Waving goodbye

Well, this is it.

Class finished. Blog finished for this academic year.

I don’t know if any of the class will look at this – why would they? the class is finished - but I thought I’d say goodbye anyway, particularly to the people who aren’t in the class but who have for some reason landed on my blog – in some cases, quite regularly.

So hello and goodbye to those of you in:

Churchtown, Tel Aviv, Stow, Key West Florida, Jedburgh, Brighton, Swindon, Bathgate, Newtonmore, Kinross, Cupar, Manchester, Maidenhead, Mountain View California

and various other places across the world.

I’d love to know what brought you here and in some cases why you have kept coming back. It would intrigue me greatly if you were to leave me a comment telling me.

Thanks for being a pleasant class, if you were in the class. Have a good summer, even if you weren't.

And a nice life.

Your time to star!

Just in case anyone doesn’t know his/her room and desk number, they’re as follows:

Music Box auditorium

Clare, 7
Denise, 30
Natasha, 35
Chris, 45



Music Box 1.23

Emily (no desk number)

Creative Arts building, room 187

Caroline, 2

Creative Arts building, room 193

Gareth, 3
Andrew, 18
Kathryn, 2

Music Box 9

Jade, 4

Music Box 119

Ashleigh


105

Kelda

Good luck for the exam. You’ve worked hard, or at least hardish, and deserve to do well.

There are really only 2 main things to remember: write as accurately as you can (especially in paper 2) and ANSWER THE QUESTIONS.

Paper 1: remember the standard imagery/context/linking questions and how to do them. If you don’t know, read back in the blog or email me!

Otherwise:
*keep an eye on the marks and make your answer an appropriate length
* explain anything that seems remotely difficult (that the marker might think, if you don’t explain it, that you don’t understand)
* don’t ramble on unnecessarily
*use lots of white space between your answers (paper isn’t rationed and it makes it nice and easy to mark)
* remember that you don’t get marks simply for identifying a technique (eg “It’s a minor sentence”) but by doing so and THEN writing about the exact effect in the context
* remember that, generally speaking, you get the marks for the comment, not the quote. The quote is just to show what bit you’re talking about.

Paper 2: remember that the “questions” comprise a general description of the text followed by a (usually 2-part) instruction.

Sometimes the description might seem a bit alarming but the instructions might be a lot simpler, so do think hard before you choose a question.

Remember, too, that just telling the story will not be enough, but that telling selected bits of the story to illustrate your main points (ie to answer the “question”) will be necessary.

And think of the SECT idea, if it’s helpful, though don’t stick rigidly to the CT bit of it – or not in that order, necessarily. But you don’t want a whole list of statements: SSSSSSSS! If you state something about the text, give evidence to back it up. Evidence = quote or direct reference (ie something particular that happens in the story that illustrates what you’ve said).

And do show awareness of the writer’s techniques – essentially. Mentioning the writer’s name occasionally is useful: “Miller makes Eddie reveal his feelings when….”.

And remember the poor old marker: underpaid, ageing, grumpy, distracted. Write readably. Miss lines. Number accurately. Don’t waffle to no effect.

Good luck!

The sands of time...

Revision!

We went over the some of the main things to remember about Close Reading, from a little crib sheet made up by one of my colleagues. Email me if you want this (though it doesn’t have anything new; it’s just a handy reminder, to be propped up against the Corn Flake packet on the morning of the exam).

We also discussed the suitability for our texts of various exam-type questions made up by another of my colleagues, and you tried writing one. No one handed theirs in, however, which suggests that you're not working quickly enough! Please finish what you wrote and send it to me, together with one or two essays. Email them to me by Tuesday at the latest, to give me a chance to mark them.

Next week, as I said last week, I’ll be there and will be happy to do any revision/marking/advice on demand.

Meanwhile, revise your texts! Learn quotes! Despite the evidence from the SQA workshop, I’d still recommend trying to get at least 5 relevant quotations into each essay (many more for essays on poetry) – so this means learning 10 for each of the play and the novel, since the relevance will depend on the question.

