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 post – 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.

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

And a nice life.

The finishing line...

Good luck for the exam. You’ve worked hard 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!

Room numbers (2) and desk numbers

Rooms and desk numbers

Music Box Auditorium - just opposite office off foyer of Music Box:
Mandy 3, Michelle B 16, James 22, Lyndsay 32, Maggie 34, Emma 39

Music Box 1.23
Rachael (no desk number)

Creative Arts building, 187 (this is in the bit between the MB and the tower block - over the glass bridge, up the stairs and it's on the left)
Allyson 7, Michelle K 16

Creative Arts building, 193 (this is in the bit between the MB and the tower block - over the glass bridge, up the stairs and it's on the left)
Garry 9

Music Box room 9 (into foyer of MB, up to end, turn left, along corridor)
Jason 5, Sarah 11

Music Box room 1.20 (just along from our room)
Gavin 7, Graeme 10

Tower block, room 120

Suzanne (no desk number)

Good luck! You're all stars! I will be back tomorrow with some final words of wisdom!

Room numbers 1

I've been trying to get hold of the exam section to give me a list of the room numbers. They seem to have gone AWOL this morning. There's a list on the noticeboard but it would be easier to post the rooms on my computer from a bit of paper on my desk. However, this is just to say that I WILL post the room numbers today, one way or the other, so watch this space!

The second last post

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 I suggested that you should have a go at one or two and email them to me by Monday at the latest, to give me a chance to mark them.

We looked at, and tried to assess, another couple of the Critical Essay workshop essays for which the SQA supplied answers. Again, we were not too stunned by their brilliance and therefore encouraged to feel we could all do at least as well.

Finally, we looked at student answers from the 2005 Close Reading workshop and considered the marks awarded.

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

Nearly there...

The class just began at 7.15 and 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, finding ourselves surprised but (I hope) encouraged by the leniency of the marking. We’ll look at the rest next week; we'll also go over the marking of those close reading answers that was the homework for this week.

If you weren’t there yesterday – not many were – and would like these exemplar essays, do email me and I’ll send them as an attachment. I’d really like you to read them and think about them before the class rather than spending time reading them during the class.

I also, cruelly, made the class write a critical essay in 45 minutes. If you weren’t there, please do this for next week, again in a strict 45 minutes. If you were in class, you might like to do the other one at home; or any essay or close reading.

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.

Do come along next week if you can.

The final week, the 12th, I imagine you might prefer to stay at home and revise, but I will be there as usual at 5.45 and available for any tuition on request, so do feel free to come that evening too if you want. If no one turns up by 6.15, 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!

This week we went over in some detail the answers to the 2008 Close Reading and I gave you out the workshop materials for the 2005 one, together with students’ answers (unmarked). We looked at the question on both passages and considered if any of them strayed from the “2 marks for turning up and writing something” rule. Please take on the mantle of a marker and grade the various attempts at the other questions for next week!

Also consider doing some critical (literature) essays – and do them within 45 minutes!

We also considered the language on the label of Allyson’s 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 loking at some actual students' essays and the marks awarded to them by the SQA, and then doing a timed essays on literature. So come prepared! No more spoon-feeding…

However, the class doesn’t start till 7.15 because some people have to do reassessments. Do some revision….

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.

Homework is the 2008 Close Reading, passage 2. But as well as that, 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).

Write some literature essays - you choose questions from the past papers and try to write answers in forty-five minutes. It's no good doing a wonderful essay in two hours... I'll happily mark anything you do.

See you on the 21st. Have a good Easter.

Digging

Today we read the last poem that we’re going to: “Digging” by Seamus Heaney. This contrasts the lives of the poet’s father and grandfather with his own: they were men who earned their living by hard physical work with a spade, while he is an academic and poet who makes money by writing. We noticed the structure of the poem. It begins and ends similarly, and in between there’s the verse about his father digging up potatoes and his grandfather digging peat (turf, as he calls it).

It’s in free verse - apart from the little bit of rhyme at the beginning. If you mention this, you need to think of why Heaney might have done it. Maybe it’s to give the effect of growing enthusiasm: he starts more conventionally and then gets carried away?

You might want to write about the very vivid use of various senses: smell, sound, touch.

