of fetid
effluvia upon nerves of uncommon sensibility’.
Extension: Stretch and challenge Ask students to find
passages from other eighteenth-century novels to compare
with the prose passages used in Part 2. You could direct them to
suitable extracts from some of the following: Daniel Defoe’s Moll
Flanders and A Journal of the Plague Year, Henry Fielding’s Tom
Jones and Joseph Andrews, Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy,
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.
21
Using writing to help you read (SB pp 50–57)
The activities here encourage students to undertake some
creative writing in order to appreciate from a practitioner’s
viewpoint how poets and prose fiction writers use structure,
form and language to make meaning. This approach works best
if students form writing partnerships, in a pair or a small group.
Activity 31 (SB p 50) provides two contemporary poems as a
stimulus. Students will find a wealth of similar material in poetry
anthologies such as Staying Alive and Being Alive.
It is through the process of drafting, redrafting and revising that
students will learn most. Encourage them to share this with
their partner(s) and to plan and write short analyses of each
other’s work, as for an unprepared poem in the exam.
In Activity 32 (SB p 51), question 1 asks students to use passages
from their prescribed prose fiction text(s) for Section B as a
stimulus for writing. They could write in a similar style on their
own subject, or continue the passage as if they were the writer.
Question 3 provides a passage from Nick Hornby’s novel A Long
Way Down, which can be used for creative writing in a variety of
ways. Examples are suggested in question 4.
Making your own choice of material:
Self-help for unprepared analysis (SB pp 52–53)
This last sub-section encourages students to take responsibility
for finding their own poems and prose passages by making
choices from their Section B texts. The preamble on p 52 of
the Student Book makes clear the benefits of this; all students
should undertake it at some stage in the course.
Activity 33 (SB pp 52–53) provides a passage from Captain
Corelli’s Mandolin to illustrate making notes for an unprepared
analysis of prose. Encourage students to adopt the four general
headings used in ‘Notes for an analysis’ in making their own
notes, including notes in the exam.
One purpose of Activity 33 is to demonstrate to students the
importance of structured note-making before they write their
exam response. Spending 15–20 minutes out of 75 in this way
will pay dividends: it provides both an overall framework for the
answer and detailed points about the use of structure, form and
language. Encourage students to think of this preliminary stage
as part of their answer, not just as a preparation for it.
Summary of your learning in Part 3 (SB p 54)
This rounds off the work in Part 3 by asking students to
complete a self-evaluation exercise. Ten key skills are identified
which the assessment objectives for Section A require students
to demonstrate. Ask students to use the tick system described
in the Student Book, or a refinement of it, to assess their
present level of skill and confidence. They can undertake this by
themselves or with peers.
4 T ackling Section A of the exam (SB pp 54–64)
The material in this section helps you prepare students for the
exam by:
• providing sample questions on unprepared poetry and prose
• outlining the texts and questions students are likely to meet
in the unprepared questions
• providing a reminder of the assessment objectives for this
section of the exam, and how they are applied
• providing candidates’ responses to both the poetry and
prose unprepared questions
• providing examiner comments on candidates’ responses.
Students are asked to:
• consider which choice of unprepared text to tackle
• consider how to structure their answer
• be self-critical about their writing
• consider their own autonomy as critics.
Answering the question on poetry (SB pp 56–60/Handouts 3.29–3.31)
Activity 34 (SB pp 56–60) invites students to read a poem and the
question to which it is linked (these are reproduced in Handout
3.29). This may be used as practice for students in how to tackle
an unprepared poem. It is a fairly long and complex poem
and therefore should be used when the students are quite
confident in dealing with unprepared texts.
The activity also looks at how the wording of the question
is linked to the assessment objectives. The assessment grid
is a useful tool for showing how the two relevant AOs are
interpreted, and indicates clearly what examiners are looking
for.
Question 2 involves discussion of an essay on the unprepared
poem. The discussion should focus on four points about the
quality of a candidate’s writing:
1 How do I structure what I am going to say?
2 What sort of things am I going to say?
3 How do I know that what I am writing is any good?
4 How do I achieve autonomy as a critic?
The candidate’s essay (a high-level essay from the 2007,
curriculum 2000 examination) (SB pp 58–59) works as a good
teaching and learning model for the 2008 specification in terms
of both task and outcome, although the students will have
slightly longer to write in the new exam. Reading and writing
time of about 1 hour 15 minutes is recommended, as part of
the total of 2 hours 45 minutes for the exam as a whole.
SB p 60 provides examiner’s comments. The interpretation of
the mark scheme should be shared with students. Section (a)
focuses on the AOs and how they are met; section (b) provides
a commentary. Extra commentary is provided here.
22
(b) Specific comments on the essay
This is a good signal to the examiner on how the candidate
is going to proceed in her opening remarks. In the poem
the poet explores the complex relationship between family,
homeland and displacement. This looks like quite a good
overview to the reader of what the candidate sees as
being central to his interpretation of the poem, which
will discussed later. We will see if they are. In this essay I
will consider the form, language and structure of the poem
to get to a deeper understanding of the poem. Similarly, this
is a message to the effect that the candidate is aware of
AO2, although it is a rather less subtle way of signalling his
intentions, rather than just doing it through discussion and
illustration. Again, maybe he will. Other signals that help
the reader and suggest a higher band candidate are the
discourse markers such as: Firstly… Similarly… Likewise…
contrasts… In conclusion. Let us consider those three words
in the candidate’s introduction: family, homeland and
displacement. The essay’s second paragraph deals with the
relationship of the writer to the recipient and to the place
he has gone to: The narrator (possibly the poet Ted Walker)
writes to his brother… The letter is ‘to Barbados’ not just the
far-off brother… a discussion of his relationship to Barbados,
and his current displacement (or his brother’s displacement)…
So there is a clear development of issues initially raised in
the introduction, and the writer also impresses by virtue of
his acknowledging some ambiguities: Firstly, in the identity
of the persona of the narrator; secondly, who or what is
the exact recipient of the letter; and thirdly, who exactly
has been displaced? It has already been observed that
a good candidate is going to deal with the voice of the
writer/narrator and this is achieved with some success. The
rather unsubtle signal about form, language and structure
nevertheless leads to some exploration of each. Paragraph
three of David’s essay starts: The form of the poem is quite rigid.
Subsequent paragraphs begin: Similarly the rhyme scheme…
The language of this poem… This everyday diction… The
structure of the poem… As a reader, one feels that here is a
writer who is confident in dealing with the different facets
of the question and who can lead the reader through his
argument with confident ease.
Nicola has used some appropriate literary language in her
opening remarks by referring to the stanza form used, the
lack of rhyme, the use of enjambement (enjambement is also
acceptable by the way) and the pentameter. She has also
linked these literary features to a personal interpretation of
the poem by referring to and commenting on the emotions
that are on display. She has slightly misread the term
pentameter (a ten syllable line) as she then (correctly) points
out that the lines are mostly nine syllables in length. She has
also assumed that emotions being expressed in the poem
are those of the poet, as opposed to a narrator/persona.
Compare David’s more open approach at this point. She
goes on to comment: The pace of the poem is quite slow…
And goes on to explore this: …there are commas and full
stops half way through lines. Furthermore the use of very short
sentences, for example “Evening… does indeed slow down the
pace of the poem. A point is made clearly and it is illustrated
precisely although it could have been made more concisely
by referring to the technical term caesura for the breaks in
the lines.
Question 3 offers students the opportunity to write their
own comments on the opening of a second essay (a highto middle-level essay, reproduced in full in Handout 3.30),
relating them to the two assessment objectives, before
they read the examiner’s comments. These comments are
reproduced in Handout 3.31 with specific comments
reproduced below. This essay is another exemplar response
written under timed conditions. It shows a more mixed
response than the essay in the Student Book. Having read the
examiner’s comments, students should compare their own
findings.
Next she writes: Walker starts the poem with an immediate
sense of distance… The first line again hints at the distance
between the letter-writer and receiver… Reactions to this might
suggest that there is some repetition of a point made earlier
and that reference to the beginning of the poem might have
come earlier than the third paragraph. Since this is an essay
with considerable merit and which hits band 4 criteria, let her
show you her critical writing at its best: Walker’s fragmented
and unclear sentences, for example… depicts his emotions
behind his words… Walker’s use of figurative language also
depicts his feelings… A series of illustrations and comments
follow.
What is best about this essay, however, is the way in which
Nicola has got a feeling for the poem’s structure, which she
discusses quite analytically with some thoughtful references
to the imagery used: …the reader does get a sense that the
poet’s sorrows will be ‘sooth’d’. The sixth stanza marks the turning
point in the poem; Walker states how he made ‘A first cut of
grass since the autumn’ and as it is now April it seems that this
is the first cut of the grass Walker has made since his brother’s
departure. This nature imagery links back to when Walker
said he must ‘rake’ up his memories and the ‘cotton rags…
suggesting that that Walker is indeed raking up his memories.
The alliteration ‘smelt sweet… sun… swathe’ echoes the word
‘soothe’ two lines previously. This transformation in the poem
is remarkable. The poem starts with a conversational, prosaic
tone… However as the poem progresses the layers of Walker’s
thoughts become clear…This lifts the writing considerably
and suggests that the writer needed some time to settle
before her writing emerges at its best. Nicola would have
scored higher if: she had been slightly more accurate and
wide-ranging in her use of terminology, had a clearer sense
of the poet presenting a created narrative voice, avoided
some repetition, structured her essay more carefully.
23
Answering the question on prose (SB pp 61–64/Handouts 3.32–3.34)
Activity 35 (SB pp 61–64) invites students to read the prose
extract and the question to which it is linked. It also provides
a reminder of the probable wording of the question, which is
precisely linked to the assessment objectives.
Handout 3.32 provides the sample text and question. This
may be used as practice for students on how to tackle an
unprepared prose passage. There is plenty of room for diverse
interpretation in the writing, and it is therefore recommended
that it should be used when the students are quite confident in
dealing with unprepared texts.
In question 2, students are invited to consider how the writer of
an essay has achieved the AOs, and to compare their findings
with those of an examiner. This is a useful tool for showing how
the two relevant AOs are interpreted, indicating clearly what the
examiners are looking for.
Oliver sets his agenda very clearly in his opening remarks:
Hilary Mantel explores the characters …by careful working
of dialogue, first person narrative perspective and significant
and intricate detailing of setting in order to give the reader
a complex picture of the situation depicted. He goes on to
explore some aspects of language: …the writer’s primary
linguistic use is the employment of verbs which gather together
to form an intense sense of movement and noise. Ralph’s whole
world seems to be loud and turbulent. There follows some
detailed exemplification of this aspect of the writing. What
is interesting about Oliver’s response here is that he has not
only dealt with language very precisely, but, in addition,
he has managed to say something about the character
Ralph, from whose viewpoint the passage is written. He
reinforces this as follows: The subjectivity of the piece means
that the reader must accept the character of Ralph’s account of
the environment… so Ralph’s perception of the world around
him inevitably reflects his own state of mind. Next he provides
us with some insights into language and how it relates to
form: …the writing becomes less hectic and jerky; the sentences
lengthen and smooth out as Ralph instantly notices specific
and personal details about the woman he meets… Another
facet of Oliver’s writing that enables him to demonstrate
more insight into the way in which the extract develops, and
hence moves towards offering an overview, can be seen in
the following section: the connection between the characters
is strengthened and assured when they engage in apparently
spontaneous but rather intimate conversation… and this is
clinched in some concluding remarks: …the weather that
has troubled Ralph from the beginning softens, brightens and
mellows when he is in her home. The lexical choice is entirely
positive and contrasting to the earlier frustrating violence:
‘vibrant light… spilled into the room…’ which bring the reader
satisfyingly back to the beginning of the passage and the
discussion. Oliver’s work was awarded a band 5 mark for AO2.
In question 3, the students are given the beginning of a second
essay, with the examiner’s comments, and invited to continue it.
This high- to middle-level essay is another exemplar response
written under timed conditions. It shows a less focused
response than the first essay, and could be used to prompt a
discussion on how the writing could be improved, as well as to
identify its positive features. It is reproduced in full in Handout
3.33, and the examiner’s comments are given in Handout
3.34. Specific comments are given here.
The examiner has put a wavy line in the margin of the script,
which suggests doubt over the validity of what is being
expressed. The examiner thinks that this is an attempt at
an overview that does not quite work because the writer
seems to have addressed the contextualisation provided in
the preamble to the question (Ralph
��
and Anna Eldred are
concerned about their son, Julian, who has dropped out of
university and has been spending much of his time with
a girl called Sandra Glasse who lives with her mother in a
remote cottage near the coast) rather
��
than anything specific
in the passage itself. Adam redeems himself in the next
section: From the outset, we realise that there is an ominous
tone to the piece… He goes on to provide some examples
to illustrate this. Adam continues with some interesting
and well-observed comments on the presentation of the
two characters. First, Mrs Glasse: …is described to us,’ pale,
straight-backed, red-haired’. The vibrant red of her hair creates
connotations of danger and the devil; a warning sign for Mr
Eldred… Next, Mrs Glasse: “Hallo, Julian’s dad.” The referral to
Mr Eldred without proper title… enhances the thought that
Julian belongs to her now, an object related to Julian, and not
a person in himself. He goes on to discuss the ways in which
the developing relationship between the two is presented:
‘Go in the parlour’ is more of a command… ‘I didn’t put sugar
in it’ demonstrates a liberty that Mrs Glasse has taken. All these
examples contribute to create the concept that Mrs Glasse has
power. With this, Mantel is increasing empathy for Mr Eldred and
creating an apprehension towards Mrs Glasse. Adam has clearly
not found Mrs Glasse to be presented as a sympathetic
character: Mrs Glasse’s hands being ‘calloused’, ‘long’, ‘white
create the imagery of a witch… He goes on to make some
quite well-observed comments about the setting: …the sun
of a new day making the walls the ‘colour of butter’… As a new
day begins, it melts the wall… another poiniant metaphore
[sic] for a new beginning, and the melting of [the] relationship
between father and son. Mantel presents us with an uneasy
setting. She uses the weather and the thoughts of the character
as a foreshadowing device for controversy that keeps the reader
intrigued. The points made here are not perfectly expressed,
nor are they definitive, but they contain an emerging and
valid personal response, backed up by some selective use of
the text. This essay was awarded a mark in band 4 for AO2.
The interpretation of the mark scheme should be shared
with students. Section (a) focuses on the AOs and how they
are met; section (b) provides a commentary.
In Activity 36, students are asked to reflect on the assessment
process, what they have learned about it, how it will influence
their own writing, and to compare their own writing with the
exemplars.
24
Section B – Paired texts
(SB pp 65–125/Handouts 3.35–3.51)
Section B of the Student Book supports the study of prescribed
texts from the four topic groups: ‘Relationships’, ‘Identifying Self’,
‘Journeys’ and ‘War’.
Part 1 (SB pp 65–66) explains how texts can be combined in a
variety of ways. You should refer to the specification (pp 29–33)
and the support booklet Getting Started (pp 14–16) for detailed
guidance on this and to ensure that your choice of texts meets
exam requirements.
Part 2 (SB pp 67–87) uses texts from all four topic groups to
illustrate comparison by theme, genre and period. Since there
are 12 poetry collections and 12 novels on the specification,
it is not feasible to give detailed and equal coverage of each.
The focus is, rather, on the process of comparison and the
range of ways in which texts can be compared and contrasted.
Most activities begin by concentrating on key poems and
passages and working outwards from these to the texts as a
whole. Generic activities apply the essential skills of analysis and
comparison to other texts and other topic groups.
Part 3 (SB pp 87–100) uses the same approach to help students
compare texts in their contexts.
Part 4 (SB pp 101–112) uses the same approach to help students
compare interpretations of their texts.
Part 5 (SB pp 113–125) gives specific guidance on how to meet
the requirements of the Section B exam.
1 Introduction to Section B (SB pp 65–66)
This introduction outlines the various ways in which prescribed
texts might be selected and combined for study within a topic
group. You will note that:
• both prose fiction and poetry must be included in the choice
• at least one text must be published after 1990.
Many combinations of texts are possible. Whatever principles
guide the choices of centres or individual teachers, it is essential
that all students follow a course of study that allows them, in
the exam, to:
• meet the four assessment objectives for Section B (see page
66 of the Student Book)
2 ��
Comparing texts by theme,
��
genre and period (SB pp 67–86)
• make a detailed comparison of three texts: it is a requirement
that three texts are prepared for the exam, though students
may confine themselves to writing about two
• study the texts together, rather than one after the other: this
facilitates the process of comparison
• remember that comparison involves exploring differences as
well as similarities
• root their comparisons in specific poems and passages and
avoid generalised comment
• relate the style and language of their texts to the period in
which they were written.
Comparing prose with prose: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and Tess of
the d’Urbervilles (post-1990 and pre-1990) (SB pp 67–69/Handout 3.35)
This sub-section illustrates how to compare texts by theme
and how to explore stylistic differences between prose fiction
written before and after 1990.
Activities 37 and 38 (SB pp 67–69) ask students to compare key
passages from two novels in the topic group ‘Relationships’.
They are clearly connected in theme. The two passages are
reproduced on Handout 3.35.
Question 2 of each activity focuses on narrative technique.
Students should use the skills they developed in Section A to
analyse this.
Question 4 of each activity provides students of these texts with
a way of moving out from the passage to the novel as a whole.
The ‘fortunes graph’ needs to include a detailed key for the
maximum value to be gained from this activity.
Question 2 of Activity 38 asks students to compare de Bernières’
narrative technique with Hardy’s.
• be able to refer equally well to three different texts.
25
Commentary on Activity 38 question 2
The main points of comparison are as follows.
De Bernières:
• first-person voice and point of view – direct address by
the narrator in the form of a dramatic monologue
• tone and mood are deeply depressed and despairing,
sharpened by explicit and implicit comparisons with the
happiness of earlier times
• extensive use of imagery – the figurative language
combines images drawn from everyday experience (‘all
my joys have been pulled out of my mouth like teeth’)
with images drawn from classical literature and the Bible
(‘I lie down in thorns and my well is filled with stones’): the
effect is to universalise Pelagia’s tragedy
• syntax and structure reinforce the impression of a broken
life: the phrasal repetition in ‘All my home… All my
happiness’ and ‘it is nothing but…’ has a dirge-like effect,
enhanced by the strong emphasis on negatives (‘no’,
‘nothing’); sentences are increasingly short and stark in
paragraph 2.
Hardy:
• third-person voice of the omniscient author – point of
view focalised in paragraph 1 by the police officers; close
focus on Tess at the end
• the dialogue with Angel serves to shift the point of view:
it places Tess in the perspective of Stonehenge and
connects her tragedy with the ancient past
• tone and mood are sombre but the emphasis is on the
relief Tess feels that her suffering is over
• the imagery combines darkness (‘the Plain still a mass of
shade’) with growing light (‘Soon the light was strong, and
a ray shone’): this reflects the mixed emotions of Tess and
Angel
• syntax and structure reinforce the impression that Tess has
achieved calmness and tranquillity after a lifetime of pain
– the sentences are quietly modulated and Tess’ speech
has a childlike simplicity.
Extension: Stretch and challenge The prescribed texts for
‘Relationships’ explore various kinds of love. Students might
compare Gatsby’s idealised love for Daisy with the idealisation
of the woman in some metaphysical poems, and with Angel
Clare’s idealised view of Tess before their marriage. They might
compare the deep bond between Dr Iannis and Pelagia in
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin with the love of Tess for her siblings.
Activity 39 (SB p 69) applies to prose texts in any topic group. It
asks students to take an overview of their novel(s) and chart the
changes to the central characters that take place in the course
of the text. The emphasis should be on the writers’ techniques
of characterisation: do these remain the same throughout, or
are they varied to convey the way the characters develop?
Activity 40 (SB p 69) also applies to all texts in the topic group
‘Relationships’. It asks students to use a proposition to compare
and contrast any two texts in terms of theme and style. The
bullet points provide students with a possible structure for their
writing, but are not meant to be either prescriptive or exclusive.
Writing in the exam Students should be clear that the
proposition at the start of each exam question is intended
to open the way to a response that can be developed as the
student wishes. This means the focus of the response needs to
be carefully chosen and its relevance explained in the course
of the answer. Students should not write about subject matter
and themes to the exclusion of analysing structure, form and
language. The response should centre on a comparison of
literary techniques in the chosen texts.
Extension: Support The ‘Independent research’ box on p 69
of the Student Book suggests prose fiction texts by prescribed
authors for further reading. Suitable choices include: Louis de
Bernières, A Partisan’s Daughter; Thomas Hardy, The Return of the
Native; F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise; Kate Atkinson,
Case Histories; Charles Dickens, David Copperfield; Yann Martel,
Self; Romesh Gunesekera, The Sandglass; Andrea Levy, Fruit of the
Lemon; Caryl Phillips, A Distant Shore; Pat Barker, Regeneration;
Michael Frayn, Headlong; Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid
Suns.
Extension: Stretch and challenge Ask students to write
about the additional texts they read as a part of their exam
preparation, comparing and contrasting the writers’ themes and
techniques with those in their prescribed novels. The broader
perspective they achieve through this will be invaluable: it will
increase their confidence in making the critical judgements
required to meet the higher bands of the AOs for Section B.
Comparing poetry with poetry:
Metaphysical Poetry and Rapture (pre1990 and post-1990) (SB pp 70–72/Handout 3.36)
This sub-section illustrates how to compare texts by theme and
how to explore stylistic differences between poems written
before and after 1990.
Activities 41 and 42 (SB pp 70–71) ask students to compare
key poems from two poetry collections in the topic group
‘Relationships’. They are clearly connected in theme. The two
poems are reproduced on Handout 3.36.
Activity 41 question 2 focuses on John Donne’s poetic
techniques in ‘The Sun Rising’. Students should use the skills
they developed in Section A to analyse it.
Donne’s poetic techniques include:
• second-person address to the sun – a conversational
register that allows the poem’s speaker to vary his
tone from outrage (‘Saucy pedantic wretch’) to playful
taunting (‘I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink’)
to intellectual seriousness (‘Shine here to us and thou art
everywhere’) – a device for introducing naturally into the
poem a wide range of feeling and thought
26
• a highly specific setting: ‘Through windows and through
curtains’, ‘Shine here to us’, ‘This bed…’; this roots the
poem in actuality and lived experience
• extremely varied syntax to convey the swift development
of the speaker’s thoughts and feelings (see above)
– interrogative, declarative, imperative and exclamatory
sentences follow one another in rapid succession
• imagery that is wide ranging in its reference: ‘Go tell court
huntsmen’, ‘Whether both th’Indias of spice and mine/ Be
where thou left’st them’, ‘She’is all states, and all princes
I’; this gives a universality to the lover’s experience and
allows him to display his intellectual precociousness and
wit to both his mistress and the reader.
the way this is dealt with by metaphysical poets such as
Marvell, Carew and Rochester with the way it is dealt with by
modern poets in Emergency Kit and, less overtly, by Hardy in
Angel’s courtship of Tess. They might compare the link between
sexuality and power in Scott Fitzgerald’s portraits of Tom and
Daisy Buchanan with the troubled sexuality of Guercio in
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.
Activity 43 (SB p 72) applies to poetry collections in any topic
group. It asks students to identify a common theme in their
poetry text(s) and compare the way this is treated in two or
more poems. The emphasis should be on poetic techniques:
how do poets convey similar themes in similar or different
ways? Students should be encouraged to evaluate the chosen
poems and make their own critical judgements.
Question 4 asks students of Metaphysical Poetry to compare ‘The
Sun Rising’ with poems by Marvell, Carew and/or Lovelace in
which a lover apostrophises his mistress and affirms the power
of love to conquer time.
Activity 44 (SB p 72) applies to all texts in the topic group
‘Relationships’. The bullet points provide students with a
possible structure for their writing but are not meant to be
either prescriptive or exclusive.
Activity 42 questions 2 and 3 ask students to analyse Carol
Ann Duffy’s poetic techniques in ‘Hour’ and how she uses some
of the stylistic features typical of metaphysical poetry in a
modern way.
Writing in the exam Students will be working on Section B for
about 90 minutes. This allows them time to plan their response,
including a suitable structure for it. It is essential that they
plan rather than construct the response as they go along: the
examiner needs to see what the chosen focus of the writing is
and how coherently it is developed in the course of the answer.
Duffy’s poetic techniques include:
• use of the first-person plural voice ‘we’ to convey the
emotional and physical closeness of the lovers: their point
of view is the same throughout and their feelings are in
harmony
• use of a highly specific setting to strengthen this
impression: ‘the summer sky and a grass ditch’, ‘cuckoo
spit/ hung from the blade of grass at your ear’, ‘gold from
straw’
• imagery developed through references to brightness,
light and riches: ‘bright as a dropped coin’, ‘the Midas
light’, ‘we are millionaires’, ‘our shining hour’; this conveys
a sense of privilege and value in the lovers’ experience
and contrasts this with the ordinary and the mundane:
‘flowers/ or wine’, ‘grass ditch’, ‘straw’
• use of the Shakespearean sonnet form: Duffy’s theme of
love’s transformative power and ability to transcend time
is typically found in Elizabethan sonnets – it is developed
in a similar way here through philosophical statements
(‘Love’s time’s beggar’, ‘Time hates love, wants love poor’),
contrasts based on figurative language (‘but love spins
gold, gold, gold from straw’), and a couplet following
three quatrains which condenses the theme into a single
unit of rhyme.
Question 4 asks students of Rapture to compare and contrast
Duffy’s treatment of love in ‘Hour’ with her treatment of love in
other poems in the collection. The poems suggested explore
distinctly different aspects of the theme in different styles; this
should be the focus of students’ discussion and/or writing.
Extension: Stretch and challenge Several prescribed texts
for ‘Relationships’ explore erotic love. Students might compare
Extension: Support The ‘Independent research’ box on p 72 of
the Student Book suggests students look at other poetry texts
by prescribed authors in Section B for further reading. Suitable
choices include: Carol Ann Duffy, Feminine Gospels; Billy Collins,
Nine Horses; Geoffrey Chaucer, The Franklin’s Tale; Grace Nichols,
I is a long memoried woman; Imtiaz Dharker, I Speak for the Devil;
David Harsent, Marriage.
Extension: Stretch and challenge Ask students to write
about the additional texts they read as part of their exam
preparation, comparing and contrasting the poet’s themes and
techniques with those in their prescribed poetry collections.
The broader perspective they achieve through this will be
invaluable; it will increase their confidence in making the critical
judgements required to meet the higher bands of the AOs for
Section B.
Comparing prose with poetry: The Great
Gatsby and Emergency Kit (pre-1990) (SB pp 72–74/Handout 3.37)
This illustrates how to compare texts by theme and how to
explore stylistic differences between prose and poetry.
Activity 45 (SB pp 72–74) asks students to compare a prose and
poetry text from the topic group ‘Relationships’. They are clearly
connected in theme.
Question 2 focuses on a key passage from The Great Gatsby,
and in question 5 this is compared to the poem ‘This Dead
Relationship’ from Emergency Kit. Students will compare prose
and poetry texts in the exam; this activity gives them practice in
doing so. The texts are reproduced on Handout 3.37.
27
The following comparisons could be made.
The Great Gatsby:
• first-person narrator’s point of view and voice: in
paragraph 1, his broken sleep and ‘savage, frightening
dreams’ foreshadow Gatsby’s tragedy; the diction
intimates Gatsby’s emotional pain: ‘groaning incessantly’,
‘grotesque reality’
• Gatsby is so traumatised by his loss of Daisy that he is
virtually robbed of speech: he answers Nick mechanically,
his mind elsewhere
• the descriptions of Gatsby’s house function symbolically
to reflect the death of his dream: the ‘great rooms’ are
empty, the piano is ‘ghostly’, the air is ‘musty’, everything
seems ‘stale’ – an impression of waste and decay
• the mood of the passage is tense and uneasy; Gatsby
cannot evade the fact that his dream is dead but is unable
to act on this knowledge: ‘He was clutching at some
last hope’ like an addict – the impression of him blindly
pursuing a lost cause is vividly conveyed by the image
‘We… felt over innumerable feet of dark wall for electric
light switches’.
‘This Dead Relationship’:
• first-person point of view and voice – in this case, of
the protagonist: like Gatsby, the speaker is tortured by
a sense of waste and decay (‘they’ll smell rottenness’),
helplessness (‘I am this thing’s twin’) and an inability to
move on (‘like an alcoholic’)
• the speaker’s tone is bitter and cynical, the self-lacerating
despair of an addict of emotional pain (‘It’s my hobby’,
‘Waiting for something to happen’)
• the imagery is grotesque and nightmarish (‘Embalmed
with little stomachs but with hairy, twisted fingers’),
suggesting violence turned inwards (‘Steel knives catch
the moonlight’) and the pervasiveness of death (‘This
dead and sinking ship’, ‘One of us is dead’)
• the structural features of the poem reflect the speaker’s
feeling of being trapped in a painful situation that can
be neither changed nor relieved: the sentences are stark,
the consonant sounds are harsh and discordant, there
is no regular rhythm or rhyme to relieve the sense of
hopelessness.
Extension: Stretch and challenge The prescribed texts
for ‘Relationships’ present relations between the sexes from
different points of view. Students might explore the use of a
male perspective in The Great Gatsby, where Nick’s view of Daisy,
Jordan and Myrtle could be seen to be sceptical, even hostile.
They might consider whether the male poets in Metaphysical
Poetry present a view of women that is sexist. They might
compare the way heterosexual and homosexual relationships
are presented by different narrators in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
with the way Carol Ann Duffy presents a relationship between
female lovers in Rapture.
Activity 46 (SB p 74) applies to texts in any topic group. It asks
students to use poems and extracts from their prescribed texts
which are mutually illuminating, then work outwards from
these to construct broader comparisons. This should become a
regular way of working on poetry and prose in the same topic
group. It breaks down the genre barrier and brings into focus
aspects of style that can be contrasted as well as compared.
Activity 47 (SB p 74) applies to texts in the topic group
‘Relationships’. The ‘dead relationship’ theme can be fruitfully
explored in relation to any of the six prescribed texts. Students
should, however, give due attention to the comparison of
literary techniques. There is always a danger when they deal
with generic titles that they will devote a disproportionate
amount of time to content.
Writing in the exam Students will need to decide whether
to write about two texts or three. A sustained comparison
between two texts can be made sharper and more varied by
judicious reference to a third.
Comparing prose with prose: Behind
the Scenes at the Museum, Life of Pi
(post-1990) and Great Expectations (pre-1990) (SB pp 75–77/Handouts 3.38–3.39)
This sub-section illustrates how to compare texts related by the
genre of autobiographical fiction and the use of first-person
narrative.
Activity 48 (SB pp 75–76) asks students to compare the narrative
techniques of Kate Atkinson in Behind the Scenes at the Museum
and Yann Martel in Life of Pi. Make clear to students that both
passages are from early in these novels: in the course of each,
the narrator’s voice varies a good deal.
Behind the Scenes at the Museum:
• the narrative point of view is unusual in being that of a
day-old foetus – the writer plays with time in this novel
and the recently conceived Ruby is given an omniscient
perspective that takes in the past and the future as well as
the present
• the use of tenses underlines this: ‘I’m wide awake’
(present), ‘No wonder she was always telling us that she
was sick of us’ (past historic), ‘Bunty’s going to have a baby’
(future)
• the choice of language is varied to reflect Ruby’s ability
to move inside the minds of her family – she adopts the
point of view of Bunty (‘she sees Scarlett smiling in the
bathroom mirror’) and of George (‘his night on the tiles –
with Walter – was satisfying’) as well as that of her present
and future self
• syntax and structure are varied to reflect Ruby’s multiple
perspectives – see, for example, the last paragraph
28
• the reader adopts Ruby’s point of view and, like her, is
positioned both within and above the events, moving
freely through time.
Life of Pi:
• the narrative point of view is conventional first person
– the narrator, Pi, addresses the reader directly (‘Why do
people move?’) and muses aloud (‘It’s not that I didn’t
understand’), sharing his thoughts with the reader
• the past tense is used to construct the viewpoint of an
adult narrator looking back on his life
• the choice of language reflects the adult narrator’s
speaking voice – a discursive register, combining factual
statements (‘The mid-1970s were troubled times in India’)
with rhetorical questions (paragraph 1) and personal
observations
• syntax and structure are formal, the narrative style
structured to convey Pi’s introspective habit of mind – see
the sequence of subordinate clauses in the last sentence
• the reader adopts Pi’s point of view as he recreates his
childhood self from an adult perspective.
In question 4, students whose topic group is ‘Identifying Self’
explore links between their prescribed novels. The four themes
identified are all central to Behind the Scenes at the Museum,
Life of Pi and Great Expectations. They will repay detailed
consideration.
Activity 49 (SB pp 76–77) asks students to analyse the use of
first-person narrative in a passage from Great Expectations, and
to compare the writer’s techniques with those of Atkinson
and Martel in Activity 48. Detailed analysis of Dickens’ style is
included in the sample response to a Section B question on
Handout 3.38. This can be used to provide material for the
discussion in question 2. The examiner’s comments on this
response are given in Handout 3.39.
Extension: Stretch and challenge Two of the prescribed
poetry collections in the topic group ‘Identifying Self’ make use
of a female persona and, it can be argued, present a feminist
point of view. Students might explore the way feminist attitudes
are conveyed in The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale and The
Fat Black Woman’s Poems, with the way the female narrator in
Behind the Scenes at the Museum develops her views about men
in post-war English society. They might compare the way Miss
Havisham and Estella treat Pip in Great Expectations with the
way the Wife of Bath treats her husbands in the Prologue and
the way the Loathly Lady treats the young knight in the Tale.
Activity 50 (SB p 77) provides a proposition for students working
on any topic group to apply to their prescribed texts. It puts
the focus on making an evaluation of literature written before
and after 1990. Students need to root their response in specific
textual analysis and avoid generalised comment. The emphasis
should be on the way writers convey their themes more
than on the themes themselves. The proposition at the start
of the question provides students with the agenda for their
response. It will be sufficiently wide for them to be able to use it
throughout a long answer. They should take care not to ‘adapt’
it in order to introduce material prepared in advance that has
doubtful relevance.
Comparing prose with poetry: Small
Island and The General Prologue to the
Canterbury Tales (post-1990 and pre-1990) (SB pp 78–80)
This sub-section illustrates how to compare writers’ presentation
of character in prose and poetry from different times.
Activity 51 (SB pp 78–79) asks students to explore Andrea Levy’s
techniques of characterisation in a passage from Small Island.
The emphasis is on how one of the novel’s narrators, Queenie,
presents character and on how the writer characterises her
narrator. Students should be clear that this ‘layered’ technique
of characterisation is to be found in several of the prescribed
novels; it should be a major focus of study.
How Queenie characterises Mr Todd:
• she presents him as caricature of the difficult neighbour:
‘nostrils flaring’, ‘only managing a sneer’ – humorously
exaggerated but recognisably real
• she reproduces the idiolect of the typical busybody
Englishman: ‘a quick word with you, Mrs Bligh’, ‘paying
guests’; his polite language disguises his racism
• in paragraph 4 she makes Mr Todd into a representative
figure of English bigotry and chauvinism by parodying his
attitudes and his pompous speech: ‘Overrun by Czechs.
Couldn’t move for Belgians’; this exposes his narrowmindedness and makes his extremism seem absurd
• she makes frequent use of irony: ‘before blaming Queenie
Bligh for singlehandedly ruining the country’, ‘Mr Todd
reasoned’ (after showing that Mr Todd is completely
incapable of reason).
How Andrea Levy characterises Queenie:
• she presents her as a shrewd and witty observer of others,
skilled at impersonation; the reader warms to her and
shares her attitudes
• her colloquial idiolect and frank manner (‘I knew he’d
be round’, ‘I bet he did’) contrasts with the buttoned-up,
bigoted Mr Todd; the contrast works in her favour and
establishes her as a reliable narrator
• she is open-minded, liberal and compassionate
(‘Sweetheart blown to no-one-there in North Africa’);
she shows humane values, and relates to others by
responding to their personalities rather than their colour.
In question 5, students of Small Island consider how Levy
presents cultural conflict in the novel. They could compare the
way she uses the West Indian narrators, Hortense and Gilbert,
with the way she uses the perspectives of Queenie and Bernard.
The presentation of racism in some parts of Small Island is
highly explicit and emotive: is the writer in danger at times of
turning her novel into an anti-racist manifesto, particularly in
Gilbert’s narratives?
29
Activity 52 (SB pp 79–80) asks students to explore Chaucer’s
techniques of characterising the Miller in The General Prologue to
the Canterbury Tales and to compare them with Andrea Levy’s in
Activity 51.
Chaucer’s techniques of characterisation include:
• foregrounding the Miller’s physical appearance: ‘ful byg
he was of brawn, and eke of bones’, ‘His nosethirles blake
were and wyde’; he is a larger-than-life figure, presented
in a comic manner and in a colloquial register that
reproduces the Miller’s own (‘heve of harre’, ‘blowe and
sowne’)
• using diction that is physically rooted, with strong
emphasis on common nouns, adjectives and active
verbs; there is a pattern of stressed monosyllables and
onomatopoeic words (‘stout carl’, ‘brood, a thikke narre’)
– one effect is to make the rhythm of the verse energetic
and boisterous, like the Miller himself
• using imagery to connect the Miller with farmyard animals
and everyday objects: ‘as any sowe or fox’, ‘a sowes erys’, ‘as
though it were a spade’, ‘as a greet forneys’ – he is a downto-earth figure without refinement but with great vitality
• using some authorial comment – it is good-humoured
and not satirical: ‘of synne and harlotries’, ‘Wel koude
he stelen corn’; the narrator remains straight-faced and
guides the reader to approve of the Miller’s appetite for
life rather than take a moral view of his indiscretions.
In question 6, students of The General Prologue to the Canterbury
Tales compare Chaucer’s characterisation of the Miller with the
way he characterises other pilgrims. They could explore the
use of irony in the portraits of the Prioress and the Pardoner,
and contrast Chaucer’s presentation of these characters with
the way he presents the Knight. They could also compare
and contrast his techniques of characterising the two female
pilgrims, the Wife of Bath and the Prioress.
in the topic group ‘Journeys’ explore the theme of migration,
displacement and exile. Students might compare the
experience of Hortense in Small Island with the experience
of Leila in The Final Passage, focusing on the consequences of
‘uprooting’ on women who follow their West Indian partners
abroad and try to sustain their relationships in an alien
environment. They might compare the ways in which Imtiaz
Dharker and Romesh Gunesekera develop the theme of home
and belonging in The Terrorist at my Table and Reef: is ‘home’
a geographical place or a state of mind, and what defines
nationhood?
Writing in the exam When comparing poetry and prose
fiction, students should make capital out of their analysis of
differing genres. Relevant and important points can be made
by discussing the genres of the texts and considering why the
writers concerned chose to work in a particular genre, and the
different uses they make of their chosen genres.
Activity 53 (SB p 80) asks students working on the topic group
‘Journeys’ to apply to their chosen texts a proposition similar
to the one they will find in the exam. The four bullet points
provide a possible structure for their writing. Point out that
the proposition invites evaluative comment (‘in the best
literature…’) and that this needs to be part of any response that
meets the higher band requirements of AO2 and AO3.
Comparing poetry with poetry: 101
Poems Against War and Legion (pre-1990
and post-1990) (SB pp 81–83/Handouts 3.40–3.41)
This sub-section illustrates how to compare the ways poems
from different times treat a common theme.
Activity 54 (SB pp 81–82) asks students to explore the way Edwin
Muir develops his anti-war theme in the poem ‘The Horses’. It
is an unusual and complex poem. Students should be allowed
plenty of time for the class discussion in question 2 in order to
appreciate how Muir’s narrative works as a fable.
Muir’s techniques include:
• the use of a narrator to represent a post-nuclear,
post-technological community – the speaker is the
mouthpiece for anti-war sentiments (‘That old bad world
that swallowed its children quick’) and for the need to
create a way of life that respects the planet: ‘Our life is
changed; their coming our beginning’
• the use of the horses to symbolise change and renewal:
‘their own Eden’ and a restoration of ‘that long-lost archaic
companionship’ between human beings and those they
share the planet with
• the use of allegory – the narrative in lines 1–15 tells the
story of modern technological society destroying itself;
the narrative in the second half of the poem tells the story
of a return to Christian values (the horses resemble Christ
in offering ‘free servitude’ to mankind) in the context of
pastoral primitivism
• the use of diction and imagery that has strong religious
connotations: ‘By an old command’, ‘as if they had come
from their own Eden’, ‘their coming our beginning’ – Muir’s
fable suggests that, in order to banish war, humanity
needs to cultivate its spiritual life as well as be alert to the
dangers of materialism and technology.
In question 4, students of 101 Poems Against War are asked to
find a selection of poems which take different and unusual
approaches to the subject. Several are listed in question 4a;
many more in the collection are equally suitable. The emphasis
should be on the use of varied poetic forms and the way in
which protest need be neither strident nor (by contrast with
‘The Horses’) ideologically based. A fruitful approach is to look
at poems by writers who have had no active involvement in
warfare; it provides a telling contrast with the more familiar
approach by poets such as Owen and Sassoon.
30
Handout 3.40 reproduces ‘The Horses’ and Handout 3.41
‘Harp Strings’ for Activities 54 and 55.
Activity 55 (SB pp 82–83) asks students to explore the way David
Harsent develops his anti-war theme in ‘Harp Strings’ and to
compare his technique with Muir’s in ‘The Horses’.
Harsent’s techniques include:
• the use of a narrator to represent a community destroyed
by a combination of enemy action and the elements,
which seem to collaborate in the attack: ‘wind-blown
walking rain… and the steel of their sidearms’
• as in ‘The Horses’, the use of a rural setting – but here it
is depicted as hostile to a post-war renewal of life: ‘White
water rang/ on broken boulders, and roared in the midstream slam’
• the use of diction and imagery that suggests war has
become so much a part of the speaker’s culture that its
depredations are incorporated into ‘our songs’: ‘All this
has gone into song’; there is something disturbingly
incongruous about ‘Harp Strings’ as the title for a poem
about a community devastated by war
• the use of a speaker’s voice that stoically accepts the fact
that war comes as regularly as the seasons: ‘nothing more
nor less than rain of the season’; Harsent’s point may be
that for Afghans and Iraqis, for instance, war has become a
permanent way of life.
In question 5, students of Legion explore the use Harsent makes
of the poetic sequence. They could consider the order in which
the poems are placed and the periodic use of a journalistic
technique to contrast with poems written in the voice of a
persona. They could consider why Harsent does not specify
a particular theatre of war: does this weaken his presentation
of modern warfare, or make the narrative he constructs in the
sequence more powerful and moving?