Feel free to email me if you have any problems with which you feel I could help: pdonaldson@stevenson.ac.uk

Countdown...

Today we looked at critical essays: the markers’ instructions from 2008 and some actual students’ essays. I gave out 10 essays and we looked at 2 and were surprised but (I hope) encouraged by the leniency of the marking.

If you weren’t there and would like these exemplar essays, do email me and I’ll send them as an attachment, together with the marks awarded. You’ll also find handwritten versions of these on the SQA website, under Services for Learners, NQ subjects (choose English), English Higher Critical Essay workshop – the marking instructions are there too.

I also, cruelly, made the class write a critical essay in the second part of the class, which wasn’t quite 45 minutes, so the homework is to finish it and do another one. If you weren’t there, please do this for next week, again in a strict 45 minutes. If you were in class, please try to do the other one at home; or any essay or close reading. If you email it to me then I can mark it in advance, but on the other hand it's better practice for the exam to use handwriting.

Here are the titles:

Choose a play in which a character is at odds with one or more than one of the people around him or her.

Show how the dramatist makes you aware of the character’s situation and discuss to what extent this led to a greater understanding of the concerns of the play.

and

Choose a poem which presents a character to whom you react with sympathy, dislike or laughter.

Show how the poet arouses this response from you and discuss how important it is to the overall impact of the poem.

Next week I’d like to have suggestions of what you want to do: go over texts? Do a class critical essay? Some more close reading?

The final week, the 13th, I imagine you might prefer to stay at home and revise, but I will be there as usual at 1.15 and available for any tuition on request, so do feel free to come then if you want. If no one turns up by 1.30, then I’ll go, but I’m happy to stay if anyone wants to discuss anything to do with English.

Vitamins and revision

Nothing interesting is going to happen from now on, I’m afraid, people! Today we went over in some detail the 2008 Close Reading. Please do/finish this for homework.

We also considered the language on the label of a Vitamin Water bottle. Remember to practise your analytical skills as you live your life between now and May 15. Read adverts, labels, leaflets, newspaper articles – anything – and look at the sentence structure, word choice and so on.

Next week we shall be looking at actual students’ essays and the SQA’s marks for them, and then doing a timed essay on literature. So come prepared! No more spoon-feeding…

Do some revision. Write some essays. Do not have any fun.

Happy Easter

Sorry that this is rather a late post.

In our most recent class, we mainly looked at two pieces of writing: one on garden birds and one on Wikipedia. The first was humorous and the second more serious; but both used sentence structure, word choice, imagery etc. Do pause in your reading over the next weeks and ask yourself the sorts of questions that the SQA does – just to give yourself confidence that you do, indeed, know how the question setters will have been thinking.

I’m writing this at home without my record of work with me, but I’m sure I must have given you homework. If not, download the 2008 paper from the SQA website (http://www.sqa.org.uk/) and do that – at least passage 1. But as well as this, you must revise – look at the Language Skills book if you’re at all uncertain about Close Reading, but also re-read the novel and the play and learn – well, I’d suggest four poems, ideally, off by heart and memorise what there is to say about them. Do also read my notes on the novel and the play and look up the internet – you’ll find lots of other things there, for inspiration and reassurance. Learn quotes: 10 per novel, 10 per play and lots and lots for the poems (which is why it’s easier to learn them off by heart, in my opinion).

And then do one or more essays from the past papers. Limit yourself to 45 minutes per essay and force yourself to ignore distractions. Remember, if you get the mark you need in a few weeks’ time you never have to do this again!

Remember too that you must be able to write about the literary techniques of the novel, the play and the poem without even thinking, when May 15 comes. There will be no time to sit trying to work them out from first principles: you’ll be too busy concentrating on answering the question.

See you on the 22nd. Have a good Easter.

A bit of a blank

I have a problem here: I'm sure I imparted some pearls of wisdom about something or other before we watched the second half of the film; but I can't remember what they were. A challenge to you: what did I say?? Do comment.