The main image is that of the pen as a gun – something powerful or even dangerous (in the wrong hands?). We remember the proverb “The pen is mightier than the sword” – in other words writing is powerful and can change things. The last line - “I’ll dig with it” - has connotations of digging things up, having a dig… making the world a different place by writing about it.

This could be used for a question about the world of work, nostalgia, a surprising ending, family…

We then watched the second half of the “View from a Bridge” 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.

Homework: 2008 Close Reading, passage 1, about the countryside; and a literature essay, your choice.

Next week is the last class till April 21 and then it’s all getting very close…

Various

Again, a short blog because it was a short class – the first part was taken up with the Personal Study. Congratulations on your mainly very good prelim marks, by the way – though it’s possible that your actual exam marks won’t be quite so starry (though they might – as I explained, paper 2 is a bit of an unknown quantity to us at the moment).

We then read Dylan Thomas’s “Do not go gentle into that good night”, a villanelle (Google it if you’re not sure what this is) which is open to considerable interpretation. The basic message is that we shouldn’t die without protest because there will always be regrets: wise men will regret that they didn’t light up the world with their insights; good men that they didn’t change the world; wild men that they hurt people; serious men that they didn’t have more fun. There are lots of metaphors suggesting these things, for which you may like to find other meanings, and this is fine as long as you can justify them. The word choice is very powerful: particularly words expressing anger and other emotions.

This could be used for questions on a poem which unfolds its meaning only after study (and even then isn't crystal clear) ; a poem about death; a poem with a specific poetic form (you wouldn’t have to explain what a villanelle is, but you’d write about the effect: the almost hypnotic repetition, the musical, chorus-like impression, the emphasis of the limited number of rhymes…), a poem with contrasts, a poem addressed to a person (his father)….

We then went over 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 didn’t do the first passage then I’d be happy to get both together next week. Or not.

Where was the popcorn?

Today we watched the first act of the rather – very – ancient, scratchy film of “A View from the Bridge”. As you will remember, it started very differently from the play but soon morphed into a fairly accurate, word-for-word version of it. If any of you can bring yourselves to comment, I’d be interested to know whether you want to watch the second half at any point. Failing that, you could just tell me, of course, or email.

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

(I was quite sad to think of the actress who played Catherine – I imagine that she thought this was her big break and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her in anything else. However, I’m not much of a film buff so maybe she had a starry career that I’m just not aware of.)

Then we looked at the rather unpleasant “A Study of Reading Habits” by Philip Larkin, in case a question came up on two poems by the same poet. We considered the similarities with “Poetry of Departures” (eg colloquial language, use of rhyme/rhythm, cynical attitude, change of attitude between beginning and end, references to reading) and the differences (eg different “voices”, PD features an adult while SRH features the change from childhood to adolescence to adulthood, SRH much more colloquial, dated language).

SRH could also, of course, be used by itself, as a poem expressing dissatisfaction, unpleasant emotions, a personality…. etc

Then we read “You’re” by Sylvia Plath, a much more positive poem about a mother’s love for her unborn baby. It’s structured as a list of images describing the baby, all very sweet and loving and a bit unusual- comical at times. It could be used for a question on a poem which is happy/positive/image-filled/requiring thought/featuring a relationship – etc. Or it could be used to contrast with a gloomy/negative poem such as “Anthem for Doomed Youth” or SRH.

Homework – 2007 Close Reading, passage 1, about Glasgow University library.

Next week: Personal Study. One hour (plus extra time if relevant); bring in text and up to 2 A4 sides of notes, but not whole essay. Notes to be submitted with essay. For those who have the unit, class starts at 7.30 pm.

Prelim and Personal Study

Not much to write on the blog this week, since the evening 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”. Fingers crossed.

As far as poetry is concerned, this is far less likely to be the case. 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.

I hope everyone feels up to speed on the Personal Study. It’s really just a literature answer, with all the usual SECT sort of things, but using your own choice of novel/topic. Remember that you must bring in notes, which will be submitted with your essay. You can consult your text as you write.

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

By the way, this blog is regularly visited by readers in Sheffield, Belfast and Brighton. Welcome!

Do some revision, people

This was prelim paper 1 night – which you know, because you were all there (except Iona, who was there in spirit). I hope you weren’t too traumatised by the experience. I noticed that you were all 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 – read the second part, which 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.