Activity 56 (SB p 83) provides a proposition for students working
on the topic group ‘War’ to apply to two or more of their
prescribed texts. Students should be made aware that the
bullet points pick out a number of ways of responding to the
proposition. All of them allow students to meet the AOs for
Section B. In advance of writing, discuss which skills are called
for and exactly how they should be applied.
Writing a comparative analysis of
prescribed texts (SB pp 84–86/Handouts 3.38 and 3.39)
This sub-section gives students guidance on how to construct
an essay for Section B.
Activity 57 (SB pp 84–85) is based on an exam question from
the SAMs that applies to the topic group ‘Identifying Self’. It has
been chosen because it can be readily adapted to the other
three topic groups. The texts used for the sample response are
Great Expectations and Taking off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes.
Handout 3.38 provides a high-level response to the question.
Handout 3.39 provides an examiner’s comments on the
sample response.
This essay plan provides a good model because it prepares
for a response that:
• addresses the question relevantly in the light of the
proposition on which it is based
• creates and maintains a comparative focus
• considers the two writers’ use of genre, language and
structure as well as their presentation of themes
• makes appropriate reference to contexts of production
• shows awareness of critical reception
• offers a personal evaluation of the texts in question.
3 ��
Comparing texts in
��
their
contexts (SB pp 87–100)
• see contexts of production as having an important bearing
on the way texts are written
• conduct their independent research in a planned and
focused way
• use material about contexts of production as part of their
comparison of texts
• include comments about contextual factors in every practice
essay they write.
Part 3 shows how to compare texts by relating them to their
contexts of production. Four contexts are illustrated: historical,
social, political and cultural, and literary. You will recognise that
these are not hard-and-fast categories; they overlap, and should
be treated with discretion.
Note that Part 4 on pp 101–112 below, ‘Comparing
interpretations of texts’, relates texts to their contexts of
reception.
Exploring the historical context
of texts: The Ghost Road and Here to
Eternity (SB pp 88–92)
This sub-section uses two prescribed texts from the topic group
‘War’ to illustrate writers’ use of historical context.
Activity 58 (SB pp 88–90) asks students to relate together a
passage from The Ghost Road and a First World War letter from
Wilfred Owen to his mother. Each provides a context for the
other, not least because Owen features as a character in Pat
Barker’s novel.
31
Barker positions the reader to see the First World War as a
horrific waste of human life by:
• using Prior’s point of view as he confronts his death:
the quotation from Macbeth shows he knows he is
condemned to die; ‘Balls up. Bloody mad. Oh Christ’ shows
there are no heroic sentiments or last words as soldiers
die, just ‘Banal, simple, repetitive thoughts’ which centre
on the needlessness of their deaths
• using free indirect style to position us very close to Prior:
‘the air bursting in waves against your face’, and other
examples throughout the passage
• using imagery that strips war of all glory and heroism:
‘it didn’t feel like a bullet, more like a blow from… a
cricket bat’, ‘It seemed to take forever to fall, and Prior’s
consciousness fluttered down with it’; death comes
in a mundane way, without dignity or any sense of
significance
• using syntax that reflects the contrast in battle between
tense waiting (see paragraph 1) and the sudden eruption
of ‘hell’ and chaos (see paragraph 2): the sentence
structures in each paragraph are varied to convey their
contrasting moods.
In question 5, students discuss Wilfred Owen’s letter home from
the trenches (1917). They should comment on the graphic
details he gives of battle, his reasons for confiding in his
mother, and his attitudes towards the war. They should look at
how closely Owen’s attitudes compare with Billy Prior’s in the
passage from The Ghost Road.
In question 6a, students of The Ghost Road are asked to research
the historical background to the novel. In question 6b they
explore how Pat Barker makes use of the facts to which her
novel refers. They should use the bullet points to consider the
differences between historical fact and historically based fiction:
how does Barker shape her material to convey her own view of
war to a modern reader?
Activity 59 (SB pp 90–91) asks students to relate a poem written
by Siegfried Sassoon in 1917 to a prose passage he wrote
20 years later in which he reflects on shell-shock. The prose
provides a context for the poem.
Sassoon positions the reader to see that the First World War
destroyed even those who survived it, by:
• presenting the tunnel as a form of hell: ‘unwholesome
air’, ‘this stinking place’, ‘he staggered on… with sweat of
horror in his hair’; it is a place of living death in which the
Rear-Guard encounters ‘hell’ (line 25) and which, though
he escapes from it here, he will go on ‘Unloading’ for the
rest of his life
• using the Rear-Guard’s point of view to convey a sense
of disorientation, panic and confusion – comparable to
Prior’s in the passage from The Ghost Road
• using a narrative structure to condense the full horror
of the war into a single poem: ‘Groping along’, ‘For days
he’d had no sleep’, ‘Savage’, ‘Agony dying hard’, ‘the dazed,
muttering creatures underground’; Sassoon’s purpose is
show the Rear-Guard’s experience as being representative
of that of all soldiers in war
• using imagery that puts the emphasis on darkness and
blind incomprehension: ‘shapes too vague to know’,
‘Dawn’s ghost that filtered down a shafted stair’; the RearGuard’s mental confusion is as great a ‘horror’ as ‘the boom
of shells’ and will have an equally traumatic effect on him.
In question 3, students read Sassoon’s later description of shellshock – the ‘long-delayed after-effect [of war] in the minds of
these survivors’. In question 4 they relate it to ‘The Rear-Guard’,
and should consider the wider context in which Sassoon sets
‘their evil hour’. Is there ever an end to war and the human cost
of fighting?
In question 5a, students of Here to Eternity research the historical
background to poems in the collection by Sassoon, Owen and
Kipling. In question 5b they explore the relationship between
the poems and the historical facts to which they refer. They
should use the bullet points to consider the question of ‘private’
and ‘public’ poetry: does this distinction still have meaning to a
modern reader for whom the First World War is distant history?
Extension: Stretch and challenge The three prescribed
novels in the topic group ‘War’ use twentieth-century military
conflicts as a setting. Students might compare the direct use of
warfare in The Ghost Road with the less direct use of it in Spies
and The Kite Runner. They might compare Michael Frayn’s use of
a Second World War context to explore loyalty and friendship
with Khaled Hosseini’s use of the Afghan War context to explore
the same theme.
Activity 60 (SB p 92) is a generic activity based on historical
context.
Watch out for… students who are unsure of what to look for
when undertaking research into context. They should bear in
mind that their purpose is to find material that allows them to
develop comparisons between two or more texts. Suitable areas
of comparison should be discussed, and clearly understood,
before they search the internet and/or bibliographical sources.
Exploring the social context of texts: The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale and
The Fat Black Woman’s Poems (SB pp 92–95)
Here, two prescribed texts from the topic group ‘Identifying Self’
are used to illustrate writers’ use of social context.
Activity 61 (SB pp 92–93) asks students to compare extracts from
The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale and The Fat Black Woman’s
Poems, then relate them to the social contexts of England in
medieval times and the late twentieth century respectively.
32
The impressions given of the Wife of Bath and the Fat Black
Woman include:
• a strong sense of themselves as independent women: the
Wife feels no qualms about picking out her next lover at
her husband’s funeral, while the Fat Black Woman feels no
qualms about issuing an open ‘Invitation’ to a potential
lover
• a confident sense of their own sexuality: the Wife exults in
her ability to attract a man half her age and in possessing
‘the prente of seinte Venus seel’, while the Fat Black
Woman is entirely comfortable with her weight, which she
knows adds to her sexual allure (‘My breasts are huge and
exciting/ amnions of watermelon’)
• the Wife’s voice is frank, forthright and self-aware (‘As help
me God, I was a lusty oon’), and the Fat Black Woman’s
voice is equally frank, forthright and self-aware (‘I’m feeling
fine/ feel no need/ to change my lines’)
• they are alike in all these ways, as well as in the subversive
pleasure they take in challenging conventional social/
moral attitudes towards women.
In question 5, students of The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale
research the social background to the poem, focusing on
prevailing medieval attitudes towards the role of women in
marriage and in society generally. They will find a large amount
of anti-feminist polemic written by men. How far do the Wife
and Chaucer go towards challenging these theologically based
attitudes in the Tale, as well as in the Prologue?
Activity 62 (SB pp 93–94) asks students to develop their
comparison between the Wife and the Fat Black Woman by
relating the poem ‘Loveact’ to an extract from the end of The
Wife’s Tale.
The two poems are comparable in theme because:
• the attitudes of the husbands are sexist – the slave-owner
sees his ‘mistresswife’ only as a sexual convenience and as
a servant to his children, and the young knight sees his
wife only as a penance
• each wife achieves ‘maistrie’ over her husband – the
‘mistresswife’ by poisoning the slave-owner’s children
against him, the Loathly Lady by arguing the young
knight out of his prejudice against older women
• both women ‘triumph’, but the reader is left to wonder
how far they have answered the problem of achieving
happiness in marriage.
In question 5, students of The Fat Black Woman’s Poems research
the social background to the collection. They could focus
on attitudes to the place of West Indian women in marriage
during the mid-twentieth century in both the Caribbean and in
England. They will find a strong degree of hostility towards ideas
of equality and partnership. They could consider how far Grace
Nichols goes towards challenging these culturally ingrained
attitudes in her collection as a whole.
Extension: Stretch and challenge In the topic group
‘Identifying Self’, both Great Expectations and Behind the Scenes
at the Museum set gender relations into specific social contexts.
Students might compare Pip’s relationship with Estella in
Victorian England with the relationships between Ruby’s
female relatives and men at various times in twentieth-century
England. They might compare the twenty-first-century social
context of Billy Collins’ poems in Taking off Emily Dickinson’s
Clothes with the late-twentieth-century social context of The Fat
Black Woman’s Poems. What attitudes to women does Collins, a
‘modern man’, express compared with Nichols’? Relevant poems
in Taking off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes include: ‘Plight of the
Troubadour’, ‘Not Touching’, ‘Osso Buco’, ‘Sweet Talk’ and ‘Man in
Space’.
Activity 63 (SB p 95) is a generic activity based on social context.
Watch out for… students importing into their study of social
background material which has only a general or tangential
relevance to the novel or poetry collection in question. They
should bear in mind that the most fruitful source of contextual
information will often be the text itself.
Exploring the political and cultural context of texts: Reef and The terrorist at
my table (SB pp 95–97)
Here, two prescribed texts from the topic group ‘Journeys’ are
used to illustrate writers’ use of political and cultural context.
Activity 64 (SB pp 95–96) asks students to set an extract from Reef
into its political and cultural context, working outwards from
the passage to the novel as a whole.
The sense of connection between the three characters and
their native Sri Lanka is shown by:
• Triton’s choice of décor for the snack-bar in London: ‘the
colours of our tropical sea’, ‘bucket lanterns’, which link him
and Mr Salgado to the country they have just had to leave
– ‘Mister Salgado beamed’
• Triton’s deep anxiety and concern about the ‘rampage’
and ‘rampant violence’ in Colombo, heightened by the
memories it brings back of political trouble during the
1971 insurgency
• Tippy’s angry awareness that the present unrest is being
fuelled by ‘big money’ as much as by national politics and,
despite his cynicism, his touching compassion for Nili: ‘She
has no one, really’; his use of his native language is a hint
to Mr Salgado to go back home to care for her
• Mr Salgado’s decision to go back despite his rift with Nili
in the past and despite the danger of doing so: the call of
home is stronger than the risk involved in returning.
In question 3a, students of Reef research the political and
cultural background to the novel and to Gunesekera’s life. In
question 3b they explore how the political instability in Sri
Lanka during the 1970s and 1980s is central to Reef.
33
They should consider in particular the way the novel’s
symbolism – cooking and food, the coral reef, clothes, money
– is used to explore the political and cultural shifts in Sri Lankan
life throughout this period.
Activity 65 (SB pp 96–97) asks students to compare the theme of
exile and displacement in The terrorist at my table with the way
these themes are treated in Reef and other prescribed texts in
the topic group ‘Journeys’. The relevant context is provided by
Imtiaz Dharker’s poetic sequence ‘Lascar Johnny’.
The speaker’s sense of displacement is conveyed by:
• the use of the dramatic monologue form – the implied
addressee is a fellow countryman to whom the speaker
expresses deep sympathy for the alienation he feels ‘In a
place where no one/ speaks your tongue, you are a child
again’
• images of searching and partial sight, which convey the
stranger’s feeling of being adrift in a foreign country: ‘too
many streets/ to tell’, ‘It might be hard to see’, ‘top floor, I
think, three flights’
• references to food, sleeping and dreams, which convey
the stranger’s yearning for home and for the comfort of
the familiar – see stanzas 4–6
• the images in lines 21–24 which convey the stranger’s
half-awake delusion that he is back home in his own
country: ‘dew on your body’, ‘woodsmoke begins to fold
the stars away’.
In question 4a, students of The terrorist at my table research
the cultural background to the ‘Lascar Johnny’ sequence. In
question 4b they work outwards from this to consider the way
Dharker explores the theme of home and belonging in other
poems in the collection. Relevant poems include ‘The Right
Word’, ‘Campsie Fells’, ‘Text’, ‘Hung’ and ‘If’.
in the topic group ‘Journeys’ explore cultural change. Students
might compare the way Small Island shows the problems of
adjusting to a new cultural context with the way the same
theme is treated in The Final Passage. They might compare the
sense of cultural dislocation examined in Reef with the way this
theme is treated in The terrorist at my table.
Activity 66 (SB p 97) is a generic activity based on political and
cultural context.
Writing in the exam Students should introduce contextual
factors into their response in order to support comparative
comments on the structure, form and language of their texts.
There is a danger in dealing with contexts of production that
they will move too far away from a consideration of style and
technique. You may need to remind them that AO4 requires a
focus on the way texts are written, not just on what they are
written about.
Exploring the literary context of texts:
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and Tess of the
d’Urbervilles (SB pp 98–100)
Here, two prescribed texts from the topic group ‘Relationships’
are used to illustrate writers’ use of literary context. The context
chosen is the literary/cultural heritage of the writers in question
rather than their use of genre.
Activity 67 (SB pp 98–100) asks students to compare extracts
from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and Tess of the d’Urbervilles by
relating them to the literary/cultural traditions in which de
Bernières and Hardy are working.
Hardy shapes the reader’s response to the idea of Christian
Providence by:
• using the children’s hymn to arouse pathos; they do
not understand the relevance to their own situation of
what they are singing and are too young to question its
doctrine – Tess envies them this, but Hardy criticizes what
he sees as Christianity’s falsification of the truth
• using the gathering darkness outside to symbolise the
imminent death of the children and the deepening of
Tess’ tragedy as a result; the darkness also mocks the belief
in ‘clouds of glory’ as the inheritance of childhood
• using strong and explicit authorial comment to direct the
reader’s view of ‘Providence’ – see the last two sentences
• challenging the received Victorian opinion that children
are especially near to, and protected by, God – he
condemns this view as a ‘ghastly satire’, pointing his
criticism at Wordsworth, who sought to establish it as a
truth in his ‘Intimations of Immortality’.
In question 6, students of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and/or Tess
of the d’Urbervilles explore the writers’ use of literary background
to shape their novels. This is a large area of research. Use the
bullet points to focus students’ work, and consider making it
into a group task.
Extension: Stretch and challenge The prescribed texts in the
topic group ‘Relationships’ can be set into their literary contexts
in a variety of ways. Students might compare the use de
Bernières and/or Hardy make of classical tragedy with the more
modern definition of tragedy implicit in The Great Gatsby. They
might compare the use the metaphysical poets make of witty
conceits and word play with the use Carol Ann Duffy makes of
them in Rapture.
Activity 68 (SB p 100) is a generic activity on literary context.
Writing in the exam Students should consider carefully how
they will introduce contextual factors into their response.
Relevant reference to the contexts of production threaded
through an essay is the ideal strategy, though this is difficult to
achieve and calls for precise planning. A specific section of an
essay comparing contexts of production is adequate to meet
the requirements of AO4, as long as its relevance to the given
title is explained and demonstrated.
34
4 ��
Comparing interpretations ��
of texts (SB pp 101–12)
• read published interpretations of their texts in order to
compare these with their own response, not in order to
adopt them unquestioningly
• sample modern critical theory, but remain open-minded
about it
• be comfortable with a variety of interpretations rather than
look for a single ‘right reading’
• develop a personal evaluation of their texts, supported by
close analysis of structure, form and language.
Interpretations of theme: The Great
Gatsby and Metaphysical Poetry Writing in the exam The exam rubric states that students
should show they are aware that ‘other readers at other times
may well have had different responses’. They are not required to
provide lengthy quotations from named critics. ‘Other readers’
can include the writers of the texts.
Extension: Stretch and challenge Students could develop
the work in Activity 72 to write an account of one of their
chosen texts from a feminist or a Marxist viewpoint.
Interpretations of genre: Life of Pi and
The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale (SB pp 104–06)
Here, two prescribed texts from the topic group ‘Identifying Self’
are used to illustrate how the relationship between theme and
genre can be interpreted in different ways.
Here, two prescribed texts from the topic group ‘Relationships’
are used to illustrate how readers find different kinds of
meaning in texts.
Activity 73 (SB pp 104–05) asks students of Life of Pi to consider
Yann Martel’s use of genre by focusing on a key passage from
near the end of the novel. In question 3, four genres and subgenres are listed whose characteristics can be identified in the
text. Students should discuss them in the light of the passage
of commentary provided, which claims that Life of Pi works
principally on the level of ‘yarn and legend’.
Watch out for… the tendency to regard any critical
commentary as expert and definitive. The commentaries
printed in this section have been chosen to illustrate a variety
of critical standpoints and views. Most of them are recent and
interpret the prescribed texts in the light of modern critical
theory. Make clear to students that these are intended to
generate discussion and to provide a context for their own
interpretation.
Activity 74 (SB pp 105–06) asks students of The Wife of Bath’s
Prologue and Tale to consider the genre characteristics of the
Tale by focusing on its beginning. In question 3 they compare
Chaucer’s use of genre in the Tale with his use of genre in the
Prologue. They should then discuss the use of genre in the Tale
in the light of the passage of commentary provided, which sees
it as an artistic failure because of Chaucer’s perceived inability to
reconcile the teller with the tale.
Activity 69 (SB pp 101–02) asks students of The Great Gatsby
to consider Scott Fitzgerald’s themes by focusing on a key
passage from the end of the novel. In question 3, four themes
are identified. Students should discuss them in the light of the
passage of commentary provided, which sees The Great Gatsby
as being principally concerned with issues of sexuality and
gender.
Activity 75 (SB p 106) is a generic activity that asks students to
research and debate critical opinion about their writers’ use of
genre.
(SB pp 101–04)
consider the way literature can be approached from different
theoretical viewpoints. They should read at least a sample of
psychoanalytical, feminist, Marxist and new historical criticism.
Suitable sources are listed in the ‘Independent research’ boxes
on p 102 and 104 of the Student Book.
Activity 71 (SB p 103) asks students of Metaphysical Poetry to
consider some common themes in the collection by focusing
on Marvell’s ‘To His Coy Mistress’. In question 3, four themes
are identified. Students should discuss these in the light of
the passage of commentary provided, which gives a feminist
interpretation of Marvell’s poem (and, by extension, of
comparable poems by Donne, Carew, Lovelace, etc.).
apply different critical approaches to their chosen texts and
debate their validity.
Extension: Stretch and challenge Students could write an
account of one of their chosen texts in the form of a debate
between two critics who subscribe to different theoretical
viewpoints about it. This should be followed by a statement of
their own view.
Interpretations of context: Spies and The Kite Runner (SB pp 107–09)
Here, two prescribed texts from the topic group ‘War’ are used
to illustrate how different responses can be made to writers’ use
of context.
Activity 76 (SB pp 107–08) asks students of Spies to consider
Michael Frayn’s use of historical and social context by focusing
on a key passage from near the end of the novel. In question
3, four contexts are identified. Students should discuss
their importance to the text in the light of the passage of
commentary provided, which gives a Marxist interpretation of
Spies.
35
Activity 77 (SB pp 108–09) asks students of The Kite Runner to
consider Khaled Hosseini’s use of cultural and political context
by focusing on a key passage from the novel. In question
2, three contexts are identified. Students should discuss
their importance to the text in the light of the passage of
commentary provided in question 3, which interprets The Kite
Runner principally in political terms.
• providing a reminder of the assessment objectives for this
section of the exam, and how they are applied
research and debate comments by the writers of their texts
about their use of context.
Assessment objectives (SB pp 114–15)
Extension: Support Students could undertake research into
the lives and careers of their writers in order to establish a
biographical context for interpreting their texts. Information
is readily available on the internet and many of the writers
have their own websites. In several cases, the writer’s life is
closely bound up with the prescribed text – see, for example,
biographical details about Khaled Hosseini, Imtiaz Dharker and
Romesh Gunesekera.
Evaluations of texts: The Final Passage
and The General Prologue to the
Canterbury Tales (SB pp 110–12)
Here, two prescribed texts from the topic group ‘Journeys’ are
used to illustrate how readers make different value judgements
of texts.
Activity 79 (SB pp 110–11) asks students of The Final Passage to
evaluate the quality of Caryl Phillips’ writing in an extract from
the end of the novel. They should then develop their response
to the whole text in light of the passage of commentary
provided, which is critical of the writer’s style and technique.
Activity 80 (SB pp 111–12) asks students of The General Prologue to
the Canterbury Tales to evaluate the quality of Chaucer’s writing
in a passage from the end of the poem. They should then
develop their response to the whole text in light of the passage
of commentary provided, which is complimentary about the
writer’s style and technique.
research and debate a range of critical opinion about their texts.
Writing in the exam The ‘Writing in the exam’ box on p 112 of
the Student Book summarises the qualities of a good answer
to a Section B question. Students should use this as a checklist
every time they write a practice essay.
5 ��
Tackling Section
��
B of the exam (SB pp 113–25)
The material in this section helps you prepare students for the
second part of the Unit 3 exam by:
• outlining the types of questions students are likely to meet,
in order to help candidates focus on the AOs
• providing a candidate response for each of the groupings
• providing examiner comments on the candidates’ responses.
SB pp 114–15 provide the grid for all four of the assessment
objectives, showing the banding and mark scheme in detail.
This will be useful in showing how the different AOs are
weighted in this section of the exam, and should encourage
development of the skills that are double-weighted (AO3 and
AO4). The band descriptors will also be helpful in identifying the
level at which students should be working in order to meet the
criteria.
The activities focus on each of the text groupings in turn
with similar, but not identical, activities on each. It should be
emphasised that the exam paper will provide a pair of questions
on each text grouping and that the sample essays exemplify
a range of performances at different levels. The sample essays
also relate to one possible selection of texts out of the many
different combinations you can select to suit the needs and
interests of your students. It is important that the combination
of genres and dates is met by the candidate, and this is done
in each of the exemplars provided. None of the sample essays
provided here was written under timed conditions, although
they are indicative of what might be possible under timed
conditions.
The examiner’s comments in the handouts are each divided
into sections (a) and (b). The (a) sections consist of detailed
critiques of the essays, looking at how the writer has achieved
the AOs. The (b) sections consist of comments on how parts of
the essays, including beginnings, developments and endings,
work in relation to the AOs.
Relationships (SB pp 116–18/Handouts 3.42–3.43)
Activity 82 (SB pp 116–18) asks students to consider how they
would address AO3 in the sample question on this grouping.
Questions 3 and 4 give structured tasks on the sample essay,
assessing the writer’s ability to achieve the AOs through the
ways in which she has set up and developed her argument.
Students are asked to compare their findings with those of
the examiner. This essay is intended to show one possible
combination of texts and how they might be handled in an
exam question. The whole essay is to be found in Handout
3.42, and the examiner’s comments are given in full in
Handout 3.43.
Questions 5 and 6 ask students to develop the discussion.
• providing sample questions on each of the poetry and prose
groupings of the prescribed texts (‘Relationships’, ‘Identifying
Self’, ‘Journeys’ and ‘War’)
36
Identifying Self (SB pp 118–19/Handouts 3.44–3.46)
would address AO3 in the sample question on this grouping
(Handout 3.44).
ways in which he has set up and developed his argument.
Students are asked to compare their findings with those of the
examiner. The whole essay is to be found in Handout 3.45, and
the examiner’s comments are given in full in Handout 3.46.
Question 4 asks student to develop the discussion.
Journeys (SB pp 120–22/Handouts 3.47–3.49)
(Handout 3.47).
ways in which she has set up and developed her argument.
examiner. This essay is intended to show how the top bands can
be achieved consistently by a candidate in each of the AOs.
Question 5 asks students to consider how they would develop
the argument, after reading the opening sentences of some
sample paragraphs, and question 6 asks them to assess the
writer’s conclusion.
List of handouts
Section A
3.1 How do style and language work?
Student Book p 8/CD-ROM p 9
3.2 Vocabulary for diction in poems
3.4 An unprepared poem to analyse: Practice for Section A
3.5 A high-level response to the poem ‘Next, Please’
3.6 Examiner’s comments on the response to the poem
‘Next, Please’
3.10 An unprepared poem to analyse: Practice for Section A
3.10 Student Book p 19/CD-ROM p 14
The whole essay is to be found in Handout 3.48. The
examiner’s comments in full in are in Handout 3.49.
3.11 A mid-level response to ‘Depopulation of the Hills’
War (SB pp 123–25/Handouts 3.50–3.51)
3.12 Examiner’s comments on the response to ‘Depopulation
of the Hills’
(Handout 3.50).
ways in which he has set up and developed his argument.
examiner.
Questions 5 and 6 ask them to rewrite some paragraphs to
make them more analytical, and question 7 asks them to write a
conclusion to the essay.
The whole essay is to be found as Handout 3.51. The
examiner’s comments in full are in Handout 3.52.
3.13 Self-evaluation of your work in Part 1 on unprepared
poetry
3.14 Style and language
3.15 ‘Carnation’ by Katherine Mansfield
3.16 Characterisation
Section A
3.18 A high-level response to the passage from Enduring Love
3.19 Examiner’s comments on the sample response to
Enduring Love
3.20 Point of view
37
3.21 Syntax
Section A
3.39 Examiner’s comments on the sample response on
3.23 A low-level response to The Siege of Krishnapur
3.41 ‘Harp Strings’ by David Harsent
3.24 Examiner’s comments on the response to The Siege of
Krishnapur
3.42 Sample essay on ‘Relationships’
3.25 Self-evaluation of your work in Part 2 on unprepared
prose
3.43a Examiner’s comment’s on the sample essay on
‘Relationships’
3.26 Interpretation
3.43b Activity 82: Examiner’s comment’s on the sample essay
on ‘Relationships’
3.27 ‘The Snow Child’ by Angela Carter
3.44 Sample question on ‘Identifying Self’
3.45 Sample essay on ‘Identifying Self’
3.29 Poetry unprepared: The text and question
3.46a Examiner’s comments on the sample essay on ‘Identifying
Self’
3.30 High/mid-level sample essay on ‘Letter to Barbados’
3.31 Examiner’s comments on the high/mid-level essay on
‘Letter to Barbados’
3.32 Sample question for unprepared prose
3.33 High/mid-level sample answer to the unprepared prose
on A Change of Climate
3.46b Activity 83: Examiner’s comments on the sample essay on
Student Book p 118/CD-ROM p 37 3.47 Sample question on ‘Journeys’
3.48 Sample essay on ‘Journeys’
3.49a Examiner’s comments on the sample essay on ‘Journeys’
3.34 Examiner’s comments on the sample answer on
A Change of Climate
‘Journeys’
Section B
3.35 Prescribed texts: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and Tess of the
d’Urbervilles
3.36 Prescribed texts: ‘The Sun Rising’ and ‘Hour’
3.37a Prescribed texts: The Great Gatsby
3.51 Sample essay on ‘War’
3.52aExaminer’s comments on the sample essay on ‘War’
‘War’
3.37b Prescribed texts: ‘This Dead Relationship’
3.38 A high-level response to a Section B essay in the topic
group ‘Identifying Self’
38
Unit 4 Reflections in literary studies
Introduction
Coursework requirements
Coursework gives students the opportunity to undertake
increasingly independent reading and research. In consultation
with their teacher, students select three texts not studied for AS
or for Unit 3 of A2. These may be connected in a variety of ways;
one text is to be selected as the central text and the second
and third texts may be works of critical or cultural commentary.
Students will submit their work in the form of one or two
literary studies or a creative response with commentary.
Students write a coursework folder based on the three texts,
containing a maximum of 3000 words (including quotations,
notes and bibliography). This is made up of:
There are no restrictions on the choice of text, which may be
selected from any period or any genre, although the choice
should show some awareness and appreciation of literary
merit, interest or curiosity. This allows students to develop their
own interests and to consider texts which may not be studied
elsewhere. There is considerable flexibility in this unit: as there
are no set texts, teachers may suggest some, if appropriate, and
likewise the choice of approach and topic. However, this is also
an opportunity for students to demonstrate their independence
and determine the course of their own studies. Teachers will
take on a monitoring role as students acquire the mature
skills related to independent research and to working within a
framework of peer group cooperation.
or
• a creative response consisting of one piece of creative
writing plus a commentary on it.
either
• one extended study
or
• two shorter studies
Regarding word length, ‘2500–3000 words maximum’ in the
specification means that students should aim for 2500 words
and not exceed 3000 words.
In their coursework, students will focus on one text in detail,
relating this to the other two texts to present an outcome
which should demonstrate that they have synthesised and
reflected on the knowledge and understanding gained
throughout their course.
The three approaches – extended study, two shorter studies,
creative response with commentary – are clearly outlined in
the Student Book (SB p 126). Go through these briefly with your
students; they will be developed in detail in Section A.
The assessment objectives are also addressed in detail in the
Student Book (SB p 127); go through them with the students,
emphasising that they are all assessed equally in this unit.
Remind students that the outcome of their research is the
presentation of a literary study with a broadly based scheme of
connections beyond simple comparisons and contrasts.
In consultation with their teachers, students initially choose
a general topic for their essays which is refined into a specific
title. For the creative response, the general topic will take the
form of a choice of author, or of a genre or specific literary style;
this initial choice will be refined into a specific focus for the
creative writing, which may have its own internal title. Sample
coursework tasks for literary studies are provided on pp 37–38
of the specification for Unit 4 and on p 25 of Getting Started.
Further examples of suitable topics and tasks for both the essay
and creative responses are included in the Student Book.
Edexcel A2 Literature Unit 4 Reflections in literary studies
39
Student Book and Teaching and
Assessment CD-ROM
Unit 4 in the Student Book is divided into five sections, A to E.
Sections A and B are aimed at all students, whichever approach
they decide on. Section C addresses the essay responses
specifically and Section D focuses on the creative response and
commentary. Section E is for all students and considers matters
of editing and revising, and technical aspects of presenting their
studies appropriately.
Sections A and B (SB pp 128–55) help students to choose a
topic based on their central text, to make connections with
other texts, and to decide which approach to use for their study.
Students are shown how to read critically; how to plan and
carry out research; how to select second and third texts; and
how to refine their topic to a writing task.
Teachers, who may advise students on their choice of topic,
would find it useful to work systematically through these
sections during the exploratory and decision-making stage of
work for this unit. Students need the explicit teaching given
here to get to grips with the more sophisticated reading and
interpretative skills required for Unit 4, and to kick-start the
research processes with a firm schedule. The many examples
offered will support the acquisition of the higher skills required
to achieve AO3 and AO4 at a sound level.
Section C (SB pp 156–65) focuses on the requirements of the
essay-based explorative approaches and helps students to plan
their research systematically; to present explorative essays with
a clear argument and firm focus; and to explore and incorporate
works of critical and cultural commentary. Students are shown
how to plan their work and go on to produce a first draft.
Section D (SB pp 166–74) helps students to prepare for the
creative response and the commentary; to organise research
and to make connections between texts; to explore various
ways of intervening in texts to help them decide on their own
creative piece; and to write their commentary. Many examples
are offered as a guide to students.
Section E (SB pp 175–79) helps students to edit and revise
their work and to present their studies with an accurate use
of technical detail. It is therefore an important reference point
as students approach the end of their studies and prepare to
submit their folder.
Activities addressing the assessment criteria are presented
at the end of Sections B, C and D and at the beginning of
Section E.
This Teaching and Assessment CD-ROM complements the
Student Book, providing commentaries on some of the texts
and activities and introducing further support material and
exemplar responses.
40
Section A – Choosing your text, topic and
approach (SB pp 128–37/Handouts 4.1–4.3)
1 Introduction (SB p 128/Handout 4.1)
• think carefully about the books they are reading
• explore their central text
• consider their topic and provisionally select an approach for
their studies.
This section helps students to work cooperatively with their
peers and to rely on them for critical comments on their work.
The difference between canonical and non-canonical texts is
considered, and then students move into precise and detailed
preparations for their coursework before tackling the academic
work for Unit 4. They explore their central texts to decide on
a general topic, and go on to select an approach and a topic,
which could be provisional at this stage. This is a ‘nuts and bolts’
section as a platform for exploratory work.
Handout 4.1 asks students to consider and discuss various
definitions of ‘good’ literature. It also encourages students to
undertake the ‘pair and share’ practice of working with a partner
or a small group, which will replace reliance on teacher support.
Explain to your students the wider skills (bulleted in four points),
which will be developed in this unit.
Independent research. Students are invited to explore in their
own time the idea of a literary canon.
2 Literary studies and
research ��
Remind your students of the complex assessment objectives
AO3 and AO4, following the bulleted points (SB p 129). The
opportunities and challenges of independent research are
explored in the following two paragraphs. Read through these
with your students.
Handout 4.2 is a chart of the AOs with a brief commentary,
which should be brought to every class as there will be regular
references to this throughout the course. Read through it in
class together.
As students will be reliant on peer-group support during their
studies, explain the importance of having a systematic structure
of meetings. Work through the diagram (SB p 129) to show them
how to do this.
Having emphasised the importance of working with others, the
focus moves inward as students look at themselves and their
own readiness for independent research. Take them through
the creation of their own personal and academic profiles in
Activities 1 and 2 (SB pp 130–31).
Students are asked to discuss their profiles with a partner; the
openness and honesty required will prepare students for the
peer-group review process later in their studies.
3 Choosing your central text (SB pp 131–32)
Selecting the central text is an important decision and there are
a lot of things to think about. Remind students that the central
text must not have been studied at AS or in A2 Unit 3; beyond
that there is freedom of choice about time and genre.
Whether you select this text or not, you may want to guide
students in this crucial decision. Are there any texts that they
have particularly enjoyed or found especially interesting? If
so, another text by the same author, or a text with similarities
of genre or theme might be suitable. When students opt for
the creative response with commentary then they might well
begin by selecting a specific author or genre, for example, the
dramatic monologue, as their starting point. Explain that group
discussions, conversations with friends, even an internet search,
are possible means to this end.
A good central text needs to be long enough to generate
sufficient issues, to allow for comparison with the other two
texts and to give the student sufficient space to work in, in
order to find quotations and demonstrate an originality of
approach. Examples of central texts given in the specification
and Getting Started include: Shakespeare’s Othello, Bessie
Head’s Maru, Tom Stoppard’s Professional Foul and Ted Hughes’
Birthday Letters. Although Hughes’ collection is nearly 200
pages long, it gives students plenty of ‘space to work in’. There
are much shorter collections of poetry that provide this space:
Grace Nichols’ The Fat Black Woman’s Poems has less than 60
pages, and is considered sufficient as a set text for the Unit 3
examination, as are the 42 pages of Imtiaz Dharker’s The terrorist
at my table.
Short novels are also possible choices. A novella such as D.H.
Lawrence’s The Virgin and the Gypsy or Henry James’ The Turn of
the Screw would offer students more than enough to work with.
Watch out for… Students tend to look for something short
simply because it is short. It is worth telling them that the less
material they have to work with the more difficult their task may
become.
How much ‘literary merit’ does the central text need to display?
The answer lies in the assessment objectives. Put simply, the
literariness of a text means the extent to which students can
get their teeth into it in order to do the four things required by
the four AOs. Of particular interest here is AO2, which requires
analysis of how a text actually works. If it works in a very simple,
41
obvious way then there is not that much that can be said about
it. Students aiming at the highest grades need to take note of
the three terms used at the top end of the assessment criteria:
the ability to analyse, evaluate and synthesise.
Take your students through Activity 3 (SB p 131) so that they
can see for themselves how decisions about a central text can
be made.
The spider diagram (SB p 132) illustrates, through the example
of Atonement by Ian McEwan, how matters of theme and genre
can be developed from the central text. Read through it with
your students.
Activity 4 (SB p 132) lets students explore how texts they are
familiar with open up areas of study. Lead them through this
activity as they begin by reflecting on their previous studies and
move into discussion with a partner or small group.
4 Choosing your topic (SB pp 133–34)
In Activity 6 (SB p 134) students reach the point of selecting a
general topic and writing a brief proposal, using the exemplars
as models. You may want to encourage some group discussion
about the topics selected, or you may want to involve yourself
at this point in the decisions made. Remind them that topic
choices are still provisional; students may remain satisfied with
their initial choice, but may change their minds later.
5 Choosing your approach (SB pp 134–36)
The three approaches are explained here in order to give
students a clearer idea of possible outcomes for their
coursework. This will help them to plan and think about their
work. But they do not have to decide on a specific approach at
this early stage: further reading and research in the lead-up to
choosing their second and third texts will also be critical factors
in their decision making about an approach.
You may want to advise students on their choice of topic, but
do bear in mind that the more their reading, thinking and
research comes from their own interests the more likely they
are to be committed to their coursework and form independent
judgements.
As you run through each approach, warn students again against
exceeding the word limit.
Students are offered seven examples of suitable topics. Run
through these, pausing from time to time. You might want to
explain what a sub-genre is, or to remind students that ‘form’ is
the type of composition or overall structure of a particular text.
At the end of this exercise, students should be aware of the
breadth of their possible choices.
This may be suited to stronger candidates who will be able to
sustain a long piece without losing focus or impetus. The word
total must fall within the maximum of 3000 words. Run through
the particular demands of this approach with students (SB p
135).
Take it further (SB p 134) requires students to think about, jot
down notes on and discuss with a partner how they might
develop their strongest topic. Monitor these discussions as this
is the first stage of their own decision making.
In Activity 5 (SB p 133) students discuss and assess two
exemplar topics, one suitable for an explorative essay and the
other for the creative response with commentary. Read through
the exercises with them. Then read through the two proposals
and allow them time to reflect on them.
1 The first part of the activity is more general as students
discuss their own responses to the topics; follow the
sequence here. As you finish this first part, remind students
that in this activity they have been achieving AO3 by
comparing two pieces of text.
2 Monitor the class discussion, establishing that:
• Proposal A meets AO3 directly as there is suggested
discussion of how readers’ interpretations of the outsider
might change over time. AO4 is suggested through
the references to contexts at the time of writing and of
reception.
• in Proposal B, AO3 is evident as the last sentence refers to
how an audience’s response to a text might be manipulated.
There is close reference to AO4 in the suggestion of the
relevance to ‘our own society’ with its ‘contemporary
philosophical thinking’. The proposal features the
manipulation of contexts.
One extended study
Two shorter studies
Here the same text could be central to both topics, or the same
work of critical and cultural commentary could relate to both
topics. In each essay the central text should be literary. AOs are
to be divided between the two essays. The word total between
the two essays is a maximum of 3000 words; advise students to
divide this roughly in half between the two essays.
Watch out for… Beware of stereotyping students, as two
shorter studies are not necessarily an ‘easier option’. More able
candidates may have an interest in topics which are ideal for the
shorter studies: for example, an exploration of a specific literary
critical theory, such as a Marxist or feminist approach to texts.
Creative response with commentary
Students can base their creative writing piece on one or more
of their three texts. Remind them that the commentary will
carry most of the marks, so the creative piece itself should be
no more than 500–1000 words. They must ensure that the
commentary is connected to all of their texts and explains what
they hoped to achieve and how they carried out their research
and writing. If the creative piece takes the form of poetry, then
it may be shorter than 500 words but the commentary would
have to compensate. Read through the examples and general
advice related to this approach (SB pp 135–36).
42
Watch out for… Although some students will know from the
start whether they will select an essay response or the creative
option, ensure that they are not making any pre-judgements
or assumptions here. Students should be made aware that the
creative option does not call for special ability in this field, but
also that it is not a ‘soft option’. All candidates will have to carry
out similar research, and it may help if they dip into Sections
C and D before making a final decision. Remind students
that, although they have had experience in Unit 3 of both the
explorative and the critical–creative response to texts, they may
nonetheless wish to change their choice of approach at an early
stage in their Unit 4 studies.
Activity 7 (SB p 136) prepares students for making a provisional
choice of approach and discussing it with a partner. If a decision
has already been made, they will be thinking about the
demands of their chosen approach.
6 Assessing ideas for topics and
texts (SB
��
pp 136–37/Handouts 4.2
��
and 4.3)
Activity 8 (SB p 136) Students will need Handout 4.2 to assess
the three proposals against the AOs: all three approaches are
exemplified. The proposal of Student A has been assessed as an
example.
Commentary on Activity 8
Student B
AO1: The task calls for understanding of the theme of the
damage caused to the human spirit by industrialisation,
and that the wrong environment and the wrong marriage
cooperate in this destruction.
Remind students that, at this early stage of their studies, there
is no mention of their second or third texts. This decision will be
dealt with in Section B.
The word ‘inferences’ is glossed as it is one of the technical terms
that the students should acquire as part of their vocabulary.
This long activity will help students to move into Activity 9
(SB p 137) and formulate a proposal of their own, going on to
check it with their peer group.
Extension: Stretch and challenge. Handout 4.3 will give
students ideas about texts and topics. It will:
• prepare them for reading their texts in order to select
suitable topics
• strengthen their understanding of how to achieve the four
AOs
• introduce another text
• give them some ideas for addressing the short story form.
The passage may be read aloud as a class, then the students
could read through the passage on their own. It is an extract
from ‘The Kiss of Life’, one of a collection of short stories
called The Pangs of Love by Jane Gardam. Students are
asked to distinguish three critical areas – plot, theme and
inference – with scaffolding to help. They should apply what
they have learned in this exercise to their own texts.
Meanwhile, they should have read their central text by this
stage, ready for a more detailed second reading.
End this section by reminding students to look at the
Checkpoint (SB p 137). Are they up to date?
AO2: The student is asked to explore how these issues are
revealed. It would be helpful to include consideration of the
short story as a form in addressing this AO.
AO3: A specifically Marxist critical perspective is required.
AO4: There are at least three contexts involved: the literary
context of style/genre; the political context of Marxism;
the social context of the nineteenth-century industrial
environment.
Student C
AO1: The student intends to explore the brutality of a male
character and, it is implied, the effects on a woman close to
him.
AO2: There is a very strong focus on the demands and
characteristics of this particular form.