Then we did watch the rest of the film, , which despite its crackles, unconvincing accents and old-fashioned hairstyles I thought was quite evocative. I liked the very close-up camera shots as the film went on; they gave a real feeling of the claustrophobia of being crammed together in a small flat with all that tension. I also liked the way Eddie ran after the immigration van, yelling at Marco, and then turned to see all his neighbours lined up against him. But maybe it all just seemed convincing to me because it just reminds me of my youth: all those frocks and rickety chairs and everything in black and white...

Homework is passage 2 of 2007 about libraries (and you could also do passage 1, if you haven't) - and I would suggest that you also try a literature essay, your choice. If you don't have the past papers, last year's is on the SQA website - http://www.sqa.org.uk/ and go to Services for Learners, NQ subjects, drop down to English.

Watching the film

A very short blog today: we watched Act 1 of the very grainy, scratchy (but quite effective, I thought) black and white film of "A View from the Bridge". It was made in 1961 (though it looked more like 1861) so the clothes, set and so on would be quite authentic for the period. We'll watch Act 2 next week so if you don't want to see it, don't feel you have to come to class.

Homework for next week is the 2007 Close Reading, passage 2, about the digitisation of the Bodleian

and the boy sitting in the courtyard of Cambridge University Library. This is homework – and if you haven’t done the first passage yet then I’d be happy to get both together next week. Or not.

Not very inspiring...

Sorry – very boring lesson today going over the Close Reading prelim. Hope you now know why you didn’t get full marks. If not, ask me!

By the way, Matt has kindly given me a copy of the film of “A View from the Bridge”. It starts very differently from the play but soon morphs into a fairly accurate, word-for-word version of it. If any of you would like to comment, I’d be interested to know whether you would like to watch it at any point. Failing that, you could just tell me, of course, or email. Bear in mind that it's fairly old (1961), black and white and quite scratchy. However, if you haven't seen it, it would be a good and fairly restful way of revising the play. It lasts about 2 hours so we could do it over either 1 or 2 weeks. Or not.

Should you be enthusiastic enough to want your own copy, you could get it from http://stores.blowoutdvd1.com/-strse-23/A-View-From-The/Detail.bok

Homework – paper 1 of the 2007 Close Reading about Glasgow University Library.

Prelim paper 2

Not much to write on the blog this week, since the time was spent on paper 2 of the prelim. Hope you found it reasonably satisfactory. The questios were all actual exam ones from different years, though some of them were slightly tailored to match the SQA’s currently favoured wording. Remember, however, that in the actual exam in May, none of us knows what the questions will be, so there’s no guarantee that there will be a particularly suitable question for any of your texts. In fact I’d be very surprised if there weren’t reasonable ones for “A Patchwork Planet” and “A View from the Bridge” but... who really knows?. Fingers crossed.

As far as poetry is concerned, this is far less predictable. For any one poem – or even for any three or four – all we can say is that there might be a suitable question or there might not. Most people find poetry questions more straightforward than drama or prose ones, simply because there’s far less of the problem of which bits of the text to select for highlighting in your essay. However, because the poetry questions are usually much specific, you shouldn’t rely on being able to use one of them. Nevertheless I would try to have a few up your sleeve for use if the opportunity arises.

No homework. This will start again next week. From now on, we’ll be back to practising Close Readings and literature essays.

By the way, this blog is regularly visited by people in Brighton, Sheffield and Belfast. Can't imagine why, really - but hello to you.

Do some revision, people

This was prelim paper 1 day – which you know, because you were all there except Katherine. I hope you weren’t too traumatised by the experience. I noticed that you were mainly working up to the end, however. This is good – it suggests that you were taking care and considering your answers – but it’s just as well that the SQA has decided to give students an extra quarter hour this year. Did everyone know what a Luddite was? This is quite a good example of how a good general knowledge (acquired through years of thoughtful reading or watching reasonably educational tv programmes) is helpful for passing Higher English.

Next week, paper 2: the critical (ie literature) essay.