Prelim time!

This week we thought about the prelim. Remember that you must sit paper 1, since it’s a unit assessment (unless you already have the assessments) and I would advise everyone to do the whole prelim. No pass in the prelim means no possibility of an appeal – and it’s a useful dry run for the exam.

We revised some of the standard Close Reading questions on word choice, sentence structure, imagery and so on and reminded ourselves how to do context questions (though these have varied a bit in recent years) and linking questions. Do look at the “Language Skills” book before next week; it’s basic, but useful.

We also reminded ourselves about literature answers. For the prelim, there will be questions suitable to do on “A Patchwork Planet”, “A View from the Bridge” and a couple of the poems. In the actual exam, who knows? – though it’s very very likely (no guarantees…) that there will be suitable questions on the novel and the play. The poetry is much more of a lottery – the questions are often very specific (“Choose a poem which relies on the reader’s knowledge of historic events…”). However, if there is a suitable question, the poetry ones are more straightforward.

Key for any literature essay – any Close Reading question – any exam in the world, in fact – is to answer the question. That’s it, really. Literature questions and Close Reading Analysis ones will always ask you HOW the writer has done what he/she’s done, so writing about techniques will always be expected.

The class then wrote the answers to the second obesity passage – 2006 passage 2. If you were off, you might like to do this at home and send / email it to me – this also applies if you took it home to finish. If I have it by Monday, I can mark it for Tuesday.

See you next week. We’ll try to start at 6 pm but if you arrive late, don’t worry; you can just start and get extra time at the end. For the exam in May, however, they won’t let you in late!

Obesity and ? romance

Today I got you to write a literature essay on “A Patchwork Planet” in class – in two weeks’ time, after all, it’s the start of the prelim. Remember that you have to write 2 essays in an hour and a half.

Homework is 2006 Close Reading passage 1 on obesity.

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 gloomy appearance.

Busy busy busy

Sorry for the late appearance of the blog this week. It’s been a bit frantic (though frankly all you non-commenty people don’t make it feel very worth my while to write it anyway).

Last week was the essay reassessment (you all passed, by the way; well done) so the class proper didn’t start till 7.30 pm.

We revised the three standard Analysis questions and how to do them the SQA way: context, linking and imagery.

Then we discussed Larkin’s Poetry of Departures - a rather nasty poem but a potentially useful one for such questions as one on contrast (language, ideas, etc), one where some knowledge of the poet’s life is useful, one that gives an impression of a personality, one using rhyme in an unusual way…

Homework – yes, I realise it’s a bit late if you haven’t done it yet – 2006 question 2 on “A View from the Bridge”. I gave out an outline showing the sorts of things I’d say if I were writing this essay.

Do ask me for any handouts that you didn’t get and would like.

Prelim in two and three weeks!

In brief...

A short blog this week – life is getting away from me.

Tonight we went over the second 2005 Close Reading on comets and asteroids, reading the marking instructions and considering what we could learn from 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 finished reading “A View from the Bridge”, with magnificent final performances from the actors, and discussed the technical terms. I handed out notes (please ask me for these if you weren’t there).

Homework – please write a critical essay on either “Cynddllan on a Tractor” or “Hotel Room 12th Floor”, using one (or more!) of 2005 question 12 or 14, or 2006 question 12.

Remember 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 hardly discuss 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.

NEXT WEEK - ESSAY REASSESSMENT (REFLECTIVE/ARGUMENTATIVE/PERSUASIVE ) - CLASS STARTS 7.30 FOR THOSE WHO'VE ALREADY PASSED.

Remember your tent pegs

This evening we looked at James’s “Patchwork Planet” critical essay about how the ending of a novel was prepared for earlier on. We admired the way in which he actually discussed how various earlier bits led on to the end. This compared to some of the other essays, which tended sometimes to contain information which might have been shown to lead on to the end – but never quite did.

We then looked at my version of this question and I reiterated the tent peg metaphor. It may seem like overdoing it, but a marker at this level likes to have the relevance to the question of what you’re saying made obvious. Remember that, as far as the marker is concerned, you’re 16 or 17. They’re not expecting subtlety. They 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 then discussed Norman MacCaig’s poem “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.