AO3: The student is going to explore how readers may be
manipulated into forming an interpretation of a text; it is also
suggested that there will be a feminist reading offered.
AO4: There are at least two contexts evident: the context of
genre and the social context of morality.
43
Section B – Planning and researching your
writing (SB pp 138–55/Handouts 4.4–4.15)
• read critically
• consider the effects of cultures and contexts
• make interesting connections between texts
• explore critical perspectives on texts.
This section is wide-ranging and covers many skills, including
research and reading strategies. It is recommended that you
work through this in sequence as it is designed to guide
students in refining their proposal for a study into a title and, for
the creative responses, refining the choice of an author or style
into a precise focus.
1 Planning your coursework (SB pp 138–40/Handout 4.4)
This is the preliminary stage of the studies. Stress the
importance of mental preparation before the strenuous work
on the unit begins. Remind students of the importance of
managing time well and of not allowing themselves to fall
behind in their schedule.
Since the submission date still seems distant, this part of the
Student Book aims to give students a kick-start to their work.
They are offered a planned timeline for their coursework for
each of the three approaches. Below that, the scheme is broken
down into stages. As the example given spans 16 weeks, this
may have to be adjusted.
It would be best to read the first example together, then leave
students to study the second and third on their own.
Activity 10 (SB p 140) helps students as they draw up their own
coursework timeline, to which they should adhere.
Activity 11 (SB p 140) guides students through making study
timetables.
Handout 4.4 provides students with a sample study timetable;
they should go on to plot one of their own during the session.
General advice about coursework is also offered here.
2 Starting your research (SB pp 141–46/Handouts 4.5–4.6)
General advice is given to students about to begin research;
they are advised to confer with their peers about their proposed
topic, and to pay great attention to detail as they read their
research texts. Research using (a) books and the library, and (b)
the internet, is explored and discussed in greater detail.
Handout 4.5 looks at the advantages and disadvantages of
using (a) a library, and (b) the internet. This handout will be
particularly helpful to those students who are less confident in
carrying out research.
Independent research. Sources of research material are
explained and discussed. These include books, media resources
and the internet. The first of these features (SB p 141) offers hints
on how to use a reference book such as the Oxford Companion
to English Literature. Students may find this book helpful as a fast
point of contact for resolving queries about literary matters in
the course of their writing.
The second (SB p 142) is aimed at students whose computer
skills need strengthening or refreshing. It recommends they visit
www.vts.intute.ac.uk/he/tutorial/english, a site offering a 20minute tutorial on researching the net. A simple test at the end
checks that the information has been absorbed.
Handout 4.6 offers a list of websites that will be useful to
teachers as well as to students. It demonstrates the great range
of material available online.
Using research materials: a case
study (SB pp 143–45)
This section offers students an example of how one student
used works of critical and cultural commentary related to John
Osborne’s play Look Back in Anger.
Students should note the topic selected: ‘The way kitchen sink
plays changed English drama in the 1950s and 1960s.’ They will
be returning to it later. The steps the student took in preparation
for formulating his proposal are explained, so that students
can see how his initial research in books and online led to the
choice of his second text, Osborne’s autobiography.
Read through the proposed outline with the students, allowing
them a few minutes to reflect on it. Then read through the
extracts as a class. This will demonstrate the range of texts
they will replicate in their own studies. Point out this range to
the students: Osborne’s autobiography; a critical review of a
performance; a diary entry offering another perspective; and an
entry from a work relating the play to its literary context.
44
Students will realise for themselves the kind of breadth required
for work in Unit 4.
Activity 12 (SB p 145) requires students to assess this material
in various ways. They must bear the topic in mind as they work
through this activity.
Commentary on Activity 12.2
• The texts particularly relevant to the topic are Extracts B
and D.
• AO3 would be met by the different responses to the play
in Extracts A, C and D.
• AO4 would be met by all of the extracts, as all consider
various contexts: A – dramatic/history of critical reception;
B – social; C – literary; D – dramatic.
Students are then asked to think about how they would use
these contexts in preparing for this topic.
Finally, they work independently to think of another topic
suited to this material, comparing their findings with those of a
partner. You could monitor discussion here, moving from group
to group.
Before moving on, ask students to look at the range of texts
selected for this topic. It is notable that all the extracts have
been selected from specific parts rather than whole research
texts. Explain to the students that this is a perfectly acceptable
way of working and one that would allow them to select three
literary texts and dip into research areas to support their thesis.
Reading your texts (SB p 146/Handout 4.7)
Students are now redirected from the skills of research to
the skills of reading critically. They are guided in making
independent judgements on texts by assessing an author’s
purposes, as revealed through the attitudes and values
conveyed, and through certain language choices. Remind
students of the importance of systematically recording their
responses to texts as soon as they start reading.
Activity 13 (SB p 146) is designed to sharpen these important
skills as students examine an extract from Maya Angelou’s
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. Obviously the theme of the
extract is racism, and they need to unpick the way ‘white’
attitudes to the black population are undermining the lives of
the black population. It is expected that they will fully cooperate
with the author’s disparaging views.
Take it further. This calls for some creative writing from an
altered perspective: students are asked to bear AO3 in mind by
thinking about the ways readers respond to texts.
Extension: Stretch and challenge. Handout 4.7 will support
reading skills as students are asked to explore four texts, from
different periods and contexts, that focus on the topic of war.
Commentary on Handout 4.7
A: Explain to the students that in this poem Tennyson admits
‘that someone had blundered’. He praises heroism in the
face of defeat; works by repetition ‘six hundred’, ‘honour’ and
lots of punctuation, especially exclamation marks; intended
for the public at large; like B and D disapproves of war; here
because of the waste of human life in war, like D.
B: Philosophical and cool in tone and approach. Stands back
and looks at moral dilemma war creates. Limited audience;
thinkers.
C: Contentious even when published. At the start of WW2,
does it encourage men to fight? Repetition of loaded words,
‘England’, sustained natural imagery almost makes it natural
to die in war. Is it propaganda? It would be like A except
that Tennyson admits generals had blundered, so he doesn’t
approve of war, only of heroism. This poem stands on its
own.
D: Goes into the mind of a damaged veteran; Woolf shows
how his values have been turned upside down. She shows
his loss of life-giving hope; there seems to be no outlet for
him but suicide. Perhaps this is the most powerful piece? The
matter of preference will be down to each individual student.
3 Selecting your second and
third texts ��
This section is particularly important for students who have
been left to make their own choice of texts. The spider diagram
showing connections (SB p 147) will be useful in various ways
(see also Getting Started, p 27). The list of connections will give
ideas of ways of connecting texts, of the wide range of suitable
topics and of contexts.
Handout 4.8 will help students when they are choosing
their second and third texts by defining the difference
between works of critical commentary and works of cultural
commentary. They are shown how to assess their text in
relationship to the culture in which it is written.
If you have students who are interested in writing about sport,
Grant Jarvie’s book Sport, Culture and Society may be useful as a
second or third text.
Activity 14 (SB p 148) is designed to lead students into thinking
about unusual angles or modes of creative writing.
The focus shifts as the play The Ruling Class, by Peter Barnes,
is proposed as the central text. The table shows students
how different angles, here related to contexts, can lead to the
selection of further texts. Read it through with the students as
preparation for their next step.
In Activity 15 (SB p 149) students pair up and share their own
tables of ideas. By now the concept of peer-group support
should be firmly established as a working pattern.
45
The influences of culture and contexts (SB p 150/Handout 4.9)
The focus now moves naturally into considering contexts. Go
through the examples offered and pause when you reach the
reference to Charles Dickens’ Gothic short story, ‘The Signalman.’
Explain to students that they are working in the area of AO4
with considerations of various contexts.
Activity 16 (SB p 150) builds on this as students compare the
contexts within which Dickens and the modern reader are
working.
Extension: Stretch and challenge. Handout 4.9 should be
helpful as students begin to explore contexts. It focuses on two
poems by William Blake: ‘Nurse’s Song’ from Songs of Innocence
and ‘Nurse’s Song’ from Songs of Experience.
Briefly explain to students about the French Revolution of
1789 when it seemed that the corrupt power of French
royalty was destroyed by and for the ordinary people.
Leading thinkers in Europe and America thought that it
was the start of a new age of equality. In this mood of
optimism Blake wrote his Songs of Innocence. But it ended in
catastrophe in 1793, which led to the dark sequel of poems,
Songs of Experience.
Blake was horrified at the condition of the poor in the
industrial age. This is why the later poems are not optimistic.
Perhaps the nurse typifies a loss of hope. Childish laughter
is replaced by sinister ‘whispers’, suggesting a sort of threat.
The young cannot enjoy youth but are seen to ‘waste their
time’, just as the nurse feels she has wasted her own life and
is jealous (‘green’) of the young. The reference to disguise
is open-ended, it could refer to children being ‘disguised’
in soot as chimney sweeps. Interpretations are open to
discussion.
The lack of dialogue in the second poem might suggest
how normal social relationships are breaking down;
Blake probably hoped to influence powerful and wealthy
members of society to do something to help the poor.
There are many contexts, including historical, social and
moral, in the duty of care that should be shown to the poor.
Critical approaches to texts Handout 4.10 tests students’ understanding of critical
perspectives by asking them to explore and label four different
examples of criticism relating to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s
Nest. The sequence is: gender-based (male viewpoint); New
Historicist; traditional literary; Marxist.
Activity 17 (SB p 152) offers students an analytical exercise in
applying literary critical theory to an extract from ‘Odour of
Chrysanthemums’, a short story by D.H. Lawrence. They are
asked to work with a partner and write responses to the piece
from three different critical perspectives. (For some students,
two may be enough.)
Take it further (SB p 152) is designed to help students
recognise differences between traditional and modern critical
approaches.
Extension: Stretch and challenge. Handout 4.11 offers the
topic of women and literature for you to work through with
your students.
There are two aspects to this topic: the development of
female voices in literature and writers’ presentations of
characters of the opposite sex.
The first aspect has three parts: how the Romantic poets
supported the dominance of the male voice; how four
writers helped to change the balance; and two tasks for the
students to undertake.
Read these through with the students, explaining that
initially women had no literary voice; all recognised writers
were male. The attitude of the Romantics shows this; then
Freud, Woolf, Lacan and de Beauvoir helped to shift the
balance and empower women writers.
When you reach part 4 you will need to explain briefly Plath’s
use of myth. In The Colossus she draws on Aeschylus’ Oresteia
trilogy. Explain that when King Agamemnon returned
from the Trojan wars, his wife, Clytemnestra, killed him. The
children, Orestes and Electra, sought revenge, which is dealt
with in the second and third plays. Electra had the reverse
problem to Oedipus: she loved her father and despised and
rather feared her mother. Plath relates the anger and jealousy
to her own feelings about her parents, especially her father.
Part 5 offers the suggestion of a less complex topic: how
women writers present male characters, and how male
writers present female characters. Students should discuss
these topics.
(SB pp 150–55/Handouts 4.10 and 4.11)
The idea of literary ‘studies’, rather than a straightforward textual
comparison, encourages students to step back from their texts
and reflect on them in different ways. They should therefore be
familiar with some aspects of literary theory. It is envisaged that
some students will use one or more of these theories as the
basis for their study or creative response.
Six major theories are considered: Marxism, New Historicism,
gender-based (feminism), psychoanalytical, structuralism and
deconstructionism.
46
4 Refining your topic to a
writing task (SB pp 153–55/Handout 4.12–4.15)
This section draws attention to and explains the difference
between ‘open’ and ‘closed’ questions, further refining the
matter of choices as students turn their topics into writing
tasks. Students consider a series of questions about their
planned writing to prepare them for refining the topic into a
task for those writing a study or studies; a similar exercise is
aimed at helping those who intend to offer a creative response
with commentary. Students are given an insight into textual
intervention, which might stimulate some interest in the latter
approach.
Activity 18 (SB p 154) involves students directly in textual
intervention after considering closed and open questions. They
are asked to think about how they might alter the viewpoint or
values embodied in their central text (Section D will develop
these ideas at length).
Handout 4.12 offers a case study of a creative response for
consideration and evaluation against the AOs:
AO3 will be achieved as students are asked to offer
their individual reading, which will contrast with the
interpretations offered by other readers. It will be written
from the critical perspective of feminism.
AO4 will be addressed through the context of feminism.
AO2 will be met through the incorporation of some of Carter
and Duffy’s narrative techniques into the student’s own
writing, and the discussion of this in the commentary.
AO3 will be met in the connections generally between the
original interpretations of Hamlet and the new, feminist
readings, and specifically in the connections between the
writing of Carter, Duffy and the student.
The general viewpoint should be that all AOs can be met.
AO3 Atwood writes from the feminist perspective, and the
student’s aim is to create an independent perspective for
readers.
AO4 Social contexts related to the state of society, the
situation of women in this society, Orwell’s political context
and the literary context of dystopia are all evident.
AO2 Discussion of the way both writers present their views,
e.g. differences in narrative form, addresses this AO directly.
AO1 Clear understanding of social problems and of how
these are presented.
Handout 4.13 shows the marking criteria for the assessment
objectives in bands 3 and 4.
Handout 4.14 outlines the characteristics of band 2 responses
and shows how students working at band 2 can improve their
grade.
Handout 4.15 provides a list of topics and titles, and it also
shows how texts may be connected in ways that would make
the most of the opportunities for comparison in this unit. Note
that the handout lists possible texts; there is no suggestion that
students should read more than three texts.
Activity 21 (SB p 155) asks students to carry out work similar to
that in the previous activity and analyse their own work in the
same way, or using another format for connecting texts if they
choose to. They should be able at this point to select two or
three possible titles and discuss these with their peers to help
make a final choice.
Once their decision has been made, students should check it
against the AOs, as they have done above and at other places in
this section, such as Handouts 4.3, 4.7 and 4.9.
Remind students that they must be both honest and selfcritical, as it is far better to discover weaknesses at an early stage
than later on in their studies, when things are much harder to
mend.
Activity 19 (SB p 154) asks students to think of both open and
closed questions about their topic area.
At the end of this section, students should be secure in their
study plans, their route and their title or approach.
Activity 20 (SB pp 154–55) offers a case study for consideration
and evaluation against the AOs and the marking criteria (see
Handouts 4.12 and 4.13). Work together through questions
1–4, discussing the assessment objectives and the working title.
Checkpoint. Run through the checklist with your students,
stressing the importance of keeping up to date with their
coursework.
47
Section C – Writing your study or studies
(SB pp 156–64/Handouts 4.16–4.21)
Section C focuses on the requirements of the essay-based
explorative approaches and helps students to plan their
research systematically; to plan and write and present a first
draft; to prepare introductions and conclusions; to explore case
studies of the two approaches; to sharpen skills in addressing
the assessment objectives.
• plan their explorative study thoroughly before beginning to
write it
• be methodical in selecting appropriate research material
• use summarising skills to select only relevant material
• practise writing introductions and conclusions
• practise and develop their skills in planning and drafting.
Emphasise from the outset the importance of careful, detailed
work when students are preparing plans for their studies,
making notes on their central texts and selecting material from
their second and third texts to make firm connections.
1 Planning your study or
studies (SB pp 156–59/Handout 4.16)
Students are offered a detailed plan for researching and writing
up their work. There are five separate parts to this, and you will
need to go through it in detail with your students so that they
understand the process as a whole before they start to make
their own plans.
At first, it may seem complicated, but on careful reading
students will realise that it is a foolproof plan, which will make
life very much easier for them, especially when they come to
assemble work from at least three texts to prepare for writing
the study.
The five-part sequence consists of:
1 writing an outline plan
2 identifying and indexing research material and the central
text
3 reading, selecting and rejecting
4 sequencing ideas
Students are first shown (SB p 156) how to make a
straightforward plan for a study. Colour-coding is suggested
as an aid in ‘identifying and indexing research material’. They
are shown how to mark up and index with page references all
of the relevant material. This will be a huge help in retrieving
material for their study and will make a system out of what
might be chaos otherwise!
The next stage (SB p 157) is where students ruthlessly ‘read,
select and reject’ all irrelevant material. This will reduce the
material they have to juggle to produce an argument with
support. Sample notes show how their ‘plan’ will look when it
includes page numbers.
Students then mark up relevant material and sequence their
ideas. Another sample note exemplifies the process and shows
how simple and orderly the method is.
You should remind students that, for the approach with two
shorter essays, the same research text may be used; in this case
there would have to be two sets of colour codes to distinguish
between passages relevant to one or other title.
Students are then reminded of summarising skills.
Handout 4.16 is a supporting exercise in summarising.
The material is taken from Sean O’Casey’s play The Shadow
of a Gunman. This extract was chosen because the speaker
is verbose; it is also a light-hearted exercise, which might
entertain students. They are asked to make a summary
and then, without looking at the extract, answer five
straightforward questions.
Answers:
1 the Galloghers
2 hooliganism outside their flat/personal threats
3 the IRA
4 to send police/army
5 Dwyer.
End the exercise by reminding students when they will
be using the summarising skills listed at the start of the
handout.
5 writing the first draft.
The plan uses colour-coding for instant recognition of different
material. Students may not choose to use this exact model but
to use the suggested stages in a different way.
Remind students that they must select three texts, but that they
may refer to other texts that they have read before, or may dip
into further texts if they wish.
48
Write your first draft (SB pp 158–59/Handout 4.17)
Activity 22 (SB p 158) asks students to turn their research
material into a working plan.
Take some time at this stage to encourage students to put
pen to paper. This moment of commitment can be tricky, but
emphasise that:
• the first draft will not be perfect
• their ‘finished work’ will go through several drafts
• they will have opportunities to review and edit/check their
work later.
Remind students of the word limit of 3000 words for both
extended and shorter studies, and that you and the moderator
will stop marking once you have reached 3000 words. There
must be a running word count at the bottom of each page,
which may be checked.
Remind students offering shorter studies that:
• the word count should be shared equally between the
studies
• the assessment objectives could be divided between the
two studies, so that in one they could focus on AO3 and in
the other AO4
• there must be one central literary text for each study, though
it may be the same for both studies
• the second and third texts may be shared between the
studies
• each study must refer to more than one text.
Students are reminded of an earlier mnemonic: PEE. Underline
the meaning; whenever they make a Point they must offer
Evidence and go on to Explore the effect of this word choice.
Remind them that, in Unit 4, ‘Explanation’ is too simple!
A checklist is offered (SB p 158); work through it with students so
that they remember to check all aspects of their task.
The introduction to their studies is considered next (SB p 159),
and supported in Activity 23 where students are requested to
write and then check an introduction.
Finally, students consider the conclusion to their study. A sixpoint list (SB p 159) covers all the major points; work through it
slowly and allow questions or discussion. It is clear and direct.
Handout 4.17 supports students in the writing process by
providing information on knowledge and understanding,
planning and aspects of style. They should have it in front of
them when they write and check the final draft of their study.
Work through it slowly with them, allowing discussion.
2 Writing a shorter study (SB p 160/Handout 4.18)
Remind students again of the requirements listed at the top of
the page as they begin to look at the case study in Activity 24.
Activity 24 offers students a student’s outline plan,
introduction and conclusion. They are asked to assess these
to see if the assessment objectives are achieved; they are also
asked to consider the effectiveness of the introduction and
conclusion to the study.
You might point out to students:
• how the topic, with such a precise focus, is ideal for a
short story
• how the plan is clear and unfussy
• that all the assessment objectives are met.
How the assessment objectives are met:
AO1 Strong, an address of a new form of literature with
technical language, ‘modernism’.
AO2 There is reference to language, form and structure,
‘narrative viewpoint’, structure, ‘the handling of time’.
AO3 Strong, with reference to a new voice for a new age and
clearly relevant second and third texts.
AO4 Strong, with references to literary genre and style, to
social contexts of a new period.
Independent research. This feature directs students to
research modernism. You could outline it very simply for your
students by saying that the characteristics of modernism
included:
• writing between 1910 and 1930
• a search for new ways of structuring texts as writers felt that
older methods were contrived
• new ways of handling time and sequencing work
• new methods of characterisation, often resting on viewpoint
• a completed text that was the equivalent of an abstract
painting of the time but presented in words.
You could then send students out to research further.
Extension: Stretch and challenge. Handout 4.18 offers
students studies of post-colonial and modern literature.
(A distinction is made between modernism, modern and
contemporary.) This is an important handout as literature in
English from other cultures is introduced as a study option.
49
This is a testing handout that will extend students’
knowledge and understanding of literature and of literary
history. As you go through it with the students, take the idea
of the history of Empire slowly as it may be new to many
students.
In the discussion, the students should have realised that
there are great differences between the two writers in every
area. Forster’s attitude betrays a note of contempt, made
clear in the simile ‘like some low but indestructible form of
life’. From his British perspective, the Indians are lower than
insects.
Achebe’s language use is totally different. He uses a simile
drawn from within the culture he describes, which implies
that this culture has its own independent vitality. He respects
the African culture, and he neither demeans nor idealises it.
When you have finished this discussion, ask the students to
put away their handouts and summarise the comparison
between the two authors.
End this sequence of work by reminding students that they
have been looking at a turning point in literary history and may
want to follow up a similar line of enquiry with any literature of
interest, colonial or post-colonial, written about their own or
any other culture, be it African, Arabic, Caribbean or Indian.
You could close by explaining that E.M. Forster wrote other
types of novel, such as the delightful, short Italian novels, A
Room with a View and Where Angels Fear to Tread, where the
exploration of English and other cultures is less ambiguous.
These would provide students with attractive material offering
several possible topics. This may particularly appeal to students
who cannot cope with longer novels.
3 Writing one extended
essay (SB pp 161–62)
Activity 25 (SB p 161) features a long case study with a variety
of exercises that will generate plenty of lively discussion. Ideally
draw in all students.
Some guidelines for responses to question 2:
• The material is organised systematically to introduce
the topic in paragraphs 1 and 2; the sonnets and first
biographical context in paragraph 3; the play and second
theatrical context in paragraph 4. Each paragraph,
therefore, is dedicated to a specific stage of the argument.
• Every time a general statement is made, there is also
a textual reference in support, as the PEE formula is
demonstrated.
• The voice is presented in the third person and not the first;
the tone is objective.
• The writing style is non-colloquial and professional.
You could conclude this part of the task by saying that this is
a near-perfect model to follow.
For question 4 establish that all the assessment objectives
are met in the following ways:
AO1 There is a demonstration of knowledge and
understanding of the ideas in both texts and in comparisons
between them, expressed properly using a register
appropriate to literary criticism, e.g. ‘likened to animals’, ‘the
play’s production history’, and so on.
AO2 This is met in the discussion of imagery in paragraph 2.
AO3 This is met in the constant comparisons between the
central text, the second and third texts and an additional
source of reference, Sir Peter Brook’s production (paragraph
4), and the way in which he altered a specific audience’s
perspective on this text.
AO4 Two contexts are introduced in paragraphs 3 and 4,
plus references to the literary context of genre/style in
paragraph 1.
50
4 Addressing the assessment
objectives (SB
��
pp 163–64/Handouts 4.19–4.21)
��
The final part of Section C consists of a study of two poems,
‘The Sun Used to Shine’ by Edward Thomas and ‘To E.T.’ by
Robert Frost, plus an extract from a work of critical commentary
relating to the Thomas poem. The texts are available on
Handout 4.19.
A cluster of tasks related to these three texts address all of
the skills and knowledge needed for writing a literary study,
assessment against the assessment objectives, and, in the
associated handouts, checking writing against the assessment
criteria.
Introduce and read through the activities, then move around
the different groups and listen to each to make sure that the
task is being carried out in an orderly way with proper attention
to detail. Emphasise that Activities 26 and 27 will require
written notes.
In Activity 26 (SB p 163) the first part of the task requires
students to use their assessment criteria handout and to
check where the assessment objectives are achieved. They are
instructed to make written notes on the two poems first. There
will be no difficulty matching material to objectives, but check
that this task is carried out in a thorough way: it is almost the
last stage of study for students before they write their own
work.
Commentary on Activity 26, question 2
Bullets 2/3: hopefully students will see that Thomas describes
events and situations using the senses of sight, with the
bright sun and yellow apple, and of feeling, through the
natural warmth of the sun and the warmth of friendship.
Frost immediately presents himself in the visual imagery of a
cold, dead figure sculpted on a tomb.
Bullet 5: there are several contexts including the social
contexts of love and war; literary contexts of the elegy in
Frost’s poem; philosophical context of the value of human
friendship in both.
Handouts 4.20(a) and 4.20(b) offer two responses in which
the writer comments on all three texts: the two poems and the
critical commentary. The writers are responding to the texts in
the same ways the students have just done in Activities 26
and 27. They have to consider how the assessment objectives
are met; the connections between the two poems and the
extract from the critical commentary; and the differences in
perspective between the two poets. In both these handouts,
the assessment is made at the end of the piece; students will
therefore need their charts showing the assessment criteria.
Handout 4.20(a) is a mid-level response to the task, while
Handout 4.20(b) is a high-level response to the same task.
Suggest that students carry out a final exercise comparing
their own response with these two exemplars. Then, by looking
at the assessment criteria, decide which areas they might be
able to alter either to move up to the next band, or to sit more
securely in the band in which they are currently placed.
Extension: Stretch and challenge. Handout 4.21 is an
additional activity that draws to a close the explorative work of
Section C on a note of revision. Students are asked to assess
this group of three texts from any critical perspective.
Question 2: through exploring different perspectives
students might be led into considering interesting
differences in the way the texts are ‘valued’.
Explain the differences between the principles of assessing
the quality of texts traditionally and of applying modern
criteria such as Marxism. First of all, explain the principles of
traditional literary criticism that were responsible for forming
the ‘canon’ of ‘good’ literature. This works by placing books
in a hierarchy with Shakespeare at the top (see Section
A above). Marxists, for example, would find value in texts
that relate to the political motive of establishing a classless
society. Use George Orwell’s work Down and Out in Paris and
London as an example – one purpose of this book was to
promote reform by illustrating the wretched lives of those
at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Only structuralist
perspectives will support traditional critical judgements, but
will not make value judgements on the writer.
For Activity 27 (SB p 164) students read the commentary and
relate this to both poems; they then discuss perspectives before
moving on to state reasoned preferences.
Students are then asked to write their own traditional critical
piece connecting all three texts, and finally to compare and
contrast the ways in which the poets use the first stanza.
Take it further (SB p 164) asks the students to conceptualise
their responses to the texts. Explain that, rather than saying
‘Thomas uses light and shade: for example, he thinks of the
darkness of night and the bright colours of day’, they could
improve their responses by conceptualising this as ‘Using
patterning of light and dark, Thomas depicts how short human
life is compared with the long darkness of death.’ The use
of patterning reveals method and purpose in a single clear
sentence.
Activity 28 (SB p 164) refocuses attention on the students’ own
studies. They are asked to create their first draft and check it
carefully against the examples in Section C and against the
assessment objectives and criteria. They should then check
these standards with a partner.
Run through the Checkpoint, reminding students that they are
well prepared and that they will have the opportunity to revise
and edit their draft later on.
51
Section D – Writing your creative response
and commentary
(SB pp 165–74/Handouts 4.22–4.27)
Section D helps students to prepare and write first drafts of
the creative response and the commentary. The work includes
organising their research findings in order to make connections
between: texts, creative writing and commentary; intervening
in texts; and exploring a variety of examples of creative writing
to decide on their own creative piece.
• realise that a creative writing response to a text is another
form of criticism and therefore to think of themselves as
creative critics
• remember that the purpose of the exercise is to illuminate
the central text
• feel some excitement because this is a very lively and
enjoyable option
• focus the majority of their effort on the commentary
• refer in the commentary to the full range of texts studied.
Begin by reminding students of the word limits for this
approach – the total must not exceed 3000 words. Explain that,
because the commentary will carry about 75% of the marks
awarded, it must be the far longer piece. Suggest therefore
a limit of 500–1000 words for the creative piece. If a poem
is offered, the word count may be lower; in this case, the
commentary would have to be longer to fit the prescribed limit
overall. Students should remember to keep a running word
count at the bottom of each page of their folder.
Run through the assessment objectives with your students.
Emphasise that all the objectives carry equal marks, so each
must be addressed thoroughly. Remind them that they have
already had some experience of writing a creative critical
response in Unit 2, but in Unit 4 there is a free choice of texts
and a free choice of form and purpose in the response, which
will be more challenging.
Point out that students must show their range of reading in
their creative response and commentary. This option requires
just as much reading and research as the studies. They should
organise their research notes under six headings: audience;
register; tone; genre and literary conventions; contexts,
including reception; and connections between texts.
Talk through this list slowly and carefully with your students.
Finally, remind them that they should take notes as soon as
they begin work. They must also record each stage of their
preparation for the creative writing to use in their commentary.
Activity 29 (SB p 165) starts the students off by encouraging
them to organise their research notes under the headings listed
above.
Handout 4.22 offers students a plan for their whole
programme of research.
Handout 4.23 is an exercise in summarising skills to prepare
students for taking research notes. It is an extract from Caryl
Churchill’s play Top Girls. Students first summarise the episode,
and then put the text part of the handout away so that their
summarising skills can be tested.
There are two characters: Marlene, who comes across as a
bully, and Jeanine, who doesn’t appear to be able to stand
up to her. Marlene wants to get a vacancy filled with no
concern for Jeanine. Churchill, in this feminist play, suggests
through the character of Marlene that women should
support each other.
Students have to answer six questions based on their
summary notes alone. Answers:
1 The situation is an interview in which the interviewee is
persuaded to think about the sort of job she doesn’t want.
2 Marlene is seen as a bully and not a feminist as she tries to
‘do down’ the other woman.
3 Jeanine is timid and makes a poor attempt to stand up for
herself.
4 The issues raised concern feminism, women helping
women and the problems facing women in a man’s world.
5 There are many possible interventions. Allow the groups
to talk in turn.
6 Students are asked to check their own work.
Students who plan to incorporate dialogue into their creative
piece may benefit from reading The Book of Dialogue by Lewis
Turco.
1 Writing your creative
response ��
(SB pp 166–71)
Remind students that they do not have to agree automatically
with the author’s viewpoint or purposes, nor do they have to be
‘ideal readers’. Explain that most authors write for an imagined
perfect readership who will accept whatever is suggested. Your
students do not have to cooperate, and this can lead to textual
intervention to change things to suit their own views.
52
Textual intervention (SB pp 166–71)
This heading opens what should be a lively and enjoyable
sequence of work. Begin by reminding students that the whole
purpose of their creative piece is to explore the meanings/
themes/issues of the central text.
Explain that ‘textual intervention’ is the term used for many
forms of creative–critical responses to a text. They can intervene
and make changes in the development of the text, or they can
alter readers’ responses by making additions before the actual
text begins and/or after it ends. They may use their central
text as a springboard for a new text of their own, and they
can merge texts in a collage. There are many interesting and
exciting opportunities.
To prepare for these exercises, instruct students to stand well
back from the text so that they are not too emotionally or
intellectually involved. From this distance they will be able to
think about the various decisions the author has made.
Run through the four bulleted questions with them. Link this
exercise to intervention by explaining that distancing will allow
them to decide where and how they will intervene and become
part of the writing process. The diagram should make this
perfectly clear. Explain that there are three places outside and
inside a text where intervention can happen; they can intervene
before the central text begins or after the apparent conclusion
in order to alter readers’ responses to it. They are not limited to
simply interrupting the narrative/dramatic/poetic sequence.
If they intervene before the story begins, they will be producing
a prologue, prelude or prequel; if at the end of the story, they
will be writing a sequel, postscript, ‘postlude’ or epilogue. There
are, of course, many opportunities for intervening during the
textual process, as outlined in the diagram.
The term ‘textual intervention’ is then explained. The most
important thing to impress on students is the power they have
in their own heads and hands to change a text. This gives them
a sense of their own importance in addressing this approach to
the task. Explain that, just as writers of critical essays can change
readers’ interpretations of, or responses to, a text, they will do
the same thing by actually getting inside it. In this way, they will
gain an understanding of the issues the original author faced
when writing the text.
Establish that the key outcome is to throw the text off-balance
in some way, perhaps by adding contexts, as in a prequel or
sequel that may change the ways that readers respond, as Jean
Rhys did in The Wide Sargasso Sea, which some of the students
may have studied in an earlier module.
Activity 30 (SB p 167) offers an opportunity to discuss the
effects created by Ian McEwan when he added the various
postscripts to Enduring Love. Take students through the four
questions that are provided to structure the discussion. Perhaps
students could improvise the reader’s situation at the end of the
narrative section; you might start by saying: ‘Imagine that you
have just come to what you assumed was the end of a text. You
will probably have formed a response to the main characters.
In this case you would have probably decided that Jed was the
villain of the piece. Then you go on to discover the postscripts,
with the first one an account of a mental illness called ‘de
Clerambault’s Syndrome’. You realise that Jed might be sick with
this condition. How do you think that this revelation would alter
your first response to Jed? Is he still simply the villain, or do you
have a more complex response to him now?’
Ensure that you make your students aware that the condition
at the heart of the novel does not actually exist and that the
‘learned paper’, which gives it an even more realistic dimension,
is itself a total fiction invented by McEwan himself to give
credibility to his novel.
Two examples are given of the way in which authors respond
to other texts: Keats in his Odes and Carol Ann Duffy in The
World’s Wife; some students might know these texts from
earlier studies. But for those who do not know Duffy’s poetry,
describe how she re-invents the story of Delilah by presenting
her version of the Biblical story from the woman’s standpoint
and writes a new text. She is trying to persuade readers to
reconsider the male versions of events.
Take it further (SB p 167) asks students to rewrite a mythical or
Bible story from an alternative critical perspective.
Remind students that all texts they read will already have been
intervened in by the author, editors, and so on. Then critics step
in and try to alter reader responses. A 12-point list identifies
possibilities for intervention. Go through and discuss them,
using the glossary if necessary for precise definition of ‘pastiche’,
‘parody’ and ‘satire’. Allow time for monitored group discussion
to facilitate students’ choices. Finally, remind students of the
seriousness of the task and of the need to connect three texts in
their writing.
Practising textual intervention (SB pp 168–71/Handouts 4.24–4.27)
Some students will have studied The Bloody Chamber in Unit 1.
Students are asked to think about the ways in which Angela
Carter approached her particular exercise here. Remind
students that she is doing something similar to Carol Ann Duffy
by taking one text as a springboard for a new one.
Explain that the four points are taken from Carter’s introduction
to this text; run through them with students, stressing that they
too will have to approach the task in an equally thorough way.
Activity 31 (SB p 168) asks students to write another version of
a fairytale (a traditional way of beginning textual intervention),
and then compare it with their peers’ version.
Handout 4.24 offers ideas of the sort of creative approach that
could be attempted by students.
53
Activity 32 (SB p 168) Read through with students ‘In Church’,
one of Thomas Hardy’s Satires of Circumstance (II). Help them to
see the dark irony of the piece as Hardy sardonically considers
a series of human weaknesses. Explain how Hardy mocks the
Preacher’s vanity, and how he is found out by a one-time fan.
This sequence of 13 poems is less well-trodden than either
Duffy’s or Browning’s and the characters are very firmly drawn.
The five possibilities for intervention are self-explanatory;
they can be carried out in groups and you could walk around
monitoring them. Students might also like to compare ‘In
Church’ with Idris Davies’ ‘The Lay Preacher Ponders’.
Extension. Suggest another type of intervention: students
could take one of Hardy’s characters and transpose him/her
into another text. For example, great effects might be created
by placing this preacher in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park:
the heroine wouldn’t be so keen on marrying him. Another
character in these Satires is a nasty lady (‘At the Drapers’,
XII), who is buying her funeral clothes before her husband
is dead, and he happens to see this. What effects might be
created by making this woman The Wife of Bath? It would be
very stimulating to rewrite and reverse Browning’s dramatic
monologue My Last Duchess with this lady as the speaker.
Handout 4.25 offers examples of three types of contemporary
poetry: acrostics, ‘cut-ups’ and ‘found poetry’.
It is suggested that students who would like to offer a poetry
response might include these in a selection of poems in
response to a text, then students are asked to write one of
these three types of poem. ‘Found poetry’ is an art form that
began in America in the 1930s when artists switched objects
they found in one context into another, alien context. One
example was the image of a dove taken from a garden and
transposed onto a Russian flag at the front of a tank. This
made a strong comment about war and peace. Students
can employ this method in their creative writing by taking a
character, event or situation from one text and placing it in a
strange context to create a specific effect.
Read through the handout with the students, or ask them
to read it on their own and discuss their thoughts in pairs
or small groups. You will need to say a few words about
The French Lieutenant’s Woman to introduce the mysterious
lady to them. (She is pitied, feared or hated by the villagers
because she was the mistress of a French sailor who has not
returned to her. A visiting man falls in love with her, which
fairly wrecks his life.) The example of a ‘found object’ here is
the French lieutenant’s woman herself. She is moved away
from her context in the novel and set against a much vaster
context. She is placed against the contexts of eternity, by
references to time: ‘eternal’ and ‘infinite’; to natural events
long, long ago, such as the ‘ancient dice’, or rocks which have
been eroded since time immemorial; to the past civilisations
of Dorset’s Jurassic coast: the ‘faience phantoms’. She is set
against the whole universe under the stars burning in the
sky. At least two effects are created: she and her human
concerns seem very trivial against this background, but
these new contexts also suggest the length of time that
this woman feels she is obliged to wait. In this way, the
events and issues of the novel are expanded to relate to the
whole of humankind, each person with their own individual
concerns.
Students do not have to change contexts. A found poem
could, for example, focus on a character in a text as he/she
is presented in a specific section, such as the description of
Tess, bedecked with flowers and strawberries, on the first
page of Chapter Six of Tess of the D’Urbevilles. In this case
students would be supporting the author’s ideas rather
than introducing new ideas, so the writing would be less
exploratory.
Remind students that precise textual references should be
given when they write any of these three types of poetry.
The idea of ‘holes in texts’ is also addressed, then students
move on to consider power shifts, as in Hamlet, and effects
created by introducing a character into a text, such as in the
Austen example.
Activity 33 (SB p 169) asks students to consider their own
creative response in this light.
The TV drama Lost in Austen is cited next as another example of
textual manipulation. This time, explain the collision in values
between characters from Austen and Amanda Price from the
twenty-first century.
Activity 34 (SB p 170) asks students to intervene in their central
text and see what would happen if they were to change the
beginning, middle or end. They should spend 15 minutes on
this and think about the changes they have brought about.
Activity 35 (SB pp 170–71) offers an opportunity to read and
evaluate an extract from an exemplar creative response with
commentary. (Two more exemplars are provided on Handouts
4.26 and 4.27 – see below.)
Explain that Raymond Chandler was a famous American
detective fiction writer in the 1930s and Philip Marlowe
was his private investigator protagonist. Perhaps some may
have seen one of the films with Humphrey Bogart or Robert
Mitchum as the P.I. The Big Sleep was probably the first great
detective novel. You might also have to explain the idea of
Arthurian chivalry, the chivalric code and the code of courtly
love.
Discuss the creative response and point out how Marlowe’s
letter picks up elements of the sonnet. This is an exchange
between two knights, one sixteenth century and one
twentieth-century, which shows differences in attitudes and
manners; there is a great contrast in the ways in which ‘love’
is considered in these two eras, and this incongruity has
created the humour of the piece in both the language and
social conventions. The formal sonnet is pitted against the
colloquial tone of a rather cynical modern man. Marlowe’s
response to Elizabethan clothing furthers this humour.
54
Activity 36 (SB p 171) asks students to write a first draft of
their own creative response and to jot down notes for their
commentaries as they go. Run through the assessment
objectives again, reminding students to keep checking that all
are included in their commentaries and to keep making notes
at all stages.
2 Writing your commentary (SB pp 172–74/Handouts 4.26–4.27)
This part of Section C takes students step-by-step through
preparing and writing the first draft of their commentary. You
will be familiar with this from the specification, Appendix 7, p 87.
Students are advised to:
The short story: there is evidence of all of the AOs in the
commentary.
AO1 has been met with the understanding evident and the
use of correct terminology.
AO2 has been met in the imagery discussed.
AO3 has been met in the clear links established between the
texts.
AO4 has been met in the literary context of the short story,
as well as references to the biographical and social contexts.
The purposes are strongly in line with the requirements of
the unit. The creative writing covers all of the points referred
to in the commentary.
1 start with a statement about their research area
2 discuss the creative response
3 evaluate their outcomes.
The poem: the research area is in line with the demands of
the unit and addresses relevant areas for exploration. There is
evidence of all the AOs in the commentary.
Activity 37 (SB pp 173–74) asks students to return to the
exemplar study and carefully read the commentary. They are
directed to evaluate it through the six headings mentioned at
the beginning of this section. It may be best to discuss this in
groups first to formulate a response, and then come together as
a class to discuss the different responses.
The commentary is effective as the student has carefully
covered all of the assessment objectives:
AO1 There is obvious understanding of the form and meaning
of the sonnet, explained in appropriate language.
AO2 The student immediately engages with imagery, refers to
the sonnet form (paragraph 3) and Marlowe’s modern imagery
(paragraph 5).
AO3 The commentary refers to the differences and similarities
in the way the topic of love is presented in two different eras.
AO4 There is a clear grasp of two different periods of literary
and social history.
As long as the student were to fully develop the commentary, it
would be satisfactory.
Handouts 4.26 and 4.27 offer further exemplars of creative
responses with commentary for study.
AO1 has been met in the understanding of the genre of
poetry and the biographical subject matter.
AO2 is met in the discussion of the elegy form. This would
need to be strengthened in the rest of the commentary.
AO3 will be addressed in the links established between the
three texts, which are evident in the commentary.
AO4 will be addressed in the discussion of several contexts,
including the literary and the biographical.
Talk through the exemplars in class together and then break
into groups to refine the findings. Ensure that students evaluate
the commentaries against the assessment objectives and then
the criteria. They must be in control of this important material.
Activity 38 (SB p 174) asks students to write their own
commentary and evaluate it with their peers against the
assessment objectives and criteria. Monitor the groups and
make sure that this is being undertaken seriously.
Checkpoint. Run through the checklist with students, remind
them that they are well prepared and that they will have the
opportunity to revise and edit their drafts later on.
55
Section E – Revising and editing your work
Section E focuses on the revision and editing processes that
students will address in the final stages of their literary studies. It
is directed at all students, whether they offer the study/studies
or the creative response with commentary.
• be methodical in the revising and editorial stages
• carry out the work in the first handout diligently as, even at
this late stage, improvements can be made.
Watch out for… Students sometimes lose their drive or sense
of urgency at this point. This work could be seen as almost an
anti-climax after the hard work carried out in writing the first
draft of their studies. Stress that even now they could improve
their final grade.
Remind them that many writers make changes at this point;
also emphasise that this is the opportunity for them to polish
their style and give their coursework a professional finish.