Don't stay up all night revising but remember that:

* you need to know the texts, including quotations

* you should learn 10 quotations per play/novel, and try to learn your poems off by heart

* you should read my notes, which spoon-feed you what you need to know about the texts for SQA purposes

* you should take care to choose a suitable "question" – read the first part of the question, which describes the text

* you should follow the instructions – remember that the second part of the "question" tells you what to do – usually two things, though not necessarily of equal importance – and then write about this

* you should tell the story only as a mini (very mini) introduction and then as the Evidence part of your SECT sequence

* you should remember that the general idea is: Statement, Evidence, Comment, Technique

* the Statement should be relevant to answering the question; the Evidence is a quotation or a retelling of a bit of what happens in the story, to back up your Statement; you may or may not need to elucidate this further with a Comment; and whenever you can, relevantly, you should mention a Technique

* Techniques can sometimes be mentioned implicitly, eg by discussing how characters come across to the reader (without actually calling this "characterisation")

* many students never consider Techniques and therefore fail, because really the main point of literature answers is to show HOW the writer creates the text.

* you should pay attention to your spelling, punctuation and expression – which can easily fail you if they’re not “sufficiently accurate” (typically vague SQA description)

* you should keep an eye on the clock – 45 minutes per essay - about 700 words each, but don’t worry too much about the length – just keep going for 45 minutes, doing the best you can for one and a half hours in total. There’s no point in writing a very long, wonderful essay for an hour and then leaving yourself insufficient time for the second one. The marks you gain on the first won’t make up for those you lose on the second.

* you should try to keep calm! You’re not expected to be a genius. Just answer the questions (keep looking back at them to remind yourself what they are) and remember that it’s hard for everyone.

Darkness and love

Today we looked at the first 2002 Close Reading, about music. Iin my opinion this is the most difficult passage there has been in recent years, mainly because many students whose work I marked that year didn’t really have the background knowledge (about the Dark Ages, Guido Monaco, Gregorian plainsong and so on) to make them feel comfortable with the topic. Also, there’s that rather odd image of the 1000-year-long corridor with those Dark Age people cowering from the sun (why the sun rather than our bright lights and music?) at the other end.

Anyway, the questions are normal enough, and this is homework for the next class. Remember that there’s no class next week, since it’s the February holiday, so can I suggest that you do a literature essay on “Valentine” as well as this as next week’s homework? See below.

The only other thing we covered in this class was Carol Ann Duffy’s “Valentine”, a mainly very unromantic view of love. Though it’s in free verse (ie unrhymed and with irregular rhythm) it does have a structure, pivoting round the central “I am trying to be truthful”. We noticed that the first half is similar in many ways to the second half, but that the second half is extremely unromantic and indeed quite sinister, with the word “Lethal” suggesting the deadly nature of the offered love (if it’s later spurned?) and the last word lingering uneasily in the memory: “knife”.

The poem’s effect depends largely on its imagery - mainly about the onion - and that balanced structure that we noticed. Do bear in mind that the “voice” isn’t necessarily that of Duffy herself – she’s not known for killing her former lovers, despite her rather alarming appearance above.

I’d suggest as a poetry essay - though feel free to choose another question/poem/play/novel

Choose a poem which deals with some unpleasant or sinister issues. Show how the poet communicates these unpleasant or sinister ideas and comment on what final impression is left in the mind of the reader.

Rushing on...

Sorry – the blog is rather rushed and rather late this week. Life has been busy!

We finished reading “A View from the Bridge”, with magnificent final performances from the actors (thank you for this) and discussed the dramatic techniques. I handed out notes (please ask me for these if you weren’t there). Homework is to do a critical essay on “View”– 2006 question 2 on a play which leaves you with mixed emotions. I would assume that these would be that you would feel at least a bit sorry for everyone, and would be able to discuss this in terms of the themes, the language, the setting, the structure, the set and so on – not necessarily all of these but certainly some of them.