We looked at the Mills Brothers' version of "Paper Doll" - which I think is the one that Catherine and Rodolpho have bought as a record. It's at

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

Beatrice tries to divert his 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 meant as 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”. Here we see Marco warning Eddie off his brother.

We just started Act 2 – where Catherine and Rodolpho are in the flat alone and he says he wouldn’t marry her if they had to go to Italy because they’d starve there – but that he wouldn’t “carry on my back the rest of my life a woman I didn’t love just to be an American”. We decided that he is sincere; he does love her.

Homework - 2005 Close Reading, passage 2.

If I didn't speak to you this week about your Personal Study, then I will next week. Or email me if you want advice: pdonaldson@stevenson.ac.uk

I'm sorry there are no lines between some of my paragraphs. I put them in but Blogger removes them. It annoys me. Bad Blogger.

Who's the paper doll?

Today we spent much of the time doing the essay assessment. If you missed this, or if you don’t quite pass, do be ready for the reassessment on 3 February.

All we otherwise did was to continue reading and discussing “A View from the Bridge”. We got to the top of page 45 in the Penguin edition – where Beatrice has been having a talk with Catherine.

We reminded ourselves of 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

and 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? But then, 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

Eddie tells Catherine to go and take off her high heeled shoes. Why, do you think? How does she react?

Alfieri is then used, partly like the Chorus in Greek tragedy to comment on events 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?) Catherine is very upset and denies it: Rodolpho loves her, she says.

We can see love emerging as another theme: love between two young people, between husband and wife, between parent (and Eddie and Beatrice have taken the roles of 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.

Homework - finish Close Reading 2005, passage 1, about comets and asteroids.

Tent pegs and Personal Study

This evening I gave you the tent analogy. As you write a critical (literature) essay, you’re answering the question (obviously) and you need to remember to do so by SECTing or something along these lines. But do also keep remembering to pin the essay down to the question. It’s a good idea to use the words of the question from time to time, to make it clear to the examiner that you’re doing so.

The tent? You might like to think of your essay as a tent that keeps trying to blow away (this is like when you waffle off the subject).

Read over what you write after each paragraph, and pin it down to the question by brief comments to MAKE it relevant, eg “Here we see another example of conflict… This shows vivid creation of character…. This shows a turning point…” – depending on what the question is, of course. Use the words of the question, or variations of them, as tent pegs! And these “pegs” can be added afterwards if you forget to put them in at the time - as long as you can squeeze them in to the space.

(You have no idea how hard it is to find pictures of tents flying away. For some strange reason, most people don't seem to stop to take photos of this. Presumably they're busy chasing the tent.)

Remember that you may know why you wrote something, but the marker isn’t a mind reader. Be very definite about making the relevance of what you’ve written very obvious to the dimmest examiner.

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 went over the 2005 passage 1 Close Reading and students wrote the answers to some of these in class while I discussed people’s Personal Study choices with them. If you haven’t yet read your book, this it’s now MORE than urgent that you do so!!!

We then read pages 1-25 of "A View from the Bridge" and noticed the themes of justice and honour; also the fact that the narrator/lawyer, Alfieri, notes the connection between the way things turn out in this play and the way people behaved back in the times of the Ancient Greeks and Romans.

Most people just seemed to get to question 2 or 3 in the Close Reading, so if you were off, maybe you could do these questions for next week? and also read the bits of the play that you missed.

No parties or other important life events should be scheduled in the next few weeks. Your spare time should be dedicated to English!

This is how NOT to study.

CRUCIALLY - I FORGOT TO REMIND YOU THAT NEXT WEEK IS THE ESSAY ASSESSMENT (WHICH YOU ALL KNOW ANYWAY) - ARGUMENTATIVE OR REFLECTIVE OR PERSUASIVE.

THIS MEANS THAT IF YOU ALREADY HAVE THE ASSESSMENTS, YOU DON'T NEED TO COME TILL 7.30. IF YOU'RE DOING THE ASSESSMENT, YOU NEED TO BRING ALONG A MARKED DRAFT - MARKED BY ME - AND THE ASSESSMENT CONSISTS OF REDRAFTING IT - WITH THE ESSAY IN FRONT OF YOU. If you don't have a draft with you, you can't do the assessment.

If you need to contact me about this, please email.

(Now I'll find out who doesn't read the blog...).