Indeed, the students’ aim should be not just to produce entirely
accurate expression – there is no place for errors, even typos,
in coursework – but felicitous expression. Students need to
develop the habit of not being satisfied with the first word
that occurs to them, and which only approximates to what
they want to say; they need to develop the habit of searching
for precisely the right word. If they develop this habit in their
coursework, then it will transfer and have a beneficial effect on
the quality of their writing in their exam answers too.
Begin by offering your students the sequence of work for this
section. They will:
1 learn how to revise and edit their work
2 work through the first handout in pairs or small groups
3 in light of this, check their study to see if improvements
could be made
4 carry out the revision and editing processes
5 submit their study for peer review
6 write their final draft
Of course, students are entitled to defend their case, but
they must be honest enough to admit when necessary that
improvements ought to be made.
Watch out for… Some students may be a little selfish, keen
to hear about their own work, but not committing themselves
fully to the assessment of work of other students. The success
of this process of peer review depends on every single member
of the group committing themselves whole-heartedly to the
process. It would be best if students set up their own groups
within the class for this purpose and made a timetable, ensuring
that all the students were included. The times set for review
must be honoured.
Ask students to read through their draft and ask themselves
the review questions listed (SB p 176). Read out the nine
review points in class slowly, allowing time for questions. Warn
students about the perils of plagiarism. Explain that there are
programs that will pick up even a single plagiarised sentence.
Make it clear that students will be credited for using information
from their research – as long as it is properly acknowledged.
Activity 40 (SB p 177) advises students to proceed with their
final draft and incorporate any changes necessary after they
themselves, and also their peers, have reviewed their work.
They should draw up their bibliography alphabetically,
listing the books and articles that have influenced their work.
Run through the referencing system carefully as it is quite
complicated. Reassure students that there is no need to
worry if they list only a few sources. For additional help on
acknowledging and referring to sources see Getting Started,
pp30–31.
Advise students to check their sources to see that these are
valid; check to make sure that online resources are still extant;
that no website address details have been changed and there
have not been any updates or deletions; that they have listed
texts with all details correct; and that listed texts are in print or
may be found in libraries.
8 submit their work.
Explain that the purpose of this final check is to make sure that
readers can access any listed sources without difficulty.
Check all the essential points first, as listed (SB p 175).
Proofreading (SB p 179)
7 carry out a final revision and editing process
Activity 39 (SB p 176) asks students to submit their first draft
for peer review. They must approach this in a positive frame
of mind, prepared for both praise and criticism, and aware
therefore that they must be objective about their writing. It
is important that they are ready to listen to advice and are
prepared to act on it when necessary. Convince them that this
is a positive process and that they need not be defensive over
their writing; students are not being judged personally, purely
academically.
Explain how difficult it can be for a writer to check their own
work; their memory of what has been written sometimes
prevents the writer from seeing what is actually on the page.
It is best carried out with the help of another person, such as a
family member or friend.
It is important that students realise how important attention
to detail is at this final stage; teachers and moderators will be
irritated to come across unnecessary errors that spoil the way a
text reads.
56
Go through the list of common errors, asking the students to
check through for these.
Section C
Activity 41 (SB p 179) asks students to proofread their
coursework, checking for mechanical and technical accuracy.
Handout 4.28 is a bibliography of text books recommended
for students. Some have been mentioned in the Student Book.
Checkpoint. All that you can do now is to run through the final
checklist, and then wish students good luck in their studies.
4.18 Post-colonial and ‘modern’ attitudes to considering other
cultures
List of handouts
Section A
4.1 What is literature?
4.2 Addressing the assessment objectives
Student Book pp 129 & 136/CD-ROM p 41
4.3 Extract from ‘The Kiss of Life’
CD-ROM p 43
Section B
4.4 A study timetable
4.5 Research in a library and on the internet
Student Book pp 141–2/CD-ROM p 44
4.6 Some useful websites
4.7 Reading critically
4.8 Culture and society
4.9a The importance of contexts
4.9b The importance of contexts
4.10a Recognising critical perspectives
4.10b Recognising critical perspectives
4.19 Thomas and Frost poems/commentary text
Student Book pp 163–4/CD-ROM p 51
4.20a Mid-level response to the Thomas/Frost
commentary task
4.20b High-level response to the Thomas/Frost
commentary task
4.21 Exercises based on the Thomas/Frost commentary task
Section D
4.22 Planning your creative response with commentary
4.24 Possible topics for a creative response with commentary
4.26a Example A: Writing a short story
Student Book p 171/CD-ROM pp 54–55
4.26b Example A: Writing a short story
Section E
4.12 Evaluating a proposal for a creative response
4.28 Bibliography
CD-ROM p 57
4.13 Accessing the higher bands of the marking criteria
4.14 Improving your grade: Moving from band 2 to band 3
4.15 Further suggestions for essay topics
57
Student Book p 8
3.1 H
ow do style and language
work?
CD-ROM p 9
The poem below was written during World War I. Read it and then consider Sassoon’s choices of language.
Base Details by Siegfried Sassoon
If I were fierce, and bald, and short of breath,
I’d live with scarlet Majors at the Base,
And speed glum heroes up the line to death.
You’d see me with my puffy petulant face,
Guzzling and gulping in the best hotel,
Reading the Roll of Honour. ‘Poor young chap,’
I’d say – ‘I used to know his father well;
Yes, we’ve lost heavily in this last scrap.’
And when the war is done and youth stone dead,
I’d toddle safely home and die – in bed.
5
10
1. Analyse the way Sassoon’s choices of language shape your response to ‘Majors at the
Base’. Consider:
• the adjectives and verbs used to describe them: ‘fierce’, ‘scarlet’, ‘puffy’, ‘petulant,
‘guzzling’, ‘gulping’, ‘toddle’
• the tone of voice given to the Major in lines 6 to 8
• the shift in perspective (or point of view) in lines 9 and 10.
2. The poem conveys strong feeling. Say how effectively you think it does so, and why.
© Pearson Education Limited: this may be reproduced for class use solely within the purchaser’s school or college
3.2 V
ocabulary for diction in
poems
Student Book p 10
CD-ROM p 10
Read the poem below. Then consider Ted Hughes’ use of diction in it.
The Horses by Ted Hughes
I climbed through woods in the hour-before-dawn dark.
Evil air, a frost-making stillness,
Silently, and splitting to its core tore and flung cloud,
Shook the gulf open, showed blue,
Not a leaf, not a bird –
A world cast in frost. I came out above the wood
And the big planets hanging –
I turned
Where my breath left tortuous statues in the iron light. 5
But the valleys were draining the darkness
Stumbling in the fever of a dream, down towards
The dark woods, from the kindling tops,
Till the moorline – blackening dregs of the brightening
grey –
Halved the sky ahead. And I saw the horses:
And came to the horses.
There, still, they stood,
But now steaming and glistening under the flow of light,
Huge in the dense grey – ten together –
Megalith-still. They breathed, making no move,
10
The frost showed its fires. But still they made no sound.
Not one snorted or stamped,
I passed: not one snorted or jerked its head.
Grey silent fragments
Their hung heads patient as the horizons,
High over valleys, in the red levelling rays –
I listened in emptiness on the moor-ridge.
The curlew’s tear turned its edge on the silence.
Slowly detail leafed from the darkness. Then the sun
Orange, red, red erupted
15
25
Their draped stone manes, their tilted hind-hooves
Stirring under a thaw while all around them
With draped manes and tilted hind-hooves,
Making no sound.
Of a grey silent world.
20
30
In din of the crowded streets, going among the years, the
faces,
May I still meet my memory in so lonely a place
Between the streams and the red clouds, hearing curlews,
Hearing the horizons endure.
•��
Consider Hughes’ choices of diction in this poem and how they convey its themes.
Include comment on how the connotations and the sound of words help to convey themes.
35
Student Book p 13
CD-ROM p 11
Read the poem below and analyse Sylvia Plath’s use of imagery in it.
Words by Sylvia Plath
Axes
After whose stroke the wood rings,
And the echoes!
Echoes traveling
Off from the centre like horses.
5
The sap
Wells like tears, like the
Water striving
To re-establish its mirror
Over the rock
10
That drops and turns,
A white skull,
Eaten by weedy greens.
Years later I
Encounter them on the road –
15
Words dry and riderless,
The indefatigable hoof-taps.
While
From the bottom of the pool, fixed stars
Govern a life.
20
• Consider the way Sylvia Plath creates and conveys her ideas about Words by using
images related to:
tree-felling,
horses,
water,
a skull,
stars.
3.4 A
n unprepared poem to
analyse: Practice for Section A
Student Book p 13
CD-ROM p 11
Read the poem below and write an analysis of it. In your analysis, comment on:
• Larkin’s principal theme in this poem
• his use of an extended metaphor to create and convey this theme
• any uses of diction that strike you as interesting or effective.
Next, Please by Philip Larkin
Always too eager for the future, we
Pick up bad habits of expectancy.
Something is always approaching; every day
Till then, we say,
Watching from a bluff the tiny, clear,
Sparkling armada of promises draw near.
How slow they are! And how much time they waste
Refusing to make haste!
Yet still they leave us holding wretched stalks
Of disappointment, for though nothing balks*
Each big approach, leaning with brasswork prinked,
Each rope distinct,
Flagged, and the figurehead with golden tits
Arching our way, it never anchors; it’s
No sooner present than it turns to past.
Right to the last
We think each one will heave to and unload
All good into our lives, all we are owed
For waiting so devoutly and so long.
But we are wrong:
5
10
15
20
Only one ship is seeking us, a blackSailed unfamiliar, towing at her back
A huge and birdless silence. In her wake
No waters breed or break.
*balks: thwarts, impedes
3.5 A
high-level response to the
poem ‘Next, Please’
Student Book p 13
CD-ROM p 11
Read the sample analysis below. Then read the examiner’s comments on this response, printed on
Handout 3.6.
‘Next, Please’ is about the way we constantly look to the future and expect it to
be better than the past. But it never is. When the future arrives, it leaves us ‘clutching
wretched stalks of disappointment’ and is ‘no sooner present than it turns to past’.
Larkin claims that we never lose our ‘bad habits of expectancy’. We go on believing
naively that some future event or experience will ‘unload / All good into our lives’.
Ironically, the one promise the future does deliver is death:
‘Only one ship is seeking us, a blackSailed unfamiliar’
This shows that we would be better off making the most of the present rather than living
in our dreams. Larkin reveals in the last stanza that what faces us all is the ‘huge and
birdless silence’ of death when it will be too late to achieve anything.
Larkin describes life’s continual disappointments by an extended metaphor of sailing
and sea voyages. He may have in mind the saying ‘When the ship comes in’ to describe
our expectations of the future. He depicts people standing like lookouts and ‘watching
from a bluff’ or headland ‘the tiny, clear,/ Sparkling armada of promises draw near’. An
‘armada’ contains exotic ships loaded with treasure. This suggests that our ‘habits of
expectancy’ take the form of high hopes of the future, hopes that are always too high.
We ‘bluff’ ourselves by forever seeing the future as ‘sparkling’.
Larkin’s metaphor for the let down that follows unrealistically high expectations is
taken from flowers. The flowers we buy to welcome ‘each big approach’ turn to ‘wretched
stalks’ in our hands. Hope shrivels into disappointment.
But we never learn our lesson, Larkin says. ‘Something is always approaching’, and we
defer our hopes until the next time. In our imagination, the ship of hope is so ‘distinct’
and so unmistakably ‘arching our way’ that we remain baffled, as well as disappointed,
when ‘it never anchors’. Larkin gives his explanation for this through the image of ‘the
figurehead with golden tits’. This represents our hopes and dreams. The image is both
alluring and rather ludicrous. ‘Golden’ suggests greedy but reasonable expectation, perhaps
of wealth or untroubled happiness. ‘Golden tits’, on the other hand, suggests that our
hopes are an impossible fantasy, and a rather sordid one too.
The diction and imagery of the last stanza are sombre. ‘Only one ship’ is given
emphasis at the start of line 21 and made to sound stark. The fact that it is actively
‘seeking us’, as opposed to the ship we wait for, shows that this is the ship of death
rather than the ship of hope. This ship is ‘black-sailed’, very different from the ‘golden’
armada, and its only cargo is ‘A huge and birdless silence’ – in other words, oblivion.
Larkin’s diction to describe death is very harsh: ‘In her wake/ No waters breed or break’.
Neither life nor hope can ‘breed’ in the vicinity of this ship, and there is no tide to ‘break’
the endless, lifeless monotony of the sea it sails. Our only destination is death.
3.6 E xaminer’s comments on
the response to the poem
‘Next, Please’
Student Book p 13
CD-ROM p 11
Below are the examiner’s comments on the sample answer on Handout 3.5.
AO1
This answer starts with a sound overview of the poem, summing it up neatly and using
the quotations in an effective way to support the point being made. The writer has a
sound sense of literary terminology through his references to ‘irony’, ‘extended metaphor’,
‘image’, ‘diction’, ‘imagery’ and ‘stanza’, each of which is used correctly and related to
specific textual references.
AO2
The writer has an impressive set of insights into the poem and, in particular, draws
attention to the contrasts made between the overall tone of the poem which is distinctly
serious, even ‘sombre’ (his word), and the lightness of touch with the more frivolous, but
empty, images such as ‘golden tits’. The connotations of ‘golden’ are acknowledged and
interestingly, the way its association with the word it pre-modifies takes the reader into
a quite different world. The contrast with ‘black’ is also precisely delineated. Similarly the
associations that are conjured up by ‘armada’ are identified and discussed. The writer has
also captured the elusiveness of the optimism felt by reference to images associated with
life and hopes such as ‘bad habits of expectancy’, ‘bluff’ and the ephemeral ‘sparkling’. His
overview is confirmed by the picking up of the metaphors associated with the sea, ships
and voyages.
What might have been expected in a discussion of diction is the sustained use of the
first-person narrator. There is an assumption that the ‘we’ in the poem links writer and
reader, perhaps this invitation is too easily accepted and, although we might know
something about Larkin’s own fears of death, most memorably articulated in his poem
‘Aubade’, a stronger reference to a created persona in the narrative voice might have
been welcome.
Nevertheless, this is critical writing at a high-level of insight, clearly and precisely
articulated and, if completed at the same level of accomplishment under examination
conditions, would undoubtedly have been given a mark very high in band 5.
Student Book p 16
CD-ROM p 12
Read the sonnet below.
God’s Grandeur by Gerard Manley Hopkins
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod*?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade*; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
5
And for all this, nature is never spent*;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
10
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs –
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods* with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
*reck his rod: show concern for his power
*trade: man’s handiwork
*spent: exhausted
*broods: nurtures
1. Consider what Hopkins is saying in this poem about:
a) how God’s grandeur is to be found in nature despite man’s negative impact on
the world
b) how God continues to care for his creation like a loving parent.
2. Devise four questions to ask another group about Hopkins’ use of rhyme, rhythm and
sound at particular points in the poem. Make sure that you discuss and decide on your
own answers first.
Student Book p 18
CD-ROM p 13
Read the modern poem below.
First Love by Mick Gowar
He:
I knew it had to come. I couldn’t bear
It then; can’t take it now. I’ll make amends.
I’m willing to agree, now. So – be fair,
there’s no need to split up. We’ll just be friends,
Like you suggested. Not see quite so much
of each other. Please! I agree. You’re right.
I made too much of what we had. Been such
a fool. I’ll take the blame. We’ll start tonight
– The New Improved Regime. We’ll both be free
to do just what we want – the adult way.
I’ll do just as you want me to. You’ll see.
I’m willing to do anything you say.
I promise. I won’t make a scene. Won’t cry.
If you’ll do just one thing. Don’t say goodbye.
5
10
1. This poem is in the form of a sonnet. Work with a partner to show that:
a) it has three quatrains and a sestet, as in Shakespearean sonnets
b) its rhyme scheme is ababefef/cdcdgg, as in Shakespearean sonnets
c) its basic meter is iambic pentameter, as in Shakespearean sonnets.
2. Then discuss why Mick Gowar may have chosen this particular form for the ‘He’ poem
of the pair about ‘First Love’.
Student Book p 19
CD-ROM p 13
Read aloud the performance poem below in a small group. Share out the lines between you. Then consider
this poem’s form and structure and how they are closely linked to the use of voice.
Men Are … by The Raving Beauties
men are strong, men are tough
men are surly, men are rough
men have mates, men drink beer
men are brave and don’t show fear
men slap backs, men sing songs
men are men and men are strong
men don’t touch, men aren’t drips
men shake hands with vice-like grips.
men like fighting, men like cars
men like shouting with men in bars
men like football and now and then
men like men like men like men
no they don’t, men beat up queers
men live with their mums for years and years
men have beards and hairy chests
men walk through blizzards in string vests.
men can embrace and bare their soul
but only if they’ve scored a goal
men leap tall buildings, men are tough
men don’t know when they’ve had enough
men drive fast cars with wide wheels
men like fur-lined steering-wheels
men have muscles, men have sweat
men haven’t learned to grow up yet.
men climb mountains in the snow
men don’t cook and men don’t sew
men are bosses, men are chums
men build office blocks and slums
men make bombs, men make wars
men are stupid, men are bores
men ignore what women see
and call our story history.
5
10
15
20
25
30
3.10 A
n unprepared poem to
analyse: Practice for Section A
Student Book p 19
CD-ROM p 14
Read the poem below, then write an analysis of it.
R.S. Thomas was a clergyman whose parish included a remote area in mid-Wales.
The hill-farmers there faced a constant struggle against poverty and the harsh weather.
Depopulation of the Hills by R.S. Thomas
Leave it, leave it – the hole under the door
Was a mouth through which the rough wind spoke
Ever more sharply; the dank hand
Of age was busy on the walls
Scrawling in blurred characters
Messages of hate and fear.
Leave it, leave it – the cold rain began
At summer end – there is no road
Over the bog, and winter comes
With mud above the axletree.
5
10
Leave it, leave it – the rain dripped
Day and night from the patched roof
Sagging beneath its load of sky.
Did the earth help them, time befriend
These last survivors? Did the spring grass
Heal winter’s ravages? The grass
Wrecked them in its draughty tides,
Grew from the chimney-stack like smoke,
Burned its way through the weak timbers.
That was nature’s jest, the sides Of the old hulk cracked, but not with mirth.
15
20
1. Write an analysis of this poem. You should include detailed comment on Thomas’:
a) choices of diction
b) use of imagery – metaphor, simile and personification
c) use of voice
d) use of structural elements – word order, line arrangement, stanza forms
e) use of sound to reinforce meaning.
2. Relate these aspects of style clearly to Thomas’ themes. End your anaylsis by
evaluating the poem’s effectiveness in conveying its themes to you.
3.11 A mid-level response to
‘Depopulation of the Hills’
Student Book p 19
CD-ROM p 14
Read the sample response below. Then read the examiner’s comments printed on Handout 3.12.
This poem is about the way people in a remote country area are defeated by time and the rough weather. The poet, R.S. Thomas,
says that ‘the dank hand/ Of age’ has written ‘messages of hate and fear’ on the walls of their houses, telling them ‘Leave it,
leave it’. I take this to mean either ‘leave the land’ or ‘leave off fighting the inevitable and give in’. This turns out to be a timely
warning, because by the end of the poem Thomas tells us that the people’s houses ‘cracked’ and ‘burned’. Earlier they have been
called ‘these last survivors’, so this means they are finished.
Thomas makes it clear that they have been worn down and conquered by nature:
‘That was nature’s jest’.
A jest is a joke, so nature is being personified here to be some kind of bully with a warped sense of humour, in other words a sadist.
Only a sadist would think it was a ‘jest’ to ‘wreck’ and ‘ravage’ people’s houses like a vandal would. This theme is increased by the
rhetorical questions in the last stanza:
‘Did the earth help them… ?
Did the spring grass
Heal winter’s ravages?’
The answer is that these elements of nature, the earth and the grass, did not. On the contrary, it is made to seem as though
nature took an evil pleasure in driving the people out after giving them its messages of ‘hate’. The verbs in the last stanza are all
destructive, such as ‘wrecked’ and ‘burned’, their harsh sounds emphasise this.
The structure of the poem matches its subject. It has four stanzas. The first three of these begin in the same way with
‘Leave it, leave it’ to show nature not letting up in trying to drive the people out. Also each of these stanzas is shorter than the
one before, this is perhaps to show how time is running out for the people.
There is a change in point of view in the fourth stanza. Thomas stands back and asks questions – ‘Did the earth help… ? /
Did the spring grass heal?’ – about what he has been describing in stanzas 1-3, so the poem takes a more philosophical approach as
it reaches the end. It gives Thomas’ explanation for what has happened:
‘the sides
Of the old hulk cracked, but not with mirth’.
People talk about their sides ‘splitting’ with laughter when they see something funny, but Thomas is saying it is not funny at all for
a house to be smashed. The house could be personified because it has ‘sides’, if so this is a painful process rather than a comical
one.
Thomas uses personification throughout the poem. The wind is said in stanza 1 to have ‘spoke[n] sharply’, using as a ‘mouth’
the hole under the door. This helps to show nature as an hostile intruder. Also ‘age’ or time is personified to be a graffiti artist
‘scrawling’ on the walls. In reality this would probably be the moss growing inside the house, but it is effective to have it as scribbled
graffiti ‘in blurred characters’ (characters are the letters of a word).
Continuing with the theme of imagery, the grass is compared in the last stanza to ‘draughty tides’ which brings to mind the
sea flooding the land. Then Thomas changes his imagery for the grass into fire and smoke:
‘Grew from the chimney-stack like smoke,
Burned its way through the weak timbers’.
What Thomas seems to be saying is that nature can take any form of destruction it feels like, it can be the element of water as
in the sea or it can be the element of fire. Whichever form it takes it is destructive and hostile to the people.
My evaluation of the poem is that it is successful. It shows nature in an unusual light, as being set against man rather
than cooperating with him or being harnessed for a constructive purpose. The diction of the poem is harsh and cold to reflect this
impression, for example ‘the rain dripped/ Day and night from the patched roof/ Sagging beneath its load of sky’. I think it is
effective to divide the poem into stanzas which show things getting worse and worse for the people.
Taking into account that R.S. Thomas was a clergyman, this poem could be interpreted as him losing his Christian faith, since
to Christians, God works through nature to help human beings, not to destroy them. However, it is impossible to prove this because
the poem is not about religion but about time and change. It is a bitter poem which I think is meant to shock the reader with a
theme of how brutal nature can be.
3.12 E xaminer’s comments on the
response to ‘Depopulation of
the Hills’
Student Book p 19
CD-ROM p 14
AO1
The writer has understood the poem’s content and is able to express this clearly and with
some appropriate use of critical terminology. This is somewhat inconsistent as most of
the critical work is done on the latter part of the poem with limited exploration of the
harsh images of the first two stanzas in particular. The expression is generally accurate
and fit for purpose. The answer could be better organised, however, as there is jumping
about between different parts of the poem, as opposed to a more chronological
examination. This would be assessed as being in band 2 for AO1.
AO2
There is sound awareness of language and structure, exploring with some success the
way the ideas in the poem progress. This quite well conveyed in the overview presented
in the opening paragraph and in the later remarks about the lengths of the stanzas and
the shift in point of view at the end. However, as noted in the comments on AO1, the
approach is inconsistent and the language of the earlier stanzas receives less attention
than that of the later ones. The evaluation is adequate although the final link to a more
speculative interpretation is rather tentative and feels added on. This would be assessed
as low in band 4 for this AO.
3.13 S
elf-evaluation of your work
in Part 1 on unprepared poetry
Student Book p 21
CD-ROM p 14
Use the exercise below to assess you current level of skill and confidence in analysing unprepared poetry.
In Part 1 you have developed your skills of analysing unprepared poetry in the following
areas:
Making your own interpretation of meaning rather than waiting to be told.
Identifying a poem’s theme(s) and differentiating between theme and subject
matter.
Appreciating how poets make precise choices of diction to create the meaning they
want.
Appreciating how poets use imagery to express their view of the world.
Identifying aspects of a poem’s form and structure.
Appreciating that poets choose particular genres and structures to match their
purposes.
Relating a poet’s use of form and structure to the presentation of themes.
Commenting on the way poets use voice and viewpoint to shape a reader’s
response.
Using the list of skills above, give yourself a mark from 1 to 3 to show how confident you
are of being able to apply each of them.
3 = ‘very confident’
2 = ‘gaining more confidence’
1 = ‘lacking confidence’.
This self-evaluation should lead, if necessary, to a programme of skill revision before you
move on to further work on poetry analysis in Part 3.
3.14 S
tyle and language
Student Book p 24
CD-ROM p 14
Read the passage below from a novel published in the 1970s and consider Malcolm Bradbury’s narrative
techniques in it.
From The History Man by Malcolm Bradbury
It is four in the morning when the party comes to its end. The last guests stand in the
hall, some of them needing the support of the wall; they say their goodbyes; they
venture through the door into the quietness of early-morning Watermouth. The Kirks,
that hospitable couple, usher them forth, and then they go upstairs to their disorderly
bedroom, which smells sharply of pot, and push the bed back into position, and take
the ashtrays off it, and undress, and get under the duvet. They say nothing, being tired
people; they do not touch each other, having no need; Barbara, in her black nightdress,
folds her body into Howard’s, her buttocks on his knees, and they are quickly asleep.
And then it is the morning, and the Habitat alarm clock rings on the bedside table,
and they wake again, back into the life of ordinary things. Consciousness returns, and
feels heavy with use; Howard presses his eyelids open, jerks towards being, regresses,
tries again. Traffic thumps on the creases of the urban motorway; a diesel commuter
train hoots on the viaduct; the graders are revving on the construction sites. The bed
vibrates and bounces; Barbara is getting up. The Habitat alarm clock says it is v to
viii. Barbara pads across to the door, and takes her housecoat from the hook; she goes
across to the window and pulls back the curtain to admit dull wet daylight. The room
appears in its unmitigated thinginess, flavoured with the dusty smell of cigarette smoke,
the sweet aftersmell of pot. A thrown-off dress, gutted by its long zip, hangs askew on
the door.
On the junk-shop chest of drawers, its grain surface rough, one handle gone, two
handles broken, are some plates, three full ashtrays, and many empty wine glasses from
the supermarket. The lavatory flushes along the landing.
1. Consider how the following aspects of style help to guide your response to the Kirks:
a) the use of third-person narration
b) the use of the present tense
c) the focus on description and the absence of dialogue.
3.15 ‘Carnation’
by Katherine Mansfield
Student Book p 27
CD-ROM p 15
Read the complete short story below.
On those hot days Eve – curious Eve – always carried a flower. She snuffed and snuffed it, twirled it in
her fingers, laid it against her cheek, held it to her lips, tickled Katie’s neck with it, and ended, finally,
by pulling it to pieces and eating it, petal by petal.
‘Roses are delicious, my dear Katie,’ she would say, standing in the dim cloak-room, with a
strange decoration of flowery hats on the hat pegs behind her – ‘but carnations are simply divine! They
taste like – like – ah well!’ And away her little thin laugh flew, fluttering among those huge, strange
flower heads on the wall behind her. (But how cruel her little thin laugh was! It had a long sharp beak
and claws and two bead eyes, thought fanciful Katie.)
To-day it was a carnation. She brought a carnation to the French class, a deep, deep red one, that
looked as though it had been dipped in wine and left in the dark to dry. She held it on the desk before
her, half shut her eyes and smiled.
‘Isn’t it a darling?’ she said. But –
‘Un peu de silence, s’il vous plaît,’ came from M. Hugo. Oh, bother! It was too hot! Frightfully
hot! Grilling simply!
The two square windows of the French Room were open at the bottom and the dark blinds drawn
half-way down. Although no air came in, the blind cord swung out and back and the blind lifted. But
really there was not a breath from the dazzle outside.
Even the girls, in the dusky room, in their pale blouses, with stiff butterfly-bow hair ribbons
perched on their hair, seemed to give off a warm, weak light, and M. Hugo’s white waistcoat gleamed
like the belly of a shark.
Some of the girls were very red in the face and some were white. Vera Holland had pinned up her
black curls à la japanaise with a penholder and a pink pencil; she looked charming. Francie Owen
pushed her sleeves nearly up to her shoulders, and then she inked the little blue vein in her elbow, shut
her arm together, and then looked to see the mark it made; she had a passion for inking herself; she
always had a face drawn on her thumb nail, with black, forked hair. Syvia Mann took off her collar and
tie, took them off simply, and laid them on the desk beside her, as calm as if she were going to wash
her hair in the bedroom at home. She had a nerve! Jennie Edwards tore a leaf out of her notebook and
wrote ‘Shall we ask old Hugo-Wugo to give us a thrippenny vanilla on the way home!!!’ and passed it
across to Connie Baker, who turned absolutely purple and nearly burst out crying. All of them lolled
and gaped, staring at the round clock, which seemed to have grown paler, too; the hands scarcely
crawled.
‘Un peu de silence, s’il vous plaît,’ came from M. Hugo. He held up a puffy hand. ‘Ladies, as it
is so ‘ot we will take no more notes to-day, but I will read you’ – and he paused and smiled a broad,
gentle smile – ‘a little French poetry.’
…
3.15 continued ‘Carnation’ by Katherine Mansfield
‘Go-od God!’ moaned Francie Owen.
M. Hugo’s smile deepened. ‘Well, Mees Owen, you need not attend. You can paint yourself. Yoy
can ‘ave my red ink as well as your black one.’
How well they knew the little blue book with red edges that he tugged out of his coat-tail pocket!
It had a green silk marker embroidered in forget-me-nots. They often giggled at it when he handed the
book round. Poor old Hugo-Wugo! He adored reading poetry. He would begin, softly and calmly, then
gradually his voice would swell and vibrate and gather itself together, then it would be pleading and
imploring and entreating, and then rising, rising triumphant … and then – gradually again, it ebbed, it
grew soft and warm and calm and died down into nothingness.
The great difficulty was, of course, if you felt at all feeble, not to get the most awful fit of the
giggles. Not because it was funny, really, but because it made you feel uncomfortable, queer, silly, and
somehow ashamed for Hugo-Wugo. But – oh dear – if he was going to inflict it on them in this heat …!
‘Courage, my pet,’ said Eve, kissing the languid carnation.
He began, and most of the girls fell forward, over the desks, their heads on their arms, dead at the
first shot. Only Eve and Katie sat upright and still. Katie did not know enough French to understand,
but Eve sat listening, her eyebrows raised, her eyes half-veiled, and a smile that was like the shadow
of her cruel little laugh … fluttering over her lips. She made a warm, white cup of her fingers – the
carnation inside. Oh, the scent! It floated across to Katie. It was too much. Katie turned away to the
dazzling light outside the window.
Down below, she knew, there was a cobbled courtyard with stable buildings round it. That was
why the French Room always smelled faintly of ammonia. It wasn’t unpleasant; it was even part of the
French language for Katie – something sharp and vivid and – and – biting!
Now she could hear a man clatter over the cobbles and the jing-jang of the pails he carried. And
now Hoo-hor-her! Hoo-hor-her! as he worked at the pump and a great gush of water followed. Now he
was flinging the water over something, over the wheels of a carriage perhaps. And she saw the wheel,
propped up, clear of the ground, spinning round, flashing scarlet and black, with great drops glancing
off it …
She saw him simply – in a faded shirt, his sleeves rolled up, his chest bare, all splashed with water
– and as he whistled, loud and free, and as he moved, swooping and bending, Hugo-Wugo’s voice
began to warm, to deepen, to gather together, to swing, to rise – somehow or other to keep time with
the man outside (Oh, the scent of Eve’s carnation!) until they became one rushing, rising, triumphant
thing, bursting into light, and then –
The whole room broke into pieces.
‘Thank you, ladies,’ cried M. Hugo, bobbing at his high desk, over the wreckage.
And, ‘Keep it, dearest,’ said Eve. ‘Souvenir tendre,’ and she popped the carnation down the front
of Katie’s blouse.
3.16 C
haracterisation
Student Book p 32
CD-ROM p 17
Read the passage below from the opening of a short story by Fay Weldon. Explore Weldon’s techniques of
characterisation. Compare them with Dickens’ in the passage from Bleak House.
From Down the Clinical Disco by Fay Weldon
You never know where you’ll meet your own true love. I met mine down the clinical
disco. That’s him over there, the thin guy with the jeans, the navy jumper and the red
woolly cap. He looks pretty much like anyone else, don’t you think? That’s hard work
on his part, not to mention mine, but we got there in the end. Do you want a drink?
Gin? Tonic? Fine. I’ll just have an orange juice. I don’t drink. Got to be careful. You
never know who’s watching. They’re everywhere. Sorry, forget I said that. Even a joke
can be paranoia. Do you like my hair? That’s a golden gloss rinse. Not my style really:
I have this scar down my cheek: see, if I turn to the light? A good short crop is what
suits me best, always has been: I suppose I’ve got what you call a strong face. Oops,
sorry, dear, didn’t mean to spill your gin; it’s the heels. I do my best but I can never
manage stilletos. But it’s an ill wind; anyone watching would think I’m ever so slightly
tipsy, and that’s normal, isn’t it. It is not absolutely A-okay not to drink alcohol. On the
obsessive side. Darling, of course there are people watching.
Let me tell you about the clinical disco while Eddie finishes his game of darts. He
hates darts but darts are what men do in pubs, okay? The clinical disco is what they
have once a month at Broadmoor. (Yes, that place. Broadmoor. The secure hospital for
the criminally insane.) You didn’t know they had women there? They do. One woman
to every nine men. They often don’t look all that like women when they go in but they
sure as hell look like them when (and if, if, if, if, if, if) they go out.
How did I get to be in there? You really want to know? I’d been having this
crummy time at home and this crummy time at work. I was pregnant and married to
this guy I loved, God knows why, in retrospect, but I did, only he fancied my mother,
and he got her pregnant too – while I was out at work – did you know women can get
pregnant at fifty? He didn’t, she didn’t, I didn’t – but she was! My mum said he only
married me to be near her anyway and I was the one who ought to have an abortion. So
I did. It went wrong and messed me up inside, so I couldn’t have babies, and my mum
said what did it matter, I was a lesbian anyway, just look at me. I got the scar in a road
accident, in case you’re wondering. And I thought what the hell, who wants a man,
who wants a mother, and walked out on them …
No, I’m not crying. What do you think I am, a depressive? I’m as normal as the
next person.
3.17 Unprepared prose passage
to analyse: Practice for
Section A
Student Book p 32
CD-ROM p 17
Read the passage below. Then write an analysis of it. In your analysis, comment on:
• McEwan’s purposes in this text
• the way in which Joe reacts to ‘the intruders’
• the way in which McEwan chooses to present the events.
From Enduring Love by Ian McEwan
The narrator is in a restaurant with his wife. Two men, strangers, approach.
The two men who had stopped by the table next to ours seemed to have suffered burns to the face. Their
skin was a lifeless prosthetic pink, the colour of dolls, or of medical plasters, the colour of no one’s skin.
They shared a robotic nullity of expression. Later we learned about the latex masks, but at the time these
men were a shocking sight, even before they acted. The arrival of the waiter with our desserts in stainless
steel bowls was temporarily soothing. Both men wore black coats which gave them a priestly look. There
was ceremony in their stillness. The flavour of my sorbet was lime, just to the green side of white. I
already had a spoon in my hand but I hadn’t used it. Our table was staring shamelessly.
The intruders simply stood and looked down at our neighbours who in turn looked back, puzzled,
waiting. The young girl looked to her father and back to the men. The older man put down his fork and
seemed about to speak, but he said nothing. A variety of possibilities unspooled before me at speed: a
student stunt; vendors; the man, Colin Tapp, was a doctor or lawyer and these were his patients or clients;
some new version of the kissogram; crazy members of the family come to embarrass. Around us the
lunchtime uproar, which had dipped locally, was back to level. When the taller man drew from his coat a
black stick, a wand, I inclined to the kissogram. But who was his companion who now turned to survey
the room? His missed our table, it was so close. His eyes, pig-like in the artificial skin, never met mine.
The tall man, ready to cast his spell, pointed his wand at Colin Tapp.
And Tapp himself was suddenly ahead of us all by a second. His face showed us what we didn’t
understand about the spell. His puzzlement, congealed in terror, could not find a word to tell us because
there was no time. The silenced bullet struck through his white shirt at his shoulder and lifted him from
his chair and smacked him against the wall. The high-velocity impact forced a fine spray, a blood mist,
across our table-cloth, our desserts, our hands, our sight. My first impulse was simple and sef-protective:
I did not believe what I was seeing. Clichés are rooted in truth: I did not believe my eyes. Tapp flopped
forwards across the table. His father did not move, not a muscle in his face moved. As for his daughter,
she did the only possible thing – she passed out, her mind closed down on this atrocity. She slipped
sideways in her chair towards Jocelyn who put out a hand – the instincts of an old sportsman – and
though he could not prevent her fall, he caught her upper arm and saved her head from a bang.
3.18 A
high-level response to the
passage from Enduring Love
Student Book p 32
CD-ROM p 17
Read the sample response below. Then read the examiner’s comments on this response, printed on
Handout 3.19.
This is a first-person narrative in which Joe describes an experience that he presents as both horrific and
mundane. Recalling a killing which took place in front of him, he remembers ‘the flavour of my sorbet’ as strongly
as ‘a fine spray, a blood mist, across our table’. This shows McEwan’s main purpose in the text: to create for the
reader a realistic impression of how, when unexpected and violent events occur, the mind cannot fully take them in.
We have no previous frame of reference in which to place them.
The focus of the passage, therefore, is on Joe’s mental processes and perceptions. McEwan shows these to
the reader rather than providing an ‘omniscient’ account of what happened in the third-person. The narrative
viewpoint is that of Joe himself. As the events unfold, we live through them with him, seeing everything from his
perspective and sharing his feeling that ‘I did not believe what I was seeing’.
At first, Joe’s mind registers that the hit men ‘seemed to have suffered burns to the face’. But he has
an uneasy feeling that this is not the true explanation for their ‘robotic nullity of expression’. McEwan shows Joe’s
growing unease as he tries out different metaphors to describe their skin – ‘prosthetic pink’, ‘the colour of dolls’,
‘medical plasters’. Joe wants to quell his feeling that something is wrong by finding suitable words to describe what
he sees. But he fails. The only word he can come up with is ‘nullity’ (nothingness), which raises more questions than
it answers.
Similarly, he can only respond to the hit men’s appearance through a comparison: ‘Both men wore black coats
which gave them a priestly look’ – a highly inappropriate comparison, as it turns out. This half-grotesque, half-comic
register is continued as Joe speculates that the men may be ‘some new version of the kissogram’ and that the
gun the tall man pulls is ‘a black stick, a wand’ with which he intends to cast a spell. His mind persists in trying
to find a believable explanation for the unbelievable. This is also conveyed by his metaphor of a film which ‘unspooled
before me at speed’. Although by now he knows instinctively that the men are bent on violence, as in a horror
movie, he runs through his mind a list of harmless alternatives – ‘vendors’, ‘patients’, ‘clients’, ‘members of the
family’ – because he badly needs one of them to prove true.
McEwan builds up the text in a way that faithfully reflects Joe’s experience. There is, or appears to
be, a long period of ‘stillness’ during which time seems suspended and Joe can observe ‘Our table was staring
shamelessly’, ‘the lunchtime uproar … was back to level’, ‘his eyes, pig-like, never met mine’. McEwan is showing
that a crisis situation sharpens our senses and the impressions they take in. Then, suddenly, ‘there was no time’,
as the gun fires and ‘a blood mist’ sprays ‘across our table-cloth, our dessert, our hands, our sight’. The jolting
rhythm of the sentence here reflects both the sound of gun shots and the speed with which the ‘blood-spray’
spreads. After this sudden outburst of violence, stillness returns – ‘His father did not move, not a muscle in his
face moved’ – but now it is the stillness of shock rather than of nervousness. Tapp’s daughter reacts physically in
the same way as the adults react mentally: ‘she passed out, her mind closed down on this atrocity’. At the end
of the extract, Joe has finally found a word adequate to describe what is happening. It is an ‘atrocity’.
This text can be read in different ways. The story has all the elements of a crime thriller: mysterious
strangers in bizarre disguise, sudden violence, narrative tension and suspense. On this level, the narrative caters
to a reader looking for ‘tough’ action and excitement. However, although McEwan deliberately provides these
ingredients, he is also doing something else to show how ‘Clichés are rooted in truth’. He reconstructs the experience
of violent murder from the perspective of an onlooker, showing how an ‘atrocity’ only presents itself as such when
the mind has had time to absorb it.
the sample response to
Enduring Love
Student Book p 32
CD-ROM p 17
AO1
The writer has made a good choice in choosing to write about a prose passage because
he is able to go straight to the identification and discussion of the narrative point of
view. He makes it clear that it is a controlled fictive account. The second sentence’s
identification of two precise memories of an imagined incident are neatly illustrated,
even if the precise use of sense impressions goes unremarked (but rest assured that the
examiner is assessing what is there, not what might be there).
The confidence in recalling the idea of a third-person ‘omniscient’ narrator is handled
with a light touch. On the whole it is wise not to discuss what is not there, but it is valid
to make the comparison between what is and what might have been an alternative
method of presenting the material.
It is important to remember that when dealing with a prose text that the terminology
used when discussing poetry is equally valid. Hence, the references to ‘metaphors’
are very well controlled. The narrator’s account of the images linked to what are only
later identified as ‘latex masks’ is correctly expressed as an attempt to try out ‘different
metaphors’. Later, the ‘priestly look’ of the hit men is interpreted as ‘a highly inappropriate
comparison’ which is ‘half-grotesque, half-comic’. This is an impressive attempt (and a
most successful one) to point out the ambiguity of the tone of the narrative voice.
AO2
Two more praiseworthy aspects of this writing:
First, notice the overview provided by the reference to the way in the author ‘builds up
the text in a way that faithfully reflects Joe’s experience’.
Second, look at the precision of the comments on the ‘jolting rhythm of the sentence’
followed by the ‘stillness of shock’.
The final remarks about the generic features of writing that might fit into the category of
‘crime thriller’ which fit McEwan’s writing yet which at the same time are inadequate for
what is a different literary purpose is an excellent way to conclude an insightful response
to the text.
Once again this writer has shown himself to be writing at the highest level of
accomplishment that might be expected of an A level student.
3.20 P
oint of view
Student Book p 33
CD-ROM p 18
Read the passage below. Then consider the writer’s use of point of view in it. How does the point of view
change in the course of the passage and what is the effect on the reader of this?
From Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Jack was so tired that he had passed the stage where sleep was possible. His body had
found some automatic course, powered by what source of wakefulness he couldn’t say,
that kept him awake if not alert while other men nodded and dozed on the ground, some
slumped as though dead on the floor of the trench, some leaning with their backs to the
wooden boards. From further down the line he could hear trench repair parties at work.