We then studied the poem “Cynddyllan on a Tractor” by RS Thomas about Cynddyllan (pronounced Cun-thullan) the Welsh farmer, on his very first tractor.We decided that this would be suitable for a question on (among other things) the world of work, modern life, technology, contrast, colloquial language, imagery, a person…. We looked at an essay which was about a poem based on the world of work – fitting “Cynddyllan” nicely – and noticed how it kept referring to the question, as is the whole idea. Remember that you don’t necessarily have to be subtle; just keep reminding the marker that this is you, answering the question, as you show your mastery of the text.

Remember too that for poetry essays you must quote a lot – the essays are always going to ask you to discuss the poetic techniques, which you can’t discuss for long without quoting. The usual way to deal with poetry essays is to go through the poem more or less line by line – NOT by doing what the SQA calls a “guided tour” (of everything about the poem with nothing made relevant to the question) BUT by picking out things relevant to the question and making this relevance quite obvious.

We then started reading the first 2002 Close Reading about music, but ran out of time. We’ll get back to this next lesson.

In brief

This is going to be quite short as the janitor will shortly be at the door, rattling his keys. Life is getting away from me this week.

Today we read “Glasgow 5th March” by Edwin Morgan, which I personally don’t think has quite enough to write about in the exam, and Philip Larkin’s “Poetry of Departures”, which certainly does.

We read part of Act 2 of “View”, in which Catherine and Rodolpho look set to marry; Eddie comes home drunk to find them coming out of the bedroom and tells Rodolpho to leave; Eddie goes again to Alfieri to ask for help from the law – none is forthcoming; Eddie decides, in desperation, to report the cousins to the Immigration Bureau and is seen doing so by Louis. Eddie then arrives home to find that the cousins have moved upstairs to the neighbours’ house, where there are other immigrants too – and he becomes very angry.

Homework: 2002 Close Reading, passage 2. This is slightly unusual because it’s very colloquially written – therefore very easy to read, though it doesn’t mean that the questions are any easier than usual.

Tent pegs and paper dolls

This evening we looked at a student’s “Patchwork Planet” critical essay about how the ending of a novel was prepared for earlier on. We admired the way in which this student actually discussed how various earlier bits led on to the end. This is better than just commenting on incidents which might have been shown to lead on to the end – but actually were.

We then looked at my version of this question and I reiterated the tent peg metaphor. It may seem like overdoing to keep referring to the questions, but a marker at this level likes to have the relevance to the question of what you’re saying made obvious. Remember that the markers want clear, relevant points in that SECT sort of way. If your tent shows signs of flying away on an enthusiastic gale, to land in some distant field, far from the question, then pin it down by adding sentences such as: “This leads on to the ending when…”.

We discussed Norman MacCaig’s “Hotel Room, 12th Floor”, full of imagery which is reasonably easy to discuss in the exam. The main, extended, metaphor is that of darkness as the enemy, seen specifically as a band of Red Indians riding into town and being shot at – ineffectually – by the light. Darkness is shown to bring violence to New York, despite the trappings of civilisation: helicopters, tall buildings, tv, radio, light. As he says, “And no stockades/ can keep the midnight out”. We may imagine that we’re civilised, but we’re never far away from violence, or potential violence – it’s there in human nature.

Then we read on in “View”, finishing Act 1 and just beginning Act 2. We saw Alfieri in the dual role of narrator (reminding us of the fact that he’s telling us a story) and lawyer (advising Eddie). The two roles merge seamlessly together – he turns from the audience and is apparently mid-conversation with Eddie, who has come to consult him. Eddie wants the law to help him against Rodolpho who, he says, is “not right” – he’s implying that Rodolpho is gay. Alfieri has to tell him that even if he were, marrying Catherine would not be illegal. The only illegal thing is that the cousins are illegal immigrants and Eddie says, “I wouldn’t do nothin’ about that…”. Then Alfieri gently suggests that sometimes “there is too much love for the daughter, there is too much love for the niece”. Eddie reacts “furiously”.

Alfieri tells the audience that he “could see every step coming, step after step… I knew where he was going to end”.Then, at dinner, Catherine is clearly very excited by Rodolpho’s stories of sailing to Africa and picking oranges off the trees in Italy.