John’s face was now in his mind quite brightly: the wan, solitary boy at the tail of
the street gang, the stumbling baby with his troublesome steps. He could hear his piping
London voice with its parrot greetings and unfounded optimism. He pictured his boy
in the high-ceilinged hospital ward with the yellow smudge of gas lamps, the starched
headdresses of the nurses and the smell of soap and disinfectant.
Sleep came to him like an unseen assailant. It was not the sinister light of the ward
but the lamps of a huge bar in a pub on Lea Bridge Road: the men in suits and flat caps,
smoke rising, ale glasses held aloft. There were other pictures, end to end: the kitchen
of his parents’ house in Stepney; a park, a dog; the lit pub again, thronged with people;
John’s face, the dear boy. He was aware of a great temptation being offered, some ease
of mind, some sleep for which he would sell the life of his comrades, and he embraced
the offer, not aware that he was already slumbering, head slumped forward, cradled
between the aching shoulders that had dug out French earth for hours without respite.
He did not know he was asleep until he was awake again, feeling himself slump
forward as a boot cracked into his ankle.
‘What’s your name?’ It was an officer’s voice.
‘Firebrace, sir.’
‘Oh, it’s you, Firebrace’. He recognized Captain Weir’s surprised tone.
‘Were you asleep?’ The first officer’s voice was cold.
‘I don’t know, sir. I just wasn’t listening and – ‘
‘You were asleep on duty. It’s a court martial offence. See me tomorrow at six.
Your sergeant will bring you. You know the punishment.’
‘Yes, sir.’
Jack watched the two men walk on and swing left at the end of the firebay, the red
ends of their cigarettes glowing.
3.21 S
yntax
Student Book p 37
CD-ROM p 19
Read the passage below. Then develop your response to the writer’s use of syntax in it.
From The Road by Cormac McCarthy
They bore on south in the days and weeks to follow. Solitary and dogged. A raw hill
country. Aluminium houses. At times they could see stretches of the interstate highway
below them through the bare stands of second-growth timber. Cold and growing
colder. Just beyond the high gap in the mountains they stood and looked out over the
great gulf to the south where the country as far as they could see was burned away, the
blackened shapes of rock rising out of the shoals of ash and billows of ash rising up
and blowing downcountry through the waste. The track of the dull sun moving unseen
beyond the murk.
They were days fording that cauterized terrain. The boy had found some crayons
and painted his facemask with fangs and he trudged on uncomplaining. One of the
front wheels of the cart had gone wonky. What to do about it? Nothing. Where all was
burnt to ash before them no fires were to be had and the nights were long and dark
and cold beyond anything they’d yet encountered. Cold to crack the stones. To take
your life. He held the boy shivering against him and counted each frail breath in the
blackness.
1. How has Cormac McCarthy structured these paragraphs?
2. How has he varied the syntax to convey an impression of the travellers and the journey they are
making. Consider:
a) the use and effect of short phrases rather than sentences in parts of the text
b) the effect of the long sentence with several subordinate clauses beginning ‘Just beyond the high
gap’
c) the effect of representing thought by ‘What to do about it? Nothing’ (as opposed to, say, ‘There was
nothing they could do about it’)
d) the pace and rhythm of sentences: how would you describe this and its effect on you as you read?
3.22 U
nprepared prose passage
to analyse: Practice for
Section A
Student Book p 38
CD-ROM p 20
Read the passage below, then write an analysis of it.
From The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell
This passage is from a novel set in India during the British Raj. Lucy is an English girl who is being
attacked by a swarm of insects. Two young English men, Harry and Fleury (known as ‘Dobbin’) try to
help her.
Poor Lucy! Her nerves had already been in a bad enough state. She leapt to her feet with a cry which
was instantly stifled by a mouthful of insects. She beat at her face, at her bosom, her stomach, her
hips, with hands which looked as if they were dripping with damson jam. Her hair was crawling
with insects; they clung to her eyebrows and eyelashes, were sucked into her nostrils and swarmed
into the crevices and cornices of her ears, into all the narrow loops and whorls, they poured in a
dark river down the back of her dress, between her shoulderblades and down the front between her
breasts. No wonder the poor girl found herself tearing away her clothes with frenzied fingers as she
felt them pullulating beneath her chemise; this was no time to worry about modesty. Her muslin dress,
chemise and underlinen were all discarded in a trice and there she stood, stark naked but as black and
glistening as an African slave-girl. How those flying bugs loved Lucy’s white skin!
Any moment now she would faint. But they could hardly dash forward and seize her with their
bare hands. Or could they? Would it be considered permissible in the circumstances? But while they
hesitated and debated, Lucy’s strength ebbed away and she fell in a swoon, putting to death a hundred
thousand insects beneath her lovely body. There was nothing for it but for the two men themselves
to go to Lucy’s aid, so, clearing their minds of any impure notions, they darted forward and seized
her humming body, one by the shoulders, the other by the knees. Then they carried her to a part of
the banqueting hall where the flying bugs were no longer ankle deep. But now they were faced with
another predicament, how to remove the insects from her body?
It was Fleury who, remembering how he had made a visor for his smoking cap, found the
solution by whipping the Bible out of his shirt and tearing the boards off. He gave one of these sacred
boards to Harry and took the other one himself. Then, using the boards as if they were giant razor
blades, he and Harry began to shave the black foam of insects off Lucy’s skin. It did not take them
very long to get the hang of it, scraping carefully with the blade at an angle of forty-five degrees and
pausing from time to time to wipe it clean. When they had done her back, they turned her over and set
to work on her front.
3.22 continued Unprepared
prose passage to analyse: Practice for Section A
Her body, both young men were interested to discover, was remarkably like the statues of young
women they had seen … The only significant difference between Lucy and a statue was that Lucy had
pubic hair; this caused them a bit of a surprise at first. It was not something that had ever occurred to
them as possible, likely, or even desirable.
‘D’you think this is supposed to be here?’ asked Harry, who had spent a moment or two scraping
at it ineffectually with his board. Because the hair, too, was black it was hard to be sure that it was not
simply matted with dried insects.
‘That’s odd,’ said Fleury, peering at it with interest; he had never seen anything like it on a
statue.’ Better leave it, anyway, for the time being. We can always come back to it later when we’ve
done the rest’.
But at that moment there was a noise behind them and both young men turned at once. There
stood Louise, Miriam and the Padre, gazing at them with horror.
‘Harry!’
‘Dobbin!’
The Padre was unable to find any word at all; his eyes had come to rest on the golden letters
‘Holy Bible’ on the back of Fleury’s razor blade.
‘You couldn’t have come at a better time,’ said Fleury cheerfully. ‘Harry and I were just
wondering how we were going to get her clothes on again’.
1. Write an analysis of this passage. Include detailed comment on the writer’s:
a) characterisation of Harry and Dobbin
b) choices of diction and imagery
c) use of a changing narrative point of view
d) use of structural elements – syntax, sentence length and rhythms, paragraph forms
e) use of humour.
3.23 A
low-level response to
The Siege of Krishnapur
Student Book p 38
CD-ROM p 20
Handout 3.24.
This passage seems to be about characters in Victorian times because of their embarrassment and ignorance
towards the opposite sex:
‘Do you think this is supposed to be here?’ asked Harry.
This is the first thing to say about the writer’s characterisation, that it shows two young men, who
are probably members of the British Empire, trying to help a damsel in distress. The writer, J.G. Farrell,
makes this humorous by the way he describes Fleury and Harry’s problems in deciding what to do about the
insects on Lucy: ‘But they could hardly dash forward and seize her with their bare hands. Or could they?’
This is an example of free indirect style because the writer takes us inside their minds here.
Fleury is more practical than Harry because he takes the lead by ‘whipping the Bible out of his shirt
and tearing the boards off’. Harry is more of a follower and less good at scraping the insects away, he is
said to be doing it ‘ineffectually’. However, both of them are very naïve about women because it says ‘both
young men were interested to discover’ that Lucy’s body was like a statue except that she had pubic hair.
The word ‘discover’ shows they had not known before. This is typical of Victorian times when young men were
sheltered from the facts of life.
The writer makes fun of Fleury and Harry because of this, he is mocking how narrow-minded and
prudish the Victorians were. This is also seen at the end of the passage where Louise, Miriam and the
Padre are shown ‘gazing at them with horror’. It was not socially acceptable in those days for young men
to be near a naked woman.
At the start of the passage the writer is telling the story from the point of view of Lucy. It is
written in the third-person and the tone is again one of mockery of Victorian times:
‘Poor Lucy! … How those insects loved Lucy’s white skin!’
She is as narrow-minded as the men because she seems to worry more about taking off her dress
than about the problem of the insects. However, she becomes so bothered by them ‘pullulating beneath her
chemise’ that ‘the poor girl felt herself tearing away her clothes with frenzied fingers’. She probably faints
from the shame of this more than from the pain of the insects biting her. She cannot cope with the idea of
looking like ‘an African slave girl’. This shows the typical racial prejudice of white people in Victorian times who
thought because of the British Empire that black people were inferior.
The writer is also sarcastic about the Victorians’ attitude towards religion. He sets this up by making
Fleury use the Bible as a ‘razor blade’ to ‘shave the black foam of insects off Lucy’s skin’. So when the
Padre comes in at the end he is too shocked to speak: ‘his eyes had come to rest on the golden letters
‘Holy Bible’ on the back of Fleury’s razor blade’. The words ‘golden letters’ show how important religion was
to the Victorians. The writer uses this as part of his mockery of their narrow-mindedness. The idea of the
precious Bible coming into contact with ‘black foam’ may also be another example of showing the Victorian’s
racial prejudice.
The structure of the passage is very clear and makes it easy to read. First we see Lucy in the
opening paragraph, followed by the two young men in the middle, then finally the other three characters at
the end. The paragraphs follow each other in a logical order and give us different points of view. It helps to
make clear the writer’s theme of the Victorians, because all the points of view lead to the same conclusion.
My opinion of the passage is that it is an amusing show-up of people in the past and how immature
they were about subjects we take for granted nowadays. I think, as I have shown, that the writer makes
his points well through the humour he uses. He does not overdo it, except perhaps it is hard to believe that
Fleury and Harry could be quite so naïve about the opposite sex!
the response to The Siege of
Krishnapur
Student Book p 40
CD-ROM p 20
AO1
The candidate shows some awareness of critical terminology but this is fairly limited in
scope and the approach taken for much of the time is descriptive rather than analytical.
The candidate is able to demonstrate clear understanding of what is happening (the
writing is very straightforward and there should be no barriers to comprehension)
although, oddly, deals with the latter part of the passage first, dealing with how the men
cope with the situation, only dealing with the opening paragraph quite late on into the
discussion. The writing is generally clear and accurate.
This would have been given a mark in band 2.
AO 2
The critical understanding shown is fairly limited. The opinions offered about the
characters’ reactions make assertions that do not necessarily derive from the text, but
tend to reinforce the writer’s own preconceptions about the behaviour of the Victorians.
The humour is the writing is adequately dealt with and there is some straightforward
response to the structure of the extract. The exploration of the writing itself is descriptive,
with limited exploration and not much analysis.
This would have been given a mark on the cusp of bands 2 and 3.
3.25 S
elf-evaluation of your work
in Part 2 on unprepared prose
Student Book p 40
CD-ROM p 20
Use the exercise below to assess your current level of skill and confidence in analysing unprepared poetry.
In Part 2 you developed your skills at analysing unprepared prose in the following areas:
Making your own interpretation of meaning rather than waiting to be told.
Identifying the writer’s focus and purpose in a text.
Appreciating how writers make precise choices of language to create the meaning
they want.
Commenting on how and why writers create setting.
Commenting on the techniques writers use to create and convey character.
Commenting on the use writers make of narrative viewpoint and voice.
Commenting on the use writers make of syntax.
Commenting on how writers shape your attitude to a text.
Using the list of skills above, give yourself a mark from 1 to 3 to show how confident you
are of being able to apply each of them.
3 = ‘very confident’
2 = ‘gaining more confidence’
1 = ‘lacking confidence’.
This self-evaluation should lead, of necessity, to a programme of skill revision before you
move on to further work on prose analysis in Part 3.
Student Book p 41
3.26 Interpretation
CD-ROM p 20
Read and annotate the poem below. Try to develop a personal understanding of the poem and think
about what it means to you.
Under a Ramshackle Rainbow by Ingemar Gustafson
A dead tree.
On a rotten branch sit two wingless birds. Among leaves
on the ground a man is searching for his hands.
It is fall.
A stagnant marsh.
On a mossy stone sits the man angling. The hook
is stuck in the waterlily.
The waterlily is stuck in the mud.
An overgrown ruin.
In the grass the man sleeps sitting up. A raindrop descends
in slow-motion through space.
Somewhere in the grass a pike flounders.
A dry well.
At the bottom lies a dead fly. In the wood nearby
a spider gropes through the fog.
The man is trapped in the spiderweb on the horizon.
An abandoned ant hill.
Above a little woodmarsh floats the man. The sun
is just going down. The man has already stopped growing.
The ants gather on the shore.
5
10
15
20
(Translated from the Swedish by May Swenson)
3.27 ‘The Snow Child’
by Angela Carter
Student Book p 43
CD-ROM p 20
Read and annotate the short story below. Try to develop a personal understanding of the story and think
about what it means to you.
Midwinter – invincible, immaculate. The Count and his wife go riding, he
on a grey mare and she on a black one, she wrapped in glittering pelts of black foxes; and
she wore high, black, shining boots with scarlet heels, and spurs. Fresh snow fell on snow
already fallen; when it ceased, the whole world was white. ‘I wish I had a girl as white as
snow,’ says the Count. They ride on. They come to a hole in the snow; this hole is filled
with blood. He says: ‘I wish I had a girl as red as blood.’ So they ride on again; here is a
raven, perched on a bare bough. ‘I wish I had a girl as black as that bird’s feather.’
As soon as he completed her description, there she stood, beside the road, white skin,
red mouth, black hair and stark naked; she was the child of his desire and the Countess
hated her. The Count lifted her up and sat her in front of him on his saddle but the
Countess had only one thought: how shall I get rid of her?
The Countess dropped her glove in the snow and told the girl to get down to look
for it; she meant to gallop off and leave her there but the Count said: ‘I’ll buy you new
gloves’. At that, the furs sprang off the Countess’s shoulders and twined round the naked
girl. Then the Countess threw her diamond brooch through the ice of a frozen pond. ‘Dive
in and fetch it for me,’ she said; she thought the girl would drown. But the Count said:
‘Is she a fish, to swim in such cold weather?’ Then her boots leapt off the Countess’s feet
and on to the girl’s legs. Now the Countess was as bare as a bone, and the girl furred and
booted; the Count felt sorry for his wife. They came to a bush of roses, all in flower. ‘Pick
me one,’ said the Countess to the girl. ‘I can’t deny you that,’ said the Count.
So the girl picks a rose; pricks her finger on the thorn; bleeds; screams; falls.
Weeping, the Count got off his horse, unfastened his breeches and thrust his virile
member into the dead girl. The Countess reined in her stamping mare and watched him
narrowly; he was soon finished.
Then the girl began to melt. Soon there was nothing left of her but a feather a bird
might have dropped; a bloodstain, like the trace of a fox’s kill on the snow; and the rose
she had pulled off the bush. Now the Countess had all her clothes on again. With her long
hand, she stroked her furs. The Count picked up the rose, bowed and handed it to his wife;
when she touched it, she dropped it.
‘It bites!’ she said.
Student Book p 47
CD-ROM p 21
Read and annotate the poem below.
Since you must go, and I must bid farewell,
Hear, mistress, your departing servant tell
What it is like: and do not think they can
Be idle words, though of a parting man;
It is as if night should shade noon-day,
Or that the sun was here, but forced away;
And we were left under that hemisphere
Where we must feel it dark for half a year …
My health will leave me; and when you depart,
How shall I do, sweet mistress, for my heart? You would restore it? No, that’s worth a fear,
As if it were not worthy to be there:
Oh, keep it still; for it had rather be
Your sacrifice, than here remain with me.
And so I spare it: come what can become
Of me, I’ll softly tread unto my tomb;
Or like a ghost walk silent amongst men
Till I may see both it and you again.
5
10
15
3.29 P
oetry unprepared:
The text and question
Student Book p 56
CD-ROM p 22
Read carefully the poem below. Consider the ways in which the writer develops the feelings, ideas and
situation here. Remember that your answer should include some discussion of the form, language and
structure of the poem.
Letter to Barbados by Ted Walker
Dear far-off brother, Thank you for yours,
And for the gift you send of little shells.
Evening. It has been an April day
Like any you remember. I guess
How you miss the English spring, the way A shower-cloud over a hillside spills
Between sunlight and sunlight, slowly.
Is it half a year since you’ve been gone?
While you gather up windfall nutmegs,
My white magnolia flowers fly Withering from the twig like cotton rags
I must rake up tomorrow from the lawn.
I wonder what news you want to hear:
That everything remains as it was
Before you left? That we are well? That Swallows, like molecules of summer,
Warm on the wall behind the dovecote?
All is satisfactory in this house.
I read over again what you tell me.
Outside your window you’ve had grapefruits Ripening through winter; there’s a calf
You love to let suck your fingers. I
Relish these images of your new life,
Though the dinning sun above you hurts
My eyes as I gaze. Easier for you, Perhaps, to think back to the shadow
Of this temperate, darkening garden,
Where I sit and look for my last few
Doves to come home. They will soon swoop down,
Just as you recall they always do, 5
10
15
From the roof; each full throat soon will soothe
Nightfall once more. This morning I made
A first cut of the grass since autumn.
It smelt sweet in the sun, in the swathe
Where I left it to dry. I fetched my gun 35
And sought out a sickly dove and killed
It clean, and let it warm where it fell.
Whether it is white, loosened feathers
I glimpse in the half-dusk or blossoms
Lifting with the wind I cannot tell But I am glad to have you share them.
There are words not used between brothers,
And you will understand if I send
No more than these, the shrivelling details
Of another lost and uneventful day. The birds are folded now. I shall stand
A moment more in the dead grass we
Walked on. My hands close cold over shells.
20
25
30
40
45
3.30 H
igh/middle-level sample
essay on ‘Letter to Barbados’
Student Book p 56
CD-ROM p 23
Handout 3.31.
‘Letter to Barbados’ depicts the distance between two close brothers. The first line of the poem is quite prosaic, ‘Dear faroff brother’ yet due to the layout of the piece it is obvious it is a poem; there are six lines per stanza and an even number
(8) of stanzas. This gives the poem regularity. However, the lack of rhyme and use of enjambement shows the poet, Walker,
battling with his emotions. When a poet uses enjambement and lacks a structured rhyme scheme, it suggests he is trying
to let his thoughts and feelings dictate the form of the poem. In contrast to this, the strict length of the stanzas and
the pentameter (usually nine syllables per line) show Walker is trying to keep a check on his senses and not let his feelings
completely take over the poem.
The pace of the poem is quite slow; normally a pentameter would speed up a poem, but in ‘Letter to Barbados’ there
are commas and full stops half way through lines. Furthermore, the use of very short sentences, for example ‘Evening’ ensures
that the reader does indeed slow down the pace of the poem. This gives it the impression of being a thought-provoking, deeply
emotional and intimate poem.
Walker starts the poem with an immediate sense of distance. ‘Letter to Barbados’ is quite an ambiguous title and
is very specific – if this poem had simply been called ‘Letter’, it would have been a poem that can be adapted universally;
however, the clear direction of this letter shows the personal importance this letter has to the poet. The first line again
hints at the distance between the letter-writer and receiver – ‘far-off’ is used to describe the brother; from the title we
realise the brother is physically ‘far-off’, but the poem later implies that the brother is emotionally ‘far-off’. This is shown by
the poet’s insistence of reminiscing about the past and the memories shared between the brothers, for example ‘just as you
recall’. Walker’s fragmented and unclear sentences, for example, ‘I guess/How you miss the English spring… slowly’ depicts his
emotions behind the words; Walker misses his brother and his trail of thought as he reminisces starts to become unclear and
fragmented. Walker’s use of figurative language also depicts his feelings. He describes how his ‘magnolia flowers fly’ and how
he ‘must rake up’ these flowers from the lawn. This is a metaphor for the deeper meaning of him reminiscing about his brother,
and how he ‘must rake up’ these memories and move on – (however, his procrastination in ‘moving on’ from his reminiscing is
shown by the word ‘tomorrow’).
Walker views his home with pessimism now that his brother is gone – he refers to their shared beloved home as ‘this
house’, and the adjective ‘satisfactory’ offers no warmth at all. Furthermore, the fifth stanza reveals Walker’s state of
mind and opinion on his life without his brother through the words such as ‘darkening’, ‘shadow’, ‘last’ and swoop down’. The
word ‘swoop’ combined with the word ‘down stresses the vowel ‘o’ and creates a heavy mood.
The use of enjambement lets the poet’s thoughts flow without breaking the moment, and gives a sense of layering.
Walker’s thoughts are becoming much deeper emotionally and the run-on of stanzas lets this happen in an unobvious way.
However, the reader does get a sense that the poet’s sorrows will be ‘sooth’d’. The sixth stanza marks the turning point
in the poem; Walker states how he made ‘A first cut of grass since the autumn’ and, as it is now April, it seems that this
is the first cut of the grass Walker has made since his brother’s departure. This nature imagery links back to when Walker
said he must ‘rake’ up his memories and the ‘cotton rags’ magnolia flowers – suggesting that Walker is indeed raking up his
memories. The alliteration ‘smelt sweet… sun… swathe’ echoes the word ‘soothe’ two lines previously.
This transformation in the poem is remarkable. The poem starts with a conversational, prosaic tone and packs in detail of
the outside world in England: for example, the ‘shower cloud’ and ‘sunlight and sunlight’ to describe the changing of one day
to the next. However, as the poem progresses the layers of Walker’s thoughts become clear, and Walker looks upon his life with
a pessimistic outlook and a sense of deep, profound loss and this can be the temporary loss of a brother moving away, or a
much more personal loss, and while these feelings will never go away, one must be able to accept them and move on in their
everyday lives.
This is reiterated in the last stanza – ‘And you will understand’ is a much more universal approach then his original
‘Dear brother’. The poem is no longer singularly directed at his brother, but at his readers collectively. Walker explains how he
shall never forget his brother yet the memories are ‘shrivelling details’, ‘shells’ and how they musty be ‘folded’ and brought to
a close. His hands ‘close’ and put away the memories in order so that he can move on with his life.
high/middle-level essay on
‘Letter to Barbados’
Student Book p 56
CD-ROM p 23
Below are the examiner’s comments on Handout 3.30.
This is a sound essay that shows good understanding of the poem. Its main strength
is shown in the ability to link structure and the development of meaning and to make
some insightful comments on the imagery used by the poet.
AO1
This is an informed and relevant response (it is not being assessed for creativity) and the
writing is accurate and coherent.
The writing is well sustained, and develops a valid response to the poem which develops
directly from the words on the page.
There is some use of critical terminology, and it is mostly used quite effectively, but there
could be more.
When employing terminology, Nicola is very precise when referring to stanza form, lack
of rhyme, enjambement and pentameter. In the second paragraph of her essay, when
referring to pauses within the lines, the precise term ‘caesura’ could have been used.
In paragraph three the reference to ‘magnolia flowers flying’ could have referred both to
the alliteration and the personification.
AO2
Nicola does have a critical understanding of the poem that she is able to articulate
effectively, although her interpretation does have its limitations. The way in which she
articulates some of her opinions do not always derive clearly from the text.
She makes good points about imagery and structure which inform her interpretation.
There is some repetition of points made.
When deciding which band to place this essay in, the examiner assesses the critical
insights provided by the candidate in conjunction with the precision with which they are
supported by the text itself. This was done to time under exam conditions and the writer
clearly needed some time for her writing to settle and emerge at its best.
3.32 S
ample question for
unprepared prose
Student Book p 61
CD-ROM p 24
Read carefully this extract set in Norfolk in 1980. Ralph and Anna Eldred are concerned about their son, Julian, who has
dropped out of university and has been spending much of his time with a girl called Sandra Glasse who lives with her
mother in a remote cottage near the coast. Examine the ways in which Mantel presents the setting and the characters
involved here. Remember that your answer should include some discussion of form, language and structure.
From A Change of Climate by Hilary Mantel
The week after Easter the winds were so violent that they seemed likely to tear up small trees by the roots. There was
never a moment, day or night, when the world was quiet.
Mrs Glasse had no telephone, so Ralph couldn’t contact her to arrange a time to meet.
‘Should I drive over with you?’ Anna said.
‘No. It would look like a deputation. As if we’d come to complain about her.’
‘You wonder what sort of woman she can be,’ Anna said. ‘Strange life they lead.’
His car joined the coast road at Wells. The sky was patchy, clouds moving fast, rushing above him as he skirted
the dusky red walls of Holkham Hall: parting now and then to reveal a pacific blue. The sea was not visible at once;
but as the road turned he saw on the broken line of the horizon a strip of grey, indefinite, opaque.
It was ten o’clock when he rattled down the stony incline to the Glasses’ house. The door opened before he had
switched off the engine. Mrs Glasse stood waiting in the doorway.
His first thought: how young she is, she can’t be more than thirty-five, thirty-six. She was pale, straight-backed,
red-haired: the hair a deeper red than her daughter’s, long and fine.
The wind ripped at his clothes as he stepped out of the car, billowing out his jacket like a cloak. ‘This weather!’
Mrs Glasse said. She smiled at him. ‘Hello, Julian’s dad.’
It was a low house, old; its bones protested, creaked under the onslaught of the weather. He heard its various
sounds, as she stood hesitating inside the door; he thought, it is a house like a ship, everything in movement, a ship
breasting a storm. ‘On your left there,’ Mrs Glasse said. ‘Go in the parlour. There’s a fire lit, and the kettle’s on.’
‘You might have been expecting me,’ he said.
He sat by the fire, in a Windsor chair, waiting for her to bring them tea. The wind dropped; it was as if a noisy
lout had left the room. In the sudden silence he heard the mantel clock ticking. She returned. Handed him a mug. ‘I
didn’t put sugar in. Did you want it? No, I didn’t think you were the sugar sort.’
‘Goodness,’ he said. ‘What does that mean?’
She pushed her hair back. ‘Sugar’s for comfort,’ she said.
‘You think I don’t need comfort?’
Mrs Glasse didn’t reply. She pulled up a stool to the fire. Ralph half-rose from his chair;
‘Thanks, I’m comfortable here,’ she said.
‘That clock up there.’ Ralph shook his head. ‘We had one just like it at home when I was a boy. It was my
father’s. His pride and joy. He wouldn’t let anyone else touch it.’
‘You’re not going to tell me,’ said Mrs Glasse drily, ‘that it stopped the day he died?’
‘No, not exactly. My mother threw it out.’
‘That was extreme.’
‘For her, yes, it was. She couldn’t stand the chime.’
‘Did she ever mention it? In his lifetime, I mean?’
‘I shouldn’t think so. She was a self-effacing woman. At least, she effaced herself before him.’
She had fine hands, Mrs Glasse; the calloused hands of a woman used to outdoor work, but still white, longfingered. They were hands that rings might adorn, and that one did adorn: a plain red-gold wedding band, an old
ring, one that might have been in a family for generations. Her skin had begun to line a little round the eyes: so many
years of looking into the wind. All this he saw in the vibrant light that spilled into the room, morning light: sliding
over cream walls, turning them the colour of butter.
3.33 H
igh/mid-level sample
answer to the unprepared
prose on A Change of Climate
Student Book p 61
CD-ROM p 24
Handout 3.34.
It is quite apparent that the whole text is a way for Hilary Mantel to describe the relationship of
Julian from his parents growing ever weaker.
From the outset, we realise that there is an ominous tone to the piece. The ‘violent’ winds suggest
an unrest about the situation and is a foreshadowing device for the confrontation about to occur.
The idea that the small trees are being ‘torn up by the roots’ creates a metaphor for the family tree
of the Eldreds: their family connection is already ‘small’ and its foundations are being torn up by the
wind (Mrs Glasse). This idea is exaggerated by the lack of telephone that Mrs Glasse has. When we
consider that Julian spends all his time with there, we realise that his parents are losing all connection
with him.
Mantel sets the tone by saying,
‘There was never a moment, day or night, when the world was quiet.’
This again, adds to the tension of the extract, setting up the environment as a busy, hostile one.
The speech at the beginning of the extract demonstrates the difference in the lives of both
families, epitomised by,
‘Strange life they lead.’
As we go into the main body of the text, we are greeted with pathetic fallacy,
‘patchy clouds, moving fast’.
This could represent many things, The patchy relationship between Julian and his parents, the
unclear nature of the confrontation or the Eldreds’ moving fast to save their son (in their eyes).
Either way, Mantel keeps us guessing, and hungry for what is coming.
The journey of Mr Eldred symbolises his own emotion. Words like ‘parting’ and ‘indefinite’ give us an
insight into his train of thought. This creates an uneasy but powerful empathy for Mr Eldred and,
again, only makes us more eager to know what is going to happen to him.
We are first introduced to Mrs Glasse as ‘waiting in the doorway’. This is a powerful image,
suggesting that she is a powerful woman. Her standing suggests the impending doom of Mr Eldred, an
idea that is furthered when we have Mrs Glasse described to us,
‘pale, straight-backed, red-haired’.
The vibrant red of her hair creates connotations of danger and the devil; a warning sign for Mr
Eldred. Mantel develops this idea with the ‘ripping wind’ as if to imply that Mr Eldred is close to hell
because he has the devil waiting for him. Then she speaks,
‘Hello, Julian’s dad.’
This referral to Mr Eldred without proper title is at first a sign of disrespect and hostility to
juxtapose with the hostile nature of the meeting, and secondly enhances the thought that Julian
belongs to her now. Mr Eldred is merely an object related to Julian, and not a person in himself. We
see other examples of the disrespect Mrs Glasse has towards Mr Eldred later in the text:
3.33 continued H
igh/mid-level sample answer to the unprepared prose on
A Change of Climate
‘Go in the parlour’ as more of a command. It is as if she thinks she has power above him when
you get the sense that Mr Eldred would be respectful of guests in his house.
‘I didn’t put sugar in it’ demonstrates a liberty that Mrs Glasse has taken. All these examples
contribute to create the concept Mrs Glasse has power. With this, Mantel is increasing empathy for Mr
Eldred and creating an apprehension towards Mrs Glasse.
Mantel employs effective use of simile in the thoughts of Mr Eldred,
‘house like a ship, breasting a storm’.
This simile provides an account of justification for Julian and his father parting (ship taking Julian
away) and the storm represents the house being host to the ‘storm’ or argument that may well
happen
The lit fire and kettle on increase the tension still with an idea of expectance from Mrs Glasse to
Mr Eldred. She was expecting him, and these two things are hot, tying in with Glasse representing the
devil.
The imagery of a storm is built upon with the line ‘it was as if a noisy lout had left the room’.
This makes a reader think that the situation is a calm before the storm and the lout is only to
return and create the noise again.
The dialogue concerning the sugar is crucial to the story. Sugar as a sign of comfort, or rather,
the absence of sugar as an absence of comfort makes the atmosphere mysterious and ominous.
Mantel, it seems, is trying as hard as possible to make her reader as uneasy as Mr Eldred must be.
This is further realised with the dismissal of Mr Eldred’s comments by Mrs Glasse (‘didn’t reply’).
The clock in the closing part of the extract can be said to represent the relationship between
father and son. Mrs Glasse’s ‘dry’ speech shows that she does not care for Eldred’s family (or family
history). She disrespects the relationship enough not even pretend to care about father and son (ties
in with taking Julian away from him).
Mrs Glasse’s hands being ‘calloused’, ‘long’, ‘white’ create the imagery of a witch and more
negative connotations for her. The wedding ring is a clear symbol of family and marriage. The
significance of this is the juxtaposition between the duty of marriage and family through generations
and the inevitability of Julian becoming part of hers. Julian now (as Mantel may be suggesting) has a
duty to Mrs Glasse. He’s bound to her.
A final point should be made on the sun of a new day making the walls the ‘colour of butter’.
This resounding and final idea is the main overview of the extract and provides us with the main
message. As a new day begins, it melts the walls (if you will). This is another poiniant (sic) metaphor for
a new beginning and the melting of relationship between father and son.
Mantel provides us with an uneasy setting. She uses the weather and thoughts of characters as
a foreshadowing device for controversy that keeps the reader intrigued. The rudeness and appearance
of Mrs Glasse creates connotations that liken the situation to another, that of hell. It is a
combination of Mantel’s tension building and hopelessness for Mr Eldred that makes us ever aware and
expectant of the fact that he is losing, and may never get his son back again.
sample answer on A Change
of Climate
Student Book p 61
CD-ROM p 24
AO 1
This is a sustained piece of writing which uses accurately a range of terminology.
It is rather long and at worst may be seen as a blow by blow chronological account of
as many details as can be fitted into the writing session in the hope of impressing the
examiner.
At best, the discussion may be said to be fully literary in its approach.
The writing is accurate although not without some minor lapses, excusable enough
under exam conditions.
The response is quite a strong one although it may be over-interpreting a range of
signals in the text, possibly reading things into the everyday details of setting and
character without necessarily fully justifying the reading.
AO 2
There is a sensitive approach to language and discussion of a number of details.
There is awareness of the structure of the extract as we have the sense of the writer
taking us carefully through the sequence of events.
The development of understanding is generally analytical, if not evaluative. Some of the
judgements, as has been suggested, smack of over-reading.
3.35 P
rescribed texts:
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
and Tess of the d’Urbervilles
Student Book p 67
CD-ROM p 25
Compare the passages below from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and Tess of the d’Urbervilles.
The extract below is from near the end of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. Pelagia, the central
female character, is confronting the loss of her hopes of happiness with Captain Corelli.
All my home is nothing but sadness and silence and ruin and memory. I have been
reduced, I am my own ghost, all my beauty and youth have shrivelled away, there are
no illusions of happiness to impel me. Life is a prison of poverty and aborted dreams,
it is nothing but a slow progress to my place beneath the soil, it is a plot by God to
disenchant us with the flesh, it is nothing but a brief flame in a bowl of oil between one
darkness and another one that ends it.
I sit here and remember former times. I remember music in the night, and I know
that all my joys have been pulled out of my mouth like teeth. I shall be hungry and
thirsty and longing forever. If only I had a child, a child to suckle at the breast, if I had
Antonio. I have been eaten up like bread. I lie down in thorns and my well is filled with
stones. All my happiness was smoke.
The extract below is from near the end of Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Tess, the central female
character, is confronting the loss of her hopes of happiness with Angel Clare. They have
reached Stonehenge in their flight from the police, who are pursuing Tess to arrest her for
murder.
When they saw where she lay, which they had not done till then, they showed no
objection, and stood watching her, as still as the pillars around. He went to the stone
and bent over her, holding one poor little hand; her breathing now was quick and
small, like that of a lesser creature than a woman. All waited in the growing light, their
faces and hands as if they were silvered, the remainder of their figures dark, the stones
glistening green-grey, the Plain still a mass of shade. Soon the light was strong, and a
ray shone upon her unconscious form, peering under her eyelids and waking her.
‘What is it, Angel? she said, starting up. ‘Have they come for me?’
‘Yes, dearest,’ he said. ‘They have come.’
‘It is as it should be,’ she murmured. ‘Angel, I am almost glad – yes, glad! This
happiness could not have lasted. It was too much. I have had enough; and now I shall
not live for you to despise me!’
She stood up, shook herself, and went forward, neither of the men having moved.
‘I am ready,’ she said quietly.
3.36 P
rescribed texts
‘The Sun Rising’ and ‘Hour’
Student Book p 70
CD-ROM p 26
Compare the poems below by John Donne and Carol Ann Duffy.
Hour by Carol Ann Duffy
The Sun Rising by John Donne
Busy old fool, unruly sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows and through curtains call on us?
Must to thy motions lovers’ seasons run?
Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide
5
Late schoolboys and sour prentices,
Go tell court huntsmen that the King will ride,
Call country ants to harvest offices;
Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time. 10
Thy beams so reverend and strong
Why shouldst thou think?
I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,
But that I would not lose her sight so long:
If her eyes have not blinded thine,
Look, and tomorrow late tell me
Whether both th’Indias of spice and mine
Be where thou left’st them, or lie here with me.
Ask for those kings whom thou saw’st yesterday,
And thou shalt hear, all here in one bed lay.
She’s all states, and all princes I,
Nothing else is.
Princes do but play us, compared to this
All honour’s mimic, all wealth alchemy;
Thou sun art half as happy as we,
In that the world’s contracted thus.
Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be
To warm the world, that’s done in warming us:
Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;
This bed thy centre is, these walls thy sphere.
Love’s time’s beggar, but even a single hour,
bright as a dropped coin, makes love rich.
We find an hour together, spend it not on flowers
or wine, but the whole of the summer sky and a
grass ditch.
so nothing dark will end our shining hour,
no jewel hold a candle to the cuckoo spit
hung from the blade of grass at your ear,
no chandelier or spotlight see you better lit
15
5
For thousands of seconds we kiss; your hair
like treasure on the ground; the Midas light
turning your limbs to gold. Time slows, for here
we are millionaires, backhanding the night
10
than here. Now. Time hates love, wants love poor,
but love spins gold, gold, gold from straw.
20
25
30
3.37a Prescribed texts:
The Great Gatsby
Student Book p 72
CD-ROM p 27
Compare the prose passage below and the poem on Handout 3.37b.
The extract below is from near the end of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It marks the point at which
Jay Gatsby is facing the failure of his attempt to persuade Daisy, the love of his life, to leave her husband.
The narrator is Gatsby’s friend and neighbour, Nick.
I couldn’t sleep all night; a fog-horn was groaning incessantly on the Sound, and I tossed
half-sick between grotesque reality and savage, frightening dreams. Toward dawn I heard a taxi
go up Gatsby’s drive, and immediately I jumped out of bed and began to dress – I felt that I had
something to tell him, something to warn him about, and morning would be too late.
Crossing his lawn, I saw that his front door was still open and he was leaning against a table
in the hall, heavy with dejection or sleep.
‘Nothing happened,’ he said wanly. ‘I waited, and about four o’clock she came to the
window and stood there for a minute and then turned out the light.’
His house had never seemed so enormous to me as it did that night when we hunted through
the great rooms for cigarettes. We pushed aside curtains that were like pavilions, and felt over
innumerable feet of dark wall for electric light switches – once I tumbled with a sort of splash
upon the keys of a ghostly piano. There was an inexplicable amount of dust everywhere, and
the rooms were musty, as though they hadn’t been aired for many days. I found a humidor on an
unfamiliar table, with two stale, dry cigarettes inside. Throwing open the french windows of the
drawing-room, we sat smoking out into the darkness.
‘You ought to go away,’ I said. ‘It’s pretty certain they’ll trace your car.’
‘Go away now, old sport?’
‘Go to Atlantic City for a week, or up to Montreal.’
He wouldn’t consider it. He couldn’t possibly leave Daisy until he knew what she was going
to do. He was clutching at some last hope and I couldn’t bear to shake him free.
Student Book p 72
3.37b Prescribed texts:
‘This Dead Relationship’
CD-ROM p 27
This Dead Relationship by Katherine Pierpoint
I carry a dead relationship around everywhere with me.
It’s my hobby.
How lucky to have a job that’s also my hobby,
To do it all the time.
A few people notice, and ask if they can help carry this thing.
But, like an alcoholic scared they will hear the clink of glass in the bag,
I refuse – scared they’ll smell rottenness,
Scared of something under their touch
That will cave in, a skin over brown foam on a bad apple.
I cram this thing over the threshold
Into the cold and speechless house,
Lean against the front door for a moment to breathe in the dark,
Then start the slow haul to the kitchen.
Steel knives catch the moonlight on white tiles […].
5
This dead relationship. This dead and sinking ship.
Bulbs lie, unplanted, on a plate of dust.
Dry and puckered pouches, only slightly mouldy;
Embalmed little stomachs but with hairy, twisted fingers,
Waiting for something to happen without needing to know what it is.
When it happens everything else in the universe can start.
15
10
20
This dead relationship.
I am this thing’s twin.
One of us is dead
And we don’t know which, we are so close.
3.38 A
high-level response to a
Section B question in the topic
group ‘Identifying Self’
Student Book p 76
CD-ROM p 29
Read the question below and the sample response on it based on Great Expectations and Taking off Emily
Dickinson’s Clothes.
“Texts only work well if the reader can identify herself or himself with the situations, the people, the crises and the
personal dilemmas that are presented in them. To want to read more, the reader has to feel personally involved”.
Comment on and analyse the connections and comparisons between at least two texts you have studied in the
light of this comment.
In your response you must ensure that at least one text is a post-1990 text.
In your response you should demonstrate what it means to be considering texts as a modern reader, in a modern
context, and that other readers at other times may well have had other responses.
Great Expectations and Taking off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes involve the reader with personal experience in different ways. Dickens’
novel takes the form of autobiographical fiction in which the central character, Pip, tells his own story from an adult point of view:
‘My sister, Mrs Joe, with black hair and eyes, had such a prevailing redness of skin that I sometimes used to wonder whether
it was possible she washed herself with a nutmeg instead of soap’.
The narrative is retrospective, though Pip recreates his experiences, particularly of childhood, in an imaginative, dramatic style
which engages the reader strongly with the events he describes. A good example is the first episode in the book where Pip is suddenly
attacked by the convict:
‘ “Oh, don’t cut my throat, sir,’ I pleaded in terror. “Pray don’t do it, sir.”
“Tell us your name,” said the man. “Quick!”
“Pip, sir.”
“Once more,” said the man, staring at me. “Give it mouth!” ’
Here the narrative captures the shock and terror of a young boy confronted by every child’s nightmare – having their name
demanded for no clear reason by an adult stranger who threatens to harm them. Pip’s feeling of being controlled by unknown, or
half-understood, forces continues throughout the book and is one reason why the reader identifies with him so strongly. Not knowing
exactly who we are and searching for an identity (‘Tell us your name’) is a universal human experience.
Billy Collins’ poems seem autobiographical, but they present personal experience in a manner that is detached and philosophical
rather than intense or dramatic:
‘I am wondering what became of all those tall abstractions that used to pose, robed and statuesque, in paintings’ [‘The
Death of Allegory’]
He reflects on his experiences by inviting the reader to see commonplace events in a new light, as in the poem ‘Insomnia’ which
begins with the speaker counting sheep and ends with:
‘I picture all the fish in creation
leaping a fence in a field of water,
one colorful species after another.’
It is typical of Collins to introduce a surreal note into poems which are basically about everyday, even mundane, subjects.
He has said, ‘In a poem, I want the reader to know they’ve been taken on an imaginative journey’. This is a good description of
the pattern of his poems: the reader is asked to share his way of seeing things and either smile with recognition (‘You know: the
driving rain, the boots by the door,/ small birds searching for berries in winter’) or be surprised by a disturbing insight (‘Just another
Wednesday/ you whisper,/ then holding your breath,/ place this cup on yesterday’s saucer/ without the slightest chink’).
Perhaps the greatest contrast between Dickens’ and Collins’ texts lies in their variety or lack of it. The narrative of Great
Expectations incorporates many stories, moods and tones. There is, for example, the love story of Pip and Estella:
3.38 continued A
high-level response to a Section B essay in the topic group
‘I kissed the cheek as she turned it to me. I think I would have gone through a great
deal to kiss her cheek. But I felt that the kiss was given to the coarse common boy as
a piece of money might have been, and that it was worth nothing.’
The feeling of being helplessly in love but being scorned and rejected is one that every reader identifies with. The same is true
of Pip’s guilty conscience when he comes to see that he has treated Joe, who truly loves him (‘ever the best of friends’), with
insensitivity and condescension: ‘I had neither the good sense nor the good feeling to know that it was my fault, and that if I
had been easier with Joe, Joe would have been easier with me… It is a most miserable thing to feel ashamed of home’.
The range of the novel goes beyond Pip’s inner life. It includes, for instance, satire on Mr Pumblechook’s hypocritical pursuit of
wealth (“‘It’s five-and-twenty pound, Mum, and it’s no more than your merits, as I said when my opinion was asked, and I wish
you joy of the money”) and the broad comedy of Mr Wopsle’s ‘classical’ acting, as well as the chilling portrait of Orlick whose spiteful
behaviour borders on the psychotic:
‘ “Ah!” he cried, “the burnt child dreads the fire! Old Orlick knowed you was burnt,
Old Orlick knowed you was a-smuggling your uncle Provis away, Old Orlick’s a
match for you and know’d you’d come to-night. Now, I’ll tell you something more,
wolf”.
These characters are presented as caricatures. But because they also represent different facets of Pip’s own nature, they
are integrated into the novel and our response to them forms part of our response to him. In this way we feel ‘personally involved’
and our empathy with Pip is deepened.
Variety is something that the poems in Taking off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes lack, though it would be unfair to criticise Collins for
this since he does not aim at it. His subject matter is deliberately confined to familiar situations and settings: eating dinner with
his wife, driving in the car, walking alone in the countryside, writing a poem. He makes a point of not seeking new experiences and of
excluding the unknown:
‘How agreeable not to be touring Italy this summer…
How much better to cruise these local, familiar streets’. [‘Consolation’]
He prefers to look inwards: ‘Then I remove my flesh and hang it over a chair… / Just the absolute essentials, no flounces’.
[‘Purity’]. As a result, each poem is presented as a short interval of introspection in which Collins muses aloud before getting on with
life: ‘I am swaying back in the hour after dinner. / a citizen tilted back in his chair, / a creature with a full stomach – / something
you don’t hear much about in poetry’. [‘Osso Buco’]. If the reader feels ‘personally involved’ with Collins’ themes it will be because s/
he finds ‘something you don’t hear much about in poetry’ interesting for precisely this reason. Collins goes out of his way not to deal
with the ‘profound’ or ‘all those tall abstractions’.
Collins’ style, too, is deliberately limited to the informal and the conversational. Unlike Dickens who changes his register frequently
to convey, for instance, the intensity of Miss Havisham’s hatred of life or the pathos of Magwitch’s death, Collins chooses to work
within a narrow range of language. He has described his preferred mode as ‘a casual, blue-jeans kinda style’. This is shown both
in his choice of modern diction (‘The 1790s will never come again. Childhood was big’) and in his use of a form based on flexiblystructured free verse stanzas and variations on the pentameter line:
‘Of all the questions you might want to ask
about angels, the only one you ever hear
is how many can dance on the head of a pin’ [‘Questions About Angels’]
He uses idioms from American speech and his images are unobtrusive; rather than drawing attention to themselves, they seem
to emerge naturally from the process of ‘thinking aloud’:
‘The column of your book titles,
always introducing your latest one,
towers over me like Roman architecture’ [‘The Rival Poet’]
Both Dickens’ and Collins’ texts ‘work well’. They are skilfully crafted to achieve their writers’ purposes, but these purposes
could hardly be more different. Dickens is an intense writer; Collins has been accurately described as a ‘relaxed’ one. Dickens engages
the reader with an imaginative world projected through a narrator whose ‘crises and personal dilemmas’ are recognisable to readers
in any era. By contrast, Collins is very much of his time, offering to share his passing thoughts with the reader in an accessible,
whimsical style while avoiding strong emotion. As he says in ‘Advice to Writers’:
‘Clean the place as if the Pope were on his way.
Spotlessness is the niece of inspiration.
The more you clean, the more brilliant
your writing will be.’
It is not the advice Dickens would have given, which is perhaps why some readers prefer his white heat to Collins’ cool
detachment.
the sample response to
Student Book p 76
CD-ROM p 29
AO1
This essay is written in a highly coherent and sophisticated style with plenty of confident and appropriate use of
literary terminology: ‘autobiographical fiction’, ‘narrative’, ‘dramatic’, ‘satire’, ‘flexibly-structured free verse’ all leap out
as signs that the candidate has a wide repertoire of literary language which s/he uses confidently in conjunction
with clearly made points linked to specific parts of the chosen texts. The argument is well considered and
develops coherently, with only one or two sections that just slightly lose focus. This tends to happen when
the exemplification of Collins’ plain style and choice of everyday subject matter is dealt with. Nevertheless, the
confident manner and informed style would certainly gain the writer a band 3 mark for this AO.
AO2
There is excellent engagement with the language of both the poetry and prose texts. The variety of style
identified in Great Expectations is illustrated and commented on with confidence. Analysis is consistent and
detailed from the beginning. After the initial quotation from Great Expectations, the comments on the kind
of narrative we are dealing with are full of original insights, as well as leading the reader back to the question
with reference to how the reader is engaged. This particular strategy is repeated on a number of occasions,
sometimes less subtly. The analytical style throughout is moving towards the evaluative and is especially
apposite when making comparisons between the two texts. This is clearly a strongly-felt, but informed, personal
response that would put the essay into band 3 for this AO.
AO3
The examiner responds with pleasure to the way the candidate has found some thoughtful comparisons
between the texts, comparing language features, for example, and opening up the stylistic variety in Dickens
as opposed to Collins’ more limited use of language. Collins’ own comment on his poetry as being written in
a ‘casual, blue-jeans kinda style’ is a clever way of incorporating another reader’s response to the text. It does
not matter that it is the poet’s own take on what he has written. This AO is also addressed by the candidate’s
own personal interpretation which itself is responding to the proposition that introduces the question. There is
absolutely no need to introduce other named critics to hit this AO at the highest level, which of course is what
this candidate has done.
AO4
This AO is tackled in a mature fashion. It is dealt with slightly obliquely by the way in which Pip’s childhood
experiences are related to universal responses in childhood: ‘every child’s nightmare’ in the candidate’s words.
All the references to ideas expressed in phrases like ‘involve the reader with personal experience’ contribute to
high achievement in this AO. In the discussion of the Collins poems, this is achieved in a not dissimilar way in
comments like ‘His subject matter is deliberately confined to familiar situations and settings’ which are then
illustrated and evaluated. Once again the examiner awarded a mark in band 5 for this AO.
Overall, any examiner would be delighted to receive such a highly accomplished essay. It is (at over 1300 words)
quite long and high achievement could be attained in a more concise discussion; length is not the only criterion
for excellence, but when it is presented at this level of accomplishment it works in the candidate’s favour.
Student Book p 81
CD-ROM p 31
Barely a twelvemonth after
The seven days war that put the world to sleep,
Late in the evening the strange horses came.
By then we had made our covenant with silence,
But in the first few days it was so still 5
We listened to our breathing and were afraid.
On the second day
The radios failed; we turned the knobs; no answer.
On the third day a warship passed us, heading north,
Dead bodies piled on the deck. On the sixth day 10
A plane plunged over us into the sea. Thereafter
Nothing. The radios dumb;
And still they stand in corners of our kitchens,
And stand, perhaps, turned on, in a million rooms
All over the world. But now if they should speak, 15
If on a sudden they should speak again,
If on the stroke of noon a voice should speak,
We would not listen, we would not let it bring
That old bad world that swallowed its children quick
At one great gulp. We would not have it again. 20
Sometimes we think of the nations lying asleep,
Curled blindly in impenetrable sorrow,
And then the thought confounds us with its strangeness.
The tractors lie about our fields; at evening
They look like dank sea-monsters couched and waiting.
We leave them where they are and let them rust:
‘They’ll moulder away and be like other loam’.
We make our oxen drag our rusty ploughs,
Long laid aside. We have gone back
Far past our fathers’ land. And then, that evening
Late in the summer the strange horses came.
We heard a distant tapping on the road,
A deepening drumming; it stopped, went on again
And at the corner changed to hollow thunder. We saw the heads
Like a wild wave charging and were afraid.
We had sold our horses in our fathers’ time
To buy new tractors. Now they were strange to us
As fabulous steeds set on an ancient shield Or illustrations in a book of knights.
We did not dare go near them. Yet they waited,
Stubborn and shy, as if they had been sent
By an old command to find our whereabouts
And that long-lost archaic companionship.
In the first moment we had never a thought
That they were creatures to be owned and used.
Among them were some half-a-dozen colts
Dropped in some wilderness of the broken world,
Yet new as if they had come from their own Eden.
Since then they have pulled our ploughs and borne our loads,
But that free servitude still can pierce our hearts.
Our life is changed; their coming our beginning.
25
30
35
40
45
50
Student Book p 82
3.41 ‘Harp Strings’
by David Harsent
CD-ROM p 31
(i)
Then we had iron rain, nine days without break or let, the rain
that is nothing more nor less than rain of the season
spilling into our songs as ‘fist of nails’ or ‘harp strings’
or ‘love of solitude’. Should we have guessed they would gain
ground under that cover? Well, look, the reason we turned to our bottling and sewing, to pot-luck and make-good,
is simple enough to tell: the rain only ever brings
music in mist or sweet bafflement or rain-dreams. There’s a birch-wood
on the outskirts, silver poles no thicker than a man, where the rain swings
and shudders, wind-blown walking rain, and their top-to-toe silver-grey, and the steel of their sidearms, and boneash mixed with clay slapped to their cheeks and necks is how
they came among us, backed by the wind, the stain
of their last battle carried like a blazon on the brow.
(ii)
The rain washed everything, took everything downhill, a log-jam,
a slurry, that side-slipped to the river. White water rang
on broken boulders and roared in the mid-stream slam,
then it all went clear. We’ve owned to it since; we were wrong
to see nothing dark in the rain. All this has gone into song.
5
10
15
3.42 S
ample essay on
‘Relationships’
Student Book p 116
CD-ROM p 36
Read the question below and the sample response on it based on Captain Corelli’s Mandolin,
‘To His Coy Mistress’ and ‘A Nocturnal Upon St Lucy’s Day’.
“Without relationships novels and poems would be empty vessels.”
Comment on and analyse the connections between at least two texts you have studied in the light of
this assertion.
In your response you should demonstrate what it means to be considering text as a modern reader, in
modern context, and that other readers at other times may well have had other responses.
In my essay I am going to concentrate on the relationship between Pelagia and Corelli in Captain Corelli’s
Mandolin, and that between Marvell and his Mistress in ‘To His Coy Mistress’ and that between Donne
and his dead lover in ‘A Nocturnal Upon St Lucy’s Day’.
What each relationship has in common is that something is not quite right. Corelli and Pelagia cannot
consummate their relationship, they are enemies, one being Greek and one being Italian when the two
countries are at war. Her father tells her: ‘You have renounced the love of a patriotic Greek, in favour
of an invader, an oppressor. You will be called a collaborator, a fascist’s whore.’
In Marvell’s poem, he is upset about his lover’s refusal to go to bed with him. It would be all right
‘Had we but world enough, and time’ but ‘I always hear time’s winged chariot’ and though ‘the grave’s
a fine and private place,/ But none I think do there embrace.’
Donne’s situation is even worse. His lover is dead and on the shortest day of the year he is in the
mood to almost deny his very existence: ‘I, by love’s limbeck, am the grave/ Of all that’s nothing.’
de Bernières’ characters are put into awkward positions because of the war. Pelagia’s fiancé is away
at the war being patriotic and Corelli has been billeted upon her and her father so that they are living
closely together. In Chapter 29 Corelli is distressed that he has displaced Pelagia from her bed and
she has to sleep on the floor ‘wrapped up in blankets’. Gradually they become physically and emotionally
closer to each other and the language in each of their encounters includes a lot of physical details. This
is shown in the various chapters entitled ‘A Problem with Hands’: ‘He felt the swift brush of her fingers
on his thighs.’ ‘A Problem with Lips’: ‘He grasped her hands and began to smatter it with kisses’, etc.
Later on her feelings for Corelli are shown when she thinks he might have been killed by the mine on the
beach and is very distressed when she and her father work to save his life after the German atrocities
in Ch56. In her determination to save him ‘Pelagia discovered in that hour the exact enormity of what
she had asked her father to do’. After the many years of separation they eventually come back
together in old age and go off on a motor bike similar to the one they had used during the war and
revisit the places they had visited when they were young.
Marvell’s relationship is not given a satisfactory conclusion. He has managed to argue himself into a
position where he can fantasise about consummating his relationship:
3.42 continued Sample
‘Now let us sport us while we may;
And now, like am’rous birds of prey,
Rather at once our time devour.’
The imagery here is quite effective in showing his desires to make love through his reference to ‘sport’
which might make trivialise the situation and the simile of ‘like am’rous birds’ might make his desires seem
animal like and the prey/devour references are quite violent.
Unlike Pelagia, the ‘coy mistress’ has no chance to reply, which might reflect the male-dominated
world of the seventeenth century. Donne’s girl-friend has no voice because she is dead. He remembers
his love in language which is highly exaggerated in a way that might be regarded as typical of the
metaphysical poets so that their weeping is ‘Oft a flood’ ‘and so,/ Drowned the whole world’. The time of
year, which is that of the star sign Sagittarius, is linked to ‘new lust’. The empty vessel of the question
is linked to the negative images associated with emptiness that Donne associates with St Lucy’s Day
which was the shortest day of the year under the unreformed calendar : ‘the sun is spent… the world’s
whole sap Is sunk… life is shrunk… things that are not’.
Where I think the works I have studied are different is in the fact that in the poems the
relationship is central to the whole argument of what the poet has to say. Marvell’s frustration is
argued as if he is trying to persuade his lover to change her mind. This lack of consummation is not
dissimilar to Corelli’s efforts to consummate his feelings for Pelagia. Donne, however, places himself in
the position of all lovers who might find themselves in the tragic situation of bereavement: ‘Study me
then, you who shall lovers be’. Pelagia’s lament is not dissimilar: ‘Life is a prison of poverty and aborted
dreams, it is nothing but a slow progress to my place beneath the soil.’ And her sense of loss is an
important aspect of the latter part of the novel.
Where the novel has other things to offer the reader is a whole set of contexts that put
relationships into a perspective. The world of Cephallonia and the way of life there, the war and the
occupation by the Italians and Germans, the chapters that deal with the political situation, and, above
all, the range of different narrative voices often make the more personal relationships seem incident,al.
It could be argued that de Bernières could have made his novel a lot shorter and more effective if he
had cut out a lot of material that does not deal with the personal relationships but by keeping them in
he able to do something that the poets don’t have room for in their much shorter texts.
In conclusion, I would say that relationships are central to the texts I have read, but they all
have interesting and important things to say about the world around us as well.
3.43a E xaminer’s comments on
the sample essay on
‘Relationships’
Student Book p 116
CD-ROM p 36
AO1 (10)
This essay is written in a clear and coherent fashion. The rather obvious and unsubtle opening could have
been more interestingly expressed, but it does suggest that the writer knows what he wants to say and in
general he goes on to fulfil this promise. The use of critical terminology is quite helpful in showing that the
writer both has knowledge and can apply it, and literary concepts underpin most of what is being said.
This would have been given a high mark within band 2.
AO2 (10)
The writer is able to deal with the different genres being discussed with a high level of competence and
scores well in this AO through his ability to back up points with quotations that reinforce them clearly and
precisely. In other works the language aspect of the AO is being addressed quite strongly. What would
have made the essay really impressive is some further interpretation of some of the illustrated examples.
There is some awareness of the novel’s structure in paragraphs five and six.
This would have been given a low mark within band 3.
AO3 (20)
The writer has made some clear links between two of the texts he has studied; one post-1990 novel and
two poems from the Metaphysical Poetry anthology. Comparisons between the ways in which different
genres work are reasonably made. Three and two paragraphs from the end, the writer makes some
thoughtful and well-judged comparisons between his chosen texts. There is no mention of responses by
other readers, although the writer’s own informed personal response is a well-considered one. The writer
has not referred to a third text but this is not necessarily a disadvantage; remember that the instruction is
to consider at least two texts.
AO4 (20)
The writer has demonstrated awareness of contexts through the brief reference to the war-time situation
of the Pelagia/Corelli relationship in his introduction. In the initial discussion of the Donne poem there
is definite contextualisation of the significance of St Lucy’s Day. The slightly sweeping reference to
the exaggerated language employed by the metaphysical poets is rescued by the use of quotations,
helping to clinch the point. It is probably not necessary to make more than the passing reference to the
metaphysical school. There is less of this in the discussion of the Marvell poem, although there is some
valid discussion of how the poem deals with a relationship, which helps move the discussion on and which
is also well illustrated. The references to the war-time situation in Cephallonia are much more specific.
This would have been given a low mark within band 5.
3.43b A
ctivity 82: Examiner’s
comments on the sample
Student Book p 116
CD-ROM p 36
Use this handout in combination with the structured questions on activity 82 in the Student Book.
AO1
Articulate creative, informed and relevant responses to literary texts, using
appropriate terminology and concepts, and coherent, accurate written
expression.
The writer has expressed himself clearly and accurately. So far there is no use of critical
terminology. He does seem to be quite well informed about the issues that address what
the question is asking.
AO2
Demonstrate detailed critical understanding in analysing the ways in which
structure, form and language shape meanings in literary texts.
There is, so far, no awareness of form, although there are some implicit references to
language in the quotation at the end of this section. The writer is setting out his intentions
quite clearly and will develop them in the next part of his essay. The statement of what the
candidate says he intends to do in the essay’s opening sentence would strike an examiner
as a somewhat unsubtle approach.
The writer continues:
In Marvell’s poem, he is upset about his lover’s refusal to go to bed with him. It would
be all right ‘Had we but world enough, and time’ but ‘I always hear time’s winged
chariot’ and though ‘the grave’s a fine and private place,/ But none I think do there
embrace.’
Donne’s situation is even worse. His lover is dead and on the shortest day of the
year he is in mood to almost deny his very existence: ‘I, by love’s limbeck, am the
grave/ Of all that’s nothing.’
These two comments on the two metaphysical poems show a good literary sensibility in
the writer. A point is both clearly made and precisely illustrated. However, the student fails
to to develop either of these points by commenting on the language in the quotations.
3.44 Sample question on
Student Book p 118
CD-ROM p 37
From the choice of texts for this grouping you may well have studied Great Expectations,
Life of Pi and The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale. You will have met the requirement of
having studied at least two prose texts and one poetry text and one of the novels is a
post-1990 text.
There is a lot of reading here: a complex Victorian novel, a very modern novel and
a narrative in verse. In addition, some of the reading is challenging because it is the
language of the nineteenth or the fourteenth century.
The following question is designed to fit any acceptable combination of the texts for this
grouping:
“As readers we are always interested in the diverse ways in which characters’ stories are
told and their dilemmas resolved.”
Comment on and analyse the connections between at least two texts you have
studied in the light of this assertion.
In your response you should demonstrate what it means to be considering text as a
modern reader, in modern context, and that other readers at other times may well
have had other responses.
3.45 S
ample essay on
Student Book p 118
CD-ROM p 37
Read the sample response below on Great Expectations, Life of Pi, and The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale.
Then read the examiner’s comments printed on Handout 3.46a and b.
In Great Expectations, Life of Pi and The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale we have three books that are using a firstperson narrator to tell the story. Pip, Pi and the Wife are each telling a kind of autobiography. The diversity lies in the different
situations, experiences and worlds that each narrator comes from. The fourteenth century of the wife, the nineteenth century of
Pip and the twentieth century of Pi are all very different.
In The Wife of Bath’s Prologue, Alison tells us about her love of men and marriage and how she managed to outlive all five
of her husbands. She seems to be a classic survivor. Pi also has gone through extreme experiences on the small boat and with the
tiger and is a survivor too. Pip takes us through his childhood living with his sister and brother-in-law, meetings with the convict,
Miss Havisham and Estella and the fulfilment of his ‘great expectations’.
The Wife’s way of telling her story is to tell us about each of her husbands in turn and to show us how she outwitted
them all, either by being unfaithful or fighting them. She likes referring to the Bible a lot to justify her behaviour: ‘Thanked be
God’ and the story of the ‘wedding in the Cane of Galilee’ and the Samaritan as well as Solomon ‘who hadde wives mo than
oon’. She talks about things that some people might think should not be spoken of in public like her ‘virginitee’, ‘continence’ and
‘membres of generacion’. Some critics might say that this is deliberate to show that, in Chaucer’s day, women who spoke too
much were seen as evil. Some modern critics, though, might want to see her as a determined and independent woman who we
should admire. She shows her power over men both in her accounts of the husbands but also in her tale when she tells the story
of the loathly lady who turns into a beautiful woman at the last moment. The knight had to be tried by women and undertake
a difficult task before he could live happily ever after.
Pip when he tells us his story is also dominated by powerful women. Miss Havisham wants him to love Estella even though she
can never be his and Estella herself knows that she has power over Pip that she will never satisfy. Mrs Joe’s violent upbringing of
Pip with its frequent use of ‘tickler’ and ‘tar water’ is another example of how powerful women can be. The way it is told is for
the older Pip to tell us many years later about his childhood and early years as an adult when he pursued Estella in vain. He
also keeps secrets about the characters’ pasts and the ways in which they are connected until late in the novel. We don’t get
that kind of secret in Chaucer.
In Life of Pi the narrator is telling us about a much shorter period of time when his ship has sunk, leaving him in
considerable danger on the open seas. ‘If I survived my apprenticeship as a high seas animal trainer, it was because Richard
Parker did not really want to attack me. Tigers, indeed all animals, do not favour violence as a way of settling scores. When
animals fight, it is with the intent to kill and with the understanding that they may be killed.’ The confinement of much of the
story to a small physical space is another way in which the story is told and makes it different to the other two.
Another thing that makes Life of Pi different is the modern setting and the exotic locations. It is also quite post-modern in
that at the end the people who interview Pi about his journey don’t really believe him so that the reader too might wonder if the
whole thing is made up and exaggerated. Because it is a novel it is made up, of course, but the reader believes the narrator
while the story is being told. It’s the same with Pip and the Wife of Bath. We believe Pip when he tells us that he beat Herbert
when they fought at Satis House years earlier and, when they recall their first meeting when they had the fight, Herbert
remembers the story differently. Just as Pi had to provide a different version of what happened after his ship had sunk, so
Dickens had to rewrite the ending of his novel so that Pip could go off with Estella to satisfy the readers of the day. The Wife
of Bath’s Prologue might be an incredible story of five husbands, but the magic transformation at the end of the tale is another
example of how the narrator is in charge of what happens and can make anything happen.
Therefore we have seen how writers tell stories in different ways and, whatever the time of writing, they are seen as being
in control. Whether their dilemmas are resolved or not is something else again. They are resolved in different ways. In the Wife’s
Prologue it is through her establishing control over Jankin by destroying his nasty anti-feminist book. In the Tale it is through the
transformation of the loathly lady when she finally establishes her ‘maistrie’. At the end of Great Expectations it is through
Pip’s getting possession of Estella after years of suffering. In Life of Pi it is the conclusion of the italicised narrative when Pi’s
story, although marginalised ‘As an aside’, is still recognised as an astounding story of great courage and endurance in the face
of extraordinarily difficult and tragic circumstances.
the sample essay on
Student Book p 118
CD-ROM p 37
AO 1 (10)
The writer has made a clear statement of his intentions and shows literary awareness through the use of
terminology such as first-person narrator, autobiography and post-modern. This use of terminology also
suggests that the candidate has an awareness of form. All the way through this essay there is awareness of
generic features. Some of these features are used to support the argument; others such as post-modern are
just mentioned and not explored. There is limited evidence that the writer understands this term fully. There is
a well-developed and relevant argument and the writing is accurate and fluent even if some of the language
is fairly unsophisticated. Band 3
AO 2 (10)
This writer’s strengths lie partly in the ways that he has dealt with the language of the texts he has chosen to
write about. The way in which the character of the Wife of Bath is related to the kind of Bible-related imagery
she employs is both well illustrated and discussed. The discussion of the different ways in which stories are
told indicates sound awareness of the forms used. Even if one of the texts is a poem, the common connection
– different forms of narrative – is handled with confidence. Band 2
AO 3 (20)
The writer has suggested ways in which the texts can be compared by talking about their similarities
while indicating differences that relate to the times in which they were written. He suggests early on that
he is aware of contexts relevant to the times at which the texts were written and this is something that is
developed later. He is able to develop these ideas about contexts and illustrates clearly how other readers
have interpreted the texts. The writer has declared his intention of writing about all three of the texts he has
studied so he has given himself quite a challenging task. He has, in fact, done this with quite a high level of
confidence. The essay’s second paragraph introduces some links which are then developed in the next four
paragraphs. It should be emphasised, though, that a writer can achieve the highest mark by only dealing with
two texts and, even if discussing three, they do not all have to be dealt with in the same amount of detail.
Critical awareness is managed through the writer’s own confident discussion, although there is a token
reference to some modern critics in paragraph three, which could have been more precise, although the idea
of divergent opinions is quite well integrated into the discussion as a whole. Band 4
AO 4 (20)
Contextualisation is best handled in this essay in the confident discussion of how the Wife of Bath’s narrative
is structured and how it relates to the tale. There is some contextual awareness in the comments on Life of Pi,
but they are really only implicit in the remarks about Great Expectations. The writer does, however, explore his
response as a modern reader and recognises that (as a male writer) he has a definite line on the ways in which
women are presented in two of his texts. Band 4
3.46b A
essay on ‘Identifying Self’
Student Book p 118
CD-ROM p 37
Use this handout in combination with the structured questions in activity 83 in the Student Book.
In Great Expectations, Life of Pi and The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale we have three books that are
using a first-person narrator to tell the story. Pip, Pi and the Wife are each telling a kind of autobiography. The
diversity lies in the different situations, experiences and worlds that each narrator comes from. The fourteenth
century of the Wife, the nineteenth century of Pip and the twentieth century of Pi are all very different.
AO3 and AO4
The writer has suggested ways in which the texts can be compared by talking about their similarities while
indicating differences that relate to the times in which they were written. He suggests that he is aware
of contexts relevant to the times at which the texts were written and this is something that is likely to be
developed later. If he is able to develop these ideas about contexts, and illustrate clearly how other readers
have interpreted the texts, AO3 will be dealt with at a high level of achievement. The writer has declared
his intention of writing about all three of the texts he has studied so he giving himself quite a challenging
task, which, if successfully achieved, could be awarded a mark in the highest band. It should be emphasised,
though, that a writer can achieve the highest mark by only dealing with two texts and, even if discussing
three, they do not all have to be dealt with in the same amount of detail.
AO1 and AO2
The writer has made a clear statement of his intentions and shows literary awareness through the use of
terminology such as first-person narrator and autobiography. This use of terminology also suggests that the
candidate has an awareness of form.
The essay ended as follows:
Therefore we have seen how writers tell stories in different ways and, whatever the time of writing, they are
seen as being in control. Whether their dilemmas are resolved or not is something else again. They are resolved in
different ways. In the Wife’s Prologue it is through her establishing control over Jankin by destroying his nasty
anti-feminist book. In the Tale it is through the transformation of the loathly lady when she finally establishes
her ‘maistrie’. At the end of Great Expectations it is through Pip’s getting possession of Estella after years of
suffering. In Life of Pi it is the conclusion of the italicised narrative when Pi’s story, although marginalised ‘As an
aside’, is still recognised as an astounding story of great courage and endurance in the face of extraordinarily
difficult and tragic circumstances’.
Therefore we have seen is not the subtlest way of bringing the essay to a conclusion, although it is a clear signal
that the essay is drawing to a conclusion. The writer is trying to do several things here. The different ways in
which stories have been told is likely to have been discussed and we have moved on from the similarities
noted in the opening paragraph already discussed. The second sentence notes the possibility of different
opinions before the writer’s own conclusion is offered. Rather neatly, the resolution of each story is clearly
expressed in literary terms, while still dealing with the dilemmas of the central characters, supported by some
effective, brief quotations.
3.47 Sample question on
‘Journeys’
Student Book p 120
CD-ROM p 37
If you have chosen this grouping of texts, you will have had no shortage of post-1990
texts to choose from and perhaps studied Reef (as your post-1990 text) and Brunizem
balancing these culturally diverse post-colonial texts with Chaucer’s General Prologue.
“Life itself is a journey and poems and novels always reflect this in the ways in which
they present characters, stories and themes.”
Comment on and analyse the connections between at least two texts you have
studied in the light of this assertion.
modern reader, in modern context, and that other readers at other times may well
have had other responses.
3.48 S
ample essay on ‘Journeys’
StudentBook p 120
CD-ROM p 37
Read the sample response below on Reef, Brunizem and Chaucer’s General Prologue. Then read the examiner’s
comments printed on Handout 3.59a and b.
The main journeys in Reef seem to be the change of location from Sri Lanka to life in England and how the narrator
has travelled from childhood to adulthood and changed his social standing. In the General Prologue the journey does
seem to be a literal one as the pilgrims make their way from the Tabard Inn in Southwark to Canterbury. It could
be argued that the reader undergoes a journey through the different social groupings that the pilgrims represent. In
the title poem of Brunizem the author is remembering the soil of her native land and perhaps expressing her nostalgia
through her impassioned cry.
‘I don’t want English
To be my middle name.’
Life as a journey therefore is reflected in Gunesekera’s portrayal of Triton’s experiences with Mr Salgado (who
might be loosely based on the exiled science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke) framed by the scenes in England at the
beginning and end of the novel. The journey is what might be called ‘the self awakening of Triton: he is content in his
role as a subservient and becomes accomplished in the crafts he learns.’ Tom Paulin called it a ‘prose symbolist poem
about the art of cooking’.
Bhatt’s sense of a journey from one place to another is shown through the ways in which she sometimes uses
Gujarati and Sanskrit words in her poems, which reminds the reader that her first language is not English and that
she herself is an exile. The word Brunizem itself is a mixture of French and Russian elements and an anonymous critic
has remarked: ‘The image of a tri-continental earth is obviously Bhatt’s own metaphor for the worlds that nourish
her talent.’ In an interview with Vicki Bertram, she said that ‘My sense of being exiled and an outsider has no
doubt affected my writing as well as my need to write.’
In the General Prologue Chaucer is showing a real journey, the pilgrimage to Canterbury, but a number of
the pilgrims have made other journeys. The Knight has recently returned from his most recent voyage, and may be
seen, as Terry Jones suggests in Chaucer’s Knight, as a medieval mercenary. The Friar spends his time wandering
around the country begging, who Robinson suggests represents ‘the corrupt condition of the mendicant orders, which
in Chaucer’s time had departed from the ideals of their founders’, and the Wife of Bath has been on a number
of previous pilgrimages, demonstrating what Winny calls her ‘pent-up energy and physical stamina implicit in Chaucer’s
account of her many pilgrimages’.
My own response to Reef is that the relationship between Triton and a number of the characters in the novel
show his growing awareness of the world around him. This is the metaphorical journey which the character makes in
the course of the novel. At first, his relationship with Joseph is one of total subservience. At first ‘Joseph laid down
the rules. He told me where I could sleep at night… and what time I should get up.’ Eventually, as Joseph abused
Mr Salgado’s possessions during his absence, Triton can see what is going on. When he is given notice, ‘Clear out. Roll
your mat and disappear’, Triton feels sorry for him ‘even though I hated him’. Triton’s journey is to be in total
control of Mr Salgado’s house and he relishes the development of his skills: ‘I had become an expert in the kitchen’.
He gradually becomes aware of the developing relationship between Mr Salgado and Miss Nili. At one point he even
collaborates with her when she wants to take one of Mr Salgado’s shirts to have a new one made for his Christmas
present: ‘It is a secret, you mustn’t tell him, OK?’ When he looks for it, Triton is distressed at what he has done:
‘I had never lied to him before.’
The language in Reef when showing Triton’s character tends to show a feminine sensibility because of its emphasis
on cooking and domestic details. This is shown when he is preparing an elaborate Christmas meal for Mr Salgado and
his guests: ‘It was not too complicated. Only five dishes for the main course: turkey, potatoes, two green vegetables
and the ham, then ready-made Christmas pudding.’ He has to keep on reassuring Mr Salgado that everything is
under control: ‘“OK.” I kept saying. “Everything fine.”’ This contrasts with his earlier state of uncertainty when he
learned to chop onions without weeping: ‘Only much later did I learn the tricks to minimise the effects…’
In the General Prologue, by contrast, we don’t actually witness the journey to St Thomas’ tomb, only the
preparations for it, but we do know that the time will be spent telling stories and that the Knight’s tale will be the
first: ‘the cut fil to the knyght’. We also know from the various portraits that the pilgrims may not always be going
on the pilgrimage in a totally religious frame of mind. The ‘poure persoun’ who was ‘riche of hooly thought and werk’
and in a way appropriate to a pilgrim, carried ‘in his hand a staf’ is obviously sincere. The corrupt Summoner and
Pardoner do not seem to be very sincere in their religious practice. The Summoner because he was open to bribes:
‘He wolde suffre, for a quart of wyn,
A good felawe to have his concubyn.’
Chaucer is both suggesting that he is easily bought and that, through his use of irony, works which might be
positive in tone like ‘good’, and ‘gentil’ are to be taken with a large dose of salt. The Pardoner too is ‘gentil’ and
again what might be taken as praise is meant ironically:
‘But of his craft, fro Berwick unto Ware
Ne was ther swich another pardoner.’
The Pardoner is also corrupt because he fools his clients into thinking that a ‘pilwe-beer… was our lady veyl’.
Their journey seems to be just an excuse for them to either have a good time or to carry on with their devious
practices, after all the Pardoner has just made another journey to Rome and returned ‘bretful of pardoun, comen
from Rome al hoot’. He presumably will exploit the pilgrims’ gullibility by making money from selling them the pardons. The
language of religion is therefore used to present corruption rather than sincere religious belief in their cases.
My response to Brunizem is that Bhatt’s journey is a cultural and linguistic one. In ‘To My Muse’, she is able
to take a rather traditional concept like the Muses of the Ancient World in the European tradition and make it
totally her own by referring to ‘your turban’ the ‘monsoon’, ‘clusters of green bamboo’, ‘the rustle of Mysore silk’ and
‘her sari’ in a free verse poem which seems to be presenting an erotic relationship between the writer and her (in this
context), definitely male muse.
Similarly the journey in ‘Eurydice Speaks’ has taken the classical myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and presented
it in feminist way, with the narrative voice of the dramatic monologue being Eurydice herself telling us that she is
not in hell but ‘this place is called Maine’, reflecting Bhatt’s own journey from India to Europe and on to the United
States where she lived part of her life.
Each writer deals with journeys of different kinds, some literal, some metaphorical. I enjoyed Reef’s quite tight
prologue/epilogue framework to show us Triton’s literal journey from Sri Lanka to England, as well as the journey he
makes in his developing relationships with characters where he learns to trust and be trusted (but is also aware of
the possibilities of betrayal in the shirt incident mentioned earlier), and his growing skills as a cook and housekeeper to
Mr Salgado. As we have seen, Chaucer’s pilgrims experience a variety of journeys as well as their common one of the
pilgrimage which is what has brought them together in the first place. Perhaps Sujata Bhatt’s journey is the most
challenging of all because she has shown in the poetry much of her own journey in terms of language, culture and
geography. Perhaps that is best illustrated in the words of her Marie Curie character:
‘while I analysed the progress
that has been made in physics…
… at night, I still count in Polish.’
3.49a Examiner’s comments on
the sample essay on
‘Journeys’
Student Book p 120
CD-ROM p 37
AO 1
This is an impressive piece of writing that is accurately written, fully literary in approach and very well
informed. Critical terminology and concepts are well integrated into a structured argument which develops
logically. Band 3
AO 2
The question has helped the writer here because the form and structure of journeys is both built into the
opening proposition and is integral to the structures within each text being discussed. The detailed use of
quotation consistently engages with the diverse ways in which each of the authors operates as a writer. The
writer has positive and individual responses to the texts which derive from good understanding of what has
been read.
Band 3
AO 3
The comparisons between literal and metaphorical journeys is very confidently managed, accepting the
proposition’s life as a journey as a given, but developing the concept in a way that acknowledges the writers’
diverse approaches to this idea. The use of a range of named critics counterbalanced with the candidate’s
own critical responses is neatly handled. Each text is explored in turn: first, with some effectively integrated
comments that the writer has gleaned from wider reading; second, with his own responses which, in the
context of the essay, are at least equally valid because each comment is linked to specific reference in the text.
The comparisons are also made in a considered and mature fashion, just as the comments on the individual
texts are brought together in exemplary fashion in the final paragraph as the writer ends most satisfyingly
with a strong personal response, totally integrated with a neat signing-off quotation to clinch the
point. Band 5
AO 4
In general the contextualisation to be found here is impressive. This is clearly noticeable in paragraphs two,
three and four where each text is briefly introduced with comments that root them firmly in time or place
and each of the critical remarks quoted, apart from contributing to AO3, as has already been noted, notes
some aspect of its critical reception in recent times. Only Chaucer has a long critical reception, since the
candidate has dealt with two post-1990 texts in his essay and the critic quoted here has challenged a longheld view of the Knight as an exemplary figure with whom Chaucer has chosen to begin his descriptions. The
second critic quoted similarly puts the medieval figure into a context of how Chaucer might have wanted
him to be perceived at the time. The references to cultural contexts in the discussion of Brunizem are very well
integrated into the discussion of the poetry itself. The candidate’s writing therefore seems to be consistently
analytical and to be moving towards the higher-order skills of synthesis and evaluation. Band 5
At over 1300 words, this is a lot of work to achieve in a little more than an hour, and it would be an
exceptional candidate who did this.
3.49b Activity 84: Examiner’s
Student Book p 120
CD-ROM p 37
Use this handout in combination with the structured questions on activity 84 in the Student Book before
the student has access to the whole essay.
The main journeys in Reef seem to be the change of location from Sri Lanka to life in England and how the
narrator has travelled from childhood to adulthood and changed his social standing. In the General Prologue
the journey does seem to be literal one as the pilgrims make their way from the Tabard Inn in Southwark to
Canterbury. It could be argued that the reader undergoes a journey through the different social groupings that
the pilgrims represent. In the title poem of Brunizem the author is remembering the soil of her native land and
perhaps expressing her nostalgia through her impassioned cry:
‘I don’t want English
To be my middle name.’
So far there are straightforward statements about each of the texts studied rather than connections or
comparisons but the writer may well develop these later in the essay. The contexts are addressed quite specifically
and again this is likely to be developed later.
There is a straightforward literary awareness and the writing is competent and accurately expressed. There is some
implicit awareness of form in the ways the journeys referred to relate to the texts themselves and how they are
written. Once again it is to be hoped that the writer will develop this later.
Life as a journey therefore is reflected in Gunesekera’s portrayal of Triton’s experiences with Mr Salgado (who
might be loosely based on the exiled science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke) framed by the scenes in England at the
beginning and end of the novel. The journey is what might be called ‘the self awakening of Triton: he is content in
his role as a subservient and becomes accomplished in the crafts he learns.’ Tom Paulin called it a ‘prose symbolist
poem about the art of cooking’.
Bhatt’s sense of a journey from one place to another is shown through the ways in which she sometimes uses
Gujarati and Sanskrit words in her poems, which reminds that her first language is not English and that she
herself is an exile. The word Brunizem itself is a mixture of French and Russian elements and an anonymous critic
has remarked: ‘The image of a tri-continental earth is obviously Bhatt’s own metaphor for the worlds that nourish
her talent.’ In an interview with Vicki Bertram, she said that ‘My sense of being exiled and an outsider has no
doubt affected my writing as well as my need to write.’
In the General Prologue Chaucer is showing a real journey, the pilgrimage to Canterbury, but a number of the
pilgrims have made other journeys. The Knight has recently returned from his most recent voyage, and may be seen,
as Terry Jones suggests in Chaucer’s Knight, as a medieval mercenary. The Friar spends his time wandering around
the country begging, who Robinson suggests represents ‘the corrupt condition of the mendicant orders, which in
Chaucer’s time had departed from the ideals of their founders’, and the Wife of Bath has been on a number of
previous pilgrimages, demonstrating what Winny calls her ‘pent-up energy and physical stamina implicit in Chaucer’s
account of her many pilgrimages’.
The writer is making a sustained attempt to develop the argument that was suggested in his opening remarks.
He has also make a very self-conscious attempt to bring in some critical comments in order to show how other
readers, in this case named critics or academics, to support a number of points in the argument. He now needs to
go and develop his own critical awareness in appreciating these texts.
3.49b continued Examiner’s
comments on the sample essay on
‘Journeys’
Developing the essay
What follows are some introductory sections from some of the paragraphs that follow.
My own response to Reef is that the relationship between Triton and a number of the characters in
the novel show his growing awareness of the world around him. This is the metaphorical journey which the
character makes in the course of the novel. At first…
The sense of a personal response is obvious but the raising of the idea of a metaphorical journey is valid.
In the General Prologue by contrast…
This kind of connecting phrase moves the argument on very clearly.
My response to Brunizem is that Bhatt’s journey is a cultural and linguistic one.
Similarly the writer tells us he is moving on and developing the idea of different kinds of journey which he
will go on to explore.
Similarly the journey in ‘Eurydice Speaks’ has taken the classical myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and
presented it in feminist way, with the narrative voice of the dramatic monologue...
As well as the reader-friendly discourse marker ‘similarly’ references to myth, feminism, narrative voice and
dramatic monologue all suggest someone who can use the terminology with some confidence.
Each writer deals with journeys of different kinds, some literal, some metaphorical.
This sentence leads into a final paragraph which will pull the threads of the essay together with some skill.
Student Book p 123
CD-ROM p 37
Read the sample question below.
“However unpleasant it may be, it is important that writers keep reminding us of the
horrors of war.”
Comment on and analyse the connections between at least two texts you have studied
in the light of this assertion.
modern reader, in modern context, and that other readers at other times may well have
had other responses.