Eddie is much less impressed. He points out that American girls aren’t as “free” as Rodolpho thinks; Rodolpho protests that he has “respect” for Catherine. She and Rodolpho dance to “Paper Doll”, though he, “in deference to Eddie” (stage direction) at first demurs. She, however, is “flushed with revolt” and dances with him. Here, Miller is reminding the audience that Eddie wants to keep Catherine as a "doll that other fellows cannot steal".

This is the Mills Brothers' version, which I think is probably the one that they're listening to.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=n2m8VZBfRYo&feature=PlayList&p=AA3233A397B67272&playnext=1&index=13

She, however, is “flushed with revolt” and dances with Rodolpho. Beatrice tries to divert Eddie's attention by talking about the cousins’ fishing expeditions, but Eddie’s worst fears are confirmed by hearing that Rodolpho is a good cook: “He sings. He cooks. He could make dresses…”. He suggests that Rodolpho would be better suited to working in a dress shop than as a longshoreman. This is not a compliment.

He suggests teaching Rodolpho to box and starts to do so. He punches Rodolpho lightly and makes him stagger, alarming the others. Marco then demonstrates his superior strength by challenging Eddie to lift a chair by one leg, with one hand. Eddie can’t do it but Marco can, and the act ends with Marco holding the chair high with a “smile of triumph, and Eddie’s grin vanishes as he absorbs this look”.

I'm sorry that not all my paragraphs have missed lines between them. They do when I type them, but then Blogger removes them. Bad Blogger.

Homework: this poetry question on "Hotel Room" - or choose your own question/poem.

Choose a poem which says something about human nature. By referring closely to the poet's language, show what message the poet is conveying about what human nature is like and how he gets this message across.

Love and suffering

We continued “A View from the Bridge” today. Miller is above.

Alfieri is now used, partly like the Chorus in Greek tragedy to comment on the action and partly to move the action on several weeks to when Catherine and Rodolpho are going out together. Eddie is hanging around waiting for them to come back from the cinema and discusses with Beatrice his apparent worries about Rodolpho as a suitor and possibly husband for Catherine:

Rodolpho sings a lot in public.
He’s blond.

Beatrice changes the subject: Eddie and she haven’t been sleeping together for three months – what’s the reason for this? He evades the question: he’s not been feeling good.

When Catherine and Rodolpho return, Eddie sends Rodolpho away and tells Catherine that Rodolpho just wants to marry her to become an American citizen. (Might this be true?) He points out that Rodolpho is spending his money, not saving it or sending back to Italy.

Catherine is very upset and denies it: Rodolpho loves her.

We can see love emerging as another theme: love between two young people, between husband and wife, between parent (and Eddie and Beatrice are almost Catherine’s parents) and child.

Once Eddie goes, Beatrice gives Catherine a little lecture: she must behave more circumspectly around Eddie now she’s grown up. She’s a woman – she should behave like one. Catherine is uneasy at the implication behind Beatrice’s words.

Now Alfieri takes on a dual role: as narrator saying that Eddie now has “a destiny” and as a character, the local lawyer. The two roles merge seamlessly together – he turns from the audience and is apparently mid-conversation with Eddie, who has come to consult him. Eddie wants the law to help him against Rodolpho who, he says, is “not right” – he’s implying that Rodolpho is gay. Alfieri has to tell him that even if he were, this is not illegal. Then he gently suggests that sometimes “there is too much love for the daughter, there is too much love for the niece”.

Alfieri tells the audience that he “could see every step coming, step after step… I knew where he was going to end”.

We then read and discussed WH Auden’s “Museé des Beaux Arts”, in which the poet (above)praises the Old Masters – famous European painters from before 1800 – for understanding about suffering: that one person’s suffering (or indeed any strong emotion), however extreme, isn’t really that important to other people.

In the first verse, he discusses this in general. In the second, he applies this to Breughel’s Icarus, which depicts the fall of Icarus, who flew too near the sun so that the wax melted from his wings.

Auden starts with inversion:
“About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters”.

This informal, conversational beginning draws attention to the word “suffering” and also intrigues the reader – who were never wrong?