3.51 S
ample essay on ‘War’
Student Book p 123
CD-ROM p 37
Read the question below and the sample response an it based on The Ghost Road, The Kite Runner,
‘Futility’ and ‘The Horses’.
In The Ghost Road Pat Barker takes the reader back to World War One and its horrors, in
contrast to Khaled Hosseini who is dealing with the much more recent conflict in Afghanistan.
In the poems I have read, Wilfred Owen also talks about a dead soldier in ‘Futility’ and Edwin
Muir’s ‘The Horses’ deals with how the world might cope after a nuclear holocaust in an imagined
future. Each of them deals with horror in a different way and my essay will focus on the
different ways in which writers present these horrors.
In ‘The Horses’ not many people have survived, modern technology no longer works and the
people are isolated with no means of communicating with the outside world:
‘On the second day
The radios failed.’
In The Ghost Road we are shown what it is like to be in the thick of battle: ‘Prompt as
ever, hell erupted. Shells whined over, flashes of light, plumes of water from the drainage ditches,
tons of mud and earth flung into the air.’
In ‘Futility’ Owen shows us what has happened to the soldier and how he will never come
back to life even though the ‘kind old sun’ ‘awoke him once’.
The horrors of the situation in Afghanistan in The Kite Runner are very different. The war
influences Amir and his father when they are obliged to go into exile and have a very unpleasant
and dangerous journey before arriving in Pakistan: ‘MiGs roaring past overhead; staccatos of
gunfire; …the stench of gasoline, vomit and shit.’
Each of these writers uses language effectively to show the horrors of the wars they
describe.
Owen uses language that avoids direct horror but often uses non-violent images like ‘gently’
and ‘whispering’, reminders of the life that has been lost, ‘awoke’, ‘woke’ and ‘rouse’. The two
seven-line stanzas start with direct verbs, ‘Move’ and ‘Think’. Even more striking are the half
rhymes at the end of the lines such ‘tall’ and ‘toil’ in stanza two. There is effective contrast
between images that remind us of life, ‘full-nerved, still warm’ and those which, because they
are cold, might be linked to death such as ‘clays of a cold star’. The personification is ironic, the
‘sunbeams’ are ‘fatuous’.
In ‘The Horses’ by contrast, there is some hope for the future and the focus is not so
much on the individual than a wider society. There is some specific horror with ‘Dead bodies piled
on the deck’ and ‘A plane plunged over us into the sea’. Like Owen, Muir uses an image related
to sleeping, ‘Sometimes we think of the nations lying asleep’ but in this case it is a whole group
of people and he seems to suggest that they might wake up. The reawakening though is directly
referring to the rescue of mankind by the horses which at first are shown through the sound of
‘distant tapping’ and ‘deepening drumming’. The onomatopoeia and alliteration are effectively
used here.
essay on ‘War’
Hosseini is also concerned with survival and the plight of the living who still have to cope with
the horrors of war even when they think they are escaping from them. As they escape, there is
an account of the Russian border guard’s near rape of the black-shawled young woman travelling
with them, ‘Said the soldier wanted a half hour with the lady in the back of the truck’. Amir is
horrified at his father’s intervention, ‘Do you always have to be the hero? I thought, my heart
fluttering’. Baba reminds the soldier that ‘war doesn’t negate decency. It demands it.’ What is
important here is that a woman who is not a soldier but an ordinary civilian is the possible victim
of the horrors of war. Later, when Amir returns to Kabul and witnesses the stoning in Ghazi
Stadium, we are reminded that the victims are not front-line combatants and in any case it is
a different kind of war.
In The Ghost Road we are told directly about the horrors of trench warfare in the
scenes back at the front line in the second part of the novel when we learn something about
the conditions which produce breakdowns in the men: ‘the strain has to be borne in conditions of
immobility, passivity and helplessness. Cramped in holes in the ground waiting for the next random
shell to put you out.’ (This is almost the cue for the situation described in ‘Futility’.) Then we
learn about the men’s expressions, ‘there were basically two… One you saw at Étaples, the
rabbit-locked-up-with-a-stoat-look… The other expression was the trench expression. It looks
quite daunting if you don’t know it. It was a sort of morose disgust’. Unlike the undeniably
dead, but at peace dead man in ‘Futility’, the images of death are grotesque: ‘bits of human
bone sticking out of the walls, in freezing weather corpses propped up on the fire step’.
It therefore seems impossible to escape from the horrors of war in these different works of
literature. The poetry of Wilfred Owen and Pat Barker’s novel deal with the soldiers as victims
who, if they survive, are damaged in different ways, physically and psychologically and have to
be treated by doctors like Rivers. This is contrasted with the ways in which people who are not
soldiers are victims of war in The Kite Runner. Muir’s poem does not deal with as real a situation
as the other works, but it still imagines a world destroyed by war, which has to be rescued by
the horses that had been forgotten about by humans.
the sample essay on ‘War’
Student Book p 123
CD-ROM p 37
AO1 (10)
The writing is always clear and competent with a good level of accuracy and containing a consistent
literary awareness and well-managed use of some literary terms.
AO2 (10)
In paragraphs two to five, the candidate has made some valid comments on the horrors of war about
each of the four texts he is going to discuss and supports each point with a quotation. He does not go
on to clinch the point with any analysis of the points or illustrations. Critical awareness is more apparent
when there is some effective discussion of language. There is a limited sense of form and structure, neither
of which is explored in any detail but there is some token reference in the final paragraph to the texts as
novels or poems.
AO3 (20)
The opening paragraph quite neatly and appropriately establishes some connections which are then
later explored in more detail. There is some ability to make connections such as the opening sentence of
paragraph five, and there are some discourse markers such as by contrast at the opening of the following
paragraph. In the penultimate paragraph there is quite a good insight as some very precise links between
The Ghost Road and ‘Futility’ are identified. The final paragraph also draws together the candidate’s remarks
well as he contrasts the different ways in which horror is dealt with in his chosen texts.
AO4 (20)
The candidate is certainly aware of the various contexts from which each text derives and this is concisely
expressed in the opening paragraph. This not really developed but there is consistent embedding of these
contexts in the ensuing discussion; but he does not really go any further in producing any awareness
of a more modern contexts for the texts that deal with World War One or in differentiating between the
poem written at the time and Pat Barker’s more recent interpretation of the conflict. What is praiseworthy,
however, is the candidate’s quite strong personal responses which are generally well embedded in the
discussion as a whole.
3.52b A
essay on ‘War’
Student Book p 123
CD-ROM p37
Use this handout in combination with the structured questions in activity 85 of the student book.
The writer has made an attempt to show where his essay might be heading. He has mentioned three texts
and from his poetry text he has mentioned two poems. The key word in the question ‘horror’ is addressed
and so appropriate connections have been established from the outset even if so far there is no mention
of other readers. The writer has mentioned a range of contexts relating to the various conflicts in which the
novels and poems referred to are set, and one would hope that the sense of a modern reader’s response
would be developed later in the essay.
The expression is clear and the focus is totally relevant through the picking up of the topic of war and, as
already mentioned, the key word ‘horror’. So far there is no real reference to structure, form or language,
but this will doubtless follow.
In ‘The Horses’ not many people have survived, modern technology no longer works and the people are
isolated with no means of communicating with the outside world:
‘On the second day
The radios failed.’
This is a fairly straightforward comment linked to content. There is a useful quotation, but so far no sense of
interpretation.
In The Ghost Road we are shown what it is like to be in the thick of battle: ‘Prompt as ever, hell
erupted. Shells whined over, flashes of light, plumes of water from the drainage ditches, tons of mud
and earth flung into the air.’
In ‘Futility’ Owen shows us what has happened to the soldier and how he will never come back to
life even though the ‘kind old sun’ ‘awoke him once’.
The horrors of the situation in Afghanistan in The Kite Runner are very different. The war
influences Amir and his father when they are obliged to go into exile and have a very unpleasant and
dangerous journey before arriving in Pakistan: ‘MiGs roaring past overhead; staccatos of gunfire; …the
stench of gasoline, vomit and shit.’
Each of these writers uses language effectively to show the horrors of the wars they describe
So far the writer has drawn some contrasts. There is clear focus on horrors and these are well illustrated. It
would have been gratifying to have had some comments about the language. The writer now needs to
make some comparisons between his texts and to offer some considered opinions about how effective
he thinks the writing is. If he can do this and offer some different critical opinions, the essay could be
developed into something much more promising than appears so far. He hasn’t really differentiated the
genres being discussed. For a higher band mark some discussion of how each writer uses form, structure
and language is needed. The writer says that he is about to talk about language and this too would be a
factor to raise the so far slightly disappointing impression made.
Student Book p 128
4.1 W
hat is literature?
CD-ROM p 41
Unit 4 offers you a great opportunity because you are free, in varying degrees, to select for your literary
study texts that mean something to you. As long as such texts are substantial and are critically recognised,
they will be acceptable.
Begin to ask yourself questions about the sort of literature that you find relevant and interesting. If you are
bold and take some risks, you will feel excited as you select your texts and undertake your work for
this unit.
Think about the following topic:
‘What is literature, and why should I bother to read good books?’
Work with a partner and read the following definitions. Sort them into groups, then try to come up with
a definition of your own. Finally, compare your ideas with those of the group as a whole.
‘It is in literature that the concrete outlook
of humanity receives its expression.’
Alfred North Whitehead
it will bear repetition.
‘The test of real literature is that
and again, and always
We read over the same pages again
with fresh delight.’ Samuel McChord Crothers
‘Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest
places in human society and in the human spirit, where I
hope to find not absolute truth but the truth of the tale,
of the imagination and of the heart.’
Salman Rushdie
‘The decline of literature indicates the
decline of a nation.’
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
‘A great literature is chiefly the prod
uct
of inquiring minds in revolt against the
immovable certainties of the nation.’
H.L. Mencken
‘What is wonderful about great literature is that it
transforms the man who reads it towards the condition
of the man who wrote.’
E.M. Forster
and literature
‘While thought exists, words are alive
living.’
becomes an escape, not from, but into
Cyril Connolly
‘Literature is the question minus the answer.’ Roland Barthes
‘Many books require no thought from those who read
them, and for a very simple reason; they made no
such demand upon those who wrote them.’
Charles Caleb Colton
not see in the book
‘When you re-read a classic you do
in you than
more than you did before. You see more
there was before.’ Clifton Fadiman
4.2 A
ddressing the assessment
objectives
Student Book
pp 129 & 136
CD-ROM p 41
Below is a chart of the AOs with commentry. You will refer back to this throughout your course.
AO
Assessment objective
What this means in practice
AO1
Articulate creative, informed and
relevant responses to literary texts,
using appropriate terminology and
concepts, and coherent, accurate
written expression.
You can use:
• ideas relevant to literary study
• suitable literary terms
• a clear and fluent writing style.
AO1 has two parts: (a) evidence of a creative, informed and relevant response to the
text and (b) the use of an appropriate vocabulary to express your ideas.
AO2
Demonstrate detailed critical
understanding in analysing the ways
in which structure, form and language
shape meanings in literary texts.
You can show how, in your chosen texts:
• language conveys meaning
• form and structure convey meaning
• language, form and structure combine to
convey meaning.
You are required to consider the ways in which writers use structure, form and
language to express their ideas. When you read a text, ask yourself why the writer
chose that particular form – poetry, drama or prose in poem, a novel or a short story.
AO3
Explore connections and comparisons
between different literary texts,
informed by interpretations of other
readers.
You can:
• make connections between texts
• explain others’ interpretations of texts
• show how different readers respond
differently to texts at different times.
You must connect all of your texts together in interesting ways. Remember that texts
generate more than one meaning and people interpret texts differently; that texts can
be understood differently by different groups of readers, perhaps over time, or because
of a culture and so on.
AO4
Demonstrate understanding of the
significance and influence of the
contexts in which literary texts are
written and received.
You can:
• put texts into their contexts
• show how contexts influence the way
texts are written and read.
You need to explore the contexts related to the writer and also to the reader to
understand how and why a text was produced and how it may be understood by
readers.
NOTE: The total number of marks for Unit 4 is 80. Each AO counts for 20 marks.
Your choice of texts and topic must allow you to meet all four AOs.
4.3 E xtract from ‘The Kiss of Life’
Student Book p 137
CD-ROM p 43
The extract below is taken from a collection of short stories, each exploring a different aspect of love. It
is the first page of one story. Read it through and work out what plot, themes and inferences the author
might develop during the course of the story.
From The Kiss of Life, a short story from The Pangs of Love by Jane Gardam
Edna was a big respectable looking woman, always in the supermarket. At least she always seemed
to be in the supermarket when Mew went there which was three times a week. Mew lived alone and
did not see many people except out shopping. The supermarket seemed to keep her in touch.
She had not a great need of food. A pot of marmalade lasted her nearly a month and she wished
5 you could buy butter in less than half pounds, because even in a fridge butter goes off, being so old.
Mew would pick up and feel and then put down again the cold, hard bricks of butter, especially
far away foreign butter like New Zealand, and think of ambling herds with the morning sun on
their coats rocking their heads and twitching their tails beside hot springs and wattle while Putney
was fast asleep. It stood to reason that this butter must be old. As for the French soft stuff and the
10 tasteless Dutch – Sometimes she gave herself a treat and afforded English butter. Even that had not
the colour one expected.
Mew was fussy about colour and spent minutes each week regarding the supermarket fruit,
like a still stone in the tide of women hurtling round her with big full trolleys, children kicking their
heels in the trolley baskets, their legs like hanging plants as they wailed for sweets. It was in front of
15 the fruit that Edna first spoke to Mew, just as Mew had picked up a peach.
‘You’re not meant to touch the peaches,’ said large Edna, looking down severely from between
her earrings and above her good British Home Stores macintosh.
1. The plot is what is happening in this extract, the themes are the ideas that the author has
started to present and the inferences are those ideas or suggestions that you can deduce from
this extract but which are not discussed explicitly by the author (AO1, and AO4 in terms of
the context of the themes).
What do you make of each of the two characters, Edna and Mew, of their lives and of the
purposes of the shopping trip?
2. Comment on the ways Gardam presents this scene (AO2).
What is the viewpoint from which this scene is described, and who do you think the narrator
is? What effects are created by her choices of language and form (the short story)? Think about
how a writer has to make the opening of a short story work to grab the reader’s attention and
comment on this.
3. Compare the two women. Consider which audience you think Gardam is aiming at. (AO3)
4. If you are thinking of offering a creative response with commentary, go on to finish a short
story of your own, using this as your opening.
Student Book p 140
4.4 A
study timetable
CD-ROM p 44
Use the sample study timetable and advice below to plot your own timetable.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Morning
English
class
Literature
coursework
Spanish class
Geography
class
Spanish
class
Paid work
Afternoon
Geography
class
Coursework
period for
catching
up with
deadlines
Geography
coursework
English
class
Spanish
coursework
Evening
Sport/gym
Homework
Free time
Homework
Socialising
Free time
Setting a schedule like this should ensure that you know exactly what is happening to
your time when you are working on your literary study. If you have any unavoidable
engagements in that time, you will be aware of them and be able to adapt your
timetable accordingly. Make sure you have enough flexibility so that if you do start falling
behind, you have time available to catch up; there is time at the weekend for this.
Good planning can make the difference between an A or a C grade, or a C grade and a
fail.
Here are some golden rules for carrying out your coursework:
• Make sure that you know your central text inside out.
• Allow yourself plenty of time to carry out the wider reading required by this unit.
• Read widely and regularly on the contexts related to your texts.
• Make yourself familiar with other readers’ critical views on your texts.
• Experiment with formulating your own independent opinions.
• Draft and write your coursework, sticking to your plan to avoid last-minute panic.
• Never procrastinate; you cannot buy time back at the end when you may be pushed
to complete.
• If you have to miss any time out of your plan, make sure that you catch up.
1. Using your diary, write in all your commitments: classes, work and fixed engagements
between now and your final deadline.
2. Decide which times you intend using to work on your investigation. Remember
you may have other coursework to fit into this schedule. The times that you have
allocated for your investigation should be treated like class time or work time – not
available for other things.
4.5 R
esearch in a library and on
the internet
Student Book
pp 141–2
CD-ROM p 44
Which will you use? Both sources of information have bonuses and disadvantages.
The library
• Information is reliable as it has been checked several times before publishing, and
selected for quality by the chief librarian.
• You will readily get help from the librarian.
• Photocopying resources are usually available on site.
• You will have access to texts from all over the world.
But:
• This is a time-consuming process when you have to stay in your school or college
library, or visit your local library.
The internet
• It is handy to be able to carry out your studies without moving from your PC.
But:
• You are not always sure of the worth of the material you are offered.
• When you search, you may be directed first to Wikipedia – this should not be seen as
a guarantee of quality or reliability. Wikipedia consists of entries made by a variety of
contributors: some are professionals, some are not.
• Other sites related to an author may be commercial. This includes some that
offer literary notes. (These notes may supplement but will not replace your own
exploration.)
• Inevitably you will be faced with a long list to sift through.
So:
• Always check the credentials of a website as far as you can.
• Look for the date: is the site recent or out of date?
• Look for the writer/author: is s/he qualified to write on the subject?
To make your research manageable, limit yourself to two or three sources.
As an exercise, look for the details of a reliable biography of Tennyson using:
a) a library
b) the internet.
Which did you find was the easier route? Which was the more reliable route?
4.6 S
ome useful websites
Student Book p 142
CD-ROM p 44
The websites below show the wide range of material available online.
Fourteenth / fifteenth centuries
•
Caxton's Chaucer
www.bl.uk/treasures/caxton/homepage.html
Useful links to background material and contexts.
Sixteenth century
•
Mr William Shakespeare and the internet http: //shakespeare.palomar.edu
A guide to everything about Shakespeare on the net.
•
Shaksper www.shaksper.net
Useful links to all sorts of contexts and works of critical commentary.
•
Hamlet on the ramparts http: //shea.mit.edu/ramparts
A ‘must’ for Shakespeare students; voted the best Shakespeare website 2006.
•
John Donne Society www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=60549
Interesting forum for a huge range of critical and cultural Q&A on Donne.
Seventeenth / eighteenth centuries
•
All seventeenth-century authors www.luminarium.org/sevenlit
A comprehensive site with essays, contexts, critical views of all major seventeenthcentury authors. For the eighteenth century, simply change ’seven’ to ’eight’ in the link.
Nineteenth century
•
The Victorian web www.victorianweb.org
A wide range of authors fully contextualised with plenty of critical material.
Twentieth century
•
World War I www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/education/tutorials/intro
A wide-ranging website with online discussions and seminars about all First World
War writers.
•
American writers http: //andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit/american.html
Commentaries on American authors and links to other sites.
•
F. Scott Fitzgerald www.sc.edu/fitzgerald
Great range of essays and discussions offered on Fitzgerald’s writings.
•
World literature www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nawol
An interesting collection of critical and contextual accounts of world literature.
•
Other literatures in English http: //vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=2748
A comprehensive website with essays, commentaries and contexts.
•
Online books http: //digital.library.upenn.edu/books/
A guide to 30,000 free books on the net.
4.7 R
eading critically
Student Book p 146
CD-ROM p 45
In Activity 13, you explored the ways in which writers can influence their readers by suggesting certain
attitudes and values and by making particular choices of language.
Here you are going to take that exercise further. Look at the four extracts printed below.
A: ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’, Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1864, during the Crimean War).
B: The Idea of History, R.G. Collingwood (1946, a philosophical approach to war).
C: ‘The Soldier’, Rupert Brook (1940, at the start of the First World War.
D: Mrs Dalloway, Virginia Woolf (1929, in which a shell-shock victim is described).
A
B
I
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
‘Forward the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!’ he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
[…]
VI
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder’d.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!
A man who asks himself whether he ought to take voluntary part in his
country’s war is not struggling with personal fear; he is involved in a
conflict between the moral forces embodied in the institution of the
State, and those embodied… in the equally actual reality, of
international peace… To solve the problem of war… is only possible
by devising new institutions…
C
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there’s some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England’s, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home…
D
For now that it was all over, truce signed, and the dead buried, he had, especially in the evening, these sudden
thunderclaps of fear. He could not feel… There were moments of waking in the early morning. The bed
was falling; he was falling… It might be possible that the world itself is without meaning… Here he opened
Shakespeare once more… This was now revealed to Septimus; the message hidden in the beauty of words. The
secret signal which one generation passes, under disguise, to the next is loathing, hatred, despair…
1. Work with a partner to explore where attitudes and values are implied in each extract. Can you find any
‘loaded’ language or punctuation? What other effects are created?
2. For what audience do you think these pieces are intended?
3. What similarities do you find in attitudes and values? What differences?
4. Which do you think is the most persuasive, and why?
4.8 C
ulture and society
Student Book p 150
CD-ROM p 45
This will help you when choosing your second and third texts.
Let’s explore the difference between works of ‘critical’ commentary and works of ‘cultural’
commentary. During the course of your studies you will have noticed these phrases. What are
works of cultural commentary? To begin with, what is ‘culture’ and how does it relate to society?
This is an interesting topic, which would make a strong literary study. Society is the background
from which a culture develops and upon which a culture rests. While society is thought of as
singular, culture is complex, varied and stratified, and may be defined as the sets of attitudes and
values for different groups within society, for each society has more than one type of culture.
How are cultural attitudes and values formed? One answer is suggested by Raymond Williams
in Culture and Society. He argues that culture is shaped by the economics of society, and cites
George Eliot and George Orwell as proof. He takes a standpoint on the political left and claims
that culture, breaking away from economics, became associated with studying the arts to gain a
better quality of life.
Central to his theory is the need to resist popular culture and use education and reading as
protection against consumerism, materialism and greed. If you are interested in pursuing this line
of study this is an important text as Williams focuses on classic literary texts to support his theory.
It is generally agreed that the culture of a nation is varied and includes ‘high’, ‘middle-class’,
‘popular’ and mass culture. Each has its own values, ideal representatives, tastes and ambitions, its
own social ‘no-go’ areas. (You may want to argue that, with the coming of the internet and sites
such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, culture now goes beyond the boundaries of a particular
society.)
Works of cultural commentary will explore the connections between the text and its host
culture; works of critical commentary will focus attention initially on the author and the text,
and look outwards from this perspective.
Assessing cultural perspectives
Work with a partner and draw up a set of cultural perspectives from which the text may be
explored. Ask yourself these questions:
1. How does the text relate to the culture of its age: does it conform, criticise or rebel?
2. What are the targets of approval?
3. What attracts disapproval?
4. What do other cultural commentators offer that you think are significant lines of enquiry,
evident in the books and articles about your text(s)?
5. Which of these aspects interest you the most?
6. Make your own cultural profile to see if and how it influences your choice of texts.
4.9a T he importance of contexts
Student Book p 150
CD-ROM p 46
Contexts exert a great influence on writers. In this exercise you will explore the effects of contexts upon
William Blake’s poems ‘Nurse’s Song’ from Songs of Innocence and ‘Nurse’s Song’ from Songs of Experience.
Before you begin to look at the poems, look at these contextual factors which may have
influenced Blake:
Context
Effect
Biographical
Blake lived and worked in London and recorded the sights, and, in
some of his poems (e.g. ‘London’) the sounds, of poverty-stricken
Londoners, young and old. He wrote his poems to promote the cause
of the poor, was regarded as a rebel and employed local people in his
workshops (he was a painter and engraver as well as a poet).
Political: France 1773 American War of Independence begins.
and America
1789 French Revolution seemed to promise equality and thinkers of
many nations rejoiced in this movement. But it did not work out and
ended in the terror of 1793 when Louis XVI was executed and France
declared war on Britain.
Political:
Britain
Industrial revolution begins: the advantages are not shared with the
poor. In Blake’s lifetime the cost of living doubled but income was
raised by no more than a half; machines replaced people; those who
flocked to towns and cities looking for work lived in dire conditions.
Philosophical
The rise of the Romantic movement:
1789 Wordsworth and Coleridge published works.
1820–27 Byron, Keats, Shelley, Tennyson.
Literary
Many writers supported the idea of equality: Rousseau (France), the
Declaration of Independence (America), Tom Paine (England). Blake
approved of the idea.
Social
The poor lived in poverty, squalor and disease; they lived hopeless,
blighted lives with early death and a high mortality rate for children
who were often killed up chimneys or chewed by a machine.
Wealthier people lived well.
Moral
Blake seems to suggest that the Church worked with the State for
its own benefit, to preserve its own power, indifferent to its duties to
poor churchgoers. Parliament, and even royalty, were also guilty.
You can see the effects of these contexts when you read the first version of ‘Nurse’s Song’,
1789, printed on the left, and the second, written just five years later in 1793. First, study
the two poems in pairs (printed on Handout 4.9b).
4.9b T he importance of contexts
Student Book p 150
CD-ROM p 46
Read the two versions of a poem below. Then discuss the following questions.
Nurse’s Song (1789) by William Blake
Nurse’s Song (1793)
When the voices of children are heard on
the green
And laughing is heard on the hill,
My heart is at rest within my breast
And everything else is still.
When the voices of children are heard on the
green,
And whisperings are in the dale,
The days of my youth rise fresh in my mind,
My face turns green and pale.
‘Then come home my children: the sun is
gone down
5
And the dews of night arise.
Come, come, leave off play and let us away,
Till the morning appears in the skies.’
Then come home my children, the sun is
gone down, 5
And the dews of night arise.
Your spring and your day are wasted in play,
And your winter and night in disguise.
‘No, no, let us play, for it is yet day
And we cannot go to sleep.
Besides, in the sky the little birds fly,
And the hills are all covered with sheep.’
‘Well, well, go and play till the light fades
away,
And then go home to bed.’
The little ones leaped and shouted and
laughed
And all the hills echoèd.
10
15
1. Work out the significance of the differences from the first version of the highlighted
parts in the second. How does this affect how you understand this poem?
2. Why do you think there is no dialogue in the second?
3. For which audience do you think Blake wrote Songs of Experience (which includes the
second poem)?
4. Which contextual frames can you find in this poem?
5. When you have finished this task draw a similar table for the contexts of your own
central text(s).
4.10a R
ecognising critical
perspectives
Student Book p 151
CD-ROM p 46
As you read works of critical and cultural commentary you may encounter a variety of critical responses
to your chosen texts. You may also decide that you will base your study or creative response on such a
reading. This exercise will help you to recognise four of these approaches to texts.
From One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
Climbs on the table without any help and spreads his arms out to fit the shadow. A stitch snaps the clasp
on his wrists, ankles, clamping him into the shadow. A hand takes off his wristwatch, […] drops it near the
panel, it springs open, cogs and wheels and the long dribbling spiral of spring jumping against the panel
and sticking fast.
5
He don’t look a bit scared. He keeps grinning at me.
They put the graphite salve on his temples. ‘What is it?’ he says. ‘Conductant,’ the technician says.
‘Anointest my head with conductant. Do I get a crown of thorns?’
They smear it on. He’s singing to them, making their hands shake.
‘“Get Wildroot Cream Oil, Cholly…”’
10
Put on those things like headphones, crown of silver thorns over the graphite at his temples. They try
to hush his singing with a piece of rubber hose for him to bite on.
‘“Mage with thoothing lan-o-lin.”’
Twists some dials, and the machine trembles, two robot arms pick up soldering irons and hunch
down on him. He gives me the wink and speaks to me, muffled, tells me something, says something to
15 me, around that rubber hose just as those irons get close enough to the silver on his temples – light arcs
across, stiffens him, bridges him up off the table till nothing is down but his wrists and ankles and out
around that crimped black rubber hose a sound like hooeee! and he’s frosted over completely with sparks.
And out the window the sparrows drop smoking off the wire.
They roll him out on a Gurney*, still jerking, face frosted white.
* type of wheeled trolley
This extract is drawn from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey. The novel is set in an American
hospital for people with mental and psychological problems. McMurphy, the protagonist, has admitted
himself and he becomes a champion of the rights of the oppressed individual against the brutal
mechanisms of the hospital system. He has become a threat to authority and in this section he is seen to
endure major electro-convulsive therapy. His friend describes the scene.
1. Read it through and then carefully read the four critical responses to this scene printed on Handout
4.10b. There are four different perspectives here: traditional literary criticism, New Historicism, genderbased and Marxist. Work with a partner and decide which is which, noting the characteristics of each.
2. Work on your own and write a psychoanalytical account of the scene.
4.10b R
ecognising critical
perspectives
Student Book p 151
CD-ROM p 46
Read these critical responses to the extract from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and try to identify which
belongs to which perspective.
A
Let’s face it, chaps, we’re a disappearing race. Once we ruled the world, but now, as is clearly evident
here, we are dispossessed and diminished. From the time when McMurphy sauntered into the hospital
confident and cocky, to this point in his story, there is a continuous assault waged by the staff – state
representatives – against his masculinity.
The frosty-faced Big Nurse was never going to allow him to act like the man he was; he was a brawling,
gambling sort of fellow with an eye for the women. But what chance did he have against a woman whose
aim was to hide her breasts, deny her womanhood and take over from all men?
So this is the moment it all ends: he isn’t just zapped, he is castrated! That’s obviously what the broken
watch symbolises – the end of manhood. It is a warning to us all!
B
In retrospect, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is truly a product of its time. McMurphy finds himself in a
situation which Americans, and people of other nations, would recognise.
He is a peaceful man, has come to the lunatic asylum as a voluntary inmate who simply wants to see a
little bit of fair play for those who are too old or infirm, or much weaker than those in charge of them.
The system, which works by bullying and browbeating, is hostile to anyone who opposes it. Place this
book in its context: John Kennedy, the president of the USA, was respected, a public face of humanity and
perfection. Ironically, Kesey published his masterly work in the very year that Marilyn Monroe surprised
Kennedy with her sudden appearance and hushed, sexy ‘Happy Birthday, Mr President’ song. Eerily, she
was to die in unexplained circumstances and one suspects the president of involvement. Things were not
quite what they seemed to be.
Externally, things were difficult. The Cuban crisis* was being hatched that very year and we all need to be
grateful that the Russian response was not as macho as that of the US. For all these reasons, and looking
retrospectively, this book is surely a brilliant satire on America as a lunatic asylum, with all the sane and just
men who voice any opposition quietly being removed?
* The Cuban crisis occurred in the 1960s when Russia, suspicious of American plans to invade Cuba, placed missile sites there within
easy reach of America.
4.10b continued R
ecognising critical perspectives
C
Ken Kesey has produced a masterpiece here in his control of language and form. The sense of terror
created by the dominant image of the threatening machinery in this scene is modified by moments of fun
as McMurphy takes a rise out of one of the domineering nurses. However, in the incident of the first ECT
treatment there is a curious suspension of time.
Kesey’s tone is sometimes difficult to catch at once, but suddenly you realise that the narrator’s quiet
tone of delivery lulls your senses against the brutality of events. Sentences are cropped; sequences are
described in snatches. McMurphy bravely holds on to his self-selected role as saviour to the inmates and
continues to sing.
And that is the key to this passage: the saviour is being put to death metaphorically if not literally. The
imagery becomes clear: he lies on the table to be strapped to the cross; the crown of thorns is placed
around his head as the torturing begins. To complete the sequence, there isn’t exactly a reproach from the
heavens, but lights dance around him.
The story in the Bible is reversed as the little sparrows drop dead because they are near him. Kesey
describes McMurphy as a martyr and firmly compares his suffering to that of Christ on the cross. He ‘dies’ to
save his fellow men.
D
Look at what’s going on in this society and you’ll realise that Orwell had seen it all coming. The world Ken
Kesey creates in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is terrifying and a warning to us all.
Look at what happens to McMurphy; indifferent to the rights of the individual to either respect or to
property, a nurse roughly snatches his watch from his wrist and carelessly throws it down. Could there be a
clearer image of disrespect?
Why is he subjected to this agony? Because he had the temerity to act like an individual and to expect
some personal respect. This society crushes individuals and denies their rights; rules by a reign of terror
and torture. Orwell was prophetic. We must act now to oppose state power from increasing or the end of
a civilised society is imminent. For the sake of the future of society, remember that whilst one McMurphy
was defeated, a group of McMurphys would have succeeded. Be aware of the need to curtail the power
of the state with its systems of espionage and punishment; remember to raise a voice for the good of the
common man, the precious individual. Kesey, like Orwell, is right!
Student Book p 152
CD-ROM p 46
Consider the topics given below on women and literature.
1. Female voices
Why have male writers been so dominant in the history of literature?
2. The firm hand of male dominance, typified by the Romantic poets
Wordsworth’s and Coleridge’s Preface to Lyrical Ballads (1802); Wordsworth’s The Prelude; Keats’ Ode to a
Nightingale (1819).
• Romantic poetry is a male preserve because it is ‘language really used by men’ speaking to other men.
• ‘Nature’ is presented as female, a background influence on the male poet.
• Victorian women could not access the wild rugged places dear to male poets, nor openly indulge in
opium or laudanum.
• Therefore women were excluded as authors of Romantic poetry.
3. The balance starts to change
ASigmund Freud: The Interpretation of Dreams (1899) suggests that:
• unconscious forces determine human experience
• the rational, logical mind traditionally thought of as superior is secondary
• there are unconscious motives and experiences that determine our development
• therefore traditional assumptions about the dominance of male writing are not valid
• gender is constructed by a male-dominated society for the benefit of men.
BVirginia Woolf: A Room of One’s Own (1929) suggests that:
• due to the dominance of male historians women were excluded from accounts of history
• women were socially and economically dependent on men
• women were therefore more likely to be poor if unmarried
• therefore there was male dominance in drama and poetry
• masculine values and reputations dominated.
CJacques Lacan: Écrits – in a paper called ‘The Mirror Phase’ (1936) suggests that:
• the unconscious mind develops like language
• there are four stages in language acquisition and development
• the phase of separation from the mother’s breast sets up certain desires
• the second phase is that of the imaginary stage or the ‘mirror image’ where children, looking at
themselves in a mirror, see no separation between the ‘I’ in the mirror and the ‘I’ watching
• the third phase is the point where the child is forced to enter society with its set order, which is
called the symbolic order
• the fourth phase, called the ‘phallus stage’, establishes male dominance; the child realises that there
is no return to the happy imaginary phase and has to accept the dominant social order, which
favours males
• emphasis must be placed on the importance of mirror-gazing as the areas of passivity and
introspection – areas in which women have excelled in literature.
D Simone de Beauvoir: The Second Sex (1949) suggests that:
• ‘one becomes a woman’; a woman is forced to assume patriarchal, male values
• women have traditionally been subjected to men
• therefore women are unable to determine their own social and moral values.
4.11 continued Women and literature
4. Exploration of feminist writers: Sylvia Plath and Toni Morrison
Suggested tasks:
A
Analysis of two poems, ‘The Colossus’ and ‘Daddy’, which embody the Oresteia of
Aeschylus and the ‘Electra’ myth: consider how Plath uses these to explore women’s
place in society.
B
Analysis of Beloved and myth, explorations of women reclaiming their history: explore
how the protagonist thwarted male desires and took control of her own life although
at a terrible cost to herself.
Suggestions for further study:
Explore how women acquire personal and social control in:
• The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
• The Color Purple, Alice Walker
• Wise Children, Angela Carter
• Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison
• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark
• The World’s Wife, Carol Ann Duffy
Bibliography:
Influential theoretical feminist writers:
Gilbert & Gulbar, Germaine Greer, Cora Kaplan, Adrienne Rich, Elaine Showalter.
5. How writers present characters of the opposite sex
D.H. Lawrence’s female characters: is he truly sympathetic to female
independence, or are his females only fulfilled through men? For example, look at The
Virgin and the Gypsy or The Odour of Chrysanthemums.
Jane Austen’s male characters: in Pride and Prejudice, is Mr Bingley perfect because
he has ‘feminine’ qualities of introspection, sensitivity and kindness? Is Mr Darcy
unsuitable until he has acquired some of these feminine qualities also?
Explore more examples from your own text if the genre is relevant to this line of
enquiry.
4.12 E valuating a proposal for a
creative response
Student Book p 154
CD-ROM p 47
Read through the case study below and answer the following questions.
Topic: Ophelia’s empowering short stories and poems for women
Texts:
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter – central text
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Feminisms edited by R. Warhol & D. Hernall
Outline:
My topic area is how female writers find their voices in a man’s world.
I’m going to imagine that Ophelia wrote short stories and poems expressing her feelings
about her sexist treatment at the hands of Hamlet and Polonius (plus other men in the play!)
They never saw the light of day, of course – too radical – so it’s time they did. The stories
and poems tell the truth about what happened in Elsinore in a thinly, but cleverly, disguised
way.
My inspiration for writing them is Angela Carter. I am going to use some of her narrative
techniques from The Bloody Chamber where she re-presents folk tales and fairy stories from
a feminist viewpoint. I might also draw on Carol Ann Duffy’s feminist approach in her collection
The World’s Wife, where she demolishes male patriarchy through the ages and gives a voice
to the women whom history has suppressed. Ophelia got there first, naturally, and her newly
discovered poem about her mother, Mrs Polonius, is a landmark in feminist literature.
I haven’t thought much about my commentary yet. It’s not easy before I’ve produced
the writing. I’m sure I’ll find something in Feminisms by American women critics and writers to
help put Ophelia’s work into a literary context.
1. Discuss as a class how this proposition seems likely to meet the AOs. Think in
particular about:
• how it might meet the AO3 requirement to consider ‘the interpretations of other
readers’ of the chosen texts
• how it might meet the AO4 requirement to consider ‘the context in which literary
texts are written and received’
• how it might meet the AO2 requirement to consider ‘how structure, form and
language shape meanings’ in texts
• how it might meet the AO3 requirement to ‘explore connections and comparisons
between different literary texts’.
2. On your own, consider:
• how interesting you find it
• how far it would stretch you if you were to write it
• any ideas it might add to your own coursework plans.
4.13 Accessing the higher bands
of the marking criteria
Student Book p 154
CD-ROM p 47
The marking criteria for the AOs are reproduced below.
Band 3
Band 4
AO1
AO1
You should show evidence of:
• independent research and reading effectively
which is effectively applied
• effective use of critical terminology in
developing a line of argument
• writing accurately, effectively and coherently.
• independent research and reading, which is fully
incorporated and used to illuminate
• confident and appropriate use of critical terminology to
refine the line of argument and evaluate the texts
• writing accurately with sustained fluency, coherence and
confidence, effectively producing fluent, cohesive and
controlled writing.
AO2
AO2
• knowledge of how features of form, structure
and language operate within a text
• examining the effectiveness of structure,
form and language
• a well-developed critical understanding of
literary texts.
• understanding how features of form, structure and
language operate within a text to create effects
• evaluating the effectiveness of form, structure and
language and draws conclusion from the findings
• a well-developed critical understanding of literary texts
which enables an independent response.
AO3
AO3
• making relevant and insightful literary
connections and comparisons between
texts, providing a detailed and informed
understanding of the issues raised
• a developed understanding of texts informed
by different interpretations, applying the
awareness of other interpretations effectively.
• making explorative, original and illuminating literary
connections and comparisons between texts, providing a
detailed and perceptive analysis of issues raised
• evaluating texts in light of appropriate selection of
different interpretations
• synthesis of textual connection in developing a line of
argument.
AO4
AO4
• examining the factors that influence different
audiences over time
• interpreting the influence of contextual
factors over time and demonstrate an
understanding of their effects.
• analysing, evaluating and synthesising the factors that
influence different audiences over time
• presenting a synthesis of knowledge which demonstrates
a well-developed and focused understanding of the
effects of contextual factors.
4.14 Improving your grade:
Moving from band 2 to band 3
Student Book p 154
CD-ROM p 47
Read through the charcteristics of a band 2 response and the notes on how to improve your grade, and try
to apply them.
Band 2
When students achieve a response in band 2 it usually means that the work is patchy,
and only fleetingly makes the points that would enable them to reach band 3.
If you are in this position, you can improve your grade by:
• focusing on the AOs and getting to grips with what they mean
• understanding that each objective has at least two parts to it – make sure that you
address them all
• making sure that your knowledge and understanding have some depth and some
confidence
• knowing your central text really well and using quotations confidently
• having a notebook and consciously trying to acquire a critical vocabulary
• reading your second and third texts well
• understanding at least two contextual issues related to your texts
• making sure that you understand some aspects of literary critical theory so that you
can view your text from different perspectives
• being able to put yourself into other readers’ shoes and show how others can have
interpretations of the text that are different from yours.
Now review Activity 20, specifically the last question in part 3: ‘Will it [the proposal’s
working title] allow this student access to the higher bands of the marking criteria?’
Look at the whole proposal, check it against the AOs and see if all are referred to. Then
look at the marking criteria and decide whether there is enough evidence to show that
the candidate has plenty of material to reach at least band 3.
4.15 Further suggestions for
essay topics
Student Book p 155
CD-ROM p 47
The list of topics and titles below shows how texts may be connected in ways that would make the most of
the opportunities for comparison in Unit 4.
Extended study 1 Neglected women writers
Topics:
1. How and why literary ‘fashions’ change over time.
2. How and why literary reputations fluctuate over time.
3. Why women writers are especially susceptible to being ‘forgotten’ .
4. How and why different value judgments are made in different periods (social, moral and
cultural contexts).
Writers and texts:
Kate Chopin: The Awakening (novella) and A Vocation and a Voice (short stories)
Charlotte Mew: Collected Poems
Ann Radcliffe: The Mysteries of Udolpho
Aphra Behn: The Rover
Extended study 2 Modern plays about class
Topics:
1. How and why issues of social class feature strongly in drama from 1960 to the present
time.
2. How and why ‘anti-establishment’ playwrights have been championed by theatre
managers and supported by leading theatre directors in post-war English drama.
3. The role of (a) Joan Littlewood (b) the Royal Court Theatre from the 1960s onwards.
Writers and texts (any combination of the following):
Arnold Wesker: Chicken Soup with Barley Shelagh Delaney: A Taste of Honey
John Arden: The Workhouse Donkey David Hare and Howard Brenton: Brassneck
Peter Barnes: The Ruling Class Caryl Churchill: Cloud Nine
Extended study 3 The poetry of protest
Topics:
1. How and why there is a strong tradition of satirical poetry in English literary history.
2. How poets in different periods challenge the cultural, social and moral ‘status quo’ .
3. How poets in different periods express subversive ideas in different styles.
4. How the poetry of protest has been received/responded to in different periods.
Writers and texts (choose from):
Jonathan Swift, Arthur Hugh Clough, Alexander Pope, Walt Whitman, William Blake, Grace
Nichols, P.B. Shelley, Carol Ann Duffy, John Agard
4.15 continued (1) Further suggestions for essay topics
Extended study 4
The place of the short story in American, English and African literature
Topics:
1. How E.A. Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne established the short story as ‘the American
form’ in the nineteenth century.
2. How the short story developed through and alongside magazine publication in America
and England in the nineteenth century.