We noticed: the list of ordinary, mundane activities that go on while someone is suffering nearby; the contrasting word choice describing these two types of experiences; the almost flippant tone towards the end of the first verse. We also noticed the repeated structure of “they understood … how it takes place… how….there must always be…”.

In verse 2, the example of Icarus is mentioned in quite conversational language: “In Breughel’s Icarus, for instance…” with again that “how” structure – “how everything turns away…” linking the verses. The word “leisurely” suggests the calmness of the other elements in the picture as Icarus falls to his death: the ploughman, the sun and the ship which sails on regardless. Again we noticed the contrast in language: Icarus’s “forsaken cry” – desolate and abandoned – compared to the general feeling that it was “not… important”; and then “amazing… a boy falling out of the sky” compared to “sailed calmly on”.

We also discussed the rhyme – it’s not a rhyme scheme, since it has no regular pattern. Why is the rhyme not obvious? Because it’s not in a pattern; because of the enjambment (run-on lines); because of the irregular length of the lines. Why has WH Auden put it there? Well, who knows? But possibly just because he could; as a little structural constraint upon himself; to make his life more interesting. In an essay, there’s no point in mentioning the rhyme – or anything, come to that – unless you at least venture an opinion on the effect, so if you want to discuss it you might say that it adds a certain focus or unity or musical quality… whatever you feel yourself. Or you could just omit any reference to it.

Homework - write an essay either on the following question (probably on "Musée ") OR using another another question which suits a poem you want to write about:

Choose a poem in which the poet uses contrast to good effect (or to highlight a key idea? I can't quite remember what I said; sorry!)

Discuss how the poet uses these opposing elements and say how effective you find this use of contrast. (Or whatever it was that I suggested...).

Happy New Year

We thought again about writing critical essays – about how you must answer the question by using the SECT procedure – or something like it.


You have a new literature (“critical”) essay for homework:

Consider carefully the ending of a novel you know well.

Discuss in what ways the author has prepared for the ending in the earlier part of the novel.


You could write this essay by concentrating on the structure of the novel – the two station scenes – and how the theme of trust is seen very differently in each of them. You would obviously have to deal with some of the bits in between as you did this, but you would try to pick out the bits that are relevant to both, ie you’d need to discuss the characterisation of Barnaby and Sophia and some related matters.

You might also want to bring in other themes, eg change/families/etc.

You might like to bring in some symbols, eg the Twinform and the importance of money.

You would need, I think, to deal briefly with the Renascence School, so that you could bring in the earlier mention of the sonnet (“When in disgrace”) and then the importance of the sonnet on the last page. This could also be seen as part of the structure – preparing the reader to understand his sudden realisation that he may love Martine.

Remember to SECT! Critical essays should be about 700 words.

We then began to read “A View from the Bridge” (please buy this if you haven’t yet done so) and got to page 33 (in the Penguin edition – where Rodolpho first sings).

We noticed the emphasis, in this play about Italians, on the themes of justice and honour.

We also observed that Alfieri, the lawyer who’s also a narrator, makes a clear link between the way that people end up behaving in this play and the way they used to behave in Ancient Rome

or Greece.

Most of the time we “settle for half”, he says – unlike in the days of Al Capone, the gangster. But just occasionally – we don’t.

And that’s when things “run their bloody course”. He makes it clear that this play isn’t going to end well: it’s as if it’s already happened and he’s just showing it to us.

We notice Eddie’s extreme protectiveness of his niece Catherine – normal fatherly feelings or a bit over the top? – and the slight tension between Eddie and his wife Beatrice. Beatrice’s cousins arrive and Eddie gets stressed when Rodolpho sings. Is this because he’s nervous about the noise, or is Eddie anxious that Catherine seems to be interested in Rodolpho? Would any man want his almost-daughter to get involved with an illegal immigrant?

This is Rodolpho's song. Listen to it. Why did Arthur Miller choose it?

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uZAy-GW1fek&feature=PlayList&p=39A4F48CA7E8B9F7&index=19