3. How Charles Dickens as editor and writer was instrumental in popularising the short
story in Victorian England.
4. How the short story form has been adopted and used by writers in particular genres
– crime, sci-fi, horror – in more recent times.
5. How modern short stories by African and Afro-Caribbean writers explore cultural and, in
particular, political themes.
Writers and texts (choose from the short stories of ):
Poe, Ray Bradbury, Hawthorne, Arthur C. Clarke, Mark Twain, Stephen King, Charles Dickens,
Alice Walker, Elizabeth Gaskell, Nadine Gordimer, Wilkie Collins, Bessie Head, Alan Paton
Two shorter studies 1
A Literature and journalism
Topic: The issue ‘Can journalism be literature?’
Writers and texts:
Dr Johnson in The Rambler
Joseph Addison in The Spectator
John Hollingshead’s Ragged London articles (investigative journalism)
George Orwell in Tribune (and others)
Fergal Keane’s reports from war-torn countries
B Literature and sport
Topic: The issue ‘Can sport give rise to literature?’
Writers and texts:
Nick Hornby: Fever Pitch
Nick Hornby (ed): The Picador Book of Sports Writing
Neville Cardus and John Arlott on cricket (1920s–1970s)
Ernest Hemingway on bullfighting
Norman Mailer on boxing
Provided You Don’t Kiss Me (biography of Brian Clough)
4.15 continued (2) Further suggestions for essay topics
Two shorter studies 2
A Poetry in performance
Topic: The issue ‘Is performance poetry culturally important or merely an entertainment?’
Writers, texts and sources:
In Person: 30 Poets (DVD, Bloodaxe, and accompanying book)
www.poetryarchive.org
Students’ own experience of poetry readings and performances (e.g. visits to AQA ‘Poetry
Live’ Days/ poets in school)
Michael Rosen, Benjamin Zephaniah, John Agard, Gillian Clarke, Carol Ann Duffy
B Poetry underground
Topic: The issue ‘Does poetry on the Tube have a function beyond cultural graffiti?’
Texts and sources:
Gerard Benson (ed): Poems on the Underground
Benson, Chernaik & Herbert (eds): New Poems on the Underground 2006
London Transport Museum
Critical perspectives
A Topic: Feminist readings
B Topic: Marxist readings
These studies would explore (a) the origins of feminist and Marxist Literary theory (b) the
way that the same text can be interpreted differently from two ideological standpoints.
Student Book p 157
CD-ROM p 48
Summarising is an important skill, which you will use during your studies when you:
• read your central text and take notes
• recap material when you plan your essay
• read your second and third and other research texts • write the conclusion to your essay.
Checklist of summary skills
1. Make sure that you understand the passage.
2. Note only the main ideas without examples or irrelevant details.
Then
3. Make sure you understand the purposes of the author.
4. Organise your notes logically.
Then
5. Write out your summary using your own words wherever possible.
6. Make sure that the piece is logical and coherent.
Then
7. Read through your summary and compare it with the passage.
8. Check: are all main points included?
9. Think: is there anything else you could have left out?
Summarising exercise
Using the above skills, summarise the extract below (233 words) in no more than 60 words. It is taken from
The Shadow of a Gunman by Sean O’Casey. The play is set in Dublin in 1920, and Mr Gallogher writes to the
powerful Irish Republican Army to help him sort out a petty problem with a neighbour. It is written as it
would sound on stage.
‘We, the complainants, resident on the ground floor… deeming it disrespectable to have an open hall
door, and to have the hall turned into a playground, made a solemn protest, and, in consequence, we the
complainants aforesaid has had no peace ever since. Owing to the persecution, as aforesaid specified,
we had to take out a summons again them some time ago as there was no Republican Courts then;
5 but we did not proceed again them as me and my wife – to wit, James and Winifred Gallogher – has a
strong objection to foreign Courts* as such. We had peace for some time after that, but now things have
gone from bad to worse. The name calling and the language is something abominable…and shocking.
My wife has often to lock the door of the room to keep them from assaulting her. If you would be
so kind as to send some of your army or police down to see for themselves we would give them full
10 particulars. I have to be always away from home all day, as I work with Mr Hennessy, the harness
maker of the Coombe, who will furnish all particulars as to my unvarnished respectability, also my
neighbours. The name of the resident-tenant who is giving all this trouble and who, pursuant to the facts
of the case aforesaid, mentioned, will be the defendant, is Dwyer…
* the official law courts of Dublin are seen as ‘foreign’; the IRA courts are seen as ‘local’.
Using only your notes, write down:
1. the names of the persons making the complaint
2. what the complaint is
3. to whom it is addressed
4. what course of action is requested
5. who the accused is.
Student Book p 159
CD-ROM p 49
Read through the following information and refer to it as you write and check your study.
Knowledge and understanding
In order to handle your work confidently in Unit 4, you must create a platform from
which you can develop your ideas; this requires meticulous preparation.
You must:
• know your central text inside out, with careful notes stored in a way that allows for
easy retrieval
• know your second and third texts well, again with the same preparation of relevant
material
• take detailed but targeted notes to avoid being swamped with material (the model
given at the beginning of Section C is designed to help you)
• use your summarising skills and note only main points with perhaps a few
explanatory words.
Planning
The outcome of your studies rests to some extent on the quality of the planning for both
your research and your actual study/ies, so remember:
• Failing to plan is planning to fail.
• A clear plan will rest on a clear purpose.
• When you begin to plan you should know where you want to end up.
• Keep referring back to your plan to make sure you remain in focus.
• If you do discover an exciting area that you had not foreseen, and which will improve
your study, go back and redraft your plan.
• On the other hand, if you find that an idea is not successful, perhaps it is not
substantial enough – go back and rethink your scheme. This does happen from time
to time.
• To commend itself to your readers, your work should be targeted, ambitious, assured
and bold.
In other words, you must have the focus of your study absolutely clear in your mind; your
plan should be detailed and careful so that you will never lose your way as you prepare
your study. You will gain confidence.
4.17 continued Write your way to success
Style
Here are a few reminders about the style of your study:
1. Avoid beginning ‘In this essay I intend to...’ and a closing paragraph beginning ‘So in
conclusion we can see that... ’ There are more interesting and subtle ways of nudging
the argument forward and concluding it.
2. Make sure that in your introduction you have created a pattern for the essay, which
you can signpost along the way so that readers know exactly where they are and
where they are going.
3. Use correct paragraphing and linking phrases to form a ‘hinge’ between paragraphs
(‘Another crucial scene...’, ‘This image is picked up later in...’, ‘By contrast...’).
4. Use questions (and rhetorical questions) and quotations as enticing openers or
signals at intervals during the essay. Imagine that you are actually addressing another
person; you would want to interest them, wouldn’t you?
5. Writing an essay is an art. Study sentence variation; don’t let your sentences become
too long or shapeless. Vary sentence types (simple/compound/complex) and lengths
to make your prose pleasing to read.
6. Don’t leave checking until the end. Stop every two or three paragraphs to pick
up spelling/punctuation errors and to make sure your sentences are following on
logically from each other.
7. Be aware of possible objections to your view, and try to counter them in the essay as
long as it is relevant (‘It might be thought that...’, ‘Despite the view that...’) This is useful
for kick-starting the essay again when you are running out of steam or your plan is
looking thin.
4.18 Post-colonial and ‘modern’
attitudes to considering
other cultures
Student Book p 160
CD-ROM p 49
Read through the extracts below and answer the questions.
On page 160 of your Student Book you considered ‘modernist’ literature, which is, strictly speaking, literature
written between 1910 and 1930 and includes writers such as Virginia Woolf, W.B. Yeats and T.S. Eliot.
Another group of writers are significant as ‘modern’ writers because they represent the end of the ‘colonial
view’ of other cultures, which was evident in the writings of Rudyard Kipling, for example. The Victorians
prided themselves on the size of the British Empire in a way that now seems arrogant and inappropriate as
the ‘benevolent’ aim of colonisers was to make each of these colonies a ‘little England’.
E.M. Forster writes at the end of this tradition; in A Passage to India, 1924, he clearly respects certain aspects of
the Indian culture, but goes only part of the way, as his writing is patronising at times. His writing is therefore
‘post-colonial’, a sort of halfway house.
Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, 1958, demonstrates the break with earlier traditions in presenting
literature in which other cultures are viewed on equal terms with respect for their independence and identity.
Here are two extracts from the opening pages of the two novels, Forster’s first. Read them carefully a couple
of times and think about:
• the difference in the attitude of each writer to the country he describes
• the difference in tone of each writer
• the differences in the ways in which each writer portrays other cultures.
Explore the different features of the scene that each writer focuses on; the language each uses, including
adjectives and the use of a simile; the way each writer uses the senses; and differences in viewpoint and
perspective.
With the extracts in front of you, discuss the following points with a partner or small group:
A except for the Marabar Caves – and they are twenty miles off – the city of Chandrapore presents
nothing extraordinary. Edged rather than washed by the river Ganges, it trails for a couple of miles along
the bank, scarcely distinguishable from the rubbish it deposits so freely. There are no bathing-steps on the
river front, as the Ganges happens not to be holy here; indeed there is no river front, and bazaars shut out
5 the wide and shifting panorama of the stream. The streets are mean, the temples ineffective, and though a few
fine houses exist they are hidden away in gardens or down alleys whose filth deters all but the invited guest.
Chandrapore was never large or beautiful, but two hundred years ago it lay on the road between Upper
India, then imperial, and the sea, and the fine houses date from that period. The zest for decoration stopped
in the eighteenth century, nor was it ever democratic. There is no painting and scarcely any carving in the
10 bazaars. The very wood seems made of mud, the inhabitants of mud moving. So abased, so monotonous
is everything that meets the eye, that when the Ganges comes down it might be expected to wash the
excrescence back into the soil. Houses do fall, people are drowned and left rotting, but the general outline
of the town persists, swelling here, shrinking there, like some low but indestructible form of life.
4.18 continued Post-colonial and ‘modern’ attitudes to considering other cultures
B Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on solid personal
achievements. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honour to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat.
Amalinze was the great wrestler who for seven years was unbeaten, from Umuofia to Mbaino. He was called the
Cat because his back would never touch the earth. It was this man that Okonkwo threw in a fight which the old man
agreed was one of the fiercest since the founder of their town engaged a spirit of the wild for seven days and seven
nights.
The drums beat and the flutes sang and the spectators held their breath. Amalinze was a wily craftsman, but
Okonkwo was as slippery as a fish in water. Every nerve and every muscle stood out on their arms, on their backs
and their thighs, and one almost heard them stretching to breaking point. In the end Okonkwo threw the Cat.
That was many years ago, twenty years or more, and during this time Okonkwo’s fame had grown like a bushfire in the harmattan.* He was tall and huge, and his bushy eyebrows and wide nose gave him a very severe look.
He breathed heavily, and it was said that, when he slept, his wives and children in their out-houses could hear him
breathe. When he walked, his heels hardly touched the ground and he seemed to walk on springs, as if he was going
to pounce on somebody. And he did pounce on people quite often. He had a slight stammer and whenever he
was angry and could not get his words out quickly enough, he would use his fists. He had no patience with
unsuccessful men. He had had no patience with his father.
*a wind blowing down from the North
1. The tone of the first writer: how would you describe it? Patronising, ironic,
judgemental, distanced? Discuss each of these words in connection with the text.
2. The tone of the second writer: how would you describe this? Respectful, neutral, a
little quiet humour, engaged with the African culture? Discuss each of these words/
phrases in connection with the text.
3. The attitude of the first writer: from precisely which perspective does he write? Does
he view the culture with respect, or patronisingly, as a superior English gentleman?
Again, link each of these to the text.
4. The attitude of the second writer: from exactly what perspective does he view the
culture? Is there an acknowledgement of the integrity of the African culture, of its
independence and value? Link each of these to words from the text.
4.19 Thomas and Frost poems/
commentary text
Student Book
pp 163–4
CD-ROM p 51
Read through the poems and the extract from a critical commentary on the first poem provided below.
From ‘The Sun Used to Shine’ by
Edward Thomas
From ‘To E.T.’ by Robert Frost
I slumbered with your poems on my breast,
Spread open as I dropped them half-read
through
Like dove wings on a figure on a tomb,
To see if in a dream they brought of you
The sun used to shine while we two walked
Slowly together, paused and started
Again, and sometimes mused, sometimes
talked
As either pleased, and cheerfully parted
Each night. We never disagreed
Which gate to rest on. The to be
And the late past we gave small heed
We turned from men or poetry
To rumours of the war remote
Only till both stood disinclined
For aught but the yellow flavorous coat
Of an apple wasps had undermined
…
5
10
I might not have the chance I missed in life
Through some delay, and call you to your face
First soldier, and then poet, and then both,
Who died a soldier-poet of your race
…
5
How over, though, for ever me who knew
The foe thrust back unsafe beyond the Rhine,
If it was not to speak of it to you
And see you pleased once more with words
of mine?
10
An extract from a work of critical commentary on Edward Thomas’ poem
‘The Sun Used to Shine’
5
10
This poem commemorates Edward Thomas’ friendship with Robert Frost when the American was living in
England between 1912 and 1914. Thomas skilfully unites formal rhymed stanzas with flexible rhythm. The
poem consists of only seven sentences, all of them enjambed across stanzas, and the balance of short and
long sentences creates the sense of a voice speaking, pausing for reflection then developing an idea in an
apparently improvised way. You can see this through hesitations and repetition at the start of the poem.
The tone is relaxed and intimate, but never slack or loose in its expression.
The imagery draws on light and darkness, sun and moon establishing a temporal perspective with WW1
seeming far away, but which would soon become very real to Thomas. Time and space are bridged by
friends’ talk which ranges from minute observations on the natural world to ideas of life, death and eternity.
The human mind can hold so many things in solution.
There is a dark ending to the poem as, with hindsight, the poem becomes a dark prophecy of the sad
events that would bring the friendship of these two poets to an end rather than a pause; yet thanks to the
poem, the friendship still survives.
Student Book p 164
4.20a Mid-level response to the
Thomas/Frost/commentary task
CD-ROM p 51
Read this response through with a partner and assess it against the assessment criteria using
Handout 4.2.
Plan: AO1, 2, 3, 4.
I am going to compare the two poems in the light of the commentary.
Obviously the two poets have been close friends; Thomas talked about their friendship when he was alive, ‘The sun used to
shine while we walked…’ There is a brief reference to war in line 9, but it seems far away.
On the other hand Frost is looking back on this friendship after Thomas’ death in war. He respected Thomas as he liked
his friend to be ‘pleased with words of mine’, l.12.
As the commentator says Thomas doesn’t break up his poem into sentences and all the verses are enjambed; added to
this the mixture of long and short sentences create the sound of the speaking voice, lines 5/6. On the other hand, Frost does
stop, l.8, as though his voice is breaking down perhaps with tears at the thought of the loss of his friend, and as though he is
in tears, and he ends on a question, l.12, which shows how much he misses his friend.
Light and darkness do run throughout Thomas’ poem lightly, for example, ‘each night’ l.5-10 suggests darkness, but he
returns to light again with the ‘yellow apple’, l.11, which suggests happiness. Frost’s poem is darker throughout; images of a
‘tomb’, l.3, of death, l. 4-10, make no references to life. This is because Thomas is dead.
Both poems share a theme; death might seem to end friendship, which is part of the dark life of human beings. But
although Thomas is dead, and Frost is by now, the memory of their friendship will give both a sort of immortality. So readers
who look at these poems at a later time will understand something about these two men, and will realise too the value of
friendship to all of us.
Comments on this response
The very brief plan shows that the student is aware of the need to address all of the assessment objectives.
This student does actually engage with all of them, and in the content of his response brings in both poems
and also the commentary. He works by repeating the words of the commentator but goes on to briefly show
the effects created by the authors’ uses of language, form and structure in paragraphs 3 and 4.
A01 is addressed when attitudes and meanings are discussed and technical terms are used; AO2 is achieved
when the candidate explains the use of certain language features; AO3: the student links all three texts and
talks about a different group of readers; AO4: although not made explicit, the student discusses biographical
contexts in the friendship between the two men, the literary context in the value of the poetry, and the social
context of life and death.
Probably the student would achieve just about band 3 overall, but at times the work is too brief in exploring
some points, such as in paragraph 4 with the restricted comments about ‘darkness’ and ‘light … which
suggests happiness’. This student needed to explore the effects of the patterning of light and dark. Instead,
there is a point made, some evidence offered, but very limited explanation which doesn’t move into an
‘exploration’ of the effects achieved. So the response is at times on the edge of the lower band with the word
‘some’, which is the hallmark of a band 2 response.
To be secure in band 3, students need to offer sustained references to address the AOs.
How would you improve this work to make sure that it is securely in band 3?
Student Book p 164
4.20b High-level response to the
CD-ROM p 51
Read this response through with a partner and assess it against the assessment criteria using
Handout 4.2.
Plan: AO1: address texts to explore deeper significances such as the value of friendship
AO2: frame responses within the commentary and go beyond points made
AO3: attempt a conceptualised comparison and think of other perspectives
AO4: explore contexts of human/eternal time; think in terms of ideology.
Both poets Thomas and Frost consider the concepts of life, love, friendship and death. They are addressing the immemorial
question: how can a human being defeat the limitations of his short existence and avoid being simply obliterated by time passing?
In other words, how can we give a true significance to human life?
This is the reason that the commentator says accurately that both poets use light and dark. Thomas moves between
night and the glories of nature in the daylight, lines 5/11; Frost frames his poem as if it were to be printed in the very book
which lies on his chest as he seems to be a carved sculpture on a tomb, passim. These shades reflect the insignificance of human
life and the light of eternity.
The temporal references indicated by the commentator raise the issue of the central task: how can a human find
consolation after the death of a beloved friend? (Frost l.12). Both men feared the end of their friendship because, in this
case, of war (Thomas l.9, Frost passim).
I believe that Marxists and New Historicists would address this task by pointing out the wickedness of war in
devaluing human life and human friendships. Feminists might respond by addressing the topic of war also, as in WWI over a
whole generation of men were wiped out, and I remember my grandmother but never knew my grandfather. War is evil and
unjustifiable.
As the commentary notes, the exploration of the issues are profound. How can man defeat time? He cannot, but he can
make a permanent mark in history by sharing such a deep love; human life is justified. These two poets therefore probe one of
mankind’s central quests: what will make life worthwhile, and for what will I be remembered?
These two poems offer a most eloquent and moving answer.
Comments on this response
As the plan made clear, this student aimed at a conceptualised response to all of the assessment objectives,
and does achieve writing that would meet the requirements for band 4.
The response to the commentary is nicely integrated into the response and the comparison is likewise
integrated throughout, and the two perspectives are assessed.
It isn’t flawless; address of the text for evidence could be a little stronger – quotations could be firmer;
the address of critical interpretations of a text is rather generalised. Since the student chose to include these,
they should have been presented to the same standard as other areas.
However, overall this is a fine piece of work.
Student Book p 164
4.21 Exercises based on the
CD-ROM p 51
Here are a further four exercises that strengthen your skills in writing explorative responses to texts. All the
exercises, except for question 4, require that you address all three texts together: the two poems and the
extract from a work of critical commentary.
1. Write a critical response to the three texts from one of the following critical perspectives:
• Feminist
• Marxist
• New Historicist
• Psychoanalytical
• Structuralist
• Deconstructionist.
2. Consider how the use of this particular perspective has affected your response to the texts.
Remember that all of these perspectives are ideological; that the first three are also
political; and that the first four would approach the task by including in their argument
‘war’ and its effects.
Feminist responses would aim to address what is seen as an unequal balance of power
in a patriarchal male-dominated society. Social problems would therefore stem from the
dominance of males in positions of power.
Marxist responses would have similar aims to redress the balance of power in society. But
this time the argument rests on class and the inequalities within society. The wealthy still
maintain control of the means of wealth; the poorer classes have second-rate standards of
living. What do you think their views would be on war? Who, when it comes to the crunch,
pays the heaviest penalty? Who faces rockets and guns? Is it the generals?
New Historicist responses would start on the same basis as Marxists, but take their
argument further and wider. Such responses would consider wider social aspects, such as
power and subjection, authority and intimidation throughout the social structure, relating
these to the wider contemporary contexts.
Psychoanalytical responses explore the deeper meanings and significances of texts by
analysing them from perspectives of tradition, memory and culture/customs.
Structuralists will focus on the text itself and look for balanced, set patterns in which one
aspect is balanced out by another.
Deconstructionists will take a slice of text and explore the language to establish that in
fact the material does not demonstrate what the writer intends. It is probably the most
difficult to handle and will require careful study.
3. Write your own traditional critical response to both poems to form a critical commentary
of your own.
4. Compare and contrast the way the poets use the first stanza of their poems.
• How do they prepare the reader for the issues within the poem?
• How do they affect the reader emotionally?
• Which do you think is the more effective at grabbing the reader’s attention and making
him/her want to read on?
4.22 Planning your creative
response with commentary
Student Book p 165
CD-ROM p 52
Here is a suggested model for you to organise and shape your research material so that you can write the
first draft of your commentary.
Researching
Remember that your research should be organised to include evidence showing your awareness of:
• audience
• register
• tone
• genre and literary conventions
• contexts, including reception
• connections between texts.
Focus your research findings under these headings.
Drafting your creative writing
By the end of Section B you had chosen the literary style for your creative writing. You will have explored suitable models,
so by now you should be ready to make a first draft. As you plan this, keep referring to the list above in order to be able to
connect your piece to the texts and to the commentary. When you have completed the first draft, check again to make
sure that you will be able to make these connections. If you have missed an area, redraft or modify your piece.
Writing an outline plan
Write an outline plan exploring the connections between your creative response, your commentary and your research
material. Remember to include the research topics noted above. Your plan might look something like this:
1. Which areas of the central text will the creative writing illuminate? Make a headed list of these.
2. Which areas of the second text connect to the first? Make a second headed list.
3. Do the same with the third text.
4. Scrutinise your creative writing: are you happy with your choice?
5. Begin to plot your commentary using the notes taken during your research, and checking that you have covered the six areas
outlined earlier.
You may choose to write your plan on your computer but it might be more helpful to have the sheets of paper in front of
you so that you have an overview of all of your material.
Identifying the research material to use in your commentary
Here is one possible model to follow:
1. Check through each headed list and decide which material you will use. Delete the rest.
2. Label these lists C, 2 and 3 to identify which text each relates to.
3. Write your creative piece and use these labels to plot its connections with the three texts. Highlight each relevant
part of your creative writing and mark it up with the same three symbols: C, 2 and 3. You will now see the network of
connections at a glance.
Sequencing your ideas
1. Bring your commentary into the equation now. Include the material from your earliest research so that you can track
the sequence of your study from your first explorations to completing your research.
2. Now you are in a position to make a web of links between all three of your texts and your creative writing:
• Place your creative writing and your commentary sheets side by side.
• Start the plan for your commentary with notes taken during your initial research.
• Add the points marked up on your creative writing sheet.
You are now ready to write the first draft of your commentary.
Student Book p 165
CD-ROM p 52
You will use summarising skills during your coursework when you:
• read your central text and take notes
• read your second and third and other research texts
• plan your creative writing based on your central text
• recap material when you plan your commentary
• write your commentary.
Checklist of summarising skills
1. Make sure that you understand the passage.
2. Note only the main ideas without examples or irrelevant details.
Then
3. Make sure you understand the purposes of the author.
4. Organise your notes logically.
Then
5. Write out your summary using your own words wherever possible.
6. Make sure that the piece is logical and coherent.
Then
7. Read through your summary and compare it with the passage.
8. Are all main points included?
9. Is there anything else you could have left out?
Exercise in summarising
Read the extract below, taken from the beginning of Act 2 Scene 1 of Top Girls by Caryl
Churchill. The play concerns three powerful women and includes a feminist perspective,
but with an ironic twist. One of these women is Marlene, who isn’t very supportive of
other women. She runs an employment agency which has made her wealthy; in this
scene she interviews an ambitious young woman who hopes to find a job in advertising,
but Marlene offers her a low-level job as assistant to…
5
10
15
20
25
Student Book p 165
CD-ROM p 52
MARLENE. … the marketing manager, he’s thirty-five, married, I’ve sent him a girl before and
she was happy, left to have a baby, you won’t want to mention marriage there. He’s very
fair I think, good at his job, you won’t have to nurse him along. Hundred and ten, so that’s
better than you’re doing now.
JEANINE. I don’t know.
MARLENE. I’ve a fairly small concern here, father and two sons, you’d have more say potentially,
secretarial and reception duties, only a hundred but the job’s going to grow with the
concern and then you’ll be in at the top with new girls coming in underneath you.
JEANINE. What is it they do?
MARLENE. Lampshades. This would be my first choice for you.
JEANINE. Just lampshades?
MARLENE. There’s plenty of different kinds of lampshade. So we’ll send you there, shall we, and
the knitwear second choice. Are you free to go for an interview any day they call you?
JEANINE. I’d like to travel.
MARLENE. We don’t have any foreign clients. You’d have to go elsewhere.
JEANINE. Yes I know. I don’t really… I just mean…
MARLENE. Does your fiance want to travel?
JEANINE. I’d like a job where I was here in London and with him and everything but now and
then — I expect it’s silly. Are there jobs like that?
MARLENE. There’s personal assistant to a top executive in a multinational. If that’s the idea you
need to be planning ahead. Is that where you want to be in ten years?
JEANINE. I might not be alive in ten years.
MARLENE. Yes but you will be. You’ll have children.
JEANINE. I can’t think about ten years.
MARLENE. You haven’t got the speeds anyway. So I’ll send you to these two shall I?
First
1. Summarise the dialogue by describing the interaction between the two women in bullet points.
2. Summarise the character of each woman in bullets; include evidence, again in bullets.
3. Summarise the themes in a similar way.
Now
Put away the handout and answer these questions from your notes only:
1. What is the situation in this extract?
2. Describe the character of Marlene as she is presented here.
3. Similarly describe Jeanine.
4. What issues do you think are raised here?
5. How could you intervene in this extract to create a different outcome?
6. Check that you have used summarising skills when writing about your own creative writing piece.
4.24 Possible topics for a creative
response with commentary
Student Book p 168
CD-ROM p 53
The following is a list of modern poetry that could make interesting central texts, together with ideas for
other texts and possible creative responses.
Bone Palace Ballet by Charles Bukowski
‘16 Jap Machine Gun Bullets’ is a poem about men dying that could set up a story for recollections of these men built out
of characters/situations in other poems: for example, ‘Bar Stool’ could set a scene for these recollections; ‘The Mirror Game’
gives you a character called Peter. You could write his story as one of the dying men as a youth, and so on. This is an open,
accessible text that could be paired with a drama set in war: for example, The Long and the Short and the Tall by Willis Hall,
and maybe a war novel or a reference book such as How to Write Modern Poetry by Geoff Tims (Cool Publications).
A Dream of Mind by C.K. Williams
These are often graphic, powerful poems about harmed/damaged characters. ‘When’ is about death; ‘Harm’ is a horrible
poem about a tramp – but what is the story behind his actions and how do these affect the girl who sees him? This could
go well with a modern drama/Shakespeare play/The Canterbury Tales. You could select any mode for a creative response.
The Book of Demons by Barry MacSweeney
Poems about a man’s alcohol addiction. Combine with any text about addiction, not necessarily drugs-/drink-related. Tell
his story as prose or in a script. Or write the story behind ‘Daddy Wants To Murder Me’, perhaps including research and
comparison with Sylvia Plath’s poems, such as ‘Daddy’, or children harmed by adults, such as The Go-Between.
A New Path to the Waterfall by Raymond Carver
Turn a selection of these poems into a personal narrative/monologue – ‘The World Book Salesman’ is the main character,
use ‘The Toes’ as one of his inner monologues, ‘My Wife’ could provide some background; ‘Miracle’ could be a whole
flashback recollection, and so on. Could be linked to A Dream of Mind (see above), The Catcher in the Rye, reference texts on
writing modern poetry or drama. Again, could be presented in any mode.
Knots by R.D. Laing
Laing asks questions such as whether human beings can be persons in today’s world; whether he can be himself with
another person; whether personal relationships are possible. Finally, he wonders whether freedom is possible. He presents
studies of minds in a state of alienation in what is quite a difficult text. Concerns about alienation make many strong
connections possible such as with The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, Hamlet, Waiting for Godot or any play by
Beckett or Pinter. Turn these poems into personal narratives/monologues (Jill and Jack speaking?) or short, modern dramas.
C by Peter Reading
See the acrostic on page 30; these are poems of irony, wit, black humour and wry pessimism. This could connect with
poems by Trevor Joyce, Billy Collins, Martin Stannard or any of the alienation texts noted above. Take a text (key lines) and
transform it into a set of acrostic poems, which would be challenging and impressive; but it could be presented in any
mode of creative response.
Useful texts to get you started
Transformations by Anne Sexton – fairytales turned into poems
The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy – literary characters turned into monologues
Satires of Circumstance by Thomas Hardy – a series of 13 poems of ironic observations on a variety of characters
Student Book p 168
CD-ROM p 54
Before you begin to write a poem, or indeed any creative piece, you must make sure that it extends
the meanings/themes/issues of the central text.
Here are three examples of contemporary forms of poetry: acrostic, cut-up and found.
1. An acrostic
An acrostic is a poem in which the first letter, syllable or word of each line spells out another
message. It is a very ancient type of poetry. Here is a very brief example based on The Kite Runner, by
Khaled Hosseini.
He sits alone without mirrors
At a desolate spot where the sun slants
Through swirling dust and memories
Round and round, tapping and leaning, past
Each face which had once spat anger
Deepening his solitary turmoil.
This poem describes Amir after he has been beaten up on his return to Afghanistan to see if he
can find his friend and atone for his sin in betraying him, at the beginning of Chapter 23. The poem
spells out ‘Hatred’, one of the issues of the text. Amir is presented through his state of mind as he
struggles to walk, badly beaten by Assef. His memories are confused and his state of mind is bleak.
When you write this sort of poem there must be a very precise reference to the central text. This
could be paired with another similar text – perhaps The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, and
perhaps a collection of poetry.
2. A cut-up poem
This form of poetry, as the name suggests, is an arrangement of lines extracted from a text which,
when rearranged, present a self-contained poem that supports or develops the meaning of a text.
A brief example could be taken from The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton:
The red cheeks had paled
She was thin, worn
She was silent for a moment
‘We shall hurt others less.’
(pp 54, 125, 259)
This brief poem indicates how these poems are made. This example carries the general sense of
the theme: Countess Olenska, unaware of the nature of New York society, stands no chance of
happiness. She has to reject the man who loves her because of the code of behaviour. During the
course of the novel Wharton shows how she suffers and ages, losing her bloom. Of course, the man
prospers – or does he?
You would need to make this poem either longer or part of a sequence. This central text could
be paired with a Henry James novel about innocence, such as What Maisie Knew, and a poetry
collection or book about poetry.
4.25 continued Thinking of writing poetry?
3. A found poem
This is a contemporary name for a poem written after intervention in a text.
Here is an example of this type of poem based on the opening pages of the first chapter of The French
Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles, where the mysterious woman is first presented standing on the Cobb (a sort
of jetty), a dark figure leaning against a cannon, staring out to sea.
In the poem, her thoughts are imagined as she gazes back towards Lyme Regis and the ancient headlands with
their fossils and reminders of past civilisations and, as ever, stands still gazing out to sea and thinking.
This sculpted rock
This pintado1 day
This water’s surge an urge to wonder,
Under an unstained horizon and blue marble sky,
Flecked with faded scales,
Burning in the eternal eye.
Darkness draws its
Daemons to dance, creates a
Fantasy of fire.
Distantly the moorland hill whispers
Of faience2 phantoms in archaic phrase.
I tire.
This temple water will
Surely erode
Those ageless dice, rolled
A million millennia
Before tales were told.
A timeless rock; and here I
Stand, will stand, and stood,
Staring out at the sea
To infinity
And then
Water wakes, exhilarates,
Crashing and cooling,
Splashing and smoothing, flicking
And thrusting,
Given my living,
I live.
In the first verse, the scene is described as if the woman is looking around feeling that things are not quite real, as
if she is lost in a painting1. She looks at the ancient Dorset coastline and thinks about time and eternity. Will she
always have to wait? Night comes, stars burn bright and perhaps the old spirits painted on the faience pottery2
by generations long since dead actually come alive. She is in a spiritual trance. But the tide comes crashing in;
splashed by the water she wakes… and watches… her daily and nightly way of life… will he return? She is quite
a thoughtful, educated and intelligent woman, which is reflected in the language of the poem.
This is an interesting and unusual way of responding to a central text. In this case, you could look at another story
of another woman who waits, such as Marianne Dashwood, who pines for Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility by
Jane Austen. Austen’s Persuasion also features the Cobb at Lyme Regis. Your third text could be a collection of
poems or a book about writing poetry, such as How to Write Poetry by Nancy Bogen. Again, you must give precise
references to the text in your commentary.
These contemporary forms of poetry could be compiled as a series, which could also include traditional poetic
forms, such as the sonnet.
Activity
Select one of the three forms of poetry outlined above and produce a poem based on your central text. If you
are going to write a ‘found poem’, try to make your response exploratory by incorporating a change in contexts.
In each case, comment carefully on the effects you aimed for and those that you think that you have achieved.
4.26a Example A: Writing a
short story
Student Book p 171
CD-ROM p 54
Read through the extracts from an exemplar creative response with commentary. Then work with a
partner to address the tasks that follow.
Central text: What Maisie Knew by Henry James
Second text: The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley
Third text: How to Write Short Stories by S. Peterson
I also looked through parts of Hartley’s biography, Foreign Country by Adrian Wright.
Extracts from a short story: ‘The Birthday Present’
Tom awakened and as usual stretched in the golden warmth of the midsummer sun which streamed into
his bedroom. The strong rays lit up his pale blue cotton counterpane and the faintly patterned paper hung
long ago on the walls: ‘Thirteen today!’ He smiled at the thought, ‘A teenager! I’m growing up.’
[… moves to the opening of his last present]
At last Uncle Jack arrived; he was everybody’s idea of the favourite uncle. He’d loads to tell about his
dangerous expeditions to far-off places deep in the jungle or hidden in the Mongolian desert. He’d
promised to start off Tom’s exploring by making night treks across Dartmoor.
He gave Tom a brown paper bag, rather crumpled. A headlamp for the treks, a Black Diamond, top of
the range. But Sam, his best friend, was waiting to go down to the beach, ‘That’s just like the one dad’s
promised me’, he called over his shoulder. ‘Come on!’ So Tom shoved it in his pocket – he’d look at it later
on the beach.
He was in a hurry and forgot to peer through the rustling foliage at the red-spotted burnet moths, and
ochre sand lizards. An occasional twig dashed across his leg unnoticed, leaving shiny red beads.
[… moves to the beach where the two boys are skimming pebbles]
It was the last of the six pebbles – the decider! Tom’s made six bounces; curiously, Sam, usually so expert,
didn’t even manage one. ‘I’ve got to go, we’re going to Penzance soon,’ and he rushed off. Tom reached out
to grab his lamp they had both been admiring; he’d put it down beside him near their pebbles. It wasn’t
there! His eyes glazed with bewilderment as he sank to his knees, mechanically feeling over the hard,
ridged surface of the beach. ‘My birthday’s spoilt! I’ve lost my treasure,’ he sobbed as he watched the back
of his departing friend.
Tom plodded back on wearied legs, almost treading on a young grass snake which uncurled, grey, spotted
and shiny, and slithered away. His father watched as the boy crossed the lawn, head down, shoulders
drooped; he went to meet him:
‘Dad, I’ve lost my…’ His father pulled the boy into his arms: ‘Chin up!’ he said, ‘You’re a young man now.’
4.26b Example A: Writing a
short story
Student Book p 171
CD-ROM p 54
Extracts from the start of the commentary.
I wanted to explore the idea of childhood innocence being destroyed, by perhaps irresponsible adults who are cynically used to
the evils of the world. This task is presented as teenage fiction as it may interest young people. The original novels
were written by and for adults.
‘The Go-Between’ is similar yet different to ‘What Maisie Knew’ by Henry James. The approach to similar
subject matter is much more direct, perhaps because it was written nearly sixty years later. Sexual imagery is
more obvious, and there is an extensive use of imagery, emblems and repetition to emphasise the sense of loss and
of betrayal. There may be an echo of some sense of personal experience in Hartley’s book, and glancing through his
biography supported this idea. I think that this novel might appeal more to the younger audience of today.
The issues related to Maisie’s gradual understanding of what was going on were quite shocking and upsetting.
James’ extensive use of the free indirect style (which he developed) allowed these ideas to be presented clearly but
sensitively. The different stages of her growing awareness made the reader feel increasingly sorry for her. I decided
to incorporate this approach into my writing.
I decided to write a short story incorporating what had been learned from the research, but to write it
specifically for a readership of teenagers. I had become interested in the particular challenges which this form
presents. I discovered that use of imagery and symbols is one way of getting over the brevity of the form, so I
decided to use the same sort of symbols that Hartley used as signposts to what is going on for the readers. These
are the redness of the moths and the blood which suggest danger, and the lizard and snake which are traditional
symbols of Hell.
I wanted to show that precise, sad, but inevitable moment when a young boy loses his childhood innocence and
realises that there is evil in the world. He will never be the same again; he has been betrayed by a friend and
introduced in a small way to the adult world. It is a very nasty sort of birthday present.
1. Discuss the summary of the commentary first, making notes as you work. What do
you learn about:
• the purposes of the research
• the different areas covered?
Think about how the commentary might be seen to meet the assessment objectives.
Refer back to the assessment criteria and pay particular attention to AO3 and AO4.
Can you suggest any improvements?
2. Next, think about the creative writing: how effective is it in showing the aims
suggested in the commentary? Share your responses in a class discussion.
Student Book p 171
CD-ROM p 54
Read through the extracts from an exemplar creative response with commentary. Then work with a
partner to address the tasks that follow.
Central text: Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens by J.M. Barrie
Second text: Biography: J. M. Barrie and the Lost Boys by Andrew Birkin
Third text: Elegy by David Kennedy
Elegy for Michael Llewelyn Davies
(died 19 May 1921)
Michael and his friend were found
in each other’s arms entwined
at the bottom of the pool.
Did you see him as you drowned,
Uncle Jim
Peter Pan
statue or man?
Once you could swim
in the main of his love,
but when the whirlpool eddied round
no mere boy such depth could sound.
What did you see in your nightmares,
in the Black Lake of your dreams?
Did Captain Swarthy offer you the noose,
or Hook, with delicate menace, the plank?
What old dead foe had sought and found you?
What did you hear when the mists were round you?
How could such love
end among weeds and mud?
How could the walk from the Paradise Garden
lead to the place of stones?
You put your hand into the hand of bones.
O Michael
Michael
once beautiful, the bright world in your eyes —
what can you do when love dies
but follow it like a trusting child?
To what dark compromise
are you now reconciled,
Mr Darling’s son
Michael,
Michael
darling?
Student Book p 171
CD-ROM p 54
Extracts from the beginning of the commentary
I gathered from the critical reading that an elegy is a poem commemorating a dead person, exploring feelings of
grief and loss. As Andrew Birkin’s book explains, the seeds of J.M. Barrie’s creation of the play Peter Pan lie in
the death of his own older brother David, in an accident on the eve of his fourteenth birthday, in 1867. He
was the original boy who wouldn’t grow up.
Barrie developed the story of Peter Pan for George, Jack and Peter Llewelyn Davies, but it was their
brother Michael, who evidently was his special favourite. I believe that Michael’s death by drowning, in a
probable suicide pact with a fellow undergraduate at Oxford, shattered him.
It is as if long after writing Peter Pan, its true meaning came to him because Barrie wrote, ‘… Desperate
attempt to grow up but can’t’. I believe that the play itself can be seen as an eerily prophetic elegy for
Michael also.
In this poem I have used details from Birkin’s book, especially of the early versions of the Peter Pan
story, and echoed some lines (16–17) from a poem actually written by Michael. Black Lake was a real place
where Barrie took the boys on holiday; Captain Swarthy was a predecessor of Captain Hook; Michael suffered
from nightmares and was terrified of water. Centrally, however, my poem becomes a double elegy, mourning the
loss of a handsome, gifted young man but also the sacrifice of his future. He was overwhelmed by Barrie’s
obsessive devotion. My poem suggests that this frustrated him to the point of suicide. But I intended it to be
an elegy for Barrie as Michael’s death evidently spelt the effective end of any meaningful life for Barrie.
The eternal boy, Peter Pan himself, symbolises both Michael and Barrie. I did not go as far as to accuse
Barrie of consciously causing Michael’s death, but this poem suggests that their love had a tragic, doomed
quality. ‘Love’ seems the only word, but it was never physical: Barrie was no paedophile.
While lamenting the waste of Michael’s life, the poem also speculates that his suicide was a ‘compromise’
way of releasing Barrie as well as himself, enabling the fictional character, Michael Darling in Peter Pan, to be
acknowledged at last as Barrie’s ‘Michael darling’.
1. Discuss the beginning of the commentary first, making notes as you work. What do
you learn about:
• the purposes of the research
• the different areas covered?
Think about how the commentary might be seen to meet the assessment objectives.
Refer back to the assessment criteria and pay particular attention to AO3 and AO4.
Can you suggest any improvements?
2. Next, think about the creative writing: how effective is it in showing the aims
suggested in the commentary? Share your responses in a class discussion.
4.28 Bibliography
CD-ROM p 57
Here is a bibliography of text books recommended for you.
Learning for a Diverse World: Using Critical
Theory to Read and Write about Literature
Tyson, Lois
ISBN10: 0815337744 ISBN13: 9780815337744 Publisher: Routledge GARLAND PUB
Edition: New edition
Format: Paperback
Publication date: 01 Aug 2001
To Read Literature
Hall, Donald
ISBN10: 0030555426 ISBN13: 9780030555428 Publisher: Cengage Learning
Edition: 3rd Revised edition
Format: Hardback
Publication date: 02 Jan 1992
Literary Theory
Eagleton, Terry
ISBN10: 140517921X ISBN13: 9781405179218 Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell (an imprint of John Wiley
& Sons Ltd)
Edition: Anniversary ed
Format: Paperback
Publication date: 29 Feb 2008
Criticism and Ideology
Eagleton, Terry
ISBN10: 1844670805 ISBN13: 9781844670802 Publisher: Verso Books
Edition: Revised edition
Format: Paperback
Publication date: 21 Jul 2006
How to Write Short Stories
Ring, W. Lardner
ISBN10: 141010785X ISBN13: 9781410107855 Publisher: Fredonia Books
Format: Paperback
Publication date: 27 Nov 2004
How to Write Short Stories
Peterson, S.
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Univ PR 2001
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Section B - the British School of Bahrain